UN GENEVA PRESS BRIEFING
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired a hybrid press briefing, which was attended by the representatives and spokespersons of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the World Health Organization, UN Women, and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Humanitarian situation in Gaza
Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), stated that it had been ten days since the return to a full war in Gaza and a callous disregard for human rights and dignity. Hundreds of children and civilians had been killed in Israeli airstrikes. More than 142,000 people had been ordered to move again, with no means to survive. The areas under Israeli occupation now covered 18 percent of the territory and growing. Mr. Laerke reminded that the UN had demanded full investigation into the killing of one UN staff member and injuring of six others by an Israeli tank. Inside Gaza, Israeli authorities were denying humanitarian access to people in need, and the supplies were rapidly running out. This time, the situation was worse than before because of the complete shutdown of every entry point into Gaza. Nothing could justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people, stressed Mr. Laerke. There was an utter lack of respect for the most basic principles of humanity, he said.
Dr. Richard Peeperkorn, World Health Organization (WHO) Representative in the occupied Palestinian territories, spoke of having witnessed people returning to their damaged houses and repairing their shops and restarting commercial activities during the ceasefire period, and now that was all being shattered once again. People just wanted to be left in peace and assisted to rebuild their lives. Dr. Peeperkorn spoke of the massive efforts provided by WHO to restore hospital supplies; there were now 22 hospitals partly functional in Gaza. Currently, the focus was on food, water, shelter, and medical supplies, which had been dwindling quickly since early March. Lack of trauma supplies, fluids, antibiotics, and blood supplies was particularly worrying, said Dr. Peeperkorn. There was no anaesthesia for surgeries, and supplies to help safe births were also running out. The lack of safe access impeded WHO’s ability to deliver. WHO had conducted three medical evacuations recently, but this had also slowed down since the closure of Rafah, he informed. Dr. Peeperkorn said that emergency supplies for trauma and maternal and newborn health were absolutely needed. A ceasefire, safe access all over Gaza, allowing supplies in, and proceeding with medical evacuations were all badly needed, stressed Dr. Peeperkorn.
Maryse Guimond, UN Women Representative for the occupied Palestinian territories, speaking from Amman, said that the end of the tenuous ceasefire in Gaza had had terrible consequences on women in Gaza. Over 170 women had been killed since the hostilities had restarted. Every single day from the 18 to 25 March, an average of 21 women and over 40 children had been killed per day. This was not a collateral damage; women and children bore the largest brunt and made up close to 60 percent of recent casualties. The war had to be ended, and women and children had to be left to live. There was nowhere for them to go, as there were no safe places to go. A feeling of despair was shared by many women Ms. Guimond has spoken to. Since 2 March, humanitarian aid had been cut off by Israel. The ceasefire, while brief, had provided a respite for local people and humanitarians. People had been returning home, but now that hope was gone. The war continued to ravage Gaza; this was not merely a conflict – it was a war on women, who were stripped of their fundamental rights. More than 50,000 people had been killed and more than 110,000 injured, reminded Ms. Guimond. The world seemed to be standing by, normalizing what should never be normalized. Women and children seemed to be trapped in a never-ending nightmare. What would we tell next generations: that we did not know, that we did not see what was happening? The ceasefire had to be respected, unimpeded humanitarian access allowed, and all hostages and arbitrarily detained people ought to be released immediately.
UN Women statement is available here.
Answering questions from the journalists, Mr. Laerke, for OCHA, said that what we were witnessing in Gaza had hallmarks of atrocity crimes as defined by international humanitarian law. Every day, children and aid workers were being killed, and people being displaced without means of survival. Dr. Peeperkorn, for WHO, explained that every single trauma supply was running low; only 500 blood units were currently available, while some 4,500 units were estimated to be needed per month; even more was needed at times of active conflict due to increased trauma cases. WHO was trying to bring in necessary supplies, but nothing was being allowed in at the moment. More than 20 percent of newborns were underweight, and some 4,000 newborns currently needed particular support through incubators, ventilators and nutritional supplies, which were unable to receive.
Dr. Peeperkorn further said on 18 March, during intensive air strikes, some 450 people had been reported killed. Over 800 people had been reportedly killed since the resumption of hostilities; overall, at least 50,000 people had been killed since the start of the war. On another question, Dr. Peeperkorn said that 22 hospitals were partly functional, including the Al Nasser medical complex. During the ceasefire, WHO had stocked up very well in its three warehouses and hospitals, but the almost four weeks of full blockade was leading to a shortage, including clean water and cleaning materials. He explained that the European Union and its Member States were the largest donor of the WHO operations in the occupied Palestinian territories, followed by the US. WHO was able, for the time being, to continue what it had been doing, but it would be a challenge to continue with all activities and future recovery and reconstruction efforts with the dwindling support.
Dr. Margaret Harris, for World Health Organization (WHO), emphasized that WHO would keep doing what it was doing, but it was increasingly challenging to do ever more with less. The situation in Gaza was now worse than before because of the exhaustion, continued fighting and no access to fresh supplies.
On another question, Mr. Laerke, for OCHA, reiterated that all partners were saying that the supplies were running out very fast as nothing was coming in. According to the World Food Programme, the agency had 5,700 tons of food stock left in Gaza, enough to support its operations for two weeks at most, said Mr. Laerke.
Earthquake in Myanmar
Marie Manrique, Programme Coordinator for the Myanmar Country Delegation of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), speaking from Yangon, said that a 7.7 point magnitude and a 6.4 point magnitude earthquakes had today stricken northwest Myanmar, in the vicinity of Segaing city. The impact had also been felt in China, Thailand, and India. Buildings had collapsed and public infrastructure had been damaged; all eyes were also on a major dam to see what the damage was, but there were other potentially affected dams. Electricity and communications were cut in parts of the country; Myanmar Red Cross Society had launched its own emergency operations, trying to help people in need and assess the situation. The very preliminary information showed that the most affected areas were in the north of the country; the impact across Myanmar would be quite significant, and even worse for people already vulnerable due to the protracted crisis in the country. The priority was to help communities in need as soon as possible, stressed Ms. Manrique. There were 3.5 million internally displaced people in the country, reminded Ms. Manrique responding to a question. Very preliminary information would indicate a very large impact in Myanmar, not only in the northwest of the country where 18.5 million people lived. Commercial telephone lines were largely affected. IFRC was looking into launching an emergency appeal.
Dr. Margaret Harris, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that an instant management system had been set up from Geneva, which meant that activities had started immediately from the headquarters in cooperation with WHO country offices in both Myanmar and Thailand. The damage was enormous and WHO had activated its logistics hub in Dubai to primarily provide trauma supplies, and a health needs assessment had commenced. WHO was ready to move supplies in, as soon as there was clarity about the needs.
Babar Baloch, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that the central and northwest parts of Myanmar had the highest number of internally displaced people due to the conflict that had been going for over four years. Some 1.6 million IDPs out of the total 3.5 million, lived in these areas, and this catastrophe would exacerbate their hardships.
Impact of funding cuts on 13 million displaced people
Allen Maina, Public Health Chief at the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that without adequate resources, an estimated 12.8 million displaced people, including 6.3 million children, could be left without life-saving health interventions in 2025. The current humanitarian funding crisis, exacerbated by declining health spending in hosting countries, was affecting the scope and quality of public health and nutrition programmes for refugees and host communities, disrupting access to essential services and increasing the risk of disease outbreaks, malnutrition, untreated chronic conditions and mental health issues. When support for refugee health care was cut, refugees would be forced to pay from their own pockets and would face challenges accessing already strained public services, overwhelming local clinics and hospitals.
When funding cuts for refugee support were implemented, host communities were also being affected, explained Mr. Maina. Sanitation facilities and water management were also affected, increasing the risk of spread of infectious diseases. Mr. Maina provided an example of Bangladesh, where one million Rohingya refugees were in a precarious situation: some 40,000 pregnant women would face obstacles accessing prenatal and delivery services, and 10,000 refugees with life-threatening conditions would have a challenge accessing secondary and tertiary health care services, including hepatitis treatments. The health system could collapse without continuous support. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, on the other hand, the health care system was on a brink of collapse; health facilities were overwhelmed, medical staff reduced and hospitals running out of medicine. Some 520,000 refugees in the country could be at risk of infectious diseases because of the funding cuts. An example of Ethiopia was also provided, where 80,000 children under five in the Gambela Region were at an increased risk of acute severe malnutrition. Every day the uncertainty continued would have an adverse impact on the millions of men, women and children displaced around the world. This was a moment for governments, private companies, and other partners to step in and support those forced to flee.
UNHCR statement is here.
Answering questions, William Spindler, also for United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), reminded that the US was UNHCR’s biggest donor. The funding uncertainty had an obvious impact on the service delivery: lives were being lost, people were dying, and some assistance would have to be cut. UNHCR was in the process of reviewing its funding with the view of minimizing impact on the people it served. UNHCR was looking at all possible opportunities to continue supporting displaced people. A world in which refugees found safety made everyone safer, stressed Mr. Spindler. He reminded that funding difficulties were unfortunately nothing new and provided examples of several underfunded appeals in 2024. It was not only the United States to decrease aid funding, but some other major donors, said Mr. Spindler. UNHCR was trying to become even more efficient to ensure that as much of the contributions as possible reach refugees. The uncertainty over funding was already having, and would continue to have, an impact on the lives of the most vulnerable people.
UNHCR statement can be accessed here.
Funding for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
Margaret Harris, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that vaccines were one of humanity’s greatest achievements: an estimated 154 million lives had been saved over the past 50 years thanks to global immunization drives as part of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), led by country governments worldwide, including the US, and supported by global institutions. Vaccination accounted for 40% of the worldwide improvement in infant survival over these 50 years, and more children now lived to see their first birthday and beyond than at any other time in human history. Much of this success was a result of the investments entrusted to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, founded in 2000.
Ms. Harris reminded that Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which included WHO, UNICEF and the Gates Foundation as core founding members, had been created to widen the benefits of EPI by helping the poorest countries in the world benefit from new, life-saving vaccines, and increase the coverage of EPI vaccines. Since 2000, Gavi had protected an entire generation – over 1 billion children – against infectious diseases, helping to cut by half child mortality in 78 lower-income countries. From 2000-2023, Gavi had supported 637 vaccine introductions and vaccination campaigns to protect children around the world against 16 life-threatening infectious diseases. Not only were vaccines delivering protection and high impact, but immunization was also a ‘best buy’ in health with a return on investment of USD 54 for every dollar invested. In the next 5 years, Gavi would protect at least 500 million children from preventable disease and in so doing save an additional eight to nine million lives. Without continued support by the US and other donors, the world would be at risk of a dangerous backsliding in immunization coverage – meaning more zero-dose children, more disease outbreaks, more diseases crossing borders, more threats to health and more children who never reach even their 5th birthday. Every child had the right to health, and the best defense against infectious diseases was continued investment in life-saving immunizations for all, concluded Ms. Harris.
WHO statement can be found here.
Health situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Dr. Thierno Baldé, World Health Organization (WHO) Incident Manager for the Emergency in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, speaking from Goma, reminded that since late January, the eastern DRC and the surrounding region were facing one of the most critical and acute humanitarian crises. Some 2,000 people had died of trauma cases, and there had been numerous injuries as well. Many people were on the move, some of them injured and without access to care, and there was now information about an outbreak of cholera with an almost ten percent lethality rate. WHO had been around since day one, helping all of the different hospitals, providing fuel, providing medicines, providing clinical experts for really addressing this situation, and working closely with partners such as Doctors without Borders and the International Committee of the Red Cross. All of that, however, was just drop in the ocean as an estimated 50 million people were affected by the ongoing crisis. funding cut. Dr. Baldé said that funding cuts were also a major issue, and some four million people in North Kivu were expected to be affected. He emphasized the need for continuous support, particularly for immunizations and supporting critical trauma cases in the very volatile context.
Announcements
Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), read a statement by the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, who said that today’s exchange of fire across the Blue Line, the second such incident in less than a week, was deeply concerning. A return to wider conflict in Lebanon would be devastating for civilians on both sides of the Blue Line and had to be avoided at all costs. Restraint from all parties was therefore critically needed.
Ms. Vellucci informed that on 3 April at 10 am, Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary General of UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and Angel Gonzalez-Sanz, Head, Technology, Innovation and Knowledge Development Branch, would hold a press conference to present the Technology and Innovation Report 2025: Inclusive Artificial Intelligence for development.
Finally, Ms. Vellucci stated that 30 March would be the International Day of Zero Waste.
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