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UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing 17 November 2020
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Press Conferences | UNHCR , OCHA , UNOG , WFP , WTO , WMO
UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing 17 November 2020
Hurricane Iota hits Central America
Clare Nullis, for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said Friday 13 November had marked the 50th anniversary of the world’s deadliest tropical cyclone, Bhola, which had killed between 300,000 and 500,000 people in what is now Bangladesh. Bhola had paved the way for WMO’s Tropical Cyclone programme which this year marked its 40th anniversary. Turning to the current situation in Central America, Ms. Nullis said the record-breaking Atlantic hurricane season was continuing at a time of year when it was normally winding down. Iota was the 30th named storm this season—the highest number on record. For the first time on record, the Atlantic had had two major hurricane formations in November. Hurricane Iota has just made landfall as a strong category 4 hurricane, just 24 km and 2 weeks apart from category 4 hurricane Eta. Iota had made landfall in Nicaragua as a Category 4 hurricane with maximum winds of 155 mph (250 km/h), and was now the strongest November hurricane on record to make landfall in Nicaragua, surpassing the previous record set by Eta (140 mph) just 13 days ago.
Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said people in Central America were again bracing for the potentially catastrophic consequences of tropical storm Iota, just two weeks after Hurricane Eta had made landfall in the region causing death, destruction, and affecting a total of nearly 5 million people. Iota, with its strong winds and heavy rainfall, could cause life-threatening flash floods, river flooding, and landslides not least because the soil was already saturated by tropical storm Eta. Ahead of Iota, the United Nations and its regional and national partners were building on the preparedness and response work underway for Eta, including pre-propositioning supplies. As part of the response to Eta, a seven-member United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination team had deployed over the weekend to San Pedro Sula in Honduras. Both the Governments of Honduras and Guatemala had called for assistance from international organizations and bilateral support following Eta.
Matthew Cochrane, for the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), said Iota had arrived as IFRC was building its response to Eta. Over the past week, IFRC had activated three water and sanitation Emergency Response Units and one emergency health clinic, along with a logistics unit and an IT/telecommunication unit. The arrival of staff and equipment had been delayed or complicated by Iota. IFRC had also deployed more than 100 tons of relief items to Nicaragua and Honduras from its regional logistics unit in Panama. Last week, IFRC had launched an emergency appeal for Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala. Noting the very slow response from donors, Mr. Cochrane urged donors to please come forward with support. The needs—which were already severe—would certainly grow. People were in desperate, desperate need of support.
Responding to questions, Matthew Cochrane, for the International Federation of the Red Cross said the IFRC’s appeal for 20 million Swiss francs last week was only for Eta. In light of recent developments, it would likely increase. The unprecedented nature of the double barrage of hurricanes highlighted how the available funding for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction did not seem to consistently prioritize the countries at highest risk and with the lowest ability to adapt and cope with these risks, as outlined in the IFRC’s World Disasters Report 2020. Mr. Cochrane noted that Honduras, for example, was considered one of the countries in the region most vulnerable to climate-related disasters. However, despite this, Honduras received only USD $ 1.22 per person in climate change adaptation (CCA) funding in 2018 and ranked 54th in the world for per capita CCA funding.
Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs added that as humanitarian workers were gaining access to affected areas, the number of people affected was increasing significantly.
Tomson Phiri, for the World Food Programme, said continuing flooding would affect the incoming harvest in the region, and extend the food emergency into mid-2021.
Claire Nullis, for the World Meteorological Organization, said WMO had run out of superlatives to describe this extraordinary hurricane season. While it was due to several factors, such as sea surface temperatures, it was certainly part of climate change.
Ethiopian refugees in Sudan
Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), said the Secretary-General had been making calls over the weekend, monitoring the developments in Tigray with great concerns, as the situation risked destabilizing the Horn of Africa. The Secretary-General believed priority should be given to human rights, the protection of civilians, and ensuring the access for humanitarian assistance. In addition, the UN had called for humanitarian access and the resumption of telecommunication and basic supplies, including food, medicine and fuel for civilians in the Tigray region.
Babar Baloch, for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), warned that a full-scale humanitarian crisis was unfolding as thousands of refugees flee ongoing fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray region each day to seek safety in eastern Sudan—an influx unseen over the last two decades in this part of the country. Women, men and children had been crossing the border at the rate of 4,000 per day since 10 November, rapidly overwhelming the humanitarian response capacity on the ground. More than 27,000 had now crossed into Sudan through the Hamdayet border in Kassala State, the Lugdi in Gedaref State and a new location further south at Aderafi border where Ethiopian refugees had started crossing over the weekend. Refugees fleeing the fighting continued to arrive exhausted from the long trek to safety, with few belongings. UNHCR, with its partners, was supporting the Sudanese government in its response, ramping up humanitarian assistance at the borders as the needs continued to grow. In Hamdayet, clean water was being delivered and latrines were being constructed. Soap was provided but UNHCR remained very concerned about the hygiene conditions as more and more people arrived.
A full briefing note is available here.
Tomson Phiri, for the World Food Programme (WFP), said the humanitarian situation on the borders between Ethiopia and Sudan was quickly evolving and was extremely urgent. The World Food Programme was supporting the humanitarian response to address the immediate needs of people fleeing from violence. WFP had been providing food items to partners on ground who were preparing and providing hot meals to refugees arriving at reception centres in Kassala and Gedaref. Where cooking facilities were not available, WFP was providing immediate sustenance through meals ready to eat including high-energy biscuits. In addition, WFP was also providing logistics support to the humanitarian community. WFP stored relief cargo in massive tents in hard-to-reach areas where people needed food assistance during conflicts or natural disasters. WFP had established these supply hubs for the storage of food and other humanitarian supplies.
Responding to journalists’ questions, Babar Baloch, for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said that, as there were no signs of the fighting abating, there could be an increase in the influx of refugees. In the Tigray region, there were about 100,000 refugees in 4 camps. There was a risk that Eritrean refugees would be displaced inside of Ethiopia because of the fighting. He added that there were 990, 000 refugees in Sudan who came from Eritrea, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Tchad.
Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that, based on massive movement of people exiting the country, there were concerns that there could be significant internal displacement in Tigray too.
Tomson Phiri, for the World Food Programme said Sudan was facing challenges of its own, including because of a recent economic crisis. WFP was already assisting internally displaced people and refugees in the country, as well as providing cash and vouchers to vulnerable segments of the population.
COVID-19 situation at the UN Secretariat in Geneva
Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), said there had been 158 cases confirmed for about 4,000 staff members of the UN Secretariat in Geneva, from March to date. There was a rather low rate of infections among the UN Geneva secretariat staff — less than 4 per cent of the UN Geneva staff has been infected since the beginning of the pandemic. No contamination clusters had been identified in the UN Geneva secretariat. In all its considerations, the management of UN Geneva had benefitted from, and been guided by, the decisions of the Host Country as well as the advice from the United Nations Inter Agency Working Group of Medical Directors, which includes inter alia a senior representative of the World Health Organization.
Ms. Vellucci added that, already in March, UN Geneva management had reacted very quickly to the first wave of contaminations, and conference activities had immediately shifted from in-person to virtual. As was the case in the city and country, and indeed in the whole of Europe, these measures had been gradually loosened in the summer, following the improvement of the pandemic situation, always in full agreement with the Swiss authorities. However, as the situation had recently started to worsen again, the management had swiftly reacted by limiting the access to the Palais des Nations and reducing the number of people that could attend meetings in person to 50, as recommended by the Swiss authorities. Two weeks ago, UN Geneva had aligned itself with the stricter measures taken by the Confederation and the City: while the Palais des Nations remained open for business, only hybrid meetings with a maximum of five people in the room at any given time were now allowed, and the presence of outsiders in the Palais des Nations was very limited.
Responding to a journalist’s question, Ms. Vellucci said that, before the pandemic, there were between 4,000 to 4,5000 people coming to the Palais des Nations every day. Last week, the daily average stood at between 500 and 550 people – a significant reduction.
Geneva announcements
Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), said young people from four continents would take part in the 2020 Young Activists Summit for live discussions on shaping the post-COVID-19 world. The event would be held online on World’s Children Day, on Friday 20 November 2020 at 15:00 CET. Moderated by Tania Chytil (Radio Télévision Suisse), it would be streamed live on Facebook in English, French, Arabic and Spanish.
Ms. Vellucci added that UN Geneva was preparing to welcome the 2020 Afghanistan Conference at the Palais des Nations (Room XVII) on 23 and 24 November 2020. Co-hosted by the Governments of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, of Finland and the United Nations, the 2020 Afghanistan Conference would be the last pledging conference of the Transformation Decade (2015-24). The main conference would take place on 24 November, with side events to discuss key challenges and accomplishments for Afghanistan occurring the day before.
Fernando Puchol, for the World Trade Organization (WTO), recalling that WTO turned 25 this year, said it would host this Thursday from 1 pm a series of discussions to commemorate this anniversary. They would provide an opportunity to reflect on, and take stock of, the achievements as well as the challenges the organization was facing. The title of the event was “WTO at 25: Past, Present & Future” and would be opened by Guy Parmelin, Vice President of the Swiss Confederation. Ambassador David Walker of New Zealand, chair of the General Council, and Ambassador Alan Wolff, WTO Deputy Director-General would also deliver opening remarks. Two discussion panels would follow. In the first one, senior government representatives would discuss how the WTO has evolved over 25 years. In the second panel, representatives from the private sector, civil society, media and IGOs would debate how the multilateral system has served society.
Mr. Puchol added that tomorrow WTO would launch its latest Trade Monitoring Report on G20 trade measures, which compiled the number and coverage of trade-restrictive and trade-facilitating measures on goods implemented by G20 countries between May and October 2020. The previous report had been published in June this year and captured only the very early effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. This new report reflected more fully the impact the global health crisis had had on trade and trade policy. The report would be available on WTO’s website from 3 pm.
Clare Nullis, for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said a press conference would be organized for the release of WMO’s Annual Greenhouse Gases Bulletin on Monday 23 November. Additional information would be shared with the press ahead of time.
Responding to questions on the selection process for the next Director-General of WTO, Mr. Puchol said a General Council Meeting, which was due to take place on 9 November, had been postponed to hold further consultations, which were still ongoing.
Responding to a journalist’s question, Jenifer Fenton, for the Office of the Special Envoy for Syria, said planning was underway for a session of the Constitutional Committee in the near future. The dates mentioned in the media of 30 November to 4 December were indeed a possibility. But this remained subject to COVID-19 restrictions, continuing consultations with the host country and assessments by the OSE. The OSE would inform journalists if and when it was in a position to confirm.
Teleprompter
Good morning.
Good morning, everybody.
Welcome to the press briefing of today, Tuesday, 17th of November.
We'll start straight away with the the briefing about the hurricane in Central America.
I would like to give the floor straight away to our colleague from WMO, Claire Nullis.
Is Claire connected?
Oh, she's not yet.
Yes, she's there.
OK, so if Claire can be unmuted, we start with you, Claire, on the Hurricane Yota.
Yes, Sir.
Good morning.
Can you hear me, everybody?
Yes, we can.
Go ahead.
OK.
OK.
Yes.
Good morning, everybody.
Just a very quick flashback.
Friday 3rd the 13th of November marked the 50th anniversary of the world's deadliest tropical cyclone.
It was called Bola and it made landfall in what is now Bangladesh killing between 300 and 500,000 people as a result of Bola.
This LED it laid laid the the foundations for WM OS tropical cyclone to be set up.
This was 40 years ago, and over the past 40 years we have seen time and time and time again just how deadly, how devastating tropical cyclones are.
Unfortunately, Central America, along with parts of Southeast Asia are now currently bearing witness to the to the force of this of of tropical cyclones of hurricanes and Central America in in, in in particular, we've seen just a couple of hours ago that Hurricane Iota has made landfall.
Claire, sorry, can I interrupt you?
Sorry.
Could you please put your camera a little bit lower because we see only half of it.
Sorry.
It's not.
Thank you.
Sorry.
Right.
OK, it's that better.
Sorry.
I'm, I'm working from, from my Home Office.
That's better.
We're running out of superlatives for this Atlantic hurricane season.
It's it's record.
It's record-breaking in every sense of the word.
We are currently with Iota on the 30th named Tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.
Iota made landfall in Nicaragua as a very, very strong tropical.
Sorry, it's a very, very strong Category 4 hurricane.
It was borderline Category 5.
This is a time of year when the season should normally be winding down and it's not.
In fact, you know, we're seeing this sort of very tragic late Earth surge in, in, in action.
Iota is the strongest storm in the hurricane in those seasons so far to make landfall.
And as we are seeing before our eyes, our eyes and my colleagues will will elaborate more on this, you know, it will have potentially very devastating, devastating consequences.
It's it's first time, as I said in November, that we've seen two major hurricanes and Iota made landfall less than two weeks after Hurricane ETA.
ETA, which was also a very strong category, Category 4 hurricane, made, made landfall just 25 kilometres apart.
So we're having these huge impacts hitting basically the same area, Nicaragua, Honduras, other parts of Central America have not recovered from Hurricane ETA and now they're being slammed by this new terrific, powerful hurricane.
Just to give you a few facts on it, it made landfall with maximum winds of 155 kilometres per sorry, mph.
That's 250 kilometres per hour with what the National Hurricane Centre is warning of a life threatening storm surge.
So very, very, very **** storm surge above above normal tide levels, devastating winds, flash floods and phenomenal rainfall.
It's it's difficult to over emphasise that the potential for this rainfall.
We're talking about isolated maximum totals of up to 30 inches of of, of, of rainfall in an area which has already absolutely saturated.
It's it's, it's already, it's already flooded.
I'm just looking for the so, so 30 inches is 750 million millimetres of rainfall.
This, this is phenomenal.
It's made landfall.
It's now weakened.
It's currently the equivalent of a Category 2 hurricane on the Sapphire Simpson scale.
But obviously, even though the winds might have subsided a bit, the rainfall impacts the risk of mud slides, lands, landslides, and, you know, the ****** to life and property remains very, very, very ****.
Oh, and sorry, and just before I finish and the US National Hurricane Centre has said that there is a 40% chance of yet another tropical cyclone forming in the Caribbean in the next 5 days.
So obviously we're watching that very closely and monitoring it.
Thank you, Claire and Jens for Archer has more.
Thank you, Alessandra, and thank you Claire for for this update.
And good morning everyone.
Indeed, in Central America, people are again bracing for the potentially catastrophic consequences of Yota.
As we heard just two weeks after Hurricane ETA made landfall in the region, causing death and destruction.
There's a total of almost 5 million people affected by the previous Hurricane ETA with its strong winds and very heavy rainfall can cause life threatening flash flooding, river flooding and landslides, not least because the soil is already saturated by ETA.
Head of Yota, the United Nations and our regional and national partners are building on the preparedness and response work already on the way for ETA, including pre positioning supplies.
Part of the response to Hurricane ETA is A7 member UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination Team, which deployed over the weekend to San Pedro Sula in Honduras.
This team of UNDOCK specialists will assist the authorities and the United Nations Country team in assessing the needs and the impact and support coordination, logistics and information management through the month of November.
Both the Government of Honduras and Guatemala have called for assistance from international organisations and bilateral support following it.
Thank you.
Thank you, Jens.
And I'll give the floor now to Matthew for IFRC who also has something on this.
Matthew Cochrane go ahead.
Thanks very much.
And just building on on what Claire and and Jens have said, I think it's it's it's almost inevitable that this is going to be a major disaster for communities across Nicaragua, Honduras and and Guatemala, at least for the reasons that both Claire and Yens have given.
Speaking to colleagues in the region over over the past few days, it's been notable how alarmed people are about the situation.
The vice president of the Honduran Red Cross said, for example, that in his 20 years of leading emergency responses in this country has never once seen a situation like this where a major hurricane was followed almost immediately by actually a stronger hurricane following almost precisely the the same part.
Operations to respond to ETA were, were building and were growing, but there had simply not been enough time to address all the needs that were created by that.
Obviously the the access to information is, is not easy at the moment, but I want to share with you in, in some detail some of the work that's been under the way over the past 2448 hours In anticipation of this storm's arrival, Hurricane you you also made a landfall just South of of Puerto Cabezas in, in Nicaragua.
In anticipation of this, the Nicaraguan Red Cross sent almost 40 train volunteers to the city to be ready to respond once the storm passed.
They've been pre positioning basic relief items as well with a view that once the storm does pass, they'll be able to to quickly begin to assess and respond.
As Jens touched on, our major concern in northern Nicaragua is the risk of landslides.
Obviously in addition to heavy flooding and wind damage.
Hillsides are already saturated and there's a very **** risk some of them will slip down with the additional heavy rain that that the Otteries are now bringing.
In Honduras, the Red Cross has pre positioned rescue boats in the the South and the north of the country in anticipation of launching major search and rescue operations once the storm passes.
The Red Cross was also involved in preventative evacuations using helicopters over over the past few days.
Elsewhere in the country, volunteers and staff are working in evacuation centres to make sure that there are enough supplies there for people once they access them and also for the people who've been camping out in them really since Hurricane ETA hit.
In Guatemala, volunteers from across the country, including areas that are not going to be affected by Iota, are being mobilised.
The Red Cross is is is very much bracing itself, as is the entire country.
I think at the moment the expectation is that storm will mainly affect Alta Vera, Paz and Isabel, which are in the central north of the country, as is the case in Nicaragua.
We're very concerned about the potential for deadly landslides in these areas as as soil is already completely saturated and obviously they've been already deadly landslides after, after Hurricane ETA.
Finally ETA.
ETA actually brushed Colombia early this week.
And there the Red Cross is in the midst of of an early stage, the early stages of a recovery operation.
50,000 families across the northern parts of the country were affected by ETA and Red Cross teams there have been carrying out evacuation, search and rescue and first aid activities from our side.
He also really arrived and I think Jens touched on this as the the massive response to ETA was building.
Over the past week we've activated three of our water and sanitation emergency response units.
These are massive units that can come into a disaster zone and provide very quickly provide clean water for people, which is obviously crucial after any emergency, along with an emergency medical clinic and then a couple of units to support with logistics and, and IT and telecommunications, obviously both incredibly critical for disasters of this scale.
The arrival of staff and equipment, however, has been delayed or complicated by by Hurricane Iota.
We've also deployed more than 100 tonnes of relief items to Nicaragua and Honduras.
Ramel logistics hub in Panama.
Just one last note, Alessandro, I know I'm going on a bit, but you remember last week that we launched an emergency appeal for Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala for 20 million Swiss francs.
We've had a very, very, very slow response from donors, and we really want to take this opportunity to urge our donors to please, please come forward with support.
The needs were already severe and they're going to be so much worse and and they're going to be so much larger.
There are, as Yen's touched on, there are millions of people now across Central America who have lost homes and lost family members, who've lost livelihoods, and they're going to need immediate and sustained support if they're going to recover.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Matthew.
And now I'll go to the journalists if there are any questions.
It's in Emma's hand, but it's gone down, so maybe Lisa.
OK, I think I'm unmuted now.
Yes.
Good morning, Alessandra and panellists.
I have a few questions.
Are there any figures at all on the number of casualties and the number of people who may be affected by this dreadful storm in three countries?
And you said, Matthew, you say that many people have been evacuated, but then the the, the flooding, as has been mentioned by many is, I mean huge.
Many people haven't been evacuated, I imagine.
How are they surviving?
Are they hanging off rooftops or whatever?
If you could give more of a picture of the situation there And obviously they need aid.
Are you, are you able to get any aid to them, the UN aid agencies?
And again, Matthew, you were speaking about not having gotten a good response to the appeals you've already made.
Do you, do you have any idea right now how much money will actually be needed in order to rehabilitate these communities?
I mean, it must run into, I don't know, enormous sense.
Thank you.
OK.
So who would like to start?
Mimi, Matthew, you want to take it up and then Yan.
Sure.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Thanks very much, Lisa.
Look, I, I think I think the point that's important is that that's the hurricane yacht is hitting right now.
I think Claire, you can, you can probably confirm that it's actually right now that the storm is, is over Nicaragua and heading towards Honduras.
So most of the questions you had there, Lisa are are unanswerable, they're unknowable.
But I think we're confident unfortunately that that the scale of need is, is, is going to be quite significant.
A lot of work was done certainly in in Nicaragua.
Well, I don't know if a lot of work was done, but work was done in Nicaragua by the Red Cross and authorities to evacuate people in terms of the number of people evacuated compared to the number of people who needed to be evacuated.
Again, these these figures are not yet clear and, and I think they'll become clearer in the coming days.
Similarly with the financial ask, I would imagine and perhaps Yenze is a better place to answer this, but that normally takes some time to to become fully clear.
But our appeal for 20 million Swiss francs was, was just for the impacts of Hurricane ETA and just to support 75,000 of the most vulnerable people.
So that gives you an idea of of even on, on on that comparatively small scale, I think we can anticipate the financial needs are going to to rise quite considerably.
Thank you.
Thanks.
Yeah, thank you, Lisa.
I think it's important as, as, as I think we're all saying that we don't really have numbers for IOTA yet.
It has just hit the numbers that we have are from ETA, which in itself was catastrophic, and they are constantly growing because we are gradually getting access ourselves.
The governments of these countries, the local authorities, are gradually getting access to the most affected areas.
It looks like now that the two countries with the most affected people are Honduras and Guatemala.
Just to give you an idea of how numbers move as we have gained some access into into the affected areas, this rolling count of of people affected is is going up.
So for example, Honduras authorities now report that 3 million people are affected.
That's one million more than the figures that they reported last week.
In Guatemala, we are talking about more than 900,000 people directly affected by it.
That's nearly triple the figure from the previous weeks.
So this is very much at still developing emergency on top of which now slams another emergency with potentially catastrophic consequences.
That's what I want to say about that on the on the financial laws.
I think for for now, we from the UN side will certainly back up behind our colleagues at at the Red Cross around their appeal and also urged donors to look favourably to that because the money is urgently needed.
Thank you.
Thank you, Yens.
Paula, can you hear me?
Hello, can you go ahead?
Yes, sorry.
So thank you.
Actually I just wanted to know a little bit about access.
Over the last week, you said that there was you were able to gain access to certain areas.
I'm wondering where that was in which countries.
And and then also, I mean with this expectation that's perhaps there may be another hurricane on the way.
I mean, does this you know, how, how concerned to be are you about this and does this all mean that this area perhaps may be expecting new hurricanes in the the next season?
I mean, is this is this the risk that you're looking at?
Yeah, thank you.
I I mentioned the the, the gradual gain in access that we've had in Honduras and Guatemala.
Of course, there are there are other scenarios playing out in other parts.
It is a vast, it is a vast area that many authorities and countries and sources of information coming in.
It's still rather sketchy.
So I cannot give you exact blow by blow.
This is where we have now gained access and this is now where we feel that we are not getting access.
Simply the situation does not allow me to to do this kind of of overview.
We are of course concerned.
I mean we just hear from World Meteorological Organisation that you know, there's a 40% chance that a third one may, may, may hit.
It is almost unprecedented that we have these two very ****-powered natural disasters, one on top of of of each other with little if none time in between to actually do something.
Of course we are pushing ahead.
I just mentioned the teams that we have deployed.
Of course, they were already a lot of UN organisations and staff in country which are making themselves available.
To, to help in the response.
So already from ETA there were preparedness planning.
Now that has gone obviously into a response effort.
Now on top of that come an additional, if you like new response or accentuated response that needs to, to be geared up again.
It's going to cost money.
It's going to take time and we will need all the support we can get.
I've got Thompson for WFP.
We would like to add something.
I just wanted to add quickly that whilst whilst humanitarian agencies had sort of prepared for this particular hurricane season, it has turned out to be even worse than we thought.
It started earlier and is going to end even late.
For example, continued flooding in countries like Guatemala, Honduras, in Nicaragua is going to affect the incoming harvest and we this will severely strain subsistence farmers.
And already whilst it's still early days, it is quite, it is quite clear that this will extend the emergency even into, into into mid 2021.
Of course we do not have exact figures right now, but we have assessments ongoing and we'll we should have a clearer picture probably by early next week.
And that may also be even optimistic because we have another storm brewing.
Thank you very much, Thompson.
And I've got Gabriella, who has a question now.
Claire, if you want to intervene, please just raise your hand.
You want to.
Yeah, OK.
So sorry, Gabriella.
I'll give the floor to Claire.
And then we come to your question.
Claire.
Yes, if, if I could just clarify the 40% chance of another, another tropical cyclone forming in the next 5 years, we're not saying that even if this does form that it's going to hit the same area.
So I think let's just deal with the, you know, with, with the ongoing crisis.
But you know, I don't think we should, you know, start now already, you know, headlines about the, you know, the next cycle enter to hit.
As I said, it's a 40% chance in the next 5 days that it's too early to say, you know, where the where the path and the trajectory trajectory will be.
But obviously, what we can say is it is absolutely unprecedented to have two hurricanes of strong Category 4 strength hit Nicaragua and that area in, you know, in less than two weeks.
All right, let's go to Cambria.
Thank you.
Thank you, Alessandra, nice to see you everybody.
Good morning.
My question, 2 questions, one for Claire.
So what is happening, why hurricanes continue at this time of the year, if, if there's any explanation of this?
And then the people of these areas, I mean for gents or Matthew, the people, the people of these areas are not used to dealing with hurricanes.
They are not prepared.
So it is not common for hurricanes to hit these areas.
What I mean, So this can make the situation worse.
I don't know if you are seeing this.
And Matthew, are you going to need even more financial help with this new hurricane on the doorstep?
OK, let me start with Claire.
Maybe Claire, you can clarify the situation of the hurricane in the region.
OK, what's happening?
As I said, we've run out of super superlative to describe the season.
It's extraordinary.
It's record-breaking.
We forecast, we knew, you know, months ago.
So the the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, every year ahead of the hurricane season, they will issue forecasts in May, which they then update in August.
So back in May, there were predictions that this would be an unusually active hurricane season.
In August, when the update was done, it was then upgraded to say, yes, you know, we expect even more hurricanes than than we were even a couple of months ago.
There's a number of factors.
One is the absence of an El Nino event.
So El Nino tends to suppress hurricane activity.
There's other factors.
Sea surface temperatures is a major factor.
Then you've also got atmospheric patterns, wind shear come into into play.
But I think the comment that we need to make is all of this is taking place in an era of climate change.
So we and the World Meteorological Organisation, you know, we often talk about, you know, above average, below average now with, you know, averages and normals have a, have a, have a different meaning than, than, than they would have done, you know, 50 years ago, 100, a hundred years ago.
So we can certainly say the impacts of climate change are playing out, You know, the, the effect of storm surge, which is like the, the, the big waves that that coming in are bigger because sea level, because sea levels are higher.
We are seeing more very, very, very heavy rainfall events.
And at the moment in a different part of the world, Vietnam, the Philippines has also seen, you know, been hit by a series of tropical cyclones.
And there is a study taking place at the moment to see whether climate change, you know, had left its fingerprints on the rainfall patterns in, in, in, in those events.
So yes, I mean, this, this, this hurricane season is, is extraordinary.
We are in late November now.
It's the time of year when the season should be winding down.
It normally traditionally lasts till the end of November.
We're now the 17th of November and we've just got, you know, another borderline Category 4, Category 5 hurricane.
There's still, you know, there's, there's still a few weeks to go.
You know, we hope we can avoid, you know, more powerful hurricanes like this time time, time will tell.
In terms of people in this area not being used to hurricanes.
Nicaragua or Honduras, they are no strangers to hurricanes.
You know, they, Nicaragua has been hit in Honduras.
They have been hit by category three, Category 4, Category 5 hurricanes in the past.
Not many, I think, you know, I think only perhaps two or three, but you know it, it is an area where we, you know, where we do see hurricane activity.
Matthew, thank you very much.
So in terms of our appeal, I, I'd say it's almost certainly we will need to expand and increase that appeal.
The needs the, the 20 million that we're currently appealing for, for Hurricane ETA were to support 75,000 of the most vulnerable people across Nicaragua, Honduras and, and, and Guatemala.
We anticipate that the needs of those people alone will, will increase and, and the needs of additional people will need to be addressed.
So I, I would, I would expect in the coming days that, that we'll have more clarity on that.
But I would be very, very surprised if, if our appeal did not increase and the appeals of, of other organisations in terms of, of preparedness.
I think one point to make on, on, on this emergency is that even with familiarity to, to hurricanes, the, the unprecedented nature of this, of this double barrage of hurricanes is, is I can't, I can't think of anyone in the world who would be able to, to prepare or to, to deal with this kind of ******.
Even in countries where there's **** levels of preparedness, nature has a way of completely overwhelming capacity.
I remember Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines actually is as an example of that, where a country that had great preparedness capacity was completely overwhelmed, a region of a country was completely overwhelmed.
And, and I think that's what we're seeing now in, in Central America.
You know, it's quite timely.
Yesterday or this morning actually, we launched our World disasters report that looked at again, the humanitarian consequences of climate change.
And thank you to many of you for for, for your support on that.
One of the main points we wanted to make there was that there was a an inherent unfairness in how funding for preparedness, for adaptation, for risk reduction was allocated.
That that often times the countries with the highest risk, the greatest need were not getting the level of funding that they need.
And I think unfortunately Honduras is a a real time example of of that analysis.
Honduras is one of the most vulnerable countries in in the region to weather and climate related disasters.
But per capita, on average, people receive $1.22 in, in adaptation funding to, to help them prepare.
And that's clearly grossly inadequate given the the severity of of the storms that we've seen.
And, and, and as Claire said, with, you know, climate change already here and already exposing and affecting so many people, we know that that situations are going to get worse.
We know that we're likely to see more hurricane category four and five hurricanes.
So, yeah, thank you.
Thank you, Isabel.
Good morning.
I would like to know if someone can comment or on how do you see the impact of these disasters on the response to coronavirus pandemic?
How can it affect this?
Sorry, we lost the last part of the sentence on the pandemic.
That's what you said exactly on the efforts to to tackle with the pandemic and now these disasters.
I think that's what is the what is the danger now, the risk more important.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Jens, do you want to comment on this?
Yeah.
Thanks.
Thanks, Isabel.
Of course, that is that is part of everything we do these days.
The concern for, for, for COVID-19 that may spread and the inability particularly of people to, to protect themselves.
Now what we hear and and see is that water and sanitation is, as is often the case with these, what we call wet disasters is what, what is most affected that people do not have access to water and sanitation.
That's why we prioritise that particularly in all these countries.
So there is clearly a a concern that the prevention measures that people take themselves, that everybody in the world take them, take themselves these days may be impeded by this fact.
So it is very much part of our of our, of our response and it does condition also how we do our response and how we prioritise things.
Thank you very much.
Don't see any other question on this subject.
So I will go to the other big story of the day, which is the situation in Ethiopia.
We have Thompson and Babar connected and I'll ask, I'll ask you to stay on the because I know there are questions for you.
I will just start by answering a couple of you.
I have asked about what the situation was in terms of the political contacts and I can confirm that the Secretary General has been making a number of calls over the weekend.
His envoy for the Horn of Africa also remain in the region.
The Secretary General is following the developments in Tigray and the impact that they can have for the wider region with great concern as there is a risk also of destabilising the whole of the Horn of Africa.
For the Secretary General, it's very important to stress the need to prioritise human rights, the protection of civilians and the access for humanitarian assistance.
It is important that measure urgently measured to the Escalade tensions be put in place and the Secretary General underlines the importance of peace in ensuring a stable and prosperous Horn of Africa.
Thompson, You are you going to go?
OK, So let's start with Babar.
Babar.
Good morning, dears.
Alexandra, can you hear me?
Alexandra, can you hear me very well?
Go ahead.
OK.
Thank you very much.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is warning that a full scale humanitarian crisis is unfolding as thousands of refugees flee ongoing fighting in Ethiopia's Tigray region each day to seek safety in eastern Sudan.
This is an influx unseen over the last two decades.
In this part of Sudan.
Women, men and children are crossing the border at the rate of 4000 people per day since 10th of November, rapidly overwhelming the humanitarian response capacity on the ground.
So far, more than 27,000 refugees have now crossed into Sudan through the Hamdayat border in Qasada state, the Lugdi border point in Gidaref state and now a new location further South at Adarifi border where Ethiopian refugees started crossing over the past weekend.
Refugees are running away from the fighting continue to arrive with very little and exhausted from the long to seek safety in in Sudan.
Unitar, with its partner, is supporting the Sudanese government in its response, ramping up Unitarian assistance at the borders as needs continue to grow.
Humanitarian agencies continue to distribute relief items, including blankets and sleeping mats.
Thompson will talk about the food aspect that the humanitarian agencies are.
We are working together to provide to to the refugees.
Sudan's Ministry of Health with support from Sudan Red Crescent have set up two clinics and they're conducting health and nutrition screenings and medical medical consultations and referrals.
Since yesterday, UNICR has been relocating refugees from the border to Umrakuba settlements site with 2500 people transferred so far.
As we continue to renovate that location, there is a critical need to identify more sites so that refugees can be relocated away from the border and can access assistance and services Inside Ethiopia's thick Ray region, the lake of electricity, telecommunications and access to fuel and cash continue to severely hamper any humanitarian response.
After nearly two weeks of conflict, reports of larger numbers of internally displaced people are are growing daily, while the lack of access of those in need, coupled with the inability to move in goods to the region remain major impediments to providing assistance.
Uniciar and partners are on standby to provide assistance to the displaced in Thigree, including basic items when access and security allow.
The conflict is also a major ongoing concern for the Eritrean refugee population of nearly 100,000 intigre who are reliant on on our assistance.
Potential for further displacement of refugees inside the country in Ethiopia is increasingly a real possibility.
The humanitarian situation as a result of this crisis is growing rapidly.
UNICIA reiterates its call for peace and urges all parties to respect the safety and security for all civilians in Tigray.
Thank you, Thank you very much.
Bye bye now with the VFP.
Indeed, the humanitarian situation on the borders between Ethiopia and Sudan is quickly evolving and it is extremely urgent.
The World Food Programme is supporting the humanitarian response with an aim to address the immediate needs of people who are fleeing from violence.
People who those who are fleeing must often abandoned their homes without any warning.
They are running on foot with no food, no water, often without money or even documents and WFP has been providing food items to partners on ground who are preparing and providing hot meals to refugees who are arriving at the reception centres in Kasala and Gadarif.
Where cooking facilities are unavailable, WFP is providing immediate sustenance through meals ready to eat, including **** energy biscuits.
In addition, the whole food programme is also providing logistic support to the humanitarian community.
We often store humanitarian commodities in massive tents which we call mobile storage units.
We have set up these in hard to reach areas of of Casala where we have where we are trying to ramp up the storage capacity not only to store food, but also to store other relief items for other partners.
And we have a stock of food that we've managed to move into, into, into, into, into into Kasala and Gadarif so that we are able to quickly provide people with assistance that they need.
And we stand ready to support the humanitarian community as well, to move essential items such as tents, cooking utensils, your pots, your pants, as people are arriving without anything or anything else that may be needed.
We are also setting up emergency telecommunications systems in both Casal and Gadari so that people can have access and aid workers are able to work.
We're also providing fuel for humanitarian partners, be it for vehicles, for generators in in most of these remote locations.
And we've so far supplied approximately 40,000 litres of both diesel and petrol.
The United Nations Humanitarian Air Service, which is managed by Double FP, has increased the number of flights.
The frequency of the flights has been increased from three times weekly to daily flights for the entire humanitarian community.
We are using light, light aircraft, which is the the the short take off and landing capabilities for the airfields that you have in Eastern Sudan.
And we're also exploring avenues to use a helicopter to, to service some of the remote locations where people are being found.
Thank you.
Thank you, Thompson.
And I'll turn to the question from the journalist Peter, Peter Kenny.
Yes, Sir.
Good morning.
I'd like to ask my question to Baba.
The people who are fleeing tea grave, are they more worried about the fighting that's going to occur?
Or are they fleeing from actual fighting?
I know you did mention that some of them are fleeing fighting, but are they from your intelligence?
Are they fearing more fighting that it's going to escalate?
And can you elaborate on why people from Eritrea who are in Ethiopia are at risk?
Thank you.
Thank you, thank, thank you dear Peter.
It's both refugees who are now arriving at the pace of 4000 per day are coming out of Ethiopia really scared, afraid with the stories saying that they have been fleeing heavy fighting and and there's no sign of the fighting to stop right now.
So the fear is, as the fighting continues, we could see more refugees arriving.
The number of 27,000 or more than that is what we have registered.
It could reach 30,000 and beyond because the pace is so **** and one fact is established in each conflict.
War creates refugees and we have seen that repeatedly that civilian are affected as soon as conflict starts.
So people are really worried.
They're fleeing their stories of family separations, people not coming with anything.
So that's why we are ramping up our assistance to help them.
Inside the Tigray region, we have nearly 100,000 Eritrean refugees who live in four camps.
The worry is 1 Camp Shimalbe, which hosts 6500 Eritrean refugee, the fighting was getting really close to that location.
So, so we have concerns for the safety of these refugees, but also for civilians in inside Ethiopia.
And from this one refugee camp there were refugees who were running away and arriving to other locations.
So the fear is the Eritrean refugees could be displaced again within Ethiopia.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Emma.
Yes, good morning.
Question for for anyone really, but Jens as well, if you could weigh in, that would be useful.
Are you preparing for an advance on the Kelly and what are your concerns about the humanitarian impact of that?
Thank you.
To to be frank, I'm not sure exactly the, the, the location that that you mentioned there, but I can log into that.
We are of course preparing for the entire area.
This is very much a developing crisis, which is particular in the sense that we have extremely limited information coming out of what is actually happening.
We fear, not least based on the on the movement of people out of the country, that there may be massive displacement inside Tigre.
So that is of course a concern and we try to prepare the best way possible.
I'll go to John, but if anybody else wants to chime in, just raise your hand.
John, your question as usual, John, we have a problem with you.
Maybe in the meantime, I see Emma has a follow up to her question.
Could you please unmute Emma?
Fart yes, Emma, you have a follow up.
Thanks.
Yeah, sorry for not being clear that that Mckelly, I'm not sure if my pronunciation is correct the the capital of the Tigre region.
So whether you were preparing for an advance on that And then can I just check where you are up to with negotiations for for access?
Who were you talking to?
What stage of the talks do you think that there is a possibility for the creation of a humanitarian corridor and any details available?
Thank you, Emma.
Unfortunately I don't have any detail.
I can say this is, of course something that is on top of our list for various reasons, the usual, I would almost say, to get access to the people who need our support, but also to ensure the freedom of movement of civilians, including aid workers, to move where they want to and particularly move themselves out of harm's way if necessary.
Thank you, John, now you are.
Can you hear me?
Can you hear me?
Yes, go ahead.
Good morning.
Yes, I, I was wondering if UNICEF of WHO are present.
I'm interested to know what's happening with people that are sick or injured in this conflict.
And secondly, following up on Emma's question, has the UN been in talks with the Prime Minister about securing, securing safe access for the humanitarian supplies in the Tigray area and what has been?
OK?
So UNICEF and WHO are not connected today, John, but I will definitely ask them if they have an update to send it to you, to you all.
As on the negotiation, as I said, the Secretary General has been in contact with a number of people over the weekend and the envoy is in the region.
I don't know if he answers more on possible corridors.
I'd see he's not.
But if we have any update on that, I'll share it with you.
I will ask.
I will ask today and we'll share your question with the UNICEF and and WHO.
Jamie, you had a question also on the same subject.
I saw you nodding and raising your hand.
Go ahead.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Hold on a second.
I'm echoing my own ear.
Wanted to know if you could just tell me what the updated number of refugees are in Sudan.
I didn't, I don't think I heard it from from, from Barber.
And then could you also just tell us maybe for Yenser Thompson, in terms of the cooperation that you're getting, you mentioned access and Emma also mentioned, you know, access.
What kind of cooperation are you getting from the Ethiopian government?
Are they allowing you to move as necessary?
I mean, are there any problems in terms of getting access there?
Thank you.
OK, let's start with Babar.
Babar, do you have the total numbers of refugees in Sudan?
You said Jamie, right?
Yeah, Go ahead.
Yeah.
In terms of these latest arrivals, we have now crossed 27,000 refugees arriving from Ethiopia's Thigre region.
The pace is very rapid, 4000 refugees per day keep arriving inside Eastern Sudan where Unicia and our humanitarian partners with the government are trying to help them in In terms of access, Unicia as part of the humanitarian community inside Ethiopia continues to advocate for unhindered access to the sites alongside the cessation of hostilities to allow for such movement in safety.
UNICIA now has access to reach refugee camps by the zonal authorities.
We have 4 refugee camps in the Tigray region with 96,000 Eritrean refugees now, although our access is is very limited than normal and with additional constraint caused by the continuing blackout of the communication in the region as well.
Thank you.
And this call was made also yesterday by the spokesperson of the Secretary General who said that we call for humanitarian access and the resumption of telecommunication and basic supplies, including food, medicine and food for civilians in the Grey region.
And you want to add something maybe on that?
Yeah, Jamie, unfortunately I don't have much to add except that we are in continuous contact that the relevant levels both with the with the federal government and the read and the relevant regional authorities.
Lisa.
Yeah, thank you.
Hi, I'd like to have a little more information about internally displaced people.
It's it's kind of fuzzy what you're saying Do are, are there many people fleeing to other parts of Ethiopia?
And if so, are you, do you have any figures on them?
Or is it your impression that most people who are fleeing are, are crossing the borders into Sudan and not trying to find safety within the, the country itself?
And then, Babar, I think you mentioned something about helping local communities.
Is that right?
I mean, are you also extending your aid to the well, the, the people, the Sudanese people themselves?
The country is just emerging out of dictatorship and is in a pretty shaky situation.
So this must add to your concerns in terms of aiding everyone.
And then I just have an appeal to everyone to please send your notes because we don't have them.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Lisa.
Don't know who wants to start, but I see Paul Dylan for IOM is connected.
So I don't know if Paul has any update on the ID.
PS Yes, you have anything where I go to the bar, maybe IOM can can have a go at the IDP and poorly if you have something, just raise your hands because we we need to unmute you.
But maybe in the meantime, Babar, you have something for Lisa in indeed.
Thank you, Lisa for your question.
In terms of internally displaced, it's a very tough situation.
Access and and insecurity, continuing clashes makes it very, very difficult to come with the exact number of people displaced.
Colleagues do raise their fears that there there is displacement.
We don't know what the scale is.
The only indication we have currently in terms of the numbers is what we have in Sudan.
So that is a clear indication that the continued fighting is having an effect on on the civilians and there are many, many people who are on the run.
What was the second part of your question, Lisa?
Well, she was asking for the notes.
Besides the appeal for the notes, I did have a second part to my question.
And that has to do with whether you're giving any aid to the local communities.
I mean, in in the situation in Sudan is rather fragile, having just emerged from a dictatorship.
Thank you.
OK, So I don't know Barbara, if you want to answer this and then Thompson has something to add.
Go ahead, Lisa.
Currently Sudan is a country hosting 990,000 refugees.
And yes, I mean the communities on these remote border locations are also not so well to do themselves.
But what we have seen with the assistance that the humanitarians have have been trying to rush these water points inside Sudan, even the local communities are chipping in, in terms of helping these refugees who have fled with nothing.
So they were part of the efforts in terms of providing food.
The local authorities over there have made available a site for refugees.
The numbers are really ****.
The pace of 4000 per day is really ****.
We will need more sites to help these refugees, but but at this stage, all the focus, including the local communities, the local authorities, as us humanitarians, is to receive the refugees who are fleeing conflict in Ethiopia and shelter them and provide them all the necessary assistance that we could.
Right.
Yes.
Lisa.
Sudan, Sudan is a country that is indeed facing challenges of its own.
There was most recently an economic crisis there.
It is a country that that with that that is, that is also dealing with a number of issues, issues in the four issues in other regions as well.
And, and, and the crisis, this crisis, definitely you have people that are fleeing active, active conflict on the other side of the border, but they are also coming to, to hosts who are already reeling under pressure and pressures of their own.
Just to give you an idea, the Whole Food Programme and its partners were already assisting people there with humanitarian assistance and whilst also helping them to strengthen the social protection systems in the country.
We were already supporting some internally displaced people within Sudan and refugees, some from South Sudan within the country and there were also a number of vulnerable people whom we were.
We were providing cash, food and vouchers under the social safety net.
So the short answer is yes, South Sudan has issues of its own, but we're very grateful that the host community is accepting people who are coming in and they stand ready to assist.
We just hope for the continued for the continued for the continued help from from from authorities in Sudan, from partners in Sudan, as well as the the host communities in in Kasala and Gadarif.
Thank you very much.
Thompson.
Jamie, follow up, sorry.
Yeah, just for Bobber, he mentioned that there are 990,000 refugees, presumably those are most from South Sudan I imagine.
And and 27,000 I mean in the overall scheme of things is not a lot, I mean, right.
Or is it 27,027 thousand maybe Baba, just a comment if if you can hear me.
The 990,000 refugees in Sudan include Eritreans, S Sudanese refugees from Chad and and those from the Central African Republic as well.
The 27,000 that we we are talking about who have just recently arrived from Ethiopia, it is a huge number to to receive in terms of matter of days.
So the daily average of 4000 outpaces all, all the arrangements on the ground.
It just overwhelms the whole whole system.
What is needed right now is international solidarity and support for a country like Sudan as well to, to help communities and local authorities to, to provide safety and shelter to to these refugees.
Thank you.
It's OK.
OK.
Thank you very much.
OK.
So that I don't see any other question on this subject.
So thank you very much to all the colleagues.
We have quite a few announcements still with Claire and Fernando Puschol for WTO.
Just before going to my colleagues, I wanted to give you a couple of information about the conference on Afghanistan that as you know you and Geneva is preparing to host at the Paladin Asia on the 23rd and 24th of November.
23rd there will be a series of official side events and the main conference will take place on the 24th of November.
You have received an auto correspondent with all the details and the programme of the conference.
I just would like to remind you 2 points.
The first one is that on Friday at this briefing at the regular Unis press briefing, we are expecting representation of the three Co hosts which are the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the government of Finland and the United Nations.
We will talk to you at the briefing and give you a sort of a carton raiser on the conference at the end of the briefing.
So first of all, remind reminder that we will do that on Friday.
And then the other issue is, as you know, because of the COVID situation, we are extremely limited in the number of people that can be in the room.
There will be some slots in in the room, but very, very few.
So we would really need you to let us know who will need to be there in person.
The others will be able to follow the events through the live webcast and we will have a press conference at the end of the conference on Afghanistan on Tuesday afternoon.
It might be quite late at the end of the of the proceedings and this will also be a hybrid as usual, but you can be in the room and just let us know how many of you will want to be there.
I think, yeah.
And same thing for the photo photographers in the room.
We will need to really have this information as soon as possible in order to make sure that we have the possibility to give you access to the room.
And since I have the floor, I would also like to remind you that on Friday.
20th of November was, as you know, World Children's Day.
We will hold the second Young Activist Summit this year.
We have selected 7 young activists who have made a real difference towards building a better future, particularly in this difficult time of the COVID pandemic.
They come from all over the world.
They have been activist in subjects in areas like biodiversity, climate action, sustainable fashion, human rights.
We are going to have the event at 3:00 PM in Geneva.
It's going to be virtual.
We hope you will be following this.
We've sent you a press release and a press kit and on the day of the summit we will also have a video news release available for televisions.
I think you have all the details about that.
This is an event that we are organising together with the NGO Dev TV, the Swiss television and the government and the the Permanent Mission of Switzerland and the Graduate Institute of International Development Studies.
I think I've told you everything about that and I see there are questions and then I'll go to Claire and Fernando for the final announcements.
Catherine.
Yes, good morning.
Alessandra, my question is related to the Conference of Afghanistan.
Could you please make sure with your colleagues in advance that we get the speeches under embargo if possible, translations into English and everything on time because of for coverage.
There's no need to send us all the elements late during the afternoon or at night because it's too late for, for, for our coverage that it would be very helpful if your colleagues could provide you with all the elements needed.
Thank you so much, Alison.
Thank you, Katrine.
Yes, I know that this is something that you're expecting.
And particularly this time as the press conference of the, the final press conference will be really late.
We will ask our colleagues at least under embargo to have the speech maybe to be checked against delivery.
Definitely we will ask both for the speeches and if there are remarks at the for the press conference, but that that might come a little bit late or for the speeches.
Yes, definitely we will, we will ask Isabel and then body Isabel.
I'm sorry, I, I, I, I repeat, it's regarding the summit of young activists.
And I would like to I assume that the activists will be every everyone in their count in their where they live.
But I want, I want to be sure if any of them will may be in Geneva.
No, unfortunately, because of the situation, it would have been really too big a risk to ask these young people to come to Geneva.
As you said, they come from all over the world.
I mean they've been selected for their activism in countries all over the world, whether it's Uganda, Syria, Guatemala, Lebanon, the UK, they are will be intervening on a virtual basis, but they will be also available for interviews.
If you want to talk to them, let us know, we will organise that.
But you will also have in the media kits B roll of the activists and of their causes and video news releases and the gathering information.
So with this, I think you can build up a story and we are happy to facilitate the contact with them for possible interviews.
Body and then Stefan.
No, no, I have a same same question.
Thank you.
OK, Thank you then.
Stefan.
Busa.
Yes.
Hello, Alessandra.
Stefan, just a little quick question about the conference in Afghanistan.
Do you know who will participate?
Where is it at ministerial level?
Where do you know anything about that?
Thank you.
Yeah.
I don't have the composition of the whole delegations yet with me here, but I can confirm that would be a ministerial level.
OK.
So I'll give the floor now to Claire and then to Fernando.
Yes, hello again everybody.
We as WMO are releasing our annual greenhouse gas bulletin on Monday the 23rd.
So I have I have an immediate question.
We were planning to release it at 11:00 AM in the morning with a press conference.
Now is that going to clash with the side events of the Afghanistan conference?
If so, we'll try and reorganise.
Well, yes, yes, definitely.
There will be side events at 11 O clock on Monday.
But then according to the programme, on Monday, between 10:00 and 12:00, there is a meeting on sustainable peace, building on 2 segments, human rights and women participation and then reintegrating refugees and retirees.
But yeah, well, this is going to go on the whole day long, so we will kind of discuss later on when would be the best time to have the press conference clear.
OK, well, perhaps I will be guided by journalists on this, but perhaps we'll perhaps 12O clock maybe better anyway we can we can figure out that that out offline.
I know our secretary general, he does have commitments in the afternoon.
So, you know, we will have to do it, you know, in 11 or 12, but we can discuss that later.
I for the greenhouse gas bulletin, I will send you all the information.
Andrew, embargo ahead of time in all languages.
The press release is being translated in in all languages.
Thank you.
Lisa, you have a question for Claire.
Not, not a question.
I, I just want to give you my input.
The earlier the better at 11:00 would be fine, 10:00 would be fine and not no earlier than that.
Thank you.
I mean, I think these you, you know, these side events, they go on and on and on and I don't know.
Anyway, that's my opinion.
Thank you.
Thank you, Lisa.
We will also see look at the we will look at this with Claire.
And also on the technical point of view, what are the capabilities of hosting the conference, the two conferences at the same time?
OK, so now we have Fernando hoping that he has been patiently waiting.
Fernando, sorry it's your turn now.
Hi, good morning.
Good to see you all.
Hope you you're keeping safe and and healthy.
As you know, we we are marking 25 years of the WTO and to commemorate the anniversary this Thursday, we're hosting from 1 PMA series of discussions that would provide an opportunity to reflect and take stock of the achievements as well as the challenges the organisation is facing.
The title of the event is WTO 25 Past, Present and Future, and we'll be open by Keypad.
Mellon, the Vice President of the Swiss Confederation, Ambassador David Walker of New Zealand, the Chair of the General Counsel, and Ambassador Alan Wolf, WTO Deputy Director General, will also deliver opening remarks.
2 discussion panels will follow.
The first one, senior government representatives, will discuss how the WTO has evolved over the past 25 years.
The panel will have the participation of Soraya Hakusi Yaremia, the Minister for Trade and Industry of Rwanda, Wang Xiao Wen, Vice Minister of Deputy International Trade Representative at the Ministry of Commerce of China, Denny XI, the Deputy USTR and the Ambassador to the WTO for the United States, and Sabine Wayan, the Director General of Trade of the European Union.
In the second panel, representatives from the private sector, civil society, media and Idios will debate on how the multilateral system has served society.
In this panel we will have Bogolo Joy Kennewendo, former trade minister of Botswana, Gee Writer, the director General of the ILO, Celine Charberiot, executive director of the Institute for European Environmental Policy, Joshua Bolton, President and CEO of U.S.
Business Roundtable, Sumaya Keynes, Trade and Globalisation editor at The Economist, Martin Chung Gong, the Secretary General of the Inter Parliamentary Union and Frank Hemskeck, who is the Secretary General of the European Roundtable for Industry.
All sessions will be held in hybrid mode, so physically at the Centre William Rappart in Geneva at WTO headquarters, but with most of the panellists participating remotely of discussions will be live stream.
We invite you to follow the discussion through the webcast live on our website.
And as I said, it's from 1:00 PM Geneva time on Thursday.
And let me also give you another heads up.
Tomorrow, we are launching the WT OS latest trade monitoring report on G20 trade measures, which compiles the number and coverage of trade restrictive and trade facilitating measures on goods implemented by G20 countries between May and October this year.
The previous report was published in June and it was only the opportunity to capture partially the early effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
So this new report coming out tomorrow reflects more fully the impact the global health crisis has had on trade and trade policy.
The report will be available on our website tomorrow at 3:00 PM.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Fernando.
Body, body.
Don't know.
Do it in the room.
Otherwise there's Nico.
Go ahead.
All right, fine.
Thank you, Fernando, for your update.
My question would be, I'd like to know what's the process of the appointment of the new Director General?
Could you update the new agenda?
And second question is, could you give a word on the new competitive agreement who called recipe in Asia?
Thank you, Fernando.
Thank you, Body.
On the 1st question, as you know, there was a General Council meeting scheduled for the 9th of November.
The meeting was postponed by the the Chair of the General Counsel, Ambassador David Walker until further consultations among members were undertaken.
So that's the situation right now the the Chair of the General Council still holding consultations with members and at the end and as a result of those consultations, we will have further news regarding the convening again of the General Council.
So that's the situation right now.
Consultations are still ongoing and on the RCEP we always see as a good development that that countries deepen in their trade and economic integration.
But in general we don't make any comments regarding particular regional trade agreements.
Janka, hi, a quick one.
When exactly is the anniversary of WTO?
The, the event is on Thursday, but the 25th anniversary, well, the WTO was established on the 1st of January of 1995.
So I mean, actually it was on, on the 1st of January, but we are organising around the month of November this specific event on the 25th anniversary.
But we've also had different events commemorating for instance, the 25th anniversary of the SBS agreement or the customs valuation agreement also trips.
So it's an an ongoing process, but the date that it was selected to specifically marked the 25th anniversary, it's this Thursday.
Peter, Fernando, thank you.
Could you possibly send your notes to all of us?
Thank you.
Sure.
Thank you very much.
Yes, Fernando, please.
Thank you.
I would take the opportunity, yeah, to ask everybody who has been speaking today to send the the notes to the journalists and send out the usual summary.
This concludes the questions.
But before letting you go, I would like to just make a a couple of remarks because we have received this week, we have seen reports in the press and we have received quite a few questions about the situation of COVID in UN Geneva.
So I just would like to give you an update on where we stand in the Secretariat.
Please let me remind you that I speak for the UN Geneva Secretariat, but not for the agencies.
Everybody, every agencies obviously has a different, not different approach, but is reported separately.
So for the UN Geneva Secretariat today, from March to today, we have a cumulative number of 158 confirmed the cases of people who have tested positive to COVID.
This is out of about 4000 staff, which is really about less than 4% if my calculations are right, which is, I believe, quite a rather low rate of infection among the UN Geneva Secretary staff.
Um, you have asked me in the past and I can confirm that until now no contamination clusters have been identified in the Geneva Secretariat of the UN.
There have been questions on how the pandemic has been held within the situation of the pandemic has been held with the Paladino.
First of all, I I would like to reiterate that the management has always been following and has benefited by the decision of the host countries and the advice from the UN interagency working Group of the medical doctors, which include, of course, a senior representative of The Who.
In March, as you remember, we reacted very quickly to the first wave of contaminations and conference activities were quickly shifted from in person to virtual modalities, including this press briefing.
Then, as we, as was the case in, in, in the city and in the country, and indeed in, in the whole of Europe, the measures gradually were loosened in the summer as the situation was improving a bit.
And then when the situation started recently to worsen again, we swiftly reacted by limiting the access to the Paladinacio again and reducing the number of people that could attend the meetings in person to 50, as recommended by the Swiss authorities.
Very, very recently, a few weeks ago, Geneva, the Geneva Secretariat of the UN aligned itself to the stricter measures that were taken by the Confederation and by the city of Geneva.
And as you can see, while the Paladinos room is open for business only hybrid meetings with a maximum of five people in the room at any given time are now allowed.
And the presence of outside in the Paladinos room is very limited.
You can also see around yourself, the Occupational Health and Safety Specialist of UN Geneva have undertaken risk assessments of all areas of the Paladinosium.
A resulting recommendation have been scrupulously implemented to ensure safe operations and we have a series of protocol to deal with cases if they and when they arise.
And official travel of UN Geneva staff have been drastically reduced and only critical missions are authorised.
I would like to close this little updates on by saying that we are confident that the Ballinations is a safe place to work and by reiterating the excellent cooperation with the host country whose representative had been attending each and every crisis management meeting that we have held.
And there have been more than 20 on this crisis and we are happy to take questions on this if there is any.
And I see there is one from Lahore.
Can you hear me?
Go ahead.
Out of the 158 cases you mentioned, can you give us a breakdown how many were observed during the second wave in the recent weeks?
Lohan, I, I don't have the precise update.
I mean, we, we calculate by department, of course, and, and, and, and institute, but we have cumulative numbers.
We don't have it for the second wave, I'm afraid.
And then a second question, if I may.
The special envoy on Syria said in in his last briefing at the UN Security Council that he was planning to convene a new round of the constitutional committee starting next Monday.
With the current restrictions, will that be possible or is that scenario entirely cancelled Now the, the, this is a question for, for Jennifer really, I, I don't want to speak on her behalf.
I'm, I know that they are discussing the this, this the commuting on these talks, but I would like to really send you to her because she is in charge of communication for the office of the special envoy.
But I'll, I'll refer to your question to her, but please contact her.
In fact, she was connected before.
I don't know if she still is.
Let me let me just have a look in case she's connected and she wants to intervene.
Yes, she is Jennifer, you are.
Unmuted, would you like to give an update on the situation for the talks?
Yes, good morning.
Planning is indeed underway for a session in the near future and you may have seen dates mentioned in the media of 30th November to four December.
And that is indeed a possibility.
But this remains subject to COVID-19 restrictions and continuing consultations with the host country and assessments by our office.
And we will let you know if and when we are in a position to confirm the convening of the next constitutional committee.
Thank you.
Stay with us.
I think body has a question for you.
No, I have a question for you.
OK, then go ahead, Go ahead.
Well, thank you for shared information would confirm the cases.
I heard 108, the 158 cases confirmed.
But could you give us more details how many cases in this building or is the 158 eight or for all the agencies in Geneva or only in this building?
Now, as I said at the beginning, we only report on the UN Secretariat, which is basically UNOG.
I mean you're in an office in Geneva, but it will also include Angktad, ocha, Unidir, Unitar.
Yeah, but else am I forgetting all the all the components of the UN Secretariat?
The agencies report on the wrong cases.
So if you are interested in particulation of particular agency, you will have to ask the spokesperson of that agency, Byram.
Hi, my question for Jennifer, if she's still available, please.
I think she is.
I can see her.
Go ahead.
I have some information from opposition coaches from Mr Hadi Bahra.
He said that the forefront of the Commission, the forefront of the Constitution Committee meetings be starting November 30th, finish at December 4 and the fifth round will be taking place in January.
And he even said that they have agreed with the government side on agenda of those two tours of the meetings.
Can she confirm this information?
Thank you.
Hi.
Hi.
Thank you for your question.
I believe I already answered that, that you will have seen those dates mentioned from the 30th of November to the 4th of December.
And that is, as I noted, a possibility.
But this remains subject to obviously the pandemic and the restrictions and we're continuing to consult with the host country.
If I have further information, I will let you know.
The office will provide further information in due course.
That's all I have at this time.
Thank you.
Thank you, Jennifer.
And just to answer your question body, the entities that are included in the 158 are ANTAD, UNEP, UN Environment Programme, the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, the Internal Oversight of Service Office, OHCHR UNIDIR, UN Office at Geneva, OCHA, the UN Economic Commission for Europe, the Joint Inspection Unit, the Joint Staff Passion Fund, the Disaster Risk Reduction Office and the Staff Mutual Insurance Society.
I have one more question from John, an issue with the with the MIC.
John, we can't unmute you.
Maybe we go to Lisa and then we go back to John.
Yes, quickly.
Hi Alessandra, just a quick question for you.
How many UN staff are actually working on site and how many remotely are most, have most people been told to work from home?
Thank you.
So as I said, we are calculating on approximately 4000 staff, but this is just the staff.
I have numbers for the people on site, but the numbers of the people on site also include other people that come from to the Paladin assume for reasons for other reasons to work, but for who are not staff.
And I'm referring in particular to the people who come here for the renovation works, but also the delegates, the people who are, you know, servicing the pallet cleaning, et cetera.
So the 4000, the number of 4000 out of which I gave you the 158 cumulative figure is the stuff.
Now you're asking in terms of people who come to the Palais every day before the pandemic at any given time, let's say an an average day at the Paladin assume would have seen, you know with conferences normal day would have seen between 4 thousand 4500 people coming to the Palais.
Last week we had an average of between 500 and 550 people every day.
So the number as you can see, is extremely reduced.
And again, this is not just the staff, the people are coming to the Palais, also the people who are working on site.
What I can tell you is that the majority of the staff, the largest majority of the staff is working from home.
Those who come here are those who cannot carry out their functions remotedly.
But otherwise, the staff is working from home.
And because the meetings are now reduced in terms of a number of people that can assist at any given time in the room, the number of delegates and NGOs is also extremely reduced in terms of the people who come to the to physically to the pilot.
John, let's try again.
Can you hear me now?
Yes, yes, hello.
Yes.
My question is to Jennifer.
Jennifer, I was wondering, given the passing away of Mr Mwalem, who will be the focal point for the special envoy in Damascus?
Thank you, Jennifer.
Yes, John.
I don't have further information at that.
I think that would be an answer that I might have more information on in the future and I will let you know.
Thank you.
Thank you, Edward.
Hello, yes I can't I can't see whether human rights is is there or not.
Anyway, a general question.
I just wanted to see whether there's been any reaction to this Chinese journalist facing gaol for her Wuhan reporting regarding COVID last year.
Thank you for your question.
The colleagues from the OHCHR are not connected today, so maybe you want to send your question to their media office directly.
Thank you.
So this concludes our briefing.
I don't see other hands up neither in the room nor online.
So thank you very much.
Have a nice afternoon.