REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which provided information on the new national draft constitution in Iraq, the decision of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Iran, the humanitarian situations in Southern Africa, Niger, Mali and Sudan, and the withdrawal from Gaza, among other things.
Spokespersons for the United Nations Children's Fund, the World Food Programme, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees participated in the briefing. Spokespersons for the World Health Organization, the International Telecommunication Union and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights were present but made no announcements.


Iraq

Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier drew attention to the fact that 15 August was the deadline to complete the new national draft constitution of Iraq. The Secretary-General called on all political, religious and civil society leaders in Iraq to exercise the vision and the political will needed to come to an agreement in the next few days. In his statement, Mr. Annan said, "he believes such an agreement will constitute a major milestone in Iraq’s political transition".

Yesterday, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 1619 renewing for a further year the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI). The mission consists of 260 persons involved in reconstruction, development and humanitarian assistance activities in the country.

The Secretary-General's statement and the Security Council resolution were both available at the documentation centre.

Iran

The International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors yesterday adopted a resolution urging Iran to re-establish full suspension of all uranium enrichment related activities. In his statement, the Secretary-General said that the IAEA Board spoke with one voice and he expected its resolution to be implemented.

Southern Africa

Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier drew attention to a letter of the Secretary-General in which he states that more than 10 million persons living in Southern Africa will need humanitarian aid over the coming year. In the letter, Mr. Annan warned a number of Heads of State about the unfolding food emergency in the region brought on by previous food shortages, endemic poverty and HIV/AIDS. Mr. Annan asked the world leaders to do everything in their power to ensure that Southern Africa didn’t become another crisis that could have been prevented.

Activities in Geneva

Yesterday, the celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the United Nations continued at the Palais des Nations with the presentation by the Permanent Mission of China of an exhibition entitled “World Heritage Preservation in China” and a concert given by the Sichuan Women’s Orchestra. The event, attended by Sergei Ordzhonikidze, Director-General of UNOG, was a real success and the large attendance in the Assembly Hall was moved by the music and the demonstration of Shaolin Kongfu.

The Conference on Disarmament yesterday opened the third and last part of its 2005 session hearing general statements from seven national representatives. The President for the current session is Ambassador Masood Khan of Pakistan. A press release on yesterday's meeting was made available.

Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier reminded correspondents that the Sub-Commission-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights was concluding its 57th session today. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination would continue its current 67th session to 19 August.

Director-General

The Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Mr. Sergei Ordzhonikidze will be travelling today to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, where on 14 August, he will attend the inauguration of the President-elect of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, Mr. Kurmanbek Bakiyev, as representative of the Secretary-General. In this capacity, he will also be meeting with the President and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ms. Rosa Otunbayeva.

International Youth Day

Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier mentioned that the message on the occasion of International Youth Day, being observed today, was available as well as other background notes.

Gaza

Marc Vergara of UNICEF drew attention to a press release of UNICEF on the protection of Palestinian and Israeli children in connection with the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and parts of the northern West Bank. UNICEF expressed hope that the withdrawal that is set to begin next week would occur smoothly and peacefully and emphasized that child protection should be considered the number one priority. UNICEF has pre-positioned emergency supplies to take care of the potential health, education, water and sanitation needs of children and women. The press release notes that about half of the Palestinian population is under 18 years of age and there are hundreds of children among the Israeli settlers. Some of the biggest threats facing children are landmines and unexploded ordnance. Between September 2000 and July 31, 2005, 829 children under the age of 18 have been killed in the conflict, it further notes. Mr. Vergara also noted that some 65 per cent of the Palestinian population are living below the poverty line, adding that, of the $US 12.7 million it pledged for its operations in the region, it only received half that amount thus far.

Niger

Christiane Berthiaume of the WFP announced that the first of ten WFP flights transporting corn soya blend (CSB) departed today for Niamey. In total, 950 tonnes of CSB will be transported to WFP's storage centre in the capital city for further distribution to children, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers as a supplement to the food rations to combat malnutrition. Meanwhile, the general food distribution is continuing; this week, some 5,000 persons have already received their food rations. Other rations of CSB will also be shipped by boat, 4,000 tonnes of which are currently en route. According to WFP's appeal for funds, $US 58 million, which translates to 72,931 tonnes of food, is needed for Niger, of which only $US 25.4 million was received.

Mali

Turning to Mali, Ms. Berthiaume announced that WFP was preparing to launch a new appeal for funds next week. To date, WFP has had to use $US 2 million of its emergency funds to meet the needs of the population affected by the drought and locust invasion. Due to a poor harvest, the prices of cereal grains have increased by 26 per cent and people have been forced to migrate both for food and in search of work. According to authorities, 1.2 million people are threatened by the famine. WFP has already assisted close to half a million people threatened by the famine and will increase this number through its new appeal for funds.

Sudan

Concerning Sudan, Ms. Berthiaume said at the height of the annual "hunger gap" and rainy season, WFP was particularly concerned about the chronically impoverished regions of Bahr El Ghazal in the South, and the Kordofans in central Sudan and Red Sea State and Kassala in the East. Inter-agency rapid needs assessment missions earlier this year confirmed that food security was poor in many parts of southern, central and eastern Sudan. WFP was increasing its assistance, raising tonnages of food aid for hard-hit areas across the central belt of South Sudan and in the East to give food assistance to an additional 267,000 people from June to September. The East and Bahr El Ghazal account for 70 percent of the increased needs in Sudan. A second round of assessments of food security is due to begin next week in Bahr El Ghazal and Unity State, ahead of rolling assessments in East, North and West Kordofan and White Nile. WFP's response is severely hampered by critical funding shortages, the late arrival of donor funds and severe shortages of Jet-A1 fuel -- as well as limitations on road deliveries and airlifts imposed by the rainy season. More than half way through the year, WFP has 55 percent of the $302 million needed to feed 3.2 million people in 2005, leaving a shortfall of US$137 million, or 45 percent.

Burundi

Jennifer Pagonis of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said her agency was seeing a dramatic increase in the number of Burundian refugees returning home from camps in Tanzania. In June and July the number of Burundians coming home to the south of the country was in the range of 600 to 800 a week, last week alone we helped more than 4,200 come home to three southern provinces. In August, we estimate the number returning to these areas on UNHCR convoys from Tanzania will total 20,000 - a more than six-fold increase over the 3,116 who came home in June.

Bulgaria

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said OCHA had increased its emergency operations to Bulgaria which has been recovering from flooding in May and June, and where continuous rain has been falling since the beginning of July. Heavy rains over the weekend (4 to 6 August) have worsened the already critical flood situation in Bulgaria, prompting the Government to declare a "State of Disaster" and which led to the evacuation of some 12,000 persons. The Bulgarian Government estimates the costs of the floods to approximately $US 93 million and had requested for assistance from OCHA. In total, over 1.8 million people have been affected out of which 35,000 are children under or at the age of 16.


Kyrgyz/Uzbek

Ms. Pagonis said UNHCR was continuing discussions with the Kyrgyz Government on the release of 15 Uzbek nationals that fled the 12/13 May Andijan events in Uzbekistan and are currently in detention in Osh. The 15 remained behind in Kyrgyzstan after we airlifted 439 Uzbeks to Romania in late July as part of a humanitarian transfer and the Kyrgyz authorities have reiterated, that the 15 will not be deported to Uzbekistan, which is of major concern to UNHCR. Moreover, in June, four Uzbeks recognized as refugees by UNHCR, were unlawfully deported to Uzbekistan. Since then, neither UNHCR nor any other organization or individual, has had access to these four.

Nepal

Concerning Nepal, Ms. Pagonis said UNHCR was launching an information campaign for Bhutanese refugees in camps in eastern Nepal, to warn about the pitfalls of trying to return home on their own. Earlier this month some 300 refugees who tried to cross the Nepal/India border were turned back by Indian security forces and some were pelted with stones or unknown elements causing light injuries. The Bhutanese refugee situation is one of the longest running refugee situations in Asia. There are some 105,000 Bhutanese refugees in seven camps in eastern Nepal.

Sri Lanka

Jemina Pandya of the International Organization for Migration announced that more than 3,000 IOM-built transitional homes were given to survivors of the tsunami in Sri Lanka. There will be a series of handover ceremonies next week along the country's east coast, which bore the brunt of the waves that killed more than 30,000 Sri Lankans countrywide.

Costa Rica

Ms. Pagonis stated that UNHCR was concerned about the impact a new immigration law moving towards final approval in Costa Rica would have on refugees and asylum seekers and call on Costa Rican lawmakers to review key sections of the legislation. The proposed law does not contain any definition of what constitutes a refugee as stated in the 1951 Convention, to which Costa Rica was a signatory member, and there was no reference to the key principle of non refoulement although this principle was found in the Costa Rican Constitution.

Dominican Republic

On the Dominican Republic, Ms. Pandya mentioned that IOM and the country's National Counter Trafficking Network have opened a counter trafficking coordination office. The new office will coordinate and support all counter trafficking and anti-smuggling activities being implemented by eight local networks. Since mid 2004, IOM has been working with the local networks gathering data on victims of trafficking brought to the Dominican Republic from South America, Eastern Europe and Asia. Surveys carried out in the areas where the local networks are active confirmed the presence of men and women from China, Haiti and Colombia forced into prostitution and unpaid labour.

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