REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for UNAIDS, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Development Programme, the International Labour Organization, the World Food Programme, the UN Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration.
Secretary-General in Thailand
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Secretary-General has arrived in Bangkok, Thailand, the last leg of a trip that has taken him to Vienna, Seoul, Tokyo, Beijing and Hanoi. Today, the Secretary-General was addressing the high-level panel on the King of Thailand and human development. The Secretary-General was presenting the United Nations Development Programme's inaugural Human Development Lifetime Achievement Award to His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
In Hanoi, the Secretary-General yesterday issued a statement expressing his concern over developments in Timor-Leste and announcing his decision to send Ian Martin, head of the UN Human Rights Mission in Nepal, to the Timorese capital of Dili, to assess the situation first hand. Ian Martin was previously the Secretary-General's Special Representative in East Timor in 1999. The Secretary-General spent the day yesterday telephoning leaders in the region, including Timor-Leste’s President and Prime Minister. He was also in touch with authorities in New Zealand and Portugal, as well as the Prime Ministers of Australia and Malaysia. These countries had committed to send forces to help restore stability in the island nation.
The Secretary-General’s statement on the situation in Timor-Leste was available in the press room, as were statements on the subject by the UN Office in Timor-Leste and the Security Council.
Sudan
The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi and the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hédi Annabi have completed their discussions with senior Sudanese officials, including President Omar Bashir and Vice President Salva Kiir. Mr. Brahimi reassured them that the UN’s aim was to help them and the people of Darfur successfully implement the Abuja Peace Accord. He also told them that an eventual UN peacekeeping operation would be conducted with the consent and cooperation of the Government of Sudan and all the parties concerned. On that basis, Mr. Brahimi and the leaders agreed that a joint mission of the African Union (AU) and the United Nations would start wide ranging discussions in Khartoum. That mission would then proceed to Darfur to assess the addition needs of the AU Mission in Sudan, which needed to be strengthened immediately, and also assess all of the requirements for a possible transition from the AU to the UN. The team would then return for further talks in Khartoum before reporting back to the Secretary-General and the Chairman of the African Union.
Geneva Activities
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Conference on Disarmament was continuing with the second part of its 2006 session. Romania was holding the Presidency until 29 May, and then it would be held for four weeks by Ambassador Valery Loshchinin of the Russian Federation, during which the conference would hold a thematic debate on the issue of the prevention of an armed race in outer space. The next plenary of the Conference would be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 1 June.
The Committee on the Rights of the Child was continuing its meetings at the Palais Wilson. Today, it was considering reports from Iceland and Colombia. Next week, the Committee would be meeting in private, and it would conclude its session on 2 June.
Other
Dominique de Santis of UNAIDS said the Global AIDS report which was published by UNAIDS every two years would be coming out on Tuesday, 30 May, on the eve of a high-level meeting on AIDS at the General Assembly in New York, which would be held from 31 May to 2 June. The embargoed executive summary of the report, fact sheets and a press release would be made available.
Ms. de Santis said the report would be presented in a press conference with Peter Piot, UNAIDS Executive Director; Ann Veneman, UNICEF Executive Director; and Thoraya Obaid, UNFPA Executive Director. The General Assembly meeting would offer a five-year review of the progress that countries had made in meeting targets set by the General Assembly session on AIDS in 2001. Secretary-General Kofi Annan would present a progress report. A political declaration would be adopted at the closing of the meeting. Available was a media advisory with more information.
In conclusion, Ms. de Santis said the twenty-fifth anniversary of AIDS would be commemorated on 5 June. It was now 25 years since the first cases of HIV/AIDS were reported in the United States. A fact sheet which marked the key milestones over the past 25 years would be made available next week.
Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said World No Tobacco Day was commemorated on 31 May. There would be a press conference at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, 30 May. The theme of the Day this year was “Tobacco, deadly in any form or disguise”. A press release would be available next week.
On the World Health Assembly, Ms. Chaib said a press release would be issued later this morning on the International Health Regulations which were approved yesterday by Committee A and confirmed this morning in the plenary. Concerning small pox, a working group was meeting today to discuss this issue and the results would be known tomorrow. Also, the plenary had yesterday approved a resolution on the health situation in the occupied Palestinian territories. The Assembly would be closing tomorrow morning.
In conclusion, Ms. Chaib said that Dr. Anders Nordström, the Acting Director-General of WHO, would meet with journalists at 12:30 p.m. today.
Jean Fabre of the United Nations Development Programme said on Wednesday, 31 May, UNDP would give a press briefing concerning violence and development, especially with regards to light arms. On 7 June, a ministerial conference organized by UNDP and Switzerland would be held to discuss this issue. The conclusions would be forwarded to the United Nations conference to review progress made in the implementation of the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, which would be held from 26 June to 7 July in New York
Hans Von Rohland of the International Labour Office said the ninety-fifth International Labour Conference would be held from 31 May to 16 June at the Palais des Nations. Available was a media advisory on the meeting. Among other things, the Conference hoped to adopt a new framework convention on security and health in the workplace. Other topics of discussion included Myanmar and child labour.
Mr. Von Rohland said that available was a press release on a new ILO report on the situation of workers in the occupied Arab territories which said that poverty and unemployment continued to worsen despite a moderate economic upturn last year.
Simon Pluess of the World Food Programme said in Mali, WFP had confirmed an armed assault on the town of Kidal in the north of the country on 23 May. The WFP office in Kidal was closed and during the unrest, one of the two WFP warehouses was looted and 15 tons of rice and 8 tons of vegetable oil were stolen. The WFP office reopened again yesterday. The situation in Kidal had been secured by the army and the Government and the rebels were now holding negotiations. There would be emergency food distributions starting today for 4,500 inhabitants of Kidal.
Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency said UNHCR was very disturbed by reports of ongoing infiltration by armed Sudanese rebels inside and near some refugee camps in eastern Chad and feared further recruitment of refugees for military activities. UNHCR had immediately informed the local authorities about the infiltration. UNHCR strongly condemned the infiltration of refugee camps by any military presence because it violated the civilian and humanitarian character of refugee camps and risked making refugees and humanitarian workers a target. UNHCR warned the Chadian authorities, rebel groups and refugees that if the military infiltration of the camps did not stop, it could result in the suspension of humanitarian activities.
Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said violence in Kandahar, Afghanistan had forced between 2,000 to 3,000 people to flee their villages and camps in Panjwayi district. The new displacement caused by the upsurge of fighting in the southern Afghan province coincided with the closure at the end of this month due to lack of funding of IOM's four-year programme to help internally displaced Afghans to return home. While many of Panjwayi villagers had been able to seek refuge with friends and relatives, the situation for 8,000 internally displaced families in the Zaredasht camp 22 kilometres west of Kandahar raised serious concerns.
Mr. Chauzy said in Pakistan, after promoting counter-trafficking awareness among thousands of earthquake survivors in tented camps, IOM was now reaching out to remote rural communities to support local anti-trafficking networks in identifying vulnerable groups who might fall prey to trafficking networks. In the Dominican Republic, inspectors of the Directorate of Migration were taking part in a two-day training seminar aimed at strengthening their capacity to deal with human trafficking and migrant smuggling.