REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Marie Heuzé, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which provided information on the schedule of the Secretary-General, who would be in Geneva later this month for the Chief Executives Board meeting; a global meeting on producers of electronic components; a global report on the internally displaced; the humanitarian situation in Iraq; the situation in Somalia; and the situation of Sudanese refugees, among other things.

Spokespersons for the International Labour Organization, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the UN Refugee Agency, the International Organization for Migration, the World Health Organization, and the World Trade Organization participated in the briefing. A spokesperson for the World Food Programme was also present.

Statements by the Secretary-General

Ms. Heuzé began by noting the statement made by the Secretary-General yesterday, deploring the bomb attack in the Iraqi parliament, as well as the statement by Ashraf Qazi, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq, condemning in the strongest terms yesterday’s attacks in Baghdad on the Al-Sarrafiya bridge and at the Iraqi parliament. The Special Representative had said that the bombings constituted attacks on the symbols of Iraq’s proud history and hope for its future. They had showed the need for enhanced dialogue and national reconciliation. The Special Representative had called on the Iraqi authorities to apprehend the perpetrators of those criminal acts and bring them to justice.

Also yesterday, Ms. Heuzé said that the Secretary-General had expressed his deep concern over the fate of BBC journalist Alan Johnston, who had been abducted one month ago in Gaza. "I sincerely hope that those who are responsible for this abduction release him unconditionally and immediately”, the Secretary-General had said.

Copies of the Secretary-General's statements are available in French and English in the press room.

Secretary-General in Geneva

Ms. Heuzé referred to the announcement regarding the Secretary-General’s travel next week to Europe and the Middle East. The Secretary-General would be making official visits to Italy and to Switzerland. He will meet with members of the Federal Council in Bern on 19 April before travelling to Geneva where he will chair the biannual meeting of the Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB), which is being hosted by the International Labour Organization. He will then travel to Qatar to address a forum on democracy, development and free trade. The last leg of his trip will take him to Syria. The Information Service would try to arrange an encounter for the Secretary-General with journalists on Saturday, 21 April, with details to be confirmed later. A note to correspondents would be sent out next Monday or Tuesday with more details of the Secretary-General's schedule.

Tripartite Meeting on Production of Electronic Components

Hans von Rohland of the International Labour Organization (ILO) drew attention to the Tripartite Meeting on the Production of Electronic Components for the Information Technology (IT) Industries, to be held next week in Geneva from 16 to 18 April at ILO Headquarters. More than 70 senior representatives of labour and employers organizations, along with Governments, were meeting for the first major discussion on emerging labour and social issues in the booming electronic components manufacturing sector. The issues to be discussed were outlined in a paper prepared for the meeting, "The production of electronic components for the IT industries: Changing labour force requirements in a global economy". A press release on the Tripartite Meeting in English and copies of the report in French and English were available at the back of the room.

ILO IT Expert Paul Bailey then presented the report he authored, which had found that the spectacular growth and investment in the electronic components industry had also spawned a considerable social and labour challenges, including concerns over working conditions, wage levels, gender issues and management-labour relations. The report also reviewed the rapid growth in the sector, and acknowledged the role of Government in attracting multinational companies to provide foreign direct investment, generate employment, provide training and increase wages for the more than 18 million workers in the global IT sector. To demonstrate the rapid pace of change in this industry, Mr. Bailey recalled that, at the ILO meeting in 2002 on the electronics industry, the iPOD had only been around for about a year, and most of the people at the meeting did not know what it was. A day after the present report was completed, Apple had introduced its iPhone.

Debunking misconceptions, Mr. Bailey said the report found that, despite the selling off of production facilities by companies in America and Japan, those countries still remained the major employers in this industry. However, China had emerged as one of the top producers and consumers of electronic components, although most of Chinese production was done via subsidiaries of foreign multinationals located in China. Other major developing country exporters included Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Thailand, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. A shift had also been noted from northern European countries, such as Finland (famous for Nokia), to Central and Eastern Europe. The report also looked at corporate social responsibility and voluntary initiatives adopted by many multinational companies and industry groups in response to concerns regarding labour and social issues.

Responding to questions, Mr. Bailey said that issues surrounding corporate social responsibility included whether companies avoided complying with labour standards by transferring production to other countries, varying labour standards between different countries, and how to ensure monitoring and enforcement of standards.

Global Report on Internally Displaced

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) drew attention to a new report which found that the global internal displacement crisis had worsened over the last year, with the Middle East particularly hard hit by population displacements. The report, published by the International Displacement Monitoring Centre of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said some 4 million people had been internally displaced in 2006 as a result of armed conflict, more than twice as many as last year. The total number of internally displaced persons worldwide had reached nearly 25 million at the end of 2006. The conflict between Israel and Hizbollah, as well as the violence in Iraq, accounted for almost half of the new displacements. The annual report would be launched in Geneva by Dennis McNamara, Special Adviser to the Emergency Relief Coordinator on Internal Displacement, with the participation of Paul Nesse, the Resident Representative of the Norwegian Refugee Council, and Jens-Hagen Eschenbächer, Acting Head of the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (NRC), on Monday, 16 April 2007 at 11 a.m., in Room V. The report and a press release – under embargo until 11 a.m. Geneva time on Monday – were available at the back of the room.

Humanitarian Situation in Iraq

Ron Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) provided an update on the Iraq conference next week, with more than 450 participants from at least 60 nations, 37 inter-governmental organizations and 64 non-governmental organisations having confirmed their attendance. The first hour of the conference – which would begin on Tuesday, April 17, at 10 a.m. in the Palais des Nations Assembly Hall – would be open to media and would include addresses by High Commissioner Guterres, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq Ashraf Qazi and ICRC Director General Angelo Gnaedinger. The rest of the conference would be in closed session. A press kit containing background and statistics on Iraq displacement, including a special issue of Refugees magazine would be placed in Press Room 1.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced a $3.5 million grant from the UN Central Emergency Fund (CERF) for IOM's humanitarian programme to provide assistance to tens of thousands of displaced persons in Iraq. The funds would allow IOM and its partners to deliver over the next three months desperately needed food and non-food assistance to some 15,000 vulnerable families in areas where sufficient aid had not been getting through. The UN Cluster on Refugees, IDPs and Durable Solutions, of which IOM as the deputy coordinator, estimated that the number of Iraqis displaced since the bombing of the Al-Askari shrine in Samarra in late February 2006 had now increased to almost 800,000 individuals. That figure, combined with the 1.2 million persons that had been internally displaced before February 2006, brought the total number of displaced to almost 2 million. IOM monitoring of 55,000 families displaced in the northern governorates of Iraq had shown that approximately 75 per cent of them did not have adequate access to such basic necessities as shelter, medical assistance or drinkable water. IOM had originally appealed for $50 million for its programme of assistance in Iraq; after the CERF donation, there was still a shortfall of some $40 million.

Situation in Somalia

Mr. Redmond said that yesterday, Thursday, UNHCR had begun trucking more than 28 tons of much-needed relief supplies for distribution to up to 20,000 internally displaced people. The supplies had been flown to Baidoa, 230 kilometres north-west of Mogadishu, this week from UNHCR's emergency stockpiles in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Trucks were now carrying the aid items southwards to Afgooye, where there were at least 18,000 displaced Somalis who had fled recent fighting in the Somali capital. (Afgooye is 30 kilometres west of Mogadishu.)

The airlifted supplies consisted of 9,000 blankets, 1,800 plastic sheets, 3,600 jerry cans and 1,800 kitchen sets which would be distributed to displaced families mainly in Afgooye and Marka. Thousands of displaced Somalis had spent nearly two weeks without proper food, water or shelter. Families with no relatives or clan links in the area continued to live in the open, or under trees. UNHCR had additional stocks for up to 5,000 families in Mogadishu, However, insecurity in parts of Mogadishu had continued to jeopardize humanitarian access to the Somali capital and surrounding regions, Mr. Redmond said. About 128,000 Somalis were believed to have fled from Mogadishu since the beginning of February.

Sudanese Refugees

Mr. Redmond announced the last official repatriation flight from the Central African Republic to Nzara in South Sudan had taken place on Wednesday, 11 April, bringing home a group of 31 refugees. Since the voluntary repatriation operation had been started in February 2006, some 8,400 South Sudanese refugees had returned home on flights organized by UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration. Another 1,319 who had returned on their own had received crucial assistance from UNHCR, bringing the total of returns facilitated by UNHCR to almost 9,700. The Central African Republic was the first of six countries neighbouring South Sudan to conclude voluntary repatriation of refugees who had fled a civil war that lasted more than 20 years.

Meanwhile, in Ethiopia, more than 1,000 Sudanese refugees – mainly from the Dinka and Shuluk minority ethnic groups – were scheduled to return to Sudan over the next 10 days. UNHCR expected to launch the first voluntary repatriation airlift from Ethiopia tomorrow, April 14, Mr. Redmond said. A plane carrying 50 refugees was scheduled to take off from the Gambella airport and fly to Juba, South Sudan. It would be the first of three flights scheduled to ferry 150 returning refugees on Saturday. In total, at least 300,000 Sudanese refugees remained in camps in neighbouring countries. In 2007, UNHCR and its partners planned to assist 102,000 people to return home.

Other

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization (WHO) said WHO was expanding the global effort to eliminate a "neglected tropical disease", Chagas – a parasitic disease that affected an estimated 9 million people, mostly children. The expanded programme was supported by Bayer HealthCare, which manufactured nifurtimox, a drug used to treat the disease. Bayer had provided funds to expand WHO's Chagas disease elimination efforts, along with 2.5 million tablets free of charge, allowing the treatment of an estimated 30,000 patients over a period of five years. For decades, Chagas disease had largely affected people living in rural areas of Latin America. The symptoms of the disease were silent and often appeared many years after infection, with most of its victims unaware they were infected. However, in recent years large-scale migrations of people from Latin America to other parts of the world had turned Chagas disease into a global problem. In addition, blood donations and poor safety in blood banks had led to infections with Chagas disease in countries outside Latin America.

Once a person had contracted Chagas disease, the infection could remain dormant for decades. Most people later developed cardiac complications, resulting in disability and even death. Intestinal complications were also known to develop from the disease, with the slow swelling of its victims' internal organs causing their eventual deaths. Ms. Byrs explained that there were no statistics for deaths from the disease; such statistics were too difficult to compile, given the disease's slow progress. All that could be known for sure were the infection rates and the gravity of the symptoms. WHO regional initiatives in Latin America had already led to a dramatic reduction in the number of cases from 16-18 million in 1990, to an estimated 9 million cases in 2006. Transmission of the disease had been interrupted in Chile, Uruguay, a large part of Brazil and vast areas of Central America, Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay. By expanding the network of Chagas control from regional to global levels, WHO hoped that global elimination of the disease will become a real possibility. A media note on the expanded WHO/Chagas programme was available at the back of the room.

In that context, Ms. Byrs recalled that the first WHO Global Meeting of Partners on Neglected Tropical Diseases would be held on 19 and 20 April in the Executive Council Room at WHO headquarters. Over 1 billion people were affected by neglected tropical diseases – almost one sixth of the world's population. Thanks to the efforts of WHO and its partners, a major movement had been organized to combat those diseases, which kept the poorest and most vulnerable locked in a vicious cycle of sickness and poverty. Numerous high-level representatives from developing countries, as well as from the private sector and sports personalities were expected to attend, including the President of Aghanistan, the Vice-President of Tanzania, and a footballer from the Barça club, Samuel Eto'o.

Ms. Byrs then announced a press conference next week to launch the joint WHO/UNAIDS/UNICEF report on the latest HIV treatment figures and the health sector's response to the AIDS epidemic, would be held on Tuesday, 17 April at 11.30, in room V. Copies of the report – under embargo until Tuesday at 12.30 p.m. Geneva time – would be available in the press room on the morning of Monday, 16 April, in French and English.

In the context of UN Global Road Safety Week (23-29 April 2007), Ms. Byrs drew attention to the upcoming launch of a WHO report on youth and road safety on 23 April. The report would highlight new information on the impact of road accidents on young people, who were the most often victims of such accidents. A preliminary briefing for the press would be held with the Director of WHO's Injuries and Violence Protection division and the Director of UNECE's Transport Division, on Tuesday, 17 April at 2 p.m. in Room V. The official press conference for the opening of the Global Week would be led by WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, Vice President of the European Commission, Jacques Barrot, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Europe, Marek Belka, and Chair of the World Youth Assembly, Nellie Ghusayni, on Monday, 23 April at 12 p.m. in room 5.

A briefing note with information on the three WHO events was available at the back of the room.

Ms. Heuzé highlighted that the UN Children's Fund and UNAIDS would be holding a joint press conference in Geneva in the context of the nomination of the Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg as Eminent Advocate for Children, in particular with regard to AIDS-affected children in Africa. The Grand Duchess, UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman, and UNAIDS Executive Secretary Peter Piot would all speak. (Thursday, 19 April at 3 p.m., room V.)

Aurelia Blin of the World Trade Organization (WTO) provided details of the upcoming travel of WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy, who was beginning a long trip by travelling to the United States this weekend to participate in the international monitoring committee of the IMF and the World Bank, and a World Bank development meeting. She also announced that a new spokesperson for WTO, Jana Borges, had been appointed and would be participating in the UNIS briefings.