The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
UNOG Bi-weekly Briefing 16 October 2020
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1:21:22
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MP4
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1.8 GB
Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), informed that on 20 October, the Government of Denmark, in partnership with the United Nations, the Government of Germany and the European Union would host a high-level humanitarian event on the Central Sahel. The high-level event would feature a ministerial round table, which followed up on a virtual senior officials’ meeting held on 8 September that focused on operational lessons learned and forward-looking plans relating to humanitarian action, development and peace efforts, including special attention to the impact and consequences of COVID-19. The meeting had three main objectives:
1) Instil a much more acute sense of urgency among policymakers about the situation in the Central Sahel, and emphasize that the challenges had to be addressed in a comprehensive way;
2) Raise money for humanitarian action, as the response plans in the three countries were only about 40 per cent funded;
3) Encourage both donor countries and Sahelian countries themselves to offer specific, longer-term policy commitments that would help build resilience and stave off future humanitarian needs in the region.
The humanitarian situation had deteriorated sharply, while the needs were rising, and more than 13 million people needed humanitarian assistance. The region could become one of the biggest crises in the world. It was hoped that the donors would pledge generously.
More information on the upcoming humanitarian even can be found here.
Boris Chesrikov, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), warned of disastrous consequences in Africa’s Sahel region unless humanitarian efforts were urgently supported in what had become the world’s fastest growing displacement and protection crisis.
Commitments expected to be made at a Ministerial Roundtable for the Central Sahel on 20 October could restore a sense of urgency to a region grappling with myriad overlapping challenges. Armed conflict, extreme poverty, food insecurity, climatic changes, and the COVID-19 pandemic converged in the Sahel. Across the wider region, over 2.7 million people had been forced to flee their homes. Shelter, water, sanitation, health, and other basic assistance needs were now immense. More than 1.5 million internally displaced people and 365,000 refugees had fled violence in the Central Sahel, including over 600,000 this year alone.
Mr. Chesrikov said that humanitarian actors were struggling to meet the snowballing needs of displaced communities and their hosts. UNHCR had dramatically scaled up in the Central Sahel this year. Resources were needed beyond the end of this year for UNHCR and its partners to continue to scale up assistance. The 20 October pledging conference would be an opportunity for donors to demonstrate commitment so the most devastating effects could be averted.
Full press release can be found here.
Tomson Phiri, for the World Food Programme (WFP), stated that the Central Sahel was facing a serious food and nutrition crisis, with some people in parts of northern Burkina Faso on the verge of a hunger catastrophe. Some 7.4 million people in the region currently did not know where their next meal would come from. The WFP was particularly concerned about two provinces in Burkina Faso – Oudalan and Soum, which had been driven into the humanitarian emergency phase of food insecurity. The upsurge in fighting was putting an additional pressure to people who were already highly vulnerable to climatic shocks, with many dependent on seasonal humanitarian assistance. Many people had been forced to abandon their fields and livelihoods, and now depended on host communities who themselves faced immense challenges. The region was on a tipping point that could see an irreversible slide into chaos, with the risk of a spill-over of instability into the border areas of neighbouring countries around the Gulf of Guinea. This could precipitate further deterioration in food security in West Africa.
In August, the WFP had reached nearly 3.4 million people in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger and assistance was being scaled up to reach 5 million people. WFP urgently needed USD 178 million to respond to the growing needs of the region, stressed Mr. Phiri.
Marixie Mercado, for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said that the multiple crises converging in the Central Sahel, including a surge in armed violence and the socio-economic fallout from COVID-19, were worsening conditions for children in one of the world’s poorest, least-developed regions. A record 7.2 million children in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger now required humanitarian assistance, which was up two-thirds in just one year. Over a million children had been forcibly displaced from their homes. Safe water, so critical for the survival of young children and for preventing COVID-19, was scarcer than ever, particularly so among those displaced. Over 4,000 schools had been closed by targeted attacks even before the COVID-19 pandemic. Violence against children, including rape and sexual violence, had increased, especially in Mali. UNICEF was working with partners to reach children with life-saving therapeutic food, immunization against deadly diseases, and access to safe water and sanitation. As of mid-October, UNICEF had received less than one third of what it needed for its operations in the three countries. Central Sahel would need far more resources both now and in the years to come, stressed Ms. Mercado.
Resumption of evacuation flights from Libya
Andrej Mahecic, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), informed that the UNHCR had evacuated the previous night a group of 153 vulnerable refugees and asylum-seekers out of Libya to the Emergency Transit Mechanism in Niger. This UNHCR-chartered flight marked the resumption of life-saving evacuations from Libya, ending a seven-month long suspension. Humanitarian flights had had to be halted in March, due to public health concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic, which had led to the suspension of air traffic in many countries.
Those evacuated were nationals of Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, and South Sudan. The resumption of evacuation flights was especially important now, given the volatile situation in Libya, the rapid spread of the coronavirus and its health and socio-economic impact on refugees and asylum seekers, who had found it increasingly difficult to support themselves and their families.
Full press release is available here.
Peaceful holding of elections in Bolivia
Ravina Shamsadani, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said that High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet today urged Bolivia’s authorities, political and other actors to refrain from any actions that could undermine the peaceful conduct of the general elections taking place on 18 October. In light of the political and human rights crises unleashed during the previous attempt to carry out these elections a year before, Bachelet expressed hope that Sunday’s elections would take place in a calm, participatory and inclusive manner, in an environment that ensures respect for the human rights of all people in Bolivia.
“It is essential that all sides avoid further acts of violence that could spark a confrontation. No one wants to see a repeat of last year’s events, which led to extensive human rights violations and abuses, including at least 30 people killed and more than 800 injured – and ultimately to everyone losing out,” said the High Commissioner in her statement.
World Hypertension Day
Dr. Bente Mikkelsen, Director of the Department of Noncommunicable Diseases at the World Health Organization (WHO), said that many countries were experiencing a resurgence in COVID-19 cases, and the flu season in Northern hemisphere was also coming up. The virus was particularly prying on people with non-communicable diseases. High blood pressure was not on hold and it affected 1.13 billion people around the world, most of them living in low- and middle-income countries. Addressing COVID-19 and high blood pressure at the same time was very important for saving and improving lives and livelihoods. Not helping people to manage their blood pressure was even more damaging in times of crises, as today. Today, the WHO was launching a new report and a number of fact sheets; the report showed that the right policies could reduce blood pressure. Access to medicines, monitoring, and training health care personnel, including on how to properly measure blood pressure, were all factors that could contribute to keeping this disease under control. Dr. Mikkelsen said that countries ought to align COVID-19 recovery and stimulus plans with the need for urgent action on hypertension.
COVID-19
Responding to questions, Tarik Jašarević, for the World Health Organization (WHO), stated that interim results from the Solidarity Therapeutics Trial, coordinated by the WHO, indicated that remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir and interferon regimens appeared to have little or no effect on 28-day mortality or the in-hospital course of COVID-19 among hospitalized patients. The study, which spanned more than 30 countries, looked at the effects of those treatments on overall mortality, initiation of ventilation, and duration of hospital stay in hospitalized patients. More information on the study can be found here.
World Food Day
Arif Husain, Chief Economist for the World Food Programme (WFP), said that the new WFP’s Cost of a Plate of Food 2020 report highlighted the countries where a simple meal such as rice and beans cost the most, when compared with people’s incomes. There were three factors at play here. One was conflict, which drew millions of people from their homes and disrupted their livelihoods. Food security and peace had to go hand in hand, said Mr. Husain. Another factor was the climate: much more frequent and extreme climate shocks made food more unaffordable to many people. The income inequality, unemployment and poverty, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, were another aggravating factor. Out of the top 20 countries with highest food insecurity, 17 were in the sub-Saharan Africa, with South Sudan topping the list. In South Sudan, since the onset of the pandemic, the daily income spent on food by someone living in South Sudan had risen 27 points to 186 percent. In Sudan as well, prices were about 200 percent higher than they had been in 2019.
Alessandra Vellucci, for the UN Information Service (UNIS), referred to the Secretary-General’s message on the World Food Day, in which he said that the award of this year’s Nobel Prize for Peace to the World Food Programme recognized the right of all people to food, and our common quest to achieve zero hunger. In a world of plenty, it was a grave affront that hundreds of millions went to bed hungry each night.
Sustainable urban mobility and spatial planning handbook
Jean Rordiguez, for the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), informed that today the UNECE was launching a handbook on sustainable urban mobility and spatial planning to help steer cities’ green recovery. The COVID-19 pandemic had profoundly impacted urban mobility and had raised fundamental questions about its future role at the heart of urban development. The handbook recalled that the transport sector produced about a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU, and approximately 42 percent of the 105,000 road traffic deaths recorded annually in the UNECE region occurred in built-up areas.
Building on city experiences, the handbook outlined a series of practical recommendations: 1) public transport improvements had to be given priority with appropriate funding; 2) in this respect, key priorities had to include the replacement of polluting bus fleets; the promotion of electro-mobility; the development of modern trams and intermodal hubs; and drawing up appropriate land management policies; 3) walking and cycling needed to be supported not just in urban cities centres but on a much larger scale, in combination with other modes of transport, especially public transport; and 4) cities could make the most of a new generation of Intelligent Transport Systems by harnessing financial and technological opportunities offered by digitization.
Full press release is here.
Other announcements
Sophy Fisher, for the International Labour Organization (ILO), said that on 21 October, the ILO would be publishing a report on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic the garment sector in Asia Pacific. The report assessed the impact of the crisis on supply chains, factories and workers in ten major garment-producing countries of the region following the collapse in retail sales in countries where stringent lockdowns were imposed. The ten garment producing countries covered in the report were Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam. This report and accompanying press release would be available under embargo from 19 October; the embargo would lift at 11 am Geneva time on 21 October. The ILO office in Bangkok would be holding an embargoed virtual presser, in English on 21 October at 10 a.m. Geneva time.
Cahterine Huissoud, for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), informed that UNCTAD would publish on 21 October its second Global Trade Update. The economic and social disruptions brought about by COVID-19 had resulted in a substantial reduction in global trade. Already on a downward trend, global trade had taken a sharp downturn in the Q2 2020. Preliminary data for Q3 suggested that, while rebounding from Q2, global trade growth had remained negative in Q3. The Global Trade Update analyzed the supply of COVID-19 related products and showed that middle- and low-income countries had been largely priced out from access to COVID-19 related products. No briefing was planned on this update.
Teleprompter
Good morning, colleagues.
Welcome to the press briefing of the UN Information Service in Geneva.
Today is Friday, 16th of October.
And before starting, I would like to give the floor to Andrea Hertich to introduce as a new colleague from UNHCR.
Andrea, thank you very much, Alessandra.
Good morning to everybody and I'm really sorry that we have to introduce a new colleague under this these circumstances.
But I'm pleased to welcome on the spokespeople team of UNHCR here in Geneva, my colleague Boris Cherkov.
Boris has been working with our operation, particularly in in Greece has a lot of experience and we do hope that you will welcome him.
He recently arrived starting his duties here.
All of his contact details can be found also on the same media page with all of our emails and and mobile phone numbers.
That's only a bit of a housekeeping at the beginning and I'm sorry to have taken this time, but I'm sure you will join me in welcoming Boris in into these briefings.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Andrea.
And in fact, not only we welcome Boris, but we will also give him the floor straight away because we will start now with the Sahel.
So I would like to ask Jens and Thompson to come on the floor.
Madik C is connected via Zoom in order to speak about this subject.
I'll step out because we don't have for social distancing enough chairs on the podium, but I'll be back to moderate.
So Yanks, you want to sit in my seat?
Thank you, Alessandra and good morning everyone.
Next Tuesday 20th of October, the United Nations, together with Denmark, Germany and the European Union, will host a ministerial conference on the humanitarian situation in the Central Sahel, which covers Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
There are three main objectives for this meeting.
First, instil a much more acute sense of urgency among policy makers about the situation in the Central Sahel and emphasise that we need to address the challenges in a comprehensive way.
Second, raise money for humanitarian action.
Our response plans in the three countries are only about 40% funded and the crisis is reaching breaking point.
Third, encourage both donor countries and the Sahelian countries themselves to offer specific longer term policy commitments that will help build resilience and stable future humanitarian needs in the region.
So what's at stake?
The humanitarian situation has deteriorated sharply over the past two years.
Needs are rising faster and funding can keep up.
People living in the border region between Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are now at an epicentre of conflict, poverty and climate change.
Without support, we fear that the region could develop into one of the biggest crises in the world.
The numbers speak for themselves.
More than 13 million people need humanitarian assistance.
The number of people facing acute hunger levels have tripled in the past year and one and a half million people are now internally displaced, A20 fold increase over 2 years.
Lockdowns and other COVID-19 prevention measures have pushed an additional 6 million people in the region into extreme poverty.
In all this, women and children are especially vulnerable and we are seeing gender based violence going up.
There is enormous potential in the Sahel and the conference on Tuesday should fully recognise this.
We hope that donors will pledge generously and commit to comprehensive action that in the future will send humanitarian agencies packing because there's no longer use for them.
We've sent you our media advisory yesterday with all the information on how to follow the meeting and access the press conference to ask your questions.
At the press conference, we expect to have his His Excellency Cosmos Crane, who was Minister for Development Corporation from Denmark, Janet Lynacis, Commissioner for Crisis Management from the European Union and Emergency Relief coordinator and UN Under Secretary General Mark Wilcock.
Thank you.
Right, Boris, Please Defrost.
Many thanks, Jans, and good morning to everyone.
It's a pleasure to be here, my first briefing, and I look forward to working closely with all of you in the future.
We join OCHA and UNHCR is now warning of the mounting needs in the Sahel as forced displacement intensifies.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, today warns of disastrous consequences in Africa's Sahel unless humanitarian efforts are urgently supported in what has become the world's fastest growing displacement and protection crisis.
Commitments expected to be made at a ministerial roundtable for the Central Sahel on 20th October in Copenhagen can restore a sense of urgency to a region grappling with myriad overlapping challenges.
Armed conflict, extreme poverty, food insecurity, climatic changes and the COVID-19 pandemic converge in the Sahel.
Across the wider region, over 2.7 million people have been forced to flee their homes.
Shelter, water, sanitation, health and other basic assistance needs are now immense.
The Central Sahel countries of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are the epicentre of the forest displacement crisis.
More than 1.5 internally displaced people ID PS and 365,000 refugees have fled violence in the Central Sahel, including over 600,000 this year alone.
The number of ID PS inside Burkina Faso has doubled to over 1,000,000 in the past year.
Burkina Faso, among the poorest countries in the world and one of the most susceptible to climate risks, faces a major internal security crisis which means almost nowhere in the country is safe.
The level of brutality against civilians is ghastly and systemic.
Parents are being executed in front of their children by armed groups with alarming frequency.
Less than two weeks ago, on 4th October in northern Burkina Faso, armed assailants killed 25 men in front of their families in an ambush on their convoy as they were returning home in hope for improved security.
Across the region, thousands of women and girls have fallen victim to sexual and gender based violence.
Attacks on schools in the Sahel are a grim and growing reality.
More than 3600 schools in recent years have been destroyed or closed, affecting 10s of thousands of schoolchildren.
Climate risks in the Sahel are also increasing as rising temperatures are changing rainfall patterns and increasing the frequency and intensity of flooding, droughts and sandstorms.
Recent devastating floods in the region have killed dozens and left hundreds of thousands, many of these displaced and host communities in urgent need of shelter, clean water and health services.
Host governments and local communities are the first responders and have shown remarkable solidarity.
But they are at breaking point and they need immediate resources.
Solutions are urgently needed to address the root causes of displacement and to bolster the humanitarian efforts.
Affected States need support to deliver assistance.
Governance reforms must be stepped up with the same urgency as life saving interventions and adequate resources are essential.
Investment is especially needed in urban areas where many of the displaced have sought safety.
Humanitarian actors are struggling to meet the *********** needs of displaced communities and their hosts.
UNHCR has dramatically scaled up in the Central Sahel this year.
In the Central Sahel, we require continued and sustained financial support.
Resources are needed beyond the end of this year for UNHCR and our partners to continue to scale up our assistance.
The 20th October pledging Conference is an opportunity for donors to demonstrate commitment so the most devastating effects can be averted.
The time to act in the Sahel is now.
Thank you, and we will share our notes.
Thank you very much, Boris and I will now go to Thompson for WFT Watson Sahel.
Thank you so much, Alessandra.
I will talk to you about the food and nutrition security in the Central Sahel that is encompassing Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali.
Now the Central Sahel region is facing a serious food and nutrition crisis, with some people in parts of northern Burkina Faso on the verge of a hunger catastrophe.
7.4 million people currently do not know where their next meal will come from.
Our analysis says the World Food Programme shows that an additional 7.4 million could be food insecure before the new year starts.
This is as a result of of several factors but not least the socio economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
We are extremely concerned with two provinces in northern part of Burkina Faso, Udalan and Sum where which which is which have been driven into the humanitarian emergency fairs of food insecurity according to the IPC which is IPC fairs.
For now, an estimated 11,000 people may just be one step short of famine in places that have been made inaccessible by continued fighting.
Devastating floods in September have worsened the food security situation.
Floods have been floods have destroyed.
We have destroyed fields, homes and livelihoods and we are talking of approximately 500,000 people in Niger and over 100,000 people in Burkina Faso.
In Niger, WFP is going to provide food assistance to more than 100,000 people for one month.
But then again, the upsiege in fighting that we are seeing is an additional pressure to people who are already vulnerable to climatic shocks and with many of them dependent on seasonal humanitarian assistance.
A lot of them have been forced to abandon their fields and livelihoods and they now depend entirely on host communities who themselves face immense challenges.
The ability of humanitarian organisations such as the World Food Programme and many other aid agencies is is seriously undermined in the region.
Humanitarians are frequently regarded as targets by non state armed actors.
But across the region, in Burkina, in Mali, in Niger, and this region is on a tipping point, we could see an irreversible slide into chaos with the risk of a spillover of instability into border areas of neighbouring countries around the Gulf of Guinea.
This could precipitate further deterioration in food security in West Africa.
Now, what is the World Food Programme doing about it?
WFP has continued to ramp up its life saving food and Nutrition Assistance as well as our resilience building activities in the region.
A week ago, WFP launched the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service in Burkina Faso to transport aid workers across the country, helping them to reach people in need.
WFP already had activities, UNAS activities in Niger, in both Niger and in Mali, connecting isolated communities.
Flying out of Bamako in Mali to Farfung, places like like like like Kedao, like Mopti, like Timbuktu, the same in in Niger.
We are flying to Zinda, we are flying all over the country to facilitate access to people in need.
Now, in August, the World Food Programme reached nearly 3.4 million people in Burkina Faso, in Mali, in Niger and that assistance is now being scaled up to reach 5 million people.
We hope to reach approximately 1.2 million people in Burkina Faso, 1.3 million people in Mali and 2.5 million people in Niger.
I will leave it there.
Thank you very much, Thompson.
And the last speaker on this subject is Marixi, who's connected via Zoom.
Marixi for UNICEF, you have the floor.
Good morning.
Can you hear me?
Good morning.
Can you hear me?
Yes, we can.
Go ahead.
Thank you.
The multiple crises converging in the central Sahel, including a surge in armed violence and the social economic fallout from COVID-19, is worsening conditions for children in one of the world's poorest least developed regions.
A record 7.2 million children in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger now require humanitarian assistance.
This is up 2/3 in just one year.
Over a million children have been forcibly displaced from their homes.
Safe water, so critical for the survival of young children and for preventing COVID-19, is scarcer than ever, particularly so among those displaced.
Estimates on the number of children who will suffer life threatening malnutrition this year are up by a fifth.
Conditions are especially acute in some regions of Burkina Faso that are hosting especially large numbers of displaced people.
In Jibo, Gorgaji and Barcelogo communes, mortality rates among children already exceed the emergency alert threshold across the three countries.
Targeted attacks had already shut down over 4000 schools before COVID-19 closed down the rest.
Verified instances of grave violations against children, which include recruitment into the fighting and **** and sexual violence, have risen, especially in Mali.
UNICEF is working with partners to reach children with life saving therapeutic food, immunisation against deadly disease and access to safe water and sanitation.
We are supporting children who have been released from armed groups or subjected to sexual violence to recover and reintegrate.
And we are supporting countries in their efforts to expand distance and remote learning through TV, radio and paper based instruction and to help make schools safe enough to reopen amid COVID-19.
UNICEF's operations in the central Sahel are critically underfunded and we need more help.
As of mid-october, UNICEF has received less than 1/3, 31% of the $210 million it needs in the three countries for for humanitarian assistance this year, and just slightly over half against our 65.7 million COVID-19 appeal.
If the Central Sahel is to extricate itself from chronic crises, then the country must make sure, then these countries must make sure that this generation of children is able to turn the page on violence and poverty.
That can only do so by protecting, educating and nurturing children, no matter their circumstances.
For that essential Sahel, we'll need far more resources now and for years to come.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Marxie.
Thanks, colleagues, for this important briefing.
I would like now to open the floor to question and look at the room first.
I don't see any hand up.
I see Nina has a question.
Nina Larson, Yes, Hi.
Thank you for taking my question.
I guess it's for Jens.
I'm just, I just want to ask about the format of this event next week.
It looks virtual, but is it being hosted in Copenhagen or here?
Are there some hybrid events?
Are there any possibilities of seeing people in person?
Thank you.
Yeah, thank you, Nina.
Yes, officially it is hosted in by Denmark in Copenhagen and Co hosted by Germany, the European Union and ourselves from the UN.
In effect it's a virtual event, so it will happen online as you can see in the media advisory, it's the whole thing will be will be live streamed.
So you can follow that.
And then we have the press conference which will be with a soon Zoom link so that you can ask questions and that will be at at 4:00 PM in the afternoon.
That answers it.
Thank you, Jens.
Gabriela, hello.
Yes, go ahead.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
My question is for Thompson, He mentioned that 7.5 or 7.4, I don't know exactly the the number million are not doesn't know where the the food is coming the next food, the next meal will come, sorry.
So and then 7.5 or seven, 4.4 more will fall in in that category.
But are you prepared to feed all those people?
Thank you, Gabriella.
Indeed, 7.4 million people right now are hungry and that number will double by the end of the year.
That means approximately approximately approximately 14.8 million people, around 15,000,000 people across the Central Sahel will be unable to meet their daily food needs.
Now the World Food Programme is only scaling up to assist those that are we usually target the most vulnerable.
We will scale up to reach 5 million across the entire region, across Central Sahel.
And, and as you can imagine, we had, we had planned, we were, we were assisting 3.33.43.3 million people around the region.
But we are going to scale up now and the needs are outstripping available resources and as I speak.
The World Food Programme agent that needs 178 million to be able to mount an effective response starting now and through the through March 2021.
So for the next 6 months.
Thank you very much colleagues.
I don't see any other questions, so I would like to ask the colleagues on the podium.
Sorry, this is the situation, obliged just to do so to step down.
And I will ask Tariq and our guest to join me on the podium.
Thank you.
So thank you very much.
Tarek is here with a guest today, Doctor Bente Mickelson, who's the Director of the Department of Non Communicable Diseases of WHO.
So you would like to start Tarek or we give the flow straight to, I think we can give it.
OK, the flow straight to Doctor Mickelson.
Just to let you know that we have one more colleague online, it's Doctor Cherian Vargas, who may also help with answering some of your questions regarding hypertension.
So the floor is preventive.
Dr Thank you very much.
Good morning, everybody.
So I'm here in the occasion of the World Hypertension Day.
So as you know very well, we are in a very critical juncture on the COVID-19 pandemic.
So, of course, after some time of success in suppressing transmission, many countries are now again experiencing A resurgence after easing of restrictions.
And with also the flu season coming, we know that it will be even a more difficult time for countries to make the right choices and to find themselves to strike the right balance between protecting public health, protecting personal liberties and also keeping the economy going.
We have witnessed that the virus has preyed on people with non communicable diseases such as hypertension.
And this may come to some surprise for some of you, but the pandemic has underscored the urgency of addressing hypertension.
So today on the World Hypertension Day, which aims to increase accountability by governments, policy makers, industry, academia, and also civil society to reduce the burden of hypertension globally and in every country to increase equality.
So it's a very important day both for COVID and for hypertension.
I'm pleased to today to launch new products coming out of Double HO that will help, that will give solutions to countries and that will call urgent action on hypertension during and beyond the pandemic.
So the hypertension situation, the **** blood pressure is not on hold.
Therefore, we cannot postpone action to help 1 billion people to keep their blood pressure under control.
And this is extremely important because preventing and controlling blood pressure is also the main road into controlling stroke, heart attack and also kidney damage.
So addressing COVID-19 and **** blood pressure at the same time is very important and we need a stronger response to safeguard lives and livelihoods.
Not helping people to manage their blood pressure is even more damaging under the time of crisis like in the world is around today seeing the amid of COVID-19.
So what we have seen and this has been like an X-ray is that during COVID we have had deadly interplay between COVID-19 and non communicable diseases and hypertension among them.
So what we have seen is that there has been an increased fatality rate among people with hypertension.
We have also of course seen delays in diagnosis of hypertension resulting in more advanced deceased stages.
And the disruption of healthcare system to deliver has of course caused very huge damage on people with living with hypertension, not being able to deliver medicines or being able to be controlled by their doctors in hospitals or even in communities.
To add to that, we have also seen that there has been an increase in the risk factors that leads to hypertension.
So for example, we all know that unhealthy food is one of the and especially **** salt content is one of the bigger risk factors for hypertension as well as physical inactivity.
So this has been a challenging time and had added to the stress on people who was at risk for hypertension during COVID.
So coming back to the solutions, what we launched today is a new report and the report represents solutions.
We have seen that putting in place the right policies actually can reduce blood pressure.
And the proof point of this is that we have been able to document that we now cover 3,000,000 more people in control of hypertension in 18 countries.
We are also launching a set of fact sheets.
So all these eighteen countries can now go into the fact sheets and everybody else can see what policies are put in place, what is the challenges and how did they actually make this positive development happen.
We are also very pleased to launch a new training course.
This is developed by Pahu and it's really important because it's accessing the performance of blood pressure measurements by doctors, nurses and midwives and pharmacists and how to improve.
I know I have very few times left.
I just want to add a couple of comments on what these measures are, so you have some ideas.
So when it comes to the solution for keeping control of hypertension, it's really about applying standard protocols, it's about access to medicines, it's about interrupted supplies of medicine, and it's also about monitoring and data.
And of course, the training is really about addressing the needs of the healthcare personnel.
And especially, and this may surprise you, that it is really about how to measure blood pressure in the right way.
So I will stop by just saying that we use this day to ask countries to align their COVID-19 recovery and building back Better Together with using the new tools from Double HL.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Oops, sorry.
Thank you very much to you, Doctor Mickelson.
I'll open the floor to questions for Doctor Mickelson, Tariq and the other colleague online.
The first one is Nina Larson from ASP.
Nina, yes, Hi, can you hear me?
Hello.
Yes, now you can go ahead.
OK, thank you.
Thanks for taking my question.
So I actually have two questions on hypertension.
I haven't seen this report.
I assume we'll receive it.
I'm sorry if I missed it, but do you have any indication in percentages or numbers of of increases in in deaths linked to hypertensions due amid the COVID crisis?
And for Tarek, I had a separate question and it is on the study that was published overnight indicating that remdesivir doesn't have any effect basically on mortality in terms of when it comes to COVID.
Could you say something something more about that?
And so I know it's not peer reviewed, if you could give us a few more details on on how confident WHO is in in those findings?
Thank you.
OK.
I'll start with Doctor Nicholson, please.
So I'll be brief.
So when it comes to COVID-19 and hypertension, the 122 countries that has reported tells us that in over 50% of the countries, the services in the healthcare services is disrupted fully or partially 50% of the countries.
And in addition, we see **** number of fatalities.
We don't have global, global figures yet, but we see in the range of 5060% of the people that are severely ill and die in hospitals from COVID have hypertension, diabetes and so forth.
And we are working on the global targets.
Tariq, Thanks, Nina.
You have seen we have issued press release last night.
So I think that that explains what we have.
And I would really prefer to have my colleagues who have in depth technical knowledge on this to answer these questions at the press briefing that is today at 5:00.
But just like to to summarise the press release, the interim results from the Solidarity Therapeutics trial coordinated by the World Health Organisation indicate that remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir, ritonavir and interferon regimens appear to have little or no effect on 28 day mortality order in hospital course of COVID-19 among hospitalised patients.
Although the results for the 1st 4 treatments options evaluated were unpromising, this global platform works well and is now available to rapidly evaluate promising new treatment options with nearly 500 hospitals participating at S trial sites.
So I will really invite you to follow follow the press briefing today and ask questions.
We will have Doctor Suniya Swaminathan, who is our Chief Scientist to answer those questions.
Thank you very much.
Lisa Schlein of America on the Line.
Yes, good morning.
Thanks for taking my question.
I, I probably missed some of your statistics when you were talking, but I think you said a billion people in the world were affected by hypertension.
Could you clarify that?
How many people actually die from hypertension, **** blood pressure?
And I imagine this is a major risk factor of COVID-19 and that many people are might not be dying if they didn't have **** blood pressure.
If you could talk about that.
And then what is the situation regarding the developed and developing countries?
Where is it worse?
Is it you talk about bad food and all sorts of things?
So if you could elaborate upon that, please.
Thank you.
So first of all, I just want to correct one thing.
So the health profiles is from 80 countries is not from the ATM countries.
So I, I sorry, I, I just so that is a correction.
So when it comes to the numbers of hypertension, so we have a 1.130 billion people that has hypertension and most of these people actually live in low and middle income countries.
So other statistics is and they are really not very, you know, good news, but the good news is that we know what to do.
But if you look at it, only one out of 10 countries had at least half of the population with hypertension under treatment and only four out of five low and middle income country have less than half of their people on hypertension treatment.
So again, you can see it's especially the low and middle income countries that are at risk.
And you asked again about the COVID-19 and the figures.
We cannot give global figures at a global level for the risk.
So we have figures from many countries that we have published.
So for example, in Italy, we know that 64% of those dying in hospital from COVID-19 has hypertension.
So we have national figures, but we are working on the global figures.
Yes, thank you, Tarek.
Just a question on the study that was published overnight.
First of all, this was a study that we were all waiting for for many months.
Why was it sent during the night?
We don't have a problem working during the night, but if we had a heads on look, this is going to come, don't sleep tonight.
We would not sleep.
Why is it that a report so big like this comes in an e-mail during the night and without any warning from your side?
This is the first question.
Secondly, with this study making very clear some issues there with hydrochloroquine and the other medical means, what is your suggestion to presidents that officially promote these drugs?
Thank you, Jamil on the on the we can't always choose the time of the of the release of reports.
No, no, who choose it.
Can you please let Tariq answer?
Thank you that we cannot always choose the, the timing of the reports.
Quite often, you know, we can only imagine under what pressures we are working right now and and trying to get the best possible advice to countries, to general public.
We also try to as knowledge comes in, present this knowledge because this knowledge and the results of different trials in different areas help shape this advice.
We are trying really our best and I think he will appreciate it that that as soon as we get information ready, we try to to release it again.
So regarding this particular study, as I as I said, we hope that that this platform that that is now being used will be used for for for other treatments.
And it shows basically that that even during pandemic, the we can come together and do a massive, massive trials and try to get solutions.
Peter Yeah, hold on.
I'm just going to switch this off.
Peter, we always have the same problem.
You're speaking from the room, not from the platform.
So for my colleagues, don't activate the mic.
Otherwise we have an echo Peter in the room.
Thank you.
Yeah, I'm just switching this off.
Yes, Doctor, you said that hypertension is mostly common in lower and middle income countries.
Is hypertension easy to combat?
So I think it would be wrong to say easy, but we have the solutions, we know how to do it.
And I think it's very good news that we today see 3,000,000 more people on treatment.
But you know, still as we celebrate today, the Vault Hypertension Day, it's very clear that, you know, two of the five people are unaware that they have hypertension.
So it's not only about treatment, it's really raising the awareness.
It's to training doctors and nurses to be able to both diagnose and control.
And we know that four and out of five people in low and middle income countries are not on treatment.
So of course, we have a big challenge, but we have the solutions as well.
So I think for me, this is sort of a day of celebration because we can prove, we have the proof that when we do the right things, we can actually support.
And it's even more importing important now during COVID.
Thank you for the question.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
So what type of people must be on the lookout for hypertension?
Thank you.
Sorry I didn't get it.
What type of people would have to be on the look for hypertension?
So you know, it is an age component, but it's also of course that we know that people that has already a lot of risk factors being inactive, being overweight smokers, you know, all of those are of course at risk.
So the first thing to do is to really reduce all these risk factors.
So and I think the well trained healthcare personnel are very aware how to sort of institute, but these are one of the easiest things to diagnose if you use blood pressure measurement correctly.
So I think the focus on risk factors, the awareness that so many actually are undiagnosed yet and then of course to really reinforce the the treatment is the message of today.
Thank you.
Thank you, Doctor.
We have a long list of speaker waiting.
So I will take the last two questions, Moussa and Gabriel Gabriel and then we go to the next speaker, Moussa.
Moussa online can my colleague and Moussa you're on 77 Maciston Puerto Rico COVID is enough on Europe in augmentation on Europe specific.
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I see that the tell mania is only because the LA population only the Thank you very much.
Last question, Gabriella, thank you very much for giving me the question.
Can you remind us Tarek, which medication does work?
I mean only dexamethasone maybe?
No, no, it's OK.
Yes you will.
You will remember that we had issued issued a press release on the exometasone saying that it has a positive effect with severely I'll patients.
And so this has been conclusion of the Solidarity trial on four.
I will just repeat again on four on four drugs that remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir, ritonavir and interferon.
And the trial found that those drugs have little or no effect on mortality for hospitalised patients.
And we'll stop there.
Yeah.
Thank you, Tarek.
Mrs Doctor Mickelson would like to say one final word and then we go to the next Speaker, please.
So I just wanted to welcome you to an event later today when we want to launch the tools and where Doctors Cherian Vargas will speak more about the heart packet.
And it will be with the Doctor Tetras, Doctor Tom Friedman, CEO President result to save life and also Doctor DJ Drogba, president of the DJ Foundation.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Doctor Michaelson.
And thank you, Tarek for being with us.
And I go now to Andre for HCR who's going to talk us about Libya, life saving flights.
While sorry, I take off my mask while Andre is coming on the podium.
I would just like to remind you that we have sent you a note to correspondence that was on Wednesday about the meeting of the 5 + 5 Libyan Joint Military Commission in Geneva next week.
Some of us, some of you have asked questions about media events in the framework of this meeting.
And obviously we will give you a bit more information.
But we don't expect, that's what I wanted to say because some of you have asked that we don't expect activities on Monday morning, but during the weekend.
We will try to give you more information on what we will have for the press for this meeting.
And I'll go to Andre now on the issue of the flights.
Andre, good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
I'm, I, I will be giving you a short briefing about the flights, the evacuation flights we've resumed from Libya.
Last night we evacuated a group of 153 vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers out of Libya to the emergency transit mechanism in Niger.
This chartered flight marks the resumption of life saving evacuations from Libya, ending A7 month long suspension.
These humanitarian flights had to be halted in March due to the public health concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic which led them to the suspension of air traffic in many countries.
Those evacuated yesterday's include nationals of Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan.
These also included sixteen families and 15 children under the age of 18, many of whom are unaccompanied or separated from their parents.
With COVID-19 cases continuing to rise in Libya and some 46,000 confirmed cases across the country, all passengers tested negative prior to departure.
They were also given counselling and awareness sessions on how to stay protected and healthy.
The group is now undergoing A2 week quarantine in Niger and a further test in line with the health measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
The majority of evacuees were living in the Libyan capital Tripoli.
Virtually all of them, 97% of the group have experienced arbitrary detention in Libya, including in Tajura, Zintan or Trik Al Sika detention centres.
Some of them have been detained for more than two years in extremely dire conditions and were recently released thanks to Unhcr's advocacy with the Libyan authorities.
More than 3400 migrants and asylum seekers are currently estimated to be held in government run detention centres in Libya, where conditions are dire and many are at risk of serious *****.
The resumption of evacuation flights is especially important now given the volatile situation in Libya, the rapid spread of the coronavirus and it's health as well as socio economic impact on refugees and asylum seekers who have found it increasingly difficult to support themselves and their families.
I'll stop there.
There are a few more details in the briefing note.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Andre.
I'm looking at the room.
Is there any question on Libya for HCRI?
Don't see any online there is Lisa.
Hi Andre, nice to see you virtually on on this situation.
Do you anticipate more flights and you say that more than what thirty 3400 migrants are still detained apparently in abusive conditions, if you can talk about that.
Do you have any visiting rights with these people?
Do you believe that any of them will be released and that you will be able to have more of these essentially life saving flights out of the country?
Yes, we do hope that the flights will now continue.
They have resumed after seven months.
We've obviously been working and advocating with the Libyan authorities to release those.
We continue to reiterate the call to the Libyan authorities to release all asylum seekers that are held in in detention and for an end actually to to arbitrary detention.
Now the people who were released were released thanks to the measures and and decisions that were taken by the Libyan authorities.
We plan to continue this process and it's important that to know that so far this year out of two flights, there was the one in in February and the one that landed yesterday.
In total, we have brought 501 vulnerable refugees out of Libya, including 221 who have so far been resettled to Europe.
Liz, is that the follow up?
Yes, it is.
Alessandra.
We've been haven't heard much news out of Libya recently in terms of the migration.
And I was wondering if you could speak about whether migrations in more people from Africa are migrating to Libya or has that essentially stopped because of the difficulties?
I let Andrea answer, but we also have on the line Paul Dillon for IUM.
In case, Paul, you want to add something.
Andrea, the, the migratory movements across the continent continue and the, the scale of those are very difficult to pin down given that most of them are, have, are happening in clandestine conditions through smugglers and people traffickers.
So it is, it is very difficult to gauge the scope of, of that movement.
Colleagues from IOM may want to add more, but right now the estimate is that there are 45,660 refugees and asylum seekers throughout the country.
Many of them for those that we know that are being held in, in the government detention centres.
We advocate for their release.
We also advocate for the release of people who might be held in any other possible such facilities and we know that there are many, given the volatile and fragmented situation inside Libya, that there are probably many other detention centres that we do not also know of.
Thank you very much, Andrea.
I don't see any other question in the room or online, so thank you.
And I'll now turn to Ravina on my left.
Ravina, it's the one under the mic.
Welcome.
And you have a point on Bolivia.
Go ahead.
That's right.
Good morning, everyone.
You should have received a press release on Bolivia that we issued in English and Spanish just about 20 minutes ago.
The UN **** Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, has urged Bolivia's authorities, political and other actors to refrain from any actions that could undermine the peaceful conduct of the general elections that are taking place this Sunday.
In light of the political and human rights crises that were unleashed during the previous attempt to carry out these elections a year ago, Bachelet has expressed her hope that Sunday's elections would take place in a calm, participatory and inclusive manner in an environment that ensures respect for human rights of all people in Bolivia.
We welcome the Bolivian people's determination to participate in these elections.
Everyone should be able to exercise the right to vote in peace without an intimidation or violence.
These elections represent an opportunity to really move forward on social and economic fronts and to defuse the extreme polarisation that has been plaguing Bolivia over the past few years.
The **** Commissioner has expressed her serious concern at the inflammatory language and threats that have been made by some political actors in recent weeks, as well as the increasing number of physical attacks that have been taking place.
It is essential, the **** Commissioner says, that all sides avoid further acts of violence that could spark a confrontation.
No one wants to see a repeat of last year's events, which led to extensive human rights violations and abuses, including at least 30 people killed and more than 800 injured, and ultimately to everyone losing out.
The UN Human Rights Office has deployed a mission to Bolivia.
The mission has been there since November 2019, and it remains in the country to monitor and report on any human rights violations and abuses, including in the context of elections.
Thank you very much, Ravina.
I see a couple of questions online.
Nick.
Nick coming, Bruce.
Yeah.
Thank you.
It's not actually on Bolivia, though.
Can if Nina wants to ask about Bolivia.
Nina has a question on Bolivia.
Then I'll come back to you.
Nina.
Yeah.
Hi.
Sorry, No, mine isn't on Bolivia either.
I think Gabriella has a question on Bolivia or maybe not Gabriella.
No, I'm sorry.
Yeah, it was OK.
We're saying if anybody in the room, I don't see any hand up.
So I go in order of request of floor for non Bolivian questions, non Bolivian related questions and we'll start with Nick.
Thanks.
Hi, Ravina, good to see you.
I have a question about Thailand.
Actually we've got considerable protests there and given the history of some of these protests ending in extreme violence, is this an issue of concern to our HCHR?
And do you have any details on the number of arrests that have been taking place as a result of the military action to the recent protests?
Thanks, Nick.
Yes, good morning.
As you know, we do have a regional office in Bangkok.
And so we have been following very closely the situation in light of the recent public demonstrations, and we've conducted some monitoring ourselves as well.
Now, the demonstrations themselves have largely been peaceful and the authorities have largely respected the state space for the exercise of the right to peaceful assembly.
But we are concerned that yesterday morning they imposed a serious emergency situation in Bangkok as a result of the rally that was held the day before, which was actually largely peaceful.
The imposition of the decree will negatively impact on the exercise of fundamental freedoms as guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Thailand is a party.
We are concerned about the detention and arrest of many activists and human rights defenders as well, including those who are associated with the demonstrations.
The last figures that we have are that 57 individuals were arrested between the 13th and the 16th of October.
Six of them have been released and the rest remain as of today in police custody.
And we are particularly concerned about the application of a number of serious charges, including the crime of sedition against individuals for peacefully exercising their fundamental rights.
Now we're we're calling on the Government to ensure that no one is targeted, detained or charged with serious offences or exercising their fundamental rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression.
And to ensure that due process rights and judicial safeguards are systematically provided for every person who was arrested and detained, including routine access to their lawyers and to their families at all times.
And I will remind you that the Secretary General also said in a message a few weeks ago that no one should be arrested or go to gaol for their political views.
And people have a fundamental right to express themselves, demonstrate peacefully, speak up.
And it's incumbent on authorities to allow people to do so, give them the space to do so, use restraint if they feel there is violence in the demonstration.
Nick, you have a follow up.
Yeah, just a quick one to ask if there had been contact between our HDHR anti authorities and what reaction you're getting to them from from from that.
Yes, absolutely.
In fact there's been a lot of contact.
As I mentioned, we've got a regional office in Bangkok.
So there's been contact at that level letters meetings as well as in Geneva.
So we have been engaging very closely with them and you know everything that I've just said, we've also made these views known to them.
Thank you Nina, your turn.
What's your question about?
Let's see.
Yeah, Hi, my question was about Israel.
We're seeing a report out yesterday that that a number of staff from OHCHR have been denied visas to Israel since the publication of the database in February.
Is that correct?
And could you give us some details and how, what kind of communication do you have with the Israeli authorities about this?
Thank you.
Hi, Nina.
Thanks.
Thanks for your question.
Yes, indeed.
So just to clarify, no visas have been renewed of our staff in the country since June and the first international staff member had to leave in August after her visa expired.
The visa applications, to be clear, have not been formally refused, but the Israeli authorities have abstained from issuing or renewing any visas since June.
And I mean, it's an ongoing process.
Our offices have not been closed.
We still have some national staff working inside the occupied Palestinian territory, along with some remaining international staff.
The rest of our international staff are working remotely now, as you're aware, because of the pandemic.
In any case, a lot of our staff are not able to work physically from their offices at all times.
So the work is continuing, but of course, this is a highly irregular situation and it will negatively impact on our ability to carry out our mandate.
We do continue to hope that the situation will be resolved soon and we are actively engaged with various relevant and concerned parties to resolve the situation.
Thank you very much.
Last question from Gabriella and then we will go to our guests.
Yes, thank you very much.
Hi.
Hello.
Hi Ravina, nice to see you.
2 questions if May I 1 is on USA elections and there is also inflammatory languages language there.
The news there is a news channel inciting to hate the president didn't condemn white supremacists.
So could you comment on this situation in the in the United States prior to the elections and also on Mexico, freedom of expression?
The president of Mexico, this is the second time he puts a list on a big screen in his press conference with the names of all the columnist journalists who write criticising his government.
And then these journalists are harassed on the networks, you know, in the social media by the president's followers.
So, so this is very worrying for the exercise of press freedom in Mexico.
If you can comment on that as well.
Thanks.
Thanks, Gabriella, for the two questions on hate speech in the context of elections.
Now, you know, the **** commissioner's position on this just now we've spoken about the use of inflammatory language in Bolivia.
I believe last week we issued a press release on Guinea with, you know, hate speech and, and inflammatory language being used there.
And the the **** commissioner's position has been clear.
She's consistently underlined the need to combat speech that can amount to incitement to hatred and to violence.
And she's made these views known very clearly in in various FORA.
And the **** Commissioner would like to see political leadership globally take a stance against a strong and clear stance against the use of hate speech and speech that could amount to incitement to the hatred of violence against any particular groups.
On the situation in Mexico, as you know, our office in Mexico has been very closely following the situation of freedom of expression and, and you know, the difficult situation of journalists in the country.
If there's anything specific that they can provide you with on this specific incident, I'll get back to you.
But generally, we have expressed our concerns with the situation of journalists and human rights defenders in Mexico.
Thank you very much, Ravina.
I would like now thank you very much for being with us.
I like now to turn to again to WFP who is going to talk to us about a report.
But before doing that, sorry, I think my mask, it's nicer.
I just would like to remind everybody, I think we all know that today is World Food Day and it also concludes a World Food Week that has seen a lot of events happening.
The Secretary General of the United Nations has issued a message today that has been distributed to you in which he says that the award of this year's Nobel Prize for Peace to the UN World Food Programme recognises the right of all people to food and our common press to achieve 0 hunger.
He goes on saying that the COVID-19 pandemic has rather intensified food insecurity to a level not seen in decades.
As we mark the 75th anniversary of the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation, we need to intensify our efforts to achieve the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals.
On this for World Food Day, he concludes, let us make a commitment to grow, nourish and sustain together.
And on these words of the Secretary General, I would like to give the floor now to Mr Arif Hussain, who's the Chief Economist of the World Food Programme, who is talking to us via Zoom, I guess, from Rome.
So Mr Usain, go ahead, please.
You have the floor.
Thank you so much.
Can you hear me OK?
Very well, thank you.
OK, so, so good morning, everybody.
I would just start by saying that this report which is about, you know, how much does a plate of food cost in different parts of the world.
I mean, it should not surprise.
The results of this report did not surprise anybody.
I mean, it simply says that millions amongst us cannot afford even the basic bid.
And why there are essentially 3 things which we see first and foremost.
I mean, it is about, it is about conflict.
Conflict drives large numbers of people from their homes, from their lands, from their jobs, which effects productivity and their income and their purchasing power.
In many countries, because of conflict, now we are looking at generational losses because many, many years, if not decades have gone passed by.
I think Romina like like who said basically the Nobel Peace Prize is the recognition that food security and peace and stability must go hand in hand and we need to get to do that.
The the second reason which we see is potentially climate, climate extremes more frequent and intense climate shocks today than more than 1020 years ago, 100 sharks on average 20 years ago, today more than 200.
And they are damaging our food systems that produce the food which which which which we need.
And that is what makes food unaffordable to many, many people.
Then the third thing which we see is economic downturns.
We are seeing rising debts, falling currencies, increasing inequalities, not just in incomes, but also in opportunities.
And to top all of this COVID-19 desperate and already bad situation.
I mean, the way it is, it is creating this economic quicksand, you know, where hunger is up, poverty is up, unemployment is up and local food prices are up.
But at the same time you got incomes going down, you got informal going down, enhanced purchasing power of of the people.
So, so at the end of the day, I mean, you know, we need to do enough to get people out of this week because if that is not done, it is going to take a lot longer and it is still going to take a lot more resources to get people out of the problems that they face today desperated by COVID-19.
Now what this plate of food does is it looks into somewhere around 36 countries in terms of how much does it cost for very basic plate of food.
And what we see is that out of the, you know, top 20s, seventeen countries are in sub-Saharan Africa where the, the, the, the prices, if you will, the, the ****.
And why is that the case?
Because of imports, the because of the global conditions, because of blinding currencies, rising inflation, all of those things put together the country which topped the list that is essentially South Sudan.
What is happening there is that if you wanted a simple, nice basic plate of food, it would cost you 186% of your daily wage, meaning you cannot afford it.
And what COVID has done, it has added about 27 percentage points more to that cost compared to pre COVID time.
We are also really, really concerned about, we talked about Sahal earlier, but we are also really concerned about Sudan, the violence which is happening in Jangali in in greater people state.
You have already 3000 people who are displaced, you have catastrophic flooding.
And on top of that, you have a currency which is, which is falling like you wouldn't believe and it is rising essentially.
Then the cost of I mean, prices have increased by 35%.
Food prices have increased by 35% just within the three weeks of the onset of, you know, and if you look at the currency that is has declined by 67% September to September between 2019 and 2020.
So these things then directly, directly affect people's ability to afford food and then that not having that ability then contributes to violence as well.
The problem is that even in South Sudan that is the case.
But in South Sudan, in Sudan itself also, prices are up by about 200% compared to last that again, declining currencies, flooding, which is supposed to affect about 1/3 of of sorghum production in Sudan, which is going to have an impact on South.
So when you combine all of these factors together, you're seeing that how the, the, the key causes, the main reasons, what they said, conflict, climate extremes, economic marginalisation.
And then on top of that, COVID, which is exasperating all of that is creating these deportions in many, many parts of the world.
I will stop here.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr Hussain.
I'm looking now at my list of journalists here.
If anybody would like to ask a question to what programme or in the room, I don't see any hand up.
But before we leave.
So thank you very much Mr Hussain and thanks Thompson.
But before we leave the issue of food, I would just like to remind you Adriano could not be with us today.
But he asked me to remind you that today the World Food Day ceremony organised by the FAO will bring together in Rome heads of the Rome based UN agencies and other keynote speakers together with the FAO to general to a ceremony that will take place at 2:00 PM room time.
The digital event will also include messages and calls to action from His Holiness the Pope, Francis, the President of the Republic of Italy and of course the Secretary General.
This event is can be followed by webanner or webcast and there will also be a 7 at 7:00, sorry.
At 7:30 PM, there will be a video mapping show at the Coliseum in Rome and on the facade of the FAO headquarters building that will show all the data and the people who have continued to produce, plant, harvest, fish or transport our food despite these challenging times.
This is also available online.
So this is what we had on World Foods Day.
And I like we, we have still 3 speakers online that have been patiently waiting and I thank them for that.
So I will start now to give the floor to UNECE Jean Rodriguez, who has also an announcement on a handbook they are publishing.
Jean, good morning.
Good morning everyone.
Do you hear me correctly?
We do Go ahead.
So UNEC is launching today a handbook on sustainable urban mobility and special planning to help cities steer their green recovery.
The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted urban mobility and has raised fundamental questions about its future role at the heart of Urban Development.
Before the pandemic, new forms of shared and connected urban mobility were rapidly taking root.
Although lockdowns halted the daily movements of millions of people, shifts to active forms of mobility received a boost in many cities, such as through the establishment of pop up cycling lanes.
The Handbook recalls that the transport sector produces 1/4 of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU and that approximately 42% of the 100 and 5105 100,000 sorry Rd traffic deaths recorded annually in the UNEC region occur in built up areas.
Furthermore, the cost of delays in passenger transport and cargo due to congestion in Europe is estimated at around €100 billion per year, which is just over 1% of GDP of the EU.
Making urban transport system greener and more efficient therefore presents important benefits for health, the climate and for city's prosperity, with the potential to drive a sustainable recovery from COVID-19.
The handbook, which was developed in the framework of the Transport, Health and Environment Pan European programme, called the PEP, which we administered jointly with The Who Europe, provides case studies, good practises and examples from cities from across the region.
Let me mention just a few examples.
Almaty in Kazakhstan created a **** speed bus corridor, which now transports 140,000 passengers daily, reducing travel times by 20%.
In 2018 / 100 kilometres of dedicated lanes for public transport and 80 kilometres of cycling path were commissioned, and an urban bike rental system was introduced in Copenhagen, a role model for cities.
For cities striving to develop cycling, the cost of 1 kilometre of cycling path is recovered after five years, thanks to the improved health of the users.
Approximately 41% of citizens travel to workers travel to work, to go to work or to school by bicycle, saving about 235,000,000 of EUR per year in in health and economic costs.
In Moscow, car sharing and bike sharing systems have been introduced in in the last years and results in 30,000 car sharing trips and over 27,000 bicycle trips per day.
The city has also implemented sophisticated intelligent transport system which produce Rd user information, automated traffic management and televiewing systems that harmonise traffic flows and speed up response to emergency situations.
In Basel, the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan has lead to significant improvements, including a reduction of car traffic in spite of the growing population registered, **** accessibility for the entire Basel region, especially by public transport, a significant increase in the number of cyclists, and noticeable improvements in Rd safety and air quality.
Building on city experiences, the handbook outlines a series of practical recommendations for cities and decision makers.
First, public transport improvements have to be given priority with appropriate funding.
Second, in this respects the key priorities must include the replacement of polluting bus fleets by non polluting new models, the promotion of Electro mobility, the development of modern trams and intermodal hubs and the drawing of appropriate Land Management policies.
Working and cycling also need to be supported not just in in urban city centres, but on a much larger scale in combination with all the modes of transport, especially public transport.
And finally, cities can make the most of a new generation of intelligent transport systems by harnessing financial and technological opportunities offered by digitalisation.
The handbook is available in English and Russian and the press release is available in English, French and Russian.
And we stay at your disposal if you have any questions.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Jean.
I'm looking at the room and online.
Let me go up.
Sorry.
No, I don't see any question for you, Jean.
Thank you very much.
Then I'll go to Sophie Fisher.
Thank you for your patience.
Sophie, you have a briefing on another report, an announcement on another report on behalf of ILO Sophie Fisher.
Yes, good morning, everybody.
My apologies for not appearing to you on video, but I am still working from home and the video connection where I am is quite.
I wanted to tell you about a report that we will be launching next Wednesday, the 21st of October.
It is on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the garment sector in Asia Pacific.
This report will assist the impact of the crisis on supply chains, factories and workers in 10 major garment producing countries in the region.
As you will well know, retail sales in countries where there have been stringent lockdowns have pretty much collapsed.
Asia Pacific is important because it employs 65,000,000 garment sector workers.
Those are figures from 2019.
That is the 75% of all the world's garment workers and the region also accounts for 60% of the world's total apparel exports.
Now, the 10 garment producing countries that will be featured in the report are Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
The report and the accompanying press release will be available under embargo from Monday.
That's the 19th.
Please e-mail us in The Newsroom and ILO if you are interested in receiving a copy.
The embargo on this report will be lifted at 11 AM Geneva time on Wednesday the 21st.
Now, this is actually a regional report which has been produced by the Ilo's office in Bangkok.
So they will be hosting the embargoed virtual presser which will commence in English at 10 AM Geneva time on Wednesday the 21st.
The press conference is also being opened up to interested Palais journalists via Zoom and you will be able to ask questions via Zoom.
Excuse me, please let us know in advance if you would like to attend so we can send you the details.
We will also be sending out a major advisory with full details in due course.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Sophie.
Any question for ILO?
I don't see hen any.
So thank you very much.
Good luck for the launch.
I go to our last but definitely not least Speaker Catherine Frank that also another announcements on we like we said that so an update surely, surely Commerce Mondial impact to the economic.
Yeah, I get more set up date, you know, the, the, the, the.
And text.
I'm Mercy Boku, Mercy Katrina.
I'm looking at possible questions, but I don't see any neither online or in the room.
So thank you.
I would like to thank all our speakers today.
It was a long briefing, but it was very interesting.
And I thank everybody who has participated, including our guests and wish you, if there are no other questions, which I don't see, I wish you a very good weekend.
Thank you.