UN Geneva Press Briefing: WMO, OCHA, WHO, UNICEF, UN WOMEN, OHCHR, UNHCR, IOM

So let's start the briefing again with two other speakers of exception. We have Julien Arnaud that you all know on screen, and we have the real pleasure to have him today in the press room. As you know, Julien is the special Ebola coordinator of the United Nations. is here to tell us, to give us an update in person on the situation of Ebola in DRC. And we also have Olivier Le Poulain, who is the unit head for epidemiology and analytics for response of WHO, who will complement Julien's briefing with the epidemiological situation in DRC related to Ebola. So, Julien, I'll start with you, and thanks very much for taking the opportunity of being in Geneva to come in person to brief.

Thank you very much. It's great to be here. I'll be heading back to Bunya tomorrow and in the areas of the Ebola epidemic, so very important to have the opportunity to engage with the press corps on what's going on. So it remains a deadly and massive epidemic. There are some areas of progress, but nonetheless, in other areas, we continue to see growth in cases. There is an integrated response, but we need to do more in some of the areas of new transmission, and we need much more international solidarity. So to just describe the extent We have cases in Bunia, in Ituri, and at the far other end of the country in Sudu Bangi. That is like a distance from Geneva to Dublin. right? The area that is covered by where there's transmission of the or there are cases of Ebola is two time zones. It takes two and a half hours to fly from one extent, one part of the epidemic to the other. And the different zones that are affected, the contexts are incredibly different. You have massive cities like Kisangani, 1.5 million You have areas where there's conflict. You have areas of artisanal mining. You have areas sparsely populated on the border with South Sudan, where I was two weeks ago. So it's a really variegated and heterogeneous environment, which is incredibly difficult to operate in. And you've the many areas, the roads, massive potholes, not even potholes, trucks disappearing into the mud. You've many areas, access even by small plane is complicated. And then there's violence against the response. Now, most Congolese citizens are fully supportive of the response. But nonetheless, there are small numbers, generally young men, artisanal miners and taxi motorcycle taxi drivers, who a minority of whom attack aid workers and attack health facilities. So it's a very difficult operating environment. My friend and colleague, Olivier, will get into the details of the epidemiology, but we're seeing some progress, particularly in Ituri and in Bunia, specifically. Some areas are under control. However, there are other areas, like in Butemba in North Kivu, where we're seeing the numbers come up. It's such a vast epidemic that it's difficult to talk about one epidemic, but there's rather many different locations that we're going to have to get the response right in all of those places. Now, in terms of the integrated response, it's one of the heartening things about this response is the excellent coordination between government leaders, be it the minister, be it Professor Miambe of the AINLP, Professor Ohuka, World Health Organization colleagues, UN agencies, NGOs, Africa CDC, there's just a really wonderful coordination, everybody focused against the response and working in innovative and integrated fashion. So that is, after many years, that's really something that strikes me personally and makes me very happy to see. We've got an integrated response on the scale-up of beds, very important in the emergency treatment centers. We've gone up from where we were about 900 beds, increased by 440 in the last month, something which we didn't think we could do, only because of the way the UN agencies and NGOs are coming together with the government on controlling Ebola transmission down the Congo River, again, excellent coordination between government and UN agencies. And then that integration is not just within the country, it's also internationally. We're having cooperation on post-exposure prophylaxis, on therapies, and very soon on new vaccines, which will be under trial. So you have local cooperation and integration, but also international cooperation and integration, which is making this which will make this response success if we fund it fully. Funding, generous response from the United States, from the UK, the EU has contributed, and Germany, and many other member states. But we will need more. And we will need more not just for the Ebola response, but also for the humanitarian response. The humanitarian response is only 49% funded. An Ebola epidemic makes things much worse for all Congolese in the affected areas. You get worsening increases in hunger, food insecurity, attendance in health centers drops, increase in maternal mortality, it interrupts treatment for HIV/AIDS, persons living with HIV/AIDS. So we also need to see funding for the humanitarian response. But it's not just money. We also need to have specialized technical emergency medical teams need to be deployed. There's been some indication from member states that they might be prepared to send those teams, but we need a far greater support and dedication of those resources. And with Ebola, you can't take your foot off the gas. You take your foot off the gas, and the epidemic will come straight back at us. So to slow and stop this, resources now. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Olivier.

Thank you very much. Good morning, everybody. I'll just provide a quick update on the epidemiology. A lot's been said already by Julian. So overall, in the DRC, the epidemic remains intense and geographically spread out. In just four months since the start of the outbreak today, and as of 12 September, we've had 7,200 cases reported and close to 3,500 deaths across 62 health zones and now seven provinces, covering a very vast geographic area. Although the response has been unprecedented in its scale, the epidemic continues to expand. The epidemiological situation is not uniform across the DRC right now. In Ituri, there are some early signs of reduced transmission in some areas, particularly those health zones that were affected the earliest, some signs in Bunia, but also certainly in Mbuabalu. But there are still about 300 cases reported on a weekly basis and approximately 160 confirmed deaths last week. That's about 50% of the caseload reported nationally. In North Kivu, we see cases picking up. Over the last two weeks, the number of weekly cases has increased from about 100 cases a week a few weeks back to 200 cases per week last week. So that's a doubling of the cases just in a few weeks in North Kivu. We're worried about particularly Butembo and Katwa, that sort of urban central axis in the northern part of North Kivu, as well as Beni. In other provinces, the epidemiology remains mixed and the situation remains mixed. There's been no new confirmed case in South Kivu since the end of May. We had one recent case now in a new province in Sud-Bangui that will require a specific response, and that response is being set up right now. Three cases have been reported in Bawele and in Chopo, particularly around Kisangani, we see sporadic cases, but mostly among people who've traveled from areas of known transmission. So the epidemiology there is very different from other affected areas. In Otwele, further north, closer to the border with South Sudan, we see about 30 to 40 new cases. Over the week, the situation has been somewhat steady, but nonetheless quite geographically spread out. But in addition to trends, there's a number of other indicators we're looking at to have a better sense of where the epidemic is heading towards. The percentage of deaths outside of designated Ebola treatment centers gives us a sense of how effectively cases and contacts are being identified and managed. The percentage of tests that come back positive also provide some insight into the scale, but also the intensity of transmission. And importantly, the percentage of new cases that are known contacts, so cases who have an epidemiological link with other cases, really gives us an indirect metric of how well the epidemic is being controlled. And none of those indicators right now are showing the level of improvement we'd like to see. So efforts need to continue. Efforts need to be strengthened. in all affected areas, including in areas at risk not reporting cases at the moment. The new cases detected last week in Sudibangi is a good reminder of the risk of this outbreak continuing to spread geographically and the need to scale up interventions also where there's no cases to make sure that we're able to pick those cases up, given the very high population mobility in that part of the world. We're supporting the government and all partners with all aspects of the response, including expanding surveillance, bed capacity, clinical management, logistics, infection prevention and control, just to name a few areas. We're also supporting research and development. Therapeutic and post-exposure prophylaxis trials are ongoing, and we're hoping to see vaccine trials up and running within the next few weeks. So overall, While there's some early signs of improvement, the efforts will need to be sustained and strengthened, building on early gains and keeping momentum in an epidemic response that will continue to be challenging, will continue to be demanding and resource intensive over the many months to come. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Olivier, and thanks to Julian again. Let me open the floor to questions. I'll start with RFI, Jeremy Lange.

Thank you very much. I'm going to ask my question in French, since I presume I can get a French answer from you. A question very simple. The authorities of RDC announced a few days ago, pardon, my voice is a little bit weak at the moment, the authorities of RDC announced that the peak of the epidemic would pass. I'm going to ask your opinion. Do you think this affirmation is true?

On répond en français, ça va, merci pour la question. Donc, la situation épidémiologique reste hétérogène, elle est mixte. Quand on voit les tendances à l'échelle nationale, ça ne reflète pas les tendances au niveau provincial ou au niveau local, et on a une épidémie qui, d'un côté... On montre des certains signes d'amélioration, particulièrement dans le centre de Lituri, Mungwalu, qui est la, qui est la zone de santé qui était affectée initialement, ainsi qu'au niveau de Bunia. On commence à voir des signes aussi d'amélioration. On a plus de place au niveau des lits. on a, on a, On a des tendances qui, on a l'impression, dans les quelques dernières semaines, commencent à fléchir. Mais d'un d'un autre côté, on a des tendances qui augmentent de manière importante, exponentielle, au niveau du Nord-Kivu. On a des tendances qui restent stables et qui augmentent au niveau du Haut-Twélé. On a certaines zones qui apparaissent plus sous contrôle, on a des cas sporadiques au niveau de Kisingani, donc là on est un peu plus confiant qu'on a une épidémie qui soit un peu plus contrôlée. On a le nord de l'Ituri au niveau de Harou où on n'a pas eu de cas depuis certaines semaines, une épidémie qui est plus contrôlée. Donc c'est vraiment une épidémie qui est mixte dans son épidémiologie. On pourrait la considérer comme plusieurs épidémies différentes et chacune de ces zones doit avoir une réponse épidémique. Particular, and response, who saw appropriate, who knew what transmission, but also who challenge the present, so in particular, don't the manager, and I like, situation is, but to mix, but the situation is, but to heterogen, but on a certain, but it's certain, seen, very, initiaux d'une épidémie qui commence à fléchir dans certaines zones, mais qui augmente de manière exponentielle dans d'autres zones. Et donc il faut vraiment qu'on continue les efforts dans toutes ces zones-là. Merci.

Je voudrais ajouter à ce qu'a dit mon ami Olivier, c'est aussi, ça dépend de la réponse. Si vous avez une épidémie, voilà, l'épidémie va suivre une certaine dynamique. Mais si la riposte n'est pas financée, Or, if we don't have the finances in a week or in a month or in two months, then obviously the epidemic will return. So, for this reason, it's absolutely essential that we continue to invest in the response. Thank you.

Thank you to both of you. Any other questions from the audience? I see Emma, Emma Farge, Reuters.

Sorry, it's related, but just if you could say clearly if you think it is a turning point. And there was talk of there being fear that this could be the deadliest Ebola outbreak ever. Is that still a possibility? And anything further you can say about the trajectory going forward, Olivier, you said months, but anything at all on the duration? And just a precision. Please, if you could say, Julian, which countries might be sending medical teams? Thank you.

So, we'll reverse the order. I'll start and then pass back to Olivier. What happens in the future depends upon what we do in the response. If member states fund us the response, And if we further increase the response, if we get out into these areas of new transmission, then maybe we are at a point of infection. If we do not get that funding, if there isn't the response that is growing, and then also there's the elements of how the vaccine trials will go. then we could find ourselves in a very different situation. And Olivier for the details.

Yes, thanks very much. Just to complement that, I think it's too early to confidently say that we've passed a peak. I think that's, we know from past experience that an epidemic can show early signs of improvement and then pick up again quite quickly. Um, as Julian mentioned, clearly, we're not at a situation where we can take our foot off the gas, in, in fact, we need to shift gears even further to make sure that we build on early momentum and gains and, and move forward, so that's one thing. Um, there are also, if you look at the epidemiological indicators, um, we, we're not seeing great improvements in some of the indicators that we are most worried about, for example, the. portion of deaths in the community remains very high. In some areas, 60, 70% of the deaths happen outside of Ebola treatment centres. So that's a sign that patients will come late or not come at all to healthcare facilities. And so being infectious in the community, spreading it onwards, but also not receiving the care they could have in Ebola treatment centres, and then augmenting survival by that means as well. The proportion of cases who are epidemiologically linked to other cases remains far too low. We've got about 20%, sometimes less than 20% of our new cases being known contacts. That tells us that the epidemic continues to be bigger than what we're seeing. So we're interpreting trends with a note of caution. We're looking at trends, we're looking at some positive signs, we're looking at some early impacts from the response in some areas, but we're also very conscious that the number of cases reported daily remains very high, higher than the DRC has ever experienced in past epidemics. If you look at four months into the epidemic right now with more than 7,000 cases reported, that is the fastest growing epidemic of Ebola we've ever had. So, you know, we need to sort of interpret the early signs also in the context of what's happening so far. Now, to your question about outlook, I entirely agree with Julian here. That really will depend with how much the response will be able to scale up. We don't have a crystal ball. We can make simulations. We can try to say, what if X, Y, and Z would be put in place and how would that move forward. But we know that with the volume of cases right now, with the incidence and the geographical extent, it will take many, many months to get this outbreak under control. the control fully and it will require significant support to do so. Thank you.

Thank you very much. I'll go to the platform.

So, there was the, um, the, on the emergency medical team, so there's discussions, um, there's, uh, there's discussions with, uh, European emergency medical teams or, uh, more specifically, um, with, uh, emergency medical teams from Europe, but also from the African continent. However, none of those discussions have yet satisfactorily have been yet satisfactorily concluded. The why those emergency medical teams are really important is that if we are to deal with the amount of cases and to provide appropriate care in ambulatory treatment centres, we need a lot more specialised medical staff than we have at the moment. We've done a lot of positive work. through the scaling up of the bed capacity. But unless we get more specialized medical care, we will eventually come to a plateau, which links back to the previous point, right? If you don't provide the care, if you don't finance the care, if you don't provide the technical resources, then Ebola is a live enemy and will come back at us. Thank you.

Just one question embedded within my triple question that wasn't addressed. It was just at one point there was talk of this potentially being the worst outbreak ever. Is that still a possibility or can you rule that out at this stage?

You know, I'd refer back to my previous points. What happens in the future depends upon what we do. Very clear.

OK, let me go to the platform. Catherine, bonjour, France 24.

Yes, good morning. Thank you for this briefing. My question va être également en français. Je profite de l'opportunité. La première question, est-ce que vous pourriez être plus précis sur, d'une part, les qualifications qui sont nécessaires pour les équipes médicales que vous aimeriez voir arriver Si you could also be precise on the African and European countries that plan to participate in the aid and support for the fight against this epidemic. You have also talked about a mixed situation compared to the seven provinces where you can see cases of Ebola. What about the regions occupied militarily by the M22? 3 et par l'armée régulière du Rwanda, à savoir Goma dans le Nord-Kivu et Bukavu dans le Sud-Kivu. Et une de mes dernières questions est le rôle que joue ou peut jouer le fleuve Congo, qui, nous savons, est emprunté par beaucoup de populations. Est-ce que vous craignez que cette épidémie et les cas se répandent sur le passage du fleuve et donc peuvent potentiellement atteindre Kinshasa et Brazzaville, la capitale du Congo, la République du Congo? Merci beaucoup.

Merci Catherine. Juste une seconde, on se. OK, on va commencer avec Julien, là, pour la ta première et 3e question.

Et donc, sur les équipes, d'habitude, c'est un c'est un système qui est organisé ou administré par l'Organisation mondiale de santé, qui travaille avec les États membres et des organisations internationales pour mobiliser des équipes, c'est-à-dire, ce n'est pas des individus, mais plutôt des équipes groupées et formées. specialized in health public specialized. Not necessarily specifically for Ebola, but for a diversity of possibilities. For these teams to be deployed, it's Obviously, it will require an accord du gouvernement qui envoie, l'accord du gouvernement qui reçoit. Il doit, et souvent, un financement est essentiel pour permettre à certains des États membres de fournir ces équipes. Donc ça, c'est le... ce qui... Les éléments nécessaires et les discussions sont en cours. Évidemment, vu que nous n'avons pas abouti à la fin de ces discussions, on n'est pas en mesure de donner les noms des pays concernés. Je vais parler du fleuve Congo et je laisserai le sujet sur Goma à Olivier. Le fleuve Congo, évidemment, c'est... Une grande partie de l'économie de la République démocratique du Congo passe de Kinshasa à Kisangani et de Kisangani à Kinshasa. Tous les jours, c'est 4000 personnes qui débarquent à Kinshasa en venant le long du fleuve. Donc c'est extrêmement... Excuse me, I just did it every day, every week. So it's of great importance, the Congo River. And it's precisely because of this that we're working with the Ministry of Health, the Director of Surveillance, together with the OMS, UNICEF, OIM. and the PAM, we have put in place a multidisciplinary approach that goes from Kisangani all along the river to Kinshasa, with the objective of protecting the travelers, protecting the people and their families who work on the boats and ships, and to ensure surveillance. along the river, and the taking care of, if ever, someone falls ill along the journey. This started a little over a month ago. It was financed through the SURF of OCHA to start this. So, this is an excellent example of the integration of the UN response, together with the government, which is reassuring, but obviously we have to be careful every day because the transmission along the river remains a possibility. Thank you. Thank you.

I will take the question on the situation, in particular in Goma and Bukavu. Your question, I think, is mainly about the visibility we have on these zones and our capacity to respond. We have teams present in the South Kivu and North Kivu, including in Goma. We haven't had any cases in the South Kivu since May, but we continue to have alerts, and that's what's most important, to ensure that we have the capacity to detect potential alerts when they arrive, that we can isolate patients and take them into charge in a way Approprié, mais aussi qu'on ait la capacité de tester. Donc, nous travaillons en tant qu'agence onusienne, mais aussi avec les partenaires, avec les autorités locales, afin de pouvoir s'assurer qu'on a un renfort nécessaire dans tous les aspects de réponse, y compris, très important maintenant, vraiment la surveillance et la détection pour pouvoir détecter les cas de manière précoce, les isoler de manière précoce, mais aussi, surtout, que s'il y avait des nouveaux cas, on puisse avoir ces...

If I'm allowed one final one, Julian, you talked about the need for more resources, financial resources. Could you be a bit more specific about where we are now and how much more is needed? Thank you.

Yes, certainly. So the Ebola response for DRC, there was an integrated plan that was developed with the government, or rather by the government with the support of Africa CDC. United Nations, NGOs, and also some member states were part of the process of validating that. And the need for that is $1.3 billion for a six-month period. Now, that is obviously a very important sum. But if you compare that to the consequences of not investing in the response and what happens when you Ebola gets out of control, it is a relatively small expense. If you look at what happened in West Africa, in a location which, in an area which is smaller population and physically a smaller size, the economic consequences of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa was in excess of $53 billion. If you look at the direct investment, the impact on other forms of health and livelihoods, and the economic impact. So early investment in slowing and stopping transmission is a wise choice. Then on the humanitarian side, the humanitarian needs and response plan is currently 49% funded. So we need approximately, um, another billion dollars on the HNRP because much of the Ebola epidemic is in, uh, areas of, of great, um, humanitarian, uh, need, be it in Ituri, you know, uh, or, or North, um, North Kivu, and the epidemic… And the response to the epidemic tends to worsen the humanitarian situation by depressing the economy, reducing access to healthcare, potentially affecting access to education. So it's a vast area and it needs very significant funding. Please.

I'm probably trying to do too many things at once and miss something, but you said 1.3 billion over a six-month period. So how much of that do you actually have now?

The Africa CDC and the government are following the tracking of the response. This was only announced two weeks ago. So for this new part, the funding remains low. There was a recent announcement by the United Kingdom for a small, well, for an important increase in the UK, but nonetheless relative to the total amount that's required. The majority still needs to be financed, but we'll get you the more precise numbers afterwards. I would like to talk to a positive point about the response around... So not only are we seeing some improvements in Bunia and Wampara, and that's you can attribute that to we attribute that to the response, government, UN, and NGOs. Ebola doesn't stop by itself, right? So that's very positive. But the other thing I think that is very positive is the way that the government has dealt with new cases. So let's take the case in Sudu Bhangi. They came out and they announced it straight away. And public declaration of cases is absolutely essential. What is most deadly is when new cases are hidden. and concealed, because if it's concealed and hidden, then you can't respond to it. So the brave and public response of the government is excellent. Also, the fact that in a completely different part of the country, this case was picked up is also a very good sign, because it shows that the health systems across the country are paying attention and they are looking out for every cases, which was not the case at the beginning of the epidemic, say, in April, May, when transmission was not picked up. So there's many positive things going on. Obviously, we just need to do a lot more, a lot faster, and at far greater scale. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Giuliano. Thank you very much, Olivier, to both of you for this extensive and really important briefing. And thanks for taking the opportunity of being in Geneva to come and brief. I think that I'm looking at Christian and maybe also Vanessa for the follow-up information. There are some requests on the chat for the written notes. Yeah, thank you. So thank you very much to both of you, and we say goodbye. And let's now go to another region and to an underground school. I am talking about Ukraine and where we have our Ricardo Pires. Ricardo, hello. Welcome to the briefing. I can see you are underground. There is no light because you are briefing from an underground school where actually Ukraine children have to get their education at the moment, so after five years of conflict. You go ahead. Thank you. Getting into the 50. Go ahead. Now you're muted, but try now.

Can you hear me?

Yes, now we can. Go ahead. Can you hear me now?

Yes. Okay. Hi, good morning. Bonjour. Indeed, nearly five years into the war in Ukraine, children's right to education remains under attack, with consequences that will define an entire generation. Just 15 days into the new school year, there have been over 1,000 air raid alerts across the country. This is the highest number for this period in the last five years and nearly double the same period last year. It amounts to over 100 alerts every single day, and at least four every hour. Sumy, where I am speaking to you now from an underground shelter school, today has been among the three regions hit hardest this year, together with Mykolaiv and Odessa. Nobody hears them louder than, deeper than children. I am now inside one of the 22 underground shelters turned into schools that UNICEF has helped set up for children living near the front lines. This one can host up to 300 children. It's astonishing to see how they keep learning and being children, even in the middle of war, conflict, fear, and airstrikes, as we've been hearing here on Sumi for the last two days. Here in Sumi, essentially one in every two education facilities have been damaged or destroyed by the war. It is heartbreaking to see what should be a place of learning and protection turned into rubble. Across the country, the picture is just as stark. According to government estimates, between January and August this year, hundreds more educational institutions have been damaged, taking the overall toll in Ukraine to over 4,200 since the start of the war. Children whose hope of simply going to school continues to be disrupted by conflict, causing a seemingly never-ending cycle of trauma. The cost to children is measured beyond broken walls, psychological scars, and loud sirens. Results from the latest OECD PISA, released last week, show us that a significant proportion of 15-year-olds in Ukraine who undertook the test, many of whom had spent the last five years of their schooling in war zones, have not yet reached a level of competency in the subject matters that would allow them to keep building on their education. This narrows their options for further study, skilled work, and full participation in society as adults. Around one-third did not reach that basic level of achievement in science, and about half did not reach it in math or reading. When comparing this achievement to the overall OECD average, it is equivalent to a gap of two years of study reading and 1.5 years of study for math and science. Similarly, 56% missed the baseline in at least one of the tested subjects, math, reading, and science. And nearly three in 10, or 29%, failed to reach the baseline level in any of the three tested subjects. According to school principals, 61% of Ukrainian students attend schools affected by shortages of learning materials and equipment. and 54% attended schools lacking enough digital resources. Because of security reasons, this data is only coming from 17 regions in Ukraine, so we can assume that schools closer to the front lines, like in Sumy, are even less resourced. Despite the war, Ukraine has demonstrated incredible resilience in sustaining the education system, as verified by the stability of results between 2022 and 2025. However, as we continue to warn, Children in Ukraine need peace to be able to learn properly. After almost five years of war, school is one of the few places where a child can find some sense of normality. Friends, teachers, routine, a place to feel safe. That matters, because this war has taken an enormous psychological toll on them. Nine-year-old Sabrina, who I spoke to yesterday, told me yesterday how much she missed being able to be with her classmates, despite the dangers above the ground. "It is so nice to be together again and not learn online," she told me. "I just miss our regular walks and playtime outside, but now it's too dangerous, so we stay inside all day." She explained, still sharing it as a positive news, that they can still be safe on the ground. Children like Sabrina have spent years waiting to explosions, running to shelters, being displaced from their homes, separated from friends, wondering when the next attack would come. We see children struggling to sleep, to concentrate, to regulate their emotions. A child cannot simply leave that fear at the classroom door. An air raid siren means a math lesson stops halfway through. Children leave their desks for shelter. They wait for the all clear. They return. They try to concentrate again, and then the siren sounds. It's worth repeating, children and parents do everything to study, but the impact of this war is clear and visceral. And it all, and as a testament to parents, the government, and humanitarian partners, nearly 4.2 million children returned to learning this September, including over 712,000 preschoolers. More than 360,000 teachers also returned to the classroom. A significant number of children continue to depend on blended and fully online approaches, with the context in flux and the areas and number of attacks shift and escalate. Nearly half of preschool age children are missing out on regular early childhood education and care, which is critical, losing opportunities to develop foundational skills for lifelong learning. And now another threat is approaching, winter. Attacks on infrastructure will cause electricity and heating disruption. As we saw last year, 2 million children suffered in extreme winter conditions after being left without heat, electricity, and water. Power cuts disrupted online lessons too, with the frontline areas like Sumi being hardest hit. UNICEF's 2026-2027 winter response is aiming to reach 3 million people, including 540,000 children. This will include repairing heating systems and providing energy back up to schools. It will ensure that 375,000 students can keep learning in person through the winter. With our partners, we're also rehabilitating school shelters, repairing education facilities damaged by attacks, supporting catch-up learning, and providing mental health and psychosocial support. We're doing everything we can to keep children learning, but no amount of support can shield their education from the consequences of continued war and military attacks. Thank you.

Thank you, Ricardo. Thank you very much. The numbers are impressive. Let me open the floor to questions now, if any, in the room. Let me look at the platform. I don't see any hands up. So I don't know if you've already distributed the notes, but I think it would be useful because there were a number of figures. And thank you so very much for briefing the journalists in such a dire situation. Stay safe, please, and keep updating us on this dire situation. Oh, there is a question from Christiane. Just one second.

Ricardo, I just wonder, it's probably not possible, but can you take us and the camera into the classroom?

Is there a question of privacy?

Yeah, you can.

Bear with me. It's okay. Yeah, we can show it from a distance.

They look very, very busy.

They are being children, and it's quite inspiring to see that they... They continue to turn up and enjoy class, enjoy being with their friends, and they wait until their parents come from work and pick them up at around 6:00 PM normally. It feels like a school. It feels like a classroom, as you could see. They're doing their best to give that sense of normality. But when the kids go above the ground is when things get very scary. And That's something that needs to end because the everlasting cycle of suffering and trauma will have an impact on their mental health now and in the future, let alone on the education results, as we've seen.

Absolutely. Thank you so very much for showing us this, Ricardo. Really, please stay safe with the children and wish them a very good school day. as much as possible.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thanks, Sally. Okay. So let's now go to the last part of the briefing. Tamin, can you please come? So let's move now to Middle East, and we have the briefing on OPT, two different subjects. Sophia is with us. Sophia Caltrop, Chief of Humanitarian Action for UN Women, and Tameen for OHCHR. You've brought us Ajit Sanghai, head of the OHCHR office in the occupied Palestinian territory, who is joining from Jordan. So do we start with okay, we start with Sophia? Yes. Yeah? So let's start with Sophia, and then we will go to you, Ajit. Sophia.

Thank you, thank you, Alessandra, and good morning, everybody. Settler violence, Israeli military operations, and movement restrictions across the occupied West Bank have left many women living in fear and increasingly cut off from daily life. As of January 31st of January 2026, more than 1,050 Palestinians had been killed by the Israeli security forces since October 2023, 1,025 of whom are men and boys, and more than 22,300 people have been detained, the majority of them men and boys. Behind every one of these figures is a family in grief, a mother waiting for news of her son, a wife left without her partner, and children facing immense loss. For women who are suddenly left heading households, they must find ways to earn an income, secure assistance, and protect their families under conditions that make even the most basic responsibilities extraordinarily difficult. They face heightening risks of poverty, of exclusion, and of violence. Latest estimates suggest that 83,200 households in the occupied West Bank are now headed by women, representing one in eight households. But this figure is likely an underestimate. UN Women has spoken to women across the occupied West Bank, and we have documented the findings in a new analysis published today. We found that women-headed households are more likely to be displaced, with 40% of households headed by women not living in their original home, compared to 30% of men-headed households. We also found that fear for one's safety and security is everywhere. Three-quarters of Palestinians that we spoke to told us that they do not feel safe in their daily life. Half told us that the security of the children is of great concern. 57% of women heading households told us that they were afraid of being arrested, and 76% of men shared the same concern. Half of women heading households told us that they are skipping meals to cope with food shortages, and two-thirds said they are taking out loans to make ends meet. making any recovery much harder to reach. Movement obstacles, including staff checkpoints, road barriers, and trenches, are another major driver of daily hardship in the occupied West Bank. There are now an estimated 925 such obstacles, the highest number recorded in two decades. And every woman heading a household whom we interviewed said she avoids checkpoints altogether, while nine in 10 said they make them feel unsafe. The consequences are severe. Women responsible for feeding their families, securing assistance, and meeting basic needs are being prevented from moving freely to reach food, aid, essential services, and employment. This is restricting their mobility and undermining their safety, well-being, and ability to keep their families afloat. Palestinian people, and especially women and girls, need this suffering and violence to end. UN Women calls for immediate action to end the violence, movement restrictions, and home demolition in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and to protect women and girls and all civilians in line with international law. UN Women calls for dedicated support for women-headed households, support that is disability-inclusive and combines livelihoods, social protection, health, shelter and protection services. UN Women is on the ground in Palestine. We work with women-led organizations across the West Bank, providing psychosocial support, protection services, legal assistance and access to aid. Despite the immense suffering imposed on them, Palestinian women continue to show extraordinary strength, leadership, and determination. We call on the international community to stand with them in strength and leadership to protect civilians, respect international law, ensure freedom of movement for people to go about their daily lives, and to ensure accountability for the violence. Thank you very much, and back over to you, Alessandra.

Thank you very much, Sophia, for this description of this impact. And maybe I'll now go to Tameen. Tameen, you have some introductory remark, and then we'll go to Wajid.

Thank you, Alessandra. Good morning, everyone. You will have received the news release issued this morning by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk about the recovery of human remains in Gaza. The painstaking recovery of extensive human remains in Gaza, mostly of children and women, almost three years after their homes were heavily bombed by Israeli forces, underscores the concerns over compliance with international law and the possibility that serious violations, including war crimes, may have been committed. The remains of what appears to be entire families are now being unearthed at locations that were pulverized by Israeli attacks. It is heartbreaking that the loved ones of those missing for so long are only now having their worst fears confirmed. The remains recovered so far may only be the tip of the iceberg. Much of Gaza has been flattened by Israeli bombing or demolition and clearing by heavy machinery and explosives. It is critical that evidence of violations, including at destroyed sites, be preserved, given ongoing legal proceedings regarding the conduct of hostilities in Gaza. International investigators must be allowed into all parts of Gaza to assist with evidence gathering. Every feasible effort must be taken to document and identify the victims, preserve forensic information and biological samples, record their burial locations, and inform their families. The right of families to know the fate of their relatives does not end with the identification and dignified burial. They deserve to know the full truth. We have repeatedly expressed grave concerns that Israel's choices of methods and means of conducting hostilities, including through the extensive use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in densely populated areas, failed to ensure that they effectively distinguish between civilians and fighters. The discovery of extensive remains under the rubble in Gaza City resurfaces these concerns of war crimes and other atrocity crimes. Israel has clear obligations to take all measures to search and account for missing people and to search, collect, and evacuate the dead. In areas where the Israeli ground forces are deployed, Remains must be recovered in a dignified manner, identified, and all potential evidence preserved. Recovering and burying the victims does not substitute for establishing the circumstances in which they were killed. These attacks must be effectively investigated. Where violations are established, those responsible must be held to account. Now I would like to give the floor to my colleague Ajit Sangay, who is the head of our office for the occupied Palestinian territory. He's joining us from Amman and will tell us more about the suffering of those families. Over to you, Ajit.

Thank you, Tameen, and thank you, colleagues. Let me compliment the High Commissioner with some remarks from the field on the same issue. Human remains believed to belong to 96 people from three Palestinian families have been recovered from under the rubble in Gaza City this month. Around half were women and children. One family, the Malakas, had lost 72 members in Israeli air strike on family homes in November 2023. Only three bodies were recovered at the time. Remains Believed to belong to 55 members of the family were among those recovered this month. The remaining 14 family members are still missing beneath the rubble. Like many in Gaza, they have never been recovered. The sheer explosive power of heavy munitions sometimes left no recoverable remains. And it's increasingly difficult to distinguish rubble from remains as the years pass. A survivor of the attack on the Malacca families, Holmes, told us that for nearly three years, he felt buried beneath layers of grief and pain, the pain of knowing they still lie in ruins, the pain of being unable to recover and bury them, and the ultimate pain of losing them. It is estimated that at least 8,000 bodies remain buried under the rubble across the Gaza Strip. Palestinian civil defense teams have recovered over 800 bodies since the announcement of a ceasefire in October 2025, despite severe shortages of equipment, fuel, and personnel. At this pace, completing the recovery of the remaining bodies will take at least 10 more years. even longer when accounting for the time needed to identify bodies, if ever possible. It is Israel's obligation under the international law to do everything possible to ensure these remains are found, identified, and buried with dignity in accordance with families' religious and cultural beliefs. Instead, the collective impact of Israel's conduct is making any systematic, large-scale search recovery and identification effort nearly impossible. Some families, like the Malakas, have been unable to recover the remains of their loved ones due to lack of resources. Israeli authorities have been blocking the entry of heavy machinery and trained personnel needed for large-scale recovery. At present, Palestinian civil defense teams report having only one excavator left. and at times being forced to dig through rubble with their bare hands. Some families in Gaza cannot reach the areas where their missing family members were killed to search for their remains. Israeli forces surround the Palestinian population in Gaza from all sides along the constantly shifting so-called yellow line. Most of the territory of Gaza is now beyond the yellow line, inaccessible to Palestinians, including civil defense teams and families of missing persons. Reports are also mounting about Israeli soldiers removing and crushing rubble there, rubble laden with people's remains. Even when bodies are recovered, families are often unable to identify them. Israel has been blocking the entry of forensic identification tools such as DNA and fingerprinting kits, leaving families to identify remains by physical characteristics or by guessing based on the location of the recovery. If a natural disaster caused this scale of crisis, international mechanisms, deployment of specialized search and forensic teams, and massive resources to support large-scale operations of search, recovery, and identification would all be triggered. Yet the needs here, despite the human causes this time, are just as great, and I would urge similar kind of joined up response here. This predictably risks the loss of evidence needed to ensure every individual responsible for atrocity crimes is held accountable. It also prolongs the anguish of thousands of families already living in perpetual fear, insecurity, and want. They have a right to know the fates of their children, parents, siblings, cousins. They have a right to mourn them with dignity, and they have a right to justice. Thank you.

Absolutely. Thank you very much. I'll open the floor to questions now, whether on the West Bank and the situation of women, or Gaza, what we've just heard in the room. Is it a finger or a hand? Okay, so let me see on the platform. I don't see any hand up. Oh, yes, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Emma.

It's a bit slow. Yeah, I just had a question actually for OHCHR about the original estimates of the number of bodies under the rubble. I mean, given the recovery efforts so far, is that still... the best guess that there are 8,000 or 10,000 bodies yet to be recovered, I mean, besides the 800 you mentioned? And if you could just clarify in a bit more detail, what is happening to the bodies on the Israeli side of the yellow line? Is there any recovery at all on that side? Thank you.

Maybe Ajit, you can take this.

Thank you. I think that's a very important question. I will share what we know. Obviously, none of us have full unimpeded access to these places. There is no proactive, coordinated mechanism or effort to recover bodies in the 70% of the IDF-controlled part of Gaza. This is the reality. What we have are reports that the IDF at this stage are destroying and demolishing and flattening many buildings, in which case we also believe many bodies are completely buried under these rubble forever. In cases where they have managed to find bodies, and it is not a proactive method or an effort, they have, we understand, handed over them to international bodies. We are not entirely sure how many of them they are. But this is the situation at this point in time in the IDF-controlled part of Gaza.

Thank you very much, Jits. Let me see. Yeah, Jeremy Lange.

Now it's a hand. To your knowledge, I'd like to know, do you know anything about the civil defense people who are actually getting the remains with their bare hands. Do you actually know a case where they have been targeted by the IDF?

We are in constant touch with the civil defense. We work with them on these issues. It is true that they have been trying to pull the bodies from the rubble with their bare hands. There's only one workable heavy equipment at this stage. While they have been in the process of recovering bodies, if that's your question, as far as I am aware, I do not have information that shows that the Israelis have attacked them.

Nick? Can you hear me?

Yeah.

Okay, go ahead.

Yeah, thank you. I just wondered to what extent you've been able to map the location of civilian casualties in the course of the war, and therefore, to what extent, you know, what kind of proportion of those civilian casualties, the 77,000 plus, lie in areas behind the yellow line? Thank you.

That's a very difficult question, Nick, but thanks for that question. I will take you back a little bit to our June 2024 report that talks about the indiscriminate bombing in Gaza, where we actually talk about six particular communities in Gaza City which was bombed and there were heavy casualties. That nature of mapping has not been possible. And this is why we want to draw attention to this issue, which is becoming increasingly important, particularly in the context of talks about early recovery, but also what we hear that's happening in the IDF part of Gaza. I wouldn't be able to give you an estimate, simply because that part is also compounded by agricultural land as well as in the past, human dwellings. So it's a little bit difficult for us to estimate at this stage what percentage of those who are dead are in that part. I would want to again caution that the 8,000 that we constantly talk about is a very, very low and an underestimate of what the actual numbers are. These are based on families coming forward and just simply saying, I have a family of five missing, and they're perhaps under this trouble, and so forth. So there has not been a concrete, full-on effort to map out all the missing persons in Gaza with their age, gender, and so forth.

Thank you very much. I don't see other questions for you. Is there any question for UN Women? on the West Bank. I don't see any hand up, so thank you very much to both. Thanks to Tameem. Thanks, Ajit and Sophia, for this briefing. I have quite a few announcements for you. Just say if you want to, no worries. So first of all, let's remain on human rights, as we have two committees, the Committee on Enforced Disappearances, which will review the report submitted by Lesotho regarding the implementation of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances. It will be followed by the review of additional information submitted by Gabon. And then the Committee on the Rights of the Child, which will end the review of the report submitted by Slovenia this morning, and then will review the report submitted by Kazakhstan. A few press conferences, I'll start with today at 2pm. The WMO Secretary-General, Celeste Sauro, will present you the State of Global Water Resources Report 2025. This is embargoed until the 17th September at 4 GMT. She will be accompanied by Wayne Jenkinson, Director of the Division of Hydrology and Cryosphere, and other officials from WMO. And WMO also asked me to remind you that World Ozone Day is 16 September, so that is tomorrow. WMO has sent out its annual ozone bulletin. under embargo also, and they can give interviews on request. And we will also send you the statement of the Secretary-General for the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer. Two more press conferences, also on human rights. On 17 September at 12 noon, the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls will brief you on victims still waiting, a global briefing on transitional justice around the world with the Special Rapporteur, Bernard Duhaime. And on 17 September, also at 3:30 p.m., the International Fact-Finding Mission on the Bolivian Republic of Venezuela to the Human Rights Council will brief you on the latest reports that they have released recently and that will be with the three members of the investigative body. I just wanted to also inform you that as you know next week We will, in fact, on Sunday, the high-level week of the 81st session of the General Assembly will start in New York. It will start with the SDG moment convened by the Secretary-General. That will be on 18 September at 4pm Geneva time. The Secretary General will speak to the press tomorrow, Wednesday 16th sorry, 16th September at 5 p.m. Geneva time. That's the usual press conference that the Secretary General gives ahead of the high-level weeks of the UN General Assembly, and of course it will be broadcast on UN Web TV. And I'd like to invite you also to have a look at the high-level week 2026 web page, there are a lot of high-level moments, not only the general debate, but a lot of high-level events on climate action and just transition, on the 40th anniversary of the Declaration of the Right to Development, on the plenary meeting to address the existential threats posed by sea level rise. There is also a high-level meeting on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response. and one on the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action. And to finish, that will be on the 29th of September, the high-level plenary meeting to commemorate and promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. All these events will be on UN Web TV, and they are described on the high-level week page. So please have a look if you wish to follow any of this of these events on Web TV. So I see now that that is what I wanted to tell you in terms of announcements. So I see Mohammed has a question.

Yes, Alessandra, I have a question for Ioanici, if it's possible.

Ioanici is here. Eugene is here. By the way, I just wanted to tell you she's coming to the podium. I just wanted to tell you that because today the briefing was very, very full, very, very busy and reaching information, but we are planning with Eugene and IOM's colleague to have a spotlight on Yemen on Friday. So just a heads up, we will do our best. Mohammed, Eugene is on the podium. Please go ahead, ask your question.

Okay, thank you so much, Alessandra. My question will be about Yemen, which is an One of the up-to-date topics nowadays, recently, we have seen many internal and external displacement in Yemen. What would you like to say about this situation in Yemen? Can you give us any figure about the latest situation?

Thanks, Mohammed. Thanks for your question and interest on this subject. As Alessandra mentioned, that we will bring our representative this Friday who are currently in Obok, where we are receiving a new arrival from Yemen. But I can just quickly give you the update, but we will also share the press release this morning. As soon as I go back to the office, I will share the press release with you immediately. that UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, is extremely worried about the rapidly escalating hostility along Yemen's western coasts, which have already displaced nearly 100,000 people. We're talking about the country that have suffered 12 years of conflict and also already have 4.8 million internally displaced persons in the country, and also that the hostilities are forcing more than 2,400 people to seek safety across the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait in Djibouti. We are also deeply concerned about safety and well-being of more than 65,000 refugee and asylum seeker inside Yemen, mostly from Somalia and Ethiopia, who are facing renewed risk as the security situation worsening in the country. As I mentioned, over the past four days, more than 2,400 people have made a sea crossing from Yemen to Djibouti, arriving mainly through Obok, Korangar, Mulu, and Godaria. This is primarily a movement of refugees fleeing conflict and insecurity. The people arriving from Yemen are seeking international protection and should be received and assisted. UNHCR hugely thanks Djibouti, a longstanding refugee host, for keeping its border open and welcoming those who fled. The current situation is also raising a broader concern over global humanitarian logistics, already strained by the ongoing disruption around the Strait of Hormuz. The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is a critical maritime corridor linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden. Continued insecurity could affect humanitarian and commercial shipping serving Yemen, Sudan, and other operation in the region and beyond, potentially increasing transport cost and delaying the delivery of relief supply. We mentioned about this, uh, report effect a few months ago, and then if this, uh, straight is blocked, uh, basically that, uh, we have to reroute all the shipping, uh, via the Cape of Good Hope, adding 25 to 30 days to shipping times. But, uh, I will share all, uh, the, the entire press release.

Thank you, Jean. I just wonder, since Kennedy is also online, I don't know if IOM wants to add anything ahead of this briefing on Friday. So if this is the case, I'm on this app.

Thank you very much, Alessandra. I won't really be adding much on that, as you've already heard, the situation is very fluid. We are having a number of people who are currently displaced within Yemen, especially on the west coast, and increasing day by day. So far, Taiz is one of the most affected areas, and we have seen an uptick of over 50,000 people being displaced from that particular location. As our colleague has mentioned, sorry, as it has been mentioned by UNHCR already, we are seeing a number of people So coming back from E2 Djibouti as well, if you remember that most of the, this is a region that has marked a lot of, has been a corridor for most migrants that are trying to access the Gulf. So most of them also experiencing being trapped in this particular situation are basically forced to kind of find refuge. So as it has already been mentioned, we are hoping to have an updated and exhaustive brief with our respective colleagues in both Djibouti and Yemen, hopefully on Friday. But just to add a couple of those few things. Thanks.

It doesn't work. It doesn't work. I'm sorry. I have a problem with my mic. Sorry. Emma, go ahead.

No, I just wanted to ask you and Ashir a quick follow-up. The Djibouti finance minister, Ashir, a couple of days ago, complained about a lack of UN presence in Djibouti to help with the thousands that have arrived. I was just wondering, is that a place where you've had to cut back since 2025? And just if you wanted to respond to his remarks that there's not enough UN help on the ground there. Thank you.

Thanks, Emma. We do have colleagues on the ground, but you are absolutely right that with the funding cut that we have reduced the size of operation in Djibouti. But because of this new arrivals and registration is actually a foremost important, so we are actually sending our search team from the regional bureau. They are on the route.

Alex.

Yes, thank you. Just a quick question. You're talking about nearly 100,000 people displaced in Yemen. Do you have an exact figure?

You mean the IDPs? The figure itself, what we are seeing is 94,000 at the moment, but it's yesterday's number. And then we're seeing the very roughly the figure is increasing at the moment. And then we're expecting if the hostility continue and escalate further, we're expecting more people to be displaced internally and also that receiving more refugees and asylum seekers in Djibouti as well.

Yeah, very fluid numbers. Okay, thank you very much. So we'll hear more on Friday. We'll have UNHCR and IOM colleagues from the field talking, briefing you on the situation in Yemen. Thank you very much, Eugene. Thanks, Tameen. And thanks to you all. So I leave you to the press conference of this afternoon and all the press conferences of the week, and I'll see you on Friday. Thank you very much.