Just to start off, I'm going to, I'm going to do a little bit of housekeeping just quickly and announce a few press conferences that are coming up because it's a busy week, just so you have this on your schedule.
And then we'll go to Syria tomorrow, Wednesday the 12th of March, 2:30 PM.
The Special Procedures of the Office of the a Commission of Human Rights.
We have 4 independent experts on the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, so Ben Sol, Francis Galbanese, Michael Fakhri and Meg Satyth Waite.
That's tomorrow, 12 March 230, Thursday, 13 March, day after tomorrow, 11 AM, we have the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and including E Jerusalem and Israel.
The speakers are Navi Pillai and Chris Sidoti, Chair of the Commission and member of the Commission, respectively.
On Thursday the 13th of March, at 2:00 PM in this room also the World Meteorological Organisation is going to launch the state of the world's glaciers with Stefan Ulenbrook, Director of Water and Cryosphere and Michael Zemt, Director of the World Glacier Monitoring Service.
On Friday, the 14th of March, 2:00 PM, we have the Independent International Fact Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran with Sarah Hossein, the chair of the Iran Fact Finding Mission, Shaheen Sardar Ali and Viviana Kristechevich, expert members both of them.
So that's for the programme ahead.
And you know, I'll have a tell you a little bit about the meetings.
I see that the time on Friday is 2:00 PM.
So next we're going to talk about Syria, which is a situation that the Secretary General has expressed his alarm about, particularly the violent escalation in the coastal areas.
Tamim is here from OHCHR, and the floor is yours.
Reports continue to emerge of the distressing scale of violence in Syria's coastal region since the 6th of March.
The UN Human Rights Office has so far documented the killing of 111 civilians, but the process of verification is ongoing and the actual number of people killed is believed to be significantly higher.
Many of these cases documented were of summary executions.
They appear to have been carried out on a sectarian basis in Tartus, Latakia and Hama governorates, reportedly by unidentified armed individuals, members of armed groups allegedly supporting the caretaker authority security forces, and by elements associated with the former government.
In a number of extremely disturbing instances, entire families, including women, children and individuals, or the Kumba were killed, with predominantly Alawite cities and villages targeted in particular.
According to many testimonies collected by our office, perpetrators raided houses asking residents whether they were Alawite or Sunni before proceeding to either **** or spare them.
Accordingly, some survivors told us that many men were shot dead in front of their families.
Between the 6th and the 7th of March, armed individuals reportedly affiliated with the former government security forces also raided several hospitals in the Takia, Tartus and Banias.
They clashed with the security forces of the caretaker authorities and affiliated armed groups.
This reportedly resulted in dozens of civilian casualties, including patients, doctors and medical students, and damage to the hospitals.
Other violations and abuses recorded in recent days include widespread looting of homes and shops, mainly by unidentified individuals who appear to have taken advantage of the chaotic situation on the ground.
Many civilians have fled their homes to rural areas, while the number also reportedly sought refuge at an air base controlled by Russian forces in the area.
The caretaker authorities announced the end of security operations in the coastal areas on the 10th of March.
However, intermittent clashes continue to be reported.
We have documented accounts and footage of violations and abuses, but tensions have also been fuelled by mounting hate speech online and offline, and widespread dissemination of misinformation, including footage taken out of context, which further exacerbated fear among the population.
We are concerned that the significant spike in hate speech and misinformation risks further inflaming tensions and damaging social cohesion in Syrian society.
UN **** Commissioner for Human Rights for Coutur urges accountability for all these crimes.
He welcomes the announcement by the caretaker authorities of an independent investigation committee and calls on them to ensure that the investigations undertaken are prompt, thorough, independent and impartial.
All those found responsible for violations must be held to account, regardless of their affiliation, in line with international law, norms and standards.
Victims and their families have the right to truth, justice and reparation.
To ensure such harrowing violations and abuses are not repeated.
It is imperative that the process of vetting and integrating armed factions into Syria's military structures is in line with the country's obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law and fully addresses the responsibility of all those who were involved in past, all recent violations of human rights in Syria.
Thank you very much, Tamim.
Thank you very much, Tamim.
I looking to see if there are questions for you on this.
Meanwhile, just to point out, you know, in case you didn't see it yesterday, there was also a statement from the UN resident coordinator and humanitarian coordinator for Syria, Adam Abdul Mullah.
And you know, he was also addressing there some of the disinformation and misinformation issues.
And just to we've circulated this, but just to give you a a sense of this, he says, you know, contrary to reports circulating in social media and in some international media outlets, the United Nations has not deployed any fact finding or investigative mission to the Syrian coastal area.
And such missions can only be mandated by the UN Human Rights Council or the UN Security Council.
And then goes on to talk about the UN's efforts and how they're primarily focused on providing life saving humanitarian assistance to those in need.
Thank you, Robin, go ahead.
Amongst those that are verified killed that that you've been able to document, are there specifically, are there children amongst those verified killed?
And, and secondly, what sort of contacts does does your office have with the new Syrian authorities and do you get the the sense that that your message is being heard there?
Thank you so much for that question.
I have the breakdown of the 111 civilians who were killed.
So we have 90 men, 18 women, one boy and two girls who were killed.
Those, of course, are the numbers that were verified by our office, and we believe that the actual number of those civilians who were killed is significantly higher.
As I said, in terms of the contact with the authorities, as you know, the **** Commissioner visited Syria in January and he met with the caretaker authorities and he offered the full support of our office to the transitional justice process and to the whole transition in Syria to judicial reforms as well.
We are in this process of trying to move our office, our Syria office, from Beirut to Damascus.
So we are engaging with the authorities in this regard.
You're saying that the the UN **** Commissioner is welcoming the announcements by the authorities of an independent investigation committee.
Are you asking the authorities to be associated with this investigation?
I'm sorry, do you mean if we're asking the authorities for our office to be associated in this vegetation, it is responsibility of the authorities, of the caretaker authorities who are in control of the Syrian territory to conduct all necessary investigations and to ensure the protection of the Syrian population and all their human rights.
If our office is is asked, we can see.
But we, we have, we, we've never, we, we were not asked to be associated in the investigation.
Tamim, a question about the verification process.
I imagine that asking these sorts of questions about these killings would be sensitive at a time like this.
I'm wondering, have your teams had had any difficulties getting access to the information they need to verify these killings?
Any fears of reprisals or, or people refusing to speak to the UN because they're afraid of reprisals?
Thank you for that, Emma.
In fact, we have been facing huge challenges in verifying information and this is is partly because of the misinformation and the fake news that are spreading heavily.
So we we have many challenges in that process.
We have also witnessed a huge appetite among the population to address the United Nations and to call for help and documentation.
We have received hundreds of of emails with photos and videos from ordinary Syrians trying to reach out and report violations.
Of course, again, this huge amount of information requires a lot of time and effort to verify and corroborate all these pieces of information according to our methodology.
And one of the challenges is also that we have not moved yet our office completely to Damascus, which we hope to be doing in the future, in the near future.
I've got a number of questions online.
We'll start with Antonio from FA.
My question is not about Syria, it's about Philippines.
I don't know if I can ask.
All right, maybe we'll just come back to you then.
Because they think that ravine is online.
Perhaps, you know, she'd like to take that one.
Satoko, is your question about Syria?
Yes, please go ahead then.
Thank you very much for doing this.
You said that the the summary executions was reportedly deportedly carried out by unidentified armed armed individuals, but there are some reports that the those perpetrators were speaking foreign languages.
Do you have some details on it?
Thank you, thank you for that.
We have seen such reports, but it is still it is one of the challenges for us to to verify.
We have seen the cause by local groups and activists on social media for mobilisation in support of the Syrian caretaker authorities.
Members of armed groups as well as unidentified armed individuals have reached the affected areas and in a manner to to support the counter offensive launched by the security forces.
It is extremely challenging to verify the identities of these people and the the the the structures under which they were acting.
Gabriel, is your question on Syria?
OK, please go ahead then.
Yeah, Miguel, maybe the the question is for you, is the secretary general in contact with authorities, the new authorities in Damascus or do you have any comments on that?
Well, you know, the UN is has contacts with authorities in Damascus, you know, through a variety of different people and, you know, through the special envoys.
So as you know, he, he has been, you know, he has been there, but I don't, I cannot tell you now whether he's he's spoken in the last few days or whether he's been, you know, personally in contact.
But there are the ongoing contacts between the UN and the authorities in Damascus ongoing.
John Zaracostas, is your question on Syria?
Yes, I was wondering, Sir, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has been reporting on human rights violations for many years, put the number of civilians at over 700 killed and also gave a breakdown of government forces and also former Assad supporters killed here.
I was wondering why is your office so slow when other organisations have moved so fast to give the data?
As I said, each organisation has its own way and methodology of of work.
For now, we have, we have been facing a huge amount of challenges, as I said, and we have been able to verify 111 civilian casualties.
Of course, we focus on civilian casualties and one of the challenges is the, the, the, the huge amount of misinformation.
And we have not been able for now to, I mean, we are in the process of trying to move our office to Damascus.
This is one of the challenges.
But as I stated, the number that I mentioned is believed to be less than the actual number of, of casualties.
And the, the, the point that we need to focus on here is that there is a huge number of people who have been suffering in Syria, in the coastal areas for five days.
We have, we have seen that intermittent clashes continue to take place.
The impact on civilians have been very, very harsh and entire families have been suffering from the the, the events that have been going on.
And that is the the, the point our verification process will continue and of course it takes some more time.
Yeah, thank you for the briefing.
Just following up on John's question though, Tim, do you, do you find that number of seven, is that number of 700 casualties, does that seem plausible to you?
You say significantly higher.
So is, is, is the Syrian Observatory number plausible?
Secondly, with reference to the attacks on the hospitals, do you have any sense of of what that's about?
Why would former security force elements be going up attacking hospitals?
I cannot say if if other figures are plausible or not.
I prefer to wait to see the the verification process by our office that will continue.
On the attacks on hospitals.
I mean, this is one of also one of the tragic events.
Patients and doctors and medical students, as I said, were affected by these attacks.
And this is clearly a violation of international humanitarian law if groups attack hospitals and protected infrastructure, civilian infrastructure.
So this is part of these these tragic events that must have never happened and and must stop.
And for for which there should be accountability and, and prompt investigations to know the, the, the how and why and when and, and who are the perpetrators that attack these hospitals and also those who've killed civilians, entire families.
So accountability is key here for Syria to go further to, to, to advance and to, to a future of democracy and human rights.
And for the transition process in general in Syria, for it to succeed, it's a must be anchored in human rights.
Gabriella, you still have your hand up.
Or maybe we'll go to Laurent.
Then we'll come back to Gabriella to see whether that's a new hand or an old hand.
You said that you received hundreds of emails related to these events.
Among the testimonies, was there any that tended to have the beginning of proof of indication of a direct link between these unidentified people and the chain of command which will be close of the de facto authorities?
As I said, sorry, the the unidentified armed individuals who have reached these affected areas did so in a seemingly uncoordinated manner to support the counter offensive of the security forces.
It is very, very challenging for us to verify whether they whether they were acting upon instructions or were coordinating their actions with the security forces of the Syrian caretaker authorities.
Gabriella, I think maybe you had a follow up, is that it?
Yes, kind of when are we going to speak with a special envoy when he's going to brief us on the situation.
And also there is a, there was a Carla Quintana who was in charge of of missing persons in in Syria, which is a, a huge problem there.
So if she's going to give because any numbers or any, anything or statement or anything about the situation of missing persons in Syria, thank you.
I don't have an answer for you on that, but I will reach out to the respective spokespersons for, you know, the special envoy and for Miss Quintana and we will see whether they'll have something for you soon.
Just on the, on the misinformation and and disinformation is the, is the level of it that you're seeing around what's going on in in Latakia is, is that unusual and have you been able to identify perhaps where, where this might be originating from?
As you know, in situations of conflicts like that, misinformation and disinformation does occur.
I would say it's unfortunate.
So the sources can be multiple and diverse.
We cannot at this stage determine where from these footage and misinformation come.
But perhaps the verification process can make things clear on the on this aspect.
Yeah, on this topic, just to bring your attention to the fact that the Secretary General did did address it and you know, called on the need to ensure and protect the space for independent media and human rights organisation to carry out their work of monitoring and verification to shed light in a transparent manner on reports and allegations.
So this is evidently an issue with, you know, the quality of the information that we're getting.
Any any other questions on this particular issue?
I'm going to look quickly.
And if not, we'll go to Antonio, who I believe has a question for Ravina.
My question is on the arrest of former Philippine President of Rodrigo Duterte.
The service was requested by International Criminal Court.
Does the the office have any reaction?
And also I would like to to know what's the position of the office on the war on drugs that Duterte deployed when he was president?
Do you also believe that it may amount on crimes against humanity?
We're aware that the Philippines authorities have announced the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte on a warrant that was issued by the International Criminal Court.
We have long documented the severe human rights impacts of the so-called war on drugs in the Philippines.
In a report that we had put out in 2020, we found credible allegations of widespread and systematic extrajudicial killings in the context of this campaign, as well as arbitrary detention and the near impunity for such violations.
Subsequently, we do welcome the the positive changes in the area of drug policy that the current Government has pursued on accountability.
However, what we have seen is that despite steps to review past cases, we understand that only four cases have so far resulted in convictions, and it is of course crucial to address such impunity.
It's essential that the next steps with respect to Mr Duterte are undertaken in full accordance with the law, including applicable international human rights obligations of the Philippines.
And we do stress the importance of protecting victims and witnesses and preventing reprisals and retributions of any kind as this important process moves forward.
The families of those affected have shown great courage in pursuing justice over many years, and it is crucial that they are protected as this process moves forward.
Thank you very much, Ravina, and thank you, Antonio, for asking the question.
Anything else on that or matters related to, you know, OHC chart, considering that we have both Ravina and Tamim here at present?
Hoping to ask more of a institutional question, Ravina, from comments from the Secretary of State Rubio yesterday, it seems that the process of reviewing US aid is now over.
So I imagine that means that UN agencies have been officially informed now of which programmes have been cut.
Can you tell us about the termination notices that you've received and how this is going to impact your work going forward?
Sorry, problems with unmuted.
No, thank you and not for that question.
The Secretary General spokesperson was also asked of course about this review yesterday and then you will have seen his responses on our side.
Yes, of course, we are also impacted.
We did receive stop work orders for ongoing agreements with USAID and the Department of State for seven of our country operations and there has been an immediate impact.
For example, in Iraq, we're shutting down a programme funded by the US which involved working with torture victims and families of disappeared persons.
US funds also represent more than 40% of our budget for Colombia, where we have since 1997 been working to support the authorities, human rights defenders and communities.
We, as the **** Commissioner has said, this is a time for more investment in human rights, not less investment in human rights helps prevent conflicts, helps resolve crises, helps pre empt crises.
So he is calling on all states to step up their investment on human rights.
I just wanted to clarify something, Ravina.
I thought the stop work orders were for the pause.
What I understand now is that agencies and NGOs have been told which ones will be permanently cut beyond the 90 days.
So is it the case that all of those seven that you mentioned will not be funded going forward?
Is that the permanent impact of the US review?
On that, I'll have to get back to you.
I'm not sure if we've received notification yesterday, further notification yesterday, but I can get back to you on that.
Following up on Emma's question, do we know of the seven country programmes affected by the cuts or the termination of funding by State Department funds and USAID, what is the total contribution to your country offices is at 10 percent, 20%?
And which are the other six countries you mentioned?
Sorry, the other five you mentioned Iraq and Colombia, which are the other fund country programmes funded that were funded?
And secondly, I recall President Trump when he decided to dissociate the US from the Human Rights Council, there was a clause in his executive order that said no retroactivity in any bills being paid.
Is is that your understanding?
On the funding that we received from the USI mean in 2024, the US was our top donor.
They contributed $36 million, which is about 13.5% of our extra budgetary income.
And this is of course, in addition to what we receive from the regular budget contributions as part of the the UN Secretariat on the other countries.
Actually, I don't have those in front of me.
I'm just checking with colleagues.
I do know that Bangladesh is one of them.
So definitely Iraq, Colombia, Bangladesh, but let me just double check with colleagues and get back to you on what the other ones are.
I'll see a hand up from Gabriela.
My question is on USA and Mr Trump.
Well they they order or I don't know how to say it in English, but they gave some instructions to the journalist not to use certain words, certain words like LGBTQ or inclusive or a lot of questions.
So are you aware of this And what are your comments on freedom of speech and freedom of expression right now in USA since Mr Trump kicked out from his briefing one journalist from AP agency.
So if you have comments on that, thank you so much.
We can't hear you, Raveena.
I don't know whether I think maybe you're not a muted on your end.
Thanks, Gabriella, for your question.
It is our mandate to insist on protection of human rights and to insist that nobody should face discrimination or violence on the basis of who they are, who they love, what region of the world they come from, what their migration status is, what the colour of their skin is or what their gender is.
Non discrimination is a fundamental tenet of of international human rights law.
Now, what is crucial is that we embrace the values of of ensuring that every segment of society is included and that there is awareness of the specific circumstances, bearing in mind historical injustices that people have been subjected to as well and that governments globally act to fight racism, bigotry and hate speech.
On the situation of of freedom of expression, you will recall that the **** Commissioner in his global update to the Human Rights Council last week also emphasised his concerns about disinformation and his call on the US to ensure that freedom of expression is protected.
We have a question from Rahul.
I'd like to come back to the the situation in the seven countries that you mentioned at, at, at at the HQ without prejudging what could be the situation with the further notification, but till now with the freeze as that situation led to termination of some contracts.
And if so, so many, how many and and and maybe not only for you, but also for partners that would help you implement the the programmes in the different countries.
As you know that when this **** Commissioner started his mandate in October 2022, he started a process of reform, of, of structural change in the office to try to maximise efficiencies, to try to maximise the impact of what we do now.
That process has been ongoing anyway.
The office has now entered the contingency planning phase.
We are reviewing our 2025 budget.
We're trying to reduce costs where possible.
As I said, the **** Commissioner has launched an appeal to others to step in and step up their funding of our human rights work.
We are encouraging all actors, including states, foundations, the private sector philanthropist to step up at this critical juncture to ensure continued funding for our human rights work on, you know, the very specific impact of of the cuts.
As I said that there are some countries where we will have to cut back on some of our work, including Colombia, including Iraq and in other places we're trying to redeploy funding.
Know, I don't know if you if that's you have a follow up quickly.
So do you have already a figure of how many jobs could be cut related to that?
No, the the emphasis is actually on on protecting jobs.
I have now received the information that I was looking for earlier on the on the suspension letters.
So these concerned projects in the Equatorial Guinea, Iraq and Ukraine as well as Bangladesh, Colombia, Ethiopia and Peru.
Thank you, Ravina, we have a question from Antonio.
Ravina, do you have details on the programmes in Colombia and Peru affected?
Yeah, on Colombia, as I mentioned, we, you know, we have a lot of offices across the country, including in different regions.
So what we do have to do is we'll have to cut back on some of our projects.
We'll have to cut back on some of the work that we're able to do over there on the other countries.
Let me just have a quick look.
US represents US also represents around 10% of our UN human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine's yearly budget, as well as contributing to the UN voluntary Trust on contemporary forms of slavery, where US contributions represent about 10% of the yearly impact.
Listen, we, we do what we can to try to minimise the impact of these budget cuts on really our core work.
So that there is, as I said, a process ongoing to try to see where we can reduce costs, where it's easier to reduce costs without having an impact on our core programmes.
I don't think there are any more questions on this subject.
I really want to thank you know all our colleagues from OHCHR today.
Thank you, thank you, Robina.
And I think that we will move on to the next item in today's briefing.
We've had patience we patiently standing by the UNICEF representative in Bangladesh who's connecting with us from Dhaka run of flowers and I think we're we're happy to hear from you.
It's also timely briefing.
As you know, the secretary general is also visiting Bangladesh starting Friday and and we'll be going to Cox's Bazaar among other activities.
So without further ado, over to you in Dhaka.
Thank you very much and good morning.
Children in the world's largest refugee camp are experiencing the worst levels of malnutrition since the massive displacement that occurred in 2017.
In February this year, admissions admissions for severe acute malnutrition surged by over 27% compared to the same month last year.
This this is just one month this year where more than 38 children under five were admitted for emergency care every single day.
Now there are several compounding crisis that are driving this surge.
1 is the 2024 monsoon season, which lasted a full month longer than usual, worsening the unsanitary conditions and triggering a surge in childhood diseases like severe diarrhoea, like outbreaks of cholera and dengue, which just further fuelled the malnutrition.
2 Escalating violence over the border has displaced even more families, so more of them are seeking shelter in the caps.
3 Intermittent reductions in food rations over the past two years have forced families to survive on mega diets, and four now the global aid funding crisis.
It's forcing humanitarian agencies to look at urgent measures to preserve the access to the very basics of life enough food to survive, clean water, medical treatment for dangerously sick children.
Any further reductions in humanitarian support risk pushing families into extreme desperation, heightening tensions and instability inside the already overcrowded camps.
Creating a catastrophe that would not only deepen their suffering but also make it more challenging for us to operate and to provide that help.
It's thanks to the generous hosting of the government of Bangladesh that more than 500,000 children live in the camps of Cox's Bazaar.
End of under Fives are now malnourished, which is an an emergency threshold.
This past month, as our sister agency the World Food Programme has warned, food rations have reached a critical point.
According to the World Food Programme, without immediate funding, rations could soon be reduced to less than half, just $6 a month, an amount that falls drastically short of basic nutritional needs.
Pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, along with their infants, would be among the most vulnerable to the consequences.
The flow on effect to children is quick and it's lethal.
Look, the world can get lost in the numbers, so let me share one personal case.
When 25 year old new al Qaeda's first child, 14 month old Miriam, became too weak to eat, she took her to a UNICEF clinic where tests showed she was dangerously malnourished.
After weeks of treatment, Miriam started recovering.
But then New Qaeda began hearing whispers in the camp, the rumours that scared her.
She expressed to us that people are saying that this nutrition facility might shut down.
And she shared her fears, saying we need to feed our children even if we cannot feed ourselves.
If you stop providing us with this therapeutic food, my child could die.
These families cannot yet safely return home.
They have no legal right to work.
So the sustained humanitarian support, it's not optional, it is essential.
Amidst this global aid funding crisis, UNICEF is determined to stay and deliver for children.
But without guaranteed and sustained funding, critical services are at risk.
We're calling on all of the donors to sustain support for our critical work for children.
Until now, this community has survived thanks to the solidarity of the international humanitarian community.
But today, an aid funding crisis risks becoming a child survival crisis.
I'm happy to take questions.
Thank you, Miss Flowers, for this, you know, for your appeal.
Obviously this this is a situation that you know, has also to some extent, you know, dropped under the radar of media attention to some degree.
We hope very much that, you know, the secretary general's visit to Bangladesh from the 13th to the 16th would also help bring back attention to this, you know, often under overlooked crisis and certainly underfunded crisis.
I also noticed that we have James Elder on the line in case there are questions of a more general nature.
Any any questions for Ron of Flowers?
Thank you, Robin, go ahead.
Given what you've just told us very directly, has the what's been going on with US aid directly affected your operations at Cox's Bazaar?
And you mentioned the need for guaranteed and sustained funding.
Again, do you have that guaranteed and sustained funding or not?
Look, thank you very much for the question.
This is a rapidly evolving situation.
You know, we're speaking here about half a million children.
And but there's no substitute for the scale of support provided by the donor governments and there's no replacement for the valuable partnership with the United States.
Let me let me try and explain the situation that the Rohingya children are facing right now.
UNICEF is determined to stay and deliver for children, but we need help without the guarantees, as I said, of the sustained funding our life saving humanitarian services, yes, they're at risk and the price is going to be paid in children's lives.
UNICEF's received a humanitarian waiver for our nutrition programme.
Now that may allow us to use the ready to use therapeutic food to treat and cure the very sick children with severe acute malnutrition.
But we need both waiver and the actual funding to maintain this work and the programme that we have for the skilled trained capacity that detects and treats sick children.
It will run out of resources in June 2025, but after that there is no guaranteed funding for the detection and treatment services.
So yes, unless additional resources are secured, only half of the children in need will have access to treatment this year.
And that's going to leave about 7000 children at risk with the expectation of a rise in morbidity and mortality.
I've only referred to nutrition.
So let me just say other US grants have been terminated affecting life saving support of Reingucheng.
We've got a question from Beza from Anatolo News Agency.
I just wanted to ask, you said that US aid cannot be replaceable for now And if the funding doesn't return, I want to ask what is the contingency plan UNICEF is working on and what will be the long term effects on the children, not only their physical but as well as cognitive development as well?
Look, thank you very much for the question.
I need to mention that other US grants for Bangladesh have been terminated.
The funds lost are equivalent to about 1/4 of our Rohingya refugee response costs as they were in 2024.
And without that alternative funding, services for these children will be significantly scaled back, putting their survival, safety and futures at risk.
So what are we looking at?
We're looking at safe water and sanitation services.
They will deteriorate, increasing the risk of deadly disease outbreaks with flow on effects for the public health security, health access.
It's going to shrink, Clinics will close and immunizations will be disrupted.
Education will be cut off, leaving hundreds of thousands without learning opportunities.
And children will be left unprotected, exposed to violence, abductions, recruitment by arms groups, exploitation and child labour.
Clearly, UNICEF is not the only UN agency operating in the camps supporting the Rohingya population.
There are several others, all of whom have been affected by the changed funding environment in which we are now operating.
If the funding is not addressed, in of most concern and most urgent is the food half rations from the 1st of April.
It is clean water for the families to be able to drink, for the children for for cooking and for washing.
And it is for nutrition which will allow us to keep those children alive.
Thank you very much, Miss Flowers.
Are there any other questions?
Any other questions for UNICEF?
Reuters Hi, good morning.
I'm wondering what host country Bangladesh is is telling you if this funding is cut off permanently, How patient can they be as a host country and what actions do you fear they might take if they have this huge population that is not being supported by the international community?
Bangladesh has shown extraordinary leadership and they've shown, you know, immense generosity in hosting the Rohingya population.
1.1 million Rohingya in Cops's Bazaar over the last seven years.
They set out to do that, accepting that they would have the support, that there would be a global responsibility in support of this least developed country to be able to provide that ongoing hosting for the Rohingya.
It's it's an issue that it's an area that the international community, they, they must uphold.
That was their commitment.
The Rohingya cannot return home.
It is not safe for them to return home, so we have no alternative but to look at finding the solutions.
If the support is withdrawn, we know that the most vulnerable that children are going to die and we need to call on all donors.
Now is not the time to turn away from Bangladesh nor and in particular to turn away from the Rohingya populations.
You know you, you know you that Bangladesh is in at this critical juncture where in it's own history and development, it's setting a new foundation for for rule of law, for human rights, for equitable development.
And at this very moment, the funding is being reduced again.
We need all the donors to come back to the table, to rejoin the hands and to show that solidarity that really has supported Bangladesh over the last seven years.
Thanks, Nick ******* Bruce.
I just wondered if you could identify who are the other major donors for your Rohingya support programme and whether you are experiencing cuts in the aid that they have provided as well and whether you have found you've been able to diversify your donor base.
And yes, we do have a number of other significant and highly supportive governments to the Rohingya response.
In several cases, as you've seen, many donors are suggesting a cut and changes to their overseas aid.
We're assessing what that is, what that will look like going forward.
We're assessing when that will come into play.
I don't have a firm answer for you at this time, but I am significantly concerned for the situation of of the women and children in the camps.
I don't see any more questions in the room or online.
Thank you for connecting with the Geneva Press Corps from Dhaka, Rana Flowers.
And I hope we wish you all the best in, you know, drumming up the support that, you know, 1.1 million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh need to desperately.
I'm just going to read a few announcements, I think as we near the end of of this briefing, what looks like it anyway, just to remind you that currently those of you who are covering human rights in OPT that there is, you know, there are hearings of the Commission of inquiry going on right now, today and tomorrow that are focused on sexual and gender based violence.
And so some of that, you know, the open portions of that testimony or is is available on UN web TV for any questions.
Todd Pitman is the person to contact.
As you well know, of course, the Human Rights Council continues its 58 session.
Also, the Human Rights Committee is meeting and this morning is concluding its review of Mongolia, other countries for review, or Montenegro, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mongolia, Albania and Haiti.
There is the Committee on the Rights of the Persons with Disabilities, ongoing until the 21st of March, and this morning it is concluding its review with the report of Canada, other countries coming up to value, Dominican Republic, Vietnam, Canada.
And then there's the European Union and Palau Conference on Disarmament also meeting this morning at Tempest, and there's some additional information about that if needed.
On the presidencies and the rotation, the current presidency until the end of this week is Japan.
With that, I see two hands up.
So we've got Matthias and Gabriella.
Let's give a chance to Matthias since we haven't heard from him.
Hi, thank you for taking my questions.
I believe there are still a couple of representatives of the UN organisations on this call.
I would just like to know, have you received this survey from the Trump administration asking if you work with entities linked to socialism, totalitarianism, or if you're being financed by China or North Korea and other countries?
Can you comment on that, please?
Well, WH OS here in the room and they're shaking their heads.
So I think we'll take that as a no.
I mean, in in some yeah, we have no information.
You know, I mean, I don't, I think that I don't know that I don't see anybody else, you know, volunteering for that one.
Although even on the face of it, it's, it's some of that is a little bit odd, just that, you know, in the sense that many of these organisations are, you know, you know, being part of the United Nations, receive contributions from all their members.
So just to say that for one, I, I don't know that there's anybody else here who is and I certainly don't have any information.
So on that, I don't think we've seen anything of that sort, at least not not here at the United Nations in Geneva.
CILO is shaking their head as well.
So it may be something that is more affecting NGOs or or else perhaps we still just don't have the complete tally on that.
But thank you for asking the question.
I saw that Gabriella had her hand up.
So maybe you have another question for us.
Yes, this problem that you have with funding is the United Nations open to receive donors of other, other actors, for example, private enterprises or NGOs or another type of, of organisations that are not state?
Well, look, you know, I'm not an expert on this and so I'll, I'll answer it in in sort of fairly general terms.
I think that, you know, some of this depends on on, you know, particular, you know, what the, what the entity is.
You know, speaking for the UN Secretariat, we, you know, essentially just take, you know, assess contributions from our member states.
You know, there, there may be, you know, there may be other parts of the UN or agencies that are, you know, able to, you know, accept financing from, you know, other, you know, other areas.
I, I don't know, I, I don't mean mean to put Margaret on the spot, but perhaps I'm thinking, you know WHO.
But I would presume that maybe the, you know, the the Gates Foundation has in the past been a contributor to to WHO?
But I don't I, you know, I really don't know enough about that to speak of on it.
But I think the point here is that Gabrielle is trying to get to is whether in some cases and in some agencies, there are other entities other than member states that can make contributions, right.
So, so I just thought, yeah, exactly.
Perhaps that's something that W Cho can address as an example.
We're certainly broadening our funding.
You know, it's the old sort of method of just simply relying on the member states was not sustainable.
That that was one of the things that Doctor Tedros made as a a pillar of his.
As director general when he first came in, was to really look at making our funding much more sustainable from a much broader donor base in all sorts of ways, including starting The Who Foundation.
So that's really been accelerated by the current situation.
But indeed donors outside the Member States are extremely important.
We've got a question from Emma.
Hi, Margaret, thanks for taking the podium.
I, I wanted to ask about AWHO internal memo that was sent around last night and Reuters reported it and it talks about a prioritisation process that has begun about 3 weeks ago aimed to, to make The Who more sustainable.
I was just wondering if you could tell us a bit more about this process, how long it will take and whether it's the whole membership being consulted or just a small group and whether this will result in some maybe outcomes at The Who.
Just hoping for a bit more context.
And secondly, if possible, Health Policy Watch came out with a story last night and I just wanted to get some fair comment on that.
It it talks about the kind of senior leadership staff being quite bloated in in recent years, growing versus previous years.
And I was just wondering if The Who could kind of comment on that trend at all.
On an internal memo, it's an internal memo.
So I'm not really going to comment on something that, but indeed we have been and and in reference to the health Policy watch story, which I haven't had a chance to read properly either.
We've been doing a lot of work on cost containment, on changing as I mentioned, how we are funded, but what we do with our funds is critical and particularly looking at where our programmes have most impact and our programmes have most impact in the countries where we're needed.
So what's really been happening is a big transfer of funding and staffing and commitment at country level away from HQ.
And that has been really the core of the transformation process, really the core of what Doctor Tedros brought it to WHO in his thinking when he he became Director General.
It has been a slow process.
And for sure, you know, the cold winds of economic rationalisation are speeding that up.
Thank you so much for for that.
Can I say something else?
Of course, we're expecting a question today on the pandemic because today is five years since Doctor Ted Ross characterised the epidemic, the COVID-19 epidemic as a pandemic.
And I'm really impressed that none of you asked me about it because it shows that you got the message.
We declared the emergency on January 30.
And it also shows how fantastic you've been.
You've been with us as journalists, communicating and getting it right and getting it out to the world.
So I'm just super impressed because I came with all my talking points.
But so and you know, it is a day having said for us, the emergency actually started for us December 31, 2019, when we first heard and we were on an emergency footing from then on.
But having said that, it is a day that's very, very difficult for a lot of people around the world because people are still mourning those they lost that they couldn't even say goodbye to.
It was a really, really, and in Switzerland and France, this was a time when suddenly the world went into lockdown.
Many people found their lives completely dislocated.
So it has, it is a day that we don't mark, but we understand the pain and the suffering.
And, and I just want to say some good things have come out of it that we've changed the international health regulations to have a pandemic emergency as a thing we declare.
So people really get the message despite your good work, they didn't get the message.
So we've changed that and we've also getting closer and closer to the pandemic accord that hopefully the last meeting will be in April and we'll get that across the line.
So it had was a very hard time, but some good has come from it, including some greater awareness of the importance of hand washing.
So thank you, thank you for those words.
Thank you all for your important work that you do here.
And with that, just wishing you a wonderful rest of the day.
