UN GENEVA PRESS BRIEFING

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, which was attended by spokespersons and representatives from the World Health Organization, United Nations Children's Fund, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, International Committee of the Red Cross and United Nations Trade and Development.

UN Secretary-General’s Trip to Lebanon

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, said the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres arrived in Beirut, Lebanon, yesterday. Upon arrival he was met by the caretaker Foreign Minister of Lebanon, Dr Abdullah Bou Habib.

Today, the Secretary-General was in Naqoura, in southern Lebanon, to visit the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to express his gratitude for the courage and determination of the UN peacekeepers, who had been working in very challenging circumstances.

During his time on the ground, the Secretary-General visited several positions in UNIFIL that had been hit by Israeli forces last year. Before leaving, he would address the mission’s leadership and his remarks would be shared publicly.

This evening, upon his return to Beirut, the Secretary-General, along with the UN Special Coordinator in Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, and the UNIFIL Force Commander, General Aroldo Lázaro, was expected to attend a working dinner hosted by the caretaker Prime Minister of Lebanon, Najib Mikati.

Saturday, the Secretary-General was expected to spend the day in Beirut, where he would meet with President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Designate Nawaf Salam and the Speaker of the Parliament, Nabih Berri. The Secretary-General was expected to hold a press conference late Saturday afternoon. He would return to New York on Sunday and be at the Security Council meeting on the Middle East on Monday.

Update on the Health Situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

Dr Rik Peeperkorn, World Health Organization (WHO) representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said the imminent ceasefire was the best news he had heard in a long time. WHO welcomed the announcement of a deal to secure a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza. It hoped that all parties would respect their commitment to fully implement the deal and work towards much needed lasting peace.

WHO was ready to support the health system and the people in Gaza. It was planning to scale up its operations, mobilising critical supplies and resources to address immediate needs and support early recovery efforts. It was critical that the significant security and political obstacles to delivering aid across Gaza were removed. WHO needed rapid and unhindered access to expedite the flow of aid into and across the Gaza.

Efforts to restore the health system would be guided by the Palestinian Ministry of Health. There needed to be Palestinian solutions for restoring everything, including the health sector. Donors and the global community needed to provide flexible funding to support swift and effective responses. The United Nations and partners could not do it alone. Critical private supply chains needed to be restored and basic commodities needed to be allowed to flow into Gaza.

With the phased implementation of the ceasefire, delivery of food, water and medical supplies, as well as essential health services, needed to be expanded. WHO had ordered temporary prefabricated clinics to integrate into existing health facilities and meet urgent health needs and to serve newly accessible areas. Restoration and expansion of trauma and emergency care would continue. There needed to be focus on expansion of comprehensive primary health care services, as well as rehabilitation, sexual and reproductive health and mental health services, among others.

Many health workers in Gaza were working in makeshift shelters. They needed to be able to go back to their original jobs. WMO hoped to deliver more specialised care teams to allow this. It would also work to scale up supply chains via all possible routes. There needed to be adequate delivery of healthcare supplies.

WHO was working to increase available hospitals beds across north and south Gaza, including for paediatric inpatients, and deliver equipment such as modern dialysis machines. Water, electricity, and waste management systems needed to be restored. Communities needed to be protected from epidemics; surveillance systems needed to be reactivated to support outbreak management. For all these to take place, a sustained peace process was necessary.

WHO hoped to expand medical evacuations over the coming months. Medical evacuations remained incredibly slow. At least 12,000 patients needed special care and treatment outside of Gaza. The traditional referral pathway to East Jerusalem and West Bank needed to open up, and crossings needed to be opened to Egypt and Jordan.

Of the evacuation requests submitted between 27 November and 24 December 2024, only 29 out of 1,200 patients were approved for medical evacuation abroad. Of these 1,200 patients, 405 were children, and only 10 were approved to travel with companions; 99 had been approved to travel without companions, which meant that they could not travel. Meanwhile, 148 children had been denied and 148 were pending approval. WHO hoped that the Israeli authorities would now reconsider these requests.

On the West Bank, increasing settler violence, continued closure of checkpoints, arbitrary obstructions, detention of health workers, as well as the closure of entire towns and communities were impeding access to health facilities. All the 52 hospitals on the West Bank were at least partially functioning, and there were 22 partially accessible hospitals. These hospitals reported that the three primary causes for functionality constraints were the lack of staff, equipment and supplies, and the three primary causes for accessibility constraints were insecurity, financial barriers and other physical barriers.

In response to questions, James Elder for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said a peer-reviewed report in The Lancet had reported numbers of casualties exceeding those reported by the Palestinian Ministry of Health, which had reported upwards of 15,000 children having been killed. That was around 35 children every day for 14 months. Around 10 children had been killed every day this year. 

We needed all phases of the ceasefire to take place. We were seeing deaths from hypothermia and malnutrition. People were absolutely at rock bottom. Mr. Elder said people had said they were glad that the killing would stop, but they were living in tents and had nothing left. Authorities needed to create an enabling environment to ensure that sorely lacking aid could be delivered.

There had been a 90 per cent reduction in medivacs since the Rafah Crossing closed. This was a dire reduction, despite public and private advocacy. Thousands of children who had survived bombings and attacks had since died of their injuries, and many more children were currently sitting in hospitals waiting for aid.

Dr Peeperkorn said that the Palestinian Ministry of Health had reported that around 46,000 people had been killed and close to 110,000 injured in Gaza. The study in The Lancet said the death toll was actually closer to 70,000. There were also tens of thousands of indirect deaths from the attacks, including people with chronic diseases who could not access healthcare. Almost one third of the deaths were children. On top of this, 30,000 patients would need lifelong rehabilitation and assistive technology. More than a quarter of the 12,000 patients needing medivacs were estimated to be children.

The ceasefire process would start on Sunday and the United Nations and partners were planning to deliver 500 to 600 aid trucks a day in the coming weeks, which would be a huge increase from past periods. Dr Peeperkorn expressed hope that aid deliveries would have unhindered and safe access. Everyone negotiating the ceasefire was focusing on this issue. 

There were thousands of trucks in Egypt and other routes waiting to travel to Gaza. If there was political will and routes were opened, aid deliveries could be built up rapidly and deliveries from 600 trucks per day could be possible. Security issues within Gaza needed to be addressed and work was underway in this regard.

WHO had its own operational response plan for 2025. More flexible funding would be needed to expedite the plan. Currently, aid moving into Gaza was slow. This needed to change. The global community needed to provide funding to enable swift, effective responses and rapidly expand rehabilitation efforts.

WHO was assuming that the ceasefire agreement would be implemented. It would be utterly devastating if it were not implemented as planned. The protracted crisis could not be solved without a ceasefire. It was the collective responsibility of all States, including Israel, to ensure that Palestinian-led reconstruction efforts could begin.

Contracts had been readied, but WHO needed between six week and two months to deliver prefab hospitals, which would strengthen the capacity of the health service. Medivacs were incredibly urgent for patients, as they could not get the treatment they needed in Gaza. Almost 4,700 patients had been evacuated before the Rafah crossing closure. Only 480 patients had since been evacuated. Traditional referral pathways to East Jerusalem and the West Bank also needed to be restored. The ceasefire process was the best opportunity to do this.

Dr Peeperkorn expressed hope that the ceasefire process would encourage health workers who had left to return to Gaza. Recovery would take several years. Israel and the global community were responsible for facilitating rehabilitation.

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, said Sigrid Kaag, the United Nations Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, was earlier this week in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Ramallah, trying to coordinate preparations for the next few days. Muhannad Hadi, United Nations Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process had been discussing the same issue in Cairo. 

The United Nations would only be able to deliver as much as conditions on the ground allowed. It was committed to supporting implementation of the ceasefire deal and a scale-up in sustained delivery of humanitarian relief.

Ravina Shamdasani for the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said that although the ceasefire was meant to come into effect on Sunday, we were still seeing heavy bombardment, including last night. The Palestinian Ministry of Health had reported that at least 81 Palestinians had been killed on 15 and 16 January. OHCHR was calling on all parties to the conflict to do everything they could to implement the ceasefire agreement in good faith.

Sudan Conflict and Spillover in South Sudan 

Ravina Shamdasani for the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk today warned that the conflict in Sudan was taking an even more dangerous turn for civilians after reports that dozens were brutally killed in ethnically targeted attacks in the southeastern state of Al Jazirah and amid reports of an imminent battle for control of Khartoum.

As the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) battled for control at all costs in the senseless war that had raged for close to two years now, direct and ethnically motivated attacks on civilians were becoming increasingly common.

The situation for civilians in Sudan was already desperate, and there was evidence of the commission of war crimes and other atrocity crimes. The situation was now taking a further, even more dangerous turn.

In the last week alone, the UN Human Rights Office documented at least 21 deaths in just two attacks in Al Jazirah state, although the actual number of attacks directed at civilians and of civilians killed were very likely higher. In an attack on 10 January, at least eight civilians were killed in Taiba Camp, and at least 13 women and one man abducted. Houses were burnt, livestock, crops and other property looted, and dozens of families displaced. The next day, at least 13 civilians were killed, including two boys, in an attack on Khamsa Camp. Both camps were located about 40 kilometres from Wad Madani, the capital of Al Jazirah.

Reports suggested the attacks were carried out by the Sudan Shield Forces led by Abu Aqla Keikal, a former Rapid Support Forces commander who in October last year defected to the Sudanese Armed Forces, and that they targeted the Kanabi, a historically marginalised group comprised mainly of Nuba and other African tribes.

OHCHR noted the Sudanese authorities’ assurance that these attacks, which came in the context of the recapture of Wad Madani by the Sudanese Armed Forces, would be fully investigated and those responsible brought to justice, and that an investigation committee has been established.

Retaliatory attacks – of shocking brutality – on entire communities based on real or perceived ethnic identity were on the rise, as was hate speech and incitement to violence. This needed to be urgently brought to an end.

OHCHR once again called on the President of the Transitional Sovereign Council and the Commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to put an end to the fighting.

The High Commissioner renewed his call on both parties to uphold obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law. Attacks must never be directed against civilians.

Read the full press release here.

Florence Gillette, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Head of Delegation in South Sudan, said she had just returned from a visit to Renk County, which had many villages on the Sudanese border, close to where fighting had been particularly intense recently inside Sudan. During the recent hostilities, 120,000 civilians had crossed into South Sudan since the beginning of December, of whom many were Sudanese civilians. This was on top of the 800,000 persons who already sought safety in South Sudan since April 2023.

The people fleeing the violence and the host communities were extremely vulnerable. A high number of wounded migrants had reached the country. The influx had placed major strains on local communities’ resources and basic services, including healthcare, which were not geared to cater for such a large amount of people.

There was also currently a cholera outbreak in South Sudan, with more than 20,000 cases already declared. There was a very high fatality rate linked to the scarcity of water and the status of health services in the country.

In response to the high number of wounded people requiring surgeries, ICRC deployed mobile surgical teams on 8 December. Since then, the teams had conducted more 260 surgeries in Renk, in collaboration with other actors such as Médecins sans frontières. 

Services were stretched in South Sudan before the conflict, and some were provided in or from Sudan, such as advanced healthcare and services requiring electricity. This situation had worsened now that the population had quadrupled in the last three months. The cholera outbreak seemed to be under control in Renk, but new cases were being registered daily and the situation could worsen. ICRC teams were supporting the South Sudan Red Cross Society as they conducted essential activity on the cholera response, including case management and provision of safe water.

The conflict in Sudan continued to rage, affecting millions of people inside Sudan and in neighbouring countries. Fourteen years after independence, South Sudan and Sudan remained highly interconnected economically and socially. The conflict in Sudan had a compounded effect because the impact of decades of ongoing inter-communal violence, conflict and climate crisis in South Sudan. We needed to ensure that the spillover effect of almost two years of war in Sudan did not further aggravate the already deep humanitarian crisis in South Sudan, very far away from cameras and media interest.

In response to questions, Ms. Gillette said Sudanese and South Sudanese were one nation not long ago, and the comprehensive peace agreement between the States allowed for settlement of Sudanese in South Sudan.

Arrivals of returnees into South Sudan had created many problems. Many were arriving in areas with no water or electricity. They had been welcomed by host communities, but these communities needed support from the international community to alleviate the pressure of the new arrivals.

In the last 24 hours, violent scenes had been seen, with attacks on Sudanese businesses. Authorities were taking measures to protect Sudanese people in South Sudan. A large majority of South Sudanese people saw Sudanese people as their brothers and sisters.

There were several challenges facing South Sudan in terms of budget management. Oil income had been reduced by 70 per cent as a result of the conflict in Sudan.

In response to questions, Ms. Shamdasani said OHCHR had not specifically documented the use of chemical weapons but reports of the use of such weapons were very concerning. The OHCHR had documented the use of extremely heavy weaponry, including explosive weapons, in heavily populated areas; this needed to stop. The High Commissioner was concerned about the ongoing commission of war crimes.

The arms embargo was not being fully respected. States needed to take steps to bring the parties into compliance with their obligations. All States providing military and logistical assistance to the parties to the conflict needed to reassess their contributions.

The conflict was not in the headlines as much as it should be. Over 11 million people had been internally displaced in Sudan, over 8.2 million of them by the ongoing conflict. Around 3.1 million had fled to neighbouring countries. There were famine conditions in five areas, and 25 million people faced acute food insecurity. This extremely dire situation deserved more attention and effort from the international community to put an end to the conflict and the use of chemical weapons.

OHCHR was against broad sanctions. Targeted sanctions against individuals could be effective. Universal jurisdiction could be used to bring to justice violations of international human rights law.

OHCHR was speaking out now because of reports of an imminent battle for Khartoum. This would take us further away from peace and toward a critical situation for civilians.

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, said the Sudan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan, being led by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) was seeking 4.2 billion United States dollars to deliver lifesaving aid to almost 21 million most vulnerable people, restore basic services, and scale-up protection. In addition, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was calling for 1.5 billion United States dollars to carry out its Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan.

Tarik Jasarevic for the World Health Organization (WHO) said access to healthcare in Sudan continued to be severely constrained: 39 per cent of health facilities were reported as destroyed or non-functioning. Health facilities lacked medicines and medical supplies, and vaccination activities were very limited in the most affected areas. Findings in Khartoum were particularly stark: around 90 per cent of health facilities are not functional.

Cholera, malaria, dengue and measles have been reported in over 12 states. Since April 2023, there had been 114 attacks on healthcare, resulting in 240 deaths and 216 injuries. Since January 2024, there had been 77 attacks; resulting in 202 deaths and 171 injuries.

Critical services, including maternal and child health care, the management of severe acute malnutrition, and the treatment of patients with chronic conditions, had been discontinued in many areas at a time when they were needed the most. Many areas in the country remained largely inaccessible to humanitarian actors. Insecurity, bureaucratic hurdles and logistical challenges had restricted WHO’s and partners’ capacity to provide direct assistance to health facilities in Darfur, Khartoum, Al Jazirah, Sennar and the Kordofans.

Eujin Byun for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said UNHCR was calling for the safe passage of persons seeking refuge in neighbouring countries. It was aware of the dire situation in Renk and called on the international community to scale-up assistance to all those in need.

OHCHR Calls for Alternative Approaches to Tackling Drug Use

In response to a question on recent commutations of persons charged with minor drug-related offences in the United States, Ravina Shamdasani for the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said OHCHR had been advocating for the decriminalisation of drug use and alternative approaches to tackling drug use. In some countries, there was continued implementation of the death penalty in relation to drug trafficking, in violations of international human rights law. This needed to stop.

Reported Executions in Syria

In response to a question, Ravina Shamdasani for the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said OHCHR was aware of reports and very worrying videos showing executions of proponents of the former Assad regime and the Alawite minority. Revenge and vengeance were never the answer. The High Commissioner for Human Rights was calling for a fully nationally-owned healing, truth-telling and reconciliation process. 

In his meeting with Ahmad Al-Sharaa, the High Commissioner received assurances of respect for the human rights of all Syrians. The High Commissioner stressed the need for the new Syria to not fall back into old ways. He called for the new Syria to be built on inclusivity and the participation of people from all segments of society.

Michele Zaccheo, Chief, UNTV, Radio and Webcast Section, United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, said the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres had stressed on multiple occasions that the conflict was not over in Syria and that the protection of civilians needed to be the highest priority for the international community.

Massive Displacements Accompany Escalating Violence in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo

Eujin Byun for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, was alarmed by the worsening violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which had already displaced 237,000 people this year.

Escalating clashes between non-state armed groups and the Congolese army in North and South Kivu provinces were intensifying one of the world’s most alarming yet under-reported humanitarian crises, marked by widespread human rights violations and massive forced displacement.

These two provinces were already home to 4.6 million internally displaced people, making the DRC one of the world’s largest hosts for people uprooted within their own borders.

From 1 to 6 January, intense fighting in the Masisi and the Lubero territories of North Kivu Province forced approximately 150,000 individuals to flee their homes. Many initially sought safety in Masisi territory, northwest of Goma, the territory’s main town, only to be displaced yet again as violence spread.

Simultaneously, in South Kivu’s Fizi territory, the local government was reporting that 84,000 people were now displaced and it was requesting humanitarian assistance from the international community. Civilians in both regions were enduring indiscriminate bombings and sexual violence. The use of heavy weaponry in populated areas had resulted in numerous civilian casualties, including children.

The ongoing violence had severely limited humanitarian access in the short term and left displaced populations in desperate need of shelter, food, clean water, and medical care. Many were seeking refuge in overcrowded host communities, makeshift shelters, or public buildings such as hospitals. Already dire humanitarian conditions were worsening rapidly, and access to these vulnerable populations was severely restricted by insecurity, roadblocks and the presence of violent armed actors. Fighters were reportedly using people’s homes as shelters, endangering residents by blurring the distinction between combatants and civilians.

As soon as access was restored, UNHCR was ready to help these populations. The agency constructed and rehabilitated shelters for more than 95,000 people in this region in 2024 and distributed critical household items such as mosquito nets, blankets, and cooking pots to 45,000 people.

UNHCR emphasised the urgency of addressing the escalating humanitarian crisis. Safe and unimpeded access for aid workers needed to be guaranteed, and measures to protect civilians – particularly women and children – needed be prioritised. While UNHCR remained committed to supporting displaced communities in eastern DRC, the scale of the crisis demanded immediate action to scale up relief efforts.

Peace was a common good of humanity. It was time for peace to prevail in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Measures were needed to address the root causes of displacement and assist the peacebuilding process.

Read the full briefing note here.

Announcements

Catherine Huissoud for United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan announced today, that the sixteenth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD 16) would take place Vietnam in October 2025 with the theme “Shaping the Future: Driving Economic Transformation for Equitable, Inclusive, and Sustainable Development.”

Secretary General Rebeca Grynspan highlighted the historic significance of this year’s conference. She stated, “Viet Nam represents not just a development success story, but a testament to how trade and development can work together to transform the lives of people.” She added, “Asia’s rising economic influence, achievements in regional integration, and growing diplomatic leadership make Viet Nam the ideal setting to reimagine the future of global trade and development.”

UNCTAD 16 was the United Nation’s major conference on trade and development, where nations came together to discuss current global trade, finance, investment and technological trends and challenges.

Heads of State, Ministers of Trade and Economy from UNCTAD’s 195 Member States, heads of international organizations, Nobel prize-winning economists, leading civil society organizations, development banks, financial and global trade organizations were expected to attend UNCTAD 16.

Details regarding the venue, registration, and participation would be shared in the coming weeks.

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, said that fourteen States would have their human rights records examined in the 48th session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group, which would be held in Room XX of the Palais des Nations from 20 to 31 January 2025. The countries scheduled for review were Italy, El Salvador, Gambia, Bolivia, Fiji, San Marino, Kazakhstan, Angola, Iran, Madagascar, Iraq, Slovenia, Egypt and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Michele Zaccheo, Chief, UNTV, Radio and Webcast Section, United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, said the Conference on Disarmament, the world’s only multilateral disarmament negotiating forum, would hold the first public plenary of its 2025 session next Tuesday, 21 January, at 10 a.m. in Tempus, Palais des Nations. The Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva would address the Conference at a later date.

The 2025 session of the Conference would be divided up into three successive parts, from 20 January to 28 March, from 12 May to 27 June, and from 28 July to 12 September. The coming session would open under the presidency of Italy. After Italy’s presidency (20 January to 14 February), the following countries will also take the presidency during 2025: Japan (17 February to 14 March), Kazakhstan (17-28 March and 12-23 May), Kenya (27 May to 20 June), Malaysia (23-27 June and 28 July to 15 August), and Mexico (18 August to 12 September).

The high-level segment of the Conference would be held from 24 to 29 February at the Palais des Nations.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child (98th session, 13 to 31 January, Palais Wilson) would conclude this afternoon its review of the report of Saint Kitts and Nevis, begun yesterday. Countries pending review were Peru (20 January afternoon and 21 morning), Gambia (22 January afternoon and 23 morning), and Ecuador (23 January afternoon and 24 afternoon). In the afternoon of Thursday 30 January, the Committee would also have a meeting with States.

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