Welcome to the press briefing in Geneva here at the UN.
Today is Tuesday, 10th of September.
We have a short for once briefing and I'll start immediately by giving the floor to Jenslerke for Ocha or Jensen.
I think you have an update on Chad.
Good morning everyone from Chad in West Africa.
We reported that late last month that more than 964,000 people had been impacted by torrential rains and severe floods across the country.
Today, as the floods continue, that number has sky rocketed to nearly 1.5 million people affected.
So half a million more and at least 340 people have been killed in the floods.
According to the Chadian authorities, 10s of thousands of houses have been destroyed.
More than 250,000 hectares of crops are flooded.
That's a vast area equivalent to 190,000 football fields and more than 60,000 heads of livestock have perished so far.
With farmland flooded and livestock drowned, there will be a lot less food available now and in the future in a country where 3.4 million people already face acute hunger, the highest level of food insecurity ever recorded in Chad.
UN agencies and our NGO partners are supporting the Chadian authorities and responding with food and nutrition supplies, vaccinating children, surveying waterborne diseases, building shelters, and delivering tents, tarpaulins and blankets.
The UN Humanitarian Office, OCHA is supporting the coordination of this response and making sure data is collected and shared with responders so that they have the fact that they need to focus the relief efforts.
We've also immediately raised a previous allocation from the UNS Emergency Fund, the SURF, from $5,000,000 to $8 million to support the response.
But given the scope and the scale of this disaster, more financial support will be needed.
The government's own flood response plan asking for nearly $100 million is just 10% funded.
The UN Coordinated Annual Humanitarian Response plan, which requires 1.1 billion, is 35% funded.
In the wider Western Central Africa region, these past weeks, rains and floods have impacted 12 countries, Chad most severely, followed by Nigeria and Nisha.
Questions to Jens in the room.
Yes, Emma, I'm sorry it is for Jens, but it's on Gaza.
Maybe let me see if there is anything on Chad in the platform.
Anybody on the online would like to ask a question on the on the flooding don't see any hand up.
So I guess you can go ahead with your question, Emma, thanks very much.
I wanted some clarification if possible on the incident last night with UN workers going into Northern Gaza.
Were all of these UN workers who were temporarily detained involved in the polio campaign and were they all released that that was the kind of clarification?
And then more broadly on this phase of the campaign, can you confirm if it's going ahead and what concerns you might have given that it's a bit of a no man's land for aid workers in in North Gaza?
I believe UNWA has issued a statement about the incident that took place last night.
And we have WHO on the line.
Yes, I guess Tariq is here.
He said he was able to answer questions on the vaccinations of Tariq.
We don't see you yet, but we hear you.
Can you, can you hear me?
So I've been in contact with our colleagues on the ground.
So the the campaign, this third phase of campaign in the north of Gaza after finishing the central Gaza then S Gaza indeed is starting today and it will be helpful next three days.
That's because vaccines, cold chain equipment and finger markers have been delivered yesterday to to north of Gaza.
However, there was a disc convoy that was was composed of two missions.
1 mission was to bring fuel and vehicles for polio campaign, but there was also at the same place at the same moment, there was another team WHOWHO team that was trying to get to Al Shifa hospital and to bring a few to them.
Well, this mission after waiting for 8 hours had to be aborted.
Unfortunately, this is not isolated, this has been happening in the past.
So just in the past week, we were not able to read Shifa on the four consecutive basis.
A number of access requests in in August have doubled the the requests that have been denied in August, the number have been double than what has been previously.
So just just shows really how difficult it is for our teams to get.
We try on a daily basis to get to reach hospitals, to reach field hospitals, to bring fuel, to bring water, to bring medical supplies to, to, to transfer patients from point A to point B.
And in many of these instances there are delays and we are unable and we have to go back.
And that's because there is no really a functioning deconfliction mechanism.
And yes, can talk more about it.
Basically all this is always being agreed in advance.
But then there are there are delays and sometimes because of the long delay, long delay, sorry, we have to, we have to go back.
So there is a problem of of, of, of fuel in the north of Gaza.
So we heard for example from Indonesian hospital, because of the lack of fuel, they had to stop some of the services and, and Palestinian Red Crescent was also saying that they are running really on the minimum activities in their health centre.
So we need access, we need to be able to to get to these places always just one, one operation.
The health needs in Gaza are immense and going well beyond polio.
We need to bring supplies.
We heard from health centres in Gaza that that many essential medicines are lacking in health centres such as insulin, that that some some routine immunisation vaccines are are are are running low in supplies.
So we need to be able to get things in and to move to health centres and to hospitals.
And for this we need all parties to let us do this.
And, and again, I'm just trying to imagine how it is for our staff, for Palestinian health workers, for other young colleagues waiting for hours at the, at the, at the, at the holding point or at the checkpoint in active war zone.
So, so really we have to recognise the efforts that are being done.
No, it wasn't a follow up.
Chris, I just had a could you clarify because you were saying that we asked both parties to, you know, to facilitate the, the, the fact that you can go to the hospitals.
Are there any checkpoints, is it only Israeli checkpoints that stop you or are there checkpoints by Hamas or any other Islamic group that is active in in Gaza?
And the other question is, are you only Hanford moving when you try to go to hospitals or how much is the polio campaign affected by that in the in the north or not at all?
Can they just go through?
Well, again, as you will recall, there was agreement to have a humanitarian pose for the for the polio.
Some of the areas in the northern part of Gaza that fall under evacuation order should be part of this humanitarian pose.
So, so we really again appeal to all parties to continue to ensure that that humanitarian poses are respected during this campaign.
But again, it's the issue is, is much wider checkpoints are are manned by by Israeli army.
We are in touch with them.
We are trying to always say this is the confliction mechanism is basically saying to everyone, we go from point A to point B at that time on that day.
Can we make sure that we that we get there in time.
But we have seen in past 11 months that that this is not functioning as we would like to.
And therefore we get these delays, we get aborted missions and and finally that results in a, in a, in a, in a hospitals being unable to function properly, not being supplied with everything they need and ultimately civilians that are that are paying price.
Let's go to the platform that doesn't see other hands here.
So Jeremy, yes, thank you.
Hi Jeremy for the French Republic Radio.
I want to elaborate a bit more on the vaccination campaign.
Can you just give us a couple of updated figures and, and to bandwagon and what Chris have just said, Does it mean that the lack of fuel mean that at some point you will have to choose between getting the fuel to the the vehicles that are helping the the vaccination campaign or getting the fuel to the hospitals to get the generators functioning and the routine immunisation keep going up?
So, so do you have, are you asking you yourself this question right now?
Where does the fuel need to go?
Is it the polio campaign or generators in hospitals?
Regarding the the numbers you have seen Doctor Tetras talked about numbers.
So we managed to vaccinate over 446,000 children in the 1st 2 phases in Central Gaza and in South Gaza.
We estimate that the number overall number of children to be vaccinated is around 640,000.
So this remaining 200,000 or so in in north of Gaza and again, this is the first dose in four weeks.
We would need to repeat all of that to to to all of these children to get a second dose.
Now, when it comes to fuel, this is this has been issued from from the very beginning.
And it's not really just hopefully sure, it's basically Palestinian authorities who have to see how to use the little bit of a, of a fuel they have.
And I'm sure Yens can speak more about that.
Whether you use your fuel to to make bakeries functioning to use for desalina tion plants.
So you you get a a clean water or you use in hospitals.
And then, you know, hospitals quite often health workers have been faced with this challenge on how best to use the little fuel they have.
And I just was mentioning that the case of the Indonesian hospital who infused the past few days had to stop some services so they could prolong working hours for other services.
And these are difficult choices.
And these are these are choices that health workers should never be making.
Health workers should have all necessary conditions to perform life saving activities they do so again it's it's really the issue of fuel is much broader than just this.
We do our best and we will try again today to bring fuel bold for Al Shiba hospital that you will remember somehow resumed its activities from from late July and for the for the polio for the polio vaccination campaign.
But for that again, we need we need the access and, and again, it's the polio campaign is important, but there's so many other health issues that people of Gaza are facing and and hospitals need to provide all this range of health services.
We try to do the best we can, but again, if we if we can't, if we have to stop for hours at at checkpoints, at holding points and and lose the day, well, that's, that's that's not helpful.
If you are muted, then we cannot hear you.
It means we have a problem.
Making me science that there must be something wrong.
Maybe now you are muted again.
Try No, I'm sorry, Nick, I don't know if you want to disconnect and reconnect or just ask your questions in the note in the chat.
I I can read it to Tariq for you.
Maybe while we're doing this, let me ask if anyone else has questions, whether it's for Yens or for Tariq, I don't see hands up.
In fact, this is Nick using Gorgies.
Most important thing is that we can hear you.
Kindly just clarify for me the the details of the convoys that didn't get in in August.
I didn't kind of catch how many had been refused.
And the convoy that was denied yesterday that waited 8 hours, was that carrying?
Was it carrying medicine and fuel or, or could you just clarify those details for me?
Yes, maybe Tarik, I don't know if you want to say something otherwise said maybe Yan's can compliment.
So we had basically two teams.
There was a, there was a mission carrying fuel for hospitals and vehicles for the polio campaign as well as what we call campaign monitoring experts.
So that was the one part.
And the other part was, was our mission to, to Shifa Hospital where we were trying really to, to get everything that Al Shifa Hospital is needing.
And again, this is not isolated.
It's like we, as I said, we have been trying to get to Al Shifa Hospital between 7th and 7th and 10th September for four times and, and, and we were, we were unable and we will try again today.
So we do really our best.
But this is a, a pattern.
And as I said in August, the number of denied requests for access doubled comparing to previous months.
So, so again, we will, we will do our best.
But from the what I hear from the from our colleagues is that the campaign in north of Gaza has has started today and will go on for three days.
Nick, if I understood your question correctly, it is about convoy movements to the north.
During the month of August, there were a total of 208 attempts.
74 of them were facilitated, means that they went to the north and delivered what they had to deliver.
44 were impeded, which means they were blocked or delayed on the ground, resulting in some of them being aborted.
72 out of them were flatly denied and eighteen of them were withdrawn by our side due to logistical, operational or security reasons.
Thanks for these details.
IANS other questions whether on Gaza or other issues whether to Tariq or Yanz, I don't see any.
So Yanz, thank you very much.
Tariq, thank you very much.
Can I just sorry, can I just clarify one thing I think it was next question.
Those two convoys, so 1 you said for fuel and one for Shifa, but one of them was turned back and one of them got through.
Could you just make that doubly clear, Tarek, thank you.
No, my understanding is that they were together the holding point and after hours of waiting they all got back.
So, so it, it happens often that we go together and we we did several teams trying to do different missions, but they are physically together.
So my understanding is that both of those teams have been have been back to the to the to the UN base because because of the of the weighting and delays.
Thank you very much, Tarek.
And now let me turn to my left.
For once, we have a good news, isn't it, Thomas?
Let me begin first by by expressing a few comments on the updates from Chad, because again, this is an example of water impacts of climate change.
We have increasingly, we're increasingly seeing floods and droughts around the world, as you all know, in shared basins.
Working together across borders is fundamental to addressing these in the long term.
And that is precisely why countries are increasingly looking to a United Nations treaty called the Water Convention to address these.
Indeed, reinforcing cross-border corporation helps countries to jointly and jointly develop and implement climate change adaptation strategies, which are key to reduce the risks of droughts and flooding, which costs African countries alone between 2 and 9% of their GDP.
Now, I would just mention that Chad was in fact the first African nation to join this treaty and has been working since then to to strengthen its water management at national level and across borders.
And flood management is one of the ongoing areas of work.
So I will leave that there and then move on to our update.
The good news which Alexandra shared, and that is that Zambia has become the latest country to join this treaty.
Now this comes in response to severe drought and water scarcity issues.
Zambia has joined the United Nations Water Convention to improve its water management both within and across borders.
The country, which declared a national crisis and emergency in February this year due to a drought that has severely impacted food and energy supplies for its population of 21 million people, sits within the cross-border Zambezi and Congo river basins.
Zambia is the 55th country and the 12th from Africa to join the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, known for short as the United Nations Water Convention.
Zambia follows closely the accessions of Cote d'Ivoire and Zimbabwe in July, as you may recall, and this further consolidated the strong momentum for water corporation, especially in Africa where more than 90% of freshwater sits in transboundary rivers, lakes and groundwater reserves.
Over 1/3 of all 153 countries worldwide sharing water resources are now party to this UN treaty, United Nations Water Convention in Southern Africa.
Zambia is not alone in facing water in facing such water challenges.
The region is facing extreme water stress and several countries have declared national drought emergencies in the past year.
This is an important driver of the strong political momentum for cooperation, which translates as increasing interest and accessions in and to the water convention.
Alongside Namibia as the first country in the region and it was in 2023, and Zimbabwe in 2024, Botswana and Tanzania are currently in the accession process, while Malawi has also indicated its readiness.
So we see this is part of a much bigger picture of of rising momentum.
Now this creates the enabling conditions for others to join and to maximise the relevance and usefulness of this treaty.
Zambia's accession comes ahead of the key global meeting on water cooperation, which is the 10th session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Water Convention which will take place in Lubiana, Slovenia on the 25th to 23rd to 25th of October.
And this is expected to further catalyse this momentum for water corporation worldwide.
And just a quick reminder that being a party to the Convention requires countries to prevent, control and reduce negative impacts on water quality and quantity across borders, to use shared waters in a reasonable and equitable way, and to ensure their sustainable management through cooperation.
Parties bordering the same transboundary waters are obliged to cooperate by concluding specific agreements and establishing joint bodies.
And the Convention has already been supporting Zimbabwe to do just that.
Thank you very much, Thomas and me.
See if there are questions for you in the room or online.
And as I said, we need good news from time to time.
The fact that it has a regional component is, is really important.
I'll turn now to Katrina.
Pedro Manuel Moreno, coordinator, due programme.
The September worktop analysis of economic Socio Economic.
You also have an announcement of a press conference.
I just want to go back to the issue of climate change, which Ian's colleagues have mentioned in relation to the floods in China.
Sorry, the floods in Chad, which have ravaged so much agriculture land, killed a lot of cattle and may lead to chronic food shortage.
And you may have heard that in Vietnam, there were some, there were deadly typhoons, most powerful typhoon in, in 30 years, which scientists are linking to the warming climate.
So in, in light of all of this, I'm very pleased to to share with you that on the 12th of September, which is Thursday, we'll be holding our press conference to introduce and brief on the 2024 to 2026 World Social Protection Report of the ILO.
And this year we're looking at the role of universal social in climate action, green transition and and protecting workers and communities.
This report is is particularly important given everything we're seeing in relation to the climate crisis and the most impacted people and communities in the world by the climate crisis.
So what is the role of things like health benefits, unemployment benefits, emergency funds and so on in helping to cushion people and communities and protect them from some of the worst impacts of climate change?
And what role does universal social protection play in ensuring that we have a sustainable transition into a low carbon green economy?
Those are the things we're going to be looking at.
And more specifically, we're going to be bringing you fresh data and analysis that looks at some of the most climate countries and regions in the world.
And we will be looking at that and looking at who among them has social protection and how much social protection they have.
And there are some very interesting findings that you will probably see the, the, the press conference is taking place, as I mentioned on the 12th, which is a Thursday.
It's the report will be presented by our Assistant Director General, Mia Seppo, and it's going to be taking place at 10:30 CET local time, which is 830 GMT.
The report and all associated material will be under embargo until 11:30 local time.
You will be receiving, it may have happened this morning because I'm not having looked at my e-mail, but you will be receiving the executive summary, the press release, as well as the English version of the report under embargo today via e-mail.
So, so that's what we will be presenting at our press conference on the 12th.
Thank you very much, Merci Boku.
Questions to ILO in the room or on the platform, John.
I was wondering if it's possible to get a link to the full report rather than the executive summary.
Yes, indeed, you'll be getting the English version of the report.
You'll you'll get the executive summary in multiple languages.
This time we've gone beyond Spanish and English and French and English, but you'll be getting the English.
The English is ready today, so for sure we'll share that.
So thank you very much, Dana.
Good luck with the press conference.
I also have one more press conference.
You've just received the invitation.
As you know, the Summit of the Future will take place at the UN headquarters on 22nd and 23rd of September ahead of the week of the general debate.
And the, the the summit will be preceded by what we call the Summit of the Future Action Days, which will take place on the 20th, on the 21st of September.
The invitation we've just sent you is to a press briefing at UN headquarters by Guy Ryder, the Under Secretary General for policy, who's also the UN lead for the summit.
And he will give you a, a brief presentation on the programme and objective of the summit.
This is happening in New York, but it's a hybrid press conference and the Geneva accredited correspondents have been invited to join online.
So you have the link in the invitation we've just sent you.
This is tomorrow at 4:30 Geneva time, 1030 New York time.
And you also have the a link to the website of the Summit of the Future.
And don't hesitate to ask us if you have more questions on the summit or on the briefing by USG Ryder.
Also reminder that the Committee on the Rights of the Child will conclude next Friday, 13th September, it's 97th session, and issue concluding observation on the six countries they have examined, which where I remind you, Bahrain, Turkmenistan, Mexico, Argentina, Israel and Armenia.
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is concluding this morning the review of the report of Iceland and this afternoon we'll start the report to consider the report on Poland.
And this morning the Conference on Disarmament is holding a plenary public meeting before officially closing it's annual session next Friday.
The 13th September is yet to adopt it's annual report.
And that's what I had for you since I don't see other hands up.
Thank you very much and I'll see you on Friday.
