REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Marie Heuzé, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which also heard from Spokespersons for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Food Programme, the UN Refugee Agency, and the International Organization for Migration.

Geneva activities

Ms. Heuzé said that the Human Rights Council had held its first Special Session on the recent escalation of violence in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine, on 5 and 6 July. The Special Session had concluded Thursday morning with the adoption by a vote of 29 in favour and 11 against with 5 abstentions, of a resolution presented by the Arab group. The resolution provided for the urgent dispatch of a fact-finding mission to the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), to be headed by the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Mr. John Dugard. Documentation on the resolution and copies of press releases on the Special Session were available in press room 1.

Ms. Heuzé also called journalist’s attention to fact that the Economic and Social Council had concluded its high-level debate with the adoption of a Ministerial Declaration on the attainment of full and productive employment and decent work. The high-level segment of the Council had considered in depth issues relating to employment, as well as holding various round tables including one on the issue of international migration, which would lay the groundwork for the High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development to be held in New York on 14 and 15 September, during the General Assembly. The ECOSOC Ministerial Declaration, as well as the relevant session documents, were available in English and French, in press room 1.

Ms. Heuzé also drew attention to the holding of a meeting of the Follow-up Committee on the withdrawal and transfer of authority in the Bakassi Peninsula. This subcommittee of the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission, charged with steering the process of negotiation and mediation between Nigeria and Cameroon, was established by the Greentree Agreement. The meeting would be held on 10 July at the Palais des Nations. Kieran Prendergast, the former United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, has been charged by the Secretary-General with the follow up and will serve as Chairman of the Committee. A list of participants would be made available in press room 1 as well as background information.

Ms. Heuzé recalled that on Monday, 10 July, the Economic and Social Council would hold a special event on Avian Influenza to discuss, among others, a worldwide approach to containing the virus and preventing a human pandemic, from 10 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. at the Palais des Nations. A joint press conference by Dr. David Nabarro and the ECOSOC President Ali Hachani would be held that same day at 12.45 p.m. in room III. A media advisory and information note were available in the back of the room.

Also in the context of the ECOSOC session, Ms. Heuzé said that Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs José Antonio Ocampo would hold a press conference to present the mid-term edition of the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2006 on Tuesday, 11 July at 12 noon, in room III. In that annual report, the United Nations provided its analysis of current developments in the world economy and emerging policy issues, as well as the Secretariat’s forecast of short-term global and regional economic trends. The mid-term report would be available later today in an electronic version and sent to journalists. Journalists should note, however, that the material was embargoed until after the start of the press conference on 11 July.

Also within the ECOSOC framework, Ms. Sheila Sisulu, Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Programme, would also hold a press conference to launch the publication of "World Hunger Series 2006: Hunger and Learning", which looked at the global hunger situation, on Thursday, 13 July 2006 at 11:30 a.m. in Room III.

Turning to European affairs, Ms. Heuzé also recalled the conclusion of the Annual Expert-Level Meeting between the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the United Nations and Partner Organizations in the “Tripartite-Plus” format to discuss “Intercommunity Relations in Post-Conflict Environments: Learning to live together”, which had been held at the Palais des Nations on 4 and 5 July. The final outcome document from that session with the joint communiqué by the three organizations on Peacebuilding from a European perspective was available on the Internet and in press room 1.

The Human Rights Committee would hold its 87th session from 10 to 28 July in Geneva at the Palais Wilson. It was scheduled to consider in open meetings the report of the Central African Republic on 12, and 13 July, the report of the United States of America, on 17 and 18 July, and the report of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo on 19 and 20 July.

Ms. Heuzé said that Serge Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, had today received the credentials of Mr. Delmer Urbizo, the new Permanent Representative of Honduras to the United Nations Office at Geneva, Ms. Frances Victoria Victoria Velho Rodrigues, the new Permanent Representative of Mozambique to the United Nations Office at Geneva, and Sejdi Qerimaj, the new Permanent Representative of Albania to the United Nations Office at Geneva.

Human Rights

José-Luis Diaz of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said that he wanted to alert journalists to a note he would be sending on a DVD produced on behalf of OHCHR and the Association for the Prevention of Torture. The DVD explained the workings of the different United Nations human rights treaty bodies, which monitored countries’ compliance with their obligations under the various human rights conventions. It was a useful, user-friendly and accessible training tool, but Mr. Diaz felt that it would also be good for the general public, as well as journalists, given that the workings of the treaty bodies sometimes appeared a bit complex and arcane. It would be presented publicly on Monday, 11 July, at the Auditorium Arditi-Wilsdorf, at 6 p.m. Interested journalists could obtain copies of the DVD by contacting him at 022 917 9242.

Situation in the Gaza Strip

Simon Pluess of the World Food Programme (WFP) said the frequent closing of the Karni and other crossing points into Gaza, as well as the ongoing hostilities, continued to put enormous strain on the population there. However, the passage of commercial, food and fuel supplies last Sunday had helped to alleviate the situation slightly. There was a real need for a humanitarian corridor, so that relief items could have a priority for entry over commercial goods into Gaza. For that reason WFP was asking for a permanent and unhindered access for humanitarian personnel and relief goods to Gaza, whenever needed. There had to be a complete delinkage between the political environment and humanitarian needs in Gaza.

Mr. Pluess said there were some positive signs this week: the Karni crossing was open three days out of six, with an agreement that had been reached to increase the allocation for humanitarian goods over coming weeks. WFP had brought six containers of sugar and oil into Gaza and hoped to bring wheat flour in next Sunday.
However, the Palestinian power plant, which supplied power to 800,000 people was no longer working. Only 6 to 10 hours a day of power available, and that was not coordinated with the water supply – which was dependent on electricity in many areas. The wheat flourmills, the bakeries and the food factories were also affected. Eighteen hours of electricity was needed to provide bread for the whole Gaza population. Most markets were open; the main problem was economic access to food. In June alone there had been a 10 per cent price increase, which was directly linked to the Karni closings. Many poor people could no longer afford items such as meat, fish or olive oil. In addition, the electricity shortage meant that they could no longer store items such as meat or vegetables. There were only 10 days of emergency supplies left to feed the 160,000 people the WFP served in Gaza.

Other

William Spindler of the UN Refugee Agency (UNCHR) said that, according to a UNHCR team just back from the southern Colombian department of Nariño, the situation in that region remained very tense following an upsurge in unrest and violence that had led to the forced displacement of thousands of people since the start of the year. During its three-day mission, the team visited several communities in northern Nariño to monitor conditions for a group of some 2,200 of the forcibly displaced persons who had returned to the area at the end of May. Protection concerns in the region remained high among much of the civilian population. There were some 2.5 million internally displaced people in Colombia, he noted, the largest population of concern to UNHCR in any country in the world.

Mr. Spindler also called attention to a milestone that had been reached earlier this week, when the ten thousandth refugee to be repatriated by UNHCR to south Sudan, under a programme launched in December, returned home on a convoy from Uganda. The convoy, which arrived on Tuesday, had carried 262 refugees from Moyo in northern Uganda.

Fadela Chaib of the World health Organization announced the conclusion of the 29th session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission today and invited journalists to a press conference by the President of the Codex Alimentarius, Claude Mosha at the International Conference Centre at Geneva, room XIV, at 12.30 p.m. A joint FAO/WHO press release on the work of the session just concluded was available. For further information, journalists could contact Gregory Anton at 079 203 67 15.

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that next week, on the 12 and 13 July, IOM was holding a two-day meeting on international migration and integration at the International Conference Centre at Geneva. As countries around the world adopted all sorts of different integration models and policies, migration trends were changing all the time. Panel discussions would include issues such as how countries of destination should address integration, and how they defined integration or what constituted a successful migrant. Among the panellists would be the Portuguese High Commissioner for Immigration and Ethnic Minorities, Rui Marques. Other issues to be addressed were the political and legal dimensions of migration, the role of the employment sector in integration, and cross-generational migration, which was a major issue in several destination countries in Europe today. An embargoed press release on the workshop was available. A press conference on the workshop would be held on Wednesday at 2 p.m. A final list of participants would be sent to journalists on Monday or Tuesday.

Also, Ms. Pandya reminded journalists that on 10 and 11 July in Rabat, Morocco, there was a Euro-African Ministerial Conference on Migration and Development. Ministers and representatives from 60 European Union and African countries, as well as regional and international organizations, were meeting to discuss cooperative approaches in the field of migration and development to better combat irregular migration, develop African economies, and facilitate legal migration. The Director-General of IOM would address the Conference. A press note on the conference would be circulated later today.