Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Depictions Media Radio. Welcome to
Speaker 1: Policy and Rights Show. Kay welcomer Policy, Human Joy and
Speaker 1: welcome back to Policy and Right here in Depictions Media Radio,
Speaker 1: I'm your host Michael Cloggs. So in British Columbia, David
Speaker 1: Eby and his team have managed to recruit more than
Speaker 1: four hundred US healthcare workers to British Columbia and they
Speaker 1: have claimed to still have thousands of other applicants along
Speaker 1: the way. And there's a bit of a breakdown of
Speaker 1: this for those who live in British Columbia that Fraser
Speaker 1: Health has collected one hundred and five healthcare professionals, while
Speaker 1: the Interior Health has collected eighty three healthcare workers. The
Speaker 1: Island Health in ninety seven and other areas have have
Speaker 1: collected up to seventy two more healthcare workers into into
Speaker 1: various areas, helping to improve response times, treatment times for
Speaker 1: for the British Columbia healthcare system. One of one of
Speaker 1: the things that is helping attract more people more healthcare
Speaker 1: workers to British Columbia is, in addition to evidence of
Speaker 1: to public health support and for reproductive rights and strong
Speaker 1: public healthcare, BC has a standard of living with free
Speaker 1: public health and K through twelve education, subsidized and licensed daycare,
Speaker 1: top ranking universities, and diverse safe communities. And this is
Speaker 1: some of the selling points that they've been attracting healthcare
Speaker 1: workers from the United States from starting from March of
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five last year, and the campaign has continued
Speaker 1: through January twenty twenty six, and British Columbia has said
Speaker 1: that they have more than twenty seven hundred job applications
Speaker 1: from US healthcare professionals that is varying from nurses to
Speaker 1: doctors and other types of healthcare professionals. So moving though,
Speaker 1: we want to get to an Alina uh Baerbach Uh.
Speaker 1: She's of course former prime minister for a foreign minister
Speaker 1: for for Germany. As she has moved along as we
Speaker 1: know to the President of the General You and General Assembly,
Speaker 1: she's making statements about how gender equality is being affected
Speaker 1: and threatened. Some of the things that that she is
Speaker 1: talking about precursors to aggression of repeatedly highlighted systematic UH
Speaker 1: repressions of women and the UH stifling of domestic stake
Speaker 1: dissidant as cruel, early warnings of signs of forthcoming authoritation
Speaker 1: sorry A in terrorism and international Belligerents. She points to
Speaker 1: acts of Russia as a potent, tragic example. The dismantling
Speaker 1: of civil society, including organizations dedicated to women and minority rights,
Speaker 1: she argues, paved the way to the ultimate invasion of Ukraine.
Speaker 1: She also talked about the threat to open societies. The
Speaker 1: digital assault is viewed as a direct essential threat to
Speaker 1: democratic and open societies by driving women out of public
Speaker 1: discourse and discouraging them from seeking leadership roles due to
Speaker 1: the overwhelming risk of character assassinations and violence. This digital
Speaker 1: toxic toxicity deliberately erodes the representative legitimacy of democratic institutions.
Speaker 1: Other things that she talked about the persuasive, pervasive justice gap. Fundamentally,
Speaker 1: she highlights the massive and un constable global justice gap
Speaker 1: of women worldwide still possess only approximately two thirds of
Speaker 1: the legal rights held by men in regions like Afghanistan
Speaker 1: and so then this is a regression, is not the
Speaker 1: This regression is not subtle. The rights are being actively
Speaker 1: and systematically script away from the through oppressive religious and
Speaker 1: political restrictions on women's bodies, the rights of resources. In
Speaker 1: this budgetary commitment is required the fundamental shift in development
Speaker 1: and humanitarian aid spending. Germany's FF piece set to challenge
Speaker 1: the benchmark and commitment dedicating eighty five percent of relevant
Speaker 1: funds to to demonstrably gender sensitive projects by twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1: Between twenty twenty five and twenty twenty six, the fiscal
Speaker 1: ensuring the aid active actively empowers women rather than passively
Speaker 1: perpetuating exists inequalities. She goes on about different types of
Speaker 1: of repression, which we're going to hear in a few
Speaker 1: minutes her her press conference at the United United Nations
Speaker 1: Press Center in New York City. Other things that are
Speaker 1: we're being talked about is the need to improve shelters
Speaker 1: in areas like Afghanistan for women in need that due
Speaker 1: to abuses and things and political policies in in Afghanistan,
Speaker 1: that there is an extreme need for shelters to help
Speaker 1: women who are being persecuted. So we're going to hear
Speaker 1: some about that, as well as other things and updates.
Speaker 1: We have an update about Iran, and interesting how we're
Speaker 1: talking about Iran, and there have been all over social
Speaker 1: media about how the United States public While okay, so
Speaker 1: President Trump did not ask for permission or put it
Speaker 1: to a congressional vote about invading or attacking Iran in general.
Speaker 1: He just marched forward with air strikes and continued air
Speaker 1: strikes even to the day after one making a promise that, hey,
Speaker 1: the United States would not be getting involved in foreign wars.
Speaker 1: He also the United States public is not not really
Speaker 1: willing to overtly back this aggression against Iran, and along
Speaker 1: with that, one of his one of the members of
Speaker 1: the Trump administration has resigned, is stating that the war
Speaker 1: itself was not a necessity and could have been avoided
Speaker 1: to begin with. So there is still quite a struggle
Speaker 1: going on with with the United States Israel as they
Speaker 1: are charging into Iran and claiming that they have killed
Speaker 1: or or maimed the top Iranian leadership in current airstrikes.
Speaker 1: So something to keep up with about what is going
Speaker 1: on in Iran and why the United States and Israel
Speaker 1: find it necessary to attack Iran in general. So why
Speaker 1: don't we push forward with all the confusion that is
Speaker 1: happening and listen to one David eb as he talks
Speaker 1: about some of the successes that he's having in recruiting
Speaker 1: US healthcare workers into British Columbia and listen to the
Speaker 1: United Nations as they talk about how shelters are needed
Speaker 1: in Afghanistan. And also listen to Angela ann Alina Baherbach
Speaker 1: as she talks about how ginger equality is under threat
Speaker 1: and still women are at risk and don't have uh
Speaker 1: the equality that and fall far behind men and having
Speaker 1: rights both publicly and politically.
Speaker 2: I have some very good news to share with British
Speaker 2: Columbians today. It was about.
Speaker 3: Just over a year short of a year ago. We
Speaker 3: looked around at what was happening in the world and
Speaker 3: thought that there was an advantage potentially to be had
Speaker 3: by reaching out to American healthcare professionals and letting them
Speaker 3: know what the opportunities were for them in British Columbia.
Speaker 3: British Columbians will know one of our big challenges in
Speaker 3: the healthcare system has been recruiting the number of healthcare
Speaker 3: professionals we need, whether doctors or nurses or science professionals
Speaker 3: to be able to deliver the level of service that
Speaker 3: British Columbians deserve. So we thought to ourselves that we'll
Speaker 3: reach out and we'll underline our advantages. Obviously, British Columbia
Speaker 3: is a great place to live, one of the best
Speaker 3: places to live in the world, a very high standard
Speaker 3: of living, a great place to grow your career as
Speaker 3: a medical profession, a place where we respect reproductive rights,
Speaker 3: where we respect science. It informs our policy, and we
Speaker 3: have a universal healthcare system where you don't have to
Speaker 3: pull out your credit card to access care or put
Speaker 3: your family into debt for the rest of their lives
Speaker 3: to ensure that you get the care that you need.
Speaker 3: So we brought that message south of the border. Now
Speaker 3: you'll remember at the time, the Conservatives were very opposed
Speaker 3: to this. They thought it was a waste of money,
Speaker 3: They thought it wouldn't be successful. They were very critical
Speaker 3: of the program. Well, I'm happy to share with you
Speaker 3: that our hunch was right. We have been able to
Speaker 3: recruit a significant number of American healthcare professionals, and I'm
Speaker 3: here to provide you with an update on that. In
Speaker 3: the ten months between March of last year and January
Speaker 3: twenty twenty six, more than four hundred healthcare professionals have
Speaker 3: accepted job offers within BC's public health care system. That
Speaker 3: includes eighty nine doctors, two hundred and sixty nurses, nurse
Speaker 3: practitioners in twenty three allied health professionals. Some are here already,
Speaker 3: like doctor West will be speaking briefly, working in communities
Speaker 3: throughout the province, and more are on their way.
Speaker 2: It's great news for British Columbians.
Speaker 3: It means more doctors, nurses and health science professionals to
Speaker 3: support you and your family getting the carry need. These
Speaker 3: health professionals are distributed across the province, across health authorities.
Speaker 3: It means hundreds of additional highly skilled health professionals that
Speaker 3: we would not have otherwise had access to.
Speaker 2: Now. I know missus Osborne will be giving.
Speaker 3: You more details about this announcement, but I just want
Speaker 3: to say to any American healthcare professionals that are out there,
Speaker 3: British Columbia is ready to welcome you with open arms.
Speaker 3: We have a public healthcare system, we respect science, we
Speaker 3: respect reproductive rights, we have highly inclusive and welcoming workplaces
Speaker 3: and communities, and we can't wait to welcome you to
Speaker 3: British Columbia. Come join your friends.
Speaker 4: Thanks very much, Thank you so much, Premier. Making the
Speaker 4: decision to move to a new community is never easy,
Speaker 4: but it is even a bigger step when it's to
Speaker 4: a new country. The doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners and allied
Speaker 4: healthcare professionals who are choosing to come to British Columbia.
Speaker 4: They're not just changing jobs, they are moving families, they're
Speaker 4: starting new chapters, they're building new lives. And we knew
Speaker 4: that we had to make that as smooth as possible,
Speaker 4: so we brought together what we're calling a TEMBC approach,
Speaker 4: working closely with regulatory colleges, with Health Match BC and
Speaker 4: health authorities to streamline credential recognition and to help US
Speaker 4: healthcare professionals find and apply the jobs that they're seeking quickly.
Speaker 4: We are already seeing the results as the premier is outlined,
Speaker 4: and last year we received more than twenty seven and
Speaker 4: fifty jobs applications from US trained doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners
Speaker 4: and allied health professionals who want to work here in
Speaker 4: British Columbia. We've already registered more than thirteen hundred to
Speaker 4: be able to work here in British Columbia, and that
Speaker 4: includes over nine hundred and thirty nurses, over two hundred
Speaker 4: nurse practitioners, more than two hundred physicians, and that in
Speaker 4: itself includes more than seventy family doctors. And these are
Speaker 4: professionals who are moving from the US from places like Washington, Oregon, California, Texas,
Speaker 4: New York, Colorado, Alaska. They're choosing communities all over British Columbia,
Speaker 4: including Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo, port Alberni, Colonna, Terrace, Necup. A
Speaker 4: few months ago, I had a chance to meet three
Speaker 4: emergency room nurses who have moved to Nanaimo, and hearing
Speaker 4: their stories and about why they chose to come to
Speaker 4: British Columbia, how excited they are to start their careers
Speaker 4: build their lives here really brings home what this recruitment
Speaker 4: effort is all about. These are healthcare professionals who are
Speaker 4: making BC their home. They're strengthening healthcare teams here. They're
Speaker 4: helping communities across our province access the care that people need.
Speaker 4: And it is just the beginning. We continue to see
Speaker 4: strong interest from US doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, allied health professionals,
Speaker 4: people who want to come here to British Columbia. And
Speaker 4: when people ask why, the answer is very clear. British
Speaker 4: Columbia is a place where professionals can practice evidence based
Speaker 4: medicine in a strong public healthcare system. It's a province
Speaker 4: where we protect access to reproductive healthcare. It's a province
Speaker 4: where people receive care based on their needs and not
Speaker 4: on their ability to pay. But it's also about the
Speaker 4: quality of life.
Speaker 2: Here.
Speaker 4: BC offers universal health care, free public education from kindergarten
Speaker 4: to grade twelve, subsidized childcare, world class universities, and safe,
Speaker 4: diverse communities. For many health professionals and for their families,
Speaker 4: these are very powerful reasons to choose British Columbia. And
Speaker 4: as Premieerybe said, some of these professionals are already here
Speaker 4: strengthening our healthcare system today, and many more are on
Speaker 4: their way, and we're really proud to welcome them because
Speaker 4: every single doctor, nurse, practitioner and allied health professional who
Speaker 4: chooses to move to British Columbia is making our healthcare
Speaker 4: system stronger for British Columbians. So I'd like now to
Speaker 4: invite doctor Yanto West to come up and make a
Speaker 4: few remarks.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 5: Thanks everyone. So I started graduate school in Seattle in
Speaker 5: twenty fourteen, and a couple of years in I had
Speaker 5: the idea that I might want to move to Canada,
Speaker 5: so I booked my credentials with something called the National Register.
Speaker 5: That meant that when November twenty twenty four came around
Speaker 5: and our family made the decision to move to Canada,
Speaker 5: the process went a little bit smoother.
Speaker 2: We were able to move pretty fast.
Speaker 5: It was still a lot of things to do, but
Speaker 5: it reduced a paperwork burden and I was able to
Speaker 5: make things happen pretty quickly. We took it just one
Speaker 5: step at a time. A former colleague from Vancouver actually
Speaker 5: gave me a zoom tour over Google Maps of Vancouver
Speaker 5: and that helped me feel like, Okay, we can do this.
Speaker 5: Things like Healthmatch BC and Todd Maffins videos gave me
Speaker 5: hope to keep going. I was able to get registered
Speaker 5: as a psychologist in BC and about six months then
Speaker 5: I had a job offer in about a month, and
Speaker 5: about a month after that we were moving.
Speaker 2: We had to leave a lot.
Speaker 5: Behind in order to move so quickly. Our car paid off,
Speaker 5: but it couldn't covert to kilometers, so the car had
Speaker 5: to stay. But that said, I'm really loving my bike commute,
Speaker 5: as my coworkers will attest to I talk about it
Speaker 5: every day. The neighborhood has been so welcoming. I've never
Speaker 5: had such a neighborly daily life before. We were just
Speaker 5: talking about I have a cup of sugar. Friends where
Speaker 5: I can walk down the street, borrow cup of sugar,
Speaker 5: pick each other's kids up from the pool, like I've
Speaker 5: never had that kind of neighborhood before. And I had
Speaker 5: annoyed you about the ice rinks. There are so many.
Speaker 5: I'm working at BC Children's and I'm loving it that
Speaker 5: people here are amazing. I level the diverse disciplines and
Speaker 5: the way research.
Speaker 2: Is valued here. I'm very grateful to be here.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much, Doctor west On behalf of everybody.
Speaker 4: I want to say thank you for following your heart
Speaker 4: to British Columbia, helping to take care of our children
Speaker 4: and youth here at BC Children's Hospital. We really appreciate
Speaker 4: all the passion and the expertise that doctor west is
Speaker 4: bringing and hoping that they'll reach back out into their
Speaker 4: communities back home and invite even more American professionals to
Speaker 4: move British Columbia. So with that, we will conclude this
Speaker 4: part of today's event, and I would like to invite
Speaker 4: Premiere you be back.
Speaker 6: Up for questions.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Thank you, minister, Thank you everyone for joining
Speaker 2: us here today at BC Children's Hospital.
Speaker 7: We're gonna take questions from the media now.
Speaker 3: Before we get into questions, I just wanted to briefly
Speaker 3: address concerns that people feel about the atmospheric river events
Speaker 3: that are taking place along the northern Northwest coast, central Coast,
Speaker 3: and potentially the west coast of Vancouver Island.
Speaker 2: We'll have an.
Speaker 3: Update later today about those weather events. The River Monitoring
Speaker 3: Center is keeping track of river levels across the province
Speaker 3: and we will keep British Columbians updated as we move
Speaker 3: forward and get more information about any flood risks in
Speaker 3: those regions.
Speaker 2: Thanks very much, Thank you.
Speaker 8: We're gonna take questions from the press now.
Speaker 9: All reporters will have one question and one follow up
Speaker 9: for a media on the line. Please remember the press
Speaker 9: are one tender the queue and to want to meet
Speaker 9: yourself and called upon.
Speaker 10: We're going to start here in person with Ben Milcher
Speaker 10: from TTV.
Speaker 2: Thanks very much.
Speaker 11: My first question is from my colleagues on Vancouver Island
Speaker 11: and it's for Minister Osborne regarding the announcement.
Speaker 2: To be okay good.
Speaker 11: I just want to give you time to a gesture, hoding.
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, we'll get it done.
Speaker 11: Appreciate that Nanaimo who has received a lot of coverage
Speaker 11: for being a lot of wat for US healthcare workers.
Speaker 11: Can you talk about the impact on the island and
Speaker 11: are you able to break down the numbers at all
Speaker 11: for how many US healthcare professionals have chosen to settle.
Speaker 12: On Sure, give it to do it.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for the question. We're really excited
Speaker 4: to see US trained professionals making the move to all
Speaker 4: different communities, different sized communities in British Columbia. We have
Speaker 4: had some really strong interest on Vancouver Island, and in fact,
Speaker 4: out of the four hundred and fourteen healthcare professon that
Speaker 4: have accepted job offers in the last ten months, eighty
Speaker 4: three of them have our story of pardon me. Ninety
Speaker 4: seven of them have come to the island health area
Speaker 4: and some Nanaimo, but also port Alberni, to Fino, Victoria,
Speaker 4: other communities on Vancouver Island. They are settling well, and
Speaker 4: as I said in my remarks, just listening to some
Speaker 4: of the stories, for example of er nurses that have
Speaker 4: made them move to Nanaimo, and they are feeling safe welcomed,
Speaker 4: really enjoying a workplace setting with their colleagues and mostly
Speaker 4: speak about a real values match with our public universal
Speaker 4: healthcare system here in British Columbia, and being able to
Speaker 4: practice medicine, deliver healthcare in the way that they were
Speaker 4: trained to that they were called to as professionals, and
Speaker 4: being able to do that safely here in British Columbia.
Speaker 8: Follow up, Ben Bass.
Speaker 11: My follow up is for Premierbee.
Speaker 2: It's off topic.
Speaker 11: World events have caused the price at the pump to
Speaker 11: spike dramatically in recent weeks, adding to the cost of
Speaker 11: im burdened that many British Columbia families are dealing with.
Speaker 11: Does your government have any plans, whether that be through
Speaker 11: a targeted rebate or perhaps an easing of some of
Speaker 11: the gas taxes to make things easier for BC families.
Speaker 2: Thanks.
Speaker 3: I know what was a point of concern for many
Speaker 3: British Columbians, myself included when the price at the pump
Speaker 3: skyrocketed in relation to events in the Middle East. Knowing
Speaker 3: that our crud stock is coming from Alberta. Refineries in
Speaker 3: Alberta and in the United States, and the refinery in
Speaker 3: the Lower Mainland as well as a smaller one up north.
Speaker 3: Trying to find that connection between events in the Middle
Speaker 3: East and the price of the pump for British Columbians
Speaker 3: has been a concern. The Utilities Commission has been given
Speaker 3: the authorities that they require to be able to ensure
Speaker 3: that British Columbians are not being gouged at the pump
Speaker 3: for events that are taking place internationally but have very
Speaker 3: little impact on domestic feedstock for the pumps, and we
Speaker 3: will be looking to the Utilities Commission to fulfill that
Speaker 3: responsibility for British Columbians. We will always be looking for
Speaker 3: ways to ensure affordability for British Columbians. This is a
Speaker 3: very challenging issue given global events and our continued advocacy
Speaker 3: for consideration around additional refinery capacity for Canada so that
Speaker 3: we're able to withstand and ensure that we have a
Speaker 3: safe and secure supply of gasoline, jet fuel and other
Speaker 3: essentials for our economy going forward. Given the instability globally,
Speaker 3: is a suggestion that we hope the federal government takes seriously.
Speaker 8: Next one head to Katie Rosa from CBC.
Speaker 13: Put a report into the rebuilding of the community of
Speaker 13: ligtid and it's found it at the time of the fire,
Speaker 13: the province not have a comprehensive legal spremework to guide
Speaker 13: disaster recovery, and also that the province didn't anticipate that
Speaker 13: they expected the village to build to do its own recovery,
Speaker 13: and many residents did not have fire insurance. So I
Speaker 13: guess what did the province learn from this report and
Speaker 13: what will be done to improve going forward.
Speaker 3: Thanks The report will be out later this afternoon and
Speaker 3: the Minister will be responding to the report on behalf
Speaker 3: of government. The situation in British Columbia has changed since
Speaker 3: the fire and Letton. We've passed a new law that
Speaker 3: requires the conversations between communities and first nations to happen
Speaker 3: in advance of an emergency, rather than in the middle
Speaker 3: of an emergency or immediately following an emergency. This hopefully
Speaker 3: will be just one of the many improvements that have
Speaker 3: come about hard lessons learned through the events and the
Speaker 3: terrible loss of property that took place in following that
Speaker 3: devastating fire.
Speaker 2: We look forward to.
Speaker 3: Responding to the Outor of General's report when it's released
Speaker 3: this afternoon.
Speaker 13: Followed Katie Yeah This is from a colleague in the
Speaker 13: Seashells area. The federal government says that temporary foreign workers
Speaker 13: can get an extension, but it requires a positive request
Speaker 13: from the province. So will you be writing this letter
Speaker 13: for workers on the Sunshink code.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks Katie, and thanks for asking me about this.
Speaker 3: You know, I am first of all, we have many
Speaker 3: communities that have labor shortages in different areas and including
Speaker 3: in the area of today's announcement healthcare. I am not
Speaker 3: a fan of the temporary foreign worker program. It ties
Speaker 3: workers to a single employer, raising the possibility of abuse
Speaker 3: and exploitation. It does not provide a pathway to citizenship.
Speaker 3: So workers who have built a life in a community,
Speaker 3: are contributing, are paying taxes, or filling a vital role,
Speaker 3: are facing deportation back to home countries, including in critical
Speaker 3: areas like healthcare, childcare, and in the private sector as well.
Speaker 3: The idea that the solution to the challenges we face
Speaker 3: is an expansion of this program is frankly a bit frustrating.
Speaker 2: We have advocated to the federal.
Speaker 3: Government on multiple occasions that the provincial government of British
Speaker 3: Columbia deserves the same opportunity as the provincial government of
Speaker 3: Quebec to direct permanent, long term citizenship path labor opportunities
Speaker 3: that we can recruit those workers that we need for
Speaker 3: our province and offer them a path to citizenship so
Speaker 3: that they can stay here and work here and build
Speaker 3: our province as people have for generations. I don't understand
Speaker 3: why that call hasn't been heard. In fact, our numbers
Speaker 3: of permanent places that we can offer people a path
Speaker 3: the citizenship through the provincial nominee program has been cut
Speaker 3: dramatically instead of expanded. This is a point of agreement
Speaker 3: across the province or across the country provincial leaders nationally
Speaker 3: that this change needs to happen. Today's announcement about the
Speaker 3: overwhelming interest of healthcare professionals to come to British Columbia
Speaker 3: from the United States is just one sector. Similar overwhelming
Speaker 3: interest exists in academia in the private sector, leading researchers,
Speaker 3: business operators, others who would love to come to British
Speaker 3: Columbia people to fill vital roles in rural and northern communities.
Speaker 3: For businesses to be able to operate everything from restaurants
Speaker 3: to educational facilities, to childcare facilities to highly skilled trades.
Speaker 3: We need to have that ability to offer pathway to
Speaker 3: permanent citizenship and recruit those workers.
Speaker 2: That we need.
Speaker 3: I do not believe that this announcement by the federal
Speaker 3: government assists us at all in addressing those needs.
Speaker 2: For the long term.
Speaker 3: It will bring in a group of people that will
Speaker 3: face deportation again in two more years when their licenses expire.
Speaker 3: How does that help us? How does that help us
Speaker 3: build a province that we need. We will continue to
Speaker 3: advocate to the federal government for reforms to ensure that
Speaker 3: rural and northern communities have the support that they need,
Speaker 3: that we're able to recruit the workers that we need,
Speaker 3: They're able to build on this amazing healthcare work that
Speaker 3: we've done, bringing healthcare workers not just from the United States,
Speaker 3: but also from the United Kingdom and around the world
Speaker 3: to British Columbia. And we really need the federal government
Speaker 3: to listen and to understand that that is the best
Speaker 3: way to help us build this amazing province that we
Speaker 3: live in.
Speaker 8: Andrew McPherson, Global News, Good morning.
Speaker 14: This question is for Health Minister Jodie Osbourne. You've talked
Speaker 14: about the number of doctors, nurses, relocated recruited to BC
Speaker 14: over the last year. Can you clarify how many healthcare
Speaker 14: workers have left BC over the same time frame and
Speaker 14: where they ended up going.
Speaker 4: Thank you for the question. Yes, So today we're announcing
Speaker 4: that four hundred and fourteen healthcare workers have moved from
Speaker 4: the US to British Columbia and accepted job offers, with
Speaker 4: hundreds and hundreds more applying for jobs and expected to
Speaker 4: be on their way. We don't have specific statistics on
Speaker 4: healthcare workers who leave British Columbia, but we can look
Speaker 4: at the Registry of physicians and nurses, for example, and
Speaker 4: know that over the past year we have added, for example,
Speaker 4: thirty three hundred nurses to British Columbia. We have as
Speaker 4: well added more physicians into British Columbia who are traveling
Speaker 4: here from other provinces, from other countries as well, so
Speaker 4: the net effect is very positive. That's more people moving
Speaker 4: here than leaving the country. In fact, we lead the
Speaker 4: country in terms of the number of physicians per capita.
Speaker 4: Is something we're very proud of and we're going to
Speaker 4: continue to do by training more physicians, nurses and healthcare
Speaker 4: workers who will stay here in British Columbia, as well
Speaker 4: as making it easier for those healthcare professionals coming from
Speaker 4: other provinces and other countries to be part of our
Speaker 4: healthcare system here.
Speaker 6: Thanks for the question.
Speaker 15: Ferguson, who is the special representative for you and women
Speaker 15: in Afghanistan and she is joining us virtually from Kable.
Speaker 15: Please bring miss Ferguson's face to the screen there. Oh great,
Speaker 15: now we see you. Good afternoon or good evening, I
Speaker 15: guess to you. Thanks very much for attending, and please
Speaker 15: the floor is yours.
Speaker 16: Thank you so much, and good after everyone. Thank you
Speaker 16: for having me here this afternoon. So for women and
Speaker 16: girls in Afghanistan, twenty twenty six was already proving to
Speaker 16: be an extremely difficult year. Now, at the conflict in
Speaker 16: the Middle East and ongoing hostilities with Pakistan, many are
Speaker 16: facing even more trauma and hardship. Just last night in
Speaker 16: Kabul and airstrike by Pakistan military forces impacted a health
Speaker 16: care facility for the treatment of drug addicted individuals, many
Speaker 16: of whom were killed and injured. We join Yunama in
Speaker 16: expressing our deepest condolences to the family of those who
Speaker 16: were killed. Under international law of course attacks on hospitals
Speaker 16: and civilian facilities are strictly prohibited.
Speaker 8: In eastern Afghanistan.
Speaker 16: Women and children are paying a heavy price for the
Speaker 16: continuing violence.
Speaker 8: More than half of the two hundred and eighty nine.
Speaker 16: Civilians killed or injured as of yesterday before the carbor bombing,
Speaker 16: and as has been verified by YUNAMA, these many of
Speaker 16: these people already killed have been women and children. According
Speaker 16: to assessments in four of the most affected districts near
Speaker 16: the Pakistan border, at least sixty four thousand people have
Speaker 16: been affected by the military escalation, just over half of
Speaker 16: them women and girls. This includes thousands of families who've
Speaker 16: been displaced yet again after living for six months in
Speaker 16: temporary camps following the August twenty twenty five earthquake, and
Speaker 16: among them are women and girls who've already returned from.
Speaker 8: Iran or Pakistan.
Speaker 16: So in other words, for many women, this is their
Speaker 16: second or even third time they've been forced to flee
Speaker 16: in the past year. Women report fearing violence or exploitation
Speaker 16: while on the move, and their access to basic services
Speaker 16: and livelihoods has once again.
Speaker 8: Been severely disruptive.
Speaker 16: Initial assessments by the UN and partners show women's most
Speaker 16: urgent needs are shelter, healthcare, and clean water. Un Women
Speaker 16: is working with partners to ensure women are included in
Speaker 16: assessment teams so their needs are understood and to support
Speaker 16: access to services for women. Women humanitarians on the front
Speaker 16: lines are under enormous pressure, worrying about their own safety
Speaker 16: while also helping others. We reiterate unama's calls for immediate
Speaker 16: cessation in hostilities to prevent further loss of civilian life
Speaker 16: and for all parties to meet their obligations under international
Speaker 16: humanitarian law. In Western Afghanistan, we anticipate a sharp increase
Speaker 16: in Afghan's returning from Iran in the coming weeks, including
Speaker 16: women traveling alone or with children. Together with our sister
Speaker 16: agencies including iom U and Women is prepared to deploy
Speaker 16: more women humanitarians at the border to help Afghan women
Speaker 16: retorneys with registration and support services. Because in Afghanistan there's
Speaker 16: no alternative services for women must be provided by women
Speaker 16: or women.
Speaker 8: Don't receive a service.
Speaker 16: You and Women is mobilizing resources to expand cash support
Speaker 16: for women headed households, provide well being or dignity kits,
Speaker 16: and help them start small lovelihood businesses well also to
Speaker 16: continue to support women only safe spaces at the border
Speaker 16: and in communities where attorneys and internally displaced people are settling.
Speaker 16: But we urgently need more funding to meet these needs
Speaker 16: at this critical moment.
Speaker 8: Beyond displacement, we're.
Speaker 16: Also alarmed about the economic impact of these conflicts. Women
Speaker 16: and girls in Afghanistan simply can't afford yet another economic shock.
Speaker 16: More than ten point seven million women and girls were
Speaker 16: already expected to need humanitarian assistance this year. Now, rising
Speaker 16: prices linked to conflict in the region will make it
Speaker 16: even harder for families, especially women headed households, to afford
Speaker 16: food and other essentials. As we know, all this is
Speaker 16: unfolding in a country where women are already facing the
Speaker 16: world's most severe women's rights crisis. In one of the
Speaker 16: latest developments, Decree Number twelve on Criminal Rules of Courts
Speaker 16: formally removes equality between men and women before the law
Speaker 16: and authorizes violence against women by allowing punishments, including physical violence,
Speaker 16: to be carried.
Speaker 8: Out by husbands in the home.
Speaker 16: It also makes it harder for women to seek protection
Speaker 16: or justice. We're deeply concerned about this decree and call
Speaker 16: on the de facto authorities to ensure that laws and
Speaker 16: policies protect the rights of women and girls in line
Speaker 16: with Afghanistan's international human rights obligations. Noting the theme of
Speaker 16: this year's Commission on the Status of Women, Access to
Speaker 16: Justice for All Women and Girls, I want to point
Speaker 16: out that even before Decree number twelve, women faced a
Speaker 16: widening justice gap in Afghanistan.
Speaker 8: New findings from.
Speaker 16: UAN Women, YUNAMA and IOM, based on nationwide consultations in
Speaker 16: December last year, underscore how many Afghan women have been
Speaker 16: left without safe or effective avenues to resolve disputes or
Speaker 16: hold perpetrators of abuse to account. According to the findings,
Speaker 16: only fourteen percent of women reported having access to formal
Speaker 16: dispute resolution services, compared to fifty three percent of men.
Speaker 16: You and Women continues to call for the ban preventing
Speaker 16: Afghan women UN staff and contractors from accessing UN premises
Speaker 16: to be lifted.
Speaker 8: However, it's important to be clear.
Speaker 16: That no matter what UN Women is staying and delivering
Speaker 16: in Afghanistan, despite the many restrictions on women and girls
Speaker 16: and the current conflicts, we continue to find ways to
Speaker 16: operate and stand with those who need support the most.
Speaker 16: For example, In twenty twenty five alone, You and Women
Speaker 16: protected access to life saving services for more than three
Speaker 16: hundred and fifty thousand Afghan women and girls and supported
Speaker 16: nearly two hundred women civil society organizations to function and
Speaker 16: offer services. But to continue, we urgently need more support.
Speaker 16: You and Women is currently facing a fifty percent funding
Speaker 16: gap for our work in Afghanistan in twenty twenty six,
Speaker 16: and across a wider response in Afghanistan, the gaps are
Speaker 16: even greater. Under the twenty twenty six Humanitarian Needs and
Speaker 16: Response Plan, partners aim to support seventeen point five million people,
Speaker 16: including more than five million women. To do this, one
Speaker 16: point seven billion dollars is needed, including nearly five one
Speaker 16: hundred million for women alone. If the current hostility is continued,
Speaker 16: needs will only grow and this will affect the resources required. Finally,
Speaker 16: I want to highlight one of the greatest risks facing
Speaker 16: Afghan women that is ongoing, and that is this normalization,
Speaker 16: the risk that the world becomes used to the restrictions
Speaker 16: that women face here. When we start to accept this
Speaker 16: as normal, we stop believing it can change and we
Speaker 16: stop seeing it. So to the international community, including decision
Speaker 16: makers gathered in New York this week for the Commission
Speaker 16: on the Status of Women. I would say, don't call
Speaker 16: this normal. Despite all the obstacles and restrictions, Afghan women
Speaker 16: continue to show extraordinary courage and determination and.
Speaker 8: We need to as well.
Speaker 16: Change is still possible, but only if the world continues
Speaker 16: to stand with Afghan women.
Speaker 8: Thank you very.
Speaker 15: Much, Thank you. I'll now open the Florida question. So
Speaker 15: our first question goes to Mariam.
Speaker 17: Thank you so much for this We're thing. My name
Speaker 17: is Miriam Ramanti and I am with you Afghanistan International.
Speaker 17: You talked about normalization and often Afghan women talk about
Speaker 17: this that they want the international community to take more
Speaker 17: concrete steps. Does you and women support Doha Talks? And
Speaker 17: if you have disagreements, how do you voice that? And
Speaker 17: also there is critics going on going around that saying
Speaker 17: that giving the band on Afghan women working with the
Speaker 17: United Nations, how can you still say your program is
Speaker 17: still gender sensitive when you and women even can't function
Speaker 17: or work at your offices. Doesn't this represent a fundamental
Speaker 17: failure of your mandate?
Speaker 8: Thank you, thank you very much. Yes, you and women
Speaker 8: don't support the Doha talks.
Speaker 16: Where member of both the working groups one on counter
Speaker 16: narcotics and the other on.
Speaker 8: The private sector.
Speaker 16: And this is these are really important platforms to bring
Speaker 16: both the de facto authorities Member States and women and
Speaker 16: men who are Afghans.
Speaker 8: Together to talk about what the issues are.
Speaker 16: And so I was involved just in February with these
Speaker 16: talks and there was actually robust discussion around what the
Speaker 16: barriers are for women. There were four women in those
Speaker 16: talks and they spoke very openly and honestly about what
Speaker 16: the barriers were, and I thought it was a unique
Speaker 16: platform to be able to raise some of the issues
Speaker 16: in a safe environment with different stakeholders. On the women's ban,
Speaker 16: we are doing our utmost to get women back to work. However,
Speaker 16: the ban does not ban women from working for the UN.
Speaker 16: It bans women from coming to compounds. So Afghan women
Speaker 16: are still working. They're either working from home and we've
Speaker 16: provided the necessary equipment for them to do so, and
Speaker 16: they're also working in the field.
Speaker 8: So the assessments I mentioned, we.
Speaker 16: Have Afghan Women's staff members who are part of field assessments.
Speaker 16: They continue to support the NGO partners.
Speaker 8: They build their capacity to provide.
Speaker 16: Training, monitor the kind of work that we're doing. They
Speaker 16: themselves support negotiations so that NGO partners can continue to operate,
Speaker 16: for example, so we although it's essential for them to
Speaker 16: come back to work, they are also working still in
Speaker 16: the field.
Speaker 9: Thank you so much for this briefing. This is now
Speaker 9: Abdullah with Rudau Media Network. You said Pakistan did carry
Speaker 9: out that strike on the hospital. Is your office taking
Speaker 9: any further steps to hold Pakistan accountable for you know,
Speaker 9: what seems to be a violation of the international law
Speaker 9: and like, such as proposing anything to the Security Council?
Speaker 9: My second question is what leverage, if any, does the
Speaker 9: UN have or your office have in Afghanistan to improve
Speaker 9: the situation of women and girls there. Thank you.
Speaker 5: So.
Speaker 16: Of course, our role here is to be focusing on
Speaker 16: the immediate needs of women and girls in the country,
Speaker 16: and this is what we're focusing on at the moment.
Speaker 16: So I'm aware that there have been calls for you know,
Speaker 16: an investigation and and that kind of thing, and so
Speaker 16: while this goes on, I continue to focus on what
Speaker 16: the issues are for women and girls here. I will
Speaker 16: say I drove past that site today in my to
Speaker 16: attend another meeting, and it was devastating. There were many
Speaker 16: you know, many families there trying to find their loved ones,
Speaker 16: and so it is I really you know, I really
Speaker 16: just need to re emphasize what I've already said that
Speaker 16: this kind of targeting of civilian spaces is really prohibited.
Speaker 8: Under international law.
Speaker 16: And yeah, we we are. It's it's devastating for us
Speaker 16: as well seeing this happen in Carble.
Speaker 15: Okay, Jill see Hi, this is Dulci Linebank from Past Blue.
Speaker 18: I wanted to ask you two questions. You said that
Speaker 18: you're expecting an influx of Afghan women leaving Iran. Now
Speaker 18: we're in the third week, and I think about two
Speaker 18: weeks ago you An officials said there was no outflow
Speaker 18: of people from Iran to neighboring country. So has this changed?
Speaker 18: What are you expecting? Why aren't there more people fleeing Iran?
Speaker 18: And I believe there's a new decree from the Taliban
Speaker 18: then it's okay to beat your wife? Is that accurate?
Speaker 18: And what is the actual law?
Speaker 19: Say?
Speaker 18: Thanks, thank you.
Speaker 16: On the Iranian border, we are expecting more people to arrive.
Speaker 16: It's been extremely cold and it's also the month of Rama,
Speaker 16: and so the pattern.
Speaker 8: Has been after eed that more people start to come.
Speaker 8: So you know, I don't know what the restrictions.
Speaker 16: Will be in terms of them getting to the border
Speaker 16: from the Iranian side.
Speaker 8: Which may also affect flows.
Speaker 16: But judging from what's happening in Iran and also the
Speaker 16: patterns in the past, we believe that there will be
Speaker 16: more people coming over. It's quiet at the moment and
Speaker 16: we wait to see what happens. I know that the
Speaker 16: DFA are also expecting an influx after eed, and within
Speaker 16: the UN.
Speaker 8: We're all preparing for that.
Speaker 16: On the new decree, yes, that's Decree number twelve, which
Speaker 16: I mentioned in my remarks, and it does allow husbands,
Speaker 16: fathers and masters actually to act as enforces of moral
Speaker 16: discipline outside the form of judicial institutions I'm just reading here,
Speaker 16: including through corporate punishment. So in doing so, it does
Speaker 16: embed jenda based violence in the home and it also
Speaker 16: sort of reinforces the power differences between men and women.
Speaker 8: So the decree also.
Speaker 16: It does actually criminalize some forms of domestic violence while
Speaker 16: also making it legal to use violence in the household.
Speaker 16: So to prove that you have been a victim of
Speaker 16: violence or to go to court, you need to actually
Speaker 16: have either broken bones, bruises and obvious wounds and you
Speaker 16: need to attend court with your chaperone or maharam, who may.
Speaker 8: Of course be the perpetrator of this kind of violence.
Speaker 16: So there are many problems with this new decree and
Speaker 16: we are extremely concerned about it. It also doesn't criminalize
Speaker 16: sexual violence or any other kind of violence like psychological
Speaker 16: violence or financial abuse or any other of the categories
Speaker 16: and domestic violence.
Speaker 15: Let's go to some questions online. First, first, if the.
Speaker 20: Cap thank you for harm, I thank you, mister Fergusan.
Speaker 20: This is from Associated Press of Pakistan. I'm sure you
Speaker 20: have seen the flat denial by Pakistan of hitting this
Speaker 20: hospital or Meath hospital, and they have said that their
Speaker 20: target was Camp Phoenix, which is which is an ammunition
Speaker 20: storage facility several kilometers away from that hospital. And what
Speaker 20: do you say about that?
Speaker 16: Well, I know that that that is what's being said.
Speaker 16: I've read some of the press, but I understand it.
Speaker 16: This attack was carried out by the Pakistani Air Force
Speaker 16: and I've seen the target, so yeah.
Speaker 19: Okay, admit, thank you madam for listen. My name is
Speaker 19: Abdel Hamidsam from the Arabic daily Al KUNTZLAMI I want
Speaker 19: to ask you first about the women of the minorities
Speaker 19: in Pakistan?
Speaker 8: How are they doing?
Speaker 19: The house aara and it will speak if you can
Speaker 19: elaborate on that. And I have a second question, since
Speaker 19: Baliban are abusing women and Afghanistan, but don't you see
Speaker 19: that the world community is also abusing the country itself
Speaker 19: and the government, the defactive government of Taliban. So it
Speaker 19: is normally when you see some abused class or abuse
Speaker 19: the group, they would transfer this abuse to the lower
Speaker 19: class whom they control. How do you see the analogy?
Speaker 8: Thank you?
Speaker 16: So can you just repeat the second part of your
Speaker 16: question so that I understand.
Speaker 19: Saying that since the Taliband, the de facto government are
Speaker 19: abusing women in Afghanistan, no one can deny that.
Speaker 8: But also they the Taliband themselves are.
Speaker 19: Being abused by international powers or are froze their assets
Speaker 19: and not allowing them to have access to their resources,
Speaker 19: which is normally as a trans fanance said that means
Speaker 19: sometimes who are abuse will transfer and what they're receiving
Speaker 19: from external powers to their own subjects.
Speaker 8: Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 16: That's a very complex question that I'll try and deal with.
Speaker 16: On the minorities first, actually Decree number twelve that I
Speaker 16: mentioned also talks about minorities and people of different faiths,
Speaker 16: and it does. It does put in a hierarchy within
Speaker 16: the communities which make these minorities lower, lower down and
Speaker 16: with less power. So it has kind of strengthened some
Speaker 16: of that discrimination. On your other and so within that,
Speaker 16: of course, women and girls here often experienced multiple levels
Speaker 16: of disadvantage, including those who are from smaller minorities or
Speaker 16: who are of different faiths, so it makes their lives
Speaker 16: even harder. So and on your other question, really, I'd
Speaker 16: like to bring it back to what I see in Afghanistan,
Speaker 16: which is the severe discrimination and I would say persecution
Speaker 16: of women themselves from men, and you know there are
Speaker 16: no women in power. This new decree really solidifies some
Speaker 16: of the discrimination that women already experience. And this is
Speaker 16: what we're concerned with in Afghanistan, rather than the sort
Speaker 16: of broader theories of why that happens, it's the tangible
Speaker 16: problems that women experience and what we can try and
Speaker 16: do to.
Speaker 8: Increase their access to there.
Speaker 21: I'm right, hello everyone, thank you all for coming. I
Speaker 21: see that we're also joined by a number of folks
Speaker 21: online who have tuned in. I'm very happy to have
Speaker 21: with us today her Excellency an Alena Berbach, President of
Speaker 21: the General Assembly, and she will be providing some updates
Speaker 21: in taking questions from you about things that are happening
Speaker 21: with the General Assembly and with her office. And so
Speaker 21: without further ado, I will turn the floor over to
Speaker 21: her excellency.
Speaker 22: Good afternoon also from my side, happy Friday, and thank
Speaker 22: you for the opportunity to update you on the corn
Speaker 22: priorities of the General Assembly.
Speaker 6: As you all know, we are in the midst of
Speaker 6: the seventies session of the Commission of the Status.
Speaker 22: Of Women, which began by marking the International Women Day
Speaker 22: and underlining how important it is, especially in these days
Speaker 22: to strengthen women's rights, because all around the world we
Speaker 22: can see women rights are the benchmark for the strengths,
Speaker 22: freedom and economic development of societies. So therefore, in the
Speaker 22: interest of all gender equality has never been more supported
Speaker 22: globally than today. But at the same time we have
Speaker 22: never seen such organized attempts to roll back these successes.
Speaker 22: That makes this session of the CSW an incredibly important
Speaker 22: one and I think we have all felt in the room,
Speaker 22: but especially also in the run up to the International
Speaker 22: Women's Day, all around the world, the strong signal that
Speaker 22: women and girls everywhere in the world will never let
Speaker 22: go of the rights they have achieved so far. This
Speaker 22: was undered also on Monday in the General Assembly Hall
Speaker 22: by the vast majority of Member States who defended women's
Speaker 22: and girls right with their vote, a rebuke to those
Speaker 22: who would have us turned back the clock on women's equality,
Speaker 22: whether it be to the protection of women and girls
Speaker 22: in the digital space, the understanding of intersectionality, and the
Speaker 22: right of every woman like every man, to decide about
Speaker 22: their own bodies and their own health. And these days
Speaker 22: also underline the strong commitment of many many delegations. I
Speaker 22: have welcomed many representatives from all regions around the world,
Speaker 22: be it presidents of the parliaments, be it foreign ministers,
Speaker 22: be it ministers from family or for social affairs, because
Speaker 22: most of the states have understood over the last decades
Speaker 22: that any improvement with regard to jender quality is also
Speaker 22: strengthening their societies.
Speaker 6: As we say sometimes.
Speaker 22: It's the economy stupid, and the facts are crystal clear.
Speaker 22: If countries would close the gender pay gap, the productivity
Speaker 22: all around the world, the GDP would increase by twelve
Speaker 22: trillion US dollar. If we would close a digital divide
Speaker 22: between men and women, the world economy would grow until
Speaker 22: twenty fifty by over one hundred trillion US dollar. This
Speaker 22: is the GDB combined between the United States and China.
Speaker 22: And we would also see if all women had the
Speaker 22: same opportunities to work as they would like to work,
Speaker 22: also ensuring that you have childcare available, This could increase
Speaker 22: the global GDP by twenty eight trillion, again, which would
Speaker 22: be an increase of twenty six percent according to the
Speaker 22: McKenzie Global Institute. So again, women rights are in the
Speaker 22: interests of all. Yet, as we have seen over the
Speaker 22: last week, not only women rights are under attack, it's
Speaker 22: also true for.
Speaker 6: The international order.
Speaker 22: Therefore, defending the UN Charter remains my central priority of
Speaker 22: the Adius Session. In just the last few weeks, we
Speaker 22: have marked the fourth year of the Russian full invasion
Speaker 22: of Ukraine, and we have seen an extremely dangerous military
Speaker 22: escalatian between Iran, the United States and Israel that threatens
Speaker 22: to engulf the entire region in conflict. The Secretary General
Speaker 22: and I have underlined the end Charter is clear. The
Speaker 22: international community and its member states all have a responsibility
Speaker 22: to protect human rights as well as to refrain from
Speaker 22: the threat or use of force against the territorial, integral,
Speaker 22: or political independence of any state or in other manner
Speaker 22: inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations. We know
Speaker 22: that the Charter and international law is only as strong.
Speaker 6: As the will to uphold it.
Speaker 22: Therefore, given the recent discussions on international law, I would
Speaker 22: like to remind Member States that international law was not
Speaker 22: only written for the good times, but especially.
Speaker 6: For the challenging situations.
Speaker 22: And we have seen also in last decades that, unfortunately,
Speaker 22: also here in the United Nations, the Security Council has
Speaker 22: faced vetus and block it. Yet in every time it
Speaker 22: has been extremely important to not question this institution or
Speaker 22: international law, but try to overcome this blockage of the
Speaker 22: Security Council, as difficult as this might be, because otherwise
Speaker 22: we would lose the principle of this institution all by itself,
Speaker 22: and by that the life insurance for all countries around
Speaker 22: the world to be able to sleep in peace because
Speaker 22: you can trust that nobody is violating peace and security
Speaker 22: and thereby violating the security of your own countries. So
Speaker 22: again I call it an all Member states to abide
Speaker 22: by the values and principles and shrined in this fundamentsial document.
Speaker 22: At a time when this is institution is under so
Speaker 22: much pressure, the UNAIT reform becomes even more important, so
Speaker 22: there is no time to waste.
Speaker 6: The opposite is true.
Speaker 22: Because the times are so challenging and this institution is
Speaker 22: so much under pressure, we need even more and very
Speaker 22: serious debate how to modernize this institution and make it
Speaker 22: more efficient and more delivering on the principles.
Speaker 6: Together with the Secretary General.
Speaker 22: Therefore, I, as a President of the General Assembly, I
Speaker 22: am driving the reform process forward and we are keeping
Speaker 22: up our ambitious timetable, especially for Workstream two, to make
Speaker 22: this organization fit for purpose and strengthen necked for the
Speaker 22: twenty first century.
Speaker 6: Sallengers, the co chairs of the Attack.
Speaker 22: Working Group for Workstream two, are currently working with the
Speaker 22: Member States to finalize the outcome report for adoption in
Speaker 22: the General Assembly by the end of this month, which
Speaker 22: is when their mandates.
Speaker 6: Draws to a close.
Speaker 22: For workstream one and three of the UNAD process, I
Speaker 22: continue to hold monthly informal briefings on the progress of
Speaker 22: the United Nations UNAD reform initiative with USG Guy Rider
Speaker 22: and the other speakers and agencies heading towards April, so
Speaker 22: no time to rest here. As well, as you all know,
Speaker 22: we are also heading towards the interactive dialogue for the
Speaker 22: next Secretary Gennal. This process is well underway as you
Speaker 22: are aware. The interactive dialogue with the SG candidates will
Speaker 22: be the.
Speaker 6: Week of twenty years April.
Speaker 22: We circulated information on how the dialogues will be conducted
Speaker 22: and we will continue to share additional information as it
Speaker 22: becomes available. During the interactive dialogues, each candidate will have
Speaker 22: the opportunity to present their vision statement, answer member States questions,
Speaker 22: and engage with civil society organizations. I invite you, as
Speaker 22: representatives of the press and therefore also those who could
Speaker 22: share all these dialogues throughout the world, to engage in
Speaker 22: this process, maybe even before the interactive dialogue starts to
Speaker 22: cover the topics and also are the different candidates because
Speaker 22: the choice of who leads this organization matters deeply, especially
Speaker 22: in these challenging times, as they will also represent what
Speaker 22: this institution stands for in the future and if it
Speaker 22: truly represents all human kind in this regard, I'm looking
Speaker 22: forward to seeing you quite soon again when we get
Speaker 22: into the months of April and the preparation for the
Speaker 22: interactive dialogues wonderful.
Speaker 21: So we have twenty one minutes, so if there are questions,
Speaker 21: just so that we provide some structure. If there are
Speaker 21: questions regarding the SG selection, we will take those first,
Speaker 21: followed by questions on CSW and women's rights, and then
Speaker 21: if we have time for other questions, we will take
Speaker 21: those questions on the SG selection.
Speaker 23: These can I do an official welcome to the President
Speaker 23: the General Assembly on behalf of the United Nations Correspondence Association.
Speaker 23: Thank you for doing this briefing and we hope you
Speaker 23: will do many more. My question is mainly on CSW,
Speaker 23: but can you tell us the date that the you're
Speaker 23: going to start doing these meetings with the individual candidates?
Speaker 22: Thank you, I'm heavy question, but you wanted to collect
Speaker 22: for a secondary general I'm sorry, Technolo.
Speaker 21: Would you like the view of those PGN SG questions? Okay,
Speaker 21: Pamela Gabe and we have more. Yes, we'll take those.
Speaker 24: Thank you to the PGA for all of us as well, Mike,
Speaker 24: Pamela far from US News and World Report, Big picture
Speaker 24: question in summary, you've been in office, what do you
Speaker 24: think the best the qualities that you'd like to see
Speaker 24: in the next Secretary General. I mean you could write
Speaker 24: a doctoral thesis on this, but in short, thank you.
Speaker 10: Okay, Gabriel, this is Gabriel Zandra from Al Jazir English.
Speaker 10: I know we're short on time, so I'll make it quick.
Speaker 10: Have you spoken specifically to Raphael Grossi about stepping down
Speaker 10: as the head of the IAEA or not?
Speaker 9: And if not, why, thank you, Madam President for this
Speaker 9: briefing on the next Secretary General. I just want to
Speaker 9: know your personal opinion on why this organization hasn't had
Speaker 9: a woman president in eighty years and how hopeful are
Speaker 9: you that we're going to have a woman president this time?
Speaker 8: Okay?
Speaker 21: One more on the sg.
Speaker 7: Cyto Tanaka from the Shuman Japanese newspaper, a similar question.
Speaker 7: We got three candidates female candidates so far. What are
Speaker 7: your reaction to it and what do you expect for
Speaker 7: the selection process?
Speaker 21: Yeah, wonderful, Thank you.
Speaker 22: So maybe I start with the last part and repeat
Speaker 22: so everybody is aware again we have indeed so far
Speaker 22: five nominations. First came in November by Argentina of Ralfred Grossi,
Speaker 22: then in February by Chile Brazil and Mexico of Michelle Bachelet,
Speaker 22: then beginning of March by Barundi the former president of
Speaker 22: Senegal Marquisal, then in March by Costa Rica of Rebecca
Speaker 22: Greenspan and just recently in March by Maldives, Virginia Gamba
Speaker 22: of Argentina. With regard to primarily your question are obviously
Speaker 22: we all have different thoughts in our mind, but the
Speaker 22: PGA does not have time for thesis to write about
Speaker 22: her writer areas for the next SG and especially my
Speaker 22: role is to implement the Rivertazation resolution, and as outlined
Speaker 22: in the Revitalization Resolution and in the joint letter, there
Speaker 22: are a couple of criterias. So also the question about
Speaker 22: competence is answered in this letter that this next Secretary
Speaker 22: Journal should provide strong and dedicated effected leadership skills with
Speaker 22: experience in governance structures, but also with regard to United Nations,
Speaker 22: with regard to management skills of this institution and the
Speaker 22: light of the reforms. And then it has also the
Speaker 22: strong call with regard to regional diversity, and this call
Speaker 22: in consensus by one hundred ninety three member states to
Speaker 22: strongly call member states for the nomination of women and
Speaker 22: these are the criteria set by all member states in consensus.
Speaker 22: And then everybody who will be part of this process
Speaker 22: can also decide by themselves about their choice. My role
Speaker 22: is to lead this process based on the resolution, but
Speaker 22: also based on the strong call for the representation of
Speaker 22: this institution, the principles.
Speaker 6: And the Charter.
Speaker 22: And this is why the set up for this interactive
Speaker 22: dialogue as outlined in my.
Speaker 6: Letter, will be structured. It will be three hours for
Speaker 6: every candidate.
Speaker 22: I know myself this is long, but as PGA, I've
Speaker 22: also done it and member states really valued that they
Speaker 22: really had the chance to ask the question and to engage.
Speaker 22: We invite also civil society and this will be structured
Speaker 22: around the personal vision statements and the management skill and
Speaker 22: then in the second part around the three pillars being
Speaker 22: peace and security, sustainable development and climate and human rights
Speaker 22: to precisely speaker about these principles of the United Nations
Speaker 22: as I said, as outlined in the Resolution seventy nine
Speaker 22: SO three hundred and twenty seven and the joint later
Speaker 22: in this regard. This is also the answer to the
Speaker 22: question of Al Jazeera. Many of the candidates contacted me,
Speaker 22: so I spoke with many of the candidates at different
Speaker 22: occasions they had been also the CaAl with regard to
Speaker 22: a financial disclosure again in the resolution by the Member States,
Speaker 22: and also the CaAl with regard of upholding current positions
Speaker 22: in the UN system. Again it's up to Member States
Speaker 22: with regard to the implementation of this resolution.
Speaker 6: I'm guiding the process.
Speaker 22: And with regard to individual a person. Please you probably
Speaker 22: understand in this process that this is a very transparent,
Speaker 22: very neutral and fair process in which every candidate and
Speaker 22: maybe they are more coming, we'll have the same chances
Speaker 22: and opportunities of this three hour interactive dialogue. And this
Speaker 22: is why relating again and thank you for the kind words.
Speaker 6: For the date.
Speaker 22: We will start in the week of the twenty years
Speaker 22: of April. Again, these times are not short of challenges.
Speaker 22: We have in parallel the NPT Review Conference with many
Speaker 22: delegations and representatives here as well and with many room
Speaker 22: book links. So also these technical issues are being part
Speaker 22: of the process. So it depends how many more candidates
Speaker 22: will come, how often we have to split the day
Speaker 22: in a morning session of three hours and an afternoon
Speaker 22: session of the three hours, and if we have tripling
Speaker 22: of the candidates.
Speaker 6: Obviously this one week won't.
Speaker 22: Be enough, but for the quint moment, we have five
Speaker 22: and this would fit in all in these dates. So
Speaker 22: this is why we will be more precise on the
Speaker 22: exact dates so when we know how many. And this
Speaker 22: is also why I called on the nomination to be
Speaker 22: handed in before first of April, so we can organize
Speaker 22: a process where not only member states can be assuring
Speaker 22: that they're all there, but also media and the big interest.
Speaker 22: I heard it also from me and member states visiting
Speaker 22: me how they can also live stream these interactive hearings
Speaker 22: to their countries, to their parliament or their regional constituencies.
Speaker 21: Okay, well follow up questions on SG or CSW. Okay,
Speaker 21: then we have CSW ED and then Stefano you also
Speaker 21: had a CSW question. Other questions on CSW please d.
Speaker 23: Thank you very much, Madam President. This was the first
Speaker 23: time that the in csw's history that the Commission on
Speaker 23: the Status of Women did not adopt its outcome document
Speaker 23: by consensus. What is your reaction to that and what
Speaker 23: do you believe the impact of these divisions are for
Speaker 23: the fight to achieve gender equality.
Speaker 21: Stephano, you had a question as well on CSW.
Speaker 12: Madame President, thank you. During c s W week, Israel
Speaker 12: hostedday You one side event with Iranian women who describe imprisonment,
Speaker 12: torture and repression under the Iranian regime, who openly called
Speaker 12: for its hand. Would you have been willing to participate
Speaker 12: in such an event and what message would you send
Speaker 12: today to those Iranian women in Iran?
Speaker 21: Do we have other questions on CSW sorry, Abdelhamid online?
Speaker 21: Who's you us online? I believe seeing your hand?
Speaker 19: Yes, my question also on cs seventy and I want
Speaker 19: to ask you, Madame President, about the Gaza women. I
Speaker 19: felt they were ignored in this session.
Speaker 8: Why is that?
Speaker 19: And the second about the girls' school on t one
Speaker 19: hundred and seventy of them were killed. Do you condemn
Speaker 19: that outright and unequaediically?
Speaker 8: Thank you?
Speaker 21: Okay, those are all of our questions on cs W
Speaker 21: looking online as well. All right, thank you all. I
Speaker 21: will turn the floor over to the PGA.
Speaker 22: Thank you for all this very important question. It first
Speaker 22: was regard to the vote on Monday on the CSW.
Speaker 6: Outcome to be very precise.
Speaker 22: We never have seen a vote before, but we have
Speaker 22: seen before that hasn't been an outcome document, and I
Speaker 22: think this is very important because it also underlines in
Speaker 22: these challenging times that we have progress besides the backlash.
Speaker 22: And for me this is really important. I think we've
Speaker 22: spoken about it before, because especially in a digital world
Speaker 22: where hate and bad news click six times better than
Speaker 22: good news, we have to be very careful that we
Speaker 22: are not entering this vicious circle about negative news reinforcing
Speaker 22: more negative news, because the successors are all there, especially
Speaker 22: for women rights. I was naming numbers if full gender
Speaker 22: parity would be there, what the economy would achieve, But
Speaker 22: I mean there are many women here in the room
Speaker 22: who still had the situation that when you were working
Speaker 22: and your husband had a job being paid less, still
Speaker 22: you need the signature in this country to get a
Speaker 22: credit card or at least to improve the limit of
Speaker 22: the credit card. Even recently in the last years, my
Speaker 22: generation was facing the same situation now on a digital level,
Speaker 22: that the algorithm of credit cards was still programmed on
Speaker 22: this old bias that when I earned more than my husband, yeah,
Speaker 22: still automatically the credit card debit frame was larger for
Speaker 22: a male husband, doesn't matter what the woman was earning.
Speaker 22: So this work in progress is ongoing, but we're taking
Speaker 22: positive step by positive step and now looking at this
Speaker 22: situation that for the first time we do have a vote.
Speaker 22: But this also underlined for the first time because there
Speaker 22: has been this vote, that the vast majority was not
Speaker 22: working hand in hand with those who want to see
Speaker 22: a backlash. So the positive news about this and this
Speaker 22: is the positive news that the rest all other member
Speaker 22: states being part of the decision making at that moment,
Speaker 22: are supporting the progress also in the CSW resolution and
Speaker 22: the second very important message from this year, but I
Speaker 22: think we all feel it around the world. Women are
Speaker 22: so strongly empowered everywhere. The topics we had in the
Speaker 22: past about cultural relativism that maybe in some regions women
Speaker 22: flies are not as important as another region, this is
Speaker 22: not there anymore, especially not shared by women at all.
Speaker 22: And these women, because are capable by digital tools, are
Speaker 22: now joining hands. So women in the Americas, in Europe
Speaker 22: are speaking up. Maybe related to the question if they
Speaker 22: are facing atrocities of women suffering in Iran, The question
Speaker 22: was what is my message to the women of Iran
Speaker 22: as a woman and also as a PGA standing up
Speaker 22: for human rights? Stand at your site in my previous role.
Speaker 22: This is why there has been installed the fact finding
Speaker 22: a mission in the Human Rights Council with regard to
Speaker 22: the violations again Iranian women. Related to the question in Gaza,
Speaker 22: we have had this discussion also before because for me,
Speaker 22: human rights and also women rights are inivisible.
Speaker 9: I do not.
Speaker 22: Work on the grounds if you speak about violation in
Speaker 22: Afghanistan about women rights at one event, this would mean
Speaker 22: you are not looking at violations of women rights are
Speaker 22: in Gaza or the suffering of women and girls in Gaza.
Speaker 22: If we start to divide who's suffering more against the
Speaker 22: ethnic groups and especially against the women, this just pays
Speaker 22: in the hands of those who are trying to divide
Speaker 22: this big solidarity. And why is there an effort to
Speaker 22: divide this big solidarity Because at the moment everybody can
Speaker 22: see women will not step back if their rights are.
Speaker 6: Being under attack.
Speaker 22: And therefore, also especially with Afghanistan, and this is why
Speaker 22: I'm mentioning it very often also here at CSW. The
Speaker 22: systematic attack on women and girls in Afghanistan is this
Speaker 22: most severe attack on human rights because in Afghanistan women
Speaker 22: are denied every normal human right we are all enjoying.
Speaker 22: They are imprisoned in their own homes, and unfortunately we
Speaker 22: have not spoken about that one intensively enough, especially in
Speaker 22: a time when we saw other violations of international law.
Speaker 6: In peace and security.
Speaker 22: At the same moment, the Talibana regime issued this new
Speaker 22: legislation about violence against the women and girl and there
Speaker 22: was no outcry at all. This doesn't mean that other
Speaker 22: human rights violation in other parts are less important. It
Speaker 22: just underlines again why it's so important to speak about
Speaker 22: all of one. And therefore I also condemned the massive
Speaker 22: killing and exercise use of force against the protesters in
Speaker 22: Iran at the same.
Speaker 6: Time in January Farraberry, where we.
Speaker 22: Have reports about more than thirty thousand people being killed,
Speaker 22: especially also young people, many many women and girls. This
Speaker 22: is why I also called not only a strong condemnation
Speaker 22: of this human rights violation to stop, but that all
Speaker 22: of those have to be held accountable.
Speaker 6: For these crimes.
Speaker 22: This is why the fact finding mission of the Human
Speaker 22: Rights Counsel is so important still in these times, because
Speaker 22: they are responsible for collecting these evidence so that one
Speaker 22: day perpetators can.
Speaker 6: Be brought to justice.
Speaker 22: And this goes also to the situation of women and
Speaker 22: girls in Gaza.
Speaker 6: I just met with Descross from a UNDP.
Speaker 22: He reported me back on his visit in Gaza about
Speaker 22: the horrible situation that with regard to the trucks and
Speaker 22: humanitarian aid entering Gaza, the progress is very very little also.
Speaker 6: For you and trucks.
Speaker 22: This means again women and girls are suffering most if
Speaker 22: housing is demolished as it is on the ground that
Speaker 22: hardly any reconstruction at the moment is possible, and therefore
Speaker 22: really thankful because also the horrible situation of civilians in
Speaker 22: Gaza has to be addressed, and the same goes for
Speaker 22: accountability and the protection of civilians in Gaza. Bringing me
Speaker 22: to the question of the horrible strike on the girls'
Speaker 22: school in Iran that has resulted in the deaths of
Speaker 22: more than one hundred and sixty civilians, especially children, especially girls.
Speaker 22: Civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected in all times.
Speaker 22: Unacceptable that a school was hit by strike during school hours.
Speaker 22: There's clear international humanitarian law about the responsibilities in times
Speaker 22: of war. Therefore, it is very important that we have
Speaker 22: an investigation of this terrible and tragic incident and any
Speaker 22: violation of international humanitarian law cannot remain without consequences. Also
Speaker 22: here accountability for those responsibility must be given.
Speaker 21: Okay, that is we have time for one more question.
Speaker 21: Is it a follower? Sorry, let me go to someone
Speaker 21: who hasn't asked the question yet. Sorry, you could just
Speaker 21: say your name and your news organization.
Speaker 25: Okay, is STEVEE got the bomb from Avenues? Thank you
Speaker 25: for your briefing. My question is regarding the reformation, the
Speaker 25: UN reform process. I was wondering UK and give some
Speaker 25: more details or some be some more specific on some issues,
Speaker 25: for example, what's going on, what going to happen with
Speaker 25: the veto power and then if you can advance some
Speaker 25: of these ambitious timetable that you are working with.
Speaker 6: Thank you, Okay, thank you.
Speaker 22: Given the short time at this complex RNAD process, I
Speaker 22: try to point at a different expect First of all,
Speaker 22: we have this three different workstream workstream or one about
Speaker 22: the financial situation. Luckily we could succeed to have a
Speaker 22: budget at the end of twenty twenty five, but the
Speaker 22: SG has rang the alarm bell that we would face
Speaker 22: another liquidity not only crisis but shut down in June
Speaker 22: July if member states are not paying their contribution in
Speaker 22: full in time. Is not possible anymore because in time
Speaker 22: is over. But many after this strong call paid then
Speaker 22: a couple of days later, but still many Member states.
Speaker 6: Have not paid their current obligation.
Speaker 22: So therefore this is the most important thing, the call
Speaker 22: of member state.
Speaker 6: A second, it's also part.
Speaker 22: Of the reform step the SG and I myself, we
Speaker 22: are again tabling the proposal that the money which could
Speaker 22: not be spent because it was not being.
Speaker 6: Paid by Member states, that this.
Speaker 22: Should not be reimbursed to the rest of the Member States,
Speaker 22: because this is currently the rule and this is a
Speaker 22: vicious circle. If the UN has to pay back money
Speaker 22: which it never received, obviously it's losing even more money
Speaker 22: and more cuts are needed. This is now again under
Speaker 22: discussion in the Fifth Committee, and especially also myself, I'm
Speaker 22: calling on Member States to look at this point again.
Speaker 22: So this is Workstreame one with the current financial situation.
Speaker 22: Works from two is the work in.
Speaker 6: The General Assembly.
Speaker 22: And this is where I said, with a very ambitious timetable,
Speaker 22: because Member States decided to have this ad hoc working
Speaker 22: group looking how we can make our work in the
Speaker 22: General Assembly more efficient. For example, that we have thousands
Speaker 22: of resolutions with duplications. Their proposal now to have sunset
Speaker 22: clauses for resolutions, but also if we have to have
Speaker 22: every resolution every year, if it can be biennial or not.
Speaker 22: There are other parts where we have the high level meetings.
Speaker 22: We have also more than one thousand meetings all around
Speaker 22: what I said, even difficult to find spaces. Member states agreed,
Speaker 22: for example that in September there should not be more
Speaker 22: than three high level meetings altogether, but five have been
Speaker 22: already suggested. So obviously this is contradicting the own proposals.
Speaker 22: So we are trying to bring this down again. Then
Speaker 22: proposals on speaking time limitation, because if we have unlimited
Speaker 22: speaking time, we need translation all the six languages, we
Speaker 22: need the rooms.
Speaker 6: This is also a lot of money, So many.
Speaker 22: Proposals in this working group group, and as I said,
Speaker 22: the co chairs from Jamaica and New Zealand, they worked
Speaker 22: intensively and I'm very thankful to that in the last
Speaker 22: months on almost daily consultation with member states and especially
Speaker 22: also with capitals. They will publish their final reports at
Speaker 22: the end of March, and their mandate goes till the
Speaker 22: end of March thirty first of March, and there has
Speaker 22: been this clear call of adopting the proposals, but we
Speaker 22: are in the midst of the negotiations, so we can
Speaker 22: give more update on that report when it's finally published.
Speaker 6: Works in three.
Speaker 22: Also topic which has been here for CSW is regarded,
Speaker 22: especially of the many agencies, the proposals by the SG
Speaker 22: with regard to mergers making the work on the ground.
Speaker 22: Fishient did really delivering for the people on the ground.
Speaker 22: And we're in the midst of this process. But the
Speaker 22: SG can update more on the details and especially Guy
Speaker 22: Riders giving the mentally briefing also in the General Assembly,
Speaker 22: so it comes from the resident coordinators, how they can
Speaker 22: coordinate better.
Speaker 6: It's a discussion about the.
Speaker 22: Humanitarian reset, how the humanitarian agencies work more efficient together.
Speaker 22: It's a question about duplications over the last a couple
Speaker 22: of years, the merger between you and Women and you
Speaker 22: and fp A. So many many proposals, and also on
Speaker 22: that one. We're trying to do as much as we
Speaker 22: can in the upcoming months to decide on these reform
Speaker 22: steps within this EIGHTIA session but also within the term
Speaker 22: of this Secretary Channel. So don't book a too long
Speaker 22: summer holiday, because I can promise you hopefully not outside
Speaker 22: there in the world with other negative events happening. But
Speaker 22: inside this building that we will have many many not
Speaker 22: only work but also reform steps we are going to take.
Speaker 6: I thank you.
Speaker 26: Well, convince my son. There were colors in the world
Speaker 26: back when I was young, and though everything wasn't black
Speaker 26: and white, wrong was wrong and right was right. It
Speaker 26: was about that time I finally realized maybe my son
Speaker 26: was right.
Speaker 10: Though old damn time.
Speaker 26: Most of us were gone in a clearer time, Yeah,
Speaker 26: things were black. Showread depictions Things.
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