So thank you very much for staying with us for the rest of this press briefing.
And we will stay, as I said, on Syria to hear from WHO Tariq is online.
He brought, he brought us Doctor Christina Beka, who is the acting WHO representative in Syria and was joining us from Damascus.
We'll hear from her for an update on the health situation in Syria.
And then Tamim Alcitan in my left, who will speak about Syrian missing persons and other human rights concerns.
And then we will open the floor to further questions.
So I'll start with, I don't know, Tarek, if you want to say something before giving the floor to Christina.
I just hope that we have Christine online because she was just sending messages that there is a problem with electricity in her Damascus office.
Do do we do we have Christine online?
You want to start with your initial briefing, please.
And indeed, let's hope for a smooth connection.
So good morning, everyone.
And as already said, I'm speaking to you from Damascus at a moment of profound significance in serious history.
And as Amy Pope spoke about, the resilience of the Syrian people is on a full display, as well as their hope for the future.
Over the past 12 days of being here, I've witnessed both the joy of reunions and returns, as well as a number of concerns about the uncertainty of what lies ahead.
And in the midst of these challenges, WHO remains steadfast not in just delivering life saving care and ensuring healthcare reaches those who need it most, but also playing a part in helping RE Syrians rebuild their lives and recover from years of crisis.
Just yesterday, WHO teams were in it live visiting hospitals where they met with dedicated surgeons who have worked tirelessly during this escalation over the last three weeks, often under attack and in order to save lives.
When surgeons shared the words of his patients saying we finally sleep at night, no longer worrying about being bombarded.
And indeed, in this nation reeling from over 13 years of conflict and displacement, mental health and cycle services.
So psychosocial services are not just critical but they are actually life saving for families in this fragile hope moment of hope.
It keeps Syrians going even as they face tremendous hardships.
Displaced populations still even in this moment are living in overcrowded conditions in formal camps and shelters, facing things like nutritional deficiencies, respiratory infections and other communicable diseases like diarrheal disease and licence scabies which can lead to long term health complications.
Many have returned to find their homes reduced to rubble and we know that rebuilding homes is just one part of the solution, but they also need access to healthcare and essential services to feel secure and lay the foundations for recovery.
As we heard from the remarks of DG Pope earlier today, in the face of hopes for rebuilding and reconstruction, the humanitarian needs remain immense and immediate.
The health infrastructure is severely strained and we saw in just three weeks during this escalation, 36 attacks on healthcare have been reported and over half of the countries hospitals are non functional.
WHO has launched an appeal to raise $56.4 million over the next six months to meet these urgent needs.
This funding will sustain critical health services during this transition period, including 141 health facilities that today in northwest Syria are at risk of imminent closure in the coming weeks due to lack of resources.
Our work will also support and lay the foundation for Syria's long road to recovery.
WHO is doing everything possible to bridge the gaps in these uncertain times.
Our teams are working around the clock to ensure essential medicines, vaccine supplies, reach functional health facilities.
We are coordinating referrals from places where there is no healthcare to those functional facilities.
We're facilitating access to healthcare in areas that are underserved and where displacement has occurred and the health system is overwhelmed through the deployment of mobile teams and mobile clinics.
And we're working to integrate mental health support as broadly as possible through existing healthcare services and facilities, as well as hotlines and community outreach in order to reach those affected by trauma.
The resilience of the Syrian people is inspiring, and we hear about it again and again, and it's truly it.
This is such a moment that I can't even express that many of us have been a part of working on Syria for so many years.
But without that immediate international support, their hopes for a peaceful and healthy future are at risk.
Everyone I speak to, hear from my own team that I work with every day, even to the new caretaker Minister of Health who I met with two days ago, are deeply hopeful.
Hopeful for their children, for their homes, for the health system and for a Syria rebuild on peace and solidarity.
And we together must help them realise this dream.
And just as DG Pope said, we are calling on the international community to act now.
Your swift action can save lives, restore the hope and help rebuild a nation that is yearning truly and deeply for stability and peace.
Thank you very much, Christina.
I understand the conditions are not ideal, but thank you very much for being there.
I'll now pass the floor to Tamim for OHS update on Syria.
Then we will open the first two questions.
As you sorry, as you may all be aware, Carla Quintana was appointed on Thursday as head of the Independent Institution on Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic.
Her appointment comes after nearly a year and a half of work by colleagues at the UN Human Rights office supporting the launch of this important institution.
UN **** Commissioner for Human Rights for Katurk has flagged how important this moment is in Syria, both for those who are still missing and for the loved ones.
Since the fall of former President Bashar Al Assad's government almost two weeks ago, we have seen footage of hundreds of detainees pouring out of now open prisons, some expressing happiness to see sunlight again, but others so shocked after years of torture and inhumane treatment that they are incapable of any form of expression.
Many families remain in distress as they haven't found their loved ones yet.
They deserve to have all the answers on their relatives fate and whereabouts and to know the circumstances in which they went missing.
They also need mental health and psychosocial support.
This is where the work of the institution will be fundamental, and while the institution will focus on reducing the suffering of families of the missing, our office and other international mechanisms will work on monitoring and collecting human rights information about past and present human rights violations and abuses within the scope of their relative respective mandates.
The **** Commissioner is deploying next week a team of human rights officers to Syria to support the existing UN presence on human rights issues, as well as efforts aimed at ensuring that any transition is inclusive and within the framework of international law.
Transitional justice and Community Trust building anchored in human rights will be a very important chapter in Syria's future.
It is fundamental that the caretaker authorities take immediate steps to ensure the preservation of evidence of past crimes and violations.
This includes mass graves, records and documents from prisons, detention centres, ministries and other state institutions, as well as any other material evidence that could be crucial in documenting what has happened and in holding those responsible to account.
Human rights must be central to an inclusive transition if Syria is to come to terms with its past and constructed society, in which the rights of all Syrians will be respected, protected and fulfilled irrespective of gender, ethnic or religious community, age or disability.
In the meantime, the caretaker authorities must act to ensure security is restored, that those accused of committing crimes are held accountable in compliance with international human rights standards, and that women, children, and diverse ethnic and religious communities can fully exercise their rights.
I'll open now the floor to question first in the room if there is any Muhammad, another one.
Thank you so much, Alessandra.
With the fall of the Abbas regime, the destruction and civilian that's are much more clear now.
And my question is, will the United Nations call for a for a legal process to hold Assad accountable for this crimes or will there be another initiative?
You want to take this one.
I also have something from there.
Thank you for that question.
Of course, Bashar al-Assad and all those who might have committed serious crimes in the past and in the present should be held accountable in accordance with international human rights law and in fair trials.
This is something that is very important for the transition in Syria and for the transitional justice that Syria will be embarking on.
And there is the need for accountability is really indispensable for the sake of the Syrian people who have suffered so long.
And there are, as you know, a number of UN mechanisms that are there to hold people to account.
So we will we will need to to go through this mechanism.
But definitely the answer to your question is yes, this accountability is much needed.
So I so Maya, Maya plans the UN brief.
Yes, thank you very much for taking my question.
My question is regarding the gathering of data.
How are you going about it, how adequately funded you are for doing that?
Just the two press briefings ago we had someone speaking about that they had gathered 283 terabytes of data.
Do you have similar amounts of data that have been collected?
How you sifting through this data, who you partnering with, which technology companies are supporting, supporting these efforts because most of it will be digital.
I take as well, I think my refers to to the briefing we got from Robert PT, the head of the triple I mechanism.
And maybe now for the missing persons Commission you have yes, indeed now the the triple IM mechanism, which is the international impartial and independent mechanism.
So it's an independent mechanism, mechanism that was established by the General Assembly to assist in the investigation and prosecution of individuals responsible for the most serious crimes under international law since March 2011.
This is a, one of the mechanisms that are very important and that work on collection of evidence in, in, in Syria.
It's a, it's a mechanism that collects, preserves and analysis information and then they share these pieces of information and evidence with competent jurisdictions.
These are, this is one of the mechanisms that are complementary in the work that will be done, will be done and that is already done on Syria.
It is not part of our office, but of course we Co operate and will we will be Co operating with this mechanism and with the missing persons institution of course in the future.
Just just for your information, the missing person entity has now a press officer.
She's just started, her name is Nermin Abdelamid.
We have put the contact in the list of spokespersons and I hope that Namin will come and introduce herself at the beginning of next year so you will be able to ask precise this question to to her on on this on this body.
I had seen Mr Yang China economic Daily.
My question is about the situation in Syria.
Last time the world witnessed a government taken over by a group with the jihadist leaning was what happened in Afghanistan.
And now is the world and the OR already your office learning any lesson from Afghanistan in viewing the situation in Syria?
And just to name one, if the HTS has any bad behaviour, but it was women or cruelty that triggers more sanctions on them.
How can your office and the world make sure that there are some mechanism so that the sanctions doesn't hurt the economic well-being of the ordinary people who are innocent?
Thanks, That's my question.
My answer here is that human rights are central in this process and the the obligations of Syria under international law, international obligations do not change whoever is in power.
The obligations of the states remain the same and that is protection of all human rights for all Syrians.
When it comes to sanctions, it is important that any sanctions imposed by any party take into consideration the importance of humanitarian aid for the civilians.
This should not be affected in any way.
Of course, you know that our office has been working remotely on Syria for years and now our colleagues will go to Syria and we will have more on that, I guess.
Young, just to quote the Secretary General yesterday, in his interaction with the press on Syria, was specifically asked about the sanctions, so I will read what he said on that particular issue.
He said we should not forget that the sanctions were applied to the Assad regime.
The situation has changed.
Obviously, we are in the process of transition and in the process of transition I think there is work to be done by both sides.
But I do believe that in the dramatic situation that we have in Syria, there should be at least the first gesture, a first gesture showing solidarity with the Syrian people until conditions are met for all sanctions to be removed.
And you have been sent this this the transcript of this press conference.
Let me see if there are no other questions in the room.
Please let us know if you have questions.
I mean, Christine from WHO is still online.
So if you have questions for WHO she's available, let me go to Yuri Yuria Prelev Rianovosti.
My question is for Christina from WHOI have two questions.
In fact, the first one in your statement, you say that more than the half of the hospitals are not functioning in Syria.
I'm just wondering is it something new or it was always the case or is it because of the conflict?
And if they are non functioning, why are they not working?
And my second question is relating to the situation with cholera in the country, because the outbreak was two years ago and the past year we had reminiscence of that.
So is there a risk of a new outbreak of cholera in the country?
Do you have any signs of that?
Thank you for your question.
And first of all, on the functionality of hospitals, this is not, these aren't new by and large, not new changes in the functionality of health facilities.
This is the result of the nearly 14 years of crisis, migration of healthcare workers, lack of supplies, lack of the basic services that help hospitals to function like electricity, water, etcetera, and also of course, attacks on healthcare over the years of crisis.
The key now is to try to work together to ensure that those hospitals are indeed re functionalized together with partners across the board, whether they're NGOs, the new caretaker Ministry of Health and other actors who are on the ground and available.
But of course resources are deeply needed and I I would point you again to the remarks of DG Pope earlier around ensuring that communities are truly ready to receive any kind of returns or large scale population movements in order to actually be able to care for the population as a whole.
Regarding your question on cholera, indeed we did have an outbreak between 2022 and 2023 earlier this year as well in parts of northeast Syria specifically.
And I'll hold camp, there were laboratory confirmed cases in that camp.
We have been working together with our colleagues who work in northwest Syria who do have some unused doses of oral cholera vaccine.
We are working to transfer those doses over to the northeast.
We, we are not sure if it it will work, but we will try to, to ensure that we are able to serve the needs of that population there in alcohol camp.
Until now we have had no other confirmed cases from what we know in other parts of Syria, but there have been rises in acute watery diarrhoea in a number of locations such as Royal Damascus, Aleppo and Homs.
And as of right now, the cases do not appear elevated of acute watery diarrhoea.
But like you said, is there a risk indeed, especially with populations on the move, people living in areas where they have insufficient access to water, hygiene and sanitation facilities, and in general, just overall lack of perhaps knowledge about where to access healthcare if you've recently been displaced, what's open, what's not.
So there's a lot of work to do on the ground to restore basic services as well as disease surveillance exercises which were interrupted.
During these past three weeks.
Thank you very much, Catherine Fianco.
Franz Lancet Yes, good morning.
Tamim, this is a question for you.
You spoke about the deployment of a small team next week of human rights officers to Syria.
Could you tell us how many they will be?
And you also mentioned the fact that they're going to support the existing UN people that are there.
Are they, you're talking about referring to human rights people.
So could you be more precise on that?
And could you also give us some details about what exactly this team is going to do there?
Will they have contacts with HTS representative or you already have HTS focal point regarding human rights?
Thank you so much, so much, Katherine.
As I said, there will be a team of our colleagues who will leave to Damascus next week.
They are three and they will be working in supporting the existing UN presence.
You know that there are many different colleagues from different entities of the UN.
We are having one of them here today with us from Damascus.
So there is a need for human rights support and that is why our colleagues will go join the different other colleagues from the UN.
As you know, we have not been in Syria for years now, so it is also important for us to start establishing A presence that we hope will lead us to complement the work of the UN in general in terms of human rights and better carry out our offices mandate.
Thank you very much, John Zaracostas, Franz Mancat and Lancet.
I was wondering with regards to the spokesperson from the Office of the **** Commissioner for Human Rights, if the office is making extra efforts to see if they can find the missing nurse from New Zealand that has been missing, abducted in 2013 while delivering medical supplies in the Idlib province.
Have you any news on this case and her two colleagues that were travelling with her?
Unfortunately, I do not have information on this specific case, but of course, as I said, the missing persons institution will have an important work in that regard in the future.
Thank you, Gabriel Sotomayor, processor.
Gabby, you have to unmute yourself.
Alessandra, I'm sorry that I'm I connected very late, but I just want to ask two questions.
1 is that when is Carla Quintana the one that is going to lead the the Disappearance Commission?
When she's going to begin?
And why Mr Guterres speak here?
Why is she going to to lead this mission?
And also I would like to know if you have an estimate or any, you know, the number, approximate number of how many soldiers that have been executed, Syrian soldiers of the army.
I don't I don't know if you have any date for Mrs Quintana.
Otherwise I can the the answer on I, I'd like to say, but the answer to your question about the why the Secretary General has appointed her as head of this independent institution, missing persons.
I think it's pretty clear from her biography that we have sent to you yesterday.
She has a very extensive experience in international human rights law, transitional justice and constitutional law.
She has been the National Commissioner for the search of missing person in your country, Gabby and made incredible efforts to address over 100,000 cases of disappearances and more than 70,000 unidentified bodies.
So and and and you can have the look at the the rest of her biography.
I think that it speaks by itself why this person, Mrs Carla Kintana, had all the experience and knowledge to head this institution.
And I don't know if you have a date or no.
We don't have a we don't have a date for the moment.
Maybe we will know more and we'll let you know.
I know you had also a question about the soldier.
Maybe you have a I'm sorry, the the last part of of of.
Gabriella, I don't know if you want to repeat the second part of your question about the executions of soldiers.
If I understood correctly, yes, yes, if you have a if, if there's happening, I, I heard that they were executing Syrian members of the army.
So I don't know if this is true, if you, if you have any news about them, how many have been executed?
How many of the team of Mr Assad that we're staying in the country?
Because I mean, they need the, the to, to go to justice, not to have a, a process and be and being judged for what they did.
But I, I just wondering if you have any news on that.
Yes, thank you so much, Gabriella, for that.
It's very important to have a proper system of transitional justice.
We're all all individuals who are suspected of having committed any crimes in the past and in the present can be held accountable in fair trials.
Now, unfortunately, I'm sorry, I don't have any specific information on the on the incidents you're referring to.
Thank you very much, **** Coming, Bruce.
I had a question for WHO.
Christina, could you just elaborate a little bit more?
You talked about 36 attacks on healthcare in the last three weeks.
Are we talking about sort of random small arms fire catching the odd vehicle or are we talking about systematic attacks on healthcare facilities that are actually, you know, lowering your capacity and and doing serious damage to to healthcare facilities?
Yes, thank you for your question.
So of the just to give you some perspective, the 36 attacks were recorded in WH OS surveillance system for attacks on healthcare.
So if you want to reference any of the numbers I, I share with you today, you can also look, look there for the details in case you give us a number.
But between the 27th November and today there were 36 attacks.
To give you a bit of perspective in comparison to last year, there were just 26 attacks in all of 2023 and 21 attacks in all of 2022.
So to have that in a very short period is is quite concerning.
And of these 36 attacks there they caused 23 deaths and 128 injuries.
25 of those attacks actually affected health facilities, 6 affected transport means like ambulances and other vehicles of of health officials, 16 affected supplies and one affected a warehouse.
And so we saw really a range across this, this escalation.
Everything from actual bombardment to yes indeed at times small arms fire to a lot of looting during especially the acute period of transition.
We continue to receive reports from some areas that are still unsettled.
For example, just in the last week, we've had a number of attacks in Deir Azur.
You may be familiar that in that governorate there is still some ongoing clashes and fighting.
So it really runs a range between, you know, as I said, very heavy, heavy artillery and bombardment and to, to looting exercises.
And throughout that time, we continue to see just the difficulty, I think, in protecting healthcare, healthcare workers and health facilities during this conflict.
In the immediate aftermath of the change in government here in, for example, Damascus, although healthcare workers were encouraged to return to work, many cited not only transportation challenges, but fears about safety and security if they did return to work.
So it really underscores one of WH OS key advocacy points that even in conflict, not only our health facilities and health workers, not a target, but they must be actively protected.
This concludes the questions.
I know Maya, you have a question, but it's not in Syria, right?
I should have given you the follow up for human rights.
It is regarding yeah, the the question of you don't have then internal in house capacity for dealing with the data with digital forensics or, or you do have, but it's a very small team or do the special rapporteurs themselves do something along those lines?
And it will wait to be a possibility that you have to expand this in team because there is a number I don't know where I got this from that there were at least already 500,000 reported the cases of human rights violation 500,000 that's a lot.
And where is this number?
If someone has heard about it and can confirm, Thank you for that.
My on that number specifically, I'm I will have to get back to you.
I am not sure if it's our number or if, if we have more figures.
The, the, our challenge in in Syria is that for many years we did not have access to the country.
So now our colleagues will be going and it's very important to, to, to boost our work that was being done from outside the country.
So this is a very big challenge and that is why also we have all the different mechanisms that complement each other and we will be cooperating with them in collecting information and in monitoring the human rights situation, including the past, the past years.
So we are hoping to to start building on what we already did in the past and our work continues.
So let's close down this point on Syria, but Timin is going to stay here with you're also from OHHR on the issue of Sudan later on.
And if you have questions that are not related to Syria, I will ask afterwards Timin to to come back to the podium and answer.
And now let's go to Gaza.
I'm sorry and thank you very much to Christine for being with us today and and also to to take her.
I have with me James from UNICEF.
Now James, you brought us Rosalia Bolen with the UNICEF communication specialist in Gaza.
She's coming in from Amman and it's as I said before, it was not on your programme, but Louise Wattage, the spokesperson UNRWA in Gaza will also speak to you.
Just after UNICEF, we will open down the floor to questions on on Gaza.
James, you want to start very quickly.
Thanks so much Alessandra.
Nice to see you all again.
Although in the context of we always talk about the cost of inaction, the cost of inaction in Gaza is very, very clearly and easily measured.
It's measured in, it's measured in lost childhoods.
Now, Rose Bollin, who you're about to hear from, has been in Gaza for most of the past three months.
She's now leading up UNICEF's communication on the ground day in, day out in Gaza.
Thank you, James, and good good morning everyone.
Children in Gaza are sick, tired and and traumatised.
Hunger and malnutrition and the dire living conditions more broadly, really continue to put the lives of children at risk.
Right now over 96% of women and children in Gaza cannot meet their basic nutritional needs.
Most are surviving oration flour, pasta, lentils, canned food at best.
So that is a diet that is slowly compromising their health.
In November, an average of 65 truckloads per day of assistance entered Gaza and that's compared to 500 truckloads of assistance that entered daily pre war.
And pre war Gaza still had its internal food production capacity.
Northern part of Gaza has been under a near total siege for 75 days now.
Humanitarian assistance has been largely unable to reach the children in need there for more than 10 weeks.
Gaza must be one of the most heartbreaking places for us humanitarians to work in, because every small effort we make to save a child's life is undone by fierce devastation.
For over 14 months, children have been at the sharp edge of this nightmare, with more than 14,500 children reportedly killed and thousands more injured.
This week I met with SAJ, A5 year old boy who lost his eyesight in the bombing of his home.
He also sustained a head injury, his skull was fractured and he has major burns over his body.
As I was talking to Saj about what had happened to him, the way he put it was my eyes went to heaven before I did.
As we were talking, a plane flew overhead and the moment that Saj heard the sound of the plane, he froze.
He started screaming and he clutched onto his mum that sat right beside him.
Seeing this boy in such deep distress, also because he has recently been rendered blind, was frankly unbearable.
As we approach the end of the year, which is a time where the world strives to celebrate family peace togetherness in Gaza, the reality for over a million children is fear, utter deprivation and unimaginable suffering.
The war on children in Gaza stands as a stark reminder of our collective responsibility.
A generation of children is enduring the brutal violation of their rights and the destruction of their futures.
The stories I heard over the past months will torment me forever.
Just to bring you another story of a boy whose name is also sad.
This summer when we met this boy, he was seven months old and he weighed only 2.7 kilogrammes.
He was his mother's miracle after years of her trying to conceive.
Weighing 2.7 kilogrammes at seven months.
That's just a fraction of what a baby that age is supposed to weigh.
11 days ago, SAT's fragile body gave out after not getting enough nutritious food.
SAT was born in war and he left his world without being given a chance to live in peace.
I cannot even start to imagine the depth of suffering of SAT's parents.
The suffering is not just physical, it is also psychological.
And now winter has descended on Gaza.
Children are cold, they're wet, they're barefoot.
I see many children who still wear summer clothes.
And with cooking girls gone, there's also lots of children I see scavenging through piles of garbage, looking for plastic they can burn.
Diseases are meanwhile ravaging their little bodies, all while hospitals are destitute and constantly attacked.
Healthcare is on its knees.
Hospitals lack medical supplies, medicines, doctors, and this is worsened by the continuation of a near total electricity blackout, making hospitals and other critical infrastructure entirely dependent on meagre fuel imports.
There are immediate things that we can all do today to make life just a little more bearable for children in Gaza.
We can use our political capital and our diplomatic leverage to push for the evacuation of grievously injured children and their parents to leave Gaza and to seek life saving treatment in East Jerusalem or elsewhere.
As many of us head into the celebrations of Christmas and New Year surrounded by so much, let's take a moment to think of these children who have so little and yet continue to lose more day by day.
Use your power, use your influence to push for a ceasefire and for the entry of aid at scale.
Every day without action steals another day from Gaza's children.
Every delay cost more lives.
This war should haunt every one of us.
Gaza's children cannot wait.
Thank you very much for this heartbreaking, I have to say, reporting.
I'll give the floor now to Louise Woodridge for UNRWA.
Louise, I I saw your face and I don't see it anymore.
The image is floating, but yeah, go ahead.
It's been raining overnight.
I'm speaking to you from muster that in the middle Gaza area, we're anticipating very heavy rain here today.
And This is why 1.9 million people are displaced.
They don't have access to adequate shelter.
69% of buildings have been damaged or destroyed across the Gaza Strip with the winter weather.
I mean, this has been the only certainty that we have had during this war and during this year, that it will eventually get colder and rain.
And we have had supplies sitting outside the Gaza Strip waiting to enter for the past six months.
What has happened is we've had to prioritise food over shelter entering the Gaza Strip.
You'll remember just a week or so ago that three women were crushed to death at a bakery while they waited for a piece of bread.
This is the reality that humanitarians have here.
We're having to choose between people having food or people having shelter.
And on a day like today when the rain continues, this is it's just unbearable for for us here.
The other problem, you know, with 69% of buildings damaged and destroyed, it's not only that people don't have shelter in the bad weather, but there's no protection from the bombs and the strikes.
We're hearing from doctors that children are getting injuries from shrapnel from strikes over a kilometre away from where the strikes hit because there's nothing but tents and fabrics to protect them from, from any bombs and and any bullets.
I've spent most of the year telling people what we can see here.
We're seeing toddlers in hospitals missing limbs after strikes in in so-called in zones.
We're seeing families trapped under the rubble with UN and emergency responders denied access to save them so that they die trapped under these rubble.
We're seeing children searching through piles of trash for scraps of food or materials for shelter.
We're seeing people queuing all dead all day for a piece of bread or with small containers of water just to try and give water to their families.
What I want to speak about today is what we can't see.
We have had no access to Rafa since we were forced out in May.
Every day we are denied entry to Rafa and denied access.
When I arrived in Gaza in April, this area facilitated 1.4 million displaced people and was the hub of the humanitarian response.
We have no idea what Rafa looks like today.
We continue to be denied access to the besieged north.
Hospitals continue to be attacked.
Schools sheltering people have been attacked and repeatedly, almost systematically, the UN is denied access to provide aid and support to people in the besieged north.
I have two stories on checkpoints.
1 was a woman who I met in Gaza City.
She was in her 80s in a wheelchair.
Her young male family members were pushing her from the besieged north in the wheelchair through a checkpoint.
She told me they were killed by snipers.
She was sitting in a wheelchair and there was nothing she could do.
She couldn't move herself.
She had to watch as these male family members were eaten in front of her by by dogs.
And it wasn't until another family member family came through the checkpoint that they continue to push her to Gaza City.
In Gaza City, I also spoke to families, all female, every member was female.
I asked them, you know, their story, where their their relatives are.
And they told me when they fled the besieged N their male relatives, whether it was sons, husbands, brothers and nephews were killed going through checkpoints or they were detained and they have no knowledge of where they are.
Local journalists in the Gaza Strip, they are the heroes among us.
They have continued to work day and night to show the dire situation and putting their own lives at risk.
When there are strikes, the journalists and the people filming that often get the footage to social media.
They run for their lives.
So what we're not seeing are the people who can't flee.
We're not seeing the elderly.
We're not seeing the young children whose parents are killed in these strikes.
Left and, and no way of communicating what's going on.
The world is not seeing what's going on with these people.
You know, an entire society here is now a graveyard.
We have the understanding when we speak to our colleagues, they tell us they don't have the luxury to even mourn their relatives because they are surviving.
They continue to try and survive.
So we're ending the year in the Gaza Strip.
Over 2 billion people are trapped.
They cannot escape and people continue to have basic needs deprived and it it just feels like every path here that you could possibly take is is leading to death.
Another heartbreaking report from from Louise.
I'll open the floor to questions now from the room.
I don't see any hand up so Mousasi al Mayadin.
Moussa No, you were on and then it was muted again.
I'm I'd like to ask about the the death of food a by by gangs in Gaza.
What is the truth about this matter and what is the role of the Israeli forces in this act?
I don't know if Louise or Rosalie, I want to take this up.
Louise, you want to answer on the issue of food?
So the United Nations joint convoys are, we're trying to continue using the Kerum Shalom Keru Abu Salam crossing, but it's proving more and more difficult, as you're very aware by the day.
We are having a situation here where, you know, I tell you, 69% of buildings are destroyed.
Well, this also is roads, this is streets, this is access.
So not only are we in a situation where it's just continuous rubble and destruction around us, preventing our ability to navigate, you know, these certain areas, there's only so many paths we can bring the aid through.
And right now at this crossing, there is very severe looting and and danger from criminal gangs.
We have had some attempts where we were able to get aid in and we have had some attempts where people have been killed and everything has been looted.
There is no consistency and this has a direct effect here on the ground because families don't know when their next meal is coming from.
They don't know or you know if there will be food tomorrow, if there's bread coming tomorrow.
And it just adds to the uncertainty.
Humanitarians continue to do what we can, but the safe facilitation of this aid is the response of responsibility of the Israeli authorities, and we need support in getting this aid to the people who need it most.
Rosalia, I see your hand up.
Thank you, Alessandra, and thank you, Louise.
If I may add to that, I'd like to speak about the impact of that on families in in Gaza.
Every one of us, ideally we consume from a broad range of food groups to reach the nutritions that we need on a daily basis.
In Gaza, children under 2, virtually all children under 2IN Gaza consume from 2 food groups at best.
And this is very, very dangerous because especially young children who grow rapidly, who develop rapidly, they need access to nutritious food.
It's not just about the calorie intake they're at risk of wasting, they're at risk of stunting, impaired growth developments, and the consequences of that are lifelong.
Children don't recover from that later on.
And it also drives things like diseases.
It drives the the other elements of the very poor living conditions.
As you can imagine, if you have been living off flour and canned food for over a year, your immune system is affected by that and you're more susceptible to disease.
And so we actually can try to bring nutritional supplements to these children, but as long as these other conditions aren't solved either.
So, so the, the diseases that are rampant, the very dire living conditions, the overcrowding, the the unsanitary situation, lots of children actually have waterborne diseases.
And so the effect of of the assistance will then also be limited because if you have diarrhoea, your body doesn't absorb the nutrients that it should absorb.
So the impact is real and the impact is dangerous, especially for the little ones in Gaza.
Thank you very much, Gabrielle Sotomayor, processor.
Yes, yes, Metals and Frontier send the press release very well, heartbreaking as well.
So they were talking about genocide in Gaza.
They said the word and I I think that it's an organisation that is not saying that only like a word without a having, you know, a witness that.
So what is the position of the United Nations on this?
I think I'm looking at Tamin, if you want to say something about that.
But I think it has been expressed by several, several times, but our offices of the our colleagues of the Office of the Human Rights **** Commissioner that the definition of genocide has to come from a court.
And I'm looking at Tamin and in case he wants to add anything, no.
So I think, Gabriel, I'll send you back to the various answers to these questions that have come from the Office of the **** Commissioner, unless anybody wants to add anything.
James, I, I stand exactly with Alessandra on the language.
I think in Gaza, what we are absolutely seeing and we've seen it now for 13 months and we just heard it very eloquently from from those two colleagues, is a collective failure to hold violators accountable.
And so the global community is is facing a grim pattern right now, whether it's Sudan, whether it's Gaza, and it's a dangerous signal that that might not right is determining who gets justice.
And for me, as we look at a young generation already faced with something like a climate crisis, I don't think that double standard is lost on children.
I don't think it's lost on young people when rules continue to be broken, whatever name is given to them.
But we clearly see international humanitarian law continuously broken with impunity.
Then you are getting a new generation growing up in a world where injustice and what we've heard is happening in Gaza is normalised.
That cannot be allowed to continue in 2025.
Absolutely beyond definitions.
Musa, you have a follow up and then we will go.
We must see, can we say that the Israeli forces have no role or any responsibility in what the gangs in Gaza are doing?
Who has no responsibility?
The force is right again, the responsibility.
The forces are again there no secure.
I think we have all understood.
I'm just looking at my colleagues.
I mean, you want to say something about that?
He's coming to the podium, but also Rosalie and Louise, if you want to add anything.
But I think in general terms, I think we all know that it's the responsibility of the occupying authorities to make sure that everybody gets their basic needs and humanitarian needs fulfilled.
And this is, I think it's a general principle, but maybe you have more on the specific Tamim.
Yes, thank you, Alessandra.
As you said, Alessandra, it is the responsibility of the occupying power to make sure that humanitarian aid, including food, reaches all those who are in need.
This is a very basic human rights that we have been calling for for months now.
And on the on the issue that has just been asked about as well, what we can say is that the **** Commissioner has repeatedly raised concerns, concerns with respect to atrocity crimes.
And this was also raised in the six months report that we released last month.
That that was the question from Gabriella.
So I I think with this concludes our.
Oh, Louise, you want to add something, please?
Yeah, just quickly to say the criminality, it really tightened and took over and took a grip of the Gaza Strip after the wrath of border crossing closed.
So there is a direct correlation between the Rafa border crossing closing and being forced to shut.
You know, the humanitarian response was down in Rafa.
All the humanitarians were working there, 1.4 million people working there.
We had a steady stream of supplies coming through and we were able to get basic needs to the, to the population of even then we had, you know, warehouses maybe had two weeks of supplies, possibly three weeks of supplies in case anything happened.
And then we still had things on the ground.
What we're having now is the warehouses are empty.
Once the food comes in, it goes straight out.
As soon as supplies come in, they go straight out.
There's no reserve anymore.
There's no, there's no backup anymore.
So, yeah, there's criminality, but this is something that has been enhanced by the lack of crossing and the lack of facilitation of aid and supplies into the Gaza Strip.
If this, if this, if we had enough supplies, if it continued, we wouldn't be in the situation that we're in right now.
That's really important to, to, to, to mention.
So that concludes our questions from Gaza.
I would like to thank, of course, I mean, and, and, and James Rosalia, but I would like to make special thanks to Louise Watridge that as a company does these months, it was briefed as on the situation on the ground.
I understand, Louise, this is your last day in, in, in Gaza for the moment at least.
I would like to thank you for the incredible work you've done there, keeping us informed against all odds, against all difficulties of the situation in Gaza.
And really thanks from everybody here in Geneva for your incredibly insightful and moving briefings.
And one continuous soon and I would like now to thank you very much.
So let's now go to the last big subject of the day, which is the incredibly, incredibly alarming situation in Sudan.
I don't know, sometimes you feel like one crisis after the other, but the, the people are forgetting about one or the other.
So really it's really important to remember the dire situation of the the population in Sudan.
And for this, we have OHCHR, we have Saif Magango who's here to tell us about the siege of airfare share.
And Olga is here from UNHCR with Mary Ellen Vernay, the UNHCR representative in South Sudan.
She's calling in from Juba and I'd like to thank her for her patience because this has been a long briefing.
So I don't know who would like to start with that with with you save and then we go to Mary Ellen.
Yes, good morning, everyone.
Yeah, today we are issuing a report detailing the devastating impact the siege of Al Fasher in North of four and ongoing hostilities there are having on the civilian population.
At least at least 782 civilians have been killed and more than 1143 injured as the parties to the conflict have engaged in heavy exchanges of fire in and around the city over the last seven months.
Civilians are besieged and at risk of death or injury from indiscriminate attacks by all parties to the conflict.
Al Fisher has been turned into a battleground between the RSA, between the Rapid Support Forces Understandings Armed Forces, which is backed by its Allied Joint forces.
There has been regular and intense shelling by the RSF of densely populated residential areas, recurrent air strikes by the SAF and Atlanta, shelling by both the SAF and its allied Joint forces, Residential neighbourhoods, markets, hospitals and camps hosting internally displaced people have been struck.
This includes the Zamzam and Abushuk IDP camps and the ******* hospital, which has been shelled repeatedly.
This is the only remaining public hospital in Alfasher capable of providing surgical operations and sexual and reproductive health services.
Attacks on civilians and civilian objects may amount to war crimes.
This alarming situation cannot be allowed to continue.
All parties the conflict must refrain from attacks on civilians and civilian objects and respect international law.
We are also concerned about the increased presence of South Allied joint forces in the Zamzam IDP camp in particular, which is currently home to hundreds of thousands of entirely displaced people.
We are concerned by reports of increased mobilisation of fighters by the parties.
The conflict along tribal lines in across to 4.
All efforts must be taken, included by the international community to prevent such an attack and to halt the siege.
Saif and Olga, you want to say something before we should.
So let's go straight to Maria Len Verna, the unit to see our representative in such then.
Good morning, Alessandra.
I actually want to start by sharing the condolences of Unitia, particularly Unitia, South Sudan and Sudan to the WFP family.
Last night WFP lost three of its staff following an aerial bombing on its well, not on its office in the ***** which is at the Sudan, South Sudan border.
And this tragic news really, I think, leads us into the very sharp deterioration we have been seeing in the past few weeks of the situation at the Sudan, South Sudan border.
As you recall, this is a crisis that started in February, April, excuse me, April 2023.
And since April 2023, more than 900,000 people have fled to South Sudan.
This year, I mean, and every day we have been getting at least 1000 people arriving.
This year, for the past three months, we had seen the number getting a bit lower, 800 people arriving every day.
But for the past 2-3 weeks, we've seen a very, very sharp increase in these numbers and a real change in the dynamics of the conflict.
Basically fighting is going on extremely close to the border.
And in the past three weeks, we have seen people arriving in the main location of arrivals from the start from last year has been through Rank County, which is to the North East of the country.
And this is where we've been saying seeing about 80 percent, 85% of all the arrivals are coming through one official border crossing point in Joda in Rank County.
This changed quite drastically in the past 2-3 weeks when we have been seeing people arriving through a number of informal crossing points and staying very, very close to the border.
So instead of moving from the border to the nearest town and from there into a transit centre, people choosing to stay very very close to the border, which is presenting very significant challenges.
The first one is that we have seen in three weeks about anything between 80,000 to 100,000 people arriving.
These people are staying very close to the border.
There is one stretch of Rd about 10 kilometre where we have at least 40,000 people staying along the road and then another 50 to 60,000 people in other locations and villages, again very close to the border.
It really further stretches the response which until now has been very concentrated on moving people to transit centre and then moving them away as quickly as possible from the border.
Right now we are concentrating on life saving assistance in these locations at the border including really the very basic water emergency health and other very basic initial assistance.
The big concerns for all of us at this moment in time is again the proximity to the border, particularly as we know that fighting is likely to continue at or resume very shortly along that border.
So we are concerned for the safety of the refugees and the returnees, but also concerned of course about the safety of our staff.
It should also be highlighted that the impact of this crisis on South Sudan has gone beyond the number of arrivals.
So as I've been saying, more than 900,000 since April of last year.
But on top of that, the, the, the revenues and national revenue of South Sudan has completely collapsed.
95% of the revenue is linked to the oil pipeline that takes the oil produced in Sudan, in South Sudan, excuse me, into Sudan for refining and exporting that has collapsed in March of this year.
So we are seeing basically communities receiving very large number of arrivals and very much struggling themselves for survival.
The inflation in the country has more than triple, quadrupled in the past six months.
Salaries are not being paid.
Big civil servant, military, teachers, doctors are not getting paid.
So in this in this context, we have the town of right where the population has tripled in one year.
And we have some villages right now along the border where we have seen the population of the village again tripling in just three weeks.
At this moment in time, transit centre in rank is overcrowded.
It has a capacity for about 5000.
It now has over 18,000 people.
So we are trying unit share and partners are trying very much to see what can be done to scale up both in terms of transit centre and relocation.
But also we need to adapt the response to see what can be done to assist populations, trying to convince them not to stay too close to the border simply because of the level of risks at the border that they are under.
The good news is that we have a good progress with local authorities in terms of land allocation.
The less good news, of course, is that this response remains very underfunded.
As of now, the entire humanitarian response is only 24% funded for the Sudan crisis.
I wish to highlight that today South Sudan is launching is which a regional refugee response plan with 48 humanitarian and development partners for a total of 468,000,000.
Thank you very much, Mary Ellen.
And before I open the floor to question, I just, and I wanted to read to you a short statement that we've been received in from the World Food Programme, which says that the World Food Programme is outraged by the killing of three of its staff members in an area bombardment in Sudan on Thursday 19 December.
A World Food Programme field office will see it during the attack.
We are gathering more information and we'll provide updates as we learn more.
There's a press release on their website about this.
OK, so let me open the floor to question.
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Lisa Schlein, Voice of America.
Would the two speakers please send your notes as soon as you can, please?
It would be very helpful.
Also, it was difficult to hear the UNHCR person from South Sudan.
But anyway, my questions is safe.
Perhaps you could talk a bit about the humanitarian situation and Alfasha, that is whether aid is getting through across from Chad to Alfasha and also to other parts of of Sudan.
I don't know whether Olga, you know, you 2 can participate in, in this situation.
And then in South Sudan, I'm wondering with all of these people who are the, the refugees who are coming from Sudan into South Sudan, what kind of an impact is it having upon the country that is, is it destabilising the situation?
Are you getting enough food and healthcare and so forth into the country?
If, and I don't know, perhaps you Alessandra have some information since WFP is not not there regarding or anyone regarding the food situation and famine and starvation and also sexual violence against people.
So I'll, I'll obviously give the floor to Marie Ellen and if you want to add anything, you please go ahead safe.
But also there is Yen's on the line.
So I don't know if Yen says anything on that, but maybe I'll start with Mary Ellen.
And as I said, I mean the devil works.
The programme is not online, so we will have to ask them later on, but maybe Yen says something on that.
So let me start with Mary Ellen.
So the impact on the country is is obviously huge.
And again, I think there are two things we need to look at.
So in the past few days, I mean, since the start of December, we've really been seeing huge amounts of people arriving.
I mean we're talking 7 to 10,000 people arriving a day for three days.
And again, a huge concern about access because for two days because of fighting near the border, we actually lost access.
So, and that that is basically the impact you can feel on the villages and the town very close to the border.
The town of rank, I was saying the population has tripled.
The hospital in rank is absolutely overwhelmed.
Again, a hospital that was meant for 40,000 people now has a population of 130,000.
So that is something that is very problematic.
But then and, and again, as I was saying, we had, we, I've had a response to this crisis for 20 months.
So of course systems are in place.
But when you go from 1000 people a day to 10,000 people a day, then it's really stretching.
And of course another concern in terms of the humanitarian emergency response is that it is happening right at the end of the year when all the partners budget are depleted.
But there is a second aspect in terms of the impact on the country that I think it's very important to keep in mind.
South Sudan has a population of 12 million people and in the past 18 months, 20 months, close to 1,000,000 people have arrived.
They are not all refugees.
Some of them are S Sudanese, but they are S Sudanese that have never lived in the country.
So they, it's not like they can go back to places that they knew or that they had, you know, houses, et cetera.
And again, this is in a context where the economy of the country has really collapsed since March because they have lost their main source of revenue.
It's estimated that at least 80% of the national revenue is no longer coming in.
So on top of the very much needed emergency humanitarian response, what's needed as well is a lot of support for the integration of this 1,000,000 people who have arrived since the start of the crisis.
Nothing in particular that many of them do not want to stay in rural areas if they're refugees, are not that interested in staying in camps in remote areas.
If they are S Sudanese, they're not that interested in staying in rural communities.
So what we're looking at is a very rapid urbanisation, which again requires interventions that were way beyond what humanitarians are doing.
We are seeing a lot of engagement from a number of development partners from the World Bank and the African Development Bank.
But the pressure on the country, both in terms of the conflict, which is now so close to the border, but also in terms of the economy because of the loss of the oil revenue is something that we're extremely concerned about.
And I hope you could hear me, Lisa.
We, we actually could hear you very well if you want to add something.
Thank you so much, Lisa, for your question.
Arnold Fasher itself, we are deeply concerned about the dire situation, humanitarian situation there already.
It has, it's the biggest IDP camp in in that area.
But there's mobilisation of fighters around the camp and we're worried that there might actually be in some some camp in particular, there could there could be clashes in future, in the near future if nothing is done to hold them.
And that's why we are calling on action to be taken to ensure that no further knowledge for the large scale attacks that takes place on Alfasher and Zamzam in particular.
Already you have more than 8.2 million people displaced by the ongoing conflict.
You have more than 3.1 million who fled to neighbouring countries.
The siege is not only ensuring that people cannot have free passage to other areas where they can be safe and they can have access to food, healthcare and everything else.
It improve slightly improve their living conditions at least to be safe.
But it's also restricting access to humanitarians into into a fascia and that needs to be guaranteed immediately to avoid the catastrophe worsening.
And Lisa, just I would like to also flag the briefing to the Security Council.
But Adam was Sonu the Orchard Director of Operation and Advocacy that he gave to ** *** gave to the Security Council.
That was yesterday, 19th December.
The statement is prepared for delivery has been sent to you all.
So I'd like to really ask you to to have a look at this because it's pretty detailed on the humanitarian situation in in Sudan.
Let me see if there is any other question.
I don't see other hands up, am I right?
Thanks very much, Steve and Olga.
And of course, Mariela Vernet calling in from Juba.
Good luck with your important work.
And I'd like now to go to our last speaker of the Day and of the year, in fact, who is our colleague from ILO, Sophie Fisher.
Sophie, we are very happy to have you here because this is a special briefing for you.
I'd like to give you the floor as you are.
I hope you are still there because yeah, yeah.
Because as I understand, you are going to to leave ILO and I'll let you speak about that.
And as she mentioned, this is a personal message rather than ILO thing, which is that this is my last day in my job at the ILO.
I will be leaving the ILO.
I will be taking retirement at the end of the year.
So I just wanted to take the opportunity to say goodbye to you personally, both to my colleagues at Eunice and at the other UN agencies and of course from the media at the Palais.
Some of you may still recall that one day, one day in the past, I sat where you sit now.
I was a journalist at the Palais, so I am fully aware of the importance of what you do, and it could really hardly have been better illustrated than at the press conference we've just had.
So let me just say that it has been both a pleasure and a privilege to work with you all.
Please keep up the good work.
Challenging times are ahead.
Your work is needed more than ever before.
So thank you very much and good luck for the future.
We have to thank you, Sophie, for the support that you've given to us, to of course, the yellow media team, but also to the journalist in all these years.
And I know that Katherine would like to say something to you.
And then John, I'll start with Katherine Fianco.
Yes, thank you so much, Alessandra.
Sophie, I I I take the floor in the name of Akanu.
To thank you to be a wonderful colleague when you were this part of the fence as a, as a journalist, the correspondent, the head of an office, and also to be a, a very, I would say, warm, dedicated and efficient person working for ILO.
And it's with regret that we see leaving you.
But we wish you all the best in the new challenges that you will certain certainly have because I'm sure that you're going to stay very active.
Thank you very much, Catherine.
This is a a personal thank you pro from me and also your former colleagues from the fifth floor of the Palais where we had a wonderful time for many years covering events as you recall and late night parties after the heavy news cycle.
Thank you, Sophie, and all the work you've done for us at the ILO, navigating access to some difficult statistics.
And here's where we learn what was happening at the 5th floor.
So I don't know if you want to say something to close.
As I said, it has been a pleasure and I shall miss you all.
Even John's questions, even particular question.
Thank you Sophie, thank you very much and we hope that we will be able to inform you soon about Sophie's successor.
But again, really thanks so much for all this incredible commitment, professionalism, friendship and support during all these years.
So that brings us to the end of our briefing end of our year together.
We would like to also thank you on behalf of, I would like to thank you on behalf of my colleagues of Unis for your support, your work, your cooperation, whether on this side of the fence or that side of the fence during this year.
Just a logistic announcement, as we have already said, there will be no briefing from today on until the 7th of January in 2025.
Obviously, the very heavy and dire situation in the world the the news landscape can require that we have a briefing in between, which will of course be done, but otherwise we would be distributing the material that come from our colleagues on a regular basis.
As usual, some of you have asked about the access to the PARA during this.
The PARA is not closed so you can come to the office when when you want except on the official holidays and weekend.
The official holidays are to be treated like the weekends.
So if you want, if you have, if you need to access the parley on the 25th, 26th, 27th of December and 1st of January, which I hope for you not in that case, please let Rolando, Michele or myself know so that we can authorise your access.
Otherwise in the other days the para would be open as usual.
If I'm not wrong, the only difference is that the Portai de shipment, the fair is closed during this.
Otherwise and and also I understand it would be hard to find something to eat because the some of the food points are closed too.
So I think that unless there are other questions to me and I don't see any hand up.
I would like to thank you very much again.
Wish you all the best for this holiday season and for a serene and as peaceful as possible New Year 2025.
I'll see you on the 7th of January.
Thanks again and best wishes to all.
