 Good morning. Good afternoon and good evening everyone. Good afternoon. This is Melissa Fleming. I'm the moderator and if all is well, I'd like to begin and to open the meeting. I may proceed. Great. So I would really like to welcome you all to this side event of the Economic and Social Council's Humanitarian Affairs segment on mental health and psychosocial support for displaced and migrant populations during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. My name is Melissa Fleming and I'm the Undersecretary General for Global Communication, and it is really a pleasure to join you today alongside such a distinguished panel. It need hardly be said that we meet today during unprecedented times, a period when COVID-19, the terrible pandemic that has affected us all, it has deeply and especially affected the well-being of people who are vulnerable, physically, socially or psychologically. Feelings of isolation for all of us, disorientation, fear and depression have become all too common. This of course is especially true for migrants and the forcibly displaced. They are disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Many, as you know, are already living in overcrowded housing. They're living in camps or worse in detention centers and of course very far from their families and their loved ones. At a time when unemployment has soared around the world, many families who still depend on them, many have families somewhere who still depend on them for financial support are unable to receive that support at all. And many, far too many, lack even the basic access to healthcare. Given these complex challenges and in conjunction with two recently published policy briefs from the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the first one COVID-19 and the need for action on mental health and the second one COVID-19 people on the move. Today's discussion will highlight the importance of including mental health and psychosocial support in both our response to the COVID-19 pandemic and of course to our humanitarian efforts to help migrants and displace people worldwide. So today's discussion will have two main themes. The first segment will encompass mental health and psychosocial support in humanitarian action and the COVID-19 response. The second section will focus on the needs of migrants and forcibly displaced population. I welcome the group of esteemed speakers that have joined us today. You should be able to see their names on the screens, but I will introduce them in more detail as the event progresses. And please be reminded that due to the virtual format that I think hopefully we've all become accustomed to and adapt with unfortunately though this event will have to be conducted without interpretation. Please mute your microphones and deactivate your video cameras because there are so many of you. I hear that there are as many as 700 people tuned in. Really great to have you all here. So just to keep us all really well connected and the audio strong, could you please all deactivate your video cameras unless you are asked to take the floor. And then there will be questions and answers to this is a dynamic format that have been pre selected based on the ones that you have proposed when you registered. We will pose these questions to our panelists after their segments and at the end of the overall discussion. So without further ado, let's begin. And we will start with a video of members of the Rohingya refugee community living and struggling in Cox's Bazaar Bangladesh. Since the day we are here, we have finished our learning and who are younger than me, they have nothing to do. I mean, no school, no Arabic school, they have finished everything. They have lost everything. We have lost everything even on our house. That's why we are in so tensions. I talk about others and think about Myanmar. So if I would be Myanmar, I would have finished my college, university, etc. My younger sister can have finished a school at least. I think so. But I think we will get one day. We feel in a city, a stressful. We feel very feared. We always fear coronavirus because of the effect that anywhere in the camp, in the community, in the host community, all over the world. That's why we fear about the coronavirus. I mean, it's a crowd of people here. It's so near the houses. If anyone gets coronavirus, what will become of us? Because coronavirus is transmitted. So if it's transmitted to others, it will be transmitted to others. It will be going like this. We can't stay anywhere. We can't go anywhere. That's why I feel very sad. So sometimes our brain will be crushed because there is no place in place. It will be dangerous. If you go out, please don't go. It's your time to study. It's your time to sleep. It's your time to discuss your mom how to prevent this kind of problem. Daily practice, daily work, daily exercise, also wearing masks, wearing gloves, wearing gloves, also hand washing for relieving stress from stress. They can write, they can read, they can watch the TV, they can watch mobile. But in our camps, internet restrictions. I think myself, as we are not educated person here in our camp, we are suffering such kind of things because we have no talent, special talents to explore. So that we can do where we can go, where we expect. We can do, we can touch our destination with our full power. But that's why I recommend them to learn knowledge, knowledge, education as far as they can. We thank the International Organization for Migration for this film that was made together with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Having been to this camp and visited the many, almost a million traumatized refugees there, I can only imagine. The distress they must be going through knowing that the coronavirus is circulating and is endangering their lives. We've also seen how incredibly industrious and responsible they are. And of course the amazing response by both IOM and UNHCR. So I would not to talk about this further. I'd like to welcome Mark Moudoul Alam from UNHCR and Dimitro Nercison from IOM. They co-chair the interagency's MHPSS Working Group and Cox's Bazaar. We look forward to hearing more about the work that is being undertaken to protect the refugees there. Thank you. The gentleman on the floor is yours. Thank you, Melissa. Dear listeners, in Cox's Bazaar, there are 860,000 Rohingya refugees living in camps. They flee from discrimination and violence in Myanmar. We in Bangladesh also face natural disaster, like the cyclone landslide and flood, which affected everyone, including refugees. The refugees also have an uncertain future, alive in the overcrowded camps, and it is very difficult to live in. We estimated that 15,000 adult refugees suffer from severe mental health conditions and 190,000 experienced psychological distress. Also, we need to ensure that children and adolescents are supported. So as you can understand, there is a great need for mental health and psychological support services. Currently 61, 61 organizations including UN agencies, INGOs, local organizations and government provide services for mental health and psychological support. Some work in health, others in protection, nutrition, site management, GBB and other sectors. Because mental health and psychological support is done in so many different sectors, and by so many agencies, there is very important to have good coordination and collaboration. At present, UNCR and IOM are leading the MSPS Interagency Technical Working Group, working closely with all agencies that provide services. We organize the meeting in Coxweger level and also CAM level. Our key areas of work are harmonized practices, development of context-specific tools, emergency preparedness, and work on emerging areas such as suicide prevention, substance abuse. Currently, there is one effective to support the 3 million people living in Coxweger, and there is no mental health inpatient care. 150 psychologists are working with humanitarian agencies. This number of professionals are not enough. The working group organizes capacity-building activities for non-specialists like the staff in health, nutrition and protection. And most importantly, Rohingya and local volunteers are trained to conduct the community psychosocial activities, work to as a lay counselor. Now I will hand over to my colleague Dimitro from IOM. Dear listeners, in the last period, essential services have been significantly impacted by the risks and control measures related to the COVID-19, including restrictions on movements, gatherings, and physical interactions. Let's think about what has helped us to cope with the new challenging circumstances during the last period. But the people in camps do not have access to the same means. Many do not have access to mobile or internet communication. They are far from their loved ones. They don't have the possibility to isolate themselves at home or to follow hygiene measures and physical distancing. As they live in the tiny overcrowded shelters, they did not have the option to secure the food stock before the lockdown. They did not receive the financial stimulus from a government. Their daily income was below the minimum even before the crisis. And now they lost even that. Additionally, the pandemic has brought a lot of barriers to deliver essential mental health and psychosocial support services. But despite that, the members of MHPSS technical working group that Mahmoud mentioned worked together to adapt to the new environment. We adapted our approaches to disseminate key messages on how to cope with distress caused by the COVID-19 using the bicycles, tom-tom radio and video. We developed tele-counseling services and hotlines in Bangla and Rohingya languages. We established clinical supervision and social support networks for the frontline workers. For those people who have been diagnosed with COVID-19, we provided mental health and psychosocial support services including in isolation and quarantine facilities. And for those family members who have lost their loved ones because of the COVID-19, our staff provided emotional support and accompanied them during the grieving process. As a MHPSS community, we have consolidated innovations and best practices that were developed during the last period and enriched our professional community so we can better assist those people who live in the camps and other situations. But still much more needs to be done. Thank you. Thank you, Mark Markoodle and Dmitro for your insights on the fraught reality of life in Cox's Buster Bazaar and also for all that that you're doing to help protect and prevent COVID-19 from becoming another disaster. We will now discuss coordination efforts on a global scale through the work of the Interagency Standing Committee reference group on mental health and psychosocial support in emergency settings. Since 2008, the group has been a widely recognized example of humanitarian agencies working together through a collaborative result. Our next speaker, Sarah Harrison co-chairs the global reference group on behalf of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Society. She will talk to us about the ways in which mental health practitioners are responding globally to the pandemic. Sarah, over to you. Thank you very much, Melissa. Thank you. So as Melissa just mentioned the Interagency Standing Committee, the group for mental health and psychosocial support has 57 different member agencies and membership is by an agency rather than by an individual. And those 57 agencies are a broad spectrum from some large national NGOs operating in humanitarian context, international NGOs, as well as UN agencies, United Nations agencies, and the International Red Cross Recrecent Movement are there as standing And the group since 2017 has been co-chaired by the International Federation of Red Cross Recrecent Societies and the World Health Organization as well. And the group has got quite a specific but also a broad mandate in the fact that we focus on emergency settings, but all types of emergency settings. So that includes public health emergencies, such as this COVID-19 pandemic, but also natural disasters, refugee settings, as well as traditional kind of conflict settings. So we sit under what's called the Interagency Standing Committee Secretariat that is housed out of New York and Geneva. But importantly, we support the work of global level clusters, particularly in humanitarian context where they're activated. So in this emergency, many ongoing existing emergencies in countries, conflict or natural disaster based, those emergencies are still happening and we have consistently been supporting them. And now they are also trying to respond to the public health emergency of COVID. So at the global level we've had to juggle, as has the clusters, the kind of double emergencies existing maintaining humanitarian services in ongoing context, such as Cox's Bazaar you've just heard from in Bangladesh, but also responding to COVID. And in this emergency, we've also, in my role, I have come across and supported countries that I have not traditionally had the opportunity to interact with because they too have been quite adversely affected by the pandemic. So for example, countries such as Spain and Italy and South Korea, for example, in addition to the more traditional humanitarian context. And that's mean that any guidance or documents that we produce need at a global level need to be applicable in all of those contexts. And that's quite a challenge to do. And paradoxically, in this emergency, it is a global pandemic. Every country has been affected to some degree or another. But the response is a hyper localized response, partly because of travel restrictions because of so-called lockdowns, but also because how the disease profile has manifested in the different countries and even within cities or within parts of a country. So what is possible in one context in one city or in one camp is not necessarily possible across the whole country or across the whole region. So it's quite challenging producing guidance and coordinating in such context. The advantage is that there has still been movement permitted, particularly within a certain context. So for example, within a refugee camp or within a camp for displaced persons, it is still possible for staff to move around if they are already living in the camp or for volunteers to move around. But it's much harder to get staff moved internationally, for example. Now coordination has taken place in three different modalities or three different strands in this emergency at the global level. The first one is in terms of coordination in the creation of guidance or tools or documents or key messages related to mental health and psychosocial support. And how that guidance is developed and then disseminated down to country level. And we're very fortunate in the fact that we have a very active group of members of the reference group at a global level, and there's a very collaborative effort to produce guidance. And the advantage of being able to use the logo of the Interagency Standing Committee is that guidance that goes out is very high level and it's endorsed and is applicable to the whole humanitarian system. The second part of coordination is coordination in terms of policy and advocacy. So ensuring that mental health and psychosocial support for the existing emergencies, but also in relation to COVID-19 remains high on the agenda with states and within the humanitarian system. For example, within the cluster system and is one of the key areas to receive funding when it comes to country level humanitarian response plans. And for the first time ever, we now have an indicator on mental health and psychosocial support in the Global Humanitarian Response Plan and WHO Health Health Organization is mandated to report on this indicator on a quarterly basis. And then the last area of coordination is in terms of we have a global level calls on a weekly basis, which we have done since February. When the outbreak first occurred in the Asia Pacific region. And these calls are for the member agencies and they actually represent a space for discussion and for mutual learning, but also mutual troubleshooting and dialogue on the production of guidelines, but also in terms of problem shooting. How is your agency addressing remote programming issue? For example, how are you supporting your volunteers who are on the front line of the response? So very practical problems that get discussed and that similarly we have monthly level calls with the country level groups similar to the one of Cox's Bazaar that Dimitri and Mahmoodal presented from. And those discussions again tend to be very how to very operational. How can we support refugees and migrants in the current situation? How can we ensure information is reaching them as well as reaching more traditional humanitarian aid agency staff as well? And on the screen, Natalia, if you can show the different products. So on the screen, I hope that you can all see there are this is just a snapshot. There are many others of some products that have been produced by the Inter-AC Downing Committee, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Group. You will see that there is a on the top left, there is a storybook that's called My Hero is You. It's probably our most popular publication ever. It's now available in 110 different languages, including Braille and different sign languages. And it's one of the top 20 most translated books ever in history and one of the quickest documents to have been translated. It's also been adapted for radio play versions in Gaza. There's puppet show versions of it happening in Iran as well, as well as animations being done with Stanford University and others. And then there is a document on addressing the mental health and psychosocial aspects of COVID-19, which is more of a technical document for programme planners. A basic psychosocial skills document directly for front level essential service workers like your shopkeepers, your policemen, your community health workers, your social workers, farmers, and then lastly an operational considerations document that is quite technical, very prescript, give guidance. And there's a particular chapter on there on the continuation of comprehensive mental health and psychosocial support care in humanitarian settings. It's particularly relevant for refugee and migration contexts. And I'll leave it there. Thank you. Thank you, Sarah. It's really refreshing to see how agencies are coming together in these crucial times like these to work both at the global level, as you described on guidelines, troubleshooting and publications. I was astonished to see that you have a book that is doing so incredibly well in 120 languages. I think we should all check that out and make sure it circulates further, but as well also hyper locally, as you described, because of the really different challenge in this new context of the pandemic. So we have a question for you, and you can see it on the screen. It comes from Eunice Mohammed, who is a child protection specialist in Iraq. And the question is, I think you addressed it a little bit, but maybe you can say a little bit more. How can we evaluate remote forms of mental health and psychosocial support? And how can we choose the best modality of remote support since there is so little evidence? Yeah, thank you very much for the question, Eunice. Most agencies have, in some degree or another, transformed to remote forms of programming. And in the majority of cases, that has meant some form of online program or distance support through a telephone. So for example, through the creation of helplines or hotlines, or for people that are undergoing more therapy and treatment is shifting that treatment to telephone consultation with a doctor, or having a psychotherapy consultation with a psychosocial worker or a psychologist. It is possible, even with helplines and hotlines, to send out, for example, a quick text message or a quick survey to the caller that's come in to ask them how useful was the call. Did it meet your needs, for example, as well as having a database to document the volume of calls that you receive? It's a very simple database. That's one way of doing the monitoring and evaluation for remote programming. But certainly, if you have staff already living within the migration, the migrant or refugee camps where you work, those staff are often still able to do shelter or home visits. So some form of face-to-face monitoring is still possible in certain contexts, providing their physical distancing is continuing. And then it still is possible to use your more traditional checklist or surveys or assessments to obtain information from the populations. It's much harder agreed to do your group activities and to monitor the effectiveness of them. There is a growing body of evidence, certainly for remote programming and forms of tele-counselling or remote support through Skype or through WhatsApp groups, for example. There's a lot of work that's been done in Lebanon on this and demonstrated effectiveness. So whilst the evidence is less in this area, it certainly does exist. And I think that that's probably been a positive change from COVID-19. It's actually been a catalyst for us to work out how to better do remote programming. In some contexts, we've always had to do remote programming because we've had difficulties with humanitarian access. So areas either because a bridge has fallen down, a natural disaster and we physically can't reach the location where that village is affected. How do we still do programming there or in conflict settings where humanitarian workers haven't had the access to the affected population? The challenge is how we actually do the more specialized services for the kind of five to ten percent of the population that require clinical services and clinical care. Because that inevitably happens face-to-face and there needs to be some form of a face-to-face assessment and treatment. And this tends to unfortunately be the most vulnerable groups who have also suffered from complex problems or complex levels of distress and need accompaniment. So for example, your survivors of gender-based violence or sexual violence in conflict, your survivors of torture. And their response is very holistic for that group anyway that's required and it's just become more complicated in COVID time. So that is definitely an area where we need to provide better support and do our programming better. Thank you, Sarah. Challenging times, but even you point to perhaps some ways that we can possibly serve more people in the future with learnings from this COVID time. So that's good to know and good luck with all of those challenges. And now we move our discussion from the particularities of providing and coordinating mental health and psychosocial support during the COVID-19 response to a focus on the specific special needs of migrants and forcibly displaced populations in the pandemic and beyond. So I would like to now introduce, and it's our great honor to have her Excellency, Dr. Ergogi Tessaya, Minister of Labor and Social Affairs of the Republic of Ethiopia with us today. The minister will elaborate on the mental health and psychosocial needs of migrants and the forcibly displaced using the example of her country which hosts economic migrants, internally displaced persons, refugees, and is now also dealing with the mass return of nationals due to the pandemic. How is Ethiopia responding to meet their mental health and psychosocial needs? Your Excellency, the floor is yours. Thank you, Madam Moderator. Colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, greetings to you all from Ethiopia. First of all, I just would like to thank the government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the International Organization for Migration for inviting me to join you today to speak on this very important topic. It's not that mental health and psychological dimensions of migration and displacement are complex, varied, and essential in the development and protection of healthy societies, and particularly in the context of COVID-19, where increased the level of psychological and social distress and services and migration flows are altered. Migrants, asylums, refugees, and internally displaced people disproportionately experience the impact of the pandemic. In this regard, I'm going to elaborate on mental health and psychological support, especially in the context of Ethiopia. It's known that migration is an important aspect of Ethiopia's social, political, and economic fabric. It is recalled that many Ethiopians have been internally displaced due to climate and conflict stressors. This is more than half a million economic migrants pursue chances at the better life in our country. Over 900,000 refugees and asylum seekers from the region and beyond, 670 in Ethiopia, millions of Ethiopians have migrated to the Middle East and other countries seeking for a better life. These all people keep close bonds with their motherland and some of them return each year. All of these circumstances have negative and positive psychological and social implications. Oftentimes, migrants experience abuse, loss, exploration, trafficking, and detention on their way from and to Ethiopia, which all have effects on their psychosis and conditioning. The Ethiopian National Mental Health Strategy for 2018 to 2025 highlights factors contributing to poor mental health outcomes. Those need to do attention to improve mental health services in the country. Also committed to the faculty mental health services as part of universal health coverage, we see constraints in doing so. A low number of mental health specialists, surprisingly enough, with approximately only 82 psychiatrists, are serving the entire country with the population of 100 million and plus. And low demand of such services due to lack of awareness in the population, all cause challenge to providing adequate care, risking to leave the most vulnerable behind. Despite these all challenge, our government systematically continues to implement the frameworks and institutional strategies to address the structural causes of migration challenge, ensure the protection and well-being of all migrants within our borders and provide mental health and psychosis support as well. One such example is when our parliament ratified the African Union Convention for Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced People in Africa. That's the Kampala Convention this past February. It is important to note that the special attention is paid in the Kampala Convention to gendered realities of internal displacement as the Convention advocates for psychosis support to be provided to survivors of gender-based violence. The COVID-19 pandemic has had an adverse effect on mental health and psychological well-being of Ethiopian migrants and refugee populations in Ethiopia. Therefore, health safety measures are essential that disrupt livelihoods, routines, and social support structure while also placing new stressors on parents, caregivers, and families, and so on. Our IDPs and refugees living in the camps are particularly at strength. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has had adverse effects on women and children who currently experience violence, other forms of gender-based violence, and child abuse. Therefore, we need to give you attention in saving the lives of women and children by reinforcing those and providing social support. We have already seen an influx of migrants' return is with approximately 70,000 and above persons returning home since the beginning of April. Many forced it to do so by the government of their host countries. We ensure the provision of services in quarantine centers for those returning migrants and place particular importance on mental health and psychological support since the psychological burden of quarantine built upon the stress of a return home that was not planned and is often involuntary. In order to address the needs of returners and all Ethiopians, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs are pleased to meet the stress to provide equitable employment services, safe working environment, and maintain a developmental welfare of our citizens. It seeks to strengthen livelihood perspectives for all, including those who migrate for their economic problems. We recognize the importance of promoting and protecting the mental health and social support of migrants in their migration pathways and sustainable returns. Looking forward, we will continue to advocate for a community-based approach to mental health and psychological support, which focus on inclusion of the most batteries and strengthen sectoral collaboration between MHP and death, community-hood opportunities, and other social sectors in order to meet communities' multifaceted needs and support communities' resilience to overcome adversity. In conclusion, for those, I mean, for all of the COVID-19 pandemic has created a unique challenge and implementation on mental health and psychological well-being. Times of crisis often also create opportunities of growth for individuals and communities alike. It is therefore my pleasure to begin the second segment of today's panel and to hear the perspectives of experiences and practitioners working with people of all migration backgrounds to provide their mental health and psychological well-being. Thank you, Madam. Thank you, Dr. Tess, for these incredibly valuable insights about the massive challenges in your country in addressing the mental health issues of refugees and migrants, including because of the pandemic, so many returnees. But also thank you for your generosity of your country and the humanity as you face the challenges yourself, all of your population of this pandemic. We now have Antonio Viterino, the Director General of the International Organization for Migration, and Nancy Barron, who is the Director of the Psychosocial Service and Training Institute in Cairo, who will now take the floor to discuss the specific mental health and psychosocial support needs of migrants. Dear Antonio, before you begin, I take the opportunity to thank IOM and the government of the Netherlands for conceiving and for organizing this event. IOM provides mental health and psychosocial support and emergency settings to migrant displaced and emergency affected populations in more than 70 countries. It's now my pleasure to turn the floor over to you, Antonio Viterino. Thank you so much, Melissa, and good morning and good afternoon to all of you. I start by joining you in thanking the government of the Netherlands and the minister card for having made possible this meeting. As we have already heard this afternoon, the pandemic has brought mental health and psychosocial well-being to the forefront of COVID-19 response and hopefully also to the forefront of COVID-19 recovery. In fact, a large part of the world's population is, and in some cases, sometimes they are for the first time experiencing uncertainty about the future. Loss and separation from their loved ones, economic hardship, prolonged isolation, a general sense of fear and anxiety, and is understanding how it feels to be considered by others as a threat and to be stigmatized. Well, in fact, all that we are living is what many migrants, displaced refugees, asylum seekers, mobile people, usually face in their everyday life. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that migrants and displaced people are less affected because they are more familiar with this kind of stress and how to cope with it. No, on the contrary, what I'm saying is that migrants and mobile populations, at times of pandemic, face increased threats to their mental health and psychosocial well-being as a result of the particularities of their condition and circumstances. And these threats are particularly acute when it comes to women, children, and children because migrants, particularly those in irregular situations, often do not have equitable access to healthcare and to social services. Migrants, both in regular and in irregular situations, often experience precarious housing and very precarious working conditions, or they rely on seasonal work that means that they have only sometimes access to services in a short period of time. They often do not enjoy equal rights and entitlements in the country in which they reside or are not fully aware of their rights and their entitlements. And one of the key issues to access to healthcare in general and to mental support is precisely language and cultural barriers when they seek services and reliable information, and they have often to face xenophobic, racist prejudices and disrespect double discrimination. These are stressors that are augmenting, as it has already been said, but for migrants in detention, or those who live in camps or camp-like settings. For the migrants, the end result of migrants who are stranded because of the closure of the borders, and most particularly to the migrants that have been victims of trafficking and live in conditions of servitude. While governments around the world are asking people to respect IGN measures, physical distancing of quarantine, many migrants are unable to comply because they don't have access to clean water. They have no other option than living in overcrowded spaces. And their very survival depends on physical context. Well, let's be sincere, this is not humane, and psychologically it has a heavy toll. Increased restriction of movements also, which are understandable because of the pandemic. But in fact, the border closures, the quarantines, the lockdown measures, and temporary suspension of assisted voluntary return of many migrants, and of the resettlement of refugees have exacerbated uncertainty and anxiety for those who are waiting to move. And those people seem to feel deprived of an expectation of a better life with the dramatic psychological consequences. The combined effects of these factors cannot fail to have a toll on migrants' psychosocial well-being, on their mental health, and of course can hamper that contribution to the next phase, which is the recovery phase. And yet, and this is very important to other lines, the current circumstances have driven just how much migrants contributed to our societies during the pandemic, during the lockdown, and how essential they are that will be for the recovery in the research sector, in the IT sector, in the health sector, because 40% of the health workers on the front line during the lockdowns were migrants, or from migrant origin in countries of destination. And in the delivery sector, in the retail sector, in the passport, in the own care, as well as in seasonal production, agricultural. It is therefore imperative that mental health and psychosocial support be inclusive of all migrants and displaced people in line with Agenda 2030 and with the Global Compact on Safe Orderly and Regular Migration. Well, Melissa, you have already mentioned the two documents that the Secretary of General has published, both on mental health and on people on the move. I think that our role as migrants advocates is to support member states in providing mental health services that do not exclude migrants that displaced populations, but that take into consideration their language and their cultural specificities. So it is so important to translate the remarks, the guidelines in different languages. And I think that parallel to supporting the migrants, it's necessary to support the professionals. Those who need to have the skills to do in the social sector, in the health sector, in the educational sector, face-based leaders, activists, community leaders to support the mental health of migrants and people on the move. That's what we and IOM, our staff, try to do in the 70 countries where we are present. So to conclude, I would say that it is through the continued dedication of migrants and host communities and of the practitioners who work along them that individual collective well-being will improve and that we will emerge from the crisis on a more resilient global community, better prepared to face the uncertainties that the future will inevitably bring into our lives. Thank you. Thank you, Antonia. We all hope that your message will come true and thanks also for highlighting the pandemic's dramatic impacts on migrants who are living in often such precarious and even inhumane conditions. But I think also your important message about how the pandemic has shown how the important role migrants are playing in the running of our essential services in our society. So we need to communicate that better and you have our support to do so. We will now hear from Dr. Nancy Barron, who is the director and founder of the Psycho-Social Services and Training Institute in Cairo, which is a program of Ter de Zones, who will share her experiences from an urban setting. The floor is yours, Dr. Barron. Madam Fleming, Excellencies, Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you to the organizers of this event, Mr. Heig and the Government of the Kingdom of Nethuin and IOM for inviting me to join this panel. As a representative of practitioners from across the world who offer mental health and psychosocial support services to migrant and displaced populations, 30 years ago as an experienced psychologist, I chose to make a career shift. At that time, mental health and psychosocial support, the focus of today's panel was almost unheard of in humanitarian work. The focus was only on providing services for survival. Over these 30 years, I, with many of my colleagues, have advocated for the importance of recognizing the effects of emergencies on mental health and the need for intervention. Today, I'm humbled to be with those who govern humanitarian care and listen as you explain to the world the necessity of including mental health care into our humanitarian support. Today, I was specifically asked to share an example of mental health and psychosocial support. 11 years ago, I came to Egypt. In Egypt, the government has kindly granted its displaced population the right to live here without worry of a forced return home and gives them access to national services like public education and health care. UNHCR, IOM, and other UN organizations, along with international and national NGOs, offer a range of supportive services dependent on donor funding. We have no camps in Egypt. The displaced population of about 260,000 registered refugees and a few million migrants from 60 different nationalities are settled into urban neighborhoods. Working with communities to find the means to offer mental health and psychosocial support to this displaced population, scattered across the metropolis of Cairo, with its population of 20 million people, was a challenge. In 2009, I founded the Psychosocial Services and Training Institute here in Cairo. We now provide care to about 9,000 beneficiaries each month as a program of care design. The PISTC program is a team of 200 people, 90% are refugees. They are from 10 nationalities and 32 languages are spoken. They live and work in urban neighborhoods alongside those they assist. Our team members are trained essential mental health and psychosocial support skills to enable them to assist the most vulnerable members of their communities alongside of their community leadership. We offer a range of services recognizing that every problem has social and psychological consequences, so requires holistic intervention. Our services include 24-7 helplines with immediate home-based emergency response, case management, home-based psychosocial support and counseling, mental health treatment for those with serious mental illness, as well as advocacy to access healthcare, support to access safe housing and basic needs, community-based information sharing sessions, and school-based youth initiatives. Our goal is to enable communities to help themselves as well as to support the most vulnerable to become self-reliant. Most recently, we've been challenged as to how to modify our services in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Now, when writing a proposal, donors often ask, what could possibly happen that would prevent your organization from carrying out its planned activities? Frankly, never did we think to consider a global health pandemic. At the beginning of the crisis, we educated our team members about how to protect themselves. We've had community-based information sessions and posted information across hundreds of multilingual social media sites. But the challenge was how to continue mental health and psychosocial support services to the population who actually needed us the most. Overnight, our team readjusted. We were forced to replace our usual home visits to people in distress where we looked into their eyes to offer support and empathy with telephone assessments, telephone counseling, and Zoom sessions. Though there's a time of inadequate resources and we can't solve all the problems, we do listen and care and encourage people to access the available services and try to find ways to help themselves. Situations of risk like suicide, acute mental disorders, and family violence continue to have dedicated district workers donning masks, gloves, and with disinfection in their back pocket going to someone's home to manage the crisis. New remote initiatives have unfolded, like the availability of tele-counseling and psychosocial support in multiple languages. Online Zoom support sessions, WhatsApp discussion groups about how to maintain mental health, and a Facebook page sharing advice about well-being and parenting. But I'd like to offer an example of PISTX COVID-19 psychosocial response, just one example. Some example of a refugee family that was referred to PISTX after the father was diagnosed with COVID-19 and placed into a hospital. The father was the family's breadwinner when he was hospitalized, his wife and children were left with no resources. A PISTX health advocate, who was a doctor, immediately called the family to ensure that they knew how to self-isolate. A psychosocial worker who was a refugee from the same community and trained to provide psychosocial support became the case manager. She called the mother and listened as she cried and explained the problem and her fears. The psychosocial worker contacted the father and he shared that he felt terrified and believed that he would die alone. He worried about the community's stigma towards his family due to his illness and about how would they survive without him. The psychosocial worker made a plan with the family about how they could cope. She organized payments for the upcoming month's rent and with the father's permission she contacted a community organization who embraced the family and offered support and food. Throughout the father's hospitalization, the psychosocial worker organized regular calls between the father and his family to give him support. She may daily calls to support the mother and children and to the father to encourage him not to lose hope. Now this refugee family has a happy ending. So one month later the father's improved and he returned home. This integrated approach which connected psychosocial support as an essential service with healthcare and the provision of basic daily needs. Now mental health support organizations like TISDIC are available all over the world and offer lifelines of care for people affected by today's crisis. Over the past few months there's been a joining of global experience. The experience of refugees and migrants is no longer unimaginable to us. We now all understand something about the psychological and social consequences that come from losing control over our life choices and being required for our own protection to live in a new context in order to be safe. My hope today is that positive lessons are learned through the pandemic as well as through today's world surge for equality. And that the global understanding promoted by the leaders on today's panel and through the United Nations Secretary General will lead all nations to open their minds and hearts and build bridges that actually provide safe homes with equal opportunity for all. Thank you. Thank you very much Dr. Baron for your important insights and particularly about the bridge building examples of how you're providing assistance in a huge urban setting. And also thanks for that powerful story that really does illustrate how an integrated approach to mental health support can lead to a happy end. So these are lifelines of support as you so aptly put it. Thank you Dr. Baron. We now have a question for Antonio Viterino and it comes from Abdel Mad Kameel who is the al-Mashesh for Peace and Development Organization in Sudan. And the question is what is the existing guidance to provide mental health and psychosocial support specifically to different types of migrants. Well, that is a very tough question because we have violence. We have manuals that we prepare that we distribute. But they are above all a sort of full kids that provide the practitioners with the best practices and some ideas. But in real terms each case is a case. You need to take into consideration the past history of the person in need. How they arrived to the country of destination, what was the hardship they went through, especially in cases of people that have been trafficked, abused, exploited. So in our view there is no solution one fits all. This is above all an issue of dealing with human beings. And that's why I'm so impressed and congratulate Zamaalik for a statement. I'm so impressed that in this kind of support that requires a total direct experience, face to face, eyes to eyes and creating empathy between the person in need and the practitioners. She has managed to create an environment that overcome those direct contacts that are absolutely needed for the practitioner to understand the drama behind the person in need and how it can help that person. So I have no magic solution. I'm afraid what we have is a toolkit that we use very much according to each case. Thank you. Thank you very much, Antonio. And may I just remind participants because I'm hearing some typing in from somebody's computer to please mute all except for whoever is speaking at the moment. Thank you very much. We now shift our focus to populations who are forcibly displaced. And we do so first through a global perspective and so it's my pleasure to invite Filippo Grande, the UN, I commissioner for rest of your refugees to speak to us. Filippo, the floor is yours. Thanks, Melissa. Can you hear me? Yes. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. And I also want to join previous speakers in thanking both the Netherlands. I think Minister Kage is online and IOM through DG Antonio Vittorino for putting together this very important meeting and very timely. I'm the head of an organization dealing with people that are, as has already been mentioned, are very often suffering from deep trauma and therefore issues of mental health resonate very strongly with us. And we should own, we should really be very happy that finally, finally, an issue that we have been dealing with for very long becomes now much more mainstream, which is one good side effect, I hope, of this particular event. A lot has been said already, including, well, by Antonio, by Antonio on, and a lot of what he mentioned about migrants and other displaced people applies, of course, clearly also to refugees. But I want to zoom in more particularly perhaps on the people of concern to my organization, refugees, displaced people that are fleeing mostly conflict, discrimination. I've read, and I think it may have been mentioned, but in any case I've read that WHO estimates that issues of mental health are tripled, problems of mental health triple in situation of conflict or around situations of conflict. I think this really should be food for thought for all of us. But specifically when you talk about refugees, there is trauma causing mental stress, both at the place of origin where people come from and as also Antonio mentioned about migrants after people leave their homes and become displaced or on the move. At the place of origin for refugees, just think of torture and abuse. We heard from Mahmoudullah and Mitro very much about Cox's bazaar. That's, and Melissa, you and I were together, and Antonio, we were all together meeting people there more than once. The stories that we've heard about children seeing their parents killed in front of them and vice versa, parents seeing their children killed before they fled Myanmar into Bangladesh are good examples of the trauma that people carry with them. Because in one of my last trips before lockdown, I visited Burkina Faso. I have never or not for many years have I heard so many women express their anguish about the violence and abuse that they have undergone in their villages of origin at the hands of armed groups. And now they were displaced. So this is a powerful source of mental problems, of psychological problems. Violence including psychological violence as well. Discrimination, discrimination in its many forms against minorities, for example, or against or people discriminated because of their sexual preferences and also who become refugees or displaced. Antonio mentioned separation from families. This is always a very big source of distress. If you think of an accompanied minors in particular, the list is very long. I just wanted to give some examples. Then you have, of course, sources of stress, stressors that occur in situations of displacement across borders or not. The marginalization, the exclusion, the stigma that people suffer. And unfortunately, because of the political manipulation that many politicians have adopted in respect of refugees, of migrants, of people on the move, this pressure has increased in refugee populations and has been the source of great problems. And I would like to add one that has not really been mentioned yet. The lack of solutions, of prospects. Many of the people that moved out of the Middle East towards Europe in 2015 and 16 cited many reasons for doing this. But one of the reasons that many in Melissa, you'll recall that was this sense that their situation, their exile in countries neighboring Syria was suffocating. They didn't have opportunities. They didn't have much to do. And they didn't have any prospects for peace, for return, for a solution. And this is so common. I've seen it so much in refugee situations. I think it is the source of great psychological pressure, depression and other forms of mental stress in refugee communities. And needless to say, and this has already been mentioned by many of the speakers before, that the corona virus pandemic adds to all this. We know why the risks that overcrowding pose to communities, the poor health and hygiene conditions, but also, and Melissa, you mentioned that at the very beginning, we see this more and more, the increased, sometimes very suddenly increased levels of poverty in these communities. Antonio described it very well, the loss of income that comes with lockdowns. And this is even more evident outside camp situations. So there is quite a difference here, because this is more in the situations and they're the majority where refugees are in urban settings, for example, or in poor communities, sharing very fragile incomes, living in the informal economy. These are all things that collapse with lockdowns and generate further stress, anxiety, fears, and so forth. And, you know, even sitting as I do in Geneva, especially now, obliged to sit in Geneva, away from the real situations, having to live vicariously through reports. And, you know, I can feel this anxiety, this fear increasing in refugee community, this mental stress. So this is all the premise to say how important it is to invest among many other things that we need to do to respond to this crisis to invest in mental health. There's maybe four words that are quite interesting in this respect, quite important on which to reflect. Awareness, communication, inclusion, and resources. And these are really the words that I'd like to leave behind. I'll go back to awareness, but communication with impacted communities. One first and foremost, and it has been mentioned already, but to beat the stigma, or what I would say the accumulation of stigma, the stigma of being unfortunately in many places, a refugee, a marginalized person, and now the added stigma of carrying, perhaps, or, being exposed to the virus, to the pandemic. This is an important issue I've read about many communities around the world, refugee communities where people simply don't come forward to say that they feel sick because they're afraid. They're afraid to be obliged to stay home, not to be able to go to work and bring little revenue back to their families. And this fear is almost pathological and needs to be addressed. People need to be explained. So this communication, we need to invest as a mental health tool, and it's very complex and sophisticated as, of course, to be carried in different languages, understanding the culture, and so forth. Then inclusion. Inclusion, I don't need to tell you. You know, I am very happy that UNHCR, Melissa, you know this very well, UNHCR in the last few years has made inclusion of refugees and displaced in national health system a central tenet of its work. And I think the pandemic has proven this very valuable. And the partnerships that we have built, the awareness that we have created around this with the host governments, for example, has been very, very important. And inclusion applies also to mental health, especially in countries where there are programs that cater to this particular health problem. So important that not only nationals, but also people that are not nationals are included. And inclusion not only in the health responses, but also in education, also in livelihoods programs, because exclusion from those important programs generate also, among many other things, health issues. And then, of course, resources. I think we should use this opportunity to say that, unfortunately, like everything else, this costs money. And specialized care, the case for that has been made very strongly. And I think it's very important and valid. That costs money and we need to make investments. And finally, I go back to my first of four words, awareness. I think it's very important. I mean, this event in itself is important because we must have reflexes in many areas in responding to this crisis in the context of the biggest crisis, bigger crisis of forced displacement. So we must have many reflexes, not just in terms of mental health, but mental health has to be one of them. And in order for that to be elevated or put in the same place as many other responses, some are more instinctive about life-saving sectors and so forth. I think that we need to continuously talk about this and show it's literally life-saving importance. Thank you. Well, thank you very much, Filippo. I was getting lots of memories of the times that we traveled together and the situations that we saw, particularly the people who had suffered such trauma. And I think that's the recurring thing, the trauma that they fled from, they fled from violence and we're living still with the trauma, living in situations where they're already marginalized, stigmatized, excluded, and as you said, politicized. And now this pandemic is threatening them and haunting them anew and creating new fear. So we will take note and we have, and hopefully we can all support your four areas, the awareness, communication, inclusion, and providing the much needed resources for mental health that are so important. Again, before we go to our next panelist, I'd like to thank the High Commissioner for Refugees again. And just ask people, please, everyone who's participating, could you please go on mute because we're still hearing some sounds of typing and other sounds of family. But thank you very much. This brings us to our next panelist who is Maryam Salahat. Maryam is World Vision's Syria's, Syria Response Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings Coordinator. Maryam, could you please speak to us about the urgent needs for mental health and psychosocial support, especially for children and youth in the Syrian context. Over to you. Thank you, Melissa. Thank you. So can you hear me now? We can hear you now. Thank you very much, Maryam. Mental health and psychosocial support, especially for children and youth in the Syria context. As bad as the impact of COVID-19 has been all around the world, maybe there has been one small positive thing that we have all had a chance to experience a taste of what it is to be a refugee. We don't know when we can travel or when the situation will end. Unfortunately, we have all experienced the anxiety, depression and stress that refugees often face for years and that leads to increased mental health challenges for adults and children. In March 16, 2020 marks as the ninth year's anniversary of the initial conflict in Syria that has led to a refugee crisis of horrific preparation. Like millions of children in a fragile context affected by conflicts, Syrian children are having protection concerns. We have been noticing increasing on family and domestic violence in addition to emotional abuse as well as the closure of schools and child dependent spaces, contributes to increased exposure to violence at home, negatively impacting the physical and psychological well-being of children. The primary barrier to seeking health, feeling, heartlessness, lack of financial means and awareness and full of regression of mental health, problems, post-offit treatment and the need of a privacy in addition to stigma. Long-term effects of exposure to adversity, COVID-19 is another way to die. One of the beneficiaries says, while the rest of the world fights for tissue babies, Syrian fights for shelter. Unfortunately, out of 4 million people trapped in northwest Syria, 51% are children and 25% are women, according to the UN OSHA report. While others live in crowded camps in the neighboring countries. World vision acknowledge that supporting mental health and psychological and psychosocial support needs of all people is necessary to reduce suffering and improve functioning in addition to saving lives. This includes people living in camps, host communities, urban areas and transits. World vision responds to COVID-19 as follows. Minimize the stigma associated with MHPSS by interoperating mental health services into bro-based community setting, which detections, livelihoods and cash-based programs in addition to primary health care levels. Remote training and supervision for staff inside Syria and for partners as well on structured psychosocial intervention like the UN BLUTS. Build the capacity of non-specialized health workers to be able to deliver low-intensity psychosocial intervention for mild and moderate mental health disorders. Creation of WhatsApp glue groups for positive parenting to help parents to care for themselves and also for their children during COVID-19. Creation of short movies to help beneficiaries to cope with worries, fear and anxiety. The videos include positive messages to give a briefing and techniques for parents and children to do joint activities such as storytelling, empty feelings and ways to communicate with families and enhance positive relationships inside the family members. Kids management remain a priority toward vision in all that our three countries that were working on Syria response, which is in Syria, Jordan and Turkey. We prepared audio and video recording and design worksheets for the children to learn as we saw. The children engaged in various design activities in addition to receiving food and health, develop their imagination, increase their willingness and express themselves. Now the MSTS needs to be addressed in all cases of COVID-19 as a priority as COVID-19 nowadays. Thank you so much, Miriam. Could I just ask everybody please to go on mute? We're hearing some disturbing sounds in the background. Thank you very much, Miriam. And for illuminating the desperate needs of people suffering in Syria, as well as in Jordan and Turkey and all that World Vision is doing to help them. And thank you to the panelists. We now have a question for Filippo Grandi, the High Commissioner for Refugees. It comes from M. Tazdik Hassan from the Public Health Foundation in Bangladesh. What can be done to support the mental health of people with severe mental disorders and camps and refugee settlements? The floor is yours, Filippo. Thanks, Melissa, and thanks to Dr. Tazdik for this question. Let me be very clear. I am not a specialist, so it's difficult for me to respond very specifically, especially on this sensitive issue, severe mental health disorder. Now, I can give you maybe a couple of points. Only one is that when the mental health disorder is serious, but maybe not at the extreme grade of severity, we have many solutions. We have adopted many solutions. I'm thinking of Niger, for example, where we have a big program for refugees, for displaced people, where we have set up something called psychological first aid. So we have people that are trained to deal with this particular phenomenon, but this is not the most severe type of cases. When this happens, our specialists will always tell us that care for people that are affected by severe mental health disorders cannot be simply by psychiatrists. It has to be broader. These people have to be taken care of by people with broader medical training that know, however, how to deal with this particular problem. The other point, the only other point I want to make is that the type of care that is required is often very specialized. Wherever applicable, unfortunately, it may not be everywhere. Here, the mantra of inclusion applies. So if the country offers possibility of treatment for severe mental health cases, this should apply to refugees to displaced in large settlements as well. Unfortunately, it's not always possible, so we have to find out a solution, but this is the best option when available. Thank you. Thank you very much, Kalipo. It's with great pleasure that I now introduce Ambassador Paul Becker, who is the Special Envoy for Mental Health of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation. Mr. Becker will speak on advocacy efforts toward ensuring mental health and psychosocial support is part of all crisis responses. Your Excellency, the floor is yours. Good afternoon. Good morning. I hope you can hear me. Thank you, Madam Secretary. Yes. The minister really apologizes. He's in the ministerial council right now. She just called and at the ministerial council is now discussing a topic which regards her. She can simply not leave, but yes, she asked me to speak on her behalf, so please bear with me and feel confident that my words reflect her words. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, many thanks for today's rich contributions coming from policy experts and practitioners on the ground on the mental health and psychosocial needs of people who are forcibly displaced on a move, particularly, as the undersecretary said in the beginning, in this turbulent time of COVID-19. And it's so important to discuss MHPSS from different perspectives and examine needs in different settings ranging from urban Cairo to Ethiopia, from Cox Bazaar in Bangladesh to Syria. The minister would also like to thank the International Organization for Migration for co-hosting this event. And thank you, Dr. Vittorino, for thanking us, but we would very much thank you and your dedicated MHPSS team for helping us to convene this meeting. COVID-19 deeply affects people's well-being in many ways. Everyone, everywhere, is affected by the virus. But as the insights shared today show, people on a move or trapped in places impacted by a protracted crisis are especially vulnerable because they have fewer resources to help them cope with COVID-19. They have already lost their homes, their communities, their loved ones and livelihoods. And COVID-19 adds to their distress and precarious circumstances. Everywhere the pandemic is fueling feelings of despair as it makes us unable to provide, to cope, to care, to connect and look forward. Madam and Secretary, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, you and Secretary-General Antonio Gutierrez recently said there is no health without mental health and he was quoted early on today. And he was right. Mental health and psychosocial support are vital in every country's response to and recovery from the pandemic, both locally and nationally. And the experiences and insights shared today show us that there are ways in which we, governments, civil society organizations, communities, youth and international organizations alike, can respond to this global crisis. So what do we need to do? And here I'd like to stress two points. First and foremost, we need to keep emphasizing that it is fundamental to integrate MHPSS into every aspect of all humanitarian and COVID-19 responses. And it has been said earlier, it is not an additional burden, it's an integral part of the solution. Director General Vitorina explained very clearly how MHPSS contributes to individual and collective well-being and how we, by working closely together, can emerge from the crisis as a more resilient global community. MHPSS cannot be postponed to a later stage. My second point for a sustainable future, we need to specifically address the needs of the most vulnerable, including migrants, internally displaced persons and refugees, and the migrant returnees, evoked by the Ethiopian minister, Dr. Tesfaye. Today's exchanges, especially experienced Dr. Nancy Beren share with us, demonstrate how MHPSS can be a powerful tool to counter the social disruption caused by the crisis, to provide people and communities with resources to help them get back on their feet again, to enhance individual and community resilience, to reach, involve and engage vulnerable populations, and to regain a feeling of agency and perspective. In other words, MHPSS helps people to regain their ability to provide, cope, care, connect and look forward. It helps foster a sense of dignity and perspective. The amendment on secretary allowed me to elaborate on two, three specific points that have substantiated what I just mentioned. Offering accessible first response psychosocial support strengthens human solidarity and social cohesion, even while we're practicing physical distancing. Today we heard about many adaptations and innovations happening as we speak. I have noted the call from those at the forefront in Corks & Bazaar for consolidation of these innovations, and I would advise the minister to follow up on that call. Investing in MHPSS inclusive approaches means investing in the power of people, in human capital, in resilience of communities. Ms. Sarah Harrison made a very convincing point that this worldwide pandemic that affects all requires an extremely well, I think you should use the worst, highly localized response. Investing in MHPSS is investing in first responders who are familiar with local conditions and social environment, who understand the ownership, the hardship people are facing, and who can help to restore effective coping mechanisms. Investing in the psychosocial well-being of staff and volunteers and in their psychosocial capacities is a responsible and smart investment. Providing adequate care to vulnerable people means not only addressing the suffering that we can see with our eyes, but also the pain below the surface that we can feel in our hearts and souls. This isn't just the right thing to do, it's also the smart thing to do. MHPSS reduces long-term negative socioeconomic effects on society. Madam and the Secretary, to conclude, equitable access for migrants to low-cost primary health care can actually reduce health expenditures and improve social cohesion with host communities. And our Minister, Sikri Kah, and all of us are deeply committed to advocating for the investment of more resources into MHPSS and to making MHPSS inclusive responses integral to our work on the ground. MHPSS services are essential to help people develop coping mechanisms and build their resilience, especially now. These services are particularly crucial to those who are the most vulnerable. So, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, Madam Chair, together we can do this. Let's build back together. Let's make sure we include psychosocial support in every humanitarian worker's first aid kit. Thank you. Thank you all for your kind attention. Thank you, Ambassador Beckers, for these reflections to provide how we can allow vulnerable communities to, in your words, cope, care and look forward. And also, I wanted to note your words about how this can offer dignity and perspective and strengthen human solidarity, which is what I think we all want. And thank you for concluding the side event on this note with some very important proposals for investment in inclusive responses and investment really in human resilience. And warmest regards to our friend, Minister Sikri Kah, who is, as we all know, so committed to this cause. We're now opening the floor for questions, which were pre-selected during the registration process. And we'll begin with questions from three partner agencies, and we're starting with the World Health Organization over to you. Do we have the delegate, the representative from the World Health Organization to ask the next question? Please. It seems that that is not the case. Perhaps we can skip over this and return to it. And so now I'll ask UNICEF to ask the first question. Please, the representative from UNICEF. Hello. Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening, everyone. My name is Zaina Phejazi. I'm the Global Mental Health and Psychophysical Support Specialist at UNICEF, based in New York. I have a question for Minister Kog on behalf of UNICEF and in coordination with ISC and HTSS working groups on children and families and people on the move. Minister Kog, we know that children are disproportionately impacted during price season situations. And the situation is really no different in the COVID pandemic, which has disrupted everything that we know is critical for children's social and emotional development, their learning and their well-being. This is a fourth case of what is likely given catastrophic effects of climate change and ecological disruption. Even before the pandemic, millions of millions of children were affected by displacement, conflict, serious adversity, and loss of access to schooling, protection and mental health support. All of this dramatically worsened by COVID with further disruption to their safety, education, and livelihoods. And yet, only a fraction of the global budget for building and strengthening mental health and psychosocial support services and systems is allocated to children and families, and far less for children on the move. The Netherlands has absolutely proven its leadership in advocating for MHPSS. But what is your plan for using your influence and leadership in bringing more attention to and thus investment in innovative, project-toral, and quality mental health and psychosocial interventions for the most vulnerable, including children on the move and their families? Madam Chair, I'm supposed to respond immediately. Yes, please. Could you respond on behalf of the minister? Yeah, thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you. Well, it's a bit of a challenge to answer on behalf of my minister on this question when you talk about her influence and her leadership. On the other hand, I very much admire the leadership of my own minister, my boss. So I'll try to respond on her behalf. In a word, I think she would have chosen. Thank you, Ms. Hiaji, for your question and your elaborate explanation of the background of your question. I would like to comment maybe two or three points. Our efforts, that means the Netherlands and so the minister and all of our efforts are directed to have a full integration of MHPSS. It's a cross-cutting issue, so we want to have integration in all humanitarian efforts, in all crisis response, including the COVID-19 response, and including children for children on the move, including their families. And we know and only talk about the support and I supported it. I mentioned a little bit in the little speech I just gave. It's also about the fact that MHPSS is part of the solution for negative social effects of the COVID response. And the second point would be we aim to get clear reference in relevant resolutions regarding the role and contribution of MHPSS to preparedness, response and recovery. The third point I'd like to mention is that we work on more structural recognition of contribution of MHPSS that can give to peace building, very important. You mentioned a little bit about budget, if I listen carefully. Well, if MHPSS is included in emergency response plans, it is included in the funding for those plans automatically. Well, when we have this picture just described, we need to ensure that at country level, the global guidance is followed. Planning is MHPSS inclusive, so we need to add, we need advocacy at country and local level. And one more thing, at the same time, capacity is needed. And the Netherlands will work on that through a search mechanism and something new. We are working with WHO on some initiatives to have more capacity and to have a better insight on the capacity available and how to make that even more available. And this is all also for the benefit, definitely for the most vulnerable, for children on the move and the families. Thank you. I hope I was able to respond to your question. Thank you very much, Ambassador. I am going to now go back to the question that was to be asked to Philippa Grandi from the representative of WHO but who had to leave. The question is, with one in ten of the population of the WHO European region being either migrants or refugees, what concrete actions can agencies and governments take to effectively mainstream MHPSS services for this group as a core element of health and social system strengthening? Philippa, would you like to answer that question? Yeah, and I will be very brief. Three things. One is what I have already mentioned earlier, inclusion, inclusion, inclusion. In Europe, there are, you know, most countries, if not in all countries, there are mental health programs that cater to the national population. It is very important that refugees and migrants are included. Second, and I mentioned it in my introduction, important to take into account stressors that are very particular to industrialized countries. You know, exclusion can be very severe in industrialized countries, in richer countries, for people that are on the move, for people that are refugees, asylum seekers. And this is often made worse by the uncertainty, the almost institutional legal uncertainty in which they find themselves. And it is even certainly made worse by the action of unscrupulous politicians that stigmatize and incite the stigmatization of these people. This is an incredibly powerful element, you know, pressure on the psyche, on the minds of these people. And the third point I want to make, that you know, we also have to be careful not to believe that in an area like mental health, psychological support, you know, because Europe and other parts of the global north have more better resource than more developed health care, that there is nothing to learn from other parts of the world where resources might be less. But for example, the ability of a community or an enlarged family to care for people with mental stress is, I believe, superior than in countries where we're much more on our own, much more alone and lonely. So I think that Europe, because the question is about Europe, has a lot to learn, also in terms of mental health care from countries that still value community life, the interaction in the broader family, the care that is provided to the elderly and to those that are mentally challenged. So I think it's very, very important to look at it also from this perspective. And since I have to rush off, Melissa, let me just say, since it's the last opportunity to have the world, thank you very much for moderating this. Thank you all. And once again, Sigrid, I thought Sigrid was online, but Ambassador Beckers, if you could really convey also on our behalf to the minister, our heartfelt thanks for really championing this cause. It is important that she doesn't give up and continues to do that. Thank you. Thank you. I think that message comes from everybody on this call. Thank you very much and all the best to you. And now we have our last question, and it is from the ICRC. May the representative of the ICRC, the International Committee for the Red Cross, please take the floor. Thank you all for sharing these stories and for helping us to feel the powerful impacts of mental health and psychosocial services. As has been flagged today, the accumulation of stigma around mental health and illnesses prevalent in many countries and societies, and it's shown to be a significant barrier to seeking and receiving necessary or life-saving help. People with lived experience are the best advocates in helping communities to understand that MHPSS problems can happen to anyone and that searching for help is the best course of action. ICRC works to amplify this effort to reduce stigma through massive information and sensitization campaigns involving the people who have lived through it. So my question is, what actions do the panelists, in particular to Nancy, based on her presentation today, suggest to one, help reduce the stigma and discrimination associated with mental health conditions and psychosocial problems, and to harness MHPSS services with regard to the cultural perceptions of the COVID-19 risks? And thank you very much. Okay, I think, you know, given the time since we have gone 15 minutes over already, could I ask Nancy to respond? And unless the other panelists would really like to say something, we'll leave it with Nancy. Over to you. Thank you. I think the question is in two parts. Is it first a part that is about psychosocial and mental health care and stigma and discrimination, and then about COVID-19? I'll answer the first. Issues about stigma, discrimination, and the lack of equal rights have been really pervasively in our minds in the last week through the voices of demonstrators across the world. Regardless of race, nationality, age, gender identity, they've sheared one voice and one message about equality. Deeply ingrained attitudes and fears are hard to change about every issue, including mental health. Today's attitudes basically show us that generations of efforts to change those attitudes to societal campaigns, sadly, have had minimal lasting results. So what do we do? And that's the question to me. So what do we do? I believe that people are more likely to soften negative attitudes about people with mental health problems when they know real people. So the best action is inclusion. People with mental illness and psychosocial problems have families and communities. We help to break the stigma by assisting those families and communities to embrace their own members, their own members who have problems. If we can help families and communities to accept and learn how to positively live with difference, then these families and communities become the voice of acceptance, and this is the voice that will help to influence others. Now, stigma has also been an issue during COVID-19. Yesterday I was talking to a South Denise man about the stigma of having the coronavirus, and I asked him why last week his community who had been denying the seriousness of the virus suddenly was more willing to follow preventative measures. He replied, reality. Three members of our community died last week. Now we know it's real. Now I'd like to turn the question to my colleagues in Cox's Bazaar and ask them about cultural perceptions about COVID-19. What are the cultural perspectives from your side? Thank you. Thank you very much, Nancy. I'd like now to take the time to share a message that is being brought to us from the government of the United States of America. This is a message of support. Could we play that message please? The United States appreciates the recognition of MHPSS within the COVID-19 global humanitarian response plan, reinforcing that psychological well-being is essential to health. The United States supports MHS programming as life-saving humanitarian context and applaud the attention to MHPSS as an essential element of the humanitarian response to the current pandemic. COVID-19 has had a substantial impact on individuals and communities, and agencies must prioritize inclusion of MHPSS responses across all sectors and target interventions to meet the needs of particularly impacted populations. In addition, agencies must support continued well-being and resilience of all COVID-19 responders. Thank you for that message from the United States of America, which wraps up this session. I'd like to thank you all, our dear panelists, for your invaluable insights, and especially thank you to the government of Netherlands and the IOM for organizing this event. Innovative solutions and community-based approaches to mental health and psychosocial support are clearly crucial to reaching and engaging migrants, the forcibly displaced and host communities during the COVID-19 pandemic, and in humanitarian responses more widely. Member states, the UN system, and civil society all have a role to play in ensuring that mental health and psychosocial support interventions are adequately resourced and integrated, and that refugees and migrants are fully included in the COVID-19 response. Thank you to all of you for tuning in and to participating. Stay safe, take care, goodbye.