Welcome to the briefing for today, Friday, the 14th of March.
I was going to say happy Friday, but it is not a particularly happy Friday for children and many others in Sudan.
We've issued a number of things on, on the situation in Sudan, but we're pleased today to have with us from New York.
She's obviously up bright and early, and so we thank her for that.
We have Lucia Elmi, the UNICEF Director of Emergency Operations, who's going to tell us more about the humanitarian situation for children in Sudan, which was taken up in the Security Council.
Thank you and good morning.
I would like to bring to your attention today the situation of Children of Sudan, the chapter for in one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
I just returned from a weak mission in Sudan and I could witness first hand the conflict, the displacement and the hunger that have been destroying the life of so many children.
Millions of children, more than 16,000,000 children in Sudan are in need.
Urgent humanitarian assistance.
Nearly 17,000,000 children have been out of schools for two years.
Gays dares face grave risk including sexual violence, trafficking and forced marriage.
Over 12 million people at a risk of gender based violence.
Children are being killed, maimed, displaced with great variation reports on a daily basis.
Many face recruitment and used by armed groups.
Child labour, early marriage.
The psychological Tory is devastating.
Conflict, loss and displacement have left children struggling with anxiety, depression, trauma.
Urgent action is needed to protect Sudan's children.
Reaching those children is becoming increasingly difficult.
During my recent visit, we travelled to Qasala, to Gedarev, to Wad Madani.
We were actually the first humanitarian mission since December 2023 where I witnessed Gerser Boeing being screened for malnutrition, mothers thinking urgent treatment for their children and family desperate for clean water and sanitation.
The needs are staggering, yet aid is not available at the scale and the speed required.
At the same time, I saw something remarkable.
I saw displaced and Oz community coming together to contribute to the delivery of humanitarian services.
Children eager to learn both from the worst community in the displaced community and for some leader to learn in the learning centre, temporary Learning Centre and for some of them was the first time in their life their opportunity to be in the school environment.
School is not only about learning is also offered a sense of normalcy, hope and protection.
I also saw bass aspect with a few possession for families.
The families could carry heading back to areas where fighting and subside subside.
Sinja Sinar Guademedini parents are cautiously starting their journey back home, opening their condition with the main stable, and they can start rebuilding their life.
But I also met with families who are not able to return home.
The villages have gone, the community have been shattered.
They remain stuck in a limbo with little hope for the future.
Delivery on humanitarian aid continue to be inhibited by bureaucratic administrative impairments in obtaining the necessary permits for delivery supply in areas affected by armed profit.
Ongoing conflict, ethnic different violence indirect attached to humanitarian workers and mutual aid groups are worsening and already in dire situation.
Looting and violence are forced operational suspension in multiple areas.
Last year, Sudan food crisis paralleled into famine, something we long have been warning about and now we want the situation is even worsening.
Since April 2023, the number of people facing acute insecurity, food insecurity has tripled.
Famine condition are occurring at least five locations, including displacement camps in North Air 4 and in the Western Nova Mountains.
Nationally, 3.2 million children under five years of age are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition this year, including 770,000 facing severe acute malnutrition.
That is the deadliest form of hunger, nearly making children 11 times more likely to die from the disease.
But this crisis is not only about food, it's about safe water, sanitation, healthcare, protection.
In a famine affected areas, basic services are almost collapsed.
Despite immense challenges, UNICEF remains on the ground, committed to stay and deliver.
In 2024, we were able to provide psychosocial support, education and protection services to 2.7 million children and caregivers, deliver safe drinking water to 9.8 million people and screens 6.7 million children for malnutrition and provide life saving treatment with partner to over 400,000 children.
In 2025, we continue delivering urgent assistance while also working to restore essential services and build resilience in the Habesis area.
Sudan risk losing the entire generation.
We call on all actors to act now, guarantee humanitarian access across conflict lines and borders, protect humanitarian workers and supplies, increase funding to match the escalating needs, and end violence.
The children's of Sudan cannot wait.
Thank you, Miss Enemy, for this briefing and for taking the time to speak to the Geneva Press corps.
Just as a reminder, you all know that the Executive Director of UNICEF, Catherine Russell, briefed the Security Council yesterday on this issue.
And you know that the more than 30 million people, 2/3 of Sudan's total population that require a humanitarian assistance this year out of those 16 millionaire children, that's an enormous figure.
So I'm going to, you know, give the floor to anybody who may have a question on this issue.
I do not see any in the room.
But thank you very much again and good luck.
As you know, UNICEF is appealing for the figure of 1 billion U.S.
dollar to deliver support to 8.7 million of the most vulnerable children this year.
So thank you very much again and we hope to see you again at this briefing.
Uchiya and me, I'm Speaking of UNICEF and WHO.
They both issued a joint press release yesterday on the situation of measles in the European region.
And I'm happy today to have with us Christian Linmeyer from WHO, and I believe he's going to introduce Doctor Draganjankovic, who is the technical lead for measles from WHO Europe, who will be speaking to us from Copenhagen.
Yeah, thank you very much, Michaela.
And actually you did the invitation or the introduction already.
Very glad to have with us.
He's the technical lead for measles at The Who regional office in Copenhagen.
And as you said, there's a a joint communique together with UNICEF.
There's also a joint statement.
We'll send it out in a moment or it's already on the way.
And then I think it has already been shared last night.
But in any case, Raghav, please go ahead.
In our statement, both agencies and their directors, the Regional Director for WHO Europe, Doctor Hans Kluge and the Regional Director for UNICEF Europe and Central Asia, Regina de Dominsis stated that this situation where we have almost 100,000 is 100, 30,000 cases of meals was reported in 2024 is unacceptable and call for immediate action.
Our region was facing outbreaks in 2023 and 24 and during the 2024.
Besides this number of measured cases, it also have a situation that we have 38 dates reported due to meals.
We have situation that almost 50% of cases are among children younger than 5.
Both directors are stating this as a call for action on the level of population on the level of countries.
We need immediate action to increase immunisation coverage which was affected during the COVID pandemic and response to pandemic.
But we also have to find a local situations which are building to this situation and which are not helping countries to early detect cases, early detect outbreaks and initiate timely and adequate response.
Even in this year for the January 2025, we already have 3000 cases reported.
We saw that number of cases is going down by the end of 2024.
However, traditionally or by data epidemiology that we are receiving from the countries, usually number of cases is increasing at the beginning of the year.
And in European region majority of cases are happening in the period February to May.
This is timely call for action because again huge catch up activities have to be done first for measles but also for all other diseases for which children were not immunised due to pandemic first of all.
But we are also asking countries to define and map reasons in health system in acceptance of vaccine in cooperation with different structures inside the country, not only health system but also educational and social care.
And to deal with these gaps, the region have a target of mills and ruble elimination.
We have only three countries which are missing status of rubella elimination to be verified.
But we have something like that 1015 countries which are still endemic for measles or which achieve interruption or elimination of measles but losing that status usually because importation of virus and inadequate Algic response.
Doctor Yankovic, I have a question from Antonio Brotto from FA.
So I read the press release yesterday and I saw that the the countries with more cases in Europe are all in Eastern Europe, also some of them in Central Asia.
Do you know what's the reason?
And is WHO concerned about the situation in some countries in Western Europe as well?
Thank you for the question.
Yes, if you look for the most recent data, the biggest burden of disease was happening in the countries of Central Asia and in South Europe, as you mentioned.
If you look, it's Kyrgyzstan, it's Romania, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
But we also have cases and outbreaks reported in the United Kingdom, in France, in Germany and the other countries.
The point is that there is a susceptible population in every single of our countries.
The reasons, background and activities to be taken are different.
Some are similar, some are not.
So there is a need for better understanding of situational in each of the countries and in each of affected population that needs further investigation.
The second issue is impossibility to control importation.
Right now I think we have few countries in the South and the West of Europe, Spain and France reporting importations and cases related to importations to this country.
So the situation in this moment looks like you said it is to be followed and to be addressed with immediate intervention reasons.
Again, first of all is breaking of the routine services during pandemic years, but also it can be related with the inadequate population data, movement of population, refusal of vaccination, but segments of population and secure position of the healthcare workers dealing with immunisation and the patients.
Very, very different variety of reasons are reported by countries.
I'm looking to see whether there are other questions online or in the room.
I'm going to take a moment to see, if not, perhaps, you know, I'll thank you, Doctor Yankovic, for your participation.
Perhaps you, if you don't mind just staying on a little longer in case there are further questions.
We'll stay with WHO, as I believe Christian has an announcement for us.
Thank you very much again, Mckidden.
You've also seen this announcement from last night, but I thought it's absolutely worth the repeating on 13 March.
Yesterday, the Ministry of Health of the United Republic of Tanzania declared the end of the Marburg virus disease outbreak.
This declaration came after two consecutive incubation periods, a total of 42 days since the last person confirmed with MBD died on 28 January 2025 and was given a safe and dignified burial in accordance with WHO recommendations.
No new confirmed cases were reported since then.
The outbreak was declared on 20 January 2025.
As of 12 March, and apologies for the many dates in here, but as of 12 March, 2 confirmed and eight probable cases were reported by the Ministry of Health from Biharamullo district in the Kagira region.
All 10 cases died, which makes it the case fatality ratio of 100%, including eight who died before the confirmation of the outbreak.
A total of 272 contracts that were listed for monitoring completed that 21 day follow up as of 10 February 2025.
W Joe, through its country office and partners provided technical, operational and financial support to the government to contain this outbreak.
The risk of re emergence of MVD virus disease remains after the official declaration of the end of the outbreak linked to the animal reservoirs presence in the country that's important.
W Joe encourages maintaining early case detection and care capacities in addition to sustaining the ability to quickly respond and continued risk communication and community engagement.
To note at the same time that the Director General, Doctor Tedders also directly reached out to Secretary of State Rubio on the importance of international cooperation on a on on X last night.
And he said, does it make America safer?
One of these three questions that the Secretary of State Rubio once answered for each policy and investment question.
W Joe is helping make Americans and everyone safer by working with all countries to stop infectious and deadly outbreaks like Marburg and Ebola at their source.
Cutting ties would make Americans unsafe.
Let's tighten global health security together.
I think something you said may have sparked the interest of Stefan Boussaar from Luton.
Stefan, the floor is yours.
Thank you very much, Michele.
Yes, since Christian is talking about this conversation with the US Secretary of State, I, I have a question about a question that has already been asked.
But since the UN agencies have received a questionnaire from from the Trump administration, but tackles, tackles those issues, what will the UN do with this questionnaire?
Let me just let me just start on that.
And then, you know, I, I speaking on behalf of the United Nations in Geneva.
I don't believe that, you know, to the best of my knowledge, we've not received this questionnaire.
So it's been difficult to talk about it, you know, from our perspective.
And, you know, the secretary general has no comment as of yet.
I don't know that it's been received at that level.
So we're not, we're trying to understand at what level.
And, you know, who's exactly receiving it.
We, we know that a number of our, you know, UN agencies and entities have received it.
And I believe that here in Geneva, at least one UN AIDS has acknowledged receiving it.
So I'm going to leave it at that.
I don't know whether there's a, you know, with a Christian, whether you have anything, you know, since you mentioned the, the questions, whether you have anything to add from The Who perspective or whether anybody else online has anything to add to that.
Just in the same context, we have received multiple communications from the United States agencies, the department relating to various projects and which we will of course carefully consider.
I don't see anybody else, you know, volunteering on this, but Stefan, you have a follow up, I'm sure.
Thank you very much indeed.
So you'll basically confirm that Yeah, you and AIDS received and other agencies received this questionnaire.
So, but so you don't have any, any kind of plan to, to respond to it or think that, you know that there is a it's not clear to me that it's the same questionnaire going out to everybody and at the same level.
So that's one thing I know that I cannot speak for UN AIDS, but I know that they have confirmed receiving it.
And I do believe that, you know, just in is a is a.
Question of general principle you know a lot of the you know several of the UN agencies that entities have different statutes and so maybe you know this it may not be A1 size fit all type of response.
So that's more or less what I can say about that at this stage.
I think, I think that each entity that receives this will deal with it in its, you know, in its own way.
And that the general principle is that, you know, we, we welcome engagement and interest of Member States in the work that we do.
And that we, we often, you know, we often receive requests from member states for information about the work that we do.
So we take that this in the same spirit.
It's not, you know, related to this, but you know it, you know, of course, in the spirit of encouraging member states to, you know, participate in the, in the, in the assessment of the, of the fitness for purpose of the United Nations system.
You know that of course the Secretary General has launched, you know, the UNAT initiative recently and you know that he's written to member states proposing A comprehensive assessment of a, you know, a dedicated all of United Nations system task force that is appointed by Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
And where he will, where there will be a number of proposals to member states about in three different areas.
So efficiencies and improvements in current with current arrangements, the implementation of all the mandates that are given to the UN system from Member States themselves and the need for structural changes and programme realignment within the United Nations system.
So this was launched this week.
A question from Catherine Fiancamp.
Catherine, the floor is yours.
Good morning, Michele, do you hear me?
We do, but a bit faintly.
So I will speak a little bit louder.
Thank you for giving me the floor.
I'd like to know if, when the SG will be in Geneva next week, if a meeting is scheduled with the UN agencies that received that questionnaire from the US authorities, Are there meetings planned in with the SG in order to discuss the consequences of the US decisions?
The, as you know, the Secretary General will be here next week, but he will be here in the, in the context of the meeting on Cyprus and there's nothing envisaged along the lines of what you asked.
Now that you mentioned the meeting on Cyprus, can you give us details on what's going to be?
Will there be press conferences?
So to the last, to your last point, the the answer is at this point no.
But I can tell you what if the note will probably go out very soon if you haven't received it already.
So we can confirm that the Secretary General will convene the two Cypriot leaders and the guarantor powers of Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom for an informal in person meeting, an informal in person meeting on Cyprus in Geneva next week.
This informal meeting, which is being held in the context of the Secretary General's good offices efforts on the Cyprus issue and is in line with his commitment from the 15th of October 2024, will provide an opportunity for a meaningful discussion on the way forward on the Cyprus issue.
To get to media arrangements, visual media will be able to cover the arrival of delegations here at the Paladinacion at Door 811 on Tuesday the 18th of March around 11:00 AM.
So this is where delegations are arriving.
Following that, a pool of visual media, that is it's a, it's a pool so you'll need to organise amongst yourselves, Will have access to the family photo which is being taken in front of Room 3 and to the photo spray at the beginning of the plenary meeting which is also envisaged to take place in Room 3.
Our UNTV colleague Jean Sereni will organise this pool if you want to contact him directly.
But at this point there is no press conference or press stakeout for seen or in the programme at the conclusion of the meeting.
But should this change as it sometimes does, you will be informed as soon as possible.
I hope that answers your questions.
But I see there's another question from Laurent Ciero.
Could you repeat the the scheduled arrival at door 11?
Because I thought that there were two, two sets of meetings on Tuesday, The first one bilateral meetings between the SG and each of the delegation, which would take place earlier in the morning and then a plenary at the end of the of the morning.
So you seem to have a different, different schedule.
So could you repeat that?
So the arrivals at the Palais de Nacion are around 11:00 AM on Tuesday, the 18th of March.
And you know, that's that's the schedule at present.
If there's anything else, I'll let you know.
Just to clarify, can you repeat the duration?
I know from Monday, but when does it end?
And what level government representatives do you expect from Greece, Turkey, the United Kingdom, please?
And if you have any names, that would be great.
So what was your first question?
I'm sorry, duration, duration.
It's expected to last until the, you know, the evening of of Tuesday.
So, you know, not not far past that, you know, there's not, you know, an exact end time to these things that they're off as they're often is.
But but I would say, you know, currently we're looking at, you know, close of the business day on Tuesday.
I hope that answers the question.
In terms of list, I don't have a list for you at present.
I will see whether there's anything that we can share with you or publish in at some, you know, some delegations are represented at ministerial level.
So for the information, probably Mr Gutierrez will have dinner on Monday with the leaders and guarantor powers as well.
It will be probably Intercontinental Hotel.
Is there an opportunity for journalists to go there and take photo or video or As for some statement?
Look, I mean, as you know, there's no, there are no photo OPS during dinners, you know, normally.
So no is, is 1 answer, but we expected, of course, their, their, their official media travelling with the delegations and that they will probably have a opportunity to take a photo of the, you know, handshake, welcome handshake, you know, at the hotel.
So it's not a, you know, it's not an open photo op.
It's sort of individual greetings by the Secretary General and you know, it'll be official media at that point, but there's no, you know, there's no photography or or videography during the dinner, of course.
OK, Thanks for the question though, Katherine.
And then hopefully we will give Jennifer a chance to talk to us about Syria.
Yes, Micheli, could you please share with us all the details of the people that are the media contacts from the delegations?
That would be very useful.
Yes, I'll, I'll ask the office to share that around.
Good, Good point, Jennifer.
I have a statement from Mr Patterson, the UN special envoy for Syria.
It is 14 years since Syrians took to the streets in peaceful protest, demanding dignity, freedom, and a better future.
Their calls resonated across the country, sparking a movement that would shape Syria's history.
What began as a plea for reform was met with staggering brutality, leading to one of the most harrowing conflicts of our time.
The conflict exposed the darkest steps of human cruelty.
Families continue to mourn the loss of loved ones.
Communities remain fractured.
Millions remain uprooted from their homes, and far too many persist in their search for the missing.
The pain and sacrifices of the Syrian people must never be forgotten.
Yet the resilience of Syrians and their pursuit of justice, dignity and peace endure, and they now deserve a transition that is worthy of this.
More than three months since the fall of the Assad regime, Syria now stands at a pivotal moment.
Syrians have experienced emotions of great hope in these times, but also of deep fears.
Renewed fighting following attacks against the caretaker authorities and appalling violence perpetrated against civilians have given rise to grave concerns about the future.
The Special Envoy calls for an immediate end to all violence and the protection of civilians in accordance with international law.
He calls for a credible, independent investigation into the recent killings and violence and for the cooperation of the caretaker authorities with the United Nations.
In this regard, a climate of distrust and fear could endanger the entire transition.
Building on and beyond the recent national dialogue, it is vital that there are concrete actions of genuine inclusion.
The recent agreements reached between the caretaker authorities and the SDF are a positive reminder of how important it is that Syria comes together in a manner that truly restores restores its sovereignty, unity, independence and territorial integrity, and also the need for genuine inclusion and compromise in the transition.
And Syrian civil society continues to play a crucial role in local dialogues and vital peace building efforts.
The Special Envoy notes that the caretaker authorities have issued A constitutional declaration.
He hopes this will move Syria toward restoring the rule of law and promoting an orderly, inclusive transition.
Now is the time for bold moves to create a genuine, credible and inclusive transitional government and legislative body, a constitutional framework and process to draught a new constitution for the long term that is credible and inclusive to and genuine transitional justice.
The United Nations stands ready to work on these and all other aspects of a political transition, in cooperation with the caretaker authorities and all Syrians and in line with key principles of Security Council Resolution 2254.
We will continue to stress the importance of Syrian women's full political inclusion in the institutions of the transition.
The United Nations will also continue to appeal for the international community to support Syria too.
States should respect the sovereignty, unity, independence and territorial integrity of Syria and not take steps to interfere or make the transition more difficult and sanctioning and donor state should make the necessary moves to ensure an environment in which the transition can succeed.
After 5 decades of one man rule and 14 years of conflict, we need to ensure a stable and prosperous Syria in which Syrians can realise their legitimate aspirations.
Thank you, Thank you Jennifer.
Just to call your attention to the fact that Secretary General also issued a statement on Syria yesterday.
I'm sure you've all seen it, but just to call your attention to it again.
He concluded the statement that he issued by reiterating that we, the United Nations, stand ready to work alongside the Syrians and support an inclusive political transition and we stand with the Syrian people towards the promise of a better Syria for all Syrians.
Jamie, you have a question.
Just wanted to clarify that I didn't miss an e-mail.
The, this is the, your, the, your comment about how the special envoy is calling for a credible independent investigation of the recent killings of violence and the cooperation of the caretaker authorities.
Is that the first time he has made that call or has he said that previously?
I just wanted to make sure because it's been a few days since this violence has happened.
I cannot remember the wording of all the phrases that he've used in his delivery to the Security Council briefing, but of course, those are online.
I mean, you know, Mr Peterson has since December 8th and before has urged accountability for all crimes and he has welcomed the announcement.
And I believe that the UN Human Rights office has also discussed this, you know, calls to ensure that investigations are undertaken in prompt, thorough, independent and impartial manner.
I'm going to just wait a second and see whether there are any questions on this.
If not, and just a note on his forward plans.
He will be at Brussels for the Brussels conference along with another number of UN principals and scheduled to brief the Security Council, I believe on the 25th of March at the end of the month.
Yes, thank you very much.
Important to point that out.
We're joined now by our friends from IFRC.
Tomaso de la Longa is here.
Let him introduce his guest.
Thank you very much, Michele.
So today we were going to brief you on the Red Cross response to the Ebola outbreak in Uganda.
And to do so, we have our pub, IFRC Public Health and Emergencies Coordinator, Henry Bata Muzambi, who is currently in Kampala, and he will brief us on our work.
And just to add that if you are interested in any audio visual material, please be in touch with us because we have plenty to share.
Thank you, Tomaso and hello colleagues.
I'm joining you this morning from Kambala to talk about the outbreak of Sudan Ebola virus disease in Uganda that was declared by the minister of at the end of January this year.
This is the country's A of the eighth Ebola outbreak since the year 2006 Of these outbreaks have been caused by the Sudan virus strain, which belongs to the family of Ebola viruses, causing viral hemorrhagic fevers, among other distressing side effects.
We then epidemic response.
But particularly with such a severe and often factor disease like this, which has the potential to strike such fear in the population and to quickly spread, community diplomacy is essential for the Red Cross and other humanitarian actors to contain it.
So building trust and knowledge amongst communities in order to balance ensuring people are rightly cautious and on guard, letting them know it's a virus which should be taken very seriously, while also trying to reduce the stigma which could affect reporting levels, is key.
Central to this community based work is the role of volunteers who are always the backbone of the Red Cross Red present response and in this instance the Uganda Red Cross has trained and deployed 320 volunteers from affected areas and these are people who are already trusted members of their communities, selected in close collaboration with those communities and their leadership.
The Uganda Red Cross volunteer that treaty is part of village task forces throughout the country which have been activated and coordinated by Uganda Red Cross Society.
They support awareness creation on NOW Sudan Virus disease presents the action to take if you suspect you are sick or a family member is affected, how and where to get prompt medical care, preventive and control measures against the disease and also offering psychosocial past aid.
These mental health support is important to bolstering the resilience of the population who experience a similar devastating outbreak only three years ago.
Uganda Red Cross Society ambulances are also on standby to transport people showing symptoms of the disease to quarantine and Ebola treatment centres.
Misconceptions about the disease and peace centres often abound at the start of the outbreak.
For example, communities that fears that reporting suspected Ebola cases may lead to forced quarantine by the government and that once people would be taken to the quarantine send us, they would die.
However, I have seen Uganda Red Cross volunteers engaging communities in **** risk districts by listening to their concerns and sharing this feedback with us for analysis.
And in return, we developed timely targeted messages to address rumours and allevius.
This has led to building community trusts and improved community reception to Sudan virus disease preventive and control measures, including quarantine, and to community members voluntarily reporting if they or their family develops symptoms of the disease.
Over the years, the Uganda Red Cross Society has also supported the Ugandan government who conduct safe and infant barriers during Ebola outbreaks and in this epidemic.
They have deployed 6 teams to support this vital work.
Uganda Red Cross has adopted lessons learned from previous outbreaks into this current response.
Or for instance, in 2022 Ebola outbreak, Uganda Red Cross Society successfully managed to balance safe barriers, safe barrier needs alongside cultural practises and beliefs linked to the barriers.
They have done this by engaging families and community leaders to find acceptable promises, compromises that respect tradition while keeping the living safe.
The IFRC is appealing for 6,000,000 Swiss Francs to support the Uganda Red Cross in strengthening its response in the districts that have confirmed positive cases while scaling up redness in the most at risk districts.
Donations received will be used to support over half a million across the country with that range of services, many of which I've already mentioned such as risk communication and community engagement, community based surveillance and contact tracing, safe and dignified barrios, transportation of suspected cases, community hygiene and sanitation support and and also the provision of adequate personal protective equipment.
But so far the appeal is only 5% funded.
Swift and coordinated action in response.
So this deadly virus is paramount to containing it and that only they achieved but and that can only be achieved with more awareness and funding.
Thank you and I'm happy to take your questions.
Thank you very much, Mr Musambi, for connecting with us from from Kampala and for briefing us on this important aspect of the Ebola response in Uganda.
I'm going to wait a minute here to see whether there are any questions either online or in the room.
I see Emma Farge from Reuters.
I'm just wondering how how concerned you are about US budget cuts to the response.
Are you managing to fill the gaps or are the gaps quite big and and dangerous for the spread?
Thanks Emma for for the question.
I'm happy to to take this one.
Of course, there is, I would say a global concern in terms of budget cuts to the to the humanitarian sector.
Now in particular on the Ebola response, the good news is that the US authorities on the 4th and 5th of March 2025 reconfirm the support to some of our activities, which includes also our epidemic and pandemic programme and in particular the Ebola response.
But then what we are doing currently in Uganda of course is not only an effort of 1 donor.
I mean we have several different donors who are approaching us or already working with us and thinking about ECHO and a couple of partner national societies were supporting the Uganda across response.
So of course we will welcome any other supporter for our emergency appeal and of course we're looking also in different funding including private sector.
Thanks Tommaso for for that.
Could you be specific about exactly which programmes at the USA, little bit more specific if you could about which funding programmes that the US had had has confirmed and March 4th and 5th as you mentioned.
And if I might also add, while I've got you, do you, have you, have you noticed any other, you mentioned private sector donors, have you, have you noticed private sector donors or other countries that have stepped up in the wake of these US cuts to, to possibly help fill the gaps that you have in funding?
Thank you, Jimmy, for the, for the question.
Well, I will start from the, from the last one.
As you know, the situation is pretty volatile and changing pretty quickly.
So I think that it's too early to speak about a trend or a number of countries or private sector companies that are approaching us to fill any possible gap that again is not only related to one individual government and but it's awarding trend that we've been seeing since a while.
I mean, we have, we are having different discussion with different donors, I mean traditional donors and new donors.
And of course, this is positive.
But again, I think that it's too early to speak about that trend on, on that.
Then on the on the other question on four and five, March 2025, the yeah USD reconfirmed their support to 4 IFRC grants.
And one is this what I mentioned before, multi year grant for health preparedness and response which is also covered in the Ebola response in Uganda, emergency response in Ukraine, Zimbabwe operation regarding water sanitation and then the our operation to respond to the needs of people arrived in Armenia.
So these are the four grants that were reconfirmed and in addition to these four grants, we have other four who were still there open.
One on food security in DFC, response to ARIC and Beryl in Jamaica, our life saving activities in Cox Bazar, Bangladesh and immunisation in several fragile contexts through USCDC.
Of course, this doesn't mean that other programmes were not terminated, which is exactly the case.
Thank you for that detail.
Tomaso, I think Jamie may have a follow up.
Thank you, Tomaso, really great.
Thank you for the details.
Could you just, if I can get a quick step further, do you have numbers on the amount of money for each of those programmes or at least the cumulative amount?
And and in terms of the programmes, is there any way to say how many those programmes represent in the overall total of programmes that you mentioned some had been terminated.
So just could you give us some perspective as to like what percentage of the overall total of American funded projects and programmes at IFRC are within the Red Cross Red Crescent movement are are being are being maintained?
Jimmy, first I want to make clear that I'm talking about grants that are directly financial financing programmes of the IFRC.
So then it's a different story for programmes who are that are supporting national society activities with other movement components.
Then I mean the short answer is actually no.
And I explain, I mean on, on the percentage, I mean, as you we all know where different communication arriving from US authorities since the end of January.
So then also in the understanding of life saving activities, termination letter then letters that we're rescinding, if I may call it in this way, the termination letter.
So it's something that we are still assessing and discussing where it's important to say that we have open dialogue with the with the US authorities about that.
Then in term of every single programme that I mentioned before, I'm happy to take it offline and give you most more details further on.
Thank you, Tomas, very useful.
I'm going to look and see if there are any more questions on this from anybody online in the room.
Oh, go ahead and yes, yes, thank you.
It's a, it's a follow up on, on that.
You say that the, the, the ground considering about the Ebola response in Uganda was validated or continued.
But in general, either any impact on the you're able to answer globally, not just in Uganda, but if you have other activities And there's something I I didn't understood you say that four were still open, but that doesn't mean that others are not terminated.
So could you clarify what what do you mean?
Do you mean that some activities has been shut down because of the lack of US phone?
Yeah, no, thank you for for this follow up and sorry if I'm not, I was not clear.
So in term of of the Ebola response, I would say that this follows, I mean in, in speaking only about the US part, because I was, I was saying we have different other donors who are supporting the Ebola response when it's coming to US funds.
The entire programme on epidemic and pandemic was confirmed.
So the money and the support is still there.
When I was talking about the, the other four grants open it just because there is the, I mean, of course we are in in contact with different bodies of the, of the US government.
So there are some funds that are coming from USAD and some other funds that were coming directly from the State Department and from USCDC.
So this is where the, the, the four grants, some of those four grants that are still open, we're sitting.
And, and then in term of, in term of termination, I mean, we're still actually understanding the, the impact of it and also in how we can fill the gap if and where needed and how we can rethink about our humanitarian approach in these, in these different programmes.
So again, it's very difficult at the moment to comment in particular on this programmes because of course, what we were doing was also in a, let's say, in a team effort way.
So it's not only one donor supporting 1 programme, but then there are also several different way to support those programmes.
So does it mean that no programme has been terminated?
And if if it's if some have been terminated, could you say specifically which ones?
There is a there is a risk that has been assessed internally.
So at the moment there is no real termination of programmes.
Of course we've been reorienting some activity, some of our work on purely what is called the life saving activities, but then there is no termination per SE at the moment.
And then of course, we will update, I would say not only the media, but first and foremost the communities we serve when and if we left to terminate programmes.
I think there are more questions online and my farge go ahead.
Just seeking a little bit more clarification.
So I thought the review process was over and the termination letters had had been sent.
So that that means you you haven't received any, but do you still think it's possible?
No, no, to make it clear, we, we received termination letters, but then we also received in the four cases that I mentioned including the Ebola response, another letter saying that the funds were reconfirmed.
So we are looking into it and the exact meaning of it.
And then when it's coming to programmes that were terminated and then we didn't get any follow up information.
We are trying to understand how and if we will be able to continue to continue this, this programmes without US funding.
Lauren, you had a question, but perhaps not anymore, perhaps not.
I'm sorry, Tomaso, I'm I'm being confused now too.
If you say 4 grants are open, what exactly do you mean?
Is it US grant or is it the total grant for a programme where part of it is US funding?
Can you just clarify that?
Yeah, I'm sorry if I if I'm, I'm not clear today.
I have to admit that has been even complicating to assess everything for us in the last weeks and also to follow up all the news that were were coming.
So we got first the the pause of funding end of January, then there were termination letters that didn't affect 4 grants that I mentioned.
So food security in DRC, Aragon, Berlin, Jamaica, Cox Bazaar and a monetization in several fragile contacts with USCDC.
Then afterwards we got 4 letters saying that the termination letter were not valid anymore and they were still supporting other four grants including the Ebola response.
So in total, let's say there are 8 that are still on and others around.
I mean, I don't want to give an exact number because I may be wrong, but it should be around 20 that were terminated and we are looking into what does it mean exactly for our operations.
Actually, I was about to ask about the, the impact on the workforce and and also potential partners in terms of jobs that could have been kept.
And then Thomas who said that no real termination of programme has taken place yet.
But still since January the 1st or January the, the 20th, as I first see taken any preventive measures in terms of of either job force or internal procedures in order to anticipate potential future cuts or not at all.
Well, I think that this is a part of a, a broader discussion.
If you remember here in this room when we're talking about the three years mark of Ukraine, there was a question about that.
And we were we have been saying, you know, even between 2022 and 2023 where the budget cut of 1,000,000 coming from different other donors.
So it was something allowed seventy we lost to 70 millions in a year.
So of course we are looking into how to work in a more if you want sustainable, efficient and direct our partners national societies.
So of course it is something that we are looking into it and leadership is our leadership is working on it.
There is there is an ongoing discussion.
So I cannot really enter in any specific details at the moment.
And this is the second question now I'm missing the the first one.
Sorry, Laura, you asked about which was the first one.
Laura, I don't know if we can, we can't hear you.
There was a first question.
Neither of us can remember actually.
No, it's very, it took time to unmute myself again.
No, it was just so no, no real impact in terms of workforce within the IFSC for now.
It's too early to to to say that.
Of course, there is an impact and we don't want to underestimate it, but we are still assessing and discussing on how to move forward.
I think that looks like it's it for the questions to Mazo.
Thank you very much for joining us today.
I'm going to call Katherine to the podium.
I'm speaking into the mic.
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I think there's a thumbs up there.
So I'm just putting it out there for our colleagues.
Please send your notes and we'll circulate them to the Geneva press corps.
Moving on, As you know, the Human Rights Council is continuing its 58th session today.
There are also a number of treaty body meetings including the Human Rights Committee which is closing on Friday, the 28th of March.
The concluding observations will be on the reports of the five countries review Montenegro, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mongolia and Albania.
The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is concluding this.
It has, I see it's concluding this morning.
It's a review of the report on Palau, I believe.
I think there's a misspelling there.
So Palau, but other countries under were being who have been reviewed or are being reviewed or Tuvalu, Dominican Republic, Vietnam, Canada.
European Union Committee on enforced disappearances is opening next Monday at 10 AM and that's the 17th of March, of course.
And it will go until the 4th of April at Paley Wilson and it's going to hold dialogues on Serbia, Gambia, Central African Republic, Peru, Belgium and Malta.
I think that what's left for me now is to talk about some press conferences.
But I see a hand off from Jamie.
So let's take the question Jamie.
Sorry, Mckayla, maybe I'm I'm pre empting on what you're about to say, but I'm trying to just get a little bit more visibility about the Cyprus informal next week and you cherish his movements.
If there are any press avails planned.
Perhaps you didn't hear us earlier on.
So the I think that the there's a note that's gone out there is so the the arrivals are on the Monday, but there are no, you know, open press opportunities at that point.
You know, there's a dinner, so the there will be arrivals at the Palais on Tuesday the 18th around 11 and that's a door a 11, so 11 at 11:00.
And after that there will be pool photo op.
Pool photo op at in front of room 3 for the group photo and for the photo spray at the top of the meeting in room 3.
So that's, that's really what I've got for you.
There are no planned sort of media statements or press conferences or stakeouts at the moment, but we'll let you know if if something, something happens at the end of that meeting.
I think, I hope that answers your question.
That's what we've got for you now.
And as far as press conferences, just do remember that today, 14th of March, 2:00 PM today in this room, it is the launch of the Iran Fact Finding missions.
The speakers are Sarah Hossein, the chair of the Iran Fact Finding Mission, Shaheen Sardar Ali, who's the expert member and as is Viviana Kristovic.
On Monday, 17th March, we have a press conference by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of rights in Myanmar, of human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews.
That's at 2:30 PM in this room in.
On Wednesday the 19th of March, at 1:00 PM, also in this room, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine will hold a press conference with Eric Moser, the Chair of the Commission, Pablo Pablo de Greif and Vrinda Grover, both commissioners.
I see a hand up from Emma Forge.
Well, hi, I had a question maybe for UNHCR, but if any other agency wants to react, that would also be most welcome.
My colleagues at AP had quite an astonishing overnight scoop where it said that the US and Israel have reached out to officials of three African governments as potential destinations for resettling Palestinians from Gaza.
I'm just wondering if Olga might have a reaction to that, whether that's legal under international law, for example.
So let me just first on this reiterate what has been said before by the spokesman for the Secretary General on this issue.
Not specifically on what you referred to this particular plan, but anything that and or any plan that could or would lead to the forced displacement of people or any type of ethnic cleansing is something that we would obviously be against as it is against international law.
I don't know whether Olga who's online wants to add anything from the UNHCR perspective.
I see her there and I'll give her the floor.
Hi, thank you, Miguel and Matt.
We've seen the media reports, but we are not involved for it or any decision or aware of any decision on on on this matter.
If there is nothing further, you know it's a busy day, so I'll let you get on with your business and I'll get on with mine.
Thank you very much for joining us and see you soon.
