 Thank you so much Julie for that and indeed it's great to go ahead and get started here with our opening ceremony of this 2023 Global Protection Forum. Good afternoon, good morning, colleagues all around the world, thank you so much for joining us. This indeed is one of our annual moments where we through virtual means come together as a protection community. Welcome to all to what we hope will be a very lively discussion today and set the tone for the next two weeks of dynamic discussions. Fantastic, really to see so many participants from all over the world joining us online. We are absolutely thrilled, the registration numbers this year at the forum have reached I think over 4,000 people with 50% of those registered joining from Sub-Saharan Africa and around 10% from Latin America and the Caribbean. I mean this shows our registrations have become more diverse than ever both geographically by type of organization and indeed a strong sign that the forum is designed for and with colleagues and practitioners on protection from around the world. Thank you to the organizers and thank you of course to everyone who's taking the time for your busy schedules to attend these events with us today. We open this year's forum with the theme and the theme this year is in the hour of need. Our overall aim is to reflect on protection clusters and actors and their role protecting communities affected by crises and our particular view this year is to what we're calling the hour of need. Through proactive and preventive means, how can we be there in the hour of need for crisis affected populations? Through efforts of protection actors to prevent harm, mitigate further protection risks and responsive actions taken amidst violence and civilian harm. Today and in the two weeks to follow, we hope to unpack emerging challenges and share promising practices that respond to these risks and needs experienced by diverse populations and once again with the view to the hour of their need. Over the past year, we as the Global Protection Cluster and all our partners have felt this increasing urgency of this topic and indeed these challenges notably with scaled up emergencies in Sudan, in Haiti and the DRC, not to mention current issues in the Middle East, worsening situations in Ukraine, Honduras and Burkina Faso and indeed high levels of protracted needs in places like Yemen or Syria or Afghanistan or the list goes on. So we'll be hearing from colleagues from many of those contexts both today from Sudan and Yemen and during the sessions to follow in the two weeks where we'll be joined by many more speakers working across active protection cluster operations. But first, we are particularly delighted to welcome our keynote speaker, Mr. Volker Turk, who is the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, to offer us some key reflections at the opening of this forum. High Commissioner, a warm, warm welcome to you. The theme, as we just said, this year's Global Protection Forum focuses on the hour of need. Each day, protection actors around the world employ a range of protection approaches and interventions aimed at preventing and responding to violence, conflict, disasters and violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. And yet there is this growing recognition that we need to do more, to do better and to do everything possible to protect people in their hour of need. And of course, we're reflecting on what we may feel to be since the situation where we could have done much more, whether it be Rwanda, Srebrenica, Sri Lanka or the like. High Commissioner, how do you see the role of protection actors and the prospects for us to avoid repeating past failures when we could have done more and better been there in the hour of need? High Commissioner. Well, thank you very much. First of all, thanks to all the colleagues, to you, Sam, for inviting me to your whatever you call it, the Global Protection Cluster Forum. I obviously, as you know, I was very much and closely associated with the work of the protection cluster in my past lives. And I'm very pleased to be back here as High Commissioner for Human Rights. And especially as we look at so many crises around the world with the latest one added on in the Middle East and in Gaza and in the West Bank in Israel and potentially, hopefully not, we spill over elsewhere in the region, it's clear that protection has to play an incredibly important role. And what I can offer you in terms of observations is precisely that we constantly need to learn from, and I think this is not just for us in the protection community, but also for the international community more broadly, is what is it that makes the early warning signals not hurt and not acted upon? Because I think many crises that we see, well, we have seen the early warning signals, we have seen the warnings and we have seen what actually prompted then the type of conflicts and protection crisis that we see. But what I often miss is still the inability by the international community to come together and actually to address it head on and to give it the political priority that one needs. The human rights area comes in, both in terms of early warning, but also in terms of response by putting the spotlight on a lot of this, all of the, in fact, all of the situations that you're working on by the fact that you actually have these countries listed in the often in the human rights council debates, but also in the, when there are special materials or commissions of inquiry and fact-finding missions. And while we often say that multilateral systems don't have teeth, in the human rights framework, we do have some little teeth, not maybe enough, but they can still be effective because if there is a discussion in the council on a country situation, including when it comes to protection humanitarian issues, you probably saw my recent report on Myanmar, which actually analyzed not just the human rights situation, but also the humanitarian response, which was woefully inadequate. It did trigger precisely that link that is so important between the protection work in humanitarian settings and then the human rights work. And as you know, in crisis situations, it's both international humanitarian law that is applicable, but also international human rights law that sometimes gets forgotten. That's probably, you have heard about article 36, the general comment of the human rights committee, especially on the letter, but there is also an ICJ judgment on this that makes this absolutely clear. So as a result, we can use more the human rights frameworks in conjunction with IHL, not only as a early warning indicator, but also in the response in terms of creating precisely the protection space that you need, where a lot of our colleagues are not able to say things publicly, that the human rights machinery can do it and needs to do it, to create that space that you need on the ground. So that, and that's really the different roles that we all have, that from a human rights perspective, we put the spotlight and the accountability on violations, but also offering solutions while protecting you, if you like, from too much exposure on that front that could otherwise be very problematic for many of our colleagues who are working, especially at the ground level. And so there is a very important complementarity of roles that comes in very usefully. So as a result, I mean, my office is also very much participating in the context of the IASC, but also of course on the protection front and there is a strong alliance to be made, especially in these extremely troubled times. Voila Sen. Thank you, High Commissioner, for that. Indeed, I think that's many of the issues that we want to dig down deep throughout these following two weeks is how those early warning triggers have translated into action. What more, we can look at from the response being shaped from the top, both in the political dimensions, but also the humanitarian and of course, all of our colleagues who are on the ground fighting the good fight in the trenches each day. Indeed, we are glad to see the progress that protection is clearly recognized as the essence of humanitarian action today. A lot of our colleagues on the ground are every day engaged with communities affected by conflict, displacement, disasters. And what we also spend a lot of attention on our leadership, in terms of what more leadership can do on the issue of protection. May I ask you, what do you think we need more in terms of protection leadership and advocacy to ensure that the rights of affected people are upheld? First, I think we need to learn again from the past. As you know, after Sri Lanka, there was, there's a very famous report that came out, the Charles Petri report, which then gave birth to a very important initiative the human rights upfront within the UN. Then in Myanmar, we had the Gert Rosenthal report on what had happened, what didn't happen in Myanmar. Again, with a lot of recommendations often validating what Charles Petri had put forward, the secretary general put forward this call to action for human rights. And it is absolutely clear that protection responsibilities, but also human rights, which for me, of course is human rights, are part and parcel of each and everyone's role, albeit that this is often performed in different ways. But it is clear that as in the leadership, both in the humanitarian, but also more broadly within UN country teams, it's critical that we think of what the UN can do in terms of its protection abilities, human rights abilities, but also what it can realistically not do in any particular context. Because sometimes in our discussions, we may think that we can do more and as a result give a certain level of comfort to people themselves that could potentially backfire, which is why this focus on do not harm and at the same time do good is so important because we know that in some instances, some of our activities, if they are not done according to our own principles and history and lessons learned from the past, we can inadvertently contribute to more harm. And that's obviously very, very key. It's also important because of all these experiences that you probably saw in the common agenda of the SG, this agenda for protection that he wants to put forward and he has asked my office to lead on it, going beyond what is happening in the humanitarian area, then you have, of course, you have in peace operations, special political missions, the protection of civilians mandates, but also to look more into the development side of things. So that there is indeed a broader notion of protection within the house as the UN, the institution as such, and that we see it as part of UN functions that whatever we do, it is to protect people, especially obviously the ones who are at most at risk. And that is a function for the UN as a whole, be it in its configuration as development actors, be it in its configuration as humanitarian actors, be it in its configuration as peace or political actors, that that protection imperative is guiding the UN as a whole. So it's, if you like, looking at what you are doing in the humanitarian area, protection cluster and so forth, writ large for the system as a whole. And that's going to be quite an exciting process. I hope that we will be able to launch with the Secretary General this agenda for protection before the end of this year, before we go into these discussions on the summit of the future. And quite frankly, just looking at the situation that the world faces now and that civilians face now in particular in Gaza and in the West Bank, I mean, the protection imperative becomes even more important, not least because of the geopolitics, because the one guide that we have is the law, is IHL, is international rights law. And we need to be very clear about the obligations and the accountability around it when it comes to its violations. Indeed, may I ask just and follow up that to that in terms of making the common agenda, something that really operationally translates into practice on the ground. We've, you mentioned, of course, being realistic about what we can achieve and what we can't achieve. There's also the intersecting of different mandates, but in the end, it is all about both ensuring that, obviously, as in a broader framework, protection in human rights is behind all of our work. And then you see the manifestations of the failures of the violations, the needs and the risks on the ground by humanitarian actors. How do we reconcile that together as a common agenda, but also bearing in mind what's realistic, what our various expertise and mandates are and how we can be brought together to ensure that we do better and we do more than we have in the past? I mean, I think it's going to be very important in whatever we do to make sure that the expertise that you have within the protection community is one that is compellingly shared within the leaderships of human country teams, be they humanitarian or even within the broader UN country team frameworks. And that analysis, I mean, sometimes I look at what is happening within classes, I think we have improved a lot these analytical capabilities. We have also, as a result, been able to influence much more common country assessments, even UN SDG cooperation frameworks, but the analysis alone is not going to be enough. So I think we need to constantly push ourselves. Are there different tools that we have at our disposal that would make the case? And for me, from my current vantage point, it's also clear that the human rights machinery that some, including in the humanitarian sphere, often shy away from because it seems sensitive and controversial is one area that enlarges your toolbox. And it doesn't mean that you would be at the forefront of it or be at the brunt of the reactions, but it would give you the opportunity to at least know which type of situations would need to be flagged at the various mechanics that we have in the human rights area and then can be very useful in terms of making sure that the advocacy comes together in relation to different country situations. So it's really marrying or making sure that all the colleagues are aware of the human rights dimension of the mechanics of it and use it to the fullest, including, by the way, when it comes to some of the accountability mechanisms that we have. While bearing in mind that this is often very sensitive, there are security risks. I'm fully aware and conscious of it, but there are ways and means of doing it that can still achieve these objectives and actually and very much help you in your own work. So it's really how to bring in the human rights dimension so much more into the humanitarian work as well. And I think there's a lot of commitment to that and indeed that's what the next two weeks are about is enlarging that toolbox of potential responses and impact as well. If you'll allow me one last question for you for our opening ceremony today, which is up to you. Do you have a message to all those that are working in protection clusters and humanitarian emergencies around the world on this particular theme, but any message you might have to all those that are working in clusters around the world? Look, we are, I mean, you've probably seen some of my public statements of late. We are obviously heading towards a world where the divisions may become much bigger, where geopolitics may play out even more, where polarizations will become even more pronounced. And it is very clear to me that we in the UN and that includes all of us and not siloed into humanitarian development, peace security or human rights. All of us in the UN will be particularly challenged. We may even become in some instances scapegoats and we have seen this also in the past. At the same time, it is absolutely clear that international cooperation multilateralism, the type of institutions that we have will even become more important than ever before because that's the only way to resolve issues that are transpoundary and that are international in character. And human rights plays a fundamental glue that is at its core. And there will be a lot of cynicism about it because I've already heard it. We have the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but I would ask all of us to be particularly mindful of how much the fact that we have a legal framework that is binding on states, also non-state parties that are engaged in conflict and warfare, how much it is important that this legal framework is in place and that we apply it in each and every situation without distinction. And to bring forward, because we see it also in the unequal attention that is being paid sometimes by the international community to different crises around the world that we bring forward this, there is no hierarchy when it comes to human life and protection of civilians. And we need to be very careful that that doesn't become a collateral damage of what's happening currently in the Middle East because there is different reporting about the plight of civilians and we need to be absolutely clear that when it comes to civilians and the promise of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was that each and every one of us is equal in dignity and rights. And that's an incredibly powerful tool to have, especially in this year of the 75th anniversary of the declaration. So again, it's going back to basics and applying them to put forward this unifying vision that we have as the UN when it comes to the charter and the human rights framework that we have in place. Powerful words and powerful message, well received. Volker Turk High Commissioner for Human Rights, thank you so much for joining us. It's been a privilege having you to hear these important messages. It will indeed set the tone, resonates with our colleagues. I know that are around the world in cluster setting. So thank you so much for this and we hope you'll be available to join any discussions in the next two weeks. Well, thank you very much and I want to thank you all for your incredible work that you're doing every day and for being as creative as you can be in the current circumstances and wish you all the very best. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Bye. Colleagues, we've heard the call to be creative, to be powerful. And with that, it's my pleasure to introduce our panel for today where we're joined by some dear, dear colleagues who are indeed putting this interaction on a day-to-day basis. Our panelists today are Sisa Kun Watanasab, the Protection Cluster Coordinator in Sudan, Fatima Sharifadine, the Women's Protection Area of Responsibility Co-Coordinator with the Yemen Women's Union, and Gemma Davies, Senior Research Fellow at the Overseas Development Institute. Very, very pleased to have you on this panel discussion for us today in the opening ceremony. Let's start with Sisa Kun, if we could. The decision-making around this year's forum theme was really spurred on by the events that have unfolded in Sudan. Six months into the crisis, the situation continues to deteriorate rapidly and we see the severity of the protection impacts on the civilian population as a result of ongoing violence, discovery of mass graves, airstrikes on markets, other civilian infrastructure, and other serious crimes being documented. The urgency of this response is clear. Our question for you, Sisa Kun, is what would be the consequences of inaction in Sudan? And how can we uphold our collective responsibility as a protection community to be there in the hour of extreme needs for the affected population? Thank you very much, Sam, and thank you for the opportunity to be joining for this panel. You see that with no end in sight to these current fighting, already more than 9,000 people have been killed and over 12,000 people injured. And you will see that at least five million now has been displaced from their home. With more than one million are basically seeking safety and refuge in neighboring countries. These are the hundreds of thousands of people. The cause of inaction is very much from the protection community is unthinkable. But if we're going to unpack further these numbers, what does it really mean concretely that happening in Sudan? Basically, civilians are being targeted and killed and injured. And with extensive damage of the vital infrastructure, include water, health care, power facilities, more than half of the health services are non-functional. These incriminate attacks on civilians and the press structure have also led to the widespread of looting of homes, belongings and humanitarian facilities, as well as the structures of important documentation and so forth. Women and girls are exposed to the high rates of the conflict related to sexual violence. As a consequence of this conflict, half a population is already acutely food insecure with more than six million on the blink of the famines. Currently, the food supplies are very much skyrocketed and economic activities are very much disrupted. This also means that there's no ways that people can meet the basic needs. At the end, the people resources to the increase in negative coping mechanisms. At the household level, as a protection actors, we have seen an increase of the intimate partner violence. Children are exposed to increasing risks and association with the criminal gangs and recruitment. This is the very much widespread trauma related issue and psychosocial distress that we have seen in Sudan. You know, these are the some of the key consequences of inaction of Sudan. The cause of inaction for us is again, unthinkable. But despite the underfunding of this operation, to be very honest, protection partners, we are very much trying in terms of operational challenge that we have on ground. We are very much trying to really overcome the bureaucratic impediments, lack of access and high level of insecurity and protection actors are very much striving to find ways to operate their programs and be present in this era of need. You know, when it's come to real things that the real programs that the protection actors trying in the hour of need, a few protection actors have tried to manage to assist to relocate the most vulnerable family, which has a chronic illness. A family member from Khatum, which is very much for Washington to a safer states in the East of the country. In that for example, protection actor provide protective accompaniment to the families who are in need to go to the hospital where their journey required passing through meteorite zones, for example. Protection actor has been very much engaged in conducting protection monitoring and reporting on the violation and protection needs on the ground. Collectively, we are very working to provide support to communities who are the first live responder and strengthening existing community-based protection structure. And despite all of the several gaps that we have because of the limited funding, the service delivery we are trying our base to mobilize and to provide a child protection GBB and mental health and specialized services. The need and risk are very, very clear in Sudan. And protection actor we have tried collectively as a responsibility of our to keep our monitoring of these violations ongoing and strive to provide an evidence-based advocacy. And we are trying to strive to provide the needed protection services and assistance in these hour of needs. At least this is what I can tell for as a protection sector for the Sudan. Thank you so much, Sisakon. Indeed, this notion of the hour of need is so obvious, I think for all of us in Sudan as is the costs and consequences of inaction which you portrayed and we commend you on really trying to find that space, find the ways to impact the protection environment as well as assist people in creative ways as even indeed the High Commissioner was speaking of. We need to turn the corner on these and indeed strengthen those further. And with that, I'm gonna talk now to Fatima, if I could, who's also in a very challenging context of work. After eight years of hostilities, we know Yemen remains a complex protection crisis we bear witness to serious violations of IHL, widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure and displacement, the impacts on millions of civilians and particularly as you address every day, women and girls facing disproportionate protection risks across all spheres of life, realities of domestic violence, emotional abuse, widespread denial of services. So in Yemen, as in many other contexts, protection is often perceived as sensitive. However, you and colleagues there have longstanding relationships with communities and significant networks and relationships that can be mobilized to support those that are the most vulnerable. So Fatima, if I could address this question to you, how can we further support community level and national partners to address protection issues in such sensitive contexts? Thank you, Son. Yeah, actually in Yemen, that Yemen is like a country ravaged by conflict where the cycle of violence and gender-based oppression has taken a savior toll on its people, particularly women and girls also. So to effectively support community living and national partners in Yemen, we must first understand the unique challenges that they face within this sensitive context. Yemeni's culture norms, our dynamics and the ongoing conflict have created an environment where protection issues are deeply ingrained. Therefore, our strategy must be tailored to address these challenges and promote sustainable change. For example, in Yemen, we develop a new strategy for GBB for South and North that consider the culture context and the dynamic. We also start to change some terminology that consider the culture context for North area. We also develop like separate SOPs for North and South that consider also the culture context. Also building a strong partnership with local organization, community leaders and civil society group is essential. This partner have valuable knowledge of Yemeni context and have earned the trust of community they serve. So currently, for example, we still continue building collaboration with authorities like Ministry of Social Affairs, Labor, Ministry of Human Rights, Women National Committee. And by this collaboration, we improve our coordination with all authorities. So capacity building is another vital aspect of our support. We must invest in the skills and knowledge of community level and national partners, sure, including women with organization, support them with the resource mobilization, and also localization. For example, we can support them with some program like training programs and protection principle, survivor center approach, conflict management, human rights, this will empower them to be the response to the needs of the survivor. So supporting women with organization in their advocacy efforts to address protection issues in Yemen. Actually, empowering women and girls must be at the front of our efforts. By supporting initiatives that promote their meaningful participation, leadership, we can increase their voices and ensure their rights are protected. Also advocating for policy change and legal reforms that address protection issues in Yemen. For example, we can support and advocate with other sectors like WASH, FSL to engage women with organization in their intervention. We also need to make sure that there are women voices during the humanitarian program cycle. Also education, economy empowerment, save a space are essential also to enhance their resilience and agency. So another point which is like community awareness is also crucial. We must conduct targeted awareness campaign to educate community about protection issues, rights, available services and utilizing culturally suitable communication challenges such as community gatherings, religious institutions and local media. We can disseminate information effectively. For example, we start to do this for the community that promote and suppress the culture community. For example, by organizing some events, activities that showcase different culture traditions and perspective like Women International Day, the 60 Days Campaign. And this is really support the context in Yemen. So also supporting community level and national partners, including GOMELID organization requires long term commitment to ensure sustained support and funding to enable them to continue their crucial work. Another example which is like, for example, establishing strong monitoring and evaluation mechanism to major the impact and the effectiveness of protection intervention and ensure that the voices and perspective of women and marginalized group are included in this process. So for example, we usually, the women committee commits are formed to monitor protection activities and the impact on the field. And also in the last in brief, we must remind flexible and adaptable in our approach. You know that the Yemeni context is dynamic and ever changing. So by reviewing and adopting our strategy from time to time, based on our emerging challenges, we can continue and provide effective support to our partner in the ground. This is my end. Thank you. Thank you Fatima indeed, that you've made such a complex context seems so clear in terms of adopting flexible and adaptable approaches and really finding that space where community level and as well as national partners, women led organizations can really achieve protection in tremendously complex and restrictive environments. Thank you for that Fatima. Gemma, I turn to you now. As we've just heard, many humanitarian protection are factors are not proactively addressing threats to civilians in conflict with limited focus on preventing and reducing risks of violence. There's a growing recognition of the need to shift approaches to humanitarian protection. Some interesting practices on civilian engagement strategies, community engagement with armed actors, locally driven protection efforts on the front lines. These are many of the approaches that are being looked into today. Gemma, if I can ask you what opportunities do you see within the sector to make this shift? What are the challenges in doing so? And do we need more evidence in learning that this is the way to go? Thanks, Sam, and thanks so much to you and colleagues for inviting me to participate in the opening ceremony this year. As we know, and as you and others in the panel today have pointed out, given the multiplicity of crises and the high levels of often targeted violence against civilians in crisis, urgent efforts are needed to prevent and address the causes of conflict. And humanitarian and protection actors, as well as those that support them, need to recognise the efforts to reduce violence if is preventative protection and the interrupting violence during hostilities is not only possible, it should be the aim of humanitarian protection actors across all crises and conflicts. To be more effective on approaches to reducing violence, humanitarian actors should learn from the experience of others. And we heard earlier the High Commissioner on Human Rights speak to the need for complementarity with human rights actors. And equally, there's a need for complementarity and learning from experiences of peace-building actors, for example. In our research today, it's including in both the Central Africa Republic and South Sudan, there is some limited evidence of complementarity between protection and peace actors. But there are also entry points. One thing we know is that peace-building actors undertake micro-analysis of community and conflict dynamics and they build their support to communities based on that. Traditionally, humanitarian organisations understanding of conflict dynamics at local to national levels is patchy at best while support to communities continue to be dominated by standardised pre-designed approaches. And there are opportunities too for humanitarian and peace actors to work jointly on conflict analysis, conflict-sensitive approaches and understanding community dynamics. But humanitarian protection initiatives should not seek to replace the role of peace actors, but to also complement their expertise by collaborating more closely together. To effectively support communities requires humanitarians consider their presence and proximity to communities. It requires long-term sustained support and, importantly, building trust, demonstrating non-bias and demonstrating credibility with communities to build towards that. And as Fatima just pointed out, it requires flexibility. It requires the ability to adapt. It also requires a willingness to have setbacks and even to fail. And to do this takes patience, it takes perseverance and it takes a willingness to take risks. But systematic challenges remain towards achieving that. There are ongoing concerns around neutrality, tensions between international principles and frameworks with local norms and customs and the risk aversion of the humanitarian sector and those that support it. But importantly, as I said a bit before, the standardised top-down approaches to programme design based on short-term funding cycles and rigid logical framework-based design with predetermined results are severe impediments to flexible adaptive approaches, which are so critical when seeking to reduce violence. So ultimately, there needs to be recognition that approaches to interrupt, prevent and reduce violence, including through advocacy, negotiation, dialogue is a process, it's not a project. And when we talk about evidence and learning, there's growing appetite to do things differently and to seek evidence of lessons learned and good practice. And while there is a lot of interesting practice and evolving approaches to reducing violence, much of which we've heard of today and we'll hear about over the next two weeks, many of these practices remain undocumented, under-researched and there's a lack of pulled learning. So there's a real need to work in that space to build that learning and learn from one another. And lastly, while there's growing momentum towards to proactive protection is welcome and urgently needed. We've got to also remain cautious about what is considered proactive protection. Ultimately, proactive protection should encompass activities that directly contribute to reducing, preventing or interrupting violence. And we need to consider how every action we take contributes towards reducing violence and use the full set of tools available to work towards that. Thanks very much. Thank you so much, Gemma. Sisa Kun, I'd like to come back to you and reflect a little bit on what Gemma has just talked about here. She's said a few things which are, I think are really pertinent in your context, which is, and also thinking, recalling on what the High Commissioner was speaking of, what can we realistically do? Humanitarian protection can't replace peace, but it can collaborate with it. And of course, there's need, which we heard from Fatima as well as Gemma, on the need for flexible and adaptive programming, not standardized, not top down, not replicating what's happened in others, but really responding to, and as Gemma's pointed out, proactive measures. And we're talking about really reducing violence, preventing it, interrupting it and the like. With that in mind, Sisa Kun, if I could ask you in Sudan, what's next? How do we put this in place in Sudan? How do we ensure collective responsibility, accountability? How do we ensure an adequate focus through adaptive and flexible means to address what is clearly the hour of need in Sudan? Thank you very much, Shant. And thank you to the other panelists. I think I'd be able to get more of the insights from the other operations. And as Gemma has rightly said, we need to really think of something along the line of protection response to be proactive, to interrupting the violence and also redressing the violence. So from the protection sector point of view, I think we really need to work first to professionalize the committee-based structure that we work with for them to be professional, to equip them with the needed expertise. So basically when it's come to hour of need, we need to make sure that the committee has the know-how. And basically we need to really work with the committee to unpack what could be a compromise that we can help them when it's come to protection concern that the committee knows very well and they know the nature and they know the stakeholders. So I think that that would be the ongoing, basically intervention for the protection sector for next year of course. And I picked from Gemma in terms of looking at the other mechanisms. And I think for Sudan, the mechanism that we have, we have the human right mechanisms, we have OSCHR and we have the other UN agency mechanism when it's come to a little bit of political nature. I think we have to look up how we work together to address certain protection of surveillance issue in Sudan. We cannot work in silo, but we have to work together and find the entry points and complementary to each other. And of course, one of the things that I think we need to really work together and I take the words of the high commissioner on human rights, we need to be creative. And also at the same time, think of outside of the box. But we're never going to be able to reach all of those people if our response continues to be primarily focused on response. So this idea of preventing violence and interrupting violence is such an important part of our protection strategy. Often people when we hear people talk about prevention, often we go towards this of preventing the conflict completely from occurring in the first place and of course that would be the aim. But we also know and we've heard about some of these examples now today of how it's possible to prevent incidences of violence or to interrupt those cycles of violence even within a conflict that we as the humanitarian community ourselves can't completely put a stop to. We heard those examples from Yemen and Fatima about the community-led action and we know that civilians take action all the time to protect themselves. Sometimes that action requires support and that's certainly a role that we can be playing to step in and support civilians to take the actions that are going to keep themselves safe. And we heard about examples in Sudan as we couldn't thank you for talking about those examples of accompaniment and the protection by presence and the need to be present, particularly so that we can also tell the story and so that we are able to tell what is happening in these communities and help to try to put a stop to that happening. We know that this proactive protection and this interruption of violence is an area that's difficult. And we've seen that, right? In all the context we talked about today, Sudan, Yemen, the unfolding situation in Gaza, we know it's difficult, but we also know that it's necessary and it's really important for us to start stepping outside of our comfort zone as a humanitarian community to not just looking at response, but looking at what can we do in this hour of need to help people keep themselves safe while others around us are doing the hard work to try to bring the conflict to an end. We have two weeks of really exciting conversations lined up on a range of these topics and the sort of running theme that you'll hear throughout these two weeks is around what can we do to be creative, to think outside the box, to find those ways of trying to interrupt violence or be proactive in trying to prevent incidences of violence within conflict. Please join us for as many of those as you can. Be inspired by the stories you'll hear of what people have been trialling. Some have been more successful than others, but all of those are really important experiences and learning for us as we try to make that shift towards more proactive protection. Be challenged. Be challenged by thinking about, are we doing enough in our own protection work to make that shift, to do more and more proactive work, more and more focus on interrupting violence within a conflict or within a humanitarian context and think about the ways that we might be able to change the way that we work as individuals and the ways we might be able to shift our organisations to work. And then be part of this conversation. So these sessions are designed to be not just sharing information from colleagues, but also to encourage you to have a conversation and to be a part of helping us to shape what the future of protection is going to look like. And with that, I just want to say thank you very much to everyone who's joined us for this opening session, and we really look forward to seeing many of you and many of your colleagues joining us for their conversations to come. Thanks again to everyone who joined us to speak today. And with that, we bring the opening to our climbs.