UN Geneva Press Briefing: UNDRR, IFRC, OCHA, WHO, OHCHR, UNCTAD, ITU, UNHRC, WMO, UNICEF

Good morning, welcome to the press briefing of the UN Information Service here in Geneva. We have a very long list of speakers today and I would like to thank them all already as with the catastrophe unfolding in Nepal, in the Himalaya, we will hear from several of our colleagues And as you have seen in the program that we've sent you, we have the pleasure to have with us the special representative of the UN Secretary General for Disaster Risk Reduction and Head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Kamal Kishore, on my right. And then we will also have colleagues from OCHA, from WHO and from IFRS speaking on the issue. But I would like to start immediately, and UNICEF, sorry, you were not on my list, but you are now. But I would like to start this briefing by welcoming. the resident coordinator from Nepal, Leela Peters Yahia. Madam, hello. Thank you very much for being with us. We know you are on the move, and therefore, if you agree, we would like to give you the floor first for your introductory remarks. We'll take questions for you, and then we will let you go back, I understand, to Kathmandu, because you have been on the ground to see the devastating situation of the floods. So I'll give you the floor first. will take your questions and then we will go to the other speakers. You have the floor, Mrs. Peters.

Thank you. The sound is not good.

Thank you. Good morning, Geneva, and thank you for -- can you hear me?

Yes, now we can a little bit better, yes.

Very good. So I am here with my colleague, the UNICEF country representative. I went with her and colleagues from WHO. We went to have a firsthand to see to the sites where the disaster happened. We had not gone there before, so it was very important for us to be there to witness, to see how the search and rescue is ongoing. but also to be able to meet with some beneficiary. And as we were there, actually, we could not stay as long as we had expected. We had to rush because we received an alert that some additional floods might be coming. So this is what happened. So first of all, what I'd like to say is that we would like to congratulate and we would like to acknowledge the strong leadership under the Prime Minister Balen Shah of Nepal who is really leading this search and rescue effort. It's impressive. It was very impressive to see the military deployment this morning on the ground and to see how active all the military were. It was for us have a conversation.

I'm afraid we are losing you, madam. Could you repeat the last sentences?

We had the opportunity to meet some... Is it okay?

Samash, you're not on there, you're not there.

Okay, so what I was saying is that we met a number... We had the opportunity to speak with a spokesperson... of the military, but also with the person responsible for the logistic. And they were very proud in doing the work because they were former United Nations peacekeeper. So you could see how much they were devoted. So maybe some update on the data and those data are from 10 AM. So what we know as of today, unfortunately, 464 people have lost their lives. There are still 977 people which are missing, of which 517 are believed to be international. We still, and you have about over 3,253 people who have been rescued. So that's in terms of people, but the damage is just incredible. You have over 40 bridges which have been destroyed. or severely damaged. You have over 40 kilometers of road completely destroyed. We have hydro power which have been either damaged or completely destroyed. So this is the situation. What we observed this morning, And what we were told is that search and rescue remains the priority, saving life as much as possible remains the priority of the national authority. We have also seen how the aid which is being brought from Kathmandu either by air or by...

Madam, sorry, do you think it would be possible to stop the car while you're speaking? Because I think you're losing the signal while... She doesn't listen. She doesn't hear.

I'm going to take off my camera. I'm going to take off my camera. Just wait a second.

No, I think if you would be ever possible to stop the car for a little while, because sometimes we hear very well.

Yeah, we're going to do that. Yeah, we're going to do that.

Yeah, now it's good, for example.

Okay, so I hope you heard what I was saying. And I think I'll stop here and I'm happy to take some of the questions.

Sorry. Yeah, maybe if you could just repeat the last two, three sentences you said, that's what we haven't heard. We heard the figures and then...

Okay, so I was talking about the physical damages. I don't know if you have a picture of this. And so what I was saying, what we were able to observe this morning is search and rescue is ongoing. And we also witnessed people had just been rescued as we were walking and visiting the site, one of the site which has been severely damaged. We saw a whole truck full of people, an entire family had just been rescued and I can tell you it was very, very emotional. People are extremely, extremely stressed, but obviously very, very happy that they were rescued from this ordeal. So this is what we have observed. We have also observed that the priority Uh, it's hard to reach, you know, you have two of the location where, um, it's, you no longer can reach the population. The only way for reaching them is via helicopter because the bridge are no longer there. So everything is airlifted, even clean water. water is a big issue having access to clean and safe water. So that's one thing that we have observed. So they are shipping water with the helicopter, they're shipping non-essential food, but they are also shipping with helicopter foods. We also, they're looking, the government is mobilizing equipment such as cargo drone. They have also requested, so for example, my colleague from have provided generators because electricity is obviously an issue. Though I want to stress that what we were told is the hospital in the main area are still functioning and they have been able to transfer people. In total, 73 people have been injured and have been treated and some of them have been released. So what we can, what I can say is you have an enormous operation, more than 30,300 people people, military, security service personnel from Nepal have been mobilized. It's a huge operation from the side of the government. And we are increasingly ourselves obviously mobilizing financial resources and also starting to scale up our support. We are doing that under the close coordination. The government is leading the response. I want to stress The United Nation is not coordinating. My job is to coordinate United Nation, but it's the government who's coordinating. And they have activated the cluster and the UN and the, uh, and the, and the, uh, um, partner and the UN clusters have been also activated. I'll stop there.

Thank you very, very much, Madam, for briefing our journalists in such a difficult situation. I'll open the floor to questions now for you, just for the rest and coordinators, so that afterwards we can listen from the other speakers. I see Agnes Pedrero from the French news agency, Agnes, bonjour.

Can you hear?

Yes, yes, she's waiting.

Hello, I wanted to.

Know, do you have any information concerning the hundred workers who are stuck in a tunnel near the border between Nepal and China? Do you have any information on their status, on the rescue operations?

Thank you. Search and Rescue. And on a due fair, reboussé chemin revenir sur, uh, Kathmandu. Uh, donc, uh, ils ont due interrompé les, uh, tout a été interrompu.

Merci beaucoup, Jeremy Lange, Radio France International.

You may not understand well.

Tanto Jeremy.

Merci. Question pour faire suite à ça, est-ce que la raison pour laquelle vous avez dû quitter les lieux, c'est le lac qui s'est formé en amont et qui a fait de... And a question on the number of localities today that remain to be reached. I understand that they have not been able to be reached precisely even by helicopter. Is that the number of villages that today have still not been able to be visited after the drama?

Don't. And on and on, a two-pros, you, an alert to have your phone, and don't put on the on a view, see the junkies, the cabin to the board, the, the, the, the river. And it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank.

You. Thank you. Um, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank.

Yes, I hear you, Nick.

Great, thank you. Does the government have enough helicopters? And secondly, we hear about the danger, the fear of another calamity emerging from leakage from a lake. Is the government, is there now another program of evacuation of villages downstream from that area underway and what kind of area is affected by that? Thank you.

Yes, so in terms of a helicopter, I cannot speak for the government. What we've seen is that there was a helicopter and they were working non-stop. So that's, and they were functioning, whether that's enough or not, I'm not an expert, so I cannot answer to this question. In terms of, yes, what we saw this morning while we were there, once the alarm went off, that we saw everybody was following the order and seeking refuge. Uh, we also saw trucks lo- loading, uh, people, uh, particularly people who are living by the riverbank and were brought up, uh, for, uh, uh, to safe- to safety. So, uh, there is a system and what we could observe is the system is working.

Madam, thank you very, very much for briefing our journalists while on the move. We'll let you go, but if the journalists have got more questions for you, Jens is available to collect them and send them to you and get you an answer. Thank you again and good luck with your very important work in this dire situation. And let's stay on Nepal now with the other speakers that we have today. And I'd like to start now by welcoming our special representative of the UN Secretary General Kamal Kishore, who will tell us more about the disaster aspect of this catastrophe?

Thank you. Thank you very much. First of all, condolences to communities in both the countries that have been affected by this event. In a living memory, we haven't seen a mountain hazard event like this for a very, very long time. The impact on lives, livelihoods, buildings, infrastructure, bridges, Uh, hydroelectric projects, uh, power generation, it's really immense, and I think we are still, uh, coming to grips with the extent of the damage. I also have to say that this is the time to stand in solidarity with the people who've been affected. I think in Nepal, the honorable Prime Minister himself is leading the response efforts. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, who the UN works very closely with, is doing a remarkable job of coordinating the response. So all the investment that has been made by the government, by the international system in strengthening that system is really now functioning in the of this very, very tragic disaster. I just want to say three more points. The first is that the situation, as was highlighted earlier, is very much dynamic. A major event happened day before yesterday, but in terms of what is happening upstream in the mountains, it's very dynamic and it is something which will call for a continued vigilance. need for staying alert so that the response can be very effective and it can be quite alert to other cascading hazards that might unfold. It is also a reminder that many of the hazards that we deal with, many of the disaster risks that we deal with in 21st century are transboundary. It has again highlighted how fragile mountain ecosystems are and how challenging it is to set up early warning systems in mountain environments where you are not predicting one hazard, but you're predicting a range of cascading hazards. So there will be a lot of learning in times to come, but for now, it's really the time for solidarity with people of Nepal. The government is doing a great job of coordinating the response. There is support from the United nations, bilateral support from many other countries, and all of this needs to come together to alleviate the suffering and put the people back on a path of resilient recovery. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, SRS G. And thank you also because you will stay also later on after we finish with Nepal with another item on El Nino. So I'd like now to go to Kathmandu again where Tommaso has brought us David Fisher, who is the IFRC head of delegation for Nepal. So sir, if you want to give us a few brief remarks, thank you.

Good morning. Thank you very much for making time for us. I won't repeat what Leela has said, just to mention, of course, that the trauma of this event is absolutely enormous. We've heard from our own Nepal Red Cross volunteers in the communities themselves just how devastating it was and that the emotional impact as well as the initial needs are still very, very high for them. as well as for their neighbors. There are still areas that are only accessible by helicopter, as we had heard, which is extremely difficult. And we have not been able to start the initial rapid assessment process in Rasuwa, which is normally undertaken by the Nepal Red Cross, the police and the local authorities. which is basically the first official assessment process. It has started in Novakot, which is the second most affected district slightly to the south, but it's not yet completed. And so we are operating on still very, very estimated figures, but we believe that at least 93,000 people have been affected and are in great need. We're, of course, very, very concerned about the secondary flood. I'm so glad to see that Lillo is okay. From our own colleagues, we've heard that it was nowhere near, thank goodness, the force of the flood on Wednesday has not even, had not even reached Nova Scotia yet, even though it started in the morning just before I joined. and that it, they haven't seen damage in that area. However, it's of course extremely worrying. It has blocked this today's truck of shipments also from our side from reaching the area. And the authorities have been working very hard to restore the road access. And we're afraid that this will also have been delayed by the the alert and asking people to move away from low-lying areas. We're happy to report that we're finally in phone contact with our volunteers in Wasula. They are there well. They've been working with the armed forces as they arrive by helicopter to support with the distribution of relief. But we have not yet been able to provide any relief items from outside to them, and the needs are very, very high. We know that thousands of homes have been destroyed in addition to the infrastructure that was mentioned by Lila. We know that the death toll is very high, unfortunately, likely to continue to rise. The Federation has launched an emergency appeal seeking 25 million Swiss francs to support the response of the Nepal Red Cross to this emergency. We expect this to run for 24 months. It will support action across shelter, cash assistance, health, water and sanitation, household relief items, safe water, hygiene, mental health, psychosocial support, and restoring the links of people who have been separated from their families. But it will also have a very strong recovery focus. It's really important even now in the very beginning to be thinking along those lines and to ensure that our solidarity is not limited to immediate survival, but also to allowing these communities to heal and ensuring that people are not living under tarpaulins and tents months and months from now. So we have support from the government for this approach, and we know that the authorities have been very proactive, as Ila mentioned, and they're very keen to act quickly and to provide an effective relief together with their partners, and we've greatly appreciated that.

Thank you.

We have, we've already deployed teams, I mentioned, sorry, to the area, and we are looking forward to the support of the global community. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Fischer, for these words. And I'll come back to Geneva, maybe UNICEF. Ricardo, and then we'll hear from WHO, and I'll open the floor to questions again.

Thank you, Alessandra. Good morning. Bonjour, everyone. Um, my colleagues already painted a very grim picture of the situation on the ground in Nepal. So I will just give a very quick overview of the impact on children, because they're always the first to suffer and the ones that suffer the most. We know that at least 17,000 children are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. They have been impacted severely by what happened in Nepal, by the flash floods. At least 14 children are confirmed dead. Sadly, many more remain missing, and we expect these numbers could rise as search and rescue efforts continue. In a matter of minutes, children saw their homes, their schools, health facilities, and communities damaged or simply swept away. Too many children have lost family members and loved ones. Sadly, we're only seeing the beginning of this tragedy, and we share our sympathies and our condolences to those who've lost loved ones. For those who survived the emergency, is far from over. Children now face increased risks of disease, malnutrition, violence, and exploitation, as well as the psychological impact of what they have experienced, very traumatic events. We've all seen the images. It's quite brutal and shocking and unexpected. This is very important. The emergency does not end when the flood waters recede. The consequences for children can last for months and even years. especially in an area where the topography is so complex and access, as my colleagues have described, remains a big, big challenge for humanitarian workers. Some of the hardest-hit areas are making it extremely difficult for us to continue lifesaving assistance for children and families. On the education front, which is again a very serious impact for children, 18 schools have been completely destroyed and another 20 have been damaged. Dozens more schools are located close to the riverbanks in affected areas and remain at high risk, which means an estimated 10,000 school-aged children in the area urgently need support to continue their education. And getting children back to learning is not just about education. In an emergency as such, a safe learning space provides children with protection, routine, and a sense of normality at a time when everything around them has been disrupted. UNICEF is working, of course, closely with the Government of Nepal and humanitarian partners to rapidly scale our response. Despite all the challenges, we're supporting children and families across health, nutrition, water and sanitation and hygiene, education, child protection, and social protection areas. In the coming days, pre-positioned supplies will be dispatched to the hardest-hit communities, and we will find a way to make them get there as quickly as possible. And just to finish, UNICEF is appealing for $17.2 million U.S. to sustain the emergency response and support in this early recovery process. And we hope the international community will get together again to support the children in the affected areas of Nepal. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Ricardo, indeed. Let me go now to WHO. Tariq is online.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Alessandro. I will truly try to be short. We heard a lot from colleagues. As resident coordinator said, our WHO colleagues were among those who visited some affected areas today, but had to cut short their visit as there were new flash floods warning. I will send more details in my notes, but just when it comes to health facilities, six health facilities have been damaged, four fully damaged in Rasuwa and two partially damaged in Dabing area. Eight health workers are missing. Now health authorities and partners are coordinating to manage patients, to ensure blood availability, provide first aid and maintain emergency response capacity. As always, when we have disaster of this scale, Uh, and, and we have, uh, we have displacement, overcrowding, and we, we may have disruption of water, sanitation, health services, and that can increase the risk of infectious diseases. Uh, right now, really the priority is to ensure continuity of health services. The government of Nepal is leading the response. They have reached out, uh, for support to meet the immediate needs of affected communities. Four emergency medical teams have been deployed from Kathmandu to affected districts to provide treatment to injured people. More are on the standby. Now from WHO, we mobilized and dispatched essential emergency medical supplies, including an interagency emergency health kits that can cater for the health needs of nearly 10,000 people for three months, along with the multipurpose tents, but also body bags. And then based on urgent needs that have been identified, WHO today handed over a number of items including surgical masks, N95 masks, hand sanitizer, surgical gloves, and body bags. You will have all the details in the notes. Again, priority is to support health services for the affected communities and to restore disrupted health services. I'll stop here. Thank you, Alessandra.

Thank you, Tariq. And let me give the floor finally to Jens for a final remark from OCHA.

Yeah, thank you very much. And good morning, everyone. As we just heard from the resident coordinator there, there was an alert this morning and they basically had to abandon their mission. And given the devastation that we have seen from what happened first, this is frankly bone chilling. because there is, of course, a lot of people there. There's a lot of rescue workers in the area. So our concern is very high. I want to just point to a statement that emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher, who has been following this really minute by minute since it happened, has just put out. You can find it on his X channel where he says, "We are moving at speed to save lives after the ferocious flash floods. in Nepal and China. I remain in close contact with our teams in the region and the Nepalese and Chinese authorities." He also says, "Challenges are great. Bridges and roads are destroyed and communication is compromised." And he thanks the humanitarians facing danger and the challenges to save lives. So just wanted to point you to that statement.

Thank you very much. And let me conclude also with pointing you to the world of solidarities that the Secretary-General has expressed two days ago, where he has said he was saddened by the severe flooding in Nepal and China, which has claimed many lives, left people missing, and caused widespread destruction, extended his condolences to the families of the victims, as the SRSG has also said, and wished a swift recovery to those injured, and assured of the support of the United Nations, which we have heard until now. So let me now open the floor to questions. I see first okay, let's start with the room. Agnes, French news agency.

Yes, a question to OCHA and to others, IAFRC. UNICEF mentioned 17,000 children in need of humanitarian assistance. Do you have a global figure of the population which is in humanitarian assistance to have not just the children, but also the men and women? And IFRC mentioned 93,000 people affected. What does it mean concretely and how many of those people are injured? What are the needs of those people? So if you could give us an overview of the people in humanitarian assistance. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you, Agnes. As you know, assessments are ongoing and we do not have an overall figure. for that, uh, at the moment. Of course, we will, uh, come to that, uh, when we are looking at exactly how, uh, the emergency response plan, uh, will be, will be, you know, structured and built, and in particular, for how long time, right? Uh, that's also an important factor.

Mr. Fischer.

Sorry, yeah, so, um, this, uh, 93,000 is only an estimate. Um, it's, it's, it's true that we have not been able to carry out, uh, the kinds of dedicated assessments that we normally would. Um, but the national assessment process, uh, as I mentioned, the initial, uh, uh, rapid assessment, uh, that Nepal has started now just, uh, just today in, in Novocort. Back to you.

Yes. Yes, my mic should be there. Yeah. Yeah, so about those 93,000 people, who they are, what are their needs, how many of them are injured, if you have any information, and how this figure came out. Thank you.

Mr. Fischer.

Thank you, yeah, so we don't have the detail, unfortunately, because the detailed assessments have not yet been done. It's an estimate based on what our local branches have seen in their discussions with the authorities. Certainly many people, as we've heard, have suffered trauma and had to go to the medical centers. We have seen, of course, the pictures of so many homes that have been destroyed. But how many of these are homeless, how many of these are in other kind of need, I'm not able to say today.

Thank you very much. Emma Farge, Reuters.

Yes, good morning. I'm hoping Mr. Kishore and Mr. Fischer can elaborate on the possible cascading hazards. So the lake overflowed this morning. Could it burst again? Could you just elaborate on the risks? And Mr. Fischer, you said that your trucks were blocked. I didn't quite understand why, uh, and also what were they carrying? Were they carrying rescue items or were they rescuing people? If you could just explain a bit, uh, that detail. Thank you.

Thank you. I must start with Mr. Kishore. I think he's the first part of your question about disaster cascading. And then I will go to Mr. Fischer for the trucks.

So in the mountains, there is no flood, which is a simple flood. There is a landslide or a part of a glacier breaks and then creates an artificial dam, which holds water, then which breaches and again causes flash floods. So this is a very dynamic thing. What specifically is happening in Nepal right now in that river basin is something for people who are actually on the ground to comment on. Just to highlight that we are working in a situation of extremely high risk as well as a lot of uncertainty. It's a unique challenge for the emergency response itself because in a sense, the disaster is not yet completely over. It is still unfolding in some ways.

Mr. Fisher, the trucks.

Yes, thank you. So given the flood that started this morning, the authorities have blocked, had blocked traffic and this is why our truck could not continue up to Novokut. But we're happy to say so far, at least from our information, that this is not anywhere near as intense so far. But that doesn't mean that it's over.

Thank you. Exactly. Okay, so thank you very much. I don't see other hands up in the, in the platforms. I'd like to, Agnes, go ahead.

Yes, maybe a question to WHO. Um, given there is a lot of floods and everything, um, do you expect any specific, uh, disease outbreak, uh, anything that people should be, uh, uh, aware of? Thank you.

Tarik.

Yes, um, uh, Thank you, thank you, Agnes.

We can't see you. I don't know why. We can hear you, but we can't see you.

Yes, yes, for some reason, I'm not able to do my camera. But yes, every time there is a displacement, there is overcrowding, then there is a risk of not having access to clean water, which then means that there is a risk of infectious diseases. There is also increased risk of respiratory diseases. But every time we have such incidents, really the priority is the is the trauma injuries, people who have been injured need to get access to immediate medical care for that. And that's why we are working with the government to make sure there is a disease surveillance so in case there is any outbreak, that it can be dealt with quickly.

Thank you very much, Tarik. So thank you everyone who has participated in this update on the situation in Nepal. Thank you very much to our colleagues. Thanks for having brought Mr. Fisher, Tommaso. Thanks, Mr. Fisher, and good luck with your work. I'd like to keep SRS G Kishore on the podium for the second item. And maybe, I don't know, Claire, if you also want to come since you have an update too. It's on El Nino. So I'll give you the floor, sir, first.

Thank you very much for this opportunity to engage. I am going to talk a little bit about the El Nino and how we are preparing for it and how the world needs to prepare for dealing with the risks associated with El Nino. There is a forecast issued by WMO regularly. There will be an updated forecast to be issued next week. So that will provide the global seasonal outlook on, uh, what is, uh, how El Nino is unfolding and what is the kind of, uh, uh, impact it will have in terms of variations in temperature and rainfall across the world. But I just want to say that El Nino by itself is not a disaster. In fact, it is not even a hazard by itself. It causes more rainfall in some areas, it causes less rainfall in some areas, and we have a lot of lead time to actually anticipate some of these things and take actions to elevate the impacts. In fact, there could be some locations where you could harness potential benefits. For example, if there region which normally gets very high rainfall in a normal season and it is the prediction is that the rainfall will be less than normal, maybe there is an opportunity to harness that situation because you are not going to get the flooding that you get every year. So in this regard, the United Nations system is working as a system, a number of UN agencies, WMO, FAO, WFP, My organization, UNDRR, UNDP, Development Coordination Office, DPPA, and others have come together and provided consolidated guidance to resident coordinators to work alongside governments in ensuring that we are well prepared and we do an effective job of managing risks associated with the El Nino. There are three top line messages. Of course, you know, many things are location specific, but since this is a global break, Uh, I will say three top line messages, we, which basically apply to all countries across the world. The first thing I want to say is that dealing with risks associated with El Nino is not a hundred me- meter sprint. It is a marathon. It is going to unfold over several months, more than a year, and the effects are different across different regions in different locations. So it's really important that national authorities work alongside the national met agencies, the regional centers, and of course at the global level with WMO to keep an eye on what is unfolding. Of course, we can anticipate many of the impacts based on analogous El Nino events in the past. But no two El Ninos are alike, so it is really important that our method of anticipating what will happen and how we will respond to what will happen is something which is very dynamic. It requires a coordination mechanism which is running for the next 12 to 18 months. If we do that well, this is something that is going to serve us well in terms of building resilience into the future as well for other climate hazards. The second message is that a lot of the times the focus is on one or two sectors very narrowly. And the most obvious one is agriculture. Of course, agriculture is affected very badly in many parts of the world. But the effects are actually really multi-sectorial. It is on availability of water. water, including drinking water. There are implications for energy production where reservoirs are running low and the hydropower electricity generation capacity may be compromised. It is for other infrastructure systems. For example, Panama Canal, you know, it is serviced by two reservoirs. If the water level is down there, it affects the traffic. But all of it is something that we can anticipate and we can prepare. So my second message is that it is really important that countries take a multi-sectorial approach in addressing this and the United Nations system stands ready to support that effort. And the third point is that it's really important that we focus on local level and really identify communities and locations that are more vulnerable than the others. And we do not apply approach which is same for every place, for every community, because some of the impacts are really focused in some locations for some people. Uh, the impact could be much higher. For example, you could have a country where the national forecast is that there is going to be reduction in rainfall by 30% or whatever. but that's not evenly spread. If we did analysis, we will figure out that it's in only certain locations and there are certain communities. So it's really important that we focus on the most vulnerable locations and communities in a proactive way. And an essential part of that is making resources available. So it's not just focusing in an abstract way, but making resources available at the local level for that action. So if we did these three things, you know, take an iterative long-term approach, sustain our attention, Uh, on El Nino took a multi-sectorial approach and focused on the most vulnerable. I think at the end of this El Nino, we can come out looking very good in terms of how we manage the risks associated with the El Nino. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, SRS G. Kishore. And Claire, you had an announcement just on El Nino, maybe about the next week, right?

Yeah.

So I thank you very much indeed for that. I don't have much of substance to add to that. It's just more logistics. The World Meteorological Organization, we will be issuing the next El Nino update on the Thursday, the 3rd of September. There'll be a press conference. in this room with our Secretary-General Celeste Saulo. We hope to send everything out to you under embargo in all the official languages by Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest. And this El Nino update, we produce this four times a year. It is a consensus product. It's based on input from all our global producing centers and our big network of experts. And we are accompanying this with the, what we call the global seasonal climate update, and that has more detail on the, on breaking it down region by region. So as I said, stay tuned for that. But just to emphasize that the United Nations really is working very, very closely together on this. WMO, we really are committed and we really appreciate all the cooperation. It's a big challenge and we're in this together. Thank you.

Absolutely. Thank you very much. Let me open the floor to questions, if any in the room. I don't see any. Or on the platform. It's your chance. You've been asking for El Nino questions for weeks. It's your chance to ask your questions to the SRS-G. But I don't see any hand up. I guess you've been extremely clear. So, SRS, thank you very much. You want to add something, Shosh? Go ahead.

I just want to add one comment. All the effort that the United Nations system and other partners, IFRC, and national authorities have made in increasing the reach of early warnings through the SDG's initiative on early warning for all, all of that will come in handy in dealing with the consequences of the El Nino. Next week, we will have a forum in Africa, in Addis Ababa, in collaboration with the African Union, where WMO, UNDRR, IFRC, and ITU will convene all the countries from the region to take stock of how the early warning systems are doing in Africa, what we've achieved in the last few years, what remains to be done, and how do we sustain focus on improvement of early warning systems. Thank you.

Thank you for this announcement, sir. Thank you. I'd like to thank you very much. We continue with the briefing. Let's go ahead now with our next speaker who is in Ukraine. I don't need to introduce you to Dr. Yarno Havych, you know him very well. Welcome, Yarno, the Ukraine representative of WHO. You are calling in from Kyiv. Tarek is also online. I'll give you the floor for your update on the health situation in Ukraine. Thank you.

Thank you. And first of all, I wanted also say our hearts and minds are with many in Nepal where we have many, many different nations impacted, including Ukrainians. And I wish all the health workers, but everybody involved in rescue also all the strength as it is unfolding. But today I'm joining you from Kiev, where we have experienced numerous alarms and attacks with the highest numbers since Russian Federation invasion in February 2022. And I would like to draw your attention to last week's daytime attack on the ground at shopping mall in Kiev Reef, far from frontline as families were preparing for the new school year. As a result of two attacks, 140 people were injured, including 23 children, and 16 people lost their lives. What that means for us as a WHO, it means to support health workers and two hospitals in their operations. We distributed emergency medical supplies to treat the injured, including medicines, trauma supplies, and burn care materials to cover 300 patients. And this is just an example from the past four and a half years, which puts civilians under daily risk and stress and at the same time, the health system under stress to provide care. Now, let me focus a little bit more on humanitarian response in the frontline oblasts and WHO support in 2026. First, we have continued deliveries as nine WHO direct convoys and 22 UN interagency convoys. And the last two convoys actually to Donetsk Oblast are taking place as we speak now and to ensure that communities are supported. And this has allowed us to reach 51 hard to reach communities with much needed medicines, equipments to hospitals and various supplies. Second, we continue to provide medical supplies to health cluster partners to reach out to other communities, and I would like to thank all the humanitarian partners who are working throughout those weeks, days and years in the past. The third, the WHO supported primary care teams have provided 13,130 consultations in the past eight months. And that is important to notice that the pace of those consultations are similar like last year. So the needs are continuously there. Fourth, in hard-to-reach areas where the pharmacies are closed, the WHO delivers over-the-counter medicine and various kits related to this, reaching 28,400 people. And fifth, as part of the WHO's overall humanitarian response by providing equipment and supplies to over 300 health facilities, including primary care, hospital, laboratories, but also the transit centers where people are going through after evacuations. We have supported the health system in reaching 3 million beneficiaries. Now, a topic that we discussed also in May last time is on attacks on health. We observe and report continuous attacks reaching by today, 3,205 attacks as of today. But today, we also need to mention that attacks are impacting how we as humanitarian community can provide life-saving and necessary support. As we in 2026, we have had already 20 attacks to various warehouses where humanitarian supplies are held, including 13 health-related supplies holding warehouse. As WHO, we have experienced attacks in July in Kyiv and in August in Dnipro, where we have lost considerable number of medical supplies and equipment that was intended to reach 225,000 people. So we are also stretched what we can do and we need to replenish all of those supplies. This brings very different challenge to the support to people who need health care basically all over the country. And I would like to thank the health and care workers in Ukraine for their heroic work and resilience over the past years. But the toll on Ukraine's health work is also becoming increasingly clear. Recent WHO national research shows that More than one in four doctors and nurses report symptoms compatible with major depressive disorders, while one in five healthcare workers report signs of anxiety disorders. This impact of war to the health and care workers impacts all, as the whole system is responding. So meaning in east part of them, our south part of the country, on the frontline, but equally in the western part. Everybody among the healthcare workers are impacted. And our role is to introduce more policies and tools to help those who save others and save lives. To support the wellbeing of the healthcare workers, WHO has integrated psychological first and self-care into the emergency medical team training, reaching 41 professionals in 11 regions. And another good example is WHO's Doing What Matters in Times of Stress program for primary care and rehabilitation workers, which has reached more than 700 health and care workers and demonstrated significant improvements in psychological well-being, daily functioning, symptoms of stress, depression, anxiety, and PTSD. And that is extremely important, and I have seen number of partners addressing the same matter, is that we can support also healthcare workers who have been going through COVID and the war over the past years. We must be prepared for another difficult winter to do everything possible to save lives. To help keep essential health services running, WHO has already installed 30 heating units for various health facilities, with 22 planned before winter. And I was just visiting yesterday one of the hospitals where the ongoing construction is going and they are getting ready to have that heating station in place in October. And finally, I'd like to thank all of you as well as we have had number of briefings in UN Palais and this is my last briefing in my role as a WHO representative in Ukraine. Eight years ago, time flies very quickly, I came to Ukraine to support health reform and health system transformation, one of the fastest in Europe. Since then, together with WHO team and many partners, we have faced major public health challenges from measles, polio, COVID-19, to scale up the response to non-communicable diseases and address population aging. Since 22, our team has focused mostly on how to support health system and people in Ukraine to withstand the devastating impact of full scale war. And just one lesson that I take with me is that response, recovery and reform cannot wait one on another. They must happen together and simultaneously. And only that way we can build resilient health systems and ensure that nobody is left behind. So thank you. for reflecting on Ukraine, thank you for listening me also over the years, and in next briefings, you will see already the new WHO representative in Ukraine. Thank you. Back to you in Geneva.

Yano, thank you so very much. I wasn't conscious of the fact that it was your last briefing and we really appreciate that you have reserved it to the briefing to the media in Geneva and also all the work, as you say, eight years have gone very fast and we were really, really happy to have you constantly with us telling us the situation of health in this war-torn country. I'll open the floor to questions now if there is any. I don't see any in the room or on the platform. But really, I think we have a depth of recognition, of gratitude towards you for your constant support. Good luck with your next endeavors. And yeah, we will continue. highlighting the situation of health in Ukraine. Thanks very much again. And I'd like now to welcome our next speaker who is coming from UNHCR. So Carlotta has brought us Elisabeth Thun. I also don't need to introduce you, Mrs. Thun, because everybody knows you've been briefing our journalists often. You are the UNHCR Director of International Protection and Solutions. I'd like to speak about the 65-year mark of the convention.

Thank you very much, and good morning, everyone. So I'd like to talk to you today about statelessness. It is 65 years since states put together a convention on the reduction of statelessness, and so this is an opportunity to highlight the issues around statelessness as well as how we can address it. So at the heart of that convention is a simple promise that no one should be left without a nationality. And yet today there are about 4.5 million stateless persons worldwide, and this is just the official statistics. So we know that the true number is likely much higher because often these populations and individuals are invisible in official data. So statelessness is not an abstract issue. It affects almost every aspect of individuals' lives. Without a nationality, a person often cannot get an identity document, has difficulty enrolling in school, access to healthcare, can't work legally, often can't open a bank account, own property, or even travel. In addition, parents often can't register the birth of their children, so that means that children inherit that kind of exclusion and that perpetuate statelessness generation after generation. So at its most basic level, then, statelessness means that no state recognizes you as its national. So this anniversary allows us to take stock and to also accelerate progress. Statelessness falls within UNHCR's mandate. We've been tasked by the General Assembly with a responsibility to identify and protect stateless people and also to help states to prevent and reduce statelessness. So there are two conventions actually, one which deals with the protection of those who are already stateless, and then the 1961 Convention, which speaks to the prevention of statelessness. So I wanted to share with you today some of the progress that has been made. So since 2024, more than 650,000 stateless people have managed to acquire a nationality or have their nationality confirmed, and 94 countries have strengthened the safeguards in their nationality laws. Turkmenistan resolved all known cases of statelessness on its territory in 2024. In Thailand last year, accelerated procedures introduced last year allowed 120,000 stateless people to secure nationality or permanent residence. And in Syria, recent measures by the government have opened a pathway to nationality for eligible members of the Kurdish communities who had faced decades of legal uncertainty. So there is clearly progress, and we know how that progress can be achieved. However, discrimination continues to be a major concern for statelessness. In 24 countries, women cannot confer nationality to their children on an equal basis with women. That needs to change. Some nationality laws still lack safeguards for children who would otherwise be stateless. Elsewhere, safeguards exist on paper, but they're not applied in practice. We also have cases of arbitrary deprivation of nationality, which is also a serious concern. So today, UNHCR is asking for four concrete things. that states should protect stateless persons that are on their territory and establish clear pathways through which they can acquire a nationality. Secondly, we would like to see those discriminatory nationality laws reformed so that every child can acquire a nationality. Thirdly, those legal frameworks, those two conventions, We would like all states to accede to those conventions to protect stateless persons on their territory, but also to find solutions for them. And then fourthly, there is a global alliance which is made-up of member states and civil society groups, UN agencies, which is working on practical solutions to support stateless persons, but also to help stateless persons acquire or reaffirm their nationality. This crucially includes quite a number of stateless-led organizations. These organizations and individuals are working tirelessly to help identify barriers, shape reforms, support communities through complex procedures, legal procedures that often are quite difficult to navigate. So these are essential partners in our efforts to end statelessness. We'll continue to work on this, and in today's just coming to address you today, we're really asking for more attention to these to the problem of individuals who are stateless and to just highlight that this is a preventable problem. It is also a solvable problem. It is within reach to solve statelessness for individuals and to truly give them a sense of belonging. So with that, thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Indeed, you want to add anything? Okay, so let me see if there's any question for you in the room or online. I've seen that the notes have been distributed, so you have all this information on this important anniversary and important to call again for action in this field. Mrs. Dunn, thank you very, very much, and thanks for being here until now, patiently waiting. And I also have another briefer who is patiently waiting, Ms. Marta. So thank you again. And Marta, you're the last no, you're not the last, in fact, we have a couple more speakers, but the last topic on our agenda. Thank you very much. And Tariq is telling us that the WHO notes have been sent by emails, which is good. And Marta, you have an item on Haiti. Thank you.

So good morning, everyone. You have received a while ago a press briefing note on Haiti that I'm going to read right now. A recent armed attack in Kenscoff, a commune on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, is a stark reminder of the persistent brutality of gun violence inflicted on local and displaced populations in Haiti. Based on information we have been able to verify so far, at least 47 people were killed in the 23rd August attack, including three boys and two girls, and 22 others were wounded. More than 52 people were abducted. In the evening of 23 August, approximately 150 heavily armed gang members stormed several localities near downtown Kherson and opened fire at residents attempting to flee through the streets, killing at least 13. The attackers subsequently pursued more than 50 residents who had sought refuge in a Protestant church. After forcing them out of the church premises, they executed 22 of them in the church courtyard and 12 others behind the church. As they retreated from downtown Kinkof, gang members abducted 52 people, including one boy and four girls. In an audio recording shared on social media on 24 August, the gang threatened to execute them if security operations against them continued. The mass killing of Kenscoff underscores the urgent need for national authorities to enhance the protection of the population, particularly communities living in areas affected by gang violence. Illicit flows of firearms and ammunitions into Haiti continue to bolster and empower armed gangs. On 24 August, another gang operating in Port-au-Prince appeared to display on social media what seemed to be a new shipment of weapons arriving from abroad, despite the United Nations arms embargo on Haiti in place since 2022. This comes as Haitians continue to endure horrific human rights violations and abuses. Between 1st of April and the 30th of June this year, Our human rights service in the UN integrated office in Haiti has recorded 1,408 people killed and 656 injured in the context of gang related violence. In the same period, 326 people were subjected to sexual violence, although these figures are likely to be substantially higher given the significant challenges in collecting data on sexual violence due to fear of retaliation, social stigma, difficult in accessing services providers, and lack of trust in police. Independent impartial investigations into allegations of human rights violations and abuses are essential, along with efforts to strengthen accountability mechanisms and combat impunity. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk calls on the Haitian authorities to ensure that the specialized judicial units to investigate mass crimes, le pôle judiciaire spécialisé, which were created with our office assistance, are promptly and fully operationalized, enabled to address grave cases such as this. Accelerating the deployment of the gang suppression force to counter gang violence in a strict compliance with international human law and standards is also critical. We urge all relevant actors to ensure a strict application of both domestic and international regulations on arms controls, as well as adherence to the UN arms embargoes to Haiti. Thank you.

Thank you very much. And I'd like to also recall the condemnation that the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has made, forceful condemnation of the devastating assault that Um, Marta has spoken about, um, so let me see if there are questions for you, Marta, in online or in, yes, please.

Question.

After I'll do the interview with you.

We don't hear you. We don't hear you. There, we hear you.

Yes. So I said I'll do the interview after with you, but I wanted to ask another question before. In Haiti, the number of children recruited by gangs has increased by 70 percent, according to UNICEF figures. These children are the new generation without which Haiti will not be able to rebuild or have good institutions tomorrow. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you. You might remember that we issue a report on trafficking in children in February where we detail all the abuses that children are subjected to in Haiti. Not only they don't have access to school in places where the gangs are present, but as well they are recruited by gangs, they are sexually abused. This is particularly acute for children living either in displaced camps or in places where they are really low socioeconomic levels, and especially for those without parents and accompanied children. All of that, it's well documented and the authorities needs to tackle this and the root causes which start leveling the socioeconomic level of these areas and of course tackling gang violence. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Martha. Just to remind you that today at 3 PM New York time, The Security Council will convene a special meeting to discuss this attack and violence, the gang violence in Haiti. Of course, it's late for us, but if you want to follow it, it will be at 3:00 p.m. in New York Times webcast by UN Web TV. Let me see if there are other hands up. I don't see any. So Marta, thank you very much and thanks for being with us for this long briefing. Is David, yes, David, please come to the podium. You have an announcement also patiently waiting to tell us about the upcoming reports that ITU is going to publish. Thank you.

Thank you, Alessandra. On Wednesday next week, 2 September, ITU will release the Greening Digital Companies report. That's the 2026 version with the World Benchmarking Alliance. The report evaluates the climate performance of 200 digital companies globally by tracking key measures such as greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, renewable energy use, and for the first time in the 2026 report, also tracking climate transition planning. The report will be issued late on Wednesday. Apologies for that. It'll be at 10.15 Wednesday evening, our time here, when the embargo will lift. That's with your indulgence and coordination with the presentation that's taking place on Eastern time at ITU's World Telecommunication Policy Forum in the Bahamas. Up until that time, we have embargoed versions of the report and press release. available and on the ready, which we will circulate a note with the embargo information. Any reporters interested in receiving the embargo material, please be in touch with us at pressinfo@itu.int.

Thank you very much, David. Any question on this on the launch of this report? to ITU. I don't see any hand up. So thank you very much again. And yes, they will be waiting for the embargo information and also any information from UNCTAD now with Marcelo. Hola, Marcelo. Thank you very much for being with us. You have an update on the World Investment Forum upcoming.

Alessandra, hello, thank you for the time. Yes, it's a very quick announcement. Good morning, everybody. Just to flag that UNCTAD, UN Trade and Development will convene the ninth World Investment Forum in Doha, in Qatar, from the 25th to the 27th of October. The theme is investing in the future. This follows a visit to Doha this week, which concludes today, to advance planning with the Qatari partners and the local teams working on the organization of the forum. The WEF, as it's also known, the World Economic Forum, is the United Nations leading platform for the global investment community. It brings together governments, investors, and institutions to focus on how investment can better support development. This year's forum, comes at a particularly important moment, geopolitical tensions, economic fragmentation and rapid technological change are reshaping where investment goes and how supply chains are organized. Some of you, I'm sure, remember that last month we issued the World Investment Report showing the global direct foreign direct investment, FDI, recovered last year but remained uneven. Uh, the vast majority going to the 20 largest host communities and investment becoming really increasingly concentrated in a very small number of strategic sectors, so the question, uh, for Qatar is, uh, clear for Doha Forum is clear, how can investment reach more economies, support sustainable development and help countries. prepare for the future, these will be addressed at forum registration is open for program available on our website, unctad.org. Thank you.

Thank you very much. And as usual, even if it's in Doha, Eunice is taking care of the media accreditation. My colleague, Ali Kafan, is dealing with that. So don't hesitate to address yourself to him or to, of course, UNCTAD's media team for the accreditations. Thank you very much, Marcelo. I'm just left with one announcement on the committees to tell you that the Committee on the Rights of the Child will open its 101st session next Tuesday, 1st September, at 10:00 AM. During this session, the Committee will review successively the reports of Lesotho, Timor-Leste, Tanzania, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Slovenia, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan. As you know, the committee's 18 independent experts monitor the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by its states parties, including the optional protocols to the convention on the involvement of children in armed conflict and on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child ***********. So an important meeting opening on the 1st of September. And that is all I had for you, except to remind you that tomorrow is the International Day Against Nuclear Test. On the 30th of August is International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. And on the 31st, the international community comes together to commemorate the International Day for People of African Descent. So if you don't have any other question, I thank you very much. Wish you a very good weekend. Thank you very much for following this very, very long briefing. And I'll see you on Tuesday. Thank you.