very good morning. And thank you for joining us here at the Palais
The UN office at Geneva. For this press briefing today, the 17th of September.
We have another very busy agenda for you. We have
an update a global assessment report on disaster risk reduction.
We have the human rights situation in Myanmar.
We have floods in Nigeria,
floods in Central Europe and also an announcement
from WHO on International Snake Bite Awareness Day.
We'll start off immediately with, uh, James rode
But first, actually, Liz,
maybe you'll start off Liz from the office of the High Commission for Human Rights.
Hever is with us. Who is the head of the Myanmar team who's joining us?
It'll give us an update on the human rights situation in that country. But first, Liz
Yes. Good morning, everyone.
This morning our office has published its latest
report on the human rights situation in Myanmar
detailing a range of serious violations
that continue to underscore the deepening crisis
and lack of rule of law throughout the country.
Since the coup on 1st February 2021
at least 5350 civilians have been killed.
More than 3.3 million displaced
and over half the population are living below the poverty line,
primarily due to military violence, according to the report.
The report looks at the devastating impact of the violence,
destruction and deprivation on people's mental health
as well as the regression in economic and social rights,
which is precipitating further economic decline.
young people who provide the key to Myanmar's future are fleeing abroad
to escape being forced to serve in or fight for the military.
The report also documents the vast scope of detentions undertaken by the military.
Nearly 27,400 individuals have been arrested since the coup,
with arrests on the rise since the military's
implementation of mandatory conscription in February 2024.
Credible sources indicate that at least
1853 have died in custody,
including 88 Children and 125 women.
Many of these individuals have been verified as
dying after being subjected to abusive interrogation,
other ill treatment in detention or denial of access to adequate healthcare,
all those responsible for gross human rights
violations and serious violations of international humanitarian law
must be held accountable.
The lack of any form of accountability for perpetrators
is an enabler for the repetition of violations,
The enormity of the challenges Myanmar is facing
and will face in the years ahead to ensure respect for
the rule of law and functional justice institutions is daunting.
In the light of the above findings, High Commissioner Folk
calls on the UN Security Council to refer
the full scope of the current situation in Myanmar
to the International Criminal Court.
He reiterates his calls for an end to the violence and
for the immediate and unconditional release of all those arbitrarily detained.
Equally important for the future of Myanmar and its people,
the grass roots efforts of civil society and community based organisations to
provide essential services including mental health
care should also be specifically supported.
I'll leave it there. We will be issuing the full note I now hand over to James Rode have
to add his details and of course, to take your questions. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Liz and Rolando. It's a real pleasure to be here with all of you.
Uh, as uh, Liz described, uh, the
the report that we've put out today
really is showing the extent to which Myanmar is
plumbing the depths of a human rights abyss.
And, uh, it really is tries to encapsulate,
uh, the human rights developments really over the last 15 months.
Uh, this is a comprehensive report
that was requested by the Human Rights Council.
So the last time we, uh, released a report of this nature was, uh, in, uh, March of, uh,
So in that intervening period, many things have happened as Liz already described,
there is a a real deterioration due to violence and armed conflict in the country.
The other side of that coin, however,
is that there are massive regressions in human rights that
have been provoked by a vacuum of rule of law.
And that is something that the report tries to highlight,
uh, in great detail. Uh, it is how the Myanmar military has created the crisis
criminalising nearly all forms of dissent against
its attempts to rule the country.
Uh, it also has utilised the law enforcement and justice systems,
uh, to conduct mass arrest campaigns.
And one of the things we make clear in the report
is that even though many people assume
that, uh, the arrests, the mass arrests were really a feature of, uh, 2021 and 2022
uh, throughout the country,
over a third of the over 27,000 individuals that have been arrested,
uh, for expressing dissent against the military.
Uh, those arrests have been verified in the period of that is, uh, uh in
Uh, so it is a phenomenon that still exists.
But then, of course, you have what happens to those people once they are arrested.
lengthy periods of pretrial detention in
detention facilities that have horrific conditions.
And then, of course, you have the pervasive use of torture
Detainees interviewed by our office describe methods
such as being suspended from the ceiling
being forced to kneel or crawl on hard or sharp objects.
The introduction of animals such as snakes or insects or other, uh, you know,
In order to provoke fear and terror
beating people with iron poles, bamboo sticks, batons,
rifle butts, leather strips, electric wires, motorcycle chains,
uh, asphyxiation, mock mock executions, electrocution
and burning with tasers, lighters, cigarettes
utilised as methods of torture in these detention centres.
Um, and there are, of course,
extremely disturbing reports that we've also received
of the use of sexual violence
both against male and female detainees.
And these are incredibly difficult cases to, uh, to confirm.
Uh, but we have gotten such a number and such descriptions of these violations,
we simply cannot ignore them.
the sort of the breadth of what we are calling the vacuum of rule of law in the country,
the heavy handed uses of justice institutions showing
that they are not bound by the rule of law whatsoever.
what we are encapsulating in the report
is this persistent regression of human rights
in almost every area in the full spectrum of rights.
And so I'll leave it at that. And I'm happy to take questions.
Thank you. Both Liz and James, for that sobering
information and for sharing the notes.
We'll start off with questions in the room first, and we have a couple online.
But let's start off with Christiane of the German News Agency.
Thank you very much. It's just for housekeeping.
I'm not sure what report you are talking about. We didn't get any
and I can see one on the website that's dated 11. July. Is that the one?
Uh, no. This is a a report that is being published today. This is the latest report.
That is, um, you know, of of the high Commissioner to the Human Rights Council.
and it will be delivered at the council on
the 23rd of September in an interactive dialogue.
uh, online and made publicly available today.
Should have been put up as of 9 a.m. It was when it should been made available.
We can add the link to the note that we send out as a matter of course.
So my colleagues will be listening in, and they can do that immediately.
Uh, other questions in the room before we go online.
No. OK, let's then turn to Gabby. Gabriella, Nice to see you.
Uh, Sotomayor of El Proceso.
Hola. I'm very happy to be here too.
the the situation that you are telling us is horrific
lack of human rights, but lack of, uh, humanity.
what does the government of Myanmar think about your your report?
Are you in contact with them?
Uh, what do they say about all these accusations that you are making?
Uh, and after I have two questions of another subject. Please don't,
uh, when we finish Myanmar,
sure we'll go. I'll come back to you, Gabby, for the other subjects.
But let's, uh maybe, James, you wanna start us off? Yeah,
I I don't have any comments about the government of Myanmar because there is none.
Um, they they you have a military,
Uh, that is not recognised either by the United Nations. Uh uh,
or by the vast majority of member states and therefore, you know,
we we do not call them a government.
Uh, they are in control of less than 40% of the country at this point,
and they are constantly losing ground,
uh, to a variety of armed groups. operating throughout the country.
Um, including in, you know, most recently in Rakhine state and in Shan
state, where they've been pushed back, uh,
really to To the very fringes of both of those ethnic states.
uh, of territory. And of course,
they've lost any credibility with the people of Myanmar.
Now, we do, uh, share, uh, our reports with them, uh, before they are published.
Uh, we have frequently asked them for inputs
in our reports, uh, by communicating through, you know, their their diplomatic,
you know what they think of our reports, they always deny them, uh,
they they have an official mouthpiece or an official publication that
they put out daily called the Global New Light of Myanmar.
And any criticism of their human rights record is always decried
and, uh, dismissed summarily in that publication.
Thank you. James Isabel of Spanish News Agency. Isabel.
Yes. Good morning, Isabel for FA.
could you describe, please the situation,
the living conditions of the population in the 60% of the country that are not, uh,
under the control of the of the military run the government
how they satisfies the fundamental essential,
how are the public services, if any, running, Uh, health education.
I don't know how to say, but I agree with what is happening in the sense that,
uh as is they They feel the the different, uh, armed groups as Liberators
Well, the the of course the
one of the the the big impacts of this crisis that when the military sees power
was a collapse of public services because a lot of the resistance
to the military was firstly and foremost fueled by the civil service.
And, uh, particularly the teachers, doctors
and, um, and and lawyers, uh, in the country Trade unionists, uh, as well.
And so you had many sectors of the governmental authority, uh,
simply were unable to provide services from their
there on out because their employees stopped working.
and even though the the the military threatened many civil
servants with consequences if they did not return to work,
uh, many of them never did return.
many of the schools do not operate now in these areas where
the ethnic armed groups and other groups are are in control.
Uh, it's it's a very difficult situation.
Uh, you have public services primarily being provided by civil
society and by humanitarian organisations.
Uh, in some cases, you have the national unity government or other, uh,
localised gover, uh, governmental entities that are, uh,
run or public service entities being run by the, uh,
armed groups that provide some basic services.
But throughout the country, I think you can describe this as a real humanitarian
catastrophe in the making.
You have over, uh, 18.6 million people assessed to be in humanitarian need
uh, that are food insecure.
the vast majority of people that are accessible to the
humanitarians are those who are not in conflict affected areas.
And one of the things the report talks about is that since
lot of the country is in conflict.
But one of the things the military has been very effective at is D
is denying humanitarians access to those areas where people are in greatest need.
Right now, you have the situation in Rakhine state
where the military is fighting the
and no one is really taking
provide extra protection or or attention to ensure access by the humanitarians.
And so you have huge segments of the displaced population.
Over 300,000 newly displaced individuals that
are are getting very little if no food assistance,
they there is starvation. There is,
uh, you know, uh, health epidemics, watery diarrhoea, Uh, you know, uh, serious,
you know, health problems manifesting themselves throughout, uh,
the conflict affected areas of Rakhine state.
And that includes the Rohingya population. Which is of course,
you know, they are the ones who always end up getting a lot of attention and focus,
you know, they, of course, have been specially targeted
by, uh, by the by the military at times by the
And so they're in a dire situation.
Uh, but one of the things we do try to do in the report is spell out,
uh, how in certain areas of the country you do have local community efforts
services, particularly in this report.
We talk about mental health services because there is
such an acute need with such a wide range
of human rights violations.
mental health support. Because trauma is so acute.
we talked about governmental and governance being provided,
uh, by by local entities as well. So there is a a real grassroots effort
to sort of pick up the slack
you don't have a civil service or a functional government.
Civil society is stepping into the fore.
Yes, I lost the part where,
um who is not allowing the international humanitarian access to people,
um, is both are armed groups or the military government or what?
In some cases, it's both, but it's primarily the military.
Because, of course, the military is, uh, still controlling, you know, the ports.
they, uh of course, the humanitarians are based in, uh, you know,
the the the the larger towns and and cities
with most of which are controlled by the military.
uh, they need the military.
they need a guarantee that their their staff will not
be targeted if they go out to deliver aid.
But then they also have to get travel authorizations.
They have to be able to get customs clearances.
They have to be allowed to, uh,
to to conduct bank transfers in order to pay for this is the assistance.
the military has restricted a lot of that to make it nearly impossible.
Now in recent weeks, you all are in recent months.
You have the phenomenon, too,
where a lot of humanitarian storage facilities are being targeted.
They're being looted and sacked and in some cases, then burned thereafter.
And at times it's hard to know for certain
who is doing that. But we do know in some cases the military has done it.
We suspect in other cases there might be other actors behind it as well,
maybe even criminal actors.
But the thing is, humanitarians are not being given that open access to meet
really dire needs of the people.
Thank you very much, James. OK, we'll go online now.
Uh, Maya, Plant of the UN brief has a question.
Good morning. Thank you for taking my question.
Rolando, My question is about, uh, Facebook is Facebook, and Twitter is still
being used in the country. Uh, as it was, uh, established by a UN.
Uh uh, uh, human rights office report, Uh, a while back, Uh,
the violence towards the Rohingya,
made through the platform Facebook,
Uh, which is actually the sole and was the sole provider of access to the Internet.
And what does the report says about questions
of this tech company's role in contributing to
the violence in real life and also the peace and security situation?
This is not new. It is. Does it continue? And also,
during the 2017 violence wave, there was, um,
that displaced 700,000 people. Facebook did not have an office in the country
nor moderators in the local language.
well, just we we don't say much about,
uh how about hate speech and and how social media is being used to stoke, uh,
violence in in this particular report.
is first of all, the way in which communications and social media
Um, you know, there is a heavy surveillance now of people that use social media.
There are attempts to ban VPN, S and other.
Uh, you know security software that allows people to use, you know,
social media anonymously.
there are the massive areas of the country
that have been blacked out from any communications.
And that is actually one of the ways that the military, uh,
again tries to keep people from being able to run away or to seek protection.
Uh, is to cut off communications, uh, of any sort.
Uh, they they they cut off mobile data,
Internet service provisions and in some cases,
uh, you know, phone lines.
And they do that specifically to keep, uh, you know,
people from being able to flee or to run away.
They also try to do it to disrupt the communications of their of their, uh,
of their opponent armed opponents as well.
But what does also is it makes it very difficult at
times to get information out about violations whenever they occur.
And of course, uh, since the military is using airstrikes, artillery strikes,
not only are the military but also the the armed
groups are using drones to conduct large scale attacks.
civilian casualties result at a at levels that Myanmar has never seen before.
Uh, but it's very hard to verify
the extent of a lot of those attacks
because of these shutdowns of communication.
Now the military has done other things to
also stoke racial tensions and inter ethnic tensions.
And they've done that through, uh, introducing, for example,
uh, going to, for example, the Rohingya community.
And we've talked about this in the past in
past reports where they are essentially going to the Rohingya
and if you don't fight for us,
we will make sure you don't get food.
We will make sure that you don't get services of any sort.
But if you do fight for us, maybe we'll consider things like,
uh, giving you educational opportunities or money or, uh or even citizenship.
have played upon the fears and desires of different ethnic communities.
Because now you have one community fighting against another
because they feel that they either have no choice
or because they're being enticed to do it.
Great. Thank you very much. OK, we have a question for Nick of The New York Times.
thanks. Um, and hi, James. Good to see you in. Back in, in Geneva.
two questions, um, in relation to sexual violence.
is this being perpetrated? Uh, mainly by the military.
Uh, and is it kind of just random brutality by units in the field,
Or are you seeing this as as something that's more systematic?
Um, and something that's also being, uh, undertaken by
prison authorities themselves who who aren't necessarily military.
um, the vacuum in law and order that you discussed. Um ho, how far does that also apply
in the 60% of the country,
the control of different, uh, ethnic armed entities?
There have been some pretty disturbing reports about human rights violations.
um, and we also saw the drone attack on the Rohingya,
which I think was attributed mainly to a A.
So how much is that? A concern also in on
the part of your office. Thanks.
I mean, the report covers sexual violence as it's being used in detention,
particularly as a form of torture or a form of coercion.
And so that is, is how the report talks about it.
Now we receive reports and allegations
that it is happening as well.
Uh, in in diff on the ground, uh, during ground operations by different troops. Um,
at times it's hard to know you know who the perpetrators are, but,
uh, we have most of our reports have been about this being used by the military
and that includes in recent attacks in Rakhine state, uh, including, uh,
and and other and other, uh, areas of of Rakhine state.
the problem, though, is again these communications cut offs.
And of course, you know, anytime you're dealing with victims of sexual violence,
it's very difficult to interview them in a
responsible way that that really does no harm,
particularly whenever you're not there with the victim and
you can't refer them to medical help or,
you know, psycho social services or other things.
at times it's very hard to know the full extent
of of first of all the veracity of the reports, but also the extent to which they are
systematically happening.
So we we haven't been as categorical as we should be.
Um, if we did have access to the ground or could be if we had access on the ground
you know, the the extent of the vacuum of rule of law.
I mean, yes, there, there there is a problem.
I think throughout the country, each armed group
sort of provides, uh, you know,
police service or a security service in their own way.
uh, you know, parallel police force that covers,
you know, all of these 60% of the areas. So
what's being done right now is is is very ad hoc.
And And that, of course, is dangerous because,
you know, there are a lot of fir. First of all, they're in combat.
There are a lot of soldiers that end up surrendering.
And so how they're being treated in detention,
you know how they're being, You know that that is very much a blind spot that we have,
but then also how they enforce. You know, security on the ground with civilians is,
uh it's It's hard to know at times because when you
do talk to the civilians in some of these areas.
They don't want to talk about these groups that they do see as having
liberated them from the military.
that their security still has not improved appreciably?
Uh, or as much as you would like.
Thank you very much, James. We'll take one last question.
We do have our guest is in the room, Um, initially our first briefer, but, uh,
we have time for maybe one last question, Gabby, uh, once again,
this is still on me and Marius.
In that case, uh, let's, um we've exhausted the questions and thank you very much,
you're welcome to come back any time. It's nice to see you, my friend
Uh, I think you'll be sticking around,
but thank you very much for your intervention as well.
But if we could now ask our guests to join us here on the podium,
the question is question is for Liz. OK, so let's take the question to Liz.
And then maybe in the meantime, sir, if you can have a seat here, so Yeah.
Pose your question to Liz. Thank you very much.
Gabby. Uh, question for Liz. Go ahead.
President Lopez Obrador proposed a change in constitution
that says that judges should should be elected by popular vote.
Parliamentarians from opposition were against with this reform,
some of them were harassed,
and they have to vote in favour of this reform.
There are human rights defenders and everything that says that this
reform is against the democracy and the independence of powers.
So I would like to know your comments on that.
if May I a second question on another issue is Cuba.
There are more than 1000 of political prisoners in Cuba.
and they have been forgotten. Do you know
their conditions? They are living.
1000 of political prisoners is a lot.
It's lovely to take questions from you again after some considerable time.
If I may just wrap up on my you should all have received our briefing note.
And that does have a link to the report at the bottom of it.
as you know, Gabriela, because we've engaged with you on this. Previously,
the UN Human rights Office has been closely following
the judicial reforms in Mexico
and expressed concern about aspects that could impact judicial independence.
Our office in Mexico has engaged consistently throughout the process.
On this, it's been extensive engagement. In fact,
they've issued letters, they've made public statements,
they've had direct communication with the authorities with civil society.
A recent example of this is that the head of
the Mexico office in mid August addressed a meeting,
an international meeting about judicial independence that
was organised with the Supreme Court.
this is an issue that we have been following and we are concerned about.
An independent judiciary is clearly key to defending the Constitution,
guaranteeing human rights,
protecting minorities and safeguarding the separation and balance of powers.
And this is an absolute fundamental principle. It's fundamental to the rule of law
we've been engaged on this and the
UN human rights officer remains committed to providing
technical assistance to strengthen the protection of
human rights and judicial independence in Mexico,
So we are aware of this development.
We are aware of how serious it is and how it has sparked intense debates,
Our office continues to engage. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Liz, I appreciate those comments.
OK, I think Cuba, You had a question as well. Yes.
Thank you for that, Gabriela.
I think my answer is actually going to confirm what you said.
We are aware that there are people who have been detained in Cuba.
They are classified as political prisoners. You say they're not in the news.
check with colleagues further on what we have.
We do remind the authorities of the need to abide
by international standards to the right to freedom of expression,
association, assembly as well as media freedom.
But thank you. That is a very timely question. Thank you, Gabriela.
Thank you. Once again, Liz, uh,
and thanks Gabby, for the questions.
OK, now, I'm very grateful to have, uh, on my left here. Mr. Kamel Kishore.
He's a special representative of the UN Secretary General
for disaster risk reduction and the head of the UN DRR. Uh,
he is going to address a global assessment
report on disaster risk reduction over to you,
Thank you very much for this opportunity.
I'm Kamal Kishore from the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.
I recently started my new assignment as
the special representative of the Secretary General and the head of
I am here to talk to you about
an important report that we are going to launch tomorrow.
But just as a background,
I would like to highlight that globally
disasters are increasing in frequency
many of them related to effects of climate change,
but also related to geophysical hazards such as
A lot of that there is disasters.
The impact of these disasters is also being
driven by increasing exposure and increasing vulnerability,
meaning more people living in the way of natural hazards
and them being vulnerable.
So so that is the kind of context in which we are operating.
I would like to say that from
the first message that we want to convey through all our work
is that there are no natural disasters.
We we would like to take naturalness out of so called natural disasters
it is inevitable that typhoon cyclones and hurricanes would occur.
It is inevitable that earthquakes would occur,
entirely. It's entirely not inevitable that they should lead to
or livelihoods at a large scale. If we build
resilience into our development systems, we can reduce the losses by
an order of magnitude. We've accomplished that
in a number of events, you know, for a number of hazards in many parts of the world.
South Asia, for example, Bangladesh and India,
the losses that occur from cyclones, particularly in terms of mortality,
are 98% less than what they were 15 or 20 years ago,
we heard what happened in Cyclone Beryl. In Caribbean,
the losses are enormous, but when you look at mortality,
it's in single digits in most countries.
And that would not have been the situation if
the same event had occurred 20 years ago.
So the message is that if we get
our resilience building efforts right,
if we make the right kind of development choices we invest in resilience,
then it is entirely possible to reduce losses to a great extent.
Losses both in terms of loss of lives as well as loss of livelihoods.
and further amplifying this narrative.
The special report that we will launch today
Tomorrow, which is called Global Assessment Report. Special Edition 2024
is essentially looking at last eight years,
looking at last eight years and 10 major events
and doing a forensic analysis of what really happened.
Why were the losses so high
and what measures that were taken to reduce losses,
what measures worked in reducing losses
and what measures can be further improved or modified?
So I think that is the purpose.
each and every disaster is too precious to waste.
We must use every disaster to draw lessons.
We should do a sober, deep technical analysis of the underlying factors.
Not only the proximate causes, not just high intensity of rainfall,
not just high wind speed, but why is it that houses
were destroyed? Why were they not built properly? Was the
land use planning done correctly so that people were not living in the flood plains?
Did we implement earthquake resistant building codes?
If they were not implemented, why were they not implemented
was the lack of capacity.
So I think we really need to do a deeper analysis and
really commit ourselves to building back better to a resilient recovery.
A resilient recovery cannot happen if you do not understand
in the first place why the losses were so high.
So we are advancing this methodology of looking at
understanding not just the superficial causes but
underlying drivers of risk and addressing them
so that we can build resilience for the future.
This is a special report.
We produce global assessment reports every three years since 2009,
which provide state of the state of the art knowledge on disaster risk reduction,
that governments across the world can use for informing policy making
so that they can build resilience to disasters.
This is a special edition which is
in such a way that it is a contribution to the
broader dialogue in the context of the summit of the future
summit of the future. One key theme is building resilience for the future
and addressing risks in a comprehensive way from the
side. This is a contribution to that discourse. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, sir. OK, Do we have questions for Mr
Kishore? Either in the room or online?
Yes. Sorry. And yes, The French News Agency.
I wanted to ask you if you will send us the report at our embargo
so we can get the conclusions.
Because I can imagine that if this briefing now is on the record,
you cannot share now the conclusions to us.
So, uh, the report will be launched tomorrow,
but an embargoed version can be shared with you.
And I note that, uh, Janette is in the back of the room,
so if you can liaise with her on how to get that report uh, Isabel
will. The launch will be in New York.
It it will be here. It's, uh, tomorrow.
OK, do you have further questions?
No, I think you are very comprehensive.
And it was really a great privilege to have you here to present this report.
And, um, there is some good news.
It sounds like and it sounds like it's a very, very detailed report which I'm sure
you all look forward to reading. So thanks in advance for sharing that with us.
Uh, Jeanette and thank you very much. Mr Kishore.
You're always welcome to come back here. Thank you so very much.
Ok, we're going to switch now to, um,
We have, uh, a representative from UN HCR, the UN refugee agency,
who's joining us from Abuja, Nigeria. Who's going to talk about floods?
We just heard a little bit about
So we're going to now switch to floods.
We also have another subject of floods coming up just afterwards in Central Europe.
But now we'll hear from Mr
who is your initial as representative of Nigeria, Joining us again from Abuja.
Uh, I think we have a crisis within a crisis here. Uh, that I'd like to talk about,
go ahead. We can hear you perfectly well. Now we just lost your audio.
Uh, we have a crisis within a crisis.
Uh, I would like to focus on Nigeria,
but also try to underscore that this is a crisis that is affecting
other parts of West Africa, including Chad
and ***, amongst other countries.
I'm afraid, uh, maybe the bandwidth isn't very good. We don't hear you. Maybe, um,
yeah. I think we may have to cut the video. I'm afraid colleagues.
Uh, let's try again without the video.
We heard you just before.
No, we're not getting anything for the moment.
We'll just give it another second,
OK? I think he OK. Arjun, are you, um
I'm online, OK? Yeah. Let's if you don't mind starting from the beginning.
I think I'm afraid we won't be able to do the video because of the bandwidth.
Perhaps over to you, then.
I think we're talking about a crisis within a crisis affecting not just Nigeria,
but also countries like Chad,
*** and the neighbourhood of West Africa.
we have almost half the country affected by massive flooding.
Uh, Maiduguri, which is a large city
in the northeast of Nigeria, is currently the epicentre of the crisis.
Uh, when our dam recently broke, uh, and impacted,
Uh, the city, uh, 400 are According to the government,
we have a million people affected across the country.
Uh, and in Maiduguri itself, 400,000 people have been displaced.
These are communities that have been impacted by 10 years of conflict.
Armed militia groups that were, uh, that were displacing
hundreds of thousands of families in that region for the past decade.
Uh, more recently, UNICEF
a severe malnutrition crisis that resulted in the
deaths of around 100 Children an hour.
Uh, and we have a massive, um
uh, depreciation of the naira resulting within a crisis of the crisis
within a crisis. And now we have the floods.
So we are talking about an extremely fragile community here.
Our own teams that were affected by the floods and have lost quite a bit,
including some of them who have lost their houses
have been on the ground assisting communities, uh, who have been packed in crowded,
uh, schools and other camps.
ID P camps that were closed as people were getting back on their feet.
there is an urgent need for a lot of assistance,
and the crisis will continue as people go back to their homes,
which have been destroyed.
So the reconstruction effort will also be rather difficult.
Uh, we have a crisis. Uh, that has often been neglected.
given that there's been, uh, 10 years of violence here,
and these communities are extremely vulnerable.
Uh, but as we move forward, uh, we are here to assist, uh,
both through food and non-food and other assistance,
Uh, communities that are affected both in Maiduguri
but also in other parts of the country. As the floodwaters move down south
to other states. Uh, that are impacted.
Thank you very much. Arjun.
Ok, Do we have questions for our colleague from the UN refugee agency?
I don't see that's the case.
And, uh, I know Williams in the room.
If you could share the notes,
I'm sure with colleagues that would be much appreciated.
I'd like to thank you very much, and we don't have questions.
So, uh, I think your briefing was very comprehensive,
and thank you again for joining us here.
and you're always welcome to do so.
So I'll just, uh, maybe nod to William for the notes, and then we'll have to
move to our next next subject.
Uh, we'll stay on the subject of floods,
but now shifting continents to Central Europe.
of the IFRC. Is with us. Who's going to introduce? Uh, his guest.
Thank you very much, Orlando. Good morning.
So today we have with us our
health, disaster, climate and crisis for Europe region.
Based in Budapest, Andreas
He will brief you on the biggest floods in decades
happening in this very moment now in Central Europe,
which may soon become the new normal,
as we called it in a press release that you should have received yesterday.
Andreas will also highlight the strong link to climate.
And, of course, the Red Cross response. Thank you.
And, uh, good morning. Good to be with you. And thank you for the
Uh, you've all seen, uh, the dramatic news. Uh, that, uh that is, uh,
broadcast. And we're seeing dramatic events unfolding and
and and it's not over yet.
We've seen fresh evacuation orders go out in Austria, in Czech Republic.
Czechia in in Poland this morning.
Uh, and then we'll see. Um, the the peak of this in the in the coming days.
I just crossed the Danube there in Budapest this morning.
And the water levels are very high.
And we are 48 hours away from what is projected to be, uh, the highest levels here.
Uh, here. It does seem to be quite well under control.
But across particularly Poland, Chea
we've seen, uh, loss of life. We've seen power outages. Uh, big
ations. Uh, transport disruptions,
damage to infrastructure.
Uh, yeah. Thousands of people are are evacuated.
The hundreds of thousands affected by
by all the the impact of these, uh, floods.
So a very dramatic picture across the board.
Um, see, if this weather system
started forming last week.
Uh, national Red Cross societies have been standing up and are responding.
We count the thousands of volunteers that are involved just in Austria.
The the auction Red Cross has 2500 staff and volunteers, uh, involved and
and they're helping to build flood protection, uh, helping in evacuations.
Particularly where where extra assistance is needed.
Auction Red Cross, for example,
are helping elderly people with mobility issues in the evacuations,
uh, and and in immigration centres as well and distributing essential items,
uh, and supporting, uh, the authorities in innovations and Search and Rescue,
for example, the Polish Red Cross.
Uh, what is important is also, uh,
that the Red Cross teams in these countries are trying to look after people's, uh,
emotional and mental health.
These are extremely disruptive events to those affected. Um,
it's critical to help people to cope. They have been
evacuated in a rush. Uh, they have lost their homes.
They don't know when they can go back or to what they can go back to, et cetera.
And then this kind of of psychosocial support
is typically something that the authorities cannot necessarily do
at scale in situations like this to a big role for the for the Red Cross.
If we take a step back at this moment, uh,
we will have in in in a number of weeks or a month or so, uh,
So-called attribution studies and that will give us a scientific view on
how much of climate change can be attributed to these events.
when we look at what's happening,
this is exactly what we can expect and what
we have seen increasingly over the past years.
Uh, you remember the floods in in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium in 2021?
We had massive floods in Slovenia a year ago.
Uh, we see these unprecedented rain events
There are some places in Austria have gotten 400 millimetres of of rain.
So So these are extreme numbers
and and the mechanisms here are are clear.
Um, Europe has for decades been warming, uh,
at at a much higher rate than the rest of the world.
Warm air holds more moisture, and what goes up will come down.
And we see these, uh, extreme, uh, rain events
and we'll see more of this, uh,
These have been granted now, as as historic floods, and and and that's correct.
Nothing to disagree with there.
But climate change has a way of moving the goalposts.
So soon we will be talking about these kind of events as frequent or or even annual,
so significant steps are being made by us
and by authorities in in understanding and acknowledging
that we need to adapt. I mean, the the window on on mitigation is essentially closed.
We know that the coming decades will bring more and more of of this.
But funding for adaptation globally is still lagging behind.
We're not meeting the targets. The majority of planet funding goes to mitigation.
So we need to to do much more.
And from where we see it, from a Red Cross perspective,
we're looking at scaling up adaptation locally.
that's where the knowledge is.
That's where the day to day work, the preparedness work.
Uh, and oftentimes the first response is happening.
So that's where we need to adapt to this, uh, new reality
and Red Cross with the presence everywhere in all communities,
One of the key roles one of many that we're looking at, is, uh,
Everyone has the right to get information in a timely
way and be equipped with the knowledge that they need
to to to be safe or at least safer when these type of violence, uh, come by
so again, uh, very dramatic,
still unfolding situation in in many countries across, uh across the region
and happy to take any questions that you might have.
Andreas, we do have a question for you from, uh, Gabriella Sotomayor of El Proceso.
Ola, Thank you so much. My question is not on climate change is on another subject.
I don't know if someone has another question.
If I can make my question,
it's on. Is it directed to our colleague? Um, from the IFRC. Is this something?
Um OK, well, uh, let's maybe take your question, then go ahead.
I would like to know on Cuba.
or are you in contact with political prisoners in Mexico?
Are you allowed to visit them to talk to them?
Do you know about their conditions? Uh, thank you so much,
so I'm not sure that's that.
So if if the political prison I'm not sure if I
heard the entire question the the situation of political prisoners in Cuba
in the context of Sorry, could you repeat the question?
Yes. There are more than 1000 of according to prisoners offenders.
uh, 1000 of political prisoners in Cuba.
So my question is for the red cross if they are in contact with them
if they are allowed to visit them.
And what are their conditions?
is that is the question. Thank you so much.
Yeah, I'll take this one. Thanks a lot, Gabriela, For the question.
Actually, um, I just need to check with our colleagues in the region,
and I can come back to you after the press briefing.
Thanks to moso. Uh, do we have questions for Andreas
and the floods in Central Europe?
No, I don't see that's the case. Um, so thank you very much for joining us.
Thanks for your patience as well. Andreas and Tomos. Thanks for the notes.
Ok, that brings us to, um, our last guest for today.
Uh, doctor, David Williams is an expert on snakes and snake bites, Uh,
from the World Health Organisation.
He's joining us on. Zoom,
uh, to, um, speak to the International Snake Bite Awareness Day, which I believe is,
uh, tomorrow if I'm not mistaken, or maybe two days from now.
Thanks very much. And thank you, everybody. I hope you're having a good morning
Thursday. The 19th is international snake Bite Awareness Day and
WH OS focus. This year is on one of the
the least often talked about aspects of snake bite, which is disability.
the fact that snakes can can cause death, and they can cause serious illness.
But often we overlook the fact that
for every person who dies of snake bite and there's
11 person who dies every 4 to 6 minutes,
there are around about 27 people an hour who are left permanently disabled
as a result of having been bitten by a venomous snake in some part of the world.
now the impacts that these have range from physical
and psychological scarring right through to amputation and blindness.
But it's not just the physical impact that's important.
Um, WHO wants to draw attention to the financial impacts and the fact that
this is a disease that drives people further into poverty.
It doesn't affect just the victim, but also the victim and their family.
Um, not just through the high cost of treatment,
but also through the ongoing loss of income that's often incurred,
Um, particularly if it happens to be the family breadwinner
added snake bite envenoming to the list of neglected tropical diseases in 2017,
and the World Health Assembly passed a resolution in 2018
calling on both WHO and countries to do more to address this particular problem.
on international snake Bite Awareness Day, we are trying to raise
That's around about 240,000 people a year who are
left with disabilities as a result of snake bites.
More than a third of them are Children.
Um, it doesn't discriminate.
We see pregnant women who are affected by snake bite,
um, potentially losing their child in utero,
or potentially being left in a position where they're
no longer able to care for that child.
Uh, if they do actually end up giving birth.
WH OS goal has been to try to reduce the burden of snake bite by 50% before 2030.
And we work very closely with a wide community of experts around the world,
to try and achieve better results
already in the Southeast Asian region,
there's been a regional action plan put in place,
and the African region are now working on a plan of their own.
In India, where 58,000 people a year die of snake bite,
the country has just launched its own national action plan.
Um, given that this is the country that bears the biggest burden of all,
this is a major step forward.
it would be important. Um, I think not to skip over the fact that
climate change and we heard from our colleague Arjun
about the floods in Nigeria at the moment,
in tandem with that Nigeria is currently
going through a critical shortage of snake antivenom
an influx of additional cases of snake bite
that have been brought about by the flooding.
And this is a problem that occurs in many areas of the world where these sorts of,
um disasters occur on a regular basis.
We saw the same thing happen in the last major flooding events in Pakistan.
It happens in Bangladesh. It happens in south Sudan
and various other countries around the world
when there are different types of disasters.
And of course there's a huge demand to have effective treatment.
some regions of the world just simply don't have
enough safe and effective treatments available to them.
Uh, in particular, in sub Saharan Africa,
it's been estimated that there's only around about 2.5%
of the treatments that are actually needed.
And so WHO is working with the countries and
with manufacturers to try and improve that situation.
but I think at this stage, I'd be very happy to answer any questions that people have.
Thank you very much. Doctor Williams. Do we have, uh, questions? Yes.
Christian of the German news agency has a question for you.
Hello? It's Christiana here.
Um, can you give us, uh, a bit more of, of,
of the context of what happens to people who a RE permanently disabled.
bytes have what kinds of consequences? Thank you.
So one of the problems is is that snake venoms
are a real mixture of different types of toxins,
and many of them are designed to breakdown muscle,
skin tissue, and I guess,
to start the process of digestion for when a snake is eating its prey.
Unfortunately, when people are bitten,
they end up with similar sorts of things happening to them.
So we see people who have large areas of limbs that have to be surgically derided
and in some cases, if the damage is is particularly severe,
um, those limbs have to be amputated
even when the limb can be saved. Sometimes the
regeneration of tissue that occurs afterwards results in scarring
and contractures that basically make it impossible for them to use those, uh,
And I can give you a good I,
uh example of the impact When I was in Cambodia some years ago, I
remember meeting several women who'd lost their legs after
bites by Malayan Pit vipers in rubber plantations.
And these are snakes that are very, extremely good camouflage.
They hide at the base of the rubber tree,
and when the the person walks up to collect the rubber sap,
they get bitten after they step on it.
to these women, it's basically a life sentence.
They're no longer able to go out in the community. They're no longer able to work.
Uh, there's a certain sense of shame attached to it,
and I remember one woman I met who was basically had
been living in a room in her house for 10 years,
and hadn't stepped outside into the community
at all because of the stigma approach.
Um, that was attached to it.
Thank you very much. We have a couple more questions for you.
Uh, with Gabriella Sotomayor
My question is not for for WHO is for the, uh, uh,
refugee agency or IOM if someone is there.
Ok, well, we, um William is is here in the room.
Uh, but maybe we can go to the next question if it's for Doctor Williams.
It was about what you said about the plans
in Nigeria and the critical shortage of antivenom.
I was just wondering if you could say more about the impact of that.
Um, have there been many people
with snake bites who haven't been able to access that?
I mean, just give me an idea of the scale.
Have had a bit of people dying or or having to have
lids amputated as a result. Is is it getting serious? Basically,
yes. So it is actually getting serious.
The feedback we've been getting from local snake bite experts is that
most of the facilities have completely run out of antivenom.
And Nigeria has a wealth of venomous snakes. Unfortunately,
um, without antivenom, some of them have fatality rates of between 35 and 45%.
Um, some hospitals are reporting
um, fatalities as a result of this.
And given that it takes time to procure these medicines to
import them and get them out to the places they need to go,
it's quite likely that there's going to be a period of time where,
um, these facilities will remain without treatment.
Uh, we understand that the Nigerian government is taking, uh,
urgent steps to procure product.
Um, but still, it's It's quite a concerning development at
a time when people have all this water to worry about.
That's, uh, thank you very much. I think those are all the questions for you.
Oh, no, no. Sorry. Are these for Dr
Williams? And yes, we have a question
from the French News agency, and
yes, yes. Hi. Hello. Thank you for taking my question
in the briefing notes that we received it.
Say that the strategy launch some four or five years ago
put the targets to reduce death and disabilities
caused by snake bites by 50% before 2030.
If you could give us the figures of this year and let us know
if the world is in the right direction to this objective or not.
Yeah. So, unfortunately, with the the covid pandemic,
it seriously delayed the implementation of the the work on snake bit.
And it's also resulted in many countries having to Reprioritize their efforts
we're playing catch-up very quickly at the moment.
And we currently have, uh, a data collection exercise going on,
And we're hoping to publish a report
on that in the WHO weekly epidemiological review
towards the end of this year,
and that will give us a bit of an indication of where things are heading.
One of the problems we face, though, is that while countries often report cases,
the reporting of deaths and of disabilities
in particular is often quite deficient.
So we're trying to encourage all of the countries that we're working with
to collect that data in addition to just the overall burden.
Very good. Thank you so very much. Uh, doctor, uh, do we have further questions
No, that's not the case. So thank you again. It is truly
You said that India has the biggest burden.
Can you give us two or three other countries that are right up there? Thank you.
Yeah. So the neighbouring countries of
and, um Pakistan also have very sizable burdens.
Um, there are probably some 40,000,
um, fatalities that occur in Pakistan each year.
under reporting is a major problem. Um,
it means that in some cases,
I think there was a study done in Sri Lanka where
they found that 62.5% of the the deaths that were being
uh found in community surveys had not been reported to the Ministry of
Health because those people had never had an opportunity to attend healthcare.
it causes some very big problems in Bangladesh, for example,
um, one study found that 60% of victims have to take out loans to pay for treatment.
the cost of initial treatment is more than two
weeks wages for about 66% of all the victims.
And about 50% of them actually have to either sell their personal property,
their livestock or even take their Children out of school
in order to be able to pay for treatment.
Thank you. Once again, Doctor, I think that exhausts the questions for you. Yes, OK,
I was just going to say truly interesting, informative and of course, uh uh,
an issue which definitely deserves a lot of awareness.
So thank you so very much for being here with us
and and educating our our journalists here and, uh,
ahead of the international stink bite Awareness Day, which is Thursday the 19th.
Once again, Doctor, Um And just to mention that, uh,
Christian is online and we'll be sharing, uh, notes with you.
Gabby, you have a question for you and H ER. Uh, William is here with us on the podium.
Thank you so much. Hi, William. It's nice to see you here.
OK, so I don't know if someone asked the question already, but I,
I wasn't here in the in the past briefings,
That according to Mr Trump, former president of USA,
he says that people from Haiti,
they are eating dogs and cats
from the people who live there. So,
uh, what is your assessment? Is is this true?
Or are you worried about this situation or what
is happening there with people from IT in USA?
And also Mr Trump said that if he is elected,
he's threatening to massive deportations of migrants and refugees. So
what? What do you think about this?
Nice to hear from you again.
well, look, I'm not going to make comments about what the former president has said.
What I can say is that we are very concerned about the increasing
misinformation and disinformation,
especially through social media, but through all channels targeting
refugees and asylum seekers, this is a worldwide problem And
some of the most vulnerable people, people who are fleeing persecution
and conflict and who need protection.
we this issue of misinformation,
disinformation and hate speech is something that worries us as it does many other
Thank you very much, William
this electoral campaign more generally in the USA,
an intent to dehumanise migrants and refugees.
we are a humanitarian organisation and we don't
make comments on elections or electoral processes.
These are issues that are beyond our mandate.
Yeah, and I would just echo that sentiment. Of course.
Uh, the UN in general, we will interfere or comment on any electoral processes.
Of course, we always encourage democratic process to be free and fair.
And in terms of disinformation, as you know, dis combating disinformation.
Uh, and, uh, you know, upholding, uh,
information integrity has been a priority of the SECRETARY-GENERAL.
And this is going to be one of the many issues
that will be discussed in the upcoming summit of the future,
which I was going to mention in a minute.
But, um, indeed, this is a scourge which needs to be addressed,
uh, I don't see further questions for you, so thank you very much.
Garcias, uh, for your presence here, uh, William
just brings us to just a few announcements from me before we wrap up.
Just to, uh, highlight a couple of meetings taking place here at the Palais
uh, in terms of, uh, human rights.
We have the committee on the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Uh, committee,
which is reviewing this morning.
Um, the report of Albania.
Um, And this afternoon it will begin its review of, uh, Cyprus.
And, uh, the Human Rights Council, as you know, is now well into its second week.
You received from Pascal and his colleagues an update.
Uh, for today. There are lots of things happening,
uh, at, uh, the council in room 20 including, uh
in dialogue with the independent expert on
the promotion of a Democratic and Equitable
So who you heard from here? In this room at a press conference.
Uh, we have a working group on enforced disappearances.
Involuntary disappearances, Special rapporteur on
on toxic wastes. And lastly, working group on arbitrary detention. All happening
you heard earlier in this room with the fact finding mission on Venezuela at 9 a.m.
We have, uh, three more press conferences taking place this week
one tomorrow and two. Thursday, tomorrow,
There's a press conference from the World Meteorological Organisation
with the Secretary General
Uh, who is joined by, uh, a scientific coordinator, Lauren Stewart.
Who is going to They're going to address the United in science annual report.
the 19th at 1 p.m. We have the UN Committee on
the Rights of the Child to present findings on Argentina,
Israel, Mexico and Turkmenistan.
They'll share those concluding observations with you beforehand.
We have members of the committee who will be here at 1 p.m.
to brief you and lastly, on Thursday as well. 3 p.m.
We have the special rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures.
who has briefed you here before She's going to,
be here to present her latest report
that she's presenting to the Human Rights Council
and and just really just give you a heads up that, uh,
as we approach the high level week in New York at the UN General Assembly,
we'll be sharing with you
slew of information to make sure you're on track with
all the proceedings on the other side of the pond,
as I mentioned the summit of the future.
Kishore talk about one of the issues is building resilient societies.
This is just one of the many issues climate change information,
obviously, um, paving the way for a more sustainable, peaceful future.
Um, but, uh, lots of things happening in New York.
So we'll be sharing with you various speeches and programmes as we progress.
I would feel sad if you didn't pose a question to me. Go ahead, Gabby.
Thank you. No, I just wanted to know the date I. I missed the date
of, uh, Mexico Concluding observations. When? When is that is press conference or
Thank you so much. Gracias.
Um, let me just check here. I don't see no, no, In fact, um,
sorry. I'm just going through my notes here. I see.
Ok, well, the concluding observations,
this is part of the committee and the rights of the child.
Uh, which, um, is concluding its report. It's it's session, rather.
Uh, so the press conference will take place here in this room, Uh, on Thursday,
And maybe I would suggest you contact our colleague. Um
who could, uh, share the concluding observation Argentina, Armenia, Israel,
Mexico, and Turkmenistan.
And those are the reports that will be presented at the press conference and, uh,
to our colleagues at OH HR who can share specifically the report on Mexico.
uh, that is it. So I wish you a good appetite bona fit
