REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the biweekly press briefing. Also participating were spokespersons of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) World Health Organization (WHO), UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), World Food Programme (WFP), International Labour Organization (ILO), World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
UN Reform
Ms. Heuzé opened the briefing by announcing that the General Assembly had begun discussion of the Secretary-General’s report “In Larger Freedom” by focusing on the recommendations in four clusters: peace and security; development; human rights and the rule of law; and the strengthening of the United Nations.
Four resource persons from the UN Secretariat had been designated to deal with each cluster, she said: Bruce Jones on peace and security; Naveed Hanif on development; Michael Pan on human rights/rule of law; and Abiodun Williams on strengthening the institution.
Statements and report on Darfur of the Secretary-General
The Service had put in the press room copies of the Secretary-General’s statement supporting the efforts by India and Pakistan to advance the ongoing dialogue and welcoming the joint statement issued by the leaders of the two countries last weekend.
Another statement was available on Cyprus. The Secretary-General had noted the outcome of the elections in northern Cyprus held on 17 April. In his statement, he said he was glad that the leadership of the Turkish Cypriot community had been clarified and he welcomed the renewed evidence of commitment to a peaceful resolution of the Cyprus issue, said Ms. Heuzé.
She also pointed out that the Secretary-General’s monthly report on Darfur was out since yesterday and available in the press room.
Secretary-General’s travels
The Director said that the Secretary-General would be travelling this week to Indonesia and then to India. He would attend the Asian-African Summit in Jakarta and the Commemoration of 1955 Asian-African Conference in Bandung, Indonesia. From Jakarta, he would go to New Delhi for a two-day official visit to India.
Human rights
David Chikvaidze, Media Liaison Officer for the 61st session of the Commission on Human Rights, told journalists that the Expanded Bureau would meet tomorrow at 6.00 p.m.
Today’s programme
Outlining today’s programme, Mr. Chikvaidze said that the Commission would hold two additional meetings over the lunch period: on 19 and 21 April, running non-stop from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
This morning the Commission had resumed the general debate under agenda item 18 (Effective functioning of human rights mechanism) and would conclude its general debate. Immediately afterwards, the Commission would re-open agenda item 19 (Advisory services and technical cooperation in the field of human rights) and hold interactive dialogues with the following Independent Experts and one Special Representative: Ms. Monica Pinto, Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Chad; Mr. Titinga Frédéric Pacéré, Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo; Mr. Peter Leuprecht, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the situation of human rights in Cambodia; and Ms Charlotte Abaka, Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Liberia.
The Commission would then take up its list of speakers under item 19. After completing the list of speakers under that item, the Commission would then turn to agenda item 20 entitled (Rationalization of work of the Commission).
Once the Commission had concluded its general debate under item 20 – expected at about 13:00 - it would then take action on the remaining draft proposals under item 6 and 9, and under items 11 through 13.
The Commission would from Wednesday to Friday act on all remaining draft proposals submitted under agenda items 11 to 16, as well as 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 3.
Draft resolutions
Mr. Chikvaidze indicated that 100 draft resolutions had been posted on the Extranet website.
Public briefing on Cambodia
Peter Leuprecht, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the situation of human rights in Cambodia, would give a public briefing today at 2.00 p.m. in room XXVII, announced Mr. Chikvaidze.
He also said that that Mr. Eric Tistounet, Secretary of the Commission, would be ready to brief journalists next Monday or Tuesday on the results, statistics and initial analysis of the 61st session of the Commission on Human Rights.
In response to a question asked last week about the discrepancy between the unedited and edited drafts of draft resolution on Cuba (L.31), which was voted on last week: the unedited one said “draft decision”, while the edited version said “draft resolution”, he said that he had researched the issue and had looked at the original draft submitted by the US. It had neither ‘decision’, nor ‘resolution’ on it. It was clear that due to its brief size, that the draft was initially designated as a ‘decision’, but this was caught and corrected at the stage of editing, that is why the edited version says ‘resolution’ as it should, since this is a resolution according to its structure and make up. The unedited drafts are there for the sake of timely sharing of information, not least with the media, but have no official status. Mr. Chikvaidze also reconfirmed, that there was no legal difference between a decision and a resolution.
Press conference by Louise Arbour
José Luis Diaz, Spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, informed journalists that High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour would meet the press probably on Thursday, 21 April, at a time to be confirmed. Although the press conference would coincide with the end of the 61st session of the Commission, the idea was not to dwell on the proceedings of that body but to give correspondents a forward-looking perspective of the reform of the human rights programme and the implications for her Office. In anticipation of the briefing, he would be making available a paper giving background on the proposed Human Rights Council and other aspects related to the reform of the UN’s human rights machinery.
Press conference-Working Group on Internet Governance
Finally, Ms. Heuzé informed journalists that Mr. Nitin Desai, Chairman of the Working Group, and Special Adviser to the Secretary-General for the World Summit on the Information Society, and Mr. Markus Kummer, Executive Coordinator,
Secretariat of the Working Group on Internet Governance, would give a press briefing tomorrow, 20 April at 2.30 p.m. in room 1 on the progress of their third meeting in Geneva.
ECE
Jean-Michel Jakobowicz reported that ECE had released the UNECE/FAO Forests, Wood and Energy: Policy Interactions, which examined the impact of energy, environment and forest policy on new and traditional forest products markets in the ECE region of Europe, North America and the CIS countries. It showed that wood energy was expanding due to policy promotion in the region and that Russia had the potential to become the main supplier of wood biomass for large-scale energy production.
He also announced the holding of an ECE Forum on Best Practice in Good Governance for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) from 1 to 2 April in Geneva. The Government of Hungary had proposed the establishment of cooperation among colleges and universities in Central and Eastern Europe dealing with entrepreneurship and SME education. So far, 21 institutions had joined the initiative.
OCHA
Elisabeth Byrs announced that OCHA had produced a situation report on the Karthala Volcanic Eruption in Grande Comore, the main island of the Union of Comoros. It was one of the largest volcanoes in activity in the world. On Sunday 17 April, people from these villages had begun to flee for fear of gas and volcanic ash. According to the local authorities, as many as 10,000 people might have fled their homes in the eastern region in order to seek refuge in other parts of the island.
UN agencies had provided four vehicles in support of government’s activities, said Ms. Byrs. UNICEF had made personnel available to strengthen national capacities to coordinate assistance operations and purchased ten tons of rice for distribution to displaced populations. It was also preparing to provide further assistance, such as non-food items, essential drugs and education materials.
Darfur/Sudan
Christiane Berthiaume updated correspondents on the situation in Darfur/Sudan. She stated that if donors did not make good on the pledges they had made at the Oslo Conference earlier this month, the agency would have to halve its food rations to the displaced population in Darfur. The current period was particularly critical because WFP should pre-position stocks in western Darfur before the start of the rainy season in May/June. Compounding problems were the poor harvest, as well as continuing displacement caused by insecurity. WFP had enough cereals but not other types of foodstuffs also required to provide energy. 750,000 more people could need WFP assistance over and above the 2.8 million recipients initially projected. The donor appeal was for 468 million dollars but to date, WFP had received 275 million dollars, or 41 per cent of the budget.
Ron Redmond of UNHCR announced that Acting High Commissioner for Refugees Wendy Chamberlin had started a five-day visit to Sudan and Chad by calling on the Sudanese government to live up to its responsibilities to protect its own citizens and to help Sudanese displaced by civil war to return to their homes in the south of the country. After visiting two sites where people displaced by the 21-year civil war live on the outskirts of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, Ms. Chamberlin said UNHCR and the international community would hold the Sudanese government responsible for protecting its own people and helping them go back. She stressed that the same principles applied to people displaced within their own country as to the return of refugees.
Other
WFP said it had started emergency food aid for 150,000 drought victims in Cambodia. Altogether, 500,000 rural Cambodians were struggling to cope with food shortages caused by drought. WFP would distribute 1,500 metric tons of rice over the next three months.
Corinne Perthuis of ILO said that the agency and WHO would join forces from 19 to 21 April for a meeting of experts to develop new guidelines to protect the safety of health workers involved in the struggle against HIV/AIDS. The new guidelines would apply to healthcare providers and patients to help guarantee a functioning and healthy workforce.
She also announced the release of a new book “Convergence and Divergence” on working conditions in the companies of the ten new EU Member States. The book examined the measures taken by these countries to ensure decent working conditions and comply with ILO norms. She would organize a working breakfast with the author, Daniel Vaughn Whitehead.
Jean-Philippe Chauzy of IOM announced that a coastal vessel would support the Nias Earthquake Relief Effort in Indonesia that had seen IOM already deliver some 459 tons of food and non-food relief supplies over the past three weeks. IOM had acquired a small coastal vessel to transport relief goods to Nias and neighbouring islands and coastal areas affected by the deadly 28 March earthquake.
Also on Indonesia, the first of 51 IOM pre-fabricated satellite health clinics located at temporary shelter sites across Aceh was scheduled for completion this week. The clinics, requested by the Indonesian Ministry of Health, will provide essential health care to Acehnese displaced by the December 2004 tsunami and affected communities. Finally, in Sri Lanka, IOM was providing assistance to the Tsunami- affected population with a mobile eye clinic.
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