REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Corinne Momal-Vanian, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was attended by the Spokespersons for the International Organization for Migration, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, World Food Programme, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, World Trade Organization, World Meteorological Organization, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, World Health Organization, World Intellectual Property Organization, Economic Commission for Europe and the Human Rights Council.

Ebola

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the previous day in New York, the Security Council had unanimously adopted resolution 2177 (2014), the text of which was now available.

In his remarks to the Security Council, the Secretary-General had said that he had decided to establish an international mission, to be known as the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response, or UNMEER, with five priorities: stopping the outbreak, treating the infected, ensuring essential services, preserving stability and preventing further outbreaks. The letter of the Secretary-General to the Security Council and the General Assembly with details on the new mission had been just sent to the journalists.

The General Assembly would consider today the letter by the Secretary-General and was expected to adopt a resolution, the draft text of which was available online.

Angelita Mendy, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), stated that a 15-person United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team had been deployed to Liberia the previous day. It was composed of experts from OCHA, European Union and the Government of Liberia. It was the first time that an UNDAC team had been deployed to deal with a disease outbreak. Such teams were normally deployed in cases of natural disasters.

Dr. Pierre Formenty, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that he had been deployed in Liberia in mid-August, where he had worked with a number of UN partners and other organizations, such as Médecins Sans Frontières. They had set up a special strategy for Monrovia to address numerous pressing issues.

Dr. Formenty stressed that without the involvement of the population itself, the outbreak of Ebola could not be controlled. Measures could be put in place only with the full cooperation of the people. The first priority was to put people infected with Ebola under care. WHO and the MSF had reached some of their limits in Monrovia, but other NGOs were helping out. WHO was helping some communities to develop their own care interventions. However, currently, the number of beds in Monrovia was not enough to cope with the number of cases.

In terms of priority, the WHO also wanted to continue to take care of non-Ebola cases. In Monrovia, as in the rest of the country, there was a lot of suspicion about Ebola, and people were reacting suspiciously even to symptoms of malaria. That was why WHO was working on increasing the number of testing stations. The plan in the coming months was to have rapid testing spots outside of big Ebola treatment centres, to rapidly establish if people were infected or not. Another important component was ensuring safe burials. Those who died from Ebola were the most contagious. Efforts were underway in Monrovia to ensure that there were enough teams to deal with the increasing number of people dying of Ebola.

On why the outbreak in Monrovia demanded special treatment, Dr. Formenty said that in cities the social fabric was not as strong as in villages. The classical religious and community leaders did not hold the same authority as in the villages. There were also some slums in Monrovia, where little authority was exercised. Effective communications between the authorities and the population ought to be reestablished.

Asked how much of the estimates about Monrovia being worst affected were due to the fact that the situation in the rest of the country was not so well known, Dr. Formenty responded that in rural areas in Guinea, Sierra Leone and even in Liberia the surveillance systems were not perfect, but were nonetheless good. The work there was actually easier when compared to the capital city. In Conakry, a month earlier, the chain of transmission was also difficult to contain, but in Monrovia the situation was more challenging. Overall, the surveillance system in rural areas was more efficient than in capitals.

Asked whether the recent killing of health workers in rural Guinea would make WHO reconsider its approach, Mr. Jasarevic said that that tragic incident showed how challenging the situation was. There were villages which, for different reasons, were refusing interventions. It was taking time to get there, and direct approach was necessary. There had to be good and clear communication, with a proper protocol, not only to village and community leaders, but to entire villages. Sometimes hours and hours of conversation with locals were needed to persuade them to hand over those suspected of being infected with Ebola. Dr. Formenty added that the dramatic report of the murder in Guinea was reminiscent of a killing of four teachers by the local population in the Congo during the 2003 Ebola outbreak. The investigation into the recent murder would be organized by the Government of Guinea, and the motives should be discovered. An additional difficulty was the overall lack of trust among the population, who had suffered a lot over the previous 20 years.

Dr. Formenty stressed that the fight against Ebola ought to be continued in any case. Empathy had to be shown with victims, families and communities. Without that, messages would not be understood by the population. There were signals in Sierra Leone that the population in rural areas started to understand the disease and that they needed to change their behavior. It was not an easy task as epidemics like Ebola bought to light all weaknesses of our societies.

On vaccines in Sierra Leone, Dr. Formenty responded that there had been several vaccine trials starting now in Germany, Switzerland and the US. There was a good road map in place for vaccines, and there were hopes to have something ready by the beginning of December. Different aspects of adverse effects had to be followed up on.

Mr. Jasarevic said that the goal of the campaign declared by the Presidential Task Force in Sierra Leone was to educate population about Ebola. Efforts were made to go to people’s houses, fight against existing misconceptions, on how to deal with the infected and what safe burial practices were. He said that WHO believed that any effort to educate the population was important.

Asked whether the WHO was taking special precautions now given the last deadly incident in Guinea, Dr. Formenty said that “zero risk” simply did not exist. International staff had been infected, including colleagues from the MSF in Monrovia. All the people working to combat the outbreak of Ebola needed a lot of courage every morning to go out and do their work. A lot of security trainings and security measures were in place, but incidents and mistakes could happen.

Mediterranean mass murder

Rupert Colville, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said that High Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein had just issued a news release urging Egypt and other North African and European States with relevant information to make a concerted effort to bring to justice the people who had allegedly sunk a boat, deliberately, causing the deaths of between 300 and 500 refugees and migrants in the Mediterranean the previous week.

High Commissioner Zeid stressed that it was crucial to bring to an end the prevailing impunity surrounding such crimes and was urging States to do more to address the root causes driving people to make such dangerous journeys.

The press release contained more information as well as a wider analysis of the need to tackle the root causes of migrant and refugee movements, and could be found at the OHCHR webpage.

Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), delivered the latest information on the Mediterranean boat sinking, based on talks between IOM staff and survivors in Malta, Sicily and Crete. Of those eleven survivors, eight were Palestinian, presumably from Gaza.
In some cases, the survivors could share the nickname of the trafficker who had organised the voyage from Gaza and whose name had already surfaced in Egypt a few times before. Moreover, it was reported that the three survivors in Malta, as well as a ship captain who had participated in the rescue, insisted that there were only 300, and not 500 people on the boat when it was scuttled.
According to the documents of the captain who had participated in the rescue, there had been many floating bodies in the immediate area of the scuttled vessel and it was mentioned that there had been four or five vessels in the same area simultaneously. Thus, it had to be assumed that this documentation was not complete, and it was difficult to reconcile the opposing numbers of refugees on the boat.

Despite the statements of the three survivors and the captain, for instance, another eyewitness described four to five buses with 90 to 100 passengers having arrived to the harbour. While boarding, the captain of the vessel had made a headcount, resulting in 450 people, excluding children. All witnesses had agreed that at various times during the voyage, different ships had appeared and taken over some migrants which could be a reason for the uncertainty about the exact number of passengers.

With regards to current investigations, two nicknames of persons responsible had come up. One of them was a well-known human trafficker who had apparently organized the voyage from Gaza, whereas the other one was operating in Egypt and acted as the coordinator. The investigation itself was directed by local authorities, and there was no information on unified transnational cooperation.

Mr. Colville added that, at the very minimum, there needed to be strong international cooperation. Egypt would have to play a key role, and other four to five countries ought to be involved, all with the aim of finding out who had been on the boat and who should be held accountable.

Deaths of children in Syria

Christian Lindmeier, for the World Health Organization (WHO), spoke about an incident during a recent measles vaccination campaign in Syria. WHO was still relying on second hand information on the ground, and trying to get a clarification. WHO had dispatched a team of three to get the information verified on the ground.

Mr. Lindmeier informed that 15 children had died on 16 September, and 50 had been reported to be affected by a contaminated vaccination in rural Idlib. He explained that manufacturers produced freeze dried vaccine powder and diluent, which were then shipped together to a hub. On the day of vaccination itself, those were shipped further to health facilities, where the vaccines were first mixed and then administered. In the hub, apparently, the diluent had been kept in a fridge with a muscle relaxant – Atracurium - which was normally used for anaesthesia. As the muscle relaxant, which had contaminated the vaccines, was working according to the weight, all children who had died were under the age of two, while the older ones had survived although they had shown symptoms of diarrhoea and vomiting.

How this could have physically happened was unclear. It was not the first time but was, nonetheless, the biggest tragic incident of that kind. It all hinted to a very bad human error, which seemed to be twofold: the mix-up had already happened in the hub itself, and when vaccines were unpacked.

The biggest challenge now was to continue the investigation. The Measle Task Force on the ground, the NGO running the campaign, had immediately suspended the vaccination campaign. It was important to fully establish the cause. It was important to continue the immunization programme as soon as possible and rebuild the trust. In 2006, more than 99 per cent of infants had been immunized against measles.

Asked who was in charge of the laboratory and whether the mix-up was intentional, Mr. Lindemeier said that the exact person or group responsible for the lab was not known, but the campaign on the ground was carried out by an NGO called Measles Task Force of Syria. There was a very slight possibility that it was not caused by human error, but done on intent. Until all evidence was collected, that possibility remained.

On how the transport of distribution of vaccines worked, Mr. Lindmeier said that the situation on the ground was very volatile and politically charged, which was why the WHO was supporting many partners on the ground, but was not directly involved in the campaign.

Mr. Lindmeier clarified said that gross negligence had to have occurred on two occasions, during both packing and unpacking. On whether many more children may have died from the mistake, Mr. Lindmeier said that the number of known casualties was 15. Tens of thousands of children had been vaccinated, the only province with problems was Idlib. WHO did not know of other cases. WHO would not disclose the manufacturer at the moment; it was not the manufacturer’s fault, as the vaccine was not contaminated during production, but the fault lay on the ground. It was explained that the hub for shipping and packing was in Syria.

He also confirmed that WHO had no supervision over the NGO on the ground. On whether that practice would change, and whether there was concern that other vaccines would also be contaminated, Mr. Lindmeier said that there were clear WHO guidelines on how to treat vaccines. If possible, WHO and partners would like to be on the ground, but it was not always possible, for security reasons. It was a huge risk and unfortunately tragic errors occurred.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Elisabeth Byrs, for the World Food Programme (WFP), stated that the WFP was playing an active part in the humanitarian response against Ebola in Congo as well. A task force had been established and food assistance was being planned for the three months in the Ebola zone, pending the availability of funds.

As with operations elsewhere in the world, WFP’s funding situation for DRC was extremely challenging. Shortfalls meant that the WFP has had to distribute reduced rations and scale back cash-based activities in some parts of DRC.

In the face of severe funding constraints, which were getting stronger due to the Ebola outbreak, WFP operations in DRC would be focusing on providing food and nutritional assistance. USD 19 million were required immediately for its operations over the six-months period. WFP’s initial plan was to assist 4,2 million people in the DRC by December 2015, but that had to be reduced to 3,6 million due to the financial issue.

Ms. Byrs informed that the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service, managed by the WFP, helped by carrying food in regions affected by Ebola. Boende, the biggest city in the region, would be thus reached by air. Financing was needed in order to make those planes fly, to bring food to people in quarantine zones, and to ill people unable to get their food.

Bahrain

Mr. Colville said that the OHCHR had welcomed the conditional release of Bahraini human rights defender Maryam Al-Khawaja, who had been in detention since her arrest at Manama airport on 30 August. OHCHR would be closely watching the results of the judicial hearing on her case, which was scheduled to take place at the High Criminal Court of Bahrain on 1 October.

Al-Khawaja had been detained while travelling to Bahrain on her Danish passport to visit her father, Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, who had been earlier sentenced to life in prison and whose health condition was reportedly deteriorating. Maryam Al-Khawaja had been detained at the airport, apparently because her Bahraini passport had expired. She had been then transferred to a women’s prison on charges of assaulting a police officer. OHCHR was concerned that Ms. Al-Khawaja's detention was related to her work to promote human rights in Bahrain through the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, of which she was co-director.

Mr. Colville informed that the OHCHR had been in touch with the authorities to raise its concerns on that case, and on other cases where individuals might have been detained for the peaceful exercise of their rights.

Human Rights Council

Rolando Gomez, for the Human Rights Council (HRC), informed that the Council was currently engaged in considering a series of country-specific reports which were drafted through the Universal Periodic Review working group. Eight more states were being reviewed today: Dominica, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Brunei Darussalam, Costa Rica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Qatar and Nicaragua. That was an opportunity for states to spell out their positions on all the recommendations that were given to them during the UPR. The DPRK had accepted 113 of the pending 268 recommendations given to it in May 2014. The following session of the UPR would be taking place from 27 October to 7 November 2014.

Later today, there would be presentation of report by the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Right to Peace and a general debate on item 5 – subsidiary bodies.

Mr. Gomez said that 30 draft-resolutions had been tabled for consideration by the Human Rights Council on 25 and 26 September. All those resolutions were already available online on the extranet and a few more were expected to come on 22 September. One of them would deal with the Ebola epidemic, which highlighted the serious Human Rights Council concerns surrounding this epidemic stigmatization, discrimination, access to medicine, health facilities, etc.

On 22 September, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon, another panel discussion would also take place on the situation of drones and military operations in accordance with international law. That panel would feature, among others, Christof Heyns, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, and Ben Emmerson, the Special Rapporteur on counterterrorism. Both rapporteurs had recently produced reports on the subject. As of 12 noon on 22 September, the UPR outcome review would be continued.

Answering a question on the delay in some States to reply to the recommendations they had been given, Mr. Gomez said that any State under review could accept recommendations on the spot or on the following session of the Council. States were given an option; it depended on recommendations as well, some needed more reflection and analysis and others could be accepted immediately.

Climate Summit

Clare Nullis, for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), emphasised that WMO was supporting the Climate Summit in New York on 23September with a number of initiatives. Those initiatives underlined the need for immediate, concerted international action against climate change.

The delegation to New York would be accompanied by well-known weather presenters who had prepared a series of weather reports for 2050, depicting the future weather conditions. In total, there had been around ten weather reports, including the report of Germany which was released today. Generally, there had been a very positive reaction to those future forecasts, since they impressively outlined the threat of increasing occurrences of heat waves and torrential rains.

On that note, Ms. Nullis reminded that the WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud had emphasised recently that time was running out. With every year that passed, greenhouse gas concentrations reached higher and higher levels and the more time passed, the more difficult, the more expensive, the more challenging it would be to adapt to climate change caused by human activities. Here, it was underlined that, according to the WMO, human activities were fully responsible for climate change.

Ms. Nullis informed that, according to current climate change findings, August had been the hottest month on record, referring to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Japanese Meteorological Agency’s Tokyo Climate Center. Although the observations were based on slightly differing figures, all concurred that August had been the hottest month recorded. Also, the period of June-August 2014 turned out to be the hottest on record. Although parts of Europe had experienced a cool and wet summer, monthly mean temperatures had been extremely high from western Alaska to Eastern Siberia, as well as the western coast of the USA and Mexico. The reports were available online and the links to them were included in the briefing notes.

Jean Rodriguez, for the Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), informed that the UNECE Executive Secretary, Christian Friis Bach, would participate at the Climate Summit at UNHQ on 23 September, during which he would have bilateral meetings with participants and UN officials. Mr. Bach would also sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) on 25 September.

MoU with the International Geothermal Association

Mr. Rodriguez informed that the UNECE and the International Geothermal Association (IGA) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop a globally applicable harmonized standard for reporting geothermal resources. Such a standard would ensure greater consistency and transparency in financial reporting and enhance management of geothermal resources.

Under the MoU, the IGA would work towards providing technology-specific rules of application (‘specifications’) for the application of the United Nations Framework for Fossil Energy and Mineral Reserves and Resources 2009 (UNFC) to geothermal resources. This work would be overseen by the UNECE Expert Group on Resource Classification.

Application of UNFC to renewable energy resources was a priority area for UNECE Member States. Having an international system and a standardized terminology for reporting geothermal resources would help build the trust and understanding of the geothermal industry with investors, regulators and the general public alike.

Geothermal energy drew on the heat contained in the earth’s crust. It could be harnessed from underground reservoirs of hot rocks saturated with water and/or steam, or from the heat of the ground itself. The energy could be used directly for heating or cooling, or converted into electricity. In addition, the major advantage of geothermal energy over other renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind, was that it could operate nearly twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

Currently, generation of electricity from geothermal energy globally exceeded 12,000 Megawatt electric. While that was less than 0.25 per cent of the current total electricity generating capacity worldwide, there was great potential for the development of geothermal energy, both for direct use of geothermal heat, and electricity generation, particularly in many parts of the developing world.

Mr. Rodriguez said that interesting capacities were already being used in three areas in the world - Central America, the Asia-Pacific region and the US. The potential in other regions would grow as the benefits of geothermal compared to renewable sources consisted in not depending on the wind or day light. It was available almost 24 hours a day which was a big improvement compared to other sources.

In Kenya today, the geothermal resources already represented 15 per cent of the electricity generating in the country and that the government war planning to increase that share. The same project existed also in Ethiopia. UNECE expected that the MoU and the inclusion of geothermal energy would facilitate investments decision in the future and contribute to the development to that energy source in the energy mix.

Mr. Rodriguez also highlighted that the current project to use the water from the Lake Geneva to cool the Palais des Nations and the entire area was also part of the geothermal energies sector and that the Canton of Geneva had already started a mapping of the underground in the Canton to assess the potential of geothermal to be used there locally.

Geneva activities

Ms. Momal-Vanian reminded that the Committee on Enforced Disappearances was holding private meetings until the end of the current session. The Committee had considered reports of Belgium and Paraguay.

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was concluding its examination of the report of Belgium this morning, after which it would consider the report of Equateur on 22 September. The last country to be reviewed would be Denmark, the following week. The Committee had already considered reports of New Zealand, Mexico and the Republic of Korea.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child was closing its session today, when it would present its concluding observations on Venezuela, Morocco, Fiji, Singapore, Hungary and Croatia.

Ms. Momal-Vanian reminded that, in the context of the Climate Summit the following week, the film “Snowpiercer” would be shown as part of the Ciné-ONU series at Arditi Auditorium on 24 September at 6 p.m.

On 24 September at 4.15 p.m, in Press Room 1, the Permanent Mission of the US would hold a press conference on the International Harmonization of Patent Processes, US Efforts on Patent Reform, International IP Policy and Enforcement.

Catherine Sibut, for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), informed that on 22 September, UNCTAD would hold a meeting on the evolution of the multilateral trading system and its trends from a development perspective. The debate would be chaired by Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary-General of UNCTAD, and David Shark, Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization. The afternoon would then be devoted to a debate between panellists from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, the Economic Commission for Europe, the Economic Commission for Africa, the National Organic Agriculture Movements and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce representing Laos. Journalists would be informed of the highlight points of the debate and would be welcome to attend the meeting in Room XXVII.

Ms. Sibut also announced that on 23 September, UNCTAD would present its report on assistance to the Palestinian people.

Melissa Begag, for the World Trade Organization (WTO), informed that on 22 September, Director-General Roberto Azevêdo would meet with members of the Brazilian Association of Textile Industry. On 24 September, he would meet with Finland's Trade Minister Lenita Toivakka, and on 25 September with Mongolia's Minister for Economic Development Nyamjav Batbayar and the President of the Brazilian National Institute of Industrial Property Otávio Brandelli. The same day, the Director-General would give the closing address at a WTO seminar on Regional Trade Agreements.

The Informal Negotiating Group on Market Access was meeting on 22 September at 3 p.m; the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements on 23 and 24 September, while the Agriculture negotiations would take place on 23 September at 3 p.m. and a briefing would follow in Room A at WTO at 5 p.m. Trade Policy Review of Mongolia was scheduled for 24 and 26 September. On 26 September, the Dispute Settlement Body and the Informal Working Party on the Accession of Kazakhstan were holding meetings.

Ed Harris, for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), reminded that the Assembly of WIPO Member States would be held from 22 until 30 September. The important development was that the Assembly’s meeting would be held at the new WIPO conference facility, which would be officially inaugurated in the evening on 22 September. The inaugural event, hosted by the WIPO Director-General Francis Gurry, would start at 7:30 p.m, and would include interventions by Francois Longchamp, President of the Council of the State of Geneva, and Stefan Benisch, building architect, and Jean Michel Jarre, President of the International Confederation of Authors and Composers Societies. Renowned musicians Susana Baca of Peru and Ismael Lo of Senegal would perform that evening. Journalists were welcome, could access the event with their Palais badges, and should just inform WIPO in advance .

Representatives of the International Labour Organization, United Nations Children’s Fund and the United Nations Refugee Agency also attended the briefing, but did not brief.
The webcast for this briefing is available here: … http://bit.ly/XQtNxW