Welcome to the press briefing of Friday 14th January here in Geneva at the UN Information Service.
I will start immediately with a couple of announcements.
And we have a little problem with WH O's connection with the connection with WH O's.
So we are trying to solve this.
And I will start in the meantime with a couple of points for you, One that comes from the human, the colleagues of the Human Rights Council.
They've asked me to inform you that next Tuesday 18th of January, the Human Rights Council will hold a panel discussion on human rights and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to highlight the good practises and recommendations for gender focused and human rights based recovery efforts from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The meeting will take place in virtual format at 10:00, will last until 12 and Geneva time and you are encouraged to follow along on UN Web TV.
The Prime Minister Mirza Vasquez of Peru and Nada Al Shahef, the UN Deputy **** Commissioner for Human Rights will address the meeting as well as several other experts.
A press release was distributed last night in English and Spanish, but if you didn't receive it, don't hesitate to get in touch with Matt Brown.
I also have an announcement for you from ILO that would like to remind you that the Margaret Virtual presser on Monday, 17th of January at 10:10 AM Geneva time on the World Employment and Social Outlook Trends 2022 report will be held.
The The report examines the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global labour market and includes labour market projections for 2022 and 2023.
The embargo on materials will be sent to the journalist this morning and the speakers will be Guy Ryder, the ILO Director General and Richard Salmons, Director of the ILO Research Department.
And also on Tuesday, the at noon, we will have a a hybrid because, because he will be here, a hybrid press conference with Philip Nazzarini, the Commercial Commissioner General UNRWA.
That would be on UNRWA, the operational updates and presentation of the 2022 budget requirements.
So it will be just after the press, the regular press briefing.
And I'll go now to Jens for his announcement while we are trying to solve the problem on image with WHO, Jens.
The Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, has made the largest ever allocation of $150 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to boost underfunded humanitarian operations in 13 countries in Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Middle East.
These allocations happen twice a year to countries selected because of their low level of funding, severity of humanitarian needs and vulnerability.
This record allocation beats by 15,000,000, the second highest round from last year when one hundred 135 million were allocated.
The top recipients now are Syria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan, where the humanitarian operations will receive between 20 and $25 million each.
These countries have just entered a new cycle of humanitarian fundraising and programme implementation on the back of underfunded appeals from last year, all below 50% covered at year's end.
Other recipient countries are Myanmar, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, Haiti, Lebanon, Madagascar, Kenya, Angola and Honduras.
They will receive between 5:00 and $12 million each from the Central Emergency Response Fund.
This announcement of funding will help the prioritisation of life saving projects to respond to, for example, food security, nutrition, health and protection needs.
More detailed strategies are expected from these countries later this month.
Overall humanitarian needs are growing across the world.
As we presented in the Global Humanitarian Overview in December, at least 275 million people will need humanitarian assistance this year.
the United Nations and our partners aim to assist the most vulnerable at a cost of total $41 billion.
FF Antonio has a question for you.
Sorry, my question is is for you Alessandra.
It's about the announcement you made about Human Rights Council is I just want to know if it will be all virtual or some of the like like the Peruvian Prime Minister is, is she coming to Geneva or is is going to address virtually?
Let me see if Matt is is connected.
The information I got is that this is a totally virtual format as of the travel of the Peruvian Prime Minister.
Let me see if Matt is on the line.
Yeah, Matt is on the line.
Could you unmute Matt Brown, please?
Maybe he has an answer on the physical presence of the of the Prime Minister.
Is the Prime Minister of Peru physical in Geneva?
Thank you for the question.
Yeah, Thank you for the question.
This is being held in virtual mode.
I I I think the officers of the meeting will be in the room, but everyone else is contributing virtually.
Nick has a question maybe for Yens.
Thank you for taking questions.
Hi, Jens, One question, what does $25 million for for Syria do exactly?
What are the priorities here and why does it have to come from SERF?
Wasn't, wasn't there enough funding provided for through the usual aid channels for the usual appeals?
And the second question, I just wondered also what reaction you had seen Orcha had seen so far to the Afghan appeal.
Have you been inundated with offers of money or is this proving a bit of a struggle?
First of all for for Syria.
Let me just double check 25,000,000 for Syria, as I mentioned it, it comes on the back of last year's appeal which was less than 50% funded.
So, you know, there's a a continuously problem with underfunding.
So these, this money will go to projects that will be decided by the humanitarian country team and the humanitarian coordinator in Syria where they can plug critical gaps in the response going forward.
So it is, it is again, particularly this round of allocations is particularly for underfunded emergencies On Afghanistan, the launch of the appeal was not a pledging conference.
We did hear from certain Member States that shall remain unmentioned because they have mentioned that themselves during the event or in press releases.
We did hear some some generous announcement of, of allocations coming up now for Afghanistan.
It is the world's largest humanitarian appeal and when we launch it, we essentially start with 0.
It needs almost 4 1/2 billion dollars in the course of this year.
As announced by the Emergency relief Coordinator during the the launch, there will be a pledging conference most likely mid March for this appeal.
And of course we encourage at at that point funding, but we are open for business as of the launch which has happened.
So donors are of course most welcome to fund it right now.
Thank you very much, Catherine.
Good morning, Alessandro.
Question related to Lebanon first and then I give you also the second one, Niger, Shad, Burkina.
I would like to have some details related to the amounts Lebanon, how much did Lebanon get and was, what is it allocated to?
And if you have figures on top of your head related to the funding that Lebanon received, that would be nice of you if you could remind us or mail it to us after.
And then regarding Measure Shad and Burkina Faso, the same.
Burkina Faso, Chad and Nigeria will each receive $10 million from this round.
Lebanon will receive 8 million of this round.
The specific projects have not yet been identified.
What the emergency relief coordinator wanted now is to jump start the response.
So of course there has been a very rigorous process of identifying which countries are underfunded and those are the ones that I I have mentioned now they have been, they have been promised this money.
Of course, now the individual country teams are prioritising which projects in, in through which projects.
This money can do the most good.
If you don't mind, I can look up the the Lebanon funding level, but I need a few minutes or maybe we can take.
Yeah, we can do this afterwards.
But Kathleen as a follow up, Yes, thank you Alessandra for giving me the floor back.
Also how long will it take for these countries to get the money?
How long does it take to identify the programme and then proceed?
The information I have is that all countries will submit their strategies by the end of this month and the money will be released to the individual projects in the countries by mid February.
Jensen, if you can come back afterwards with the re answer to Katrine's question.
Now we have a very complex and long press briefing today.
So if you don't want to stay with us until lunchtime, I'd like to ask everybody to ask maybe just one question and and brief because we are going now to our colleagues of WHO and I'm sure this will raise a lot of interest.
You have come to us today with Miss with Doctor Janet Diaz, who is the team lead clinical care of WHO you're both connected to speak about the new treatments for COVID-19.
So I don't know if you want to start or we give directly the floor to Doctor Diaz.
Good morning, Alessandra.
Good morning journalist, just quickly to introduce to you Doctor Janet Diaz who will be talking about the drugs for COVID-19.
I am sure we have seen the the press release we sent you last night.
Janet will give you an overview where we are in treatment for COVID-19.
Dr Janet Diaz, you have the floor.
Thank you and good morning, colleagues, and thanks for the opportunity to present this update of our new WHO Therapeutics in COVID-19 Living guideline.
And before I go into details, I would like to give a big thanks to all of those involved in these trials that inform the update of the guideline.
This starts with the patients themselves and their families that consented to enrol in these trials, the researchers and the academicians that conducted these studies, the donors that funded these studies, and of course, as well as the drug developers that developed new drugs or repurposed drugs for for testing for COVID-19.
And as well, a thanks to our GDG, which is our guideline development group, which is an expert panel of from all over the world that helps us to write these guidelines with the support of a strong methodological support team as well as systematic review team.
Our new guideline has a couple of recommendations.
The first, the ones I want to highlight is the strong recommendation for the use of baricitinib.
So baricitinib is an immunomodulator and it's indication is for patients with COVID-19, severe or critical COVID-19.
And this recommendation is for use of this drug in those patients.
This is based on studies of three trials over 2600 patients and these studies showed a reduction in the mortality, invasive need for invasive ventilation and the hospital linked to stay with moderate certainty.
So this drug is meant to be medicine.
You know this therapeutic is meant to be given on top of a corticosteroids.
So we already had a recommendation for corticosteroids.
So you give this one in addition to corticosteroids and it is also an alternative to Illinois 6 receptor blockers.
So we also have a recommendation for Illinois 6 receptor blockers and this drug should not be given together with the IL 6 receptor blockers, but should be given as an alternative.
So now we have for severe and critical patients the corticosteroids which we've had a long standing recommendation since September of 2022.
And adding on to that, either this baricitinib which is a inhibitor or the Illinois 6 receptor blotter.
Dr Diaz, yes, I'm sorry, I'm too sorry.
I'm told the image, your image is really very, very bad.
Is that possible to have some more lights on your face or maybe you turn towards the window and and and and lower a little bit your camera because OK, no, it's the other round your face.
No, it was much better, but now it is again to remove the window from the shot.
Maybe if you remove from the shot, I'm told sorry, but it's really your face is in the dark.
We didn't, we didn't really test before.
Let me ask my camera, the cameraman.
Could you just turn a little bit yourself against the wall instead of the window?
No, the other way around.
The other way around towards the wall, yes.
But then you have to turn the camera and then it would be would be fine.
Is that fine for everybody?
The second recommendation that I wanted to describe is a conditional recommendation for the use of sotrobumab.
Sotrobumab is a monoclonal antibody and that recommendation is for use in patients with COVID-19 that have mild or moderate disease conditional to those patients that are at the highest risk for complications.
So this would include patients who are of older age, unvaccinated or have a chronic condition.
This recommendation is based on one trial, a well done trial with over 1000 patients, just over 1000 patients.
And this trial showed a reduction in the need for hospitalisation in that, in that study and we had moderate certainty in this evidence.
So those are the two recommendations I wanted to highlight that are published in this guideline in pipeline.
We also just in case for, for information, you could always see our therapeutics in COVID-19 website where we are posting the timeline of our looking at the other newer drugs that are coming out.
So our GDG has already deliberated on the drug molnupiravir and you can expect to see an update with that new recommendation coming at the beginning of February.
And then our GDG is also getting ready to review the data on Nirmat Trevir rotonavir, which is the other oral antiviral that's that has been has had data published and we will be looking at that data in early February for publication likely at the end of February.
I'm happy to take any questions or comments over.
I'll start with Peter Kenny in the room.
Yeah, thanks, Doctor Lewis.
Last night, DG issued a statement at which he had addressed the TAG and he said that of course some of the things that you have said today, but he said that the drugs that are being used to fight COVID-19 need updating.
Is there some special meaning for this or shouldn't they be being being updated all the time?
Anyway, thank you, Doctor Diaz.
So I'm, I'm, I'm not clear with that comment from the from the from the DG.
But of course we have this living guideline process, which means that we are continually updating our guideline based on the evidence as it emerges.
And as soon as new trials come to the public space or we're made aware of them, then we put it through a very standardised process to uptake the living guideline.
And it is true, the more and more research which is done, which is what we'd like to see different drugs being tested and then we evaluate those drugs to see how to update the guidelines.
So it does have to remain always active process.
I had a question about monoclonals, please.
And I know that the chief scientists had mentioned that they're unlikely to work against omicrons.
I was wondering if you have more details on this and could you explain in layman's terms why they might not work?
And just generally, what is your understanding of how serious a challenge this might be in the treatment of COVID?
Thanks for the very important question.
And I guess I I'm also not specifically familiar with what the chief scientist, how she explained that.
But but it is true with the variance and with the evolution of the virus that there is concern that monoclonal antibodies can lose or reduce their ability to neutralise the virus, which is how they work.
We do have laboratory data right now that is showing reduction in impaired neutralisation of pasirimab and endevimab, which is the monoclonal antibody combination to Omicron.
And so that does predict that it would be less would be not effective in patients with COVID-19 infected with the Omicron.
So that is so that is true.
Similar at the same time we also have laboratory studies for sotrovimab which is a monoclonal.
We're recommending today that it does retain activity again in vitro study.
So we have to take that into account.
There are more studies being done in vitro and in vivo and animal studies to look at the neutralising capability of of these monoclonal antibodies, the two that we have recommendations for as well as the others that we don't have recommendations.
So it must be monitoring the resistance of and the activity of monoclonals as well as other antivirals to the new variants such as Omicron or potentially others is going to be very important in the future.
I'll go to Lisa Shrine, Voice of America.
Yes, Thanks, Alessandra, and good morning, Doctor Diaz.
I have a couple of questions for you.
Are these how many therapeutics medications are there currently on the market and are they targeted towards specific variants?
That's for instance, they might work for Delta, but not for Omicron.
You seem to indicate that certain medication was not appropriate for Omicron.
How expensive are these medications?
I'm thinking of developing countries which do not have much money.
And then lastly, what is your The Who position on hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin?
These two drugs seem to have a life that never quits.
I keep hearing all of these.
You know that they're wonder drugs.
Thank you so much for the, for the multiple questions.
I'll try to address each one.
So the one I will start with is the one that's straightforward.
What are our recommendations on hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin?
We have strong recommendations against the use of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin for COVID-19 of any disease severity.
These guidelines were published last year and we have not updated or change those guidelines since then.
So we remain not to recommend those drugs because they have not shown efficacy.
So that's the response for that.
For the other questions, how many are on the market, Gosh, I don't know.
I can't really answer that.
I'm not sure how many are on the market.
I can say right now who has recommendations and we have recommendations for use for mild moderate patients.
Right now we have recommendations for use of cassirubimab and devimab and the new one for sotropimab.
So those are the 2 for severe and critical patients.
We have recommendations for use of corticosteroids, IL 6 receptor blockers now baricitinib and as well, we had a previous recommendation for cassirubimab and devimab.
There are other oral antivirals that are out there that I said that we're going to be reviewing in the next few weeks and publishing about relatively soon.
They are being used in some countries and some regulatory agencies have already approved them.
So I don't have the full answer of how many are on the market.
I can just tell you what WTO has approved and then, then the drugs we are looking at in pipeline and how expensive are these meds.
Again, WTO is committed for equitable access and affordable access to all Member states with COVID-19.
And it's really important that that message gets out just like it's the message is out there for vaccinations, that it also gets out there for therapeutics that there is access and fair pricing for these drugs for persons who may be infected with SARS COV 2IN resource limited settings in the low middle countries.
So WHO with its partners through ACT day and and my colleagues here in the medicinal health products unit are really focused on working on access issues, meeting with manufacturers and negotiating fair prices and access to these life saving drugs over.
Thank you doctor Diaz Simon Pettit Simon she pass it to if if no one let me confirm it to you.
Thank you of Jose, if I if I may.
Catherine, is that Catherine?
It's a question for Doctor Diaz.
Thank you for being with us this morning.
If I understood well, Doctor, we are mainly speaking about treatments that could be given to patients when they infected in order not to have very severe forms of COVID.
I would like if possible that you tell us a little bit more about preventive products As for instance, that antiviral nasal spray that was developed, that has been developed in Canada and Israel did start to produce it during the month of March 2021.
And apparently it's capable of killing 99% of the virus particles.
So could you could you tell us a bit about these kind of products and is it effective?
Do you have studies and what are your comments?
Thank you so much, Doctor Diaz.
Thank you for for the question.
So, so yes, the what I am Speaking of today was the treatments, the therapeutics for patients with infection.
So with COVID-19 and the ones that are given early on disease to the **** risk patients is to reduce severity, is to reduce hospitalisation.
Now the world of prevention, which is what you're talking about are prophylaxis.
So patients who may be at risk for developing disease but not yet infected, we do have a guideline that has been published on that, but we have not updated it recently.
So we are as, as in our other living guidelines, doing systematic reviews of the literature to see if evidence being generated is sufficient in order to write a recommendation.
So we do not yet have sufficient evidence to write a recommendation for prevent for drugs that can be used to prevent medicines that can be used to prevent COVID-19.
So with that for the antiviral nasal spray, I'm not sure I, I know exactly which one that is that you are discussing, the one that you've discussed, but would be more than interested in maybe if you can send that to us the name and then we can make sure that it is getting incorporated in our systematic reviews of the literature so we can assess the data.
Emma, have follow-ups, please, quickly, as we still have a lot of points.
Oh, Emma, you you're on too.
I'll go after you just to follow up.
And then Dr Diaz can follow up.
So let's start with them and then we go to Katherine and you do the the two follow-ups, please, Emma.
Just to follow up, Doctor Diaz, you said that some laboratory evidence shows that some monoclonals are are not or less effective against Omicron.
Can you just tell me how serious this is in the big picture?
Is this game name changer when it comes to treating the disease?
And Katherine, you had a follow up too.
Just to to inform Dr Diaz that the product developed is called Sanitise.
Doctor Diaz, if you can tackle the two.
Thank you for the sanitise.
That's well, well noted and we'll have to get back to you with that.
I have to check with our meta systematic review team to see if that's come up in the, in the reviews that we've been doing.
In regards to the question about being a game changer, I, I don't, I don't think it's a game changer.
I think we have multiple therapeutic options right now for COVID-19 and more are in the way.
So I think it's, it is not, it is an unfortunately, you know, viruses are known to develop resistance to certain drugs and that is not so that so SARS COV 2 is not different in that respect.
We have seen resistance developing other viruses.
And so the strategies for treatment have to be cognizant of that.
You know, we have to make strategies that that make sense and with drugs are available and they work.
We we use them, but we use them, but we also monitor for resistance.
And if something happens where the resistance does develop, we try to hopefully reduce the chance that that happens.
And if it develops, so then we quickly identify it and then we try to use alternative treatments.
So I, I don't think it's a it's a game changer.
I think it's, it's important that we are monitoring this and then we adjust treatments as possible.
So if one of the mono antibodies loses neutralising capacity for, for one of the variants such as Omicron, but the other one still works, that's, that's good.
That's OK because we know, we know which one's working for which variant.
We will also with the newer oral antivirals be watching closely for the development of resistance, you know, because we don't want to also put a new antiviral out there.
And potentially right now they may not be resistant to, you know they will work for the current circulating virus, but would it develop in the future?
So we have to monitor for that.
So I think this is not a game changer, but very important in in the way we approach treatment over treatment.
I have got FA and John and then I close the questions for WHO we will answer Simon and then we will go to these with patiently waiting.
So Antonio, John and then we'll answer Simon.
Just a quick question to Fadella.
If the statement of the Emergency committee is going to be released today in the weekend, next Monday.
And Fadella, we'll answer you with the other question.
John, is that a question for Doctor Diaz?
Doctor Diaz, I was wondering the what do you have any comments on how effective with some of these therapeutics be on people who have this gene that was identified by Polish scientists that says they have more than double the risk of it becoming severely I'll.
So people with have this kind of gene, would the current therapies be sufficient or not?
Thanks John for that question.
I can fully answer that the question right now because I don't have all that information about studies specifically being done on these therapies and patients with this gene, but I can what I can say and so is that for patients who are at **** risk for developing severe disease or complications with the known risk factors that we have.
So I'm not talking about the genes specifically, but with the known risk factors that we have, that's the drugs that are recommended, that W has recommended reduces the odds or the risk of developing severe disease or developing needs for hospitalisation.
And that's and that is why we're recommending those, the drugs that we have so far for that indication.
But thanks for the question.
We'll have to look closer into that gene as its own subgroup population over.
Thank you very much, Doctor Diaz, for all these extensive answers.
Fidela, can you answer the two questions, the one from Simon?
To answer the question of Antonio, the statement of the Emergency Committee on COVID-19 is expected to be sent to you Monday morning.
So we are not expecting to release it this weekend or today, Monday morning.
The second question of Seymour, for the time being, I don't have an answer for you.
Let me check and I will come back to you in the in the course of the day.
And I noticed that Katherine has put an information in the chart of Mrs Doctor Diaz can have a look at that.
Thank you very much to our colleagues of WHO I go now to human rights with Elizabeth who is here on my left.
Thank you very much for your patience Elizabeth.
And we will go straight afterwards to Thompson as we have both OHCHR and WFP.
We have an item on Ethiopia and then we will come back to Elizabeth for Bosnia as the Governor and Serbia.
So we start with the Ethiopia, Elizabeth.
Yes, let's start with our item on Ethiopia.
We are alarmed by the multiple deeply disturbing reports we continue to receive of civilian casualties and destruction of civilian objects resulting from air strikes in Ethiopia's Tigray region.
At least 108 civilians have reportedly been killed and 75 others injured since the euro began as a result of air strikes allegedly carried out by the Ethiopian Air Force.
On Wednesday this week, an air strike claimed the life of a 72 year old man.
The previous day, on the 11th of January, the state owned Technical Vocational Education and Training Institute was hit, reportedly killing three men and leaving 21 people injured, most of them women.
And on Monday the 10th of January, 17 civilians were reportedly killed and 21 injured, most of them women, after an air strike reportedly carried out by a drone which hit a flour mill where they had gathered to grind their grains into flour.
The deadliest airstrike so far, which helped the Debit Internally Displaced Persons camp on the 7th of January, left at least 5656 people dead and thirty others wounded.
We've since established the three of those who were critically injured later died in hospital while receiving medical treatment, pushing the death toll from that single strike to at least 59.
Numerous other air strikes were reported last week, hitting a private minibus travelling from Adiat to Axiom City, Shy Airport, Maenai refugee camp and other areas.
We call on the Ethiopian authorities and their allies to ensure the protection of civilians and civilian objects in line with their obligations under international law.
Any attack, including air strikes, should fully respect the principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack.
In particular, parties to the conflict must take all feasible measures to verify that targets are indeed military objectives and suspend an attack if it becomes apparent that the target is not a military objective or that the attack would be disproportionate.
Failure to respect the principles of distinction and proportionality could amount to war crimes.
We're also concerned by the continuing arbitrary arrests and detention amid the state of emergency.
While we welcome the recent release of several **** profile individuals, including key opposition figures who had been in detention for many months, we remain concerned that many more people going into the hundreds remain indefinitely detained in appalling conditions and without being brought before a court of law or other tribunal to review the reasons for their detention and other among other violations of procedural guarantees.
Liz and I go now to Thompson.
Thompson please, you have a point on also on Ethiopia from WFP indeed.
Very good morning to you all.
Bourgeois Tusa food the United Nations World Food Programme WFP is today warning, but it's life saving food assistance operations in northern Ethiopia are about to grant your house because intense fighting in the neighbourhood has blocked the passage of fuel and food.
The escalation of conflict across northern Ethiopia means that no double SP convoy has reached Meccale since mid-december.
I think the last convoy was on 14th December.
Stocks of nutritionally fortified food for the treatment of malnourished children and women are now exhausted and the last of WC cereals, pulses and oil will be distributed this week.
Because of fighting, food distributions are at an all time low.
WC aid workers on the ground tell me that warehouses are completely empty and in my experience that's a very bad sign.
It almost never happened.
We always have a bit of food in the warehouse to carry us to the month to the next month or so.
Now, the lack of both food and fuel means we have only been able to reach 20% of those we should have in the last in this last round of distribution.
At the same time, affected populations are not receiving the assistance they need.
A double C estimates that on average, only 29% of the caloric needs of crisis affected populations were covered in the past month.
Now, after 14 months of conflict in northern Ethiopia, more people than ever need urgent food assistance.
At the same time, food distributions are at an all time low due to active conflicts, to access constraints and to lack of financial resources.
Now, with no food, no fuel, no accident, we are on the edge of a major humanitarian disaster.
Now what is it that WP need to reboot the response?
We need immediate guarantees from all parties to the conflict for safe and secure humanitarian corridors via all routes across northern Ethiopia.
Widespread insecurity in key areas means Douglas T is unable to deliver food or fewer without risking the safety and security of its staff and humanitarian supply.
We need food, we need fuel stocks, which are running very dangerously low.
WC has 4000 nested tonnes of food left, which will only be enough to cover 10% of the 2.1 million people.
WC needs to reach into drive rates.
For instance, now we've got some fuel, but it will only check us for the next 10 days.
It is expected that food assistance will be required at least up to this year's harvest, which is in the last quarter of 2022, and that hunger levels will continue to deepen if humanitarian assistance is not delivered at scale and immediately.
Now WC plans to reach 2.1 million people think it right, 650,000 in Amara and 534 in Afar region is also warning that it would like to run out of food and nutrition supplies for millions of people across all of Ethiopia from next month duty and unprecedented lack of funding.
For example, WFP needs $357,000,000 to deliver 18 agencies food assistance response in northern Ethiopia.
We also need $170 million to reach those affected by severe drought in Somali region over the next six months.
I'll stop here and see if there may be any questions for you of that to you, Alessandra.
Look, the the voice, your voice came not super clear.
I mean, we could understand, but it wasn't super clear.
So maybe please send the notes as soon as possible to the journalist.
So I have a few questions now.
Emma, Good morning for Liz, please.
Sorry, the numbers came quite quickly.
Is there any way you could do a quick tally for me?
How many people have been killed in air strikes in Ethiopia this year so far And and how are you keeping tabs on that?
Do you have your own independent way of getting information from the ground?
Sorry if I spoke a bit quickly.
What I said was that at least 108 civilians have reportedly been killed and 75 others injured since the year began.
So since the start of this year, obviously as a result of air strikes allegedly carried out by the Ethiopian Air Force.
With regard to to the information, as you know that we we do have colleagues who are in Ethiopia, they try to, to monitor the situation and gather information from different sources.
So based on the reports that they have gathered so far, we can talk about 100 and at least 108 civilians who have died in air strikes since the since the year began.
Thank you very much, Peter.
Thanks for taking my question.
Alessandro, I'd like to ask you about this conflict in Ethiopia, because conflicts in that part of Africa often tend to take a long time to unravel.
And I'm just wondering the fact that the leader of the country is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, are there any indications that the two sides are talking to each other about trying to undo this conflict?
Thank you, Peter, for that.
Well, clearly, I mean, you know, it is an ongoing conflict.
OK, a bit of feedback here.
I'd be happy when we get our new press from it should be fine.
So, Peter, yes, you were talking about the the, the conflict and and of course the you know, the the danger and the risk that that it will go on.
I mean as with regard to what is happening with regard to to the to the parties to the conflict and the talks.
I mean that that is very much a sort of political aspect, what we would constantly say.
And as others have said, that it is really important for the conflict to stop and for people to start talking, not least because of the, the, the dramatic warning that Thompson's just given that precisely because of the fighting, people are not getting food and, and they're essentially starving.
What we have with regard to, to the information.
And, and you know, you will understand with the problems of the security situation of the state of emergency access for, for us is actually quite difficult.
But from the reports that we have have gathered, we have been able to, to establish a number of incidents with regard to air strikes.
So that's why we've come up with the, the, the total figure that I've just given, about 108 civilians being killed there was the, the, the, the very huge toll of people being killed on the 7th of January when 56 were killed and then three people later died.
So what we do have is a number of air strikes being carried out in, in recent days, in recent weeks, people being killed in that.
And then, of course, as, as, as Thompson has been saying that the fighting that is stopping the, the delivery of important humanitarian aid, we, we really, you know, we, we, we are sort of alarmed and, and condemned the airstrikes that have been reportedly carried out leading to, to the deaths and killings of people.
And you know what we would say, and it's an urgent call, is that all parties to the conflict should protect civilians in line with their international obligations.
And going back to the dramatic warning from Thompson, as he's saying, it is so important that that humanitarian supplies are able to get into to the people who so desperately need them.
Thank you very much, Liz.
My question is to Thompson, but perhaps also to Liz.
I was wondering, do we have detail information from the UN on the ground in Ethiopia?
How many humanitarian trucks have been hijacked by various factions in the during the conflict?
There've been allegations by the government, but do we know if that's also happening by other factions in the country?
Liz, you want to start answer and then I'll give the floor to Sir if we can hear you The the your question was particularly about humanitarian supplies, if I understand rightly.
John, let let me start with Thompson.
Maybe Thompson can start the answer And then if you have to add anything, please Thompson, Thompson you're a muted, please mute, unmute yourself.
Yes, what I can tell you is that we have 3 trucks that are still at large in in Amara.
And these are trucks that have been commandeered by armed actors.
Thompson I, I, I couldn't get your let me, let me try again and let me move closer to my mic.
Let me move my mic closer.
I'll say that, that the thing stands today we have 3 trucks that are unaccounted for that are still at large in Amara region.
And we believe they're being commandeered by armed actors.
And we reiterate our call to all parties to respect the safety and the security of of humanitarian workers as well as humanitarian equipment that we are using in Northern Ethiopia.
I hope I'm now audible, Alessandra.
Yeah, that was a bit a bit better.
And John has a follow up.
So during the duration of the conflict, since October 2020, the only three trucks have been commandeered by various warring sides because there've been allegations that up to 1000 trucks have been UN trucks have been misused.
So it's only three trucks during the duration of the Civil War.
Thanks, John, for, for that question.
I was referring to, to the situation at hand now.
I was referring to information that I have right now.
I do not have the full extent or the numbers of, of the exact numbers of, of, of, of, of, of the trucks that we can't account for across the region.
But what I can tell you is that some trucks, there are some trucks that are still inside the grid that have not retained.
And in Amara, we do have three trucks that we that, that, that are, that are at large at present.
I, I do not have an exact number of, of, of the number of of the trucks that are still at large since the conflict began.
Unfortunately, I just don't have the number and I might have to check with colleagues on the ground.
But what I can tell you is that this has been a bitter conflict.
It is, it is directly targeted humanitarian assets.
There are trucks that are that are that are still at large in to drive and I can tell you on good authority that we also have three trucks that are at large in Amara.
I hope that answers you, John.
Thank you very much, Thompson.
Just by curiosity, where are you calling from?
I just wanted to from Geneva.
Thank you very much, Thompson.
So the next question is from Akbar Eliam.
You can ask your question.
I I would like to take this opportunity to remind everybody, and it's not the first time I say that when you get into the briefing, please put your name, family name and affiliation.
Otherwise I don't know who is on the other line.
And I believe is that Magdashimi?
Yes, yes, Hi, good morning.
It's a question to to leave about the the numbers that you gave before on Ethiopia.
I wanted to to know if that concerns all Ethiopia or is or if it's only air strikes in Tigray region?
Yes and yes, yeah, just to just to clarify, we're talking about civilian casualties, destruction of a civilian objects resulting from air strikes in Tigray.
So at least 108 civilians have reportedly been killed and 75 others injured.
So we're talking about air strikes in Tigray.
Thank you very much to everybody.
I don't see other questions on this topic of Ethiopia.
So Liz, you have another point on Bosnia's Nicobina and Serbia head speech.
Yes, we are deeply concerned by recent incidents in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Serbia that saw individuals glorify atrocity crimes and convicted war criminals, target certain communities with hate speech, and in some cases directly incite violence.
The incidents took place in several locations in the Republica Sabsca entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including Violina, Prieto, Forcha, Gatsko, Vishigrad, as well as in Birchco district and in Preboy and Novi Pazar in Serbia.
These acts, which happened amid religious holidays last weekend, included large groups of people chanting the name of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic during torchlight processions or singing nationalistic songs calling for the takeover of various locations in the former Yugoslavia.
In one incident, individuals fired shots into the air as they drove past a mosque.
The fear and the risk is that such acts, fuelled by the continued inflammatory nationalistic rhetoric and hate speech of some politicians, will continue increasing in 2022, as this is a year when elections are due to take place in Serbia in April and then in October in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the political environment is already extremely tense.
These incidents, some in locations that saw large scale atrocity crimes during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, such as Priyador and Fodsa, are an affront to survivors, including those who returned to their homes after the conflict.
The failure to prevent and sanction such acts, which fuel a climate of extreme anxiety, fear and insecurity in some communities, is a major obstacle to trust building and reconciliation.
As we have repeatedly highlighted, the rise in hate speech, the denial of genocide and other atrocity crimes and the glorification of war criminals in the Western Balkans highlight the failure to comprehensively address the past.
We stress once again the need for the authorities in Serbia and in Bosnia and head to Governor to abide by their international obligations, their international human rights obligations, to ensure the rights to truth, justice and reparation.
They should also adopt measures to prevent recurrence and to promote further reconciliation efforts.
We call on them to condemn and refrain from any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred.
In addition, states that are parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, among them Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, are obliged to ensure that incitement, discrimination, hostility and violence is prohibited in law and in practise perpetrate.
All perpetrators and instigators of such acts must be held accountable.
Political religious leaders have a crucial role to play in speaking out firmly and promptly against intolerance, discriminatory stereotyping and instances of hate speech.
We are encouraged to see that following some of the recent incidents, officials, including senior politicians as well as religious leaders, move quickly to condemn the ACT, and police have begun investigations.
Serious incidents like these should be investigated promptly, effectively and impartially to prevent them being repeated and perpetuated, and also to foster the public trust in authorities and institutions and among communities that is essential to build social cohesion and peaceful societies.
Let me see if there's any question for you, Lisa.
I was wondering whether there was any mediation by your agency or other UN agencies in regard to what is happening with with hate speech.
I don't know whether, I don't think there are any more UN peacekeepers.
They, they've been gone for a long time.
But I mean, who, who is there to mediate the situation, to actually talk to the various governments?
And does the government of Serbia itself have a lot of persuasion for the strips Go Republic?
Do do they wield some power over them?
And yeah, you could deal with that.
With with regard to to the situation above all in in Bosnia and Herzegovina there is of course AUN presence, there is AUN country team.
We ourselves have have a colleague who is based there.
So of course, the the issue of hate speech, the importance of encouraging leaders and also communities to to refrain from hate speech is, is a crucial topic precisely for the reasons that I've outlined in in the note that I've just read out that it it is so important to to build trust, to promote reconciliation.
Now, no one is arguing that this is easy.
And, and the fact that we have seen the incidents increase in recent months and, and, and there are concerns that these will continue to do so.
That makes it all the more important that that we put out these messages really highlighted why it is so important to, to tackle hate speech to, to call out the glorification of atrocity crimes and and convicted war criminals with regard to, to, to Serbia and its relations and influence in the region.
Well, of course, you know, these are all countries that were part of the former Yugoslavia.
And clearly there are connections between Serbia and, and the Republica Serbska entity.
But the Republica Serbska entity is a part of, of, of the part of Bosnia and Hexagovina.
The responsibility, as we're outlining is, is for the state parties for Serbia and for Bosnia and Herzegovina to, to tackle the hate speech, to make sure that the discrimination and the, the incitement to, to violence and discrimination is indeed prohibited in law and in practise.
So that's where the responsibility lies.
Of course, it is a complex region with, with many ties and links between the various countries.
Our main point here is that we are concerned that we are seeing an increase in the kinds of hate speech and incidents that that I've just documented.
And one thing to bear in mind, and it's very easy to just talk about hate speech, but, but it's to really try and put yourself in the shoes of some of the, the communities who, who are targeted or who feel attacked by, by such actions and by such speech.
People who who live in areas that were the scene of of mass atrocity crimes during the conflict, people who may have returned to their homes but but are living in in a climate of fear and insecurity.
And that is why we and also other parts of the UN are repeating and putting our focus on the importance of of hate speech and, and other related incidents.
The glorification of war criminals convicted war criminals that the glorification of atrocity crimes include.
Including all manner of, of, of issues and and of course the concern that in some cases what we saw in in recent days was sort of an, a direct incitement to violence.
The focus of your statement has been very much on on hate speech.
But are you also seeing specific actions, racist actions or actions targeting Muslim minorities in in recent weeks that you think need to be highlighted?
And secondly, I think the US has just announced some sanctions quite recently against Mr Doddick.
Are you, do you feel that the international community is responding sufficiently to the threats that seem to be undermining the Dayton peace agreement?
The, the recent incidents which took place over the, the last, you know, the last few days that the religious holiday that, that ran sort of from from the 6th to the 9th of January.
There was a whole range of incidents in different locations, as I indicated, including the incident where people fired into the air as as they drove past a mosque.
There was an incident in Priyador where some 100, mainly young men walked towards the the mosque and was shouting, you know, chants sort of glorifying a Rep called Mladic and others.
They, they have, there were a whole range of of, of incidents.
We also have seen graffiti daubed on walls and, and, and a building reportedly in Priyador.
So there are similar incidents.
So there's a whole range.
I think what what I said is it's really important to, to just consider this as as, as being in the context of, of, of a very tense political environment in Bosnian heads government, for example, but also the the fear and anxiety that this can instil in, in some communities.
We do think it's very important to to highlight this and to speak out precisely because as I say, we're concerned that that there may be more incidents in, in this year, in 2022 where there were a number of of things happening in, in Serbia with regard to the election, also Bosnia and Hector governor later in the year.
So we did think it was important to, to highlight these incidents at the briefing today.
And we would encourage sort of the, the political leaders above all to, to really speak out.
And as I said, we were encouraged that that that some did act swiftly to to condemn the recent incidents and that in some investigations have reportedly been opened.
Yes, I, I've just got a, a more general question for your lawyers.
Perhaps they can get back to me.
Is there a statute of limitations on crimes against humanity or major atrocities, whether committed during World War 2 or during the colonial occupation of countries?
Thanks for that specific legal question, John.
Let me let me double check with our legal team.
But I think what we would say is obviously crimes like crimes against humanity are so horrific.
It would really not be something that is subject to statute of limitations.
But there will probably be some precise legal language that that colleagues will have.
So if I can double, triple check with them, I will then get back to you.
Liz, I don't see other questions for you.
And before we leave the issue of human rights, I just would like to remind you that our colleagues of the UN International Impartial and Independent Mechanism on the Violations of Human Rights in Syria have sent you a press release.
We've distributed it this morning welcoming the landmark judgement against Anwar R at the Higher Regional Court in Coblence, Germany.
As you know, the former ****-ranking Syria official has been found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in torture, ****** and sexual violence in his previous position as head of the Investigation department of Branch 251 of the Syrian Intelligence Services.
At this point, on this point, Kathleen Marquel, who's the head of the mechanism, said the Cobblence ruling is highly significant and not only for the direct vitamins and survivors these crimes, but also for the vitamins survivors of the many unaddressed past and ongoing violations in Syria.
This verdict reminds us all of what is possible and should leave perpetrators of serious crimes in no doubt that there will be accountability for their actions.
The full press release, as I said, has been sent to you.
Let now go to our last point on the briefing, who comes from UNHCR, Boris Cheshirekov.
Boris, you are with us today to tell us about the Sahel conflicts and displacement.
Thank you so much, Alessandra, and good morning to everyone.
Indeed, we have an update on displacement in the countries of the Central Sahel.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is today calling for concerted international action to end armed conflict in Africa's Central Sahel region, which has forced more than 2.5 million people to flee their homes in the last decade.
Internal displacement has increased tenfold since 2013, from 217,000 people to a staggering 2.1.
I'll stop just for a second, Alessandra.
I can hear that there's an echo.
OK, sorry, I'm hearing an echo back in my earpiece and I just wanted to make sure that it's not coming back to you.
Let me continue In that case, internal displacement has increased tenfold since 2013, from 217,000 to a staggering 2.1 million by late 2021.
The number of refugees in the central Sahel countries of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger now stands at 410,000.
Armed groups reportedly carried out over 800 deadly attacks last year.
Such violence uprooted 450,000 people within their countries and forced a further 36,000 to flee to a neighbouring country as a refugee.
In Burkina Faso alone, the total number of ID PS rose to more than 1.5 million by the end of last year.
6 in 10 of the Sahel ID PS are now working out there.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger is rapidly deteriorating amid crises in multiple fronts.
Insecurity is the main driver, made worse by extreme poverty, the COVID-19 pandemic and the worsening effects of the climate crisis.
Women and children are often the worst affected and disproportionately exposed to extreme vulnerability and the ****** of gender based violence.
UNHCR and humanitarian partners face mounting challenges to access people in need and deliver the life saving assistance and protection that they need.
Humanitarians continue to face Rd attacks, ambushes and carjacking.
UNHCR calls on the international community to take bold action and spare no effort in supporting the countries of the Central Sahel to bring about the urgently needed peace, stability and development to the region.
In response to the ongoing crisis, UNHCR is leading the joint efforts of UN agencies and NGOs to provide emergency shelter, manage displacement sites and deliver vital protection.
With resources dangerously overstressed, however, UNHCR is urging more support to help save lives and address vulnerabilities.
In 2021, more than a third of our funding needs went on met the mountain effective response.
This year, we need 307 million United States dollars.
I'll leave it there and happy to take questions if there are answers.
Thank you very much, Boris.
Let me see if there is any question from the journalist.
Lisa has a question for you.
As an audio person, I have to agree with Boris that it wasn't brilliant.
I mean usable but not brilliant.
The audio, that's just my take on it.
But as far as the that my question goes, you are calling for concerted international action to end conflict.
How what shape does this concerted international action take?
It's been going on since 2013 and I've been hearing the same please, good, please, important ones.
And it the situation has just got worse.
What is Well, thank you so much, Lisa.
And I'm sorry that the audio quality was not good.
I will try to be in the room next time and hopefully it will be much better in, in terms of your question, what we want to see.
And look first, first of all, if we look at forced displacement, it has only been growing.
It has been surging across the Sahel.
Just last year, half a million people have fled this unspeakable violence and forced displacement is always a measure of a crisis that is evolving and is unresolved.
If it's growing, that means that it's not being sufficiently addressed.
What we have been calling for and we repeat this call again now is for a unified strategic, a substantial intervention in the Sahel that will make sure that international efforts are supporting the governments and host communities who are welcoming their they have unwavering support for displaced communities buckling under the increasing pressure.
They need to build, build regional capacity.
This is fundamental and a security response cannot be there on its own.
It needs to be hand in glove with humanitarian and development development action.
Is there any other question for HCR?
So thank you very much, Boris.
And that concludes our briefing.
I just have to remind you, sorry, I'll take off my mask.
I I just wanted to remind you of the fact that yesterday we sent you a press release informing you of the launch of the World Economic Situation and Prospect 2022 report.
And normally this is a report that always sees the press conference in Geneva.
This year it has not been possible to organise it.
You have received the information and if you need more, we are obviously available.
This is a report that is produced by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the UN together with the five regional commissions and the UN World Tourism Organisation.
This year's report examines the recovery of the global economy from COVID-19 pandemic as new waves of infection, labour markets challenges, lingering supply side constraints and rising inflationary pressures persist.
So we've received the information.
Don't hesitate to come back to us if you want more information on this report.
And also for those who have not had the chance to do so, have a look at the press, the Secretary General's pressing counter he had yesterday in New York.
And we have distributed you the full transcript with questions and answers yesterday night.
If there are no other points for me and I don't see any, I thank all the colleagues and journalists who have participated in this briefing and wish you a very good weekend.
