REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was attended by the spokespersons for the United Nations Refugee Agency, the World Food Programme, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Syria

Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, read the following update on behalf of the Office of the Special Envoy for Syria:

“Special Envoy Geir Pedersen had good meetings with the International Syria Support Group task forces yesterday, focusing on the humanitarian issues in Rukban, Idlib and the Northeast. He remains committed to the protection of civilians and expressed deep concern about the attacks on humanitarians. He was pleased to hear from Russia and Turkey on their sustained commitment to maintaining stability in Idlib.

As directed by the Secretary-General, the Special Envoy continues his consultations with concerned parties within and outside Syria towards a peaceful solution and the implementation of UN Security Council 2254.”

Situation of refugees in North East Syria and Lebanon

Andrej Mahecic, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), read the following statement:

“UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is deeply concerned by reports of mounting civilian casualties — including many women and children — and large-scale civilian displacement amid renewed fighting in the Hajin enclave in Deir-ez-Zor governorate in the east of Syria. Over the past six months, clashes and airstrikes in the southeast part of the governorate forced about 25,000 people to flee.

As well as the women and children, many elderly people are at risk.

It’s estimated that 2,000 people remain in the conflict-affected area of Hajin. Those fleeing report increasingly desperate conditions, with diminishing services and extremely high prices for basic foods. We are worried for civilians who continue to be trapped in ISIS-held areas.

Displaced families reaching the Al Hol camp in northeastern Syria tell our staff that civilians attempting to flee face difficulties and obstacles in leaving the conflict zone. UNHCR calls on all parties, and those with influence over them, to ensure freedom of movement and safe passage for civilians.

The majority of the recently displaced have sought shelter at Al Hol camp. There, more than 8,500 individuals have arrived over the past five weeks. Some of the displaced are also staying in nearby informal settlements or among local communities. Many are exhausted, having fled on foot, and are clearly suffering. Some have spent four nights or more in the open desert, in heavy rain and in cold weather with barely any belongings, food or water. The dangerous and difficult journey and the conditions inside the enclave are reported to have led to the deaths of six children – all under 12 months. Tragically, most have died after arriving at Al Hol, too weakened to survive.

Emergency health teams in Al Hol are conducting immediate screening and referrals on the spot. Dealing with wounds, amputated limbs, injuries and frostbites is the priority. Acute respiratory infections, cold and flu are also concerns. People are confused, exhausted and distressed, not least because of having left family members behind.

UNHCR and partners are on the ground every day to identify needs and provide protection assistance, especially to unaccompanied or separated children and those who require medical assistance. Our teams distribute tents and other materials and aid.

In Hassakeh governorate, at Al-Areesha makeshift settlement, work on sheltering more than 9,600 displaced people has been affected by the rapidly rising water in the nearby reservoir. More than two thirds of the camp are under water. Residents are relocating to higher areas of the camp. Humanitarian workers and volunteers have relocated more than 1,200 tents to higher and safer grounds and assembled large communal tents in case the water level increases and more families need to move.

Meanwhile in Lebanon, Storm Norma has wreaked havoc among Lebanese and refugee communities this week. Several days of strong winds, heavy rain and snow have led to flooding and damage in towns and villages across Lebanon, which is host to nearly one million Syrian refugees. More than 360 sites hosting 11,300 refugees have been affected across the country.

In Minieh, northern Lebanon, the storm took the life of Fatima, an eight-year-old Syrian refugee girl who was swept away by floods. We are supporting her parents and siblings in this very difficult time. Most of the destruction was caused by heavy rain and floods in makeshift sites. In the Bekaa valley alone, at least 600 Syrian refugees have had to relocate due to floods or severe damage to their shelters.

Across Lebanon, UNHCR is assisting 166,000 vulnerable families, delivering a combination of cash, assistance and shelter materials. The families receive monthly cash assistance of US$ 75 to cover the cost of fuel for heating, medicine, and clothes.

This winter across the region, UNHCR is trying to reach 3.5 million vulnerable Syrian and Iraqi internally displaced persons. So far, 2 million have been reached.

The appeal for winter aid of US$ 180 million covers the period from September 2018 to March 2019.”

In response to questions from journalists, Mr. Mahecic said that civilians were being prevented from moving around freely and some had had their documents taken from them. People arriving in Al Hol from the conflict zones had reported being targeted as they fled; some of them had arrived with amputated limbs.

Hervé Verhoosel, for the World Food Programme (WFP), said that WFP was working with UNHCR and UNICEF to conduct an assessment in the region of Lebanon affected by the adverse weather conditions. People were able to access food as most shops were open. The support provided by WFP in the region mostly took the form of cash cards for buying food. Approximately 700,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon were receiving food assistance from WFP, together with 58,000 vulnerable Lebanese people. In 2018, WFP had injected US$ 1.6 billion into the Lebanese economy through the distribution of its cash cards.

In response to questions from journalists, Clare Nullis, for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said that Deutscher Wetterdienst had issued a new Climate Watch, valid until 14 January, which forecast that there would likely be a continuation of the period of above-normal precipitation in the Eastern Mediterranean subregion and northern parts of the Middle East for at least another one to two weeks. The probability was estimated at more than 90 per cent for the first week and more than 60 per cent for the second week. The increased precipitation could cause local flooding and landslides. The cold wave affecting eastern Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe was also expected to continue for another week.

Also in response to questions, Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, recalled the following statement made by the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General on 9 January:

“The UN continues to strongly urge all parties to take all feasible precautions to avoid harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure, including medical facilities, and thus to facilitate humanitarian access to people in need, in line with their obligations under international law.”

Ms. Vellucci added that on 14 January the Committee on the Rights of the Child would open its 80th session at the Palais Wilson in Geneva. It would review the report of the Syrian Arab Republic on 15 and 16 January. During the session, the Committee would also review the reports of Guinea, Japan, Bahrain, Czechia, Italy and Belgium.

Venezuela

In response to questions from journalists, Andrej Mahecic, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that approximately 5,000 people were leaving Venezuela daily for Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil and the southern Caribbean. Teams on the ground had reported an increase in the number of Venezuelans entering Colombia through Cúcuta since 8 January. At other borders, population movements had remained constant since December, when the number of Venezuelan migrants entering Brazil, Ecuador and Peru had dropped compared to the previous month.

Migrant arrivals in Europe

Asked to provide data on the number of migrants that had arrived in Europe during 2018, Andrej Mahecic, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that the total number of arrivals for the year stood at 121,755, including 114,941 arrivals by sea. The numbers of migrants who had lost their lives attempting to reach Europe stood at 2,262 in 2018, 3,139 in 2017, 5,096 in 2016, 3,700 in 2015 and 3,500 in 2014.

Humanitarian situation in Nigeria

Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), read the following statement:

“Recent escalating fighting between Nigerian government forces and non-state armed groups in the country’s north-east peaked on 26 December on the shores of Lake Chad and triggered massive displacement from Baga (on the shores of Lake Chad), mostly towards already congested camps or internal displacement sites in Maiduguri and Monguno town.

More than 30,000 people have fled to Maiduguri in recent weeks, adding to the already high numbers of internally displaced people (IDPs) there. There are also several thousand new IDPs in Monguno. The Humanitarian Coordinator in the country, Edward Kallon, recently visited the IDP camps in the area and said that the new violence has created a “humanitarian tragedy”.

In 2018, more than 214,000 people, mainly women and children, were displaced in the north-east, with a weekly average of 4,500 individuals. With such high levels of displacement, more than 40 IDP sites across Borno State are highly congested and many people have no access to shelter and are forced to sleep in overcrowded spaces or in the open.

This latest escalation of deadly clashes between non-state armed groups and military forces since July 2018 has also forced the relocation of some 260 humanitarian personnel from three local government areas. This has led to 390,000 people who were to receive humanitarian aid in those three areas not being able to access life-saving assistance.

To illustrate the highly insecure operational environment, six humanitarian aid workers were executed by non-state armed groups in 2018.

The UN and partner organizations are supporting the Government to respond to the life-saving needs of the most vulnerable in the north-east with a strong focus on shelter, food, water and sanitation. Congestions at “Teachers Village” camp in Maiduguri is particularly challenging as more than 20,000 have arrived in the last three weeks alone. These displaced people are reluctant to move to other camps due to safety concerns.

A total of 7.1 million Nigerians remain in need of humanitarian assistance in the most affected states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, with women and children comprising 80 per cent of those in need. Some 823,000 people currently trapped in hard-to-reach areas represent some of the most vulnerable in the north-east with extremely high levels of deprivation.

In 2018, the humanitarian community reached more than four million people with life-saving assistance. The Humanitarian Response Plan for 2019 is targeting 6.2 million people with a financial requirement of US$ 848 million.”

In response to questions from journalists, Mr. Laerke said that non-state armed groups in the area were attacking and kidnapping civilians. The Boko Haram insurgency was entering its tenth year. Aid agencies were attempting to assist people in a highly unpredictable and extremely insecure operational environment.

Cold weather and warming climate

Clare Nullis, for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said that parts of Europe were in the grip of extreme weather. A fairly persistent area of low pressure over Germany was responsible for the patterns being seen. Its impacts had included coastal flooding along the Baltic coast of Germany and Denmark and very heavy snow in the northern Alps, especially in Austria and southern Germany. The Austrian national meteorological service, which had issued several top level Red Alerts and avalanche warnings during the week, had said that some regions had received amounts of snow typically seen only once in 30 to once in 100 years. In Hochfilzen in Tirol, more than 3 metres of new snow had fallen in the past 10 days. In the resort of Bad Mittendorf in the state of Styria, there had been 280 centimetres of snow. Despite a temporary easing in conditions on 11 January, new snowfalls were expected in the coming days. The first signs of longer-lasting relief would arrive on 15 January at the earliest.

WMO had been issuing annual temperature figures based on consolidated data from ECMWF, NASA, NOAA, the UK Met Office and Japan Meteorological Agency. The final figure for 2018 would be released once data had been supplied by all the agencies; operations at NASA and NOAA had been affected by the government shutdown in the United States.

However, data released by the Copernicus Climate Change Service showed that 2018 had been the fourth in a series of exceptionally warm years and that atmospheric CO2 concentrations were continuing to rise, confirming the findings on climate change of WMO’s provisional statement on the state of the climate in 2018.

A number of European countries, including Germany, Switzerland and Austria, had seen their warmest year on record in 2018. However, according to the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre, the most pronounced warming compared to the long-term average had occurred in the Arctic. Towards the end of 2018, the extent of the Arctic sea ice had been tracking at its third lowest level in the satellite record, while sea ice in the Antarctic had remained at historic lows. The Arctic Report Card issued by NOAA in December 2018 had confirmed that the Arctic was continuing to warm at twice the rate of the rest of globe; that trend was perhaps linked to extreme weather in the northern hemisphere. Sea ice remained younger, thinner and less extensive than in the past. Ice older than 4 years now made up less than 1 per cent of the ice pack. Caribou and reindeer populations across the Arctic tundra had declined by 56 per cent over the last two decades, from 4.7 million to 2.1 million animals, as a result of loss of forage food, parasites, hunting, drought and climate warming.

Responding to questions from journalists, Ms. Nullis said that the shutdown of the United States Government did not affect the ability of the national weather service to issue dangerous weather warnings. However, an annual research meeting in Arizona had been heavily impacted since federal officials had been unable to attend. In addition, preparations and training for the coming hurricane season at the National Hurricane Centre had been postponed.

Asked to respond to the announcement that the Government of Brazil would be closing down its climate change division, Ms. Nullis said that climate change and extreme events were having far-reaching impacts in Brazil. The country had played an active and constructive role in research and in the global meteorological community in the past, and WMO hoped that it would continue to do so.

Asked to comment on the effects of climate change in West Africa, Ms. Nullis said that the continent of Africa was particularly vulnerable to climate change and extreme weather and related phenomena including desertification, flooding and droughts. In addition, warmer waters were expected to have an impact on local fishing stocks. The United Nations Environment Programme and the International Union for Conservation of Nature supported initiatives in many different countries, including projects aimed at restoring wetlands or mangroves. The challenge of climate change was too big to be tackled by any one country alone; regional and global cooperation and action was required. A meeting of the WMO Regional Association for Africa would take place in Egypt in February 2019, and climate change was high on the agenda.

UNCTAD virtual newsroom

Catherine Huissoud, for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), said that embargoed material was made available to journalists via an online newsroom. A password was required in order to access the newsroom; to obtain one, it was necessary to fill out the form online. Journalists with access to the UNCTAD virtual newsroom were able to download embargoed press releases and summaries of UNCTAD reports.

UNCTAD announcements

Catherine Huissoud, for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), announced the following press conferences:

Trends in International Trade in Creative Industries – Creative Economy Outlook

Speaker:
• Pamela Coke-Hamilton, UNCTAD, Director, Division on International Trade

Date/Time:
Monday 14 January 2019 at 2 p.m.

Place: Press Room 1

Presentation of the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2019 (Embargoed until Monday 21 January 4 p.m. GMT/5 p.m. Geneva time)
Published by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the UN Regional Commissions and UNCTAD

Speakers:
• Richard Kozul-Wright, Director, Division on Globalization and Development Strategies, UNCTAD
• José Palacin, Senior Economic Affairs Officer, Office of the Executive Secretary, UNECE

Date/Time:
Thursday 17 January 2019 at 2.30 p.m.

The embargoed material was made available to journalists via an online newsroom. A password was required in order to access the newsroom; to obtain one, it was necessary to fill out the form online. Journalists with access to the UNCTAD virtual newsroom were able to download embargoed press releases and summaries of UNCTAD reports.

Presentation of the latest Global Investment Trends Monitor (Embargo 21 January 2019 12 p.m. GMT, 1 p.m. Geneva time)

Speaker:
• James Zhan, UNCTAD, Director, Division on Investment and Enterprise

Date/Time:
Friday 18 January 2019 at 2.30 p.m.

Place: Press Room 1

Press conferences

Friday 11 January at 2.30 p.m., Press Room 1

WTO

Dispute Settlement Body meeting

Speaker:
• Dan Pruzin, Information Officer