UN GENEVA PRESS BRIEFING
Michele Zaccheo of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, attended by spokespersons and representatives of the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Development Programme, the World Health Organization, and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Urgent support needed as over 1.3 million war-displaced Sudanese begin to return home
Othman Belbeisi, Regional Director for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), speaking from Port Sudan, said Sudan was severely impacted by the vicious, horrifying civil war which continued to take lives with impunity. The parties to the conflict were implored to let their weapons fall silent. The violence needed to stop, civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected, and humanitarian workers should be given safe, unimpeded access wherever aid was needed. Mr. Belbeisi called on the international community to play their part in achieving peace and stability, to let people return to their homes and their lands to recover and to rebuild. He then addressed the people of Sudan. “We hear you. We see you. And we will not turn our backs on you”.
Mamadou Dian Balde, Regional Refugee Coordinator for the Sudan Crisis, for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), speaking from Nairobi, said he had visited Sudan recently, for the third time in the past two years. It was indeed the largest displacement crisis, with one in three Sudanese forced to flee their homes. There had been eight million people displaced internally, and four million forced to flee to neighboring countries. Last week, he had visited Khartoum where he had lived more than 24 years ago. It was heartbreaking to see the immense destruction of infrastructure and services, which made the rebuilding lives of returnees extremely challenging. After Khartoum, he travelled 1,200 kilometers to the border north of Egypt, where 300,000 returnees had been coming through. He saw people coming home empty handed, with barely any dignified transportation. They had pleaded for help to reach their destination areas and for peace and reconstruction. There were places of relative safety in Sudan but also areas, including the Darfurs, which remained as places of conflict, and continued to produce high numbers of refugees. The regional refugee response plan was only funded at 17 percent. There was a need to support people to return to areas of safety. The people of Sudan needed peace and an end to the brutal conflict.
Luca Renda, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Sudan Resident Representative, speaking from Port Sudan, said in the next few months it was expected that many people would return to the capital Khartoum, where the level of devastation was extensive. There was an opportunity to support people to rebuild their lives back home. People were eager to return. It was important to intervene now; if people returned and did not find an enabling environment there could be a repeat of outbreaks of cholera and another humanitarian crisis. All returns must be safe, voluntary and dignified. Among the urgent needs was the decontamination of the city, which contained hundreds of thousands of unexploded ordinances. It was important to restore infrastructure, including water, electricity and health facilities. At least 20 primary and 15 secondary schools needed to be repaired, to ensure children could return to school in the coming months. UNDP, IOM and other agencies were already on the ground in Khartoum and coordinating with the authorities. They needed support from the international community to enable people to successfully return home and support their lives.
Michele Zaccheo, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), said according to United Nations data, Sudan was now the largest hunger catastrophe and displacement crisis on the planet.
The full joint statement by IOM, UNHCR and UNDP can be viewed here.
Responding to questions from the media, Luca Renda, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Sudan Resident Representative, said there were certain areas of the country considered safe by the Sudanese people, which motivated people to return. These were areas in which there was no longer active conflict, including Khartoum, which had been retaken by the army in April. Sudanese were returning to these areas to check on their homes and see if there was a possibility for them to return on a more permanent basis. This was a recent development, within the past few months.
Othman Belbeisi, Regional Director for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said there were shifting frontlines, with fighting moving more towards Darfur, which was now witnessing displacement of around 500,000 people. These flows had been changing since March.
Mamadou Dian Balde, Regional Refugee Coordinator for the Sudan Crisis, for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said the large proportion of returns happened regarding Egypt and South Sudan. In some situations, families were being split up. There should be a message of cautious returns, and the voluntariness of the returns needed to be highlighted.
Responding to additional questions, Mr. Dian Balde said the influx of people returning from Egypt and South Sudan had started recently, in around February, March and April, with more expected to come. If the situation was stabilised and support was provided this would also lead to an increase in returns. However, there would still be refugees remaining in neighboring countries.
Mr. Belbeisi said most returns had been to Al Jazeera (71 percent), Sanaa (13 percent) and Khartoum (eight percent). It was expected around 2.1 million people would return to Khartoum by the end of the year, but this depended on the security situation and whether infrastructure could be restored. IOM had just finished decontaminating and were beginning to rebuild their office in Khartoum.
In response to further questions, Mr. Renda said it was hard to put a figure on the level of contamination in Khartoum. Colleagues from the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) had found hundreds of thousands of unexplodedordnance . The level of contamination was massive. Anti-personnel mines had also been found in five locations in Khartoum. This would require extensive work and funding, and it would take years to fully decontaminate the city. Work was being done to expand UNMAS’ presence and operation in the capital in the next few months.
Responding to a request for a specific briefing on landmine and unexploded ordnance, Michele Zaccheo, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), said said UNIS would contact UNMAS to get their perspective. Mr. Renda said decontamination was a critical first step before work on reconstruction could begin. He thanked countries including Canada and the United Kingdom who had contributed to UNMAS’ work. He estimated around 10 million USD was required for UNMAS to deploy the number of teams needed to do the job, in coordination with the national authorities. It was also important to undertake mine risk education, to inform people of the areas which had been decontaminated and those which were still at risk. Any conflict areas had levels of contamination. For instance, there were around 70,000 people who had returned to Blue Nile from South Sudan, but there was a need to do the survey and decontamination to ensure people did not lose their lives. Other areas were similar. It would take a long time for Sudan to clear themselves of mines; years of work was required, as well as international support.
Mr. Dian Balde emphasized the importance of demining and creating critical conditions for returns. He had visited the UNHCR office in Khartoum which had been totally destroyed. Blue Nile was a complex situation with refugees returning and also crossing into other parts of the country.
Update on the health situation in Syria
Christina Bethke, Acting World Health Organization (WHO) Representative in Syria, speaking from Damascus, said the recent escalation in As-Sweida had displaced over 145,000 people. Many have had to leave their homes with nothing, taking shelter in makeshift reception centres in Dara’a, Rural Damascus and Damascus. WHO teams had visited several of these sites in rural Damascus yesterday and would head to Dara’a on Sunday. They had seen parents searching for medicine for their children, elderly people in need of urgent care, and health workers doing their best under extraordinary pressure. WHO-supported mobile medical teams had been deployed to displacement areas, providing urgent outpatient consultations, maternal and child health services, mental health support, and essential medicines. These efforts, coordinated with the Ministry of Health and local authorities, had already reached thousands of people from rural Sweida and other affected communities.
Inside Sweida, health facilities were under immense strain. The city’s main hospital had been overwhelmed and this week, its morgue had reached capacity. Five reported attacks on healthcare had been confirmed by WHO, including the killing of two doctors, obstruction and targeting of ambulances, and hospitals being temporarily occupied. These incidents were deeply concerning; health care must never be a target. Access to Sweida remained limited and inconsistent. WHO still managed to deliver critical supplies to health facilities in Dara’a and Rural Damascus, on Sunday, followed by a second delivery on Wednesday. The shipment was coordinated closely with the Ministry of Health, the Department of Health, and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. WHO was working with national stakeholders to develop a trauma referral pathway, which meant the safe and timely transport of the wounded from frontline areas to hospitals.
Responding to questions from the media, Ms. Bethke said there were convoys being continuously organized, thanks to colleagues at the Syrian Red Crescent who had carried the supplies of WHO and other agencies. WHO planned to continue providing supplies inside of Sweida however this was just one part of the response. It was also important to ensure that humanitarian partners could reach affected populations. Regarding detained and disappeared persons, WHO referred to this to others who worked more closely on the issue, including the national authorities. On displacement inside Sweida, Ms. Bethke said that due to constrained access, there was not a clear picture of those numbers, however WHO had received information that many people had lost their homes, and it was not clear what they would return to. It was difficult to think that internally displaced persons camps could be expanding during this time. WHO expected to know more during coming weeks.
Replying to additional questions, Ms. Bethke said WHO did not have a detailed breakdown on the types of injuries, but the majority bring received in hospitals were trauma related. Security was the major obstacle in getting aid into Sweida, as there were different groups controlling different pathways. Facilitating negotiations was difficult; negotiations with one group could proceed while another could deteriorate and backtrack. There was a desire form the national authorities to ensure that aid could be safely delivered. The Syrian Red Crescent had already been able to gain access, and it was hoped that other actors could follow soon.
Regarding the specifics of the attacks on health care, Ms. Bethke said WHO were mandated to confirm if an attack had occurred and on what kind of provider and aimed to capture the impact of the attacks on healthcare. It was the purview of others to investigate the responsibility of those attacks.
Ms. Bethke said prior to the escalation, there were three public hospitals, five primary health centers and five specialty centers which were fully functional. WHO were working to get a full picture of the situation, but it was anticipated that many services had been suspended and were nonfunctional at this time. Each time there was an effort to send a convoy, efforts were closely monitored. Through local networks, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent had managed to gain safe passage, and it was hoped they could continue to send supplies regularly. It was hoped WHO could gain access as things stabilised in the coming days.
Responding to questions on detained and disappeared persons, Jens Laerke, for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, (OCHA), said OCHA did not typically in exchange of people who were detained. OCHA had been focused on getting aid in and had two convoys organized with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, on the 20th and 23rd of July, with plans for more going in.
Gaza
Michele Zaccheo, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), said the United Nations Office OCHA had sent an important document which detailed the delivery of humanitarian aid in the event of a long overdue ceasefire in Gaza.
Responding to media questions on Gaza, Jens Laerke, for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, (OCHA), said there were regular meetings with Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT). Large parts of Gaza required OCHA to request permission for movement; often approvals came too late in the day to be viable. Contact with COGAT was not daily but was regular and frequent. An overview planning document for a potential cease fire had been sent by OCHA to the media which listed issues still to be resolved.
Responding to further questions on famine in Gaza, Mr. Laerke said he did not want to overstep into the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) partnership. An update was coming very soon. What was being produced were not “declarations of famine”; the IPC provided the evidence if famine conditions or levels of food insecurity existed. Based on this, people could conclude whether a famine was taking place.
Announcements
Michele Zaccheo, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), said United Nations Secretary-General was delivering a message to the Amnesty International Global Assembly today, embargoed until 4pm Geneva time, where he would highlight concerns to human rights, challenges around the world, and recognising human rights as a solution to these challenges. The remarks would be distributed later today.
Mr. Zaccheo also said the third and last part of the 2025 session of the Conference on Disarmament would officially begin on 28 July. The date of the next public plenary meeting of the Conference, still under the presidency of Malaysia, would be announced at a later stage.
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