REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Rhéal LeBlanc, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section, United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was attended by the spokespersons for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Food Programme, the International Organization for Migration, the World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization.
Syria
Rhéal LeBlanc, for the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, said that the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, had on 19 November briefed the United Nations Security Council. He had stressed the fact that he was making every effort to convene the constitutional committee and resolve the issue of the lists. The aim of the United Nations was and remained to issue invitations by mid-December and to ensure that the first meeting of the constitutional committee was convened by 31 December, the date indicated in the Istanbul Declaration. The coming weeks would be of crucial importance in the process, and the United Nations remained ready for the establishment of the constitutional committee, he had added.
Responding to a question from a journalist, Mr. LeBlanc said that Mr. de Mistura had indicated he would be stepping down from his position in the near future, after giving a final briefing to the Security Council in December. The date on which Mr. Geir Pedersen, the new incumbent, would take over would be determined by the Secretary-General in the light of the relevant circumstances.
Central African Republic
Ravina Shamdasani, for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), made the following statement:
“The decision by the Central African Republic to surrender former militia leader Alfred Yekatom to the International Criminal Court, following an arrest warrant for his alleged responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity in 2013 and 2014, is a further significant step in the fight against impunity in the country.
His transfer on 17 November and last month’s inaugural session of the country’s Special Criminal Court send a strong message that the efforts to ensure accountability and justice for victims in the Central African Republic have begun producing results.
Such a message is all the more important amid a continuing upsurge in violence by armed groups. This started in Bria in central Central African Republic where 31 civilians were killed between August and September. In Batangafo, in the north-west of the country, 11 civilians were killed between late October and early November.
On 15 November, an attack on an internally displaced persons site in Alindao in the south-east reportedly left at least 48 dead, including two religious leaders, and forced some 18,000 people to flee. On 16 November, there was an attack on a UN peacekeepers’ base in Gbambia in which a Tanzanian peacekeeper was killed.
These attacks demonstrate a continued pattern of human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law, often along ethnic and confessional lines by both ex-Seleka and anti-Balaka armed groups, as regularly documented by the Human Rights Division of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) and in the UN Central African Republic mapping report that detailed violations and abuses from 2003 to 2015.
The armed groups and others who, despite peace efforts by the African Union, continue to target civilians and prevent the State from restoring its authority throughout the country to ensure the respect of human rights, should be aware that they will ultimately be held responsible and justice will prevail.”
Cameroon
Ravina Shamdasani, for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), made the following statement:
“We are deeply concerned about the worsening violence in the Southwest and Northwest regions of Cameroon, as we continue to receive reports of abductions and killings by armed groups, as well as extrajudicial killings by State armed forces. We urge all sides to refrain from acts of violence that have, for more than a year now, left the population in these regions living in fear, unable to access their basic human rights.
In addition to the high-profile abduction and subsequent release of 78 students and three staff at a Presbyterian secondary school in Bamenda, in the Northwest earlier this month, we regularly receive reports of abductions, reportedly carried out by armed secessionist groups. Just over the past two weeks, we have received reports of the abduction of eight students and one school official in Kumba, in the Southwest, and of at least 13 nuns near the locality of Bamessing – Ndop in the Northwest. They were all subsequently released, after some parents paid ransoms and the Catholic Diocese of Kumba intervened.
We have also received reports of armed secessionist groups attacking schools and destroying school buildings, which, coupled with the worrying abductions, has resulted in many children being unable to access their right to education since the violence broke out in October last year. There are also reports of the abduction and killing of police officers and administrative authorities.
Also in recent months, Cameroonian armed forces have allegedly carried out a number of extrajudicial executions in the Northwest and Southwest regions. On 20 October, in the village of Rom, in the Northwest town of Nwa, security forces reportedly killed four villagers during a confrontation with armed secessionist groups, while on 24 September, two men suspected of being secessionist fighters were reportedly killed on the spot. There have been numerous such reports in the preceding months.
What began as protests in October 2016 in the Northwest and Southwest regions against structural discrimination escalated into violence in 2017, and the situation has worsened considerably since then. The violence has led to massive internal displacement – at least 436,000 people are believed to be internally displaced, while more than 30,000 have fled to Nigeria since September last year.
We strongly condemn the human rights violations and abuses that have plagued the people in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon. We call on armed secessionists groups to refrain from the use of violence. We urge the Government to respect and protect the rights of all, to address the long-standing grievances of the communities in these regions, including through dialogue, to promptly investigate all cases of violations reportedly involving its security and defence forces, and to hold perpetrators responsible.
We also reiterate our readiness to work with the Government of Cameroon, including through an assessment mission to the Northwest and Southwest regions of the, which we have requested. This will enable us to be able to look into the human rights situation first-hand and engage with the Government accordingly on ways to address it.”
Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), made the following statement:
“With at least 436,000 people currently internally displaced in Cameroon’s South-West and North-West - and in neighbouring departments - due to hostilities between armed groups and security forces, the country remains of urgent humanitarian concern.
Humanitarian presence and response are slowly increasing in the affected areas, with priority given to the South-West region which is the epicentre of the displacement crisis, with 246,000 internally displaced persons. OCHA has strengthened its capacity including on access and civil-military coordination, and other UN humanitarian agencies are establishing a presence in the two regions and are responding primarily through NGOs in the affected areas.
However, limited access due to insecurity and lack of funding remain impediments to the scale-up of humanitarian programming. A special three-months response plan launched at the end of May to address the urgent needs of 160,000 vulnerable people in the South-West and North-West requested US$15 million in funding. But only a $5 million rapid response grant from the Central Emergency Response Fund has been received. The overall 2018 Humanitarian Response Plan for Cameroon requesting $320 million is also underfunded at less than 37 per cent.”
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Hervé Verhoosel, for the World Food Programme (WFP), made the following statement:
“The UN World Food Programme has not suspended the food assistance or logistical support it provides as part of the broader humanitarian response to the Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Two hotels accommodating WFP and other UN staff came under fire during an attack on Friday on a base in the city of Beni, North Kivu province, housing UN peacekeeping troops. None of the WFP or UN staff at the hotels were injured.
Some, including 17 of the 39 WFP personnel, were granted permission to re-locate temporarily to the city of Goma, also in North Kivu, and were flown there on Saturday. They are scheduled to start returning to Beni today, 20 November. Most of the 400-odd UN staff based in Beni as part of the Ebola response remained in the city following the attack, and continue to work.
WFP strongly condemns any violence in the region which could slow down the humanitarian response to limit the spread of the virus, and urges all parties to respect international humanitarian law. We cannot afford any disruption to our life-saving operations. WFP supports the medical response with the transport, delivery and warehousing of medical supplies, constructing safe rooms to accommodate response teams, via food assistance to confirmed and/or suspected cases receiving medical care in health facilities, and through providing food to registered contacts to help mitigate the risk of Ebola spreading by limiting population movements. Food distribution also encourages Ebola contacts to present themselves for registration.
Family food rations are provided weekly door-to-door for four weeks, thereby ensuring coverage of the 21-day observation period. Rations are also provided to health workers and other front-line personnel. Since August, WFP and cooperating partner Caritas have delivered food and nutrition assistance to about 60,000 people, with plans to reach 20,000 people per month for the duration of the Ebola response.
The crisis is occurring in a context of chronically poor health and nutrition indicators, and a large population of internally displaced persons. North Kivu province is the second most populous in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with a population of roughly 8 million, 1 million of which are internally displaced because of war and violence and in need of humanitarian assistance.
WFP is preparing to react promptly to new, potential outbreaks in other parts of DRC, especially in urban areas, and again any setbacks due to insecurity threatens to slow down efforts to limit the spread of the virus. Therefore, we urge all parties to facilitate the life-saving work of our teams and aid workers.”
Leonard Doyle, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that IOM had begun collaborating with the World Health Organization (WHO) in using the innovative Security Communications and Analysis Network (SCAAN) system in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The system used a 24/7 operations centre in Manila, the Philippines, together with a digital platform and a mobile application; IOM had been using it for over a year.
The system had been rolled out in the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the request of WHO on Friday 16 November, shortly before the attack on WHO residences in Beni. Urgent alerts had been received and support calls had been made to the staff in question. Shortly thereafter, the WHO security focal point in DRC had sent a basic essential security message to all staff in the affected area. Although radio checks were an essential part of standard procedures when such an attack occurred, they could take hours to complete, but in the case of the Beni attack, the head count of WHO staff had been completed very quickly using the new app. IOM would continue to assist WHO to deploy the system in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for at least the next year. The app made it possible to geolocate staff members. Recalling the murders of two United Nations consultants in the country some years previously, Mr. Doyle said it was hoped that the app would help save lives in the future.
Fadela Chaib, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that WHO had begun to use the smartphone application the previous weekend after the security incident in Beni, in addition to existing communication tools such as radio. It hoped to continue to use the new system in other places.
Killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi
Responding to a question posed by a journalist at the previous press briefing, Rhéal LeBlanc, for the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, said that the United Nations had not received the recordings related to the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.
Drought relief airlift to Afghanistan
Leonard Doyle, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that IOM was supporting the airlift to Afghanistan by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) that was bringing non-food items, including plastic sheeting, blankets and kitchen sets, to 10,000 displaced families, or 70,000 individuals. IOM, with its partners, was organizing warehousing of the aid and its distribution in Herat, Badghis and Ghor provinces. Of the nearly one quarter of a million persons displaced in those regions between January and October 2018, 44 per cent were children under the age of 18, and 19 per cent were below the age of five. They were living in very difficult conditions, with the onset of freezing winter temperatures. The first aircraft had landed on Saturday 17 November and a further two would be bringing more aid in the coming days.
ILO announcements
Hans von Rohland, for the International Labour Organization (ILO), said that the Global Wage Report 2018/19 - What lies behind gender pay gaps, to be launched at a briefing in Room III at 10.30 a.m. on Monday 26 November, would analyse trends at global, regional and national levels in 136 countries. It would note the reasons why growth in wages seemed to have levelled off in many countries, despite continued falls in unemployment and improvements in gross domestic product. The Report looked particularly at gender pay gaps, using new calculation methods. It would be launched by the ILO Director-General, Guy Ryder, who would by then have returned from the G20 meeting in Argentina. All related documents would be sent to journalists on 23 November, under embargo until 2 p.m. Monday Geneva time.
Responding to a question from a journalist, Mr. von Rohland said that the recent meeting of the ILO Governing Body had decided to hold a tripartite meeting in the coming year to discuss the issue of financing two of its programmes on child labour. A final decision on the matter is expected to be taken by the ILO Governing Body meeting in November 2019.
Other announcements
Rhéal LeBlanc, for the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, said that the Committee against Torture was beginning that morning consideration of the report of the Netherlands and would hear the following afternoon the answers of the delegation to the questions raised. During the current session, scheduled to end on 7 December, the Committee would be considering reports from six States parties: Peru, Viet Nam, Guatemala, the Netherlands, Canada and Maldives.
On the Geneva Conference on Afghanistan, to be held on 27 and 28 November 2018, Mr. LeBlanc said that journalists accredited with UN Geneva would not require a special badge to attend. Information about the Conference was available on the website of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, and other information would be provided to journalists in the coming days.
Mr. LeBlanc said that 20 November was Universal Children's Day; and Africa Industrialization Day. On the latter, Mr. LeBlanc said that the UN Secretary‑General’s message recalled that in 2018, the Day was focused on promoting regional value chains and underscoring how industrial development in local pharmaceutical production could contribute to healthy lives and well‑being. The development of a competitive and sustainable pharmaceutical manufacturing sector in Africa could help promote better health and well‑being and sustainable economic growth.
Mr. LeBlanc also reminded journalists that World Television Day on 21 November would be marked by an event from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in room XX at the Palais des Nations. Organized jointly by the United Nations Office at Geneva and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), it would include three panel discussions, of which one would be in French.
Responding to a question from a journalist about EBU service rates for broadcasters at the Palais, Mr. LeBlanc said that UN Television would be able to provide more information on this issue. He reminded journalists that the EBU and the UN Office at Geneva had just signed a Letter of Intent on Monday 19 November, which would pave the way to an expanded collaboration between the two entities and aim to improve services to broadcasters.
Press conferences
Wednesday, 21 November at 11:00 a.m., Press Room 1
OCHA
Update on the humanitarian situation in the Central African Republic
Speaker:
· Najat Rochdi, Humanitarian Coordinator in CAR
Thursday, 22 November at 10:00 a.m., Room III
World Meteorological Organization
Release of WMO Greenhouse Gas Bulletin with details on annual average concentration of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases
Speakers:
• Prof Pavel Kabat, WMO Chief Scientist and Research Director
• Dr Oksana Tarasova, Chief, Atmospheric Environment Research Division
Friday 23 November at 12:30 p.m., Room III
OCHA
The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan with focus on the ongoing drought and food insecurity
Speaker:
· Toby Lanzer, Humanitarian Coordinator in Afghanistan
The webcast for this briefing is available here: http://bit.ly/unog201118