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 United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Lebanon, World Food Programme, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, World Health Organization, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, and the World Meteorological Organization.

Lebanon's Growing Humanitarian Crisis

Imran Riza, United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Lebanon, said the situation in Lebanon had escalated just two weeks ago. This came on top of the crisis in 2024 and a whole series of crises in the country. The capacity of the country to respond was very weak at this point.

In the past 15 days, the Disaster Risk Management Unit had recorded more than 2,200 hostilities, reflecting the scale and speed of what had been happening. Some 886 people had been killed according to the Ministry of Public Health and more than 2,140 had been injured. Children accounted for at least 107 of those killed.

Civilians were paying a very, very high price and displacement was increasing incredibly quickly. Hundreds of thousands of people had left their homes, many leaving with very little, just the clothes they were wearing. Displacement orders were coming on a near daily basis, covering increasing amounts of territory, which was leading to people moving to different places, putting pressure on host communities. The people in shelters were a minority; over 70 per cent were not in shelters.

Air strikes had also been increasing in terms of the geographical area that was being hit. There was a high number of people in shelters with disabilities, and strikes were having a huge psychosocial toll on both children and parents, and a great deal of uncertainty regarding where to find safety.

The World Health Organization surveillance system on health care had recorded 28 attacks over the last 15 days. There had been 33 health workers killed in these last two weeks. Five hospitals had been closed due to hostilities, as had 48 health centres. Last Friday, 13 March, there was a strike in southern Lebanon that was one of the deadliest attacks seen on Lebanese health workers in recent years.

Education was also being disrupted. Public schools and the country’s public university were being used as shelters. The Humanitarian Coordinator was working with the Government to establish other shelters, but it was becoming very difficult to access communities that had been left behind in the south.

The humanitarian response was being coordinated and led by the Lebanese Government. All entities working on this were coordinating well and the United Nations was coordinating with them. This was helping the response to work more effectively than in the past. However, the United Nations lacked resources to respond to the crisis.

The greatest need was for immediate de-escalation. It was extremely important that international humanitarian law was upheld by all parties. Civilians, civilian infrastructure, humanitarian workers and health facilities needed to be protected at all times. It was critical to support a sustained humanitarian response.

Various countries had already made pledges to the United Nations’ flash appeal for its response to the emergency, including Italy, Switzerland, Norway, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom. The Humanitarian Coordinator had also used its own Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) finances. The United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher had allocated 15 million dollars that could be used right away.

In response to questions, Mr. Riza said that in 2024, there were some tensions between communities moving from the south to the north, but tensions had now greatly increased. Targeted assassinations happening without warning or displacement orders, as well as threats from officials, was creating a huge amount of anxiety. The surface of Lebanon subjected to evacuation orders was around 14 to 15 per cent.

There were open shelters for displaced Palestinians, Syrians and other migrants and domestic workers. There were several protection issues for this group; many did not have passports. Humanitarians were working to ensure that displaced Palestinians and others had good shelter.

For the last year, the United Nations had been cutting staff and programmes. There needed to be recovery assistance for people in Lebanon who had suffered so much and been repeatedly displaced. The humanitarian community had been weakened and forced to reprioritise, using whatever funds it could. In 2024, the community had received an incredible amount of assistance from the Gulf States, but that was no longer happening. Due to supply chain issues and the security situation, the air bridge from the Gulf was no longer there; there had been only three flights in the region in the last week coming from Europe, compared to during the 2024 crisis, when numerous flights arrived each day. Saudi Arabia had announced that it would try to assist. 

Thameen Al-Kheetan for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said another tragic chapter in Lebanon’s history was being written, bringing more suffering to civilians. Since 2 March, at least 886 people had been killed, including at least 111 children, according to Lebanese authorities. Israeli airstrikes had destroyed hundreds of homes and civilian infrastructure, including healthcare facilities. At the same time, Hezbollah fighters had launched indiscriminate barrages of rockets at Israel, injuring people and causing damage to residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure.

In many instances, Israeli airstrikes had destroyed entire residential buildings in dense urban environments, with multiple members of the same family, including women and children, often killed together. Such attacks raised serious concerns under international humanitarian law. People displaced by the fighting and living in tents along Beirut’s seafront had also been hit. In recent days, at least 16 medical staff had been killed.

International humanitarian law demanded distinction between military targets, and civilians and civilian objects, and insisted on feasible precautions being taken to protect civilians. Deliberately attacking civilians or civilian objects amounted to a war crime. In addition, international law provided for specific protections for healthcare workers, as well as people at heightened risk, such as the elderly, women and displaced people.

Meanwhile, Israel had extended its extensive warnings and displacement orders across southern Lebanon, adding the region between the Litani and Zahrani rivers to the broad swath of Lebanese territory already covered by such measures. These orders could amount to forced displacement, prohibited under international humanitarian law.

Large numbers of displaced people had lost their homes and were left without any safe place to stay. With this displacement came a wide array of human rights concerns: proper healthcare, sufficient food and drinking water were lacking. While people were displaced, Israeli attacks were destroying and damaging their houses, farmland, and other civilian infrastructure. OHCHR had also received reports of discrimination against displaced people in the Lebanese rental market, alongside a rise in hateful rhetoric targeting certain communities on social media.

Those who had stayed in southern Lebanon now faced heightened isolation and growing obstacles to access humanitarian aid, as Israeli airstrikes had destroyed bridges linking the south to the rest of the country. Statements by Israeli officials threatening to impose the same level of destruction on Lebanon as inflicted in Gaza were wholly unacceptable. Such rhetoric, coupled with the Israeli military’s announcement that it would deploy additional forces and expand its ground incursion, intensified deep fear and anxiety among the Lebanese population.

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk urged an immediate cessation of hostilities, and accountability for all violations. He encouraged the international community to support the humanitarian response in Lebanon.

In response to questions, Mr. Al-Kheetan said the situation in Lebanon was catastrophic and tragic but should not be compared with what happened in Gaza, which should not be repeated anywhere in the world. There were concerning developments in Lebanon, including military operations where civilians were being killed and injured and civilian infrastructure was being damaged. There needed to be proper investigations in each incident where civilians were impacted to establish responsibilities and intent.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights continued to collect information to document and verify whether acts were deliberate or not. However, it was the responsibility of the party that conducted the attack to bring those responsible for violations to account. International law was very clear that deliberately attacking civilians or civilian objects amounted to a war crime.

Carl Skau, Deputy Executive Director, World Food Programme, said there was an escalating humanitarian fallout from the conflict in the Middle East, which was growing more concerning by the day. Mr. Skau said he had seen this firsthand in Beirut last week. Lebanon was now in the epicentre of the humanitarian fallout from the conflict. People had been floored by the escalation of hostilities. Some 830,000 people had been displaced. Many persons who were fleeing had been displaced before in 2024 and had not managed to recover from that displacement.

Hundreds of dedicated shelters had been opened and schools had been repurposed as makeshift shelters. The WFP and partners had scaled up efforts to contribute to the humanitarian response, providing food, hot meals and bread to over 250 shelters hosting tens of thousands of people. But its support was very fragile.

To sustain the response in Lebanon, WFP needed donors to step up as they did in 2024. It was specifically asking for 77 million dollars to support vital operations. Shipments of life-saving food were being affected by the squeeze on trade. Deliveries by sea were taking longer, and humanitarian shipping had in many cases been restricted due to the security situation. Shipping costs were up 18 per cent so far, and the Programme’s thousands of trucks were now much more expensive to run due to rising fuel costs.

WFP had been forced to cut life-saving food rations for people in famine in Sudan and had only been able to support one in four acutely malnourished children in Afghanistan, which was now the world’s worst malnutrition crisis. It was able to spend less on the people it served. The cost of fertiliser had also increased, as some 25 per cent of the world’s supply came through the Strait of Hormuz, which was now cut off. This was a major risk to countries such as Somalia and Kenya, which depended on Gulf imports of their fertilisers.

WFP projected that if the Middle East conflict continued through June, an additional 45 million people could be pushed into acute hunger by price rises. This would take global hunger levels to a record — a terrible prospect. This reinforced the importance of de-escalation of the conflict, to limit the consequences of the conflict, which were falling on the world’s most vulnerable.

In response to questions, Mr. Skau said there were 319 million people around the world who were currently acutely food insecure. Last year, there were two famines, and there was still a famine in Sudan. If an additional 45 million people were pushed into acute hunger by price rises as predicted, some 360 million would be acutely food insecure. Around 75 per cent of this food insecurity was caused by conflict, but extreme weather events and economic shocks could also cause insecurity. There were historic highs in terms of needs, alongside major cuts in funding and capacity and increased costs to operations.

The Lebanese Government was coordinating the response effort well and the humanitarian community had stepped up, working with the Government to set up a cash system to support displaced persons within 48 hours. Humanitarians arrived in shelters with hot food within 24 hours. However, the funding had not followed this response. WFP desperately needed donors to step up and contribute to allow it to support its operations over time.

WFP had a logistics hub in Dubai but was now actively looking at alternative routes for delivering supplies, due to the security situation in the region. Some 25 per cent of the world’s fertiliser came through the Strait of Hormuz. 

Displaced people were struggling to find food and shelter. For many, there was nowhere to cook. WFP and the United Nations Children's Fund had set up kitchens around shelters and was helping people to find their own solutions through the provision of cash resources. However, convoys to the south of Lebanon had been cancelled due to the security situation. WFP had not been able to reach frontline regions such as Tyre.

Lebanon had experienced several crises in recent years, which decreased the country’s economic potential to respond. The situation was fragile and it was important to step in and respond to support stability and social cohesion in the country. In this regard, WFP was engaging with the United States and all donors. Mr. Skau said he was concerned by the impacts of increased energy prices and the move to invest more in defence than in humanitarian assistance. The funds required for humanitarian activities were small compared to defence spending — the war was allegedly costing more than one billion dollars a day. A billion dollars would go a long way in the humanitarian response.

Addressing questions on global humanitarian activities, Mr. Skau said WFP was in a perfect storm. Hunger had never been as severe as it was now, and the Programme was also being pushed by more conflict, extreme weather event and famines. At the same time, resources had fallen sharply. WFP had also never seen more humanitarians killed on the front lines. Last week, colleagues were killed in Lebanon, Sudan and Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo on the same day.  However, WFP’s activities made a difference. The humanitarian system was delivering, saving lives and alleviating suffering, bringing stability to the world in a fragile environment.

WFP’s operation costs were increasing across the Sahel, Mr. Skau said. In Mali and Burkina Faso, the Programme was operating via its air service because some areas had been closed off by militants. In Afghanistan, WFP had gone from assisting eight million people to around 1.52 million due to reduced funding. There was a malnutrition crisis in the country, with people dying due to the lack of assistance. In Somalia, WFP had supported some four million people to avert famine in the past but was now struggling to support 700,000 people. In South Sudan, there were pockets of acute malnutrition, which meant starvation and people dying. There were cut-off areas that could only be reached by helicopter. This was leading to increased costs, making the situation more difficult to manage.

Responding to questions on Yemen, Mr. Skau said WFP was operational in the south of the country, delivering aid to some two million people. Some 75 United Nations colleagues had been detained in the north, including 38 from WFP. The Houthi authorities had confiscated all the organisation’s assets in the country. WFP was extremely worried by the consequences of Yemen being dragged into the conflict.

Trade Disruptions in the Gulf

Jean Rodriguez for the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) said that as the crisis in the Middle East deepened, disruptions to the movement of oil and gas in the region continued to make headlines and send shockwaves through the global economy. But with trade impacts also already starting to be felt through strategically important hubs and corridors for the transport of goods – including the 2.8% of global container transport that passed through the Strait of Hormuz – governments in the region were proactively taking measures to ease trade and transport impacts, with the help of the UN Transports Internationaux Routiers (TIR) Convention.

The Convention provided the world’s only global customs transit system for the international transport of goods. Qatar’s Chamber of Commerce had called on shipping companies to register with TIR, while Kuwait’s customs authorities were actively discussing TIR activation. All Gulf states were party to this fast growing global agreement, and Brazil had been recently added to the Convention. Proposals were emerging to combine maritime and overland transport routes between the Gulf and the Red Sea.

At the same time, transport companies were actively exploring alternative routes through the region. Land transit options to Türkiye via Iraq, Syria or Jordan provided further opportunities under TIR. However, political sensitivities and administrative barriers – including visa restrictions affecting drivers – could constrain the potential expansion of some routes. Infrastructure and regulatory constraints could also limit the capacity for certain types of cargo transport, such as road transport of oil and gas. This would not be an alternative for the oil and gas issues affecting the Strait of Hormuz.

To mitigate the economic impacts of this uniquely challenging situation, UNECE Executive Secretary Tatiana Molcean encouraged all governments, operators, and international partners in the region and beyond to continue working together to ease trade flows and facilitate the smooth and safe passage of goods and the transport crews responsible for them through the proven TIR system.

The 1975 TIR Convention was a treaty administered by UNECE, with the International Road Union (IRU), which was also based in Geneva, operating the international TIR guarantee system and the printing and distribution of the TIR carnets. Under TIR, goods were carried in sealed vehicles or containers from a customs office of departure to a destination across multiple countries, using a standardised TIR carnet or through the digitised “eTIR” system. This reduced border inspections and speeds transit – reducing cross-border transport times for goods by as much as 92 per cent and costs by up to 50 per cent. These were global averages that were not related to specific situations in countries in the Gulf.

Land and multimodal routes therefore offered a lifeline to alleviate some of the pressures affecting the region’s economies, including for the import of food and consumer goods, and to mitigate consequences for broader trade flows, from agricultural and consumer goods to industrial materials. Making the most of these possibilities could help avert potentially large-scale economic consequences for the affected countries.

Israeli Settlements in the Occupied West Bank, Including East Jerusalem

Thameen Al-Kheetan for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said the Israeli Government had accelerated unlawful settlement expansion and annexation of large parts of the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, forcibly displacing over 36,000 Palestinians amid increasing violence by Israeli security forces and settlers.

These were the findings of a new report by UN Human Rights covering the 12-month period up to 31 October 2025. The report documented increasing incidents of settler violence resulting in killings, injuries and property damage, as well as relentless harassment, intimidation, and destruction of Palestinian homes and farmland.

Settler violence continued in a coordinated, strategic and largely unchallenged manner, with Israeli authorities playing the central role in directing, participating in or enabling this conduct. Longstanding and pervasive impunity was facilitating and encouraging violence against and harassment of Palestinians.

To read the full press release and the report, click here.

Ajith Sunghay, head of office in the occupied Palestinian territory, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that since the end of the period covered by the report, the pace of concerted efforts by the Israeli Government to seize as much Palestinian land as possible with as few Palestinians in it as possible was only becoming more relentless. Palestinians were being pushed out of their homes and off their lands every day to make room for more expansion of illegal settlements. Israeli senior official statements pointed to a policy to thwart Palestinian rights and to maximise irreversible damage to Palestinians’ right to self-determination.

An enabling policy and legislative environment continued to facilitate settlement expansion.  Since the beginning of 2026, Israeli settlers had killed seven Palestinians across the West bank, a significantly increased rate compared to the eight Palestinians killed by Israeli settlers during all of 2025. Since the start of the conflict in the region on 28 February, the situation had become worse. Israeli security forces had continued to kill Palestinians with impunity, including a killing of a 19-year-old this morning and an incident last Sunday when they opened fire on a car in Tubas and killed two parents with two sons aged five and six.

In the same time frame, Israeli security forces had launched daily raids across the West Bank, seizing dozens of Palestinian homes for several hours or days to use as interrogation centres and detained at least 200 Palestinians, including for social media posts labelled as “incitement or glorification of the enemy”. Israeli authorities had tightened the already heavy discriminatory closures and movement restrictions across the West Bank, tearing communities apart and impeding Palestinians' access to health care, livelihoods, education, and basic services. Yet, Israeli settlers were roaming free with complete impunity, often armed, forcing Palestinian family after Palestinian family off their lands. As a result, nine Palestinian communities had been fully or partially displaced since 28 February, mostly in the Northern Jordan Valley.

Over the weekend, OHCHR received harrowing accounts from the residents of one of the last standing communities in the region regarding an attack on the community by dozens of settlers, who had assaulted Palestinian men and women in front of their children, stole livestock, and apparently sexually assaulted a young man in a horrifying manner. This violence was clearing Palestinians from the area, while a new separation barrier was being constructed that would close this part of Northern Jordan Valley to Palestinians entirely.

Settlement expansion was also accelerating. Last December, Israeli authorities approved 19 settlements. This included settlements in the Northern West Bank, where last year Israeli security forces had expelled at least 32,000 Palestinians, who remained displaced to this day. In January 2026, Israeli authorities issued tenders for the construction of thousands of settlement units in the so-called “E1” area. This expansion would likely sever East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank and disrupt territorial continuity in the West Bank between north and south.

Palestinians in Gaza were also still living under conditions of precarity and dehumanisation even five months after the ceasefire was announced. Some 671 Palestinians were killed in Israeli military operations since the ceasefire, both in the vicinity of Israeli forces’ deployment lines and far away in homes, tents, and on the streets. The entry and flow of humanitarian aid was not reliable as quantities change. Many essential goods were still blocked, and crossings were not dependably open.

The events of the past two and a half years in the occupied Palestinians had not only caused one of the worst humanitarian disasters in recent history but also presented a severe human rights crisis with the risk of further reverberations across the region and the world. This was a time to strengthen respect for human rights and humanitarian law. Ending the disturbing trends of violations, occupation and impunity in the occupied Palestinian territory was a good place to start.

Christian Lindmeier for the World Health Organization (WHO) said that since the regional escalation began on 28 February, the increased closure of checkpoints and road gates had further restricted movement across the West Bank. Checkpoint closures had impeded travel between cities, while the entrance to many villages had been closed. Between 28 February and 3 March alone, WHO recorded nine incidents in which ambulances were affected. Under the WHO Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care (SSA), these incidents were classified as “attacks on health”, as they involved obstruction and interference with the delivery of health services

WHO had received reports from health partners that ambulance medical staff had been stopped at checkpoints and searched, and reports that they had had to take longer alternative routes to reach patients, significantly delaying access to care. In some instances, crews were required to transport patients on foot through closed gates after ambulances were blocked. Despite these obstructions, ambulances continued to reach patients. However, response times had been significantly delayed. In medical emergencies, such delays can mean the difference between life and death.

WHO called for the lifting of access restrictions to allow unimpeded movement of ambulances, health workers, and humanitarian personnel, for the protection of health care and respect for international humanitarian law. 

In 2025 in the West Bank alone, 233 attacks on health care were registered in the SSA system across the West Bank. These attacks had resulted in 13 deaths and 52 injuries; 25 of them affected health facilities. In 20206, attacks had significantly increased during the recent conflict.

In response to questions, Mr. Lindmeier said that attacks on healthcare were significantly delaying response times, which delayed care. Health care delivery was obstructed 196 times last year alone, and health personnel and patients had been arrested 44 times. This was a way to impede health and terrorise the population.

South Sudan Updates: Progress and Priorities on the Frontline

Dr Humphrey Karamagi, Representative in South Sudan, World Health Organization (WHO), said South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation, was facing a severe and worsening health emergency driven by conflict, displacement, flooding, food insecurity and repeated disease outbreaks. These challenges were unfolding while the health system was already overstretched. In 2026, an estimated 6.3 million people would need health assistance, and more than 10 million people would require some form of humanitarian support.

Recent violence in Jonglei and other affected areas had forced people to flee their homes, increasing the need for health care, food, shelter and water, sanitation and hygiene services. Since late December 2025, at least 11 health facilities had been attacked in Jonglei State alone, including hospitals, primary health care centres, and outreach facilities. Health facilities had been bombed, looted, vandalised or forced to close, while ambulances and humanitarian vehicles had been seized or destroyed. The consequences for civilians were immediate and severe. When vaccination, disease surveillance and referral pathways were disrupted, illnesses and deaths could rise quickly.

South Sudan continued to face cholera, measles, mpox, malaria, acute watery diarrhoea, respiratory infections and severe acute malnutrition. The cholera outbreak that began in September 2024 was one of the most serious recorded in the country, although sustained response efforts had helped reduce deaths and slowed transmission in several areas.

WHO was working closely with the Ministry of Health and partners to strengthen the national health response. This included disease surveillance, rapid response team deployment, vaccination campaigns, essential medicines and emergency health supplies, case management, and coordination of essential health services. In 2025, WHO and partners supported the delivery of four million doses of oral cholera vaccine to protect communities in 15 high-risk counties, alongside disease surveillance, patient care and water and hygiene support.

South Sudan had the highest maternal mortality rate in the world, estimated at over 2,000 deaths per 100,000 live births. To address this, WHO is supporting the Ministry of Health to expand maternal and newborn health interventions in hard-to-reach areas, so that women and newborns could receive life-saving care they deserved.

WHO’s 2026 Health Emergency Appeal requested 12.4 million United States dollars (USD) to sustain life-saving health operations and strengthen health system preparedness and resilience. This supported the broader Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan 2026, which sought 114 million USD to address the urgent health needs of 6.3 million people.

WHO called for safe humanitarian access, the protection of health workers and health facilities and sustained funding. Without timely support, the gap between health needs and the ability to deliver services would continue to widen, leaving more communities without access to essential care when they needed it most.

Daniëlle Brouwer, Communication Coordinator, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said the crisis in Sudan was a crisis spreading across the region. The humanitarian situation in South Sudan was deteriorating by the second. Funding was drying up while needs continued to rise, and the situation was slowly turning into a nightmare.

A crisis was unfolding in Renk, where people were surviving with almost nothing, walking long distances for water and living on only one meal a day. The hospital there was running dangerously low on medicines, while serving 60,000 people in the community. At a transit centre in Renk, 8,000 people were waiting to be relocated to other refugee camps in South Sudan, but there was only shelter for up to 2,000 people.

Ms. Brouwer recounted the story of one mother she had met who had walked 500 kilometres from Khartoum with her two- and four-year-old daughters. She had lived in a hut build with sticks and bedsheets for nine months. Despite her situation, she woke up each day to collect firewood and hoped that her children could have a life that was more than just survival.

The rainy season in South Sudan was around the corner. Tens of thousands of people were living in insufficient shelters made from clothes, many of which had leaks. When the rains arrived in a few weeks, much of the area would flood and water-borne diseases would spread easily.

A similar picture was emerging in eastern Chad, where access to water was a daily struggle. Most people only had seven to nine litres water per person per day, barely half of the humanitarian standard. At the same time, food assistance was reduced. In some camps, food assistance had already been cut by half for 2026, whilst food prices increased significantly.

Across the region, Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers were working tirelessly to support people fleeing Sudan. In Renk, 150 volunteers were helping people every day. They provided clean water by pumping water from rivers and purifying it so that families could drink, cook, and clean safely; built latrines; and provided cash assistance that allowed refugees and host communities to buy food or tarpaulins for shelter. But the needs would only grow, whilst funding dried up.

IFRC was already experiencing the impact of the conflict in the Middle East. Disruptions to supply chains were making it more difficult to deliver essential aid. For example, tents currently stored in Dubai were facing delays and special kits to treat cholera could not be delivered to Chad yet.  An IFRC food shipment to Sudan could not go to Port Sudan but had to come all the way through Egypt, a more costly route that made people in dire need of aid wait even longer.

IFRC was supporting societies to help people survive today, but only urgent international support could prevent this crisis from becoming an even greater humanitarian nightmare tomorrow.

Establishment of an International Panel on Inequality

Professor Jayati Ghosh, Member of the Founding Committee of the International Panel on Inequality, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), said she was presenting the initiative to establish an International Panel on Inequality, which began with the establishment of a committee by the G-20, led by Professor Joseph Stiglitz, to report on the extent of inequality.

Inequality had become significant across the world today, carrying implications related to extreme hunger, impoverishment and violence. The committee had carried out a report that found a number of drivers of inequality, showing that wealth inequality had become even more severe. Over the past 25 years, the richest one per cent of the world had captured more than 40 per cent of all new wealth, while the bottom half only received one per cent. All these inequalities were intertwined with inequalities of race, gender and location.

Many policymakers needed to be convinced of the importance of this issue. The report called for the establishment of the International Panel that would assess available research on the subject and provide consistent, reliable information on the broad extent of the problem, the trends, the drivers and causes, different policy measures related to inequality and their impact, so that people and governments around the world could be more aware of the problem and able to deal with it. The report envisioned a globally balanced coordinating body that would provide authoritative and technical analyses of inequality. 

The Governments of South Africa, Spain, Norway and Brazil had spearheaded this initiative, which had led yesterday to the first meeting of the Founding Committee of the International Panel on Inequality. Professor Stiglitz, the Chair of this Committee, and Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), met with the UN Secretary-General last week, who expressed his support for this initiative.

There were plans for a very lean body which would involve the voluntary work of people around the world.  Some 700 economists had already expressed interest in participating. It was hoped that the Panel would be established by the end of the year. It would aim to not only provide scientific and objective analyses, but also to convince people and governments that this was a problem and enable civil society to ask for change.

The Committee had come together yesterday in a time of great disruption and great global tragedy. This moment could be a beginning step, a transformative approach to one of the great challenges of our time.

In response to questions, Ms. Ghosh said that the report identified drivers of inequality at both national and international levels. There needed to be global consensus on these drivers. Once indicators were established, the body would measure the dramatic decline in public wealth compared to private wealth and how that could be recovered, the extent to which financial deregulation had unleashed forces that adversely affected countries, the nature of the provision of public services, and the absence of progressive taxation and the shift to more regressive taxation. There needed to be a more positive response from Governments on this issue. The panel would assist governments and people to get involved in the process of analysing inequality.

Afghanistan: Deadly Blast Kills Many at Rehab Centre in Kabul

Thameen Al-Kheetan for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said last night’s tragic blast at a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul that reportedly left scores of patients dead needed to be investigated promptly, independently and transparently, and those responsible held to account in line with international standards. The results of investigations needed to be made public, and victims and victims’ families were entitled to reparations.

Witnesses described a scene of total destruction at the hospital site, and seeing hundreds of people looking for their relatives.

Under international humanitarian law, civilians and civilian objects were strictly protected. The laws of war clearly spelled out that any attack needed to comply with the fundamental principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions. International humanitarian law provided for specific and increased protections for medical facilities.

Since the hostilities between Pakistan and Afghanistan escalated at the end of last month, 289 Afghan civilians, including 104 children and 59 women, had been killed or injured. Tens of thousands, mostly in the south and southeast of the country, had been displaced by the fighting. In Pakistan, many had also been forced to flee their homes and schools had been closed.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk reiterated his call on all parties to take effective measures to ensure the protection of civilians, in line with their obligations under international human rights law and international humanitarian law. He called for an immediate end to hostilities, and for all parties to ensure that humanitarian aid reached those desperately in need.

Christian Lindmeier for the World Health Organization (WHO) said the upsurge in violence in Afghanistan and Pakistan had resulted in at least six health facilities reportedly impacted in Afghanistan since late February. WHO was deeply concerned by reports of a strike on the Omid Drug Revaluation Facility managed by the Ministry of Interior in Kabul killing more than 400 people and injured at least 250. These were people who were being treated for substance use disorders. WHO was working to verify this incident.

The intensifying conflict was placing additional strain on the health system and increasing risks to the health and well-being of vulnerable populations. WHO urged all parties to pull back from this escalating crisis and put peace and health before all else.

Announcements

Clare Nullis for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said the WMO would release the annual State of the Global Climate report for 2025 on World Meteorological Dayon 23 March. A press conference would be held on Thursday in the Palais des Nations press room at 10 a.m. with the WMO Deputy Secretary General Ko Barrett to launch the report.

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, said on Friday, the Palais des Nations would be closed at the United Nations was celebrating Eid Al-Fitr and Nowruz.

On behalf of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Ms Vellucci invited journalists to attend the upcoming embargoed press conference on the WTO “Global Trade Outlook and Statistics” report, taking place on 19 March, 2 p.m. Geneva time in Room D at the WTO and on Zoom. The embargo would lift at 3 p.m. Geneva time on the same day. The press conference would feature WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Chief Economist Robert Staiger. Those wishing to participate either virtually or in person could email mediateam@wto.org.

The Human Right Committee (145th session, 2-19 March) would review this afternoon, at 4:30 p.m., the progress report of its Special Rapporteur on concluding observations, and tomorrow morning, at 10 a.m., it would review the report of its Special Rapporteur on views. Next Thursday, 19 March, at 5 p.m., the Committee would conclude its 145th session and issue its concluding observations on the reports of Andorra, Canada, Slovakia, Chad and the Republic of Moldova.

The Committee on Enforced Disappearances (30th session, 9-19 March, Palais Wilson) would close next Thursday, 19 March, at 5.30pm, its thirtieth session and issue its concluding observations on Samoa, Malawi, Iraq and Ecuador.

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (34th session, 9-27 March) was concluding this morning its review of the report of Marshall Islands, begun yesterday morning, and would conclude this afternoon its review of the report of Liberia.

To celebrate French Language Day on 20 March, there would be a photo booth set up in the Concordia area on the second floor of the A Building of the Palais des Nations between 18 and 25 March, where people could show off their language abilities.

On 19 March from 1:15 to 2:30 p.m., there would be an event held in front of the Assembly Hall to celebrate World Down Syndrome Day. This year’s event was under the theme of “Together against Loneliness”; it would bring together Member States, individuals living with Down syndrome, families, advocates and experts to promote the rights and well-being of people living with Down syndrome worldwide.

The Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations of the United Nations, Mohamed Khaled Khiari, would travel to Geneva to attend the 66th round of Geneva International Discussions on 18 and 19 March, participating in his capacity as the United Nations Co-Chair of the discussions. These were held in accordance with the six-point agreement of 12 August 2008 and subsequent implementing measures of 8 September 2008 and were co-chaired by the European Union and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres had issued statements for upcoming international days including the International Day of Nowruz, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and World Water Day.

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