REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which provided information about the informal consultations being held by the President of the General Assembly in Geneva on the Human Rights Council, Geneva meetings and other issues. Spokespersons for the World Health Organization, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the International Labour Office, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Economic Commission for Europe, the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, the International Organization for Migration and the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees participated in the briefing.

President of General Assembly in Geneva

Mrs. Heuzé said Jan Eliasson, the President of the General Assembly, was today holding informal consultations in Geneva on the Human Rights Council. This morning, Mr. Eliasson was meeting with country representatives in Salle XVII. The proceedings were public, and could also be heard on channel five. This afternoon, Mr. Eliasson would be meeting in private with non-governmental organizations working in the field of human rights. The meeting would be public after 5 p.m. and the proceedings would also be transmitted on channel five. [It was later announced that the consultations with country representatives would continue between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.]

Mr. Eliasson would be speaking with journalists about his consultations at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, 23 November in Salle III. The press conference would last around 40 to 45 minutes, after which Mr. Eliasson would be flying to New York to continue with his deliberations on the Human Rights Council, as well as the Peacebuilding Commission and other measures of reform of the United Nations.

Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, had a meeting yesterday with the President of the General Assembly, during which they discussed the role of International Geneva and all other subjects related to the UN reform.

Geneva Meetings

Mrs. Heuzé said the Committee against Torture was this morning concluding its consideration of the initial report of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Committee would be concluding its session on Friday, 25 November, and its final observations on the country reports which it had reviewed during the session would be released at that time.

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights would also be concluding its session on 25 November. The Committee today was discussing a draft General Comment on the right to work. The Committee this session had considered the reports of Slovenia, Austria, Uzbekistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Libya, and the final observations and recommendations on them would also be issued at the end of the week.

A number of documents had been put in the press room related to the Secretary-General's recent travels, including his trip to Pakistan. The donor meeting on 19 November had resulted in sizeable commitments and pledges for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of affected areas. The Secretary-General was pleased that the Pakistan Government had received a substantial amount of pledges at the donor conference. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland would be speaking about the meeting and other issues at a press conference at 12:30 p.m. today in Salle III. A transcript of the Secretary-General's remarks to the press in Pakistan was available in the press room. [The highlights of Jan Egeland's press conference will follow].

Brigitte Leoni of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction said photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand would be present with Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland at the 12:30 p.m. press conference today. Mr. Arthus-Bertrand was the first artist to promote disaster risk reduction at the international level. A press release was available about the work of Mr. Arthus-Bertrand, as well as copies of a 2006 calendar which featured his pictures.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that as mentioned earlier, Mr. Egeland would be speaking to journalists at 12:30 p.m. today, along with Mr. Bertrand and with Salvano Briceno, the Director of the ISDR secretariat. The theme of the press conference was "2005, the year of natural disasters".

Mrs. Heuzé said the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, on the occasion of its twenty-fifth anniversary, would be holding a commemorative debate on Wednesday, 23 November in the Council Chamber from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.. Leading experts would debate on the motion that "human security should be the fundamental basis for multilateral disarmament and arms control negotiations". The Director of UNIDIR, Patricia Lewis, would also chair a press conference at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow in Salle III.

In conclusion, Mrs. Heuzé said in the last monthly report of the Secretary-General on Darfur to the Security Council, the Secretary-General noted that his report on September had noted a sharp increase in violence that included clashes between the parties, attacks on villages, and a further deterioration in security due to widespread banditry and lawlessness. Unfortunately, October saw a continuation of this extremely worrying trend. Copies of the report were available in English and French in the Documentation Centre.

Violence against Women

Mrs. Heuzé said the World Health Organization's first global report on violence against women would be launched in Geneva on Thursday, 24 November. The report was under embargo until 25 November as this was the International Day to Eliminate Violence against Women. The Secretary-General's message on the occasion of this Day was also available in the press room in English.

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said copies of the embargoed press kit and the report "WHO Multi-Country Study on Women's Health and Domestic Violence Against Women" were available in the press room. There would be a press conference on 24 November at 10 a.m. to launch the report which would be attended by Lee Jong-Wook, Director-General of WHO, and Elena Salgado, Minister of Health of Spain, among others.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that available at the back of the room was a note with statistics on violence against women and children around the world. She reminded journalists that there was a photo exhibition entitled "broken bodies, broken dreams - violence against women exposed" which would be inaugurated on 24 November at 6 p.m. at the Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum. The photo exhibition would help launch a book with the same title which offered a powerful testimony of the different types of gender-based violence experienced by women and girls worldwide throughout their lives.

Human Rights

José Luis Díaz of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, responding to a question on whether the Special Rapporteurs of the Commission on Human Rights had responded to the refusal of the United States to comply by the UN demands concerning a visit to Guantanamo Bay detention centre, said they had reacted very publicly on Friday, 18 November. They had issued a statement saying that they deeply regretted the fact that the United States had not been able to comply with the terms of reference for this sort of fact-finding mission, and especially the possibility to meet privately with detainees.

Asked about follow-up, Mr. Díaz said the Special Rapporteurs would continue to collect credible information regarding the situation of detainees in Guantanamo with a view to submitting a report to the Commission or to the successor body to the Commission next year, as they had planned before.

Other

Corinne Perthuis of the International Labour Office said in commemoration of World AIDS Day, 1 December, there would be a working breakfast on Wednesday, 30 November on the eighth floor at 9 a.m. to launch a study on the links between HIV/AIDS, globalization and poverty. The study would talk about the accelerating action between HIV/AIDS and poverty, especially affecting young women who were the first group at risk.

Jean-Michel Jakobowicz of the Economic Commission for Europe said available was a press release on the development and launching of an Investment Fund to reduce carbon emissions in the Commonwealth of Independent States and South-East Europe. The $ 3 million grant from the Global Environmental Facility for the UNECE project on "financing energy efficiency and renewable energy investments for climate change mitigation" would provide technical assistance to the recipient countries and for development of the Investment Fund.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said a press release had been issued yesterday on the UN system in Uganda planning to increase its presence and programmes in northern Uganda in the coming year to help some 2 million Ugandans displaced by Africa's longest running conflict. Dennis McNamara, Special Advisor on Displacement to the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, who had just spent a week in Uganda discussing the grave humanitarian crisis, would be passing through Geneva and a press briefing with him would be set up.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said in Pakistan, IOM would today take delivery of 3,300 shelter repair kits in Muzaffarabad and 2,000 in Batagram for distribution in the high Neelum and Allai valleys. The snows were slowly approaching, and by December, access would be difficult, and it was crucial to bring in as much assistance as possible until then.

Stephen Lennon, Head of IOM's Emergency Response Team in Pakistan, said he had been helping to provide aid to people in Pakistan for the past month living between 5,000 and 7,000 feet. This was a huge and extremely complicated logistical challenge. It was proceeding, but at this point, IOM was running out of money. IOM needed $ 3.8 million to continue its operations until the end of the year. It was significant to get the money as soon as possible. In response to a question, Mr. Lennon said the pledging conference had been raising money for recovery and reconstruction, not for the immediate emergency shelter operation.

Mr. Chauzy said a two-day IOM training focusing on the protection of victims of human trafficking had begun today in the Belgium capital Brussels with the aim of increasing the operational knowledge and expertise of more than 80 officials from 13 European countries.

Jennifer Pagonis of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said Yemen and UNHCR were about to begin a large-scale operation to register thousands of refugees in Yemen, most of them from Somalia. The Yemeni authorities agreed on Sunday to start registering refugees at six newly-created centres around the country, the first such exercise since the last registration in June 2003. Yemen's location has made it the first port of call for many Somalis fleeing the unrest in their country. The Yemeni authorities automatically grant refugee status to Somali citizens arriving in Yemen, and at the end of last month, there were 68,000 Somali refugees in Yemen.

Ms. Pagonis said in Sri Lanka, UNHCR had completed its post-tsunami role as the coordinator of a nation wide transitional shelter effort after the target of more than 58,000 shelters built by over 100 non-governmental organizations was reached. UNHCR was returning its focus to its pre-tsunami work of providing assistance to people internally displaced by the conflict, and refugees repatriating from India.

At the beginning of the briefing, Mrs. Heuzé announced the death of one of the correspondents, Sasha Darian, and a minute of silence was observed.