As Dejan said, my name is Jeffrey Labovitz. I'm IWAM's Director for Operations and Emergencies and I'll be moderating today's session. Each of the panelists will have around 10 minutes to present ideas and experiences and then I'll open the floor for questions and comments. I'll briefly give you some context on why we felt this topic was important one to include in this year's IDM. We work to provide humanitarian aid in crises settings around the world, which is complex at the best of times. The travel restrictions and disease prevention controls around COVID-19 have made things even more complicated than usual. At any given time, IWAM on behalf of the UN system looking to coordinate camp coordination and camp management as a co-leader with UNHCR is looking at over 2,000 camp-like situations. So we had a lot of concerns during this period of time. On top of this, in many countries, the challenges faced by migrants and IDPs merited special attention. We've all been forced to adjust and make changes to our usual ways of getting things done. 18 months into the pandemic, it seems like a good time to take stock and to see what has been working and what could have worked better. We're hoping this panel will allow for sharing of experiences on what it's been like to work during COVID-19 in countries that already have more than their fair share of challenges. Some of the areas we are looking at today include how COVID-19 has changed the way we provide humanitarian aid in crises settings, ways that migrants and IDPs have become more vulnerable over the past year, how data is changing the ways we're, is changing and the ways we're using it in humanitarian settings. And finally, we'll look at innovative adjustments that have been made to deliver aid. We have four speakers today. We have Mr. Diego Beltran, Director General Special Envoy for the regional response to the Venezuela situation. We have Ms. Seida Gunte, Deputy Program Coordinator for the Migration and Services Department in the Turkish Red Crescent. Mr. Christian Mulamba, who's working as the Central African Republic Country Director for IMC, International Medical Corps. And of course, we have our keynote speaker, Secretary Mohamed Mosin, Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief from Bangladesh. With more than 5.6 million refugees and migrants having left Venezuela as a result of socioeconomic instability and some turmoil and the ongoing humanitarian crisis, we have a special situation in the Americas all in the time of COVID. Diego Beltran, in his current role as Special Envoy, you have been on the front lines of navigating how to deliver humanitarian assistance in the middle of COVID restrictions. You've been one of the advocates for those millions of people moving around the region when there was also a shutdown of borders. Diego, can you share your thoughts on how COVID-19 has impacted the provision of humanitarian assistance for Venezuelans who have left the country? And do you have suggestions on how the international crisis response done can adapt to this new reality? Over to you, Diego. Thank you very much. Mr. Secretary, good afternoon. Morning in my location. It's really a very pleased and honored to participate in this panel and with distinguished speakers and thank you for your kind words of presentation. If you don't mind, I will switch to Spanish for my presentation and we'll try to address your questions but also provide some context to understand better in which way the humanitarian assistance should have been provided in a situation that it's continued now. Well, I will try now to put the presentation. Let me see if possible to share the presentation. Yes, I think that we are now. It's all clear. Okay, great, great, thank you. Thank you very much. Well, part of the context of the situation was that, I'm going to switch to Spanish now. Que desde año 2017, 2018, han ido creciendo, fueron creciendo los flujos mixtos de detrasamiento de personas venezolanas desde su país. Alrededor de más de cuatro millones de venezolanos y venezolanas habían salido del país y se encontraban en 17 países de Latinoamérica y el Caribe antes que empezara el COVID, estamos hablando alrededor en primeros meses del año 2020. Los países que han acogido más venezolanos, naturalmente Colombia tiene una frontera muy extensa a Perú con también un millón de personas, Chile, Ecuador, Brasil y también importante presencia, más números menores, pero importante presencia en el Caribe y en Central América y en el Conoscuro. Las rutas más usadas, y esto continúa siendo cierto, pero con la variedad de que, por encierra de fronteras, la mayoría de los cruces son por pasos irregulares. Entonces, se pueden ver en el mapa, la más dinámica de las vías, del corredor ambino, como es conocido que ya atraviesa Colombia, Ecuador, Perú, Bolivia, Chile, llegando incluso al coro sur. Rutas Brasil, directas a la venezolana, también sonadas fronteriza con Venezuela, en el Caribe básicamente rutas marítimas con grupos importantes venezolanos que han llamado Aruba, Culaçao, El Tobago, Guyana y una ruta que, en este momento, es muy mencionada en los medios y en las discusiones, que es el Darien. La ruta del Darien en Paramá, que tiene condiciones específicas de tránsito a través de zonas celoáticas. Para responder a esta situación, el secretario general de Naciones Unidas, el secretario general de mujeres, nominó a la OIM y a la ANUR, le pidió a la OIM y a la ANUR que coliberaran esta respuesta. Y fue en esa respuesta que OIM y ANUR, en una decisión conjunta y crear un mecanismo innovador, que ha sido una plataforma fundamental de coordinación que está basada en Paramá que descubre los 17 países que reciben venezolanos. Alrededor de esta plataforma coordinan 159 organizaciones de las redes unidas o ONGs en un 90% y también un representante especial conjunto fue nombrado el señor Eduardo Stein, ex-presidente de Guatemala. Se creó una estructura con 9 sectores plataformas nacionales en 8 países plataformas profesionales y ustedes pueden ver en la pantalla los distintos sectores de respuesta que son los que normalmente se tienen en una emergencia de este tipo. Como chef mencionaba el director general nominándome como enviado especial y establecimos una oficina específicamente en Panamá para dar seguimiento a esta situación, a esta emergencia ustedes pueden ver en pantalla alguno de los roles que esta oficina de la UIM en Panamá tiene. Esto era ya una circunstancia difícil con un grado de vulnerabilidad muy alto de los venezolanos y de los venezolanos. El impacto del covilacio desbastador ha multiplicado las vulnerabilidades ha creado situaciones mucho más problemáticas. Como sucedió en la mayor parte del mundo en pocas horas la frontera de los países se fue ensarrando sin mayor coordinación entre las distintas medidas pero hoy siguiendo en cierres totales o parciales de las fronteras. Esto produjo inmediatamente que la población venezolana que se encontraba los refugiados eminantes que se encontraban en los países y que en su mayoría trabajaban en la economía, en el sector informal fue perdiendo toda forma de empleo toda forma de ingresos fueron desalojados de sus casas perdieron cualquier posibilidad de acceso a educación, a salud sin posibilidad de adaptarse a las nuevas normas de distanciamiento social y a la necesidad de la frente y en una situación muy particular ya que seguía habiendo ingresos a los países sectores como las que retorjaban a Venezuela pero la mayoría de estos por vías irregulares por toche, por caminos irregulares poniéndolos en un gran en un gran riesgo de ser víctimas de trata y mencionaría como un factor que comenzó a crecer muy difícil que hizo las cosas más complicadas en las manifestaciones de xenofobia y de discriminación hacia los migrantes y los refugiados en esta pantalla pueden ver algunos datos de distintos estudios ustedes los pueden leer yo no voy a repetir pero básicamente mencioné los personajes arriba del 80 y 90% que perdieron su empleo que fueron desalojados y en un contexto en que la COVID-19 fue avanzando en forma muy importante en Latinoamérica y Caribe en este momento se cuentan con 5 millones de casos reportados un millón y medio muertes y con muchos de los países que han estado entre los principales países del mundo afectados por la COVID-19 en este momento la situación comienza a mejorar 9 de los 17 países han pasado hasta el 50% de vacunación sin embargo no podemos ignorar que la pandemia que hay Caribe abarca el 20% de los casos COVID en el mundo con especial accepción en este contexto los sectores tomaron algunas acciones no quedaron inmóviles no fueron indiferences a la situación de mil grandes muchos de ellos por ejemplo con Peno de Ecuador renovaron las visas se hicieron automáticas renovaciones de visa y subieron los pedidos de caducidad de visas y de permisos para que no tuvieran que no fueran descultados de los grandes y pienso que en esta sección ya empezamos con unas no recomendaciones sino acciones concretas que se desarrollaron en el marco de la pandemia ahí se como Colónca Argentina emitieron inquietos para suportar los de salud algunos países como Brasil desarrollaron un subsidio universal para sus nacionales pero también incluyendo amigdales y refugiados de toda la nacionalidad países como Perú, Argentina, Chile hicieron permisos temporales a venezolan, médicos y profesionales de salud para participar y se iniciaron algunos procesos de regularización mientras tanto esta estructura que el secretario general le había pedido a OIME y el secretario que trabajara adaptó su respuesta a las necesidades del COVID entonces el fortalecimiento de los programas de CBI, cash base initiatives se transformó en los mecanismos más importantes y el apoyo a las organizaciones de la diáfora venezolana que ayudaban a dar, a apuntar la ayuda humanitaria y la contención de sus compatriotas que ayuda a incrementar y ampliar las facilidades de la infraestructura de salud y establecer centros para que los migrantes y refugiados pudieran cumplir con las cuarentenas y medidas sanitarias los países conjuntamente con el apoyo de OIME continuaron reuniéndose alrededor del proceso Quito que tiene aproximadamente 14 países receptores y buscaron y buscan soluciones entre todos para poder acordar los flujos masivos de venezolana y venezolana actualmente Brasil es el chair por el proceso Quito y se ha formado un grupo de amigos del proceso Quito para ayudar a los países receptores de la Unión Europea de desarrollo y nueve países que ustedes ven también se desarrolló en el año 2020 con apoyo con el liderazgo de España y la Unión Europea y en el 2021 con el liderazgo de Canadá conferencias de donantes con gran participación de gobiernos y gran compromiso para continuar sensibilizando la situación y realizar contribuciones para localizar la respuesta estos elementos que estoy mencionando la conferencia de donantes la conformación del grupo de amigos creemos que responden un poco a la pregunta que el del padre se hace por el que llegó de financiamiento alternativo sobre mecanismos los recursos pero no habría o no habrá una solución sostenible si los esfuerzos de regulación no continúan y total es actualmente ha sido de público el proceso ambicioso y muy positivo por el gobierno de Colombia para establecer un proceso temporal de protección que va a dar documentación por 10 años a ver y que ya tiene más de un millón de personas registradas pero adicionalmente República Unitana lleva acá un plan Ecuador iniciará lo mismo Perú está realizando uno Bolivia comenzará un plan de regularización Brasil y los países del conozur normalmente están documentando entonces para entrar en la parte final de mis documentarios quisiera sintetizar algunos de estos puntos como respuestas y recomendaciones a lo que fue una pandemia intensa como se mencionó en el panel anterior que nadie estaba preparado para poder afectarla en ese sentido la inclusión de los mirantes y refugiados en los planes nacionales de atención, de asistencia esto ya fue hecho por algunos países y es una línea importante para poder contener las vulnerabilidades que tienen los mirantes y refugiados la inclusión de los mirantes y refugiados en los planes nacionales no con prioridad frente a los nacionales sino con los mismos criterios que se aplican para la población nacional la homogenización de la regularización de los procedimientos de los países como mencionaba David Kodur en el panel anterior mayor compartir la necesidad y compartir las best practices para una práctica con provisión de cast de efectivo las alternativas que permitan dar asistencia remotamente a los refugiados migrantes y para ir finalizando un foco muy importante una prioridad a la prevención de la pata y el tráfico que naturalmente por el cierre de la frontera se han aumentado y lo que ha sido general es que en el mundo los efectos perversos de la pandemia el incremento de la violencia intrafamiliar y la violencia basada en género la distribución el aumento de mecanismos virtuales para que los niños migrantes y refugiados puedan ser una habitación a través de los planes y otros mecanismos la creación que más dentro de recepción en fronteras y por último y no menos importante la cooperación entre los gobiernos de milantes y refugiados y la comunidad internacional dejaría aquí la presentación espero no haberme entendido mucho y bueno voy a agradecer una invitación disponible para las preguntas si fueran necesarias muchísimas gracias muchas gracias such as gender-based violence and increase in xenophobia. But the real lesson learned is in identifying all those problems is a coming together of all the host countries. And what that meant was there was a need to adapt in adapting and hosting 5.6 million people. And when we're looking at those numbers globally, that's a really substantive amount of individuals who suddenly have lost their jobs who are perceived sometimes as vectors of what is a global pandemic. But what we saw was that through the keto process, through bilateral agreements, was that there was an extension of visas and residency permits. There was a suspension of evictions. There were subsidies which were provided, which included the inclusion of migrants and refugees. And then we, of course, talked about the regularization programming and inclusion of migrants and refugees into vaccination processes. Those are a lot of lessons learned, summarized in a very short period of time. I thank you for your work on this, Diego, and I'm sure we'll have some good questions and comments. I also want to thank UNHCR, who's the co-host of our coordination mechanism. In that coming together, I think we did better in working with all of you. Let's now shift the perspective of migrants and IDPs and hear from Mr. Christian Mulamba. Mr. Mulamba, Dr. Mulamba has been with IMC since 2006 as country director. He oversees emergency medical services. So this is really key. Health care training and development programs. He was also involved in IMC's post-abola response in West Africa. Christian, the floor is yours. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. It's a pleasure and an honor to me for me to be here today and share Central African experience on responding to COVID crisis while hosting also a complex emergency crisis. Central Africa, for those who might not know it, is going through political and security crisis since 2013 and the crisis was exacerbated a year ago when the country came close to the presidential election. But while dealing with that crisis and estimated 670,000 IDPs in country scattered in over 70 IDP sites, the country had to face as well the COVID pandemic. And Central Africa is one of the countries where resources are extremely scarce and the infrastructure very limited or missing. Top of that, adding the COVID complexity to support over 600,000 IDPs was a very serious challenges. But quickly, how did we manage cope with the COVID crisis? At first, for the international humanitarian community, we were first as well perceived as migrants ourselves. And it was very critical from the beginning to be very careful the way we manage as the stigmatization of anyone was perceived to be moving from a COVID affected country to Central Africa was key to the acceptance of the humanitarian while trying to assist the community. The country was very reluctant to open its border to anyone coming from anywhere where COVID was mentioned. Therefore, for humanitarian, it was a key to success to be very careful and respecting carefully the social distancing and the quarantine. We work with the government through the Ministry of Health to determine rules for people coming in and going out. And as as first responder, we were blind 100% to those rules to ensure that we have the community acceptance and ensure that humanitarian are not the vector of the COVID-19 in a country that was, we have to say, very spare from the beginning of the COVID pandemic. So as that, we were severely affected and limited in our mobility, therefore limited in our capacity to provide services and full capacity as we were working before the COVID pandemic era. Once adopted those principles and accepted, we start moving progressively with the government in how to respond to the COVID pandemic. As elsewhere, major cities were the one affected. In Sierra was Bangi Manli, the capital city that was affected with most of the cases, but progressively we see the disease spreading into districts where services, healthcare services are scarce or sometimes missing. And in that context, we had to quickly find solution of how to ensure the disease don't spread further as those districts in rural area are the one hosting most of the internet internal displaced people, settlements or camps. And then given the uncertainty of how to control the COVID pandemic in a community, it was very key for us to ensure those IDP camps and settings are well protected from the pandemic. Therefore prevention measure had to be initiated quickly and earlier the disease will be spreading in the country. The disease will be spreading in the country. Now we're doing such as having available, protecting first responders, healthcare workers, the military and as well, key stakeholder in the community and at some extent providing individual masks to everyone in these settings. That was a very challenging because the country itself from the capital city had their major health facilities, key resources for COVID protection and prevention were missing. Where to find them when the country itself was lacking a central pharmaceutical system that would make available all those supplies. And as we have observed elsewhere in the world, only few places could produce the supplies. Now in an environment where movement of people and good is restricted, how were we going to get those supplies in time, distribute and work highly on prevention to avoid and minimize the spread of the disease. Then came the very positive things we have seen here was the humanitarian interagency joining force together to create platforms. One of the platform was the preposition stockpile set up at WHO where people could get access to some of the key supplies such as masks and the PPEs, placing order and then working on how we organize around all the humanitarian actors, their country, their region, placing order in time and expecting to receive that. That was one. So the platform, the second successful initiative was the WFP air services which allow mobility of the first responder but also mobility of some goods and cargo that are a key to responding to the COVID pandemic. The third initiative is with New York full chat of scaling up quickly as an experimental one because it has to move to a non-classical way of receiving and responding using surf funding. IOM hosted the grant for health actors and work with those respective NGOs to scale up the response. While working on scaling up the response the country moved into a more deeper crisis with armed groups intensifying the resistance or rebellion against the country. And it was not easy to get access to do the work that was to be done to put in place infrastructure that could provide isolation of COVID positive patient provide get all the equipment to equip all the districts that we're going from some of them from zero equipment to some level of equipment where we could provide COVID treatments for critical patients. And in all this also organized of CR to Accra or Nairobi, many of us capability although it was for country like CR where resources are often limited managing to put all those things in place during the pandemic in such short period of time it was a very successful initiatives. And for us, it was an example that when the global community joined force together we can really tackle bigger challenges. And then mask were available full PPE for first responders were available and some infrastructure were put in place with a strong level of IPC that could provide safety and security to healthcare workers but also providing patient treatment in dignity. And we all celebrated that. Now what the thing I will always say and it's always challenging to ensure that here I will speak more precisely about the IDPs, the internal displaced people how to ensure they also consider in a country priority when deciding on critical things. We did not see the IDP coming among the first people to consider when planning for the general population or the critical population. And for me here, it's a call for global convention or alliance on the internal displaced person. How can we reinforce rules and law of any convention we can bring together as an international community for providing better protection and restoring some dignity to the internal displaced people. Over. Christian, thank you very much for that interesting presentation. You know, going deep into Central African Republic and being able to deliver PPE during a pandemic when delivery mechanisms are not in place when none of us are really prepared where there is a disparity of distribution is not the easiest of assignments to have. I think you talked about concern about even humanitarian actors being vectors of the disease and needing to ensure and make sure there's protocols put in place to ease communities and the need for community acceptance and that's something which is seminal. You talked about WHO supplies of PPE, WFP air qualities and surf funding. For those who are not aware, the surf doesn't usually give funds to NGOs but in the context of COVID it was clear that there had to be an NGO response. So they set up a special facility to reach NGOs and IMC was one of those beneficiaries. And I think that was one of those best practices. I think we have lots of lessons learned associated with reaching quickly and effectively a lot of different communities and making sure that IDPs are incorporated into national structures that's certainly the best practice and thank you for your work on this very difficult and important time. So we just heard the two examples from the Americas and Africa to show the need to continue rising to the challenge and continuing to do better. There's a couple of ways to make sure that we are always improving and one is through the use of timely and up-to-date data. Here to talk about data and coordination is Meseta Guntay. Ms. Guntay works in Turkey, a country currently hosting 3.9 million migrants and refugees over 90% which are Syrians. So there's a considerable challenges already. Ms. Guntay, the floor is yours. Thank you very much. Can you hear me well? I hear you perfect, thank you. Thank you very much for the opening sentence. Yes, Turkey has the largest population of the migrants, especially Syrian migrants. So data is always at the heart of our humanitarian aid interventions. But for us, of course, with these big target population, data is always important for us. COVID-19 changed, let me say, everything in terms of collecting data, sharing data between stakeholders. But before going deeper on this, I would like to mention a bit about TRCS and our efforts in migration services, then how we convert our interventions of data collection analysis methodologies in line with the COVID-19 restrictions. As you may already know that we are conducting the largest cash program in the world, ESSAN, Emergency Security Network, Social Security Network. And we have community centers in the largest population provinces, migrant provinces in Turkey. And also we have child programs directly serving to the migrant children. So we have a huge target population and we serve in different sectors from protection to psychosocial support, health, socioeconomic empowerment, and also social cohesion programs. So our motto is One Touch Thousand Leaves. Really, we touch over 3 million migrants and refugees through our programs and efforts, activities. Also, TRCS has 300 branches in the field. So we can say that we are the largest NGO with a huge field presence, which makes us easier to reach out the target groups, to provide them the needed services. But before that, we have to understand the changing needs, changing context, and to plan our interventions. And we have to monitor up-to-date data in terms of the impact and the new vulnerabilities according to COVID-19. We were lucky that we have been already invested in digitalization through TRCS. Five years ago, we started a digital transformation effort and we were mostly ready for such a crisis, such an online interventions because we had already IT systems, IT applications that we can use, we can continue our operations online. But the fact that before COVID, these was not our first preference to reach out our target communities. But with the COVID, the need was at the field. I would like to also say that we were the only NGO working in the field during the lockdowns and the restriction during the COVID. So we were in the field, but the target communities cannot reach us in our community centers or branches. We want them, but our capacity is not enough. No capacity can be enough to reach out all those vulnerable groups in the field during the COVID restrictions. So like every other stakeholders, we convert our efforts on remote practices. As I said, we were lucky. We had all these technological tools to reach our target communities and also continue our operations between our colleagues and partners. But the problem is the target communities has not enough capacity or access to reach us through remote and online interventions. And they don't have devices or enough internet packages. So that was the biggest problem that we faced. Then we started to develop corporations with the municipalities, mobile phone and technology companies. We started advocacy for them to have these opportunities because in today's work, we can say that having no internet or appropriate devices to remove operations, this causes new vulnerabilities. For example, in the restrictions times, all education was moved to online education and we identified through our needs assessments that 75% of migrants, especially the Syrian refugee children, cannot access to the online education. This is not only about the devices or lack of internet opportunities, but also the knowledge, the capacity to use them is really very low. So we started a huge training effort to make them to use these online opportunities. And also, as I mentioned, we started corporations with mobile phone companies and municipalities for the vulnerable groups to have proper internet or devices. We had some agreements with the private sector to provide these devices, iPads, laptops to the vulnerable groups. But still, I can say that there is a long way to go to reach out the most vulnerable. So the conventional methodology is to reach out them and to collect data for needs assessment or for the interactions. We need to continue the conventional methodology. So we use face-to-face data collection still. But we strengthened, we had already had the community-based interventions, but for the data collection, community-based interventions, which means, for example, we developed advisory committees and advisory boards and special topics, focusing on special topics and also the communities, like women's communities, youth communities. They also focus on the special topics and vulnerabilities. So it makes it easier to reach out the most vulnerable through the communities. I haven't mentioned, but we all, the humanitarian aid act actors started online needs assessments, crowd messaging, SMS, WhatsApps, as we are now using FGDs through Zoom or some other applications. But still, as I said, the most vulnerable are still vulnerable more than ever, that they cannot, they don't have these opportunities to reach us. And also I would like to mention about the sharing data. Secondary data analysis was important before the COVID, but became more important during the COVID period because like us, there are many NGOs in the field, not during the restrictions, but during the restrictions, they continue their interventions online and collect online. So sharing this data and providing accessible public data became much more important during the COVID. But of course, the main concern and main concentration was on general data protection rules and data privacy. By securing the data privacy, it is important to share those data in a proper way among humanitarian aid partners. We, I think all stakeholders understood it very well during the pandemics to reach out the target groups. As I mentioned, we were lucky that we had already served to around two million refugees with our services. So we had a huge database that we can analyze the trends, live trends, and we can put new data, the other stakeholders' data and field data in this database. And we are still investing in Power BI, some we're analyzing tool, advanced analyzing tools. So it helps us very much to identify the changing needs immediately. And we conduct regular online needs assessments in the field, together with the conventional methodologies, face-to-face, we go directly to the target groups. And also the community-based data collection modality was one of our priority that we put in our system, that we can put in our system. And also as an improvement point, I think it is obvious that we will be investing, all humanitarian actors will be investing in this digital and big data analyzes much more in the upcoming period. But it is also important to collaborate and cooperate on this with the rules of data privacy, of course. But we have to share more our data between ourselves to understand what is coming or what's going on in the field. This is my first intention about data privacy. I hope I couldn't miss any question. Thank you very much. Thank you, Sada. It's really interesting that you had gone through this digital transformation type of initiative prior to COVID, which probably puts you in a better position in addressing needs during COVID times. You were able to conduct assessments through IT and information technology. You had agreements with mobile phone operators. I understand that there is a great need to look at data security, and that's a lesson learned from that whole process. It's something which we are acutely aware about in terms of data in general. It was also, we understood that they were vulnerable. Some of the most poor didn't have access to the internet. They didn't have access to devices, and so they were programs put in place to address those issues. But there was still the need to come together in person during those times. Thank you very much for your intervention. Now we'll be moving the discussion over to Bangladesh. As we know, the government of Bangladesh has generously hosted and provided to some, excuse me, 884,000 Rohingya. All of our presenters are hosting huge amounts of migrants and refugee populations who resided 34 congested camps formally designated by the government of Bangladesh. So this is a great concern, really, of congestion and a lot of people and COVID. More than half the displaced are women and children requiring special attentions. Months before the onset of COVID, the government of Bangladesh and humanitarian partners in Cox's Bazaar acted on all fronts to prepare for and respond to the outbreak in very complex settings, and in many ways were successful in limiting the impact of the pandemic. Secretary Boussin serves as the joint secretary of Bangladesh's Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief. He has a distinguished 30-year career. I was happy to be able to meet him not so long ago, and he's been one of the leaders at the forefront of these efforts. Honorable Secretary, the floor is yours. I think you may still be on mute. Thank you, Jeff. Aspected panelists and excellencies, distinguished, participant, ladies and gentlemen, greetings from Bangladesh. At the very outset, I would like to thank the organizers for inviting me in such an auspicious event. It is my great pleasure to be here. And I want to mention a few words regarding the situation of our country. Due to climate-induced and seismic hazard, Bangladesh is one of the well-known as one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. The country is densely populated with the total population of 165 million, where 1,100 people live per square kilometer. This is the situation of our country. And according to global, German-based global climate risk index, 2,021, Bangladesh is ranked as the seventh most affected country by extreme weather events between 2000 to 2019. The reputable International Internal Displacement Monitoring Unit, IDMC, is May 2021, pointed out the global 30.7 million displacements occurred from disasters in 2020. Among them, Bangladesh was reputed as the third most affected countries as disaster triggered. The COVID-19 pandemic also particularly affected 100 people. And regarding the crisis response of COVID-19, the government has been trying to keep a balance between life and livelihood. I want to mention again, the life and livelihood in the context of the resources and institutional realities of Bangladesh. And also I want to mention that we have formulated national strategy on the management of disaster climate induced internal displacement last year. We have developed a contingency plan for COVID-19 in March 2020. The contingency plan covers the preparedness, response and recovery for the most vulnerable people during the pandemic situation. And following the contingency plan, the government provided a large-scale humanitarian and food support to 20 million affected families. It means it covers 70 million people in our country. We supported cash and stimulus packages for jobless people to save their livelihoods. The support is continuing with its scales to cover more than more and reduce their vulnerabilities. And by this time, 20 million people have been vaccinated to contain the spread of COVID-19. And during the pandemic situation, number of volunteers worked very effectively for vaccination activities and support many affected people. We can say that it is one of the key strengths for the success of crisis response during the pandemic. And if I mentioned regarding the going to people, you know, this is the fifth year since forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals have played from Rakhine state of Myanmar amid the allegations of army abuse, murder, rape, and killing and entered Bangladesh seeking safety and shelters. As an immediate neighbor, Bangladesh responded to the call of humanity and provided them with food, shelters, and protection. This carouselous and timely gesture of Honorable Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Shekhasina, not only stabilize the regional region from a catastrophe, it generated unprecedented solidarity in the international community as well. The government has planned shifting up to 0.1 million FDMS, it means the Forcibly Dispressed Myanmar Nationals to another place called the Varshan Saur. And we have arranged large-scale livelihood programs like fish cultivation, seawing, training, et cetera. And with the help of NGOs, we are setting another hospital even there. And then finally on 9th of October, 2021, we have signed MU with UNSCR for more intensive humanitarian support to Forcibly Dispressed Myanmar Nationals at the island Varshan Saur. And I want to mention some situation, whatever we are facing in Cox's Bajar, about 7,000 acre of reserve forest land have been already occupied for ensuring shelters of ruin gas. The trees and the Shushala frustration program, national plants, flora and fauna are devastated in the ruin gas settlement areas. And we have planted trees to restore the seriously devastated biodiversity of the camp area. And within four years, we have planted more than 1.5 million trees. And also I want to mention that honorable prime minister of our country, Shekhasidam once again said, just few days back in the 76 UNGA session that during a crisis had been created by Myanmar and they have to solve it on their own.  And in the pandemic situation, we have successfully controlled the COVID-19 transmission in the camp area. We have 35 camps and you'll be happy to know that compared to our national average, the infection rate is quite lower in the camp area. And though we don't hope any day, but only 32 FDMNs died of COVID-19 where most of them were senior citizens. And earlier COVID-19 vaccination campaign had been organized in camp areas as well. And the government started the vaccination in the camp area. And the government of Bangladesh has ensured regular immunization to every newborn child under government financing and supervision. Government also conducted the vitamin A capsule feeding campaign at present. Collar of vaccination campaign is going into the in the camp level. To ensure the safety and security around the clock, we have deployed the law and enforcing agencies. And under the collaboration with the law and agencies and other agencies working to establish safety, security, peace and harmony in the camp. And I don't know whether you'll be surprised to know that every year more than 30,000 new babies are born in the camp areas. To avoid the overcrowded camps in Foxes Bazaar, the government has developed a land, it's called the Bhashan Chowk, in order to provide proper safety security to them. We have already relocated at 19,000 and hopefully next, within next couple of days, we are going to shift another 80,000. There are some challenges. I don't want to mention the all challenges, but only one challenge is Myanmar showed no interest to scrutinize the data of the FDMS people. And despite the world's most densely populated camp, one of the largest camp settlement and disaster prone area, government Bangladesh has successfully converted the camp into one of the most livable camps in the world. Again, I want to mention that the multidimensional endures of Bangladesh for reducing disaster risk protected the development gains and reflected in 7.5% of the GDP growth in the last decade. And even the pandemic situation, the GDP was 5.24 in the last fiscal year. Furthermore, our country has achieved the qualification and recommendation from UN for LDC graduation will be hopefully graduate from LDC in 2026. Even then, in 2020, during pandemic situation, we face Cyclone Ampan and five times Monson floods that incurred huge damage and affected more than 6 million people amid the pandemic. The recent Cyclone years in May, 2021, also affected the coastal areas of Bangladesh. And therefore, we'll have to continue the effort towards sustainable development through effective disaster risk reduction measures even in the pandemic situation. And taking this opportunity, I would like to echo the words for our Honorable Prime Minister Shekhasina during the 76th UN General Assembly. She's mentioned we must ensure universal and affordable access to vaccine for people across the world. These vaccine inequality must be urgently addressed. We cannot chart out a sustainable recovery and be safe by leaving millions behind. And she also asked the global community, the pandemic has disproportionately impacted the climate vulnerable countries unless there is immediate measures that devastating impacts of climate change will be irreversible. We therefore call up the developed industrial countries to cut emissions, compensate for the loss and damage and ensure adequate financing and technology for transfer, for adaptation and resilience building. I can say Bangladesh is progressing through a whole of society approves even in the COVID-19 situation. I will expect working together until achieving full socioeconomic recovery and towards building a safer and resilient nation. With these, I would like to conclude my remarks. Thank you.  Thank you all again. Thank you, sir. And I'd like to reinforce the message of the Honorable Prime Minister about vaccine access and thank you so much for stressing that point. Certainly your work on disaster risk reduction, I mean, Bangladesh has a large population it suffers from flooding every year and you've done ample work. I've visited those sites to look at preparation in order to mitigate from disasters. That was certainly applied to the extent possible, looking at different situations. I also saw in the camps that there were special activities associated with shielding, with education of people of what to do when they are ill. There was actually for host communities and the camps alike, there was even oxygen production facilities which were put in place and dedicated medical facilities, all best practices and lessons learned associated with how we dealt with a very difficult situation. With that, I would like to thank all of the panelists for their insightful presentations. They have highlighted the extreme challenges of responding to crises during a pandemic and the specific vulnerabilities of migrants and IDPs. My understanding is that we have four statements either from the floor or online and we will start with Ecuador. Gracias, señor moderador. Siendo la primera vez que mi delegación tomó la palabra en el diálogo internacional, deseo dar la bienvenida tanto a la señora Daniels como a la señora Pope y desearles éxito en el cumplimiento de sus funciones. Igualmente deseo agradecer a los panelistas por sus valiosas presentaciones. El Ecuador fiel a su tradición de solidaridad y como país de acogida de un número importante y creciente de personas en situación de movilidad, respeta y promueve todos los derechos de los migrantes. Tanto el enviado especial de la OEM para la respuesta para Venezuela a quien acabamos de escuchar, señor Diego Beltranz, como representante especial, Eduardo Stein. Durante sus recientes visitas de Ecuador, observaron la eficacia de la innovativa y políticas nacionales durante la pandemia, otorgando acceso a los servicios de salud pública a todos, independientemente de su nacionalidad o de su situación migratoria. Para superar los retos pendientes, en particular respecto a los migrantes en situación de vulnerabilidad, los esfuerzos del Ecuador durante la pandemia han sido integrales a través de acciones como las siguientes. Uno se suspendieron temporalmente los plazos en los procesos administrativos relacionados con la movilidad humana, incluida la renovación de visas para evitar que las personas pierdan su condición migratoria. Dos, el proceso de regularización de ciudadanos venezolanos no se suspendió por la pandemia y contempló una extensión del plazo para que soliciten un aviso humanitario. 67,000 ciudadanos venezolanos fueron regularizados y forman parte de los 221,000 ciudadanos venezolanos en situación regular en el Ecuador. En diciembre de este año, iniciará el segundo proceso de regularización que beneficiará a 210,000 ciudadanos venezolanos adicionales. Esta iniciativa facilita la concesión de visas de residencia temporal y se complementará con una estrategia de inclusión socioeconómica para la creación de empleo, provisión de medios de vida y reconocimiento de estudios y títulos extranjeros. Igualmente, contempla iniciativas para combatir la discriminación y la xenofobia. Cuarto, se ha incluido migrantes y refugiados independientemente de su situación migratoria en el Plan Nacional de vacunación contra el COVID-19, venezolando igualmente también a personas en tránsito. Este exitoso plan de vacunación ha logrado inmunizar al 75% de la población mayor de 16 años. Señor Moderador, para concluir la crisis de salud global exige más que nunca diálogo, solidaridad y cooperación para gestionar las fronteras y la movilidad de forma idónea a fin de mantener las vías de migración regular al tiempo de reforzar la lucha contra las redes de trata y tráfico de personas. Ecuador reitera nuestra convicción de que el Pacto Mundial para una migración segura, ordenada y regular es la guía apropiada para encaminarnos los esfuerzos, especialmente en un contexto en que los países modifican sus regulaciones migratorias de manera rápida e impredecible. Muchas gracias. Thank you for your intervention and clarification of all the different actions that took place in Ecuador. Next from the floor, we have the United States. Dear IOM moderator and distinguished panelists, thank you very much for convening the second session of the 2021 International Dialogue on Migration. This time with a focus on the nexus of migration and the pandemic recovery. We are pleased to be part of this important discussion. The United States is deeply committed to defeating COVID-19 everywhere. We have put more than $15 billion towards the global COVID-19 response, including donation commitments of over 1.1 billion vaccine doses through COVAX and direct dose sharing. Last month, President Biden's virtual global COVID-19 summit focused on ending the pandemic and building better health security to prevent and prepare for future biological threats worldwide. The summit brought together hundreds of leaders of governments and organizations to work towards shared targets in three critical areas to help end the pandemic. First, vaccinate the world. Second, save lives now. And third, build back better. We are equally committed to establishing a humane, orderly, and fair immigration system in the United States. In addition, we work to promote humane, orderly, and fair forms of migration worldwide through bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, as well as through foreign assistance to targeted capacity-building programs to better manage emergencies and crises that displace people. Our assistance helps our international and non-governmental organization partners encourage regular migration, protect human rights, identify and protect refugees and asylum seekers, counter human trafficking and smuggling, and promote opportunities and fair labor practices for migrant workers. We are all well aware that COVID-19 has increased vulnerabilities for many migrants. Countless migrants have lost jobs and returned home only to face continued unemployment and uncertainty. Others were stranded outside their home countries as COVID-19 migration measures locked down borders with no hope for supporter livelihoods and at increased risk for exposure to COVID-19, victimization of violence, abuse, and trafficking in persons, including gender-based violence and sexual exploitation and abuse. We all need to find ways to manage the legitimate risks of the transmission and spread of COVID-19, consistent with our commitments to safe and humane migration. To that end, the United States is committed to equitable and inclusive access for migrants to COVID-19 vaccinations globally. The U.S. COVID-19 Global Response and Recovery Framework emphasizes these principles as a cornerstone for a successful response strategy. We know much work remains ahead to ensure vaccine delivery is person-centered and that it addresses the real and perceived access barriers faced by migrants. We also know that no nation can manage global challenges, like the pandemic and its recovery alone, and that international migration by its very nature involves multiple countries. This is why the United States is committed to international cooperation to ensure a swift and equitable end to COVID-19, so we can all enjoy a healthy and dignified life. Thank you. Thank you very much. We have three more speakers. Next in line is Armenia. Hello. We can hear you loud and clear. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues. Since 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has been severely affecting the economies and the livelihoods of the states around the world, as well as educational system, transport systems, tourism, agriculture, consumer markets, and all other sectors of our life. However, the impact of COVID on the mobility of people was the most obvious and severe. The world will not be the same, migration will not be the same, are the phrases that are most frequently uttered now by experts and practitioners since the beginning of this pandemic. When the restrictions imposed by states concerned the freedom of movement, both domestically within countries and internationally across the borders. Last year was very challenging for Armenia as well, which was conditioned not only by COVID-19 pandemic situation, but also by the war unleashed against Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan, which threatened not only global peace and security, but also led to a regional humanitarian crisis. The war of aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan was accompanied by large-scale violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, war crimes, other mass atrocities. During the hostilities, the armed forces of Azerbaijan deliberately targeted vital civilian infrastructure, peaceful towns and villages, including the densely populated capital of Nagorno-Karabakh or Artsakh, with artillery strikes, air strikes, which have resulted in numerous civilian casualties and destruction. Gross violations of human rights, including in armed conflicts, are among multiple and complex factors leading to forced displacement of people. As a result of this aggression of Azerbaijan, about 91,000 people were displaced from their homes and fled to Armenia. 88% of those people were women and children. They had to leave their homes to escape mass atrocities. More than 40,000 people were deprived of their homes, their property, vital infrastructure was destroyed, including schools and hospitals. Many of these people have become victims of repeated forced displacement since they had fled ethnic cleansing committed by this country in the early 90s. During the recent aggression, these people were displaced again while still facing the consequences of the humanitarian crisis. They were forced to leave their homes and fled from their homes. A year ago, Nagorno-Karabakh war and this forced displacement that caused were at the forefront of international tension. Today, as the new warring crises have erupted and unfolded, in the various parts of the world, this plight of the displaced people from Artsakh seems to be neglected. The Armenian government has accommodated the displaced persons in shared accommodations. Due to the current situation with the spread of COVID-19, the communal shelters are major health risks for already severely affected population. Mr.  Also, from the beginning of the pandemic, government took place to organize the return of some 40,000 of its Armenian nationals and our embassies and consulates have made an enormous efforts in facilitating these processes. In this area, we have extensively cooperated with our international partners, including IOM. Colleagues delivered access to life-saving primary healthcare services by providing 10,000 consultations to conflict-affected persons through the deployment of two multidisciplinary teams reaching 120 displacement locations all over the country. Referrals to higher level of healthcare and specialized services were provided to more than 3,000 beneficiaries. Furthermore, over 13,000 displaced people were provided with hygiene kits covering four regions of Armenia. Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I'd like to mention that the Armenian government has done utmost to support displaced and vulnerable populations in times of COVID-19. But in order to succeed in this complicated task, we also count on international solidarity and mutual support. I thank you for your attention. Thank you, sir. Next, also online is Venezuela. The floor is yours. La crisis del COVID-19 ha puesto de manifiesto las habilidades globales existentes para brindar asistencia y proteccionar los migrantes y sus comunidades de acogir. Venezuela cuenta con una amplia experiencia en elaboración y ejecución de políticas socioeconómicas en favor de los migrantes y sus comunidades de acogir. Como una de las prácticas más representativas del gobierno bolivariano en materia de políticas públicas para la migración, resaltamos la eficacia y la coherencia de tales políticas sociales cuyo objetivo es lograr la integración al migrante a la vida nacional. Se realiza distinción entre la condición o estatus migratorios. Los migrantes que se han realizado que han realizado que han realizado que realizan los migrantes en nuestra sociedad. En 2020, más de 300,000 co-nacionales han regresado a mi país huyendo de países receptores de la región latinoamericana y que se han realizado que han realizado que han realizado que han realizado que han realizado que han realizado que han realizado que han realizado que han realizado que han realizado que han realizado que han realizado que han realizado que han realizado que han realizado que han realizado que han realizado que han realizado It is important to note that the United States, in the context of the problem, work in an joint action that promotes and facilitates the voluntary return in safe conditions for the migrant population. That is why we want to make a call to these countries and receptors to allow that, through the national combiase airline, our migrants can return to the country in a safe, coordinated and regular way since in some countries, receptors do not guarantee access to health and to the relative care for COVID-19. Despite the positive measures imposed on my country, which are mandatory, the United Nations, the Bolivarian government has dealt with the solidarity of several countries that have sent more than 29 million doses of vaccines to meet the goal of the mission of José Gregorio Hernández to vaccinate 70% of the population that lives in the country for the 31st of October of the year. The number that includes the migrants and refugees that are sent to our country is no longer limited to some. Mr. Moerador, we would like to ask you a question, Mr. Diego Ventara. The information carried out by the OEM and by the R4B, the response for Venezuelan, on Venezuelan contains questionable data from the scientific and methodological point of view What causes a C? And because of this, there is little information in the description and in the language of Venezuelan friends. We would like to know what is the methodology that the OEM uses to verify the number of migrants that are in the intention of this organization followed by the numbers that give it to other states that we know well and as I said earlier, they are politically censored. Thank you very much. And we'll hear from all of our panelists as we close. We have Niger next and I think Colombia is the last afterwards, Niger. Thank you, Mr. Moderator. Nigerians have congratulated the panelists for the quality of their presentation. Since March 2020, the COVID-19 and the restrictions of movements that it has trained through the world continue to have an incidence of the mobility of migrants and the role of humanitarian organizations. The migrants who are the most affected by the consequences of COVID-19 may yet play an important role in the response to COVID-19 in terms of their skills and policies decided by the states and the residents. In this regard, Nigerians are not allowed to repeat the importance of the inclusion of migrants in the policy of preparation and response to COVID-19. As said so, the United Nations General Secretary is not allowed to repeat the importance of the inclusion of migrants. In this regard, Nigerians are called to the right of the other members of the international community to take a quick action in the face of the acquisition by the largest number of states, the capacity to produce vaccines, and the facilitation of access by the largest number possible to the population. This is the participation of the world-famous international partnership that we are all convened to in the 2030 development program, in order to leave no one on the train and to achieve the goals of fixed sustainable development. Thank you. Thank you very much. Colombia, as far as yours. Muchísimas gracias. Queremos agradecer a los panelistas por sus intervenciones. A pesar de los desproporcionados efectos de la pandemia del COVID-19 en nuestro país, y como ya lo mencionó el enviado especial del director general de la OIM, el gobierno del presidente Iván Duque dio un paso histórico con la adopción del Estatuto Temporal de Protección para Migrantes Venezolanos, el cual beneficiará a la totalidad de ciudadanos venezolanos con vocación de permanencia que se encontraban en Colombia a enero de 2021, es decir, 1.7 millones de personas. El Estatuto permitirá como primer pilar un mejor acceso al trabajo a los servicios del Estado y a todos los derechos políticos, económicos y sociales. En el primer pilar de acceso está la inclusión de los migrantes en los planes de vacunación contra el COVID-19, que desde un punto de vista ético y de derechos humanos debe incluir a los migrantes tanto regulares como irregulares. El Estatuto nos permitirá aumentar la población regularizada y por lo tanto facilitar la logística para su vacunación. El segundo pilar de nuestra política es la integración con equidad, la cual permitirá pasar de la fase de asistencia humanitaria a la estabilización de proyectos de vida en el mediano y largo plazo. Promovemos la empleabilidad de los migrantes mediante la convalidación de títulos, la capacitación para el trabajo, la inclusión financiera y las iniciativas de acompañamiento en sus emprendimientos. El Estatuto ha sido una prioridad del gobierno colombiano a tal punto que, luego de los avances en su implementación en el día de ayer, el propio presidente Duque hizo entrega del primer documento expedido en beneficio de un ciudadano venezolano en nuestro país. Ya hemos finalizado el registro biométrico de más de un millón de ciudadanos venezolanos, visibilizar a una comunidad vulnerable y golpeada por la crisis multidimensional de Venezuela, pero también por los efectos de la pandemia en nuestra economía, es la mejor política para incluirlos y para luchar contra la xenofobia y la discriminación. El apoyo de la comunidad internacional en la respuesta a la migración venezolana ha sido fundamental. Es una cooperación que es urgente por la dimensión del fenómeno y más en el contexto de la pandemia que ha impactado la salud y la economía de todos. Los planes regionales de respuesta, como también fue mencionado bajo liderazgo de la OEM y de la GNUR, son una herramienta central para asegurar coordinación y eficacia en esta cooperación. A nivel nacional, el grupo interagencial que se creó a partir del plan nos ha permitido coordinar la acción de más de 159 socios, organizaciones, cooperantes y donantes. Estos recursos se ejecutan a través de los propios donantes, los organismos internacionales y las organizaciones afines. En las conferencias de donantes realizadas, es necesario distinguir entre anuncios, desembolsos, donaciones y créditos. Por esto, a pesar del inmenso apoyo recibido, sigue siendo una crisis que tiene una respuesta limitada y subfinanciada. Buena parte de la asistencia depende de la capacidad fiscal de los países de acogida de las autoridades locales y de las comunidades de acogida. Para el año 2021, únicamente un 50% de los recursos inicialmente solicitados por Colombia han sido comprometidos. Reiteramos por tanto la necesidad de movilizar mayor atención y apoyo a la comunidad internacional para atender esta crisis que permanece. Nuestra pregunta para los panelistas es cómo asegurar en el contexto de la pandemia del COVID-19 que aún no finaliza una cooperación internacional, una financiación innovadora y predecible para atender a los enormes desafíos que enfrentamos en el proceso de acoger a los flujos migratorios mixtos provenientes de Venezuela. Muchas gracias. Thank you. We will now go to our panelists to very briefly give a few last words and address any questions we will put towards them. Let's go to Special Envoy Diego Beltran. Diego, floor is yours. Muchísimas gracias. Jeff, muchas gracias a los a quienes han hecho intervenciones y preguntas y particularmente en mi caso a las delegaciones de Ecuador, Colombia y Venezuela. A todos agradezco sus comentarios y quisiera dirigirme a enfocarme en responder a las dos preguntas que se han hecho a la honorable emisión de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela mencionar que las estadísticas que desde la plataforma interagencial Alforbi se publican son efectivamente combinaciones y análisis de las estadísticas oficiales de los países receptores que naturalmente no solo reciben ciudadanos venezolanos o venezolanas sino también de otras nacionalidades y recientemente ha habido incrementos en la recepción de migrantes extracontinentales y otras nacionalidades interregionales. De tal manera que para todos los efectos tomamos estas estadísticas de manera confiable y hacemos nuestros propios análisis que incluyen estimaciones y mecanismos complementarios de proyección excluyendo poblaciones retornadas. Por ejemplo, como mencionó el delegado de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela y no todos los países registran incrementos sino que algunos registran algún decrecimiento de tal manera que se trata de actualizar permanentemente esta información. Para no, digamos, establecer una respuesta muy técnica. Sí mencionaría que dentro de estas estadísticas hay un grupo de trabajo tanto del ALNUR, del OEM Técnico de Oficiales de Gestión de la Información que están a disposición de la honorable misión permanentemente de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela y todas las otras gobiernos receptores para poder conversar sobre las metodologías técnicas de combinación, análisis y presentación de las estadísticas sobre migrantes flujos mixtos de población venezolana. En ese sentido estamos completamente a disposición. Respecto a la pregunta realizada por la honorable misión de Colombia y quisiera de alguna manera ya esa referencia anteriormente a los esfuerzos que se han venido haciendo con tres conferencias de donantes. La primera organizada por la Unión Europea más en solidaridad y luego otras dos con compromisos financieros, compromisos financieros que se van haciendo efectivos y apoyan a complementar los esfuerzos de los gobiernos receptores, la formación de grupos amigos, en definitiva la mejor utilización y coordinación con la cooperación internacional y los gobiernos receptores asegurada un flujo más sostenible. En ese sentido lo que hacemos es animar a continuar con los procesos de conferencias de donantes y poder desarrollar de esta manera un seguimiento efectivo al cumplimiento de esos compromisos financieros. Finalmente quisiera terminar diciendo que ante esta situación inesperada de pandemia de la que nadie estaba preparado es una gran oportunidad para un mayor diálogo entre los gobiernos como se ha venido haciendo buena medida para aplicar la agenda 2030, los pactos globales y encontrar más vías de migración segura, regular y ordenada. Por último, el combate a la xenofobia y el apoyo a los grupos vulnerables son elementos esenciales de la respuesta específicamente a estos flujos listos pero naturalmente en cualquier región y en cualquier situación en el mundo. Muchísimas gracias. The Villanueve situation in which the person in displacement go through regular crisis and each additional crisis or stress about that it's very difficult for them to hold resources and support is not there. So, coming back, what was stress, always advocating for them to be considered the planning phases as people who should be benefiting for any support as for the whole community. The question of the resources one of the critical one and through the experience went through with the United Nations I am and serve funding, I will be advocating for more flexible funding where can I have contributing missions but also multilateral bilateral donors to meet and come with a very flexible funding mechanism where we can quickly have access to some programs development money but that is the emergency. So more flexible. Funding instruments will be very much of time. That's all can be one plus the first responder in the country organized to tackle the challenge. Thank you very much. It's very well heard. I'm say that going to your last words please. Thank you very much. It was really a very interesting for me again to understand the problems needs are almost the same. But the context are very different. So it was a good opportunity for me to listen the from the countries who has the large has the large population of migrants. Thank you very much for organizing this for my last words. I think as humanitarian actors actors we need to develop long term scenarios. We are not bad in short term planning concerning with the covid but we still do not do not have concrete plans scenarios for the long term. There are some efforts in humanitarian aid sector. But I see there are more efforts in other sectors private sector especially so we need to engage the efforts for long term planning especially the evidence based forecasting for the what the new normal is. We are all expecting to go back to our normals but we all know that the new normal will be very different. If the covid ends it will end one day but the new normal will not be the same as we already examined before the covid. Especially the socio-economic impact of the covid shows us that the definitions that we made already for the livelihood socio-economic empowerment will obviously change. Entrepreneurship is important. Employability is important to intervene the impacts of this crisis. But it's a fact that the job market is shrinking and entrepreneurship the success of entrepreneurship has not been identified yet not enough to create new jobs to sustain the livelihoods of the vulnerable. So we have to work together and share knowledge as best practices more concrete way and to spread this knowledge to all countries that have the same problems and same whole of us have the same needs. And also for the funding we need to retain new forms of funding. One important thing is flexible funding is really important covid shows us this also project fundings are much more flexible so we have to create new flexible funding opportunities. And we believe that engaging private sectors and creating new resources will be very important for the future interventions. I want to thank you all of you very much. It was really a good opportunity for me to listen your experiences and your interventions. It was really fruitful. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Secretary Moussin, final word is yours. Thank you. Thank you very much. You know for organizing this kind of very important discussion or the winner. I just want to mention a few words that our government provided enough mass PPs to the people to stop spreading the COVID-19, including the forcefully displaced man my nationals. And monitoring teams work during the public situation to ensure social distancing and even the health roles. Especially the frontline fighters doctors and nurses and volunteers are facilitated with some financial and other briefcase in order to motivate them. And then the government more toward the views was live and livelihood. This was the model we must emphasize to save the life as well as to continue the to continue the livelihood. And one information for you. I think many of you surprised that during cyclone upon you know. We have you are quoted 2.4 million people to the shelters. You know during the upon maintaining social distancing and health roles and the state in the shelters today's. And the volunteers send the food and relief to the door steps to the distance people when they call the national hotline. And again I am to mention the government has to put a continuous effort. In the, in the regards of the men my nationals, they are staying in our country. And I need to mention that the government keeps supporting the forcefully displaced man my nationals people but I would like to get the attention of global community for their reputation and reputation is only one goal. And Bangladesh has been compassionate to the ruin gas people from day one. I hope the level of nations will keep supporting us to the more helpful. So with these few words, I have to conclude my remarks. Thank you, Jeffrey. Thank you, sir. If I was going to summarize I'd say that three things, what are the three biggest lessons learned me to incorporate planning based on these lessons learned based on inclusion of refugees and displaced populations, and making sure that we have equitable accessibility to PPP PPE as well as vaccines associated with COVID. This, those have been overarching things. I'd like to thank the panel for joining us today for such a fruitful court discussion crisis response involves a lot of hands on problems so it's always interesting to get experienced people around the table to share lessons learned and give us fresh ideas for moving forward. This is especially important during times like COVID-19 when there are so many uncertainties and things change considerably at a moment's notice. The goal here wasn't just to share information but rather to gain deeper understanding and insights into on the ground realities to help us come up with more effective ways to support migrants and IDPs live a life of dignity. I hope you've gotten as much out of the discussion as I have. And I'd like to say a big thank you again to the panelists and to all the participants who took the time to join us here today. Thank you. Thank you all and we are resuming tomorrow at 10am for those in person here in the very same room for those online through Zoom as today. Thank you all. Thank you and see you tomorrow.


Well, hello again. My name is Guy Page. I'm the host of Vermont State House Headliners. This is our second show. They say that anytime you get asked back after the first show, it's a good thing. Well, we're glad we're back. Really appreciate the good work being done by Zach Zorn and everyone else at Onion River Community Media. Our show today, like last week's, will deal with new legislation introduced into the Vermont legislature. You can find this for yourselves at the legislature's website. It's www.legislature.vermont.gov. So new bills include transforming prisons into mental health clinics, letting transgender students self-identify in our public and independent schools, make election day a school holiday, decriminalize a narcotic drug, one in particular, tax and regulate retail marijuana, ban eminent domain for natural gas pipeline location, letting the governor appoint the National Guard Adjutant General, and training hotel and restaurant staff to spot human trafficking. Now we'll take it by topic. The first one, education. H185 would give transgender students access to gender segregated school programs, activities, and facilities consistent with the individual's gender identity. Chief sponsor of this is Representative Brian Cena from Burlington. As it says in the language in the bill, a student enrolled in a Vermont public or independent school that I believe would include all religious schools, independent schools, shall be permitted to participate in gender segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions and use facilities consistent with the individual's gender identity irrespective of the gender listed on the student's records. Gender identity means, as an individual's actual or perceived gender identity, regardless of the individual's assigned sex at birth. Also, school teachers and other staff shall address students by the name and pronoun, corresponding to their gender identity. I haven't looked deeply into this bill. A couple of things do stand out at me. The first is that it would not only be public schools, but private and religious schools, some of whom, I can see that that would be a difficult transition for them. Also, it does say participating in gender segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions. So you would have a situation, it seems to me, where someone who was a male at birth, but who now identifies as a girl, could and would compete on the girls' sports teams. I believe there was, I don't know if it was in Vermont or some other state, there was a, the winner of a state track award was a transgender student fitting that description. So there's that question that would have to be answered, I think, by a lot of them honors. And also the whole use of facilities, locker rooms, bathrooms, just how would that work? So anyway, H185, that's out there. Another education bill, H170, would require community service as a high school graduation requirement by the year 2526. A lot of colleges have required community service. They believe it creates good citizenship, promotes new life experiences. I believe that's where this legislator, representative Jim Maslund from Orange County, that's where he is going with this. H164 would make election day. That's usually the first Tuesday in November. Makes election day a public school holiday. And I'm really not sure why they would want to have a public school holiday, except that a lot of elections are held in schools. And perhaps the sense is that it would be, it sometimes creates traffic problems and other potential problems having a large influx of adults coming in and out of the school on election day. Anyway, that's a possibility. Another education issue, of course, it's got to be the last piece of paper. All right, so that's enough for education for now. Our second topic is health care. Topic number two, health care. First one, H195 would require restaurants to serve healthy kids' meals and establish legislative sugary drinks working group, in other words, sort of a group saying, OK, what are we going to do with all these sugary drinks? What can we do to perhaps make Vermont a healthier place regarding the high-sugar drinks that are so accessible? Also would appropriate some money for bicycling and pedestrian initiatives. Sponsors for this bill include Francis Topper McFawn from Berrytown. H183 would prohibit involuntary sterilization of individuals with intellectual disability but permit a voluntary decision. Vermont, as you may know, in 1931 passed a law that encouraged sterilization of people who were deemed perhaps not worthy of having children, became something of a black mark, the eugenics movement in Vermont. Just last year, the University of Vermont removed the name of a former longtime college president, Guy Bailey, from the Bailey-Howe Library because he was a purported supporter of this eugenics movement. And so I think this is maybe an effort to kind of roll back on some of Vermont's history regarding involuntary sterilization. H174 would set a limit on prescription of opioids and create a private right of lawsuit for excessive prescriptions. Sponsor of this bill is Representative Cynthia Browning from Arlington. And the point of this would be to reduce as much as possible the overprescription and overuse of opioids, much of which is credited for our opioid abuse epidemic. There are also a ton of very complicated bills aimed at reducing health care spending. And they're hard to follow and even hard to communicate. And I would encourage you to go to the website or check out some of the excellent journalism done on this subject. But it is not a subject for this show right now, as important as it is. And finally, I must say, I hesitate to even put this under the heading of health care. But it is in the Human Services Committee. The H57, the Unrestricted Abortion Bill, Wednesday night there was a public hearing of the Human Services and the Judiciary Committee about this bill.  I'd say two-thirds to three-quarters were opponents of unrestricted abortion, which, by the way, is also a pretty accurate reflection of the state in general in terms of opposing unrestricted, that is abortion throughout all nine months, third trimester of viable fetuses. So about 700 people, opponents turned out. A lot of testimony. Overflow rooms downstairs. The well of the house that was filled upstairs. There were about 200 people left hanging out in the lobby, just because they had no place to sit. And they were listening to the coverage on VPR's live streaming. So a lot of them left thinking, all right, what's next? What's the legislature going to do now that we've showed up and said, we really don't want this? We don't like the idea of aborting viable, healthy, third trimester fetuses. Thursday morning after the hearing, the House Human Services Committee met to make a decision. And the chairman, Ann Pugh, asked Topper McFawn from Berry Town, asked him for a motion to make a motion about the bill. And he told me on Friday, he said, yeah, I'll make a motion. I vote that we kill the bill. The motion failed because most of the members in that committee are supporters of age 57. However, the committee did strike language that was found objectionable about denying any individual rights to a fetus. It clarified that partial birth abortion is illegal under federal law. But it's necessary to point out that they only made these decisions after it was made clear that these changes do nothing to restrict unlimited abortion up to the moment of pregnancy. Really, what we have now in Vermont is a legal situation of passive acceptance of unrestricted abortion. That's what the court decisions have brought to us in Vermont. Now, this bill would be our citizen legislature intentionally enacting unrestricted abortion. And those are two very different things for most voters' point of view. In this bill, we could choose to restrict third term abortions. The Roe v. Wade gives us that option. We could allow parental notification, if that's what Vermonters wanted. So the real difference with this bill is passive acceptance of how things are and intentional enactment. And many people see those as two very different things. So on to the third page. Third page, drugs and crime. H182 recommends a study, taxpayer-funded study, to transition our corrections system, our prison system, into a mental health rehabilitation clinic system. This is sponsored by Representative Brian Cena and others. I believe the idea behind this is that people who break the law would be better off with treatment of the mental health and drug issues that they are facing rather than mere incarceration. So H182, that is in the corrections and institutions committee. Human trafficking has made it into a bill in Vermont. H161, sponsored by Linda Joy Sullivan of Dorset, would require hotels and restaurants to train employees to identify and report suspected human trafficking. So our restaurant workers, our waitresses and waiters, our front desk clerks, all manners of workers in our hospitality industry would be trained to be alert to human trafficking. And with the idea that they would then also be reporting this and police would be able to follow up on it, for those of you who watched the State of the Union speech, one of the points that President Trump made about the security on the border that I think no one really disagrees with is that in addition to people coming to work here and drugs crossing the border, there's also a significant amount of human trafficking for the sex trade and other illegal purposes. So this would be an attempt to deal with that. H162 would remove buprenorphine, I hope I said that right, from the misdemeanor crime of possession of a narcotic. So this would downgrade from a misdemeanor one particular narcotic. I believe that narcotic has a good treatment purpose to it. It reduces some of the cravings, I believe, of some of the other drugs. So the idea is to reduce it. Now in the context of the other bills that are happening in the legislature, one could see this as a movement towards overall decriminalization. For example, there's another bill in the House that would turn from a felony to a misdemeanor possession of LSD, heroin, and cocaine. So if someone is caught with a relatively small amount of heroin, LSD, or cocaine, that would not be a felony. That would be under this proposed new law, would be a misdemeanor. And many of the people who are coming forward and arguing for this bill have in the recent past also argued for total decriminalization of these hard drugs. So it's a real question, is this a slippery slope? Is this where they're going to Vermont being basically every drug legal society? It's a question that I think needs to be asked, and I don't know the answer to, but needs to be asked. H196 would tax and regulate the cultivation and retail sale of marijuana. This is opening marijuana stores, storefronts, coming to a street corner near you, a marijuana store. The things about this bill, this House bill, and for that matter, the Senate bill, there's a companion bill in the Senate, the state has estimated that the tax on this marijuana would need to be at least 26% to just pay for the setup costs and the education and prevention costs of legalizing marijuana. No one at all is any more talking about getting new revenue for the state aid to education or for our roads or whatever. That's totally out the table. The only hope is that they can get enough money to just pay for setting up the system and a decent education and prevention program for our youth. And I do want to say that the two leaders of the state's Marijuana Commission, including one individual who is definitely pro-legalization, they both said at a forum last week, I heard them say that legalization will impact Vermont youth. This will mean more exposure and more access by Vermont youth. One of the co-chairs, Tom Little of Burlington, went so far as to say, if what you really care about is protecting Vermont youth from this, then you really need to tell your legislators to oppose H-196, the retail sale of marijuana. If, on the other hand, you have a more libertarian, it's my right to smoke it, then you're probably going to be for it. So another bill in the House Judiciary Committee under the title of drugs and crime, H-159 would require a 72-hour waiting period for all firearms sales. Representative Martin LaLonde of South Burlington is the lead sponsor for that. So that is a, one might say, a gun control or gun restrictions legislation out there. And the final one under drugs and crime, and this would limit judges forfeiting the assets of people convicted of crimes as part of a plea bargain. And if there is a forfeiture of assets, then all those proceeds would go in the general fund. See, what's happening right now is if someone's caught, I don't know, a drug dealer, their house, their car, their assets can be, because they are presumed to be sort of ill-gotten gains, can be forfeited and the money often goes to the police, or the property itself goes to the police. This would limit the ability for that to happen. And when it does happen, the money would go right into the state's general fund, not to the law enforcement people. That's how I read this bill. It's H-151. So that's for drugs and crime. Our fourth page, just interesting fourth page, interesting miscellaneous other issues. The first one, H-175 is yet another effort to reduce carbon in Vermont's home heating and electricity. It would prohibit utilities from using eminent domain for fossil fuel infrastructure. Now, what that means is if a gas company wants to lay a gas pipeline, what they try to do is they go to each landowner and say, hey, we'll offer you some good money for this. The landowner says, sure, I'll take it. Or they say, forget it. I don't like your pipeline. I don't want a pipeline. In which case, the gas company is entitled to use what's called eminent domain, which is to basically say it's in the public interest for everyone to have this natural gas. And for a agreed upon fair price, we will be using your land to lay our pipeline. This happens for roads and bridges and other sort of public infrastructure. This law would say, no, you can't do that. That this use of eminent domain to lay a pipeline? No, you can't. And I can tell you that that will essentially mean virtually no more natural gas pipelines, which is the no more new natural gas pipelines in Vermont, which is really the intent of the bill as you read it. It's very much all about control and carbon. Some of the critics of this bill raise this question. And that is, if you don't allow natural gas, which is a fossil fuel, but is the cleanest of all of the fossil fuels, what will Vermonters do? Many Vermonters will do what they did before, which is heat with oil, which is higher in carbon, or they will continue to burn their wood stove, which is higher in carbon, or they will run their electric space heater, which also, depending on how much carbon-powered fuel we use to make that electricity, is also a carbon generator and is also very expensive. Really, all three of those are generally more expensive than natural gas. So you have a situation where Vermonters, if you got rid of this eminent domain for more pipelines, natural gas pipelines, Vermonters would be paying more for dirtier fuel. And some of them would anyway. Others, no doubt, would be using new pellet stoves, would be using passive solar heat, heat pumps. There is cleaner technology out there. It is, however, more expensive. And depending on how cold it is, perhaps doesn't deliver quite the high efficient heat that, say, natural gas or a fossil fuel would. So that's just something to think about. That's H175. Also, our Vermont National Guard, all proud of the guard, they will be electing, well, the legislature will be electing a new adjutant general leader of the National Guard on February 21st. There is a bill which won't take effect by February 21st, but could affect future namings of adjutant generals. H192 would allow the governor, not the legislature, to elect or really appoint the National Guard adjutant general. So the time-honored tradition of legislators choosing our adjutant general, no, that would be over. It would then be up to the governor. This bill also would make military retirement pay tax exempt for Vermont state purposes. Now I can tell you that right now in the state house there's a lot of legislators and a lot of several candidates for the adjutant general milling around the building, sitting in the cafeteria, having conversations. And one of the issues is the F-15, the siting of the F-15, no, I'm sorry, the F-35, siting the F-35, the new jet at the Air Guard in South Burlington, because there are candidates who are strongly against it and there are candidates who are for it. So whoever's elected as adjutant general, one can imagine, might have some bearing on that, even though that decision is purportedly, is made by the Pentagon. It's really not a Vermont decision. Well, I have two minutes left. So I'll just quickly go over H-190. H-190 says, you know what? There are fewer hunters, fishers, and trappers than there ever have been. And there's more birdwatchers than there ever have been. So maybe we ought to study how the management of state wildlife programs happens to better serve the people who are watching birds instead of shooting deer. Paraphrasing, but that's basically it. That's H-190. H-171, we know we need billions of dollars to clean up Lake Champlain. There is a suggestion here to pay for it with fees on all real estate, all rental properties, and on milk and asphalt production. That's representative George Till from Underhill. H-165, this might hit you where you live. This would increase texting while driving penalty. So do you text while drive or use your electronic device while you drive? Well, if this bill passes, $500 fine, and five points on your license. So no laughing matter. Stop texting is the point. Representative Brian Smith from the Northeast Kingdom is the lead sponsor. Of interest to Barry residents, local bill, local representative H-158, Representative Tommy Walts is proposing to set standards for care of domestic pets and banning euthanasia by gas at animal shelters. It would only be by, I guess, injection is the preferred way, but apparently gas is still legal. And this would be, no, that wouldn't be happening anymore. Plenty of other interesting bills. I recommend you go to the legislature's website or contact, go to Vermont Daily Chronicle. Google that, and you'll see all my stories there. And meantime, this is Guy Page, Vermont Statehouse Headliners. You can email me at pagecommunications4vt at gmail.com. Thank you very much.


You need a financial advisor with the freedom to focus on your specific needs. Whatever your goals, Reid Potter can create a game plan tailored to you. Call Reid at 432-0777 at Pikeville, Kentucky to learn more. Beginning February 15th, Kentucky fire season will be in effect. Residents will only be able to burn natural materials between the hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. until April 30th. Pikeville Fire Department is offering general information as well as some tips to ensure everyone's safety at this time. You got to stay with it and that way if something were to get out of control you can go ahead and call and then the fire department or forestry will come out and assess the situation and see what needs to be done. But you always need to stay with the pile of brush that you are burning. Can't burn within 150 feet of the wooded area has to be on natural products like brush, tree limb stuff like that. Can't be anything man-made like 2x4s or paper products could be cardboard or anything. Can't burn any of that stuff, just natural products. Due to high winds in the area over the next few days a burn ban may be issued by local fire departments. For any questions, Allen recommends contacting said fire departments for more information. It's a possibility that the ambers could be picked up and travel a couple hundred feet. You would think it would go out but sometimes it's not and it could actually land back into a pile of brush or other foliage that still there is piled up. Just check your weather conditions because it may be that it's going to be really windy. It could be rainy and if you can't burn anything in the rain of course. But just check your weather conditions and check with your local fire departments to see if there is a burn ban that's in effect. That's been established by either the governor or the division of forestry. Reporting from Mountain Top News, I'm Nick Collum.


Hey everybody my name is Jamie with Smoke Cartel and today we're talking about my bud face. So right now at Smoke Cartel we carry two products from my bud face the rose in white and pink. I have the white which I love very very much and there's some really cool things about it. First of all just aesthetically it's eye catching. All of these products none of them look like anything you've really seen before so I love that. They come with these little roses which can help in just the discretion and also for like clearing this puppy out here. So two uses on this they come with this really like sweet personal card in this like fancy golden paper. So you just feel like you're getting something really nice. The material that it's made out of uh you can't see through it so you know when like your glassbongs get really like dirty and the water's like mucky and like little gross bits in there um with my bud face you don't have to deal with looking at that. So that's one of definitely my favorite things about it. Cute little ribbon on the side it just it feels feminine it feels pretty it feels like something a lady would have and that's what I like so much about it. Some things about the functionality with this particular piece the rose the mouth piece it feels like it was like made for my mouth the size of it the way that my lips fit in the way that it all just kind of works out. It's nice to use it feels comfortable it doesn't feel like something that is overwhelming or something that's not going to get the job done it's like a really nice size um and those are some of the things that I like so much about my bud face