REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which also heard from the Spokespersons for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Meteorological Organization, the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the UN Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration.
Secretary-General in South Africa
Ms. Heuzé said the Secretary-General had arrived in South Africa, where he had met with President Thabo Mbeki. He would address a joint sitting of the South African Parliament today. His embargoed statement to Parliament was available in the press room and journalists were asked to respect the embargo time, which was around 1 p.m. this afternoon Geneva time.
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
Ms. Heuzé said Carla Del Ponte, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, told reporters yesterday that she deeply regretted that the death on Saturday of Slobodan Milosevic deprived the victims of the justice they needed and deserved. Ms. Del Ponte also said that although “it is a great pity for justice that the trial will not be completed and no verdict will be rendered,” other senior leaders have been indicted for the crimes for which Mr. Milosevic was also accused.
Ms. Del Ponte had been scheduled to be in Geneva today to attend the international human rights film festival but, unfortunately, she had had to cancel her trip. Consequently, no press conference would be possible either today or tomorrow.
Conference on Disarmament
Ms. Heuzé said the Conference on Disarmament was holding a plenary this morning. China and Russia had put down their names to speak on the issue of the prevention of an arms race in outer space (PAROS). This was the last week of the Presidency of Ambassador Park In-Kook of the Republic of Korea and next week, Romania would take over the Presidency. She reminded journalists that the first part of the 2006 session of the Commission would conclude on 31 March and the second part of the session would start on 15 May.
International Day on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
The International Day on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which was celebrated on 21 March, would be commemorated in Geneva this week and next week. A note to correspondents was available on the different events, which were planned jointly by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the ILO and UNOG.
José Luis Díaz of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said that the first event would take place tomorrow, the inauguration of an exhibition entitled “Moi raciste”. It showed a series of works against racism prepared by young students of Swiss schools. On 16 March, there would be a panel discussion organized by OHCHR and the International Labour Office on “fighting everyday racism at the work place”. On 17 March, there would be another panel discussion which would hear from people who had experienced racism explaining their experiences. Further details on other events were available in the note [and at the following address: http://www.ohchr.org/english/events/racism/). All the panel discussions would be held in Room XXI in the E building of the Palais des Nations.
Commission on Human Rights
Ms. Heuzé said she had no new information concerning the Commission on Human Rights which yesterday had suspended its 2006 session for one week. Everyone was waiting for a decision on the Human Rights Council from New York which was now expected on Wednesday night New York time, which meant that it would be Thursday morning before they heard about it in Geneva. Yesterday, Manuel Rodríguez Cuadros, Chairman of the sixty-second session of the Commission on Human Rights, had briefed journalists after the brief plenary. Depending on the developments, a press briefing might be set up before the end of the week.
José Luis Díaz said that the session would resume on Monday, 20 March. In the meantime, the Bureau of the Commission, which included the Chairperson, the Vice Chairpersons and representatives of the regional groups, would be meeting to look at different scenarios depending on what happened in New York regarding the draft resolution on the creation of a Human Rights Council.
Also on the issue of human rights, Ms. Heuzé informed journalists that the news agency InfoSud had launched an on-line human rights magazine for the duration of the Commission on Human Rights and it could be found on www.humanrights-geneva.info.
Other
Ms. Heuzé said the Permanent Mission of Timor-Leste was showing a film entitled "A Hero's Journey" on Wednesday, 15 March from 10 a.m. to 11:20 a.m. in Room XIV. At 11:30, in room III, there would be a press conference with the President of Timor-Leste, H.E. Xanana Gusmão, and the Director of the film on the reconciliation process in this country.
Mark Oliver of the World Meteorological Organization said WMO was today releasing its first-ever Greenhouse Gas Bulletin. The figures in the Bulletin, which were for 2004, showed that globally averaged concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide in the planet’s atmosphere had reached their highest ever-recorded levels in 2004.
Len Barrie of the World Meteorological Organization said that it was approximately 30 years since the beginning of the carbon dioxide measurements in the atmosphere. It had only been recently, when the Global Atmosphere Watch Programme was created by WMO in 1989, that a well-organized and coordinated international effort had occurred. The Bulletins would be issued annually every fall
Brigitte Leoni of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction said the Third International Conference on Early Warning would be held in Bonn from 27 to 29 March under the auspices of the United Nations. Available was a press kit with information about the conference and the projects being presented to the conference.
Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said concerning avian influenza in Azerbaijan, since the beginning of March, the Ministry of Health in Azerbaijian had been investigating a cluster of 10 persons placed under observation for possible infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus. All of these persons were from the eastern part of the country. The investigation was launched when two young women, who were neighbours, died within a week of each other. A 16-year-old boy who had been in critical condition had just died. Today, samples from the suspected cases had been sent to a WHO-affiliated laboratory in London. Also, a WHO team was still in Azerbaijan to assess needs and provide technical support to health officials. The team was being augmented today with additional expertise and supplies, including laboratory equipment and diagnostic reagents.
Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said WFP had just issued a press release about the reduction of food aid rations to some 230,000 Somalia and Sudanese refugees living in two camps in remote areas in northeast Kenya because of insufficient funding. The 20 per cent ration cut came as WFP also struggled to raise $ 170 million for its operation to feed 3.5 million Kenyans affected by severe drought. WFP Kenya required $ 5 million to provide adequate rations for refugees between now and July, and an additional $ 14 million until the end of the year.
Damien Personnaz of the United Nations Children’s Fund said he had placed at the back of the room the donor update on UNICEF’s humanitarian action which showed that the situation of children in the occupied Palestinian territories since the elections was of increasing concern. Since the beginning of the year, 50 Palestinian children had been wounded and 11 had died. Chronic malnutrition in children under five had continuously increased and access to education continued to be challenged by restrictions of movement. In December, UNICEF had appealed for $ 8 million, and to date, it had only received $ 1.4 million, so it still needed
$ 6.2 million to help children in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency said that in Zambia this week, officials from UNHCR and the Zambian Government were visiting refugee camps to inform Angolan refugees that facilitated voluntary repatriation from Zambia would start up again and continue until December 2006. UNHCR was launching a survey this week in all Angolan refugee camps in Zambia to determine how many refugees wished to return home this year.
In Chad, insecurity was preventing UNHCR and its partners from reaching an estimated 2,600 people from the northern Central African Republic who had reportedly fled to a remote border area in southern Chad. According to Chadian authorities, some 2,600 Central African Republic refugees (462 families) have gathered in the village of Bedakoussang, about 10 kilometres from the border and 35 kilometres from Goré, the main town in southern Chad. UNHCR and its partners have been unable to verify their presence, however, because of rebel military activity around the nearby village of Bekan, 10 kilometres from Bedakoussang. If confirmed, their arrival would bring to more than 7,000 the number of refugees from the Central African Republic who had arrived in southern Chad since the beginning of the year.
Gemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said an international conference bringing together delegations from Europe, the Maghreb and Sub-Saharan Africa opened yesterday in the Sicilian town of Pozzallo to discuss common migration policies in the Western Mediterranean. In Austria, Ms. Pandya said a three-day training course organized by IOM and the Austrian Ministry of Interior within the framework of Austria's EU presidency, was beginning today in Vienna for law enforcement authorities dealing with child trafficking.
Ms. Pandya introduced two IOM colleagues who had just finished a four-month mission in the mountains of Pakistan.
Isabelle Giasson of the International Organization for Migration said she had been part of a Canadian team working in the Neelan Valley which had been responsible for the distribution of shelter kits and the building of temporary shelters. They had lived in this remote mountainous area for four months. When the team had arrived, it had been surprised at the extent of the damage. Around 30 per cent of all buildings had been destroyed and each family had lost some members. When they arrived and started to talk to the survivors, asking why they had not started working on temporary shelters themselves, they had realized that the survivors were in a state of shock. It was not only the schools and hospitals which had been destroyed, but the whole social set up. So the team had had to teach the survivors motivation and education, not only to distribute aid and help them establish shelters. A lot of the survivors had lost their animals, and they had to walk for hours to reach the distribution centres and then go back to the place where they homes had been.
Daniel Desmarais of the International Organization for Migration said the team had been responsible for 25 villages in the Neelan Valley. They had carried out assessments of the needs and had registered the people affected to be able to establish a fair distribution list for the aid. The villages were in a remote mountain area with no road access so the aid had arrived by helicopter. Weather conditions did not always permit the landing of the helicopters with the aid. They had chosen two villages where it was possible for the helicopters to land and had organized the distribution of aid from those two places. Survivors walked for two to three hours to reach the distribution centres, and took the aid and then returned to their villages. Most of the people in these villages had been farmers. It was very lucky that the winter had been mild. Even the villagers had expected more snow.
Ms. Giasson said that in these 25 villages, there had been around 12,000 persons, or 2,500 families. In the end, it was lucky that the winter had been reasonably mild in Kashmir. Keeping the survivors dry and warm had been the goal, and luckily there had been no deaths in these villages from exposure to the cold or snow.
Mr. Desmarais said the team had been promoting self-standing structures made of wood so if there was another earthquake, the shelters would be able to resist it. All the roofs were made of metal sheets which were light. The idea was to build self-standing structures with light roofs, so if they fell down again, they would be light. Ms. Giasson added that these were still temporary shelters. In the reconstruction phase, the Government would educate people on how to build houses which would resist earthquakes. In those 25 villages, almost everyone had to build these shelters, so 2,500 families meant 2,500 shelters that were built. There was still the recovery phase when the people in the tent villages around Muzzafarabad returned to their villages before the Government could start the reconstruction phase in the spring.