REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Officer-in-charge of UNIS Geneva, chaired the briefing which was attended by spokespersons for and representatives of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Population Fund, the World Health Organization, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the International Organization for Migration.

Secretary-General

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier announced that the Secretary-General would arrive in Geneva this weekend, where, on Monday, 6 July, he would open the substantive session of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and inaugurate the ECOSOC Innovation Fair. She was extremely pleased to announce that the Secretary-General would give a press conference for journalists at 12 p.m. on Monday, in Room III.

Available in the Press Room were the Secretary-General’s statements on the joint communiqué signed between Ghana and the Gambia and on Niger. There were also copies of the Secretary-General’s report to the Security Council on children and armed conflict in Sri Lanka.

Economic and Social Council

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier then turned to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which was holding its 2009 substantive session in Geneva at the Palais des Nations from 6 to 31 July. As already mentioned, the Secretary-General would open the debate, at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, 6 July. Following the Secretary-General’s statement, addresses would be made by ECOSOC President Sylvia Lucas and by Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz. The Council would devote the first four days of the session to a high-level segment, which this year would focus on the theme “current global and national trends and their impact on social development, including health”. At the high-level segment participants would also undertake the Annual Ministerial Review, hearing national presentations from eight countries, and have a general debate on this year’s theme, which was expected to culminate in the adoption of a Ministerial Declaration. A background release was available in English and French.

Today, there were two associated press conferences in Room III. The first, at 2 p.m., would provide information on the upcoming ECOSOC session. Speaking would be Nikhil Seth, Director of the Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination. The second, focusing on the Millennium Development Goals Report, would be held by Lakshmi Puri, Director, Division on International Trade in Goods and Services and Commodities of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, who would speak to journalists at 3:30 p.m.

As announced yesterday, the Millennium Development Goals Report 2009 was now available, under embargo until 6 July, in English and French, in room C.302, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier added. She clarified for a journalist that the principal launch of the report would be that by the Secretary-General, here in Geneva on Monday. Also available at the back of the room were some press kits on the ECOSOC session in English, French and Spanish. Mr. Seth, who was briefing journalists on the session today, would brief journalists regularly on activities of the high-level segment on 7, 8 and 9 July in Room I at 12.30 p.m.

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier also introduced Olav Huslid, who would be responsible for media liaison on all questions regarding the ECOSOC session.

Jean Rodriguez of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) reminded journalists that ECE was a subsidiary of ECOSOC. Therefore, ECE Executive Secretary Ján Kubiš would be participating in a number of meetings, in particular, next Friday, during the coordination segment. On Tuesday, 7 July, the Executive Secretary would meet the Executive Director and the President of the Peacemakers Foundation, which was active in projects in Central Asia, to discuss cooperation efforts in that region, especially relating to transboundary water management. Then, on Friday, 10 July, the ECE Executive Secretary would host a dinner for the Executive Secretaries of the five regional commissions of ECOSOC, to talk of common projects.

Catherine Sibut-Pinote of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), announcing the schedule of UNCTAD’s Secretary-General for next week, said that on the afternoon of Monday, 6 July, he would be a panellist on high-level policy dialogue being held by ECOSOC with the with the heads of international financial and trade institutions, including Pascal Lamy of the World Trade Organization. She announced his other activities for the week as well, and the full schedule could be found on the Internet.

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said UNICEF would participate in a whole series of meetings and panels at ECOSOC, and UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman would be in Geneva for the session. In addition, UNICEF would have a stand at the Innovation Fair, which would be held in tandem with ECOSOC’s high-level segment, in the Halle des Pas Perdus. The stand would present ways in which UNICEF had worked on the ground to improve children’s health.

Leyla Alyanak of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said that on Monday at ECOSOC UNFPA would have two speakers: a maternal health advocate from Kenya who had personally experienced living with obstetric fistula, who would remind everyone that a woman dies needlessly every minute in pregnancy or childbirth and that for every woman who died 20 to 30 suffered a serious birth injury, of which obstetric fistula was one of the more devastating. She would be a guest speaker during the morning session from 10 a.m. to noon. The second speaker would be the singer and actress Natalie Imbruglia, who was Spokesperson for the Campaign to End Fistula. She would speak towards the end of the partnerships in health segment, which would take place from 5 to 6:30 p.m.

Fadéla Chaib of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that WHO Director-General Margaret Chan would address ECOSOC on its opening day around 11 a.m., talking on a number of issues, including chronic illnesses, influenza H1N1 and the health-related Millennium Development Goals. Copies of the speech would be available in the room and would be posted on the Internet shortly following the conclusion. There would be numerous round tables and meetings on the issue of health during this session, including a ministerial round table on Tuesday, 7 July, from 8 to 9:30 a.m. on joint UNFPA, WHO, UNICEF and World Bank efforts to save the lives of newborns and mothers.

Conference on Disarmament

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier wished to highlight that, during the second part of the Conference on Disarmament’s 2009 session, which concluded today, the Conference had achieved an important result: the adoption of a programme of work after 12 years of stalemate. Consultations would continue, meanwhile, on the appointment of working group chairs and special coordinators, as well as a draft schedule of activities for the rest of the 2009 session, during the intersessional period before the Conference opened the third and final part of its 2009 session in August. A meeting summary had been issued in English and French for the concluding (public) plenary of the second part, which had been held yesterday.

Gaza Hearings in Geneva

Responding to a question on the set up for the public hearings to be held by the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, on Monday, 6 and Tuesday, 7 July in Geneva, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that a press release on the subject would be issued this afternoon. Journalists would not have access to the room where the public hearings were being held, but they would be able to watch it via live audiovisual link in Room XVI.

Children in Pakistan

Ms. Taveau said UNICEF was deeply concerned about the condition of thousands of children who had been displaced by conflict or who remained in affected areas in northwestern Pakistan. Nearly half of the 2 million displaced were children, many of whom were in urgent need of health and educational services, nutritional support and sanitation, as well as protection. Moreover, their already difficult situation was worsening owing to constantly increasing summer temperatures. UNICEF was especially concerned about some 700,000 children due to start the school year in September in 3,700 schools that were currently occupied by 150,000 displaced persons. UNICEF was working closely with the Government and other partners to provide assistance to the thousands of displaced women and children. Notably, over 200,000 children had been vaccinated against measles and hygiene kits had been distributed to families.

However, UNICEF’s segment of the consolidated appeal for this humanitarian emergency – $52 million – last revised in May, had only received $22.5 to date, Ms. Taveau stressed. Without further funds, it would be impossible to ensure service to the thousands of children and families affected. A news note was available.

Epidemics Report

Jean-Luc Martinage of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) announced the launch of the report, “The Epidemic Divide”, next Monday. At the back of the room were a news release and a copy of the report, both embargoed until Monday, 6 July at 2:01 a.m. Geneva time. The report highlighted the growing burden of epidemics on the social and economic development of poorer countries, and warned developed countries of the dangers of complacency in the face of those epidemics.

Tammam Aloudat, IFRC senior officer for health in emergencies, said that the oldest war that humans had engaged in still raged today. It was a war against germs and infectious agents, which were smart, adaptable and merciless and with whom there was no negotiating. Unfortunately for IFRC, those privileged enough to live in places like Geneva might think that that war had been won. They had not; they were far away from it; they might even be further today than ever before. Every year the world lost close to 14 million people to infectious diseases. Those were not only diseases that one heard about every day – like influenza. This year more people were infected by meningitis than ever, as well as by polio – which they had thought they were a step away from eradicating. Today, populations were subjected to more infectious diseases than ever before. In some areas of the planet, life expectancy was lower than it was 10,000 years ago. And their weapons – their medicines and vaccines – were failing. On the front line of the skirmishes there were volunteers who were giving the message that it was not just about medicines, but the need to inform the populations involved.

H1N1 Meeting

Ms. Chaib noted that on Tuesday, 7 July, there would be a one-day meeting, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., of the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization at the Geneva International Conference Centre (CICG), to discuss issues related to influenza H1N1. At 10 a.m. there would be a briefing by Marie Paul Kieny on the availability of H1N1 vaccines. They findings of the meeting would be presented to the Director-General of WHO. The meetings of the group were closed to the media, but the results would be posted as soon as possible on the Internet. In response to a question, Ms. Chaib confirmed that CEOs of pharmaceutical companies would not be present.

Other

Mr. Rodriguez of UNECE said that next week, there were three main events: meetings of the working group on the Aarhus Convention, which was concerned with access by citizens to information on the environment; a meeting of the Bureau of the Pan European Committee working on a joint project relating to transport, health and environment, which was preparing for a September meeting in the Czech Republic on best safety practices for pedestrians and cyclists in urban areas; and a meeting of the working group on the management of transboundary watercourses.

Ms. Sibut-Pinote announced that next week in Geneva from 7 to 9 July, there would be the tenth meeting of the UNCTAD Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Competition Law and Policy, which would discuss, among others, the relationship between competition and industrial policies in promoting economic development; public monopolies, concessions, and competition law and policy; and the use of economic analysis in competition cases.

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that a first group of 2,000 victims of illegal armed groups would receive compensation on Sunday as part of the Colombian Government Reparation Programme, supported by IOM. President Alvaro Uribe would hand over compensation to 300 victims in the city of Popayan, with the remaining 1,700 receiving their money in different locations around the country. Victims who could prove the death of a family member, forced disappearance, kidnapping, physical injury or psychological trauma resulting in permanent disability would receive $10,400. Claimants proving torture, physical injury or psychological trauma not resulting in permanent disability, confinement, illegal recruitment of minor or sexual crimes, would be eligible to receive $7,850. Those proving forced displacement would receive $7,050. The Government expected to provide compensation to some 10,000 victims or their families by the end of 2009 and had set aside more than $90 million for this year. In total, $3.4 billion would be used for the scheme over the next 10 years.

In another development, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and IOM were joining forces to tap into key technical expertise among the Somali diaspora in a bid to help rebuild key governance foundations in parts of the country, Ms. Pandya said. Somalis with professional expertise in policy and legislation, human resources management and public financial management living in North America, the United Kingdom and Scandinavia would be targeted for temporary return for an average period of six months to provide on-the-job peer-to-peer training in their respective fields in northern Somalia initially, including Somaliland and Puntland.