REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service, chaired the briefing attended by spokespersons for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the World Health Organization, the International Organization for Migration, and the World Trade Organization.

Syria: Civilians Trapped

Rupert Colville, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), voiced the alarm about the increasingly desperate situation of at least 200,000 civilians trapped in three towns in Syria where attacking forces had been making significant headway in recent weeks.

On 7 July, Government forces and their supporters had taken control of Castello Road, the only known remaining route in and out of opposition-controlled areas of the city of Aleppo. Working in tandem with Kurdish groups, the attacking forces had gained control of much of the road, placing them in close proximity to opposition-controlled areas of the city, which were now cut off from the outside world.

As airstrikes had escalated in recent months, a total of 10,000 to 30,000 were believed to have fled the area between January and June. Airstrikes by the Government and allied forces had also increased in western rural Aleppo areas, and on 10 July at least 19 civilians had been killed in Ibeen town, and another seven civilians in Shantra town.

Accurate figures were extremely hard to establish, but it was believed that there were at least 150,000 civilians who were now effectively totally trapped in the opposition-held part of Aleppo. OHCHR was deeply worried about what would happen to them as the fighting closed in and intensified.

Meanwhile, as Government forces and their supporters had advanced on the opposition-held eastern parts of the city, armed opposition groups had escalated their shelling of Government-held areas of Aleppo, further endangering the remaining civilian population there. The High Commissioner also expressed alarm about the desperate situation of the thousands of civilians who had been trapped in the strategically located town of Darayya, in Western Ghouta, an area close to Damascus that had been under siege by Government forces and their allies since 2012. Serious concern was voiced about the impact of more airstrikes and ground fighting on an increasingly closely packed civilian population, as well as what would happen to them if Darayya fell to the encircling forces.

While many towns and cities in Syria were still under siege, and experiencing continuous or sporadic fighting, the third town that the High Commissioner singled out as being of particular concern was Manbij in the eastern rural area of Aleppo Governorate. The situation there was also believed to be deteriorating dramatically as fighting continues between ISIL and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which was being supported by airstrikes.

Approximately 70,000 civilians were believed to be trapped in Manbij, with the town itself and surrounding areas subjected to near-daily airstrikes and ground strikes since early June. The SDF was reported to have made significant gains and was moving closer to capturing the town, which had been under ISIL control since January 2014.

Mr. Colville said that civilians had reportedly been killed if they left their homes or attempted to flee. It was difficult to say how many civilians had been killed since the current campaign began, but it was believed that the number was in the dozens at least, and included many women and children. Families were unable to access local cemeteries to bury their relatives who had died or been killed, and were burying them in their gardens or keeping the corpses in bunkers. The town had no electricity or water at present, and no medical facilities were known to be operating.

The High Commissioner urged all the forces advancing on Aleppo, Darayya and Manbij, as well as those fighting in other parts of Syria, despite declared truces, to take great care not to harm the many hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in the conflict zones.

“The country is already a gigantic, devastated graveyard,” High Commissioner Zeid said. “The number of war crimes already committed surpasses the worst nightmares. But it is in the power of both attacking and defending forces – and their foreign backers – to minimize further civilian casualties and avoid further crimes and atrocities. They must do so."

Reading a message by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Ms. Vellucci said that today, an inter-agency convoy was delivering food, health, nutrition, WASH and other emergency supplies to the besieged Al-Waer neighbourhood in Homs. That was the first of two convoys planned to the neighbourhood targeting 75,000 people in need. However, surgical items had been removed during the loading. The last inter-agency humanitarian delivery to that area had been on 16 June. The UN continued to call on all parties, particularly the Syrian authorities, to allow for all necessary humanitarian aid, including medical supplies and surgical items, to be allowed onto convoys.

Ms. Vellucci informed that, since the beginning of 2016, over 978,000 people in hard-to-reach areas, including 364,150 people in besieged locations had received various types of assistance, including food for at least one month, through UN inter-agency operations; many of them more than once. However, much more access was still required.

On whether the High Commissioner said anything on a possible resumption of Syria peace talks, Mr. Colville stressed that one had to have hope. The situation was pretty bleak at the moment, as the fighting, killing and torture went on. Peace was desperately needed. Ms. Vellucci referred the journalists to the previous day’s stakeout by the Special Envoy for Syria, who was now going to examine the outcome of yesterday’s meeting between the two co-chairs of the International Syria Support Group.

Ms. Vellucci noted that the Secretary-General’s Spokesperson had said that, in spite of the requests to reach all besieged and hard-to-reach areas, quite often such access remained difficult. Mr. Colville mentioned an OHCHR paper on besieged areas which outlined human rights principles for such situations. The paper would be circulated. What was happening was completely unconscionable, he stressed.

Answering a question, Mr. Colville said that the opposition-held areas in Aleppo were now effectively encircled. There were crimes all over the place for years, and it was not fruitful to discuss hierarchies of “bad guys” in Syria.

On surgical items removed from the convoy, Mr. Jašareviæ said that Elizabeth Hoff, the WHO representative in Syria, had stated the previous day that the practice of removing life-saving items was continuing. Out of 174 tons of medical supplies in 2016, 32 tons had been rejected for delivery. In other terms, 1.2 million medical treatment kits had been delivered, while some 97,000 trauma kits, surgical equipment and burn kits had been removed.

South Sudan: Update

Tarik Jašareviæ, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that the WHO had managed to provide further medical supplies to the Juba Teaching Hospital, mainly for surgical interventions. An additional 100 body bags and personal protection equipment had also been supplied. No information was available on any disease outbreaks, but there was a concern over the emergence of water-borne diseases, as the population was dependant on commercial water distribution, which was no longer available to the same degree.

Itayi Viriri, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that the IOM was providing emergency assistance at the UN peacekeeping base in Juba’s Tong Ping neighbourhood, where an estimated 2,300 people were seeking protection. On 13 and 14 July, IOM and Medair had distributed blankets, sleeping mats and mosquito nets to 1,200 families at the site.

An IOM medical team had set up a temporary clinic at the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Tong Ping base on 13 July to conduct health consultations, provide mothers with maternal care and vaccinate children. IOM teams had also delivered 350 kg of medicines and health supplies to the ADRA compound, where several thousand people had been sheltering in the immediate days of the conflict.

Mr. Viriri said that the IOM operations continued unaffected in other areas of the country, where an estimated 6.1 million people were in need of aid. Relief agencies remained alarmed by the increasing humanitarian needs in South Sudan, despite the signing of a peace agreement in August 2015.

Asked about the freedom of movement in Juba, Ms. Vellucci said that the patrolling and information gathering were still quite limited. The UNMISS was currently protecting 33,000 people in Juba. Mr. Jašareviæ and Mr. Viriri said that since 8 July in Juba City, at least 300 deaths had been recorded.

William Spindler, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), informed that, at the peak of the hostilities, 42,000 people had been internally displaced by fighting. The number of refugees in neighbouring countries stood at 835,000.

Terrorist Attack in Nice

Mr. Colville stated that High Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein was appalled by the horrendous carnage in Nice the previous evening. The latest murderous assault on ordinary people, using a simple truck as a deadly weapon, was yet another blow aimed at the heart of humanity by extremists. There were now so many deadly attacks – in Baghdad, Brussels, Dhaka, Istanbul, Medina, Orlando – to name just a fraction of those that have occurred in recent months, that words of condemnation sounded like damp leaves fluttering to the ground after another violent storm, said the High Commissioner in his message.

It was an ideology that seemed to be creating an endless supply of fanatics prepared to kill for the sake of killing. When one means of murder – hijacking planes, planting bombs, getting hold of assault rifles – became more difficult, they simply found another. The response needed to be carefully calculated and highly sophisticated. It was not simply about heightened security, it was also about deflating the ideology itself until it dwindled back to where it belonged -- nowhere.

Ms. Vellucci referred to the previous night’s press statement by the Security Council, and informed that at 9:45 a.m. New York Time, the Security Council President would address the media on the terrorist attack.

Hungary: Further Restrictions and Push-backs

Mr. Spindler stated that the UNHCR was deeply concerned about further restrictions by Hungary leading to push-backs of people seeking asylum and reports about the use of violence and abuse. Those restrictions were at variance with European Union and international law, and reports of abuse needed to be investigated. The number of refugees and migrants at the Serbia-Hungary border had reached over 1,400, including people waiting to enter the transit zones, as well as those at the Refugee Aid Point at Subotica. The majority were women and children who were particularly affected by the deteriorating humanitarian situation. States had the obligation to guarantee that such people were treated humanely, in safety and dignity, and had access to asylum, if they so wished.

The new legislation extended border controls to an eight-kilometre range area inside Hungarian territory, and authorized the police to intercept people within that area and send them to the other side of the fence, often to remote areas without adequate services. Asylum-seekers were then instructed to go to one of the transit zones along the border to submit an asylum claim. Currently, only two transit zones were functional along the 175-kilometre-long Serbian-Hungarian border, at Röszke and Tompa, where on average only 15 individuals were admitted in each transit zone per day. Since the new legislation had come into force, a total of 664 individuals had been sent back through the fence. In addition, the Government had significantly enhanced border security with 10,000 soldiers and police officers and also drone and helicopter surveillance.

Mr. Spindler informed that the United Nations Refugee Agency had continued to receive reports of abuse and violence occurring when people were apprehended within the transit zones, or in police detention facilities. Reports included cases of bites by unleashed police dogs, the use of pepper spray and beatings. UNHCR had requested the Hungarian authorities to investigate those reports. In early June, UNHCR had issued a statement after a young Syrian refugee had drowned, when allegedly pushed back into the Tisza River.

The conditions for those waiting to enter the ‘transit zones’ were dire. Individuals and families stayed in the open or set up makeshift tents on muddy fields next to the fence. Health and sanitation represented major challenges, and hygiene conditions were far from acceptable. People waiting included infants, unaccompanied children, pregnant women and people with disabilities and other specific needs. Several hundred were sheltered by the Government of Serbia in the Refugee Aid Point near Subotica, though capacity there was overstretched. In that context, people might further resort to the use of unscrupulous human smugglers who placed them at further risk.

In areas relevant to its mandate, UNHCR stood ready to support the Governments of Hungary and Serbia to manage the situation at their common border.

Answering questions, Mr. Spindler said that there were many Afghans, some Syrians, Pakistanis, Iraqis and other nationalities among the refugees and migrants. The OHCHR had also expressed concern over the situation, as had the Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and a number of others, who were also monitoring violations. A case of drowning had been investigated, but no update had been provided yet. UNHCR had reminded the Hungarian authorities, in writing, of their international obligations but no reply had been received from Budapest.

On whether any sanctions could be applied to a country violating the Refugee Convention, Mr. Spindler said that Hungary was a signatory to a number of legal instruments. The European Court of Human Rights could rule on some of the issues.

Mr. Spindler stressed that there was a deterioration in the situation in Hungary, and an overall decline in protection standards. UNHCR had spoken against campaigns by the Government of Hungary, which portrayed asylum seekers as criminals and terrorists. There were a number of issues of concern for some time, and the UNHCR was worried about anything that would diminish the protection of refugees’ rights.

Mediterranean Arrivals: Update

Mr. Viriri said that the Italian authorities had announced that they had concluded their operation on a trawler shipwrecked, which had caused an estimated 800 deaths of migrants and refugees in April 2015. The Italian Navy had extracted 458 bodies from inside the sunken trawler since the vessel had been brought to shore the previous month. According to the Navy, there were 675 confirmed victims of the tragedy, with the possibility that the remains of dozens more might never be recovered.

Mr. Viriri informed that an estimated 239,210 migrants and refugees had entered Europe by sea in 2016 through 13 July.

Geneva Events, Announcements and Press Conference

Ms. Vellucci informed that the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) was meeting today to consider the report of Mali. The following week, the Committee would be meeting in private.

The Human Rights Committee would hold a public closing session at the Palais Wilson from 3 p.m. today. The Committee would also present its concluding observations on Denmark, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Ghana, Ecuador, Burkina Faso and Argentina at a press conference in Press Room I at 1:30 p.m. today. The speakers would be Fabian Salvioli, Chairperson of the Committee, Victor Rodriguez-Rescia, Sarah Cleveland and Olivier de Frouville.

On Monday, 18 July at 11 a.m. in Press Room I, the International Labour Organization would launch its report “Assessment of labour provisions in trade and investment agreements”. The speakers would be Deborah Greenfield, ILO Deputy Director-General for Policy, and Marva Corley, Senior ILO Economist.

Ms. Vellucci also informed that Kyung-wha Kang, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, would be visiting Malawi and Madagascar from 16 to 22 July, in order to see for herself the impact of El Niño in Southern Africa. Southern Africa was experiencing the worst El-Niño-induced drought in 35 years, following the failure of two consecutive rainy seasons.

During her visit, Ms. Kang was expected to meet representatives of affected communities, government officials and humanitarian representatives in Malawi and Madagascar to discuss the effects of the drought and the efforts currently underway to address people’s needs. A media alert would be sent out by OCHA to reporters with focal points’ contact details to set up interviews.

Jessica Hermosa, for the World Trade Organization (WTO), informed that on 18 July 2016, Director-General Roberto Azevêdo would take part in the 14^th session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Nairobi, Kenya. On 22 July 2016, DG Azevêdo would meet with China's Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing, China. Mr. Azevêdo would be in China because Beijing was hosting a meeting of international organizations.

On 20 and 22 July, there would be a review of the trade policies and practices of the world’s largest trader - China. The two reports were already on the WTO Online News Room, under embargo. The Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce would be there, said Ms. Hermosa. If there was enough media interest, a press briefing could be arranged for 22 July.

Ms. Hermosa informed that meetings on agriculture negotiations would also take place at the WTO the following week. Three meetings would be held to discuss submissions on export restrictions, domestic support, public stock holdings for food security and a mechanism that could allow developing countries to temporarily increase tariffs if there was an import surge in foreign products.

Two meetings would also be held on dispute settlement the following week, informed Ms. Hermosa: on 19 July, the United States was expected to raise concern over India’s import ban on US poultry; and on 21 July, a number of disputes would be discussed, including between Thailand and the Philippines over cigarettes, and China and the United States over countervailing duties.

The webcast for this briefing is available here: http://bit.ly/unog150716