UN GENEVA PRESS BRIEFING
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) at Geneva, chaired a hybrid press briefing, which was attended by spokespersons and representatives of the United Nations Children’s Fund, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Labour Organization, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and the International Federation of the Red Cross.
Launch of the latest UNICEF Child Alert on Darfur
Ricardo Pires, for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said UNICEF’s Child Alert reports combined hard data with field evidence to show what children were facing all around the world. The first Child Alert had been launched 20 years ago, also on Darfur.
Sheldon Yett, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Representative in Sudan, speaking from Port Sudan, said 20 years ago, Darfur had shocked the world and today, history was repeating itself. Some 33 million people in Sudan needed humanitarian assistance, with more than half of them children. An estimated 15 million people had been uprooted, including approximately five million children. Across the five Darfur states, more than five million children were facing extreme deprivation. Like two decades ago, today UNICEF was launching a new Child Alert to raise the alarm about the catastrophic situation of children in Darfur, who were being killed and maimed, uprooted from their homes, and pushed into extreme hunger, disease, and trauma.
Since April 2024, more than 1,500 grave violations against children had been verified in El Fasher, including the killing and maiming of over 1,300 children, many by explosive weapons and drones, as well as sexual violence, abductions and recruitment and use by armed groups. In just the first 90 days of this year, at least 245 children were reportedly killed or injured. Famine conditions were confirmed in El Fasher in November 2025, and malnutrition rates among children reaching catastrophic levels in parts of Darfur, with Global Acute Malnutrition rates exceeding 50 per cent in some locations. Health services had been attacked, looted or forced to close, while routine immunisation was disrupted and disease outbreaks remained a constant risk. Education had also been devastated, with over three million children now out of school. The crisis did not stop at Sudan’s borders; children were fleeing into neighbouring countries, arriving exhausted, traumatized and malnourished, with services overwhelmed and severely underfunded.
Despite extraordinary challenges, UNICEF and partners were treating children for severe acute malnutrition, providing safe water, supporting mobile health and vaccination services, and delivering psychosocial support and learning in child friendly spaces. There needed to be a sustained humanitarian access and presence across Darfur, protection for civilians, schools, clinics, water systems and humanitarian convoys, as well as urgent, flexible funding. Today, UNICEF’s 2026 humanitarian appeal for Sudan was only 16 percent funded, putting lifesaving services for millions of children at risk.
Responding to questions from the media, Mr. Pires clarified that this was the second child alert launched on Darfur; the first one was 20 years ago and was UNICEF’s first child alert ever. Over the past two decades there had been many reports launched on different countries.
Responding to another question, Mr. Pires said that Child Alerts were designed to provide information and in-depth testimonials to journalists with multimedia materials, to paint a more in-depth picture of the issues children were facing in these countries. With Darfur, UNICEF aimed to bring attention to the dire situation on the ground.
Mr. Yett said he had been in Darfur 20 years ago at the time of the first Child Alert, and there had been a lot of attention, including from Hollywood celebrities. Now there was no attention; the silence was deafening considering the scale of the crisis.
Responding to additional questions, Mr. Yett said the conflict was intensifying and it wasn’t confined to Darfur. There was an intensity in the use of drones, including against humanitarian infrastructure and convoys. Markets and schools were being hit; it felt as though nowhere was safe.
Answering another question, Mr. Yett said children in Darfur were facing deprivation in food, health care and many other areas. They required a package of interventions, including treatment from trauma, immunization and access to clean water.
Six months after Hurricane Melissa
Cristian Torres Bermeo, International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) Deputy Regional Director for Americas, speaking from Panama City, said six months ago, Hurricane Melissa made landfall in coastal and fishing communities across eastern Cuba, affecting more than two million people and leaving widespread destruction, particularly in Santiago de Cuba, Granma, and Holguín. The storm destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes, affected more than 700 health facilities, and severely disrupted water systems, with nearly 100 pumping stations impacted. Entire communities were left without reliable access to electricity, clean water, or basic services, and recovery had been slow and uneven. The response to Hurricane Melissa took place in the context of a prolonged arboviral epidemic, placing additional pressure on already strained health systems, and recently, under severe energy constraints. Across the country, fuel shortages and instability in the electricity grid had disrupted transport, water systems, waste collection, and the delivery of health services, with many homes remaining roofless or severely damaged.
In the immediate aftermath of the hurricane, the IFRC launched an Emergency Appeal to support 100,000 people over two years. Although the appeal remained significantly underfunded, it enabled support to be provided to the Cuban Red Cross in assisting nearly 45,000 people with essential services, psychosocial support, and relief items. The water systems installed by volunteers in affected communities had provided millions of litres of safe water to 30,000 people each week. Six months on, the IFRC and the Cuban Red Cross had secured fuel access for Cuban Red Cross vehicles, dispatched the first photovoltaic systems and electric vehicles to the country, and were progressing with the procurement of roofing materials for damaged homes, to be delivered in Cuba. The international community were called upon to support this effort, and ensure that essential services remained accessible, and that recovery could continue.
Responding to questions, Mr. Bermeo said the situation in the island was very difficult. IFRC were focusing on helping health services in the country to operate, including for providing energy to health facilities enabling them to continue their work. The emergency appeal proposed ways to reach affected people in less time.
Answering an additional question, Mr. Bermeo said the constraints due to the sanctions imposed by the United States were difficult, but the IFRC were finding alternative means, including when receiving fuel. IFRC were making all efforts to continue work in the country despite difficult circumstances.
Update on Syria
Thameen Al-Kheetan, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said colleagues in Syria have just concluded a visit to Al-Hassakeh Governorate in the northeast of the country, where they received firsthand testimonies and accounts of past and present human rights violations and abuses. These included reports of significant numbers of killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention, and deportation of detainees. During the five-day visit, our colleagues were also informed that three mass graves had been uncovered in Al-Hassakeh last month, including one inside a former detention facility operated by Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The coalition said it transferred 7,000 detainees to Iraq, around half of them Syrians, in January 2026, but OHCHR feared that many of them had no access to families or legal representation.
The Office was also receiving mounting protection concerns for civilians in southern Syria. In the Quneitra governorate, Israeli forces had reportedly erected checkpoints, searched residential properties, and arrested and detained civilians, and had arrested at least 250 people in the south of Syria, including children, since the fall of the former government. Additionally, the Israeli Government had approved a project to expand illegal settlements in the occupied Syrian Golan, with reported plans to bring 3,000 new Israeli families as settlers to the area, in violation of international humanitarian law. United Nations Human Rights Chief Volker Türk called on the Israeli authorities to bring an end to all violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in Syria, to conduct prompt and independent investigations of these alleged violations and bring those responsible to account.
The opening in Damascus of the trial of the former Syrian president, Bashar Al-Assad, and figures from his regime, mostly in absentia, an important first step. All those tried in absentia should ultimately face court in person and be held accountable for the full scope of the crimes and violations they have committed. Also significant was the arrest of former regime official Amjad Youssef. His horrific acts demanded accountability which must also extend to all parties who had committed serious violations and abuses in Syria.
The full notes are available here.
Responding to questions from the media, Mr. Al-Kheetan said OHCHR did not have the full picture of the mass graves yet. These were closed, so the Office had been unable to inspect them; it also did not have the forensic capacity required to do so. Inside the SDF former prison there was a mass grave which reportedly contained between nine to 14 bodies; two other mass graves had also been uncovered. The Syrian authorities needed to preserve the evidence of any crimes committed. Those killed deserved truth, accountability and justice for them and their families, which needed to be achieved through prompt and thorough investigations.
After the fall of the former Government, the Israeli military moved to control more areas beyond the line of the ceasefire of 1974. Mr. Al-Kheetan did not have the exact names of these locations but would confer with his colleagues on this.
Responding to further questions, Mr. Al-Kheetan clarified that OHCHR colleagues had seen the mass graves but had not seen them from a close distance. Testimonies and accounts had also been received from people living in the areas regarding these mass graves.
Responding to another question, Mr. Al-Kheetan said the trial of Bashar Al-Assad was being conducted in absentia. Everyone who had committed any crime or violation of international law had to be present to face trial.
Global Sumad Floatilla
Responding to a question from the media on the Global Sumad Floatilla travelling to Gaza, Thameen Al-Kheetan, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said Israel as the occupying power in Gaza had the obligation to ensure that Palestinians in Gaza were supplied with all life necessities and to lift all restrictions to the flow of humanitarian aid. The situation in Gaza remained very dire with severe shortages of clean drinking water, food and other necessities, leading to increased health concerns.
Introduction to new colleague
Ibon Villelabeitia, for the International Labour Organization (ILO) introduced himself as a new communications colleague in charge of news and media for the ILO.
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) at Geneva, warmly thanked Fadéla Chaib, Team Lead, News and Spokesperson for the World Health Organization, for her communications work over the past decades and wished her a happy retirement.
First International Day in Memory of Victims of Earthquakes
Jeanette Elsworth, for the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), said the first international day in memory of the victims of earthquakes would take place tomorrow (April 29). Earthquakes were among the deadliest natural hazards, and a vast majority of earthquake fatalities were primarily due to building collapses. This meant there was significant preventative work which could done, including safer construction, improved building codes and early warning and action. A public campaign for the day was being launched with global partners, to encourage twice yearly drills for at-risk countries. There would be a global commemoration at New York, among other events. The media were encouraged to report on the day and highlight local stories and interviews could be arranged in this regard.
Announcements
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) at Geneva, said the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination would hold a meeting with States parties on Thursday afternoon (April 30) at 3pm.
The Committee against Torture would close its 84th session on Friday (May 1) at 10am.
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