REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Food Programme, the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development, the UN Refugee Agency, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Trade Organization and the World Intellectual Property Organization. Spokespersons for ILO and FAO were also present.
International Day of Peace
Ms. Heuzé informed journalists that today was the International Day of Peace. The Secretary-General will take part in a ceremony along with United Nations Messengers of Peace and will also use this opportunity to nominate three new Messengers of Peace. A press release was made available with more details.
Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund, briefing journalists on an event which took place in Afghanistan to mark the occasion said UNICEF had kicked off a national vaccination campaign against polio with the Ministry of Public Health and the World Health Organization. Some 1.3 million Afghan children had been vaccinated as a result. To commemorate the Day, a number of primary and secondary schools in northern Afghanistan held poetry readings on the theme of peace.
62nd Session of the General Assembly
Ms. Heuzé informed journalists that a number of background notes on events in connection with the General Assembly session in New York were available. Those included notes on high-level meetings for Darfur (21 September), Iraq (22 September), Afghanistan (23 September), the Quartet (23 September) and on Climate Change (24 September).
Human Rights
Ms. Heuzé said that the Human Rights Council would today continue its discussion integrating a gender perspective in the work of the Council after which it would take up the report of the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy. In the afternoon, the Council will select by a drawing of lots the first 32 countries to be examined under the Universal Periodic Review mechanism. In this regard, the President of the Council, Ambassador Doru Romulus Costea, would brief the press at 2:30 p.m. in Salle III. At the beginning of next week the Council will take up its agenda item on human rights situations that require the Council’s attention, and will also assess the mandates of the Special Rapporteurs for the right of food, indigenous people, Haiti, Burundi, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Jose Diaz of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights recalled the statement issued last night by the High Commissioner in which she expressed her grave concern over the Israeli Government’s decision of 19 September to declare the Gaza Strip as “hostile territory”, announcing military action, additional restrictions on the movement of people and goods to and from the Gaza Strip, and reductions in the supply of fuel and electricity. The High Commissioner said the implementation of such measures would impose an unbearable burden on the civilian population of Gaza, which had already paid a heavy price from daily violence, isolation and deprivation. She also recalled that international law prohibits reprisals and collective punishment.
Mr. Diaz said next Tuesday, 25 September, there will be meeting between the High Commissioner of Human Rights and the Secretary-General of the Organization of the Francophonie, Former President Abdou Diouf. They will be signing a three-year agreement of cooperation.
Ms. Heuzé said the Committee on the Rights of the Child was today holding a day of general discussion on resources for the rights of the child – responsibility of States, investments for the implementation of economic social and cultural rights of children and international cooperation.
Africa Floods
Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs announced that the humanitarian community in Uganda will be launching today an emergency appeal of $43 million for urgent assistance for some 300,000 people in flood-affected eastern, central and northern Uganda for a period of six months. The launch will take place in Soroti, which was the capital of Teso province – the most affected region in the country.
Turning to Ghana, Ms. Byrs reported that flooding in upper east, upper west and northern regions of Ghana have killed 32 people and affected 260,000 according to official figures. Aerial and road rapid joint assessments to the most affected areas of the upper east region were conducted on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week by the Government. The assessments concluded that the immediate needs were food, safe drinking water, mosquito nets and health related needs. Japan had donated $113 million for these needs.
In Burkina Faso, Ms. Byrs said more than 40,600 people have been affected by the floods across the country including 33 deaths. A joint assessment mission comprised of UN agencies, governments and NGOs began today and was visiting affected regions. The UN had agreed to provide the government with 200 million CFA ($417,000) to purchase tents. The Government of Morocco donated one-fifth of the required tents.
Christiane Berthiaume of WFP and Véronique Taveau of UNICEF provided some details on their respective operations in the three countries.
Iraq
Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said a 25-year old woman was confirmed to have contracted cholera in Baghdad by a laboratory on 19 September. There were two more suspected cases in Baghdad, although unconfirmed. There were also outbreaks of cholera in the northern areas of Iraq. In Soulimaniya, northern Iraq, there were 10 reported deaths from diarrhoea. In all, there were 29,000 cases of Acute Watery Diarrhoea, of which 1,500 are confirmed cases of cholera.
Ron Redmond of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said the number of Iraqis applying for asylum in industrialized countries went up by 45% in the first half of 2007 compared to the previous six months, according to UNHCR’s latest quarterly statistical report on asylum trends in industrialized countries. The information was based on official information provided by governments. Iraqis made some 19,800 asylum claims during the first six months of 2007 in the 36 industrialized countries included, an increase of 45 percent compared to the last six months of 2006, when 13,600 applications were received.
Mr. Redmond reported that UNHCR had raised its serious concerns to the Government of Turkey in respect of the expulsion last month of five Iranian refugees to northern Iraq. The refugees were recognized in Turkey by UNHCR under its mandate in view of the geographical limitation applied by Turkey to the 1951 Refugee Convention. UNHCR had received information that the five have spent almost a month in detention in Erbil, Iraq, and have just been released. Following communications with the Turkish authorities, UNHCR received confirmation that the expulsion took place on 22 August and that the five had been sent to northern Iraq. UNHCR was concerned that no due process of law was followed prior to the expulsion and that UNHCR was not given any prior information of the authorities' intention to expel these persons or of the expulsion itself.
UNHCR staff in Syria were reporting that arrivals of Iraqis at the border are averaging about 2,000 a day, Mr. Redmond added. Earlier this month, Syria announced visa restrictions for Iraqis wishing to enter Syria, but temporarily lifted them with the start of Ramadan. By the end of August, UNHCR had referred the cases of 13,696 Iraqi refugees to resettlement countries for consideration -- 10,111 to the United States and 3,586 others to Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Brazil.
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Ms. Chaib of WHO reported that in western Kasai province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, nine cases of Ebola haemorrhagic fever, five cases of typhoid and one case of Shigella have been confirmed by a laboratory. WHO was awaiting the test results from 45 further samples. The Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with the support of international partners, was continuing field investigations to determine the extent of the outbreak of Ebola haemorrhagic fever in the Province of Kasai Occidental. Active surveillance was under way to investigate recent deaths in the affected communities, to identify other suspected cases and to follow-up on all contacts. WHO was strengthening its outbreak response filed teams and operational bases had been established in affected areas. The UN Peacekeeping Mission in the DRC – MONUC – was providing additional logistical support.
Mr. Redmond of UNHCR said according to assessments by several UN agencies and NGOs, there were some 65,000 displaced Congolese in the Muganga area west of Goma out of at least 90,000 newly displaced in North Kivu province since early September. Overall, the troubled North Kivu province in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was facing the worst displacement in over three years, with some 300,000 Congolese uprooted since December 2006. UNHCR and the DRC authorities were engaged in an ongoing distribution of assistance at the Bulengo IDP site, some 15 kilometres west of Goma. The exercise started on Wednesday and has so far benefited 7,860 displaced at the Bulengo site.
Ms. Taveau of UNICEF added that the situation in Kivu was very difficult where over the past week a new wave of 65,000 people, including women and children, were seeking asylum. UNICEF and its partners have assisted over 120,000 people over the past three weeks and just completed a vaccination campaign in country for 13,000 children between ages 6 months and 14.
Colombia
Mr. Redmond of UNHCR said more than 1,000 members of an indigenous group had taken refuge in a school to escape combat on their territory in the south of Colombia. Hundreds of Awá people fled their land near the town of Tumaco on the Pacific Coast when fighting started Tuesday morning between the army and an irregular armed group. As of yesterday (Thursday), a total of 1,018 people had gathered in the school of the small village of Inda Sabaleta, some 25 minutes by road from their communities, and were waiting to be able to return home. The local UNHCR team reports that almost half of the group (488) were children under the age of 16.
Philippines - ICRC
Felipe Donoso, head of the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the Philippines, briefed journalists of the steps being taken by the ICRC to augment its response to internally displaced persons as a result of the recent upsurge in violence due to counter insurgency and terrorist activities. He said the humanitarian consequences of the violence in Sulu and Basilan islands in July this year had resulted in the displacement of 12,000 civilians. The ICRC was the main humanitarian actor which has been responding to a volatile situation.
Other
Mr. Redmond of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said High Commissioner António Guterres and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie will join former U.S. President Bill Clinton at the September 26-28 meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative in New York to issue a call to raise $220 million for refugee education.
Mr. Redmond reported that this morning, 35 Palestinians who have been living for four years in the isolated Ruwayshed desert refugee camp in Jordan, were expected to arrive at the international airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil. They are the first group of some 100 Palestinians for whom a solution has been found in Brazil. They left the camp yesterday, an emotional moment for many who in recent years had nearly given up hope for a normal life. The Palestinians, who had fled Iraq, had faced extremely harsh conditions in a dusty and scorpion-infested desert camp with nowhere to go.
Ms. Chaib drew attention to a publication by the WHO entitled “Promoting Safety of Medicines for Children” which provided an overview of the problem of medicines for children and offered solutions on how best to address side effects from medicines in children; namely, through improved reporting systems and collaboration between governments, regulatory authorities, research institutions and the pharmaceutical industry. The publication was part of a broad effort WHO was initiating to expand children's access to quality-assured, safe and effective medicines.
Ms. Heuzé mentioned that a press release announcing that former Secretary-General Kofi Annan was the recipient of the Russel-Whitehead Business Humanitarian Award was available in English and French.
Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration announced that the IOM had launched a pre-departure information and awareness raising campaign for the thousands of Vietnamese women who marry Korean husbands each year, often through a broker-arranged process. The campaign, which will be carried-out in coordination with the Viet Nam Women's Union and funded by the Korean Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, will be conducted in two rural provinces of Viet Nam, as well as in Ho Chi Minh City. It will include two marriage-migration fairs, a two-day training session for counsellors from the Women's Union and Justice Department working with migrant brides, and a website at: www.vovietchonghan.org
Ms. Heuzé announced that a press release from the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe was available regarding the Sixth “Environment for Europe” Conference, scheduled to take place at the SAVA Centre in the Serbian capital of Belgrade from 10 to 12 October. In Belgrade, environment ministers throughout the UNECE will take stock of progress made in improving the region’s environment since their previous meeting in Kiev four years ago, and decide on priorities for future cooperation. The Belgrade Conference will gather more than 1,200 delegates representing the 56 countries of the UNECE region.
Catherine Sibut of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development reminded journalists that a press conference would take place on Monday 24 September at 11:30 a.m. on the launch of a report on development in Africa. UNCTAD experts were of the view that resources in African states may be mobilised to ensure a continued development.
Samar Shamoon of the World Intellectual Property Organization reminded journalists that WIPO’s annual assembly would be taking place from Monday, 24 September through to 3 October at WIPO headquarters. The meeting will take stock of the activities over the past year and set an agenda for next year. Among the items to be discussed were the implementation of the development agenda, the work agenda for the standing committee for the law on patents, a draft broadcasting treaty, traditional knowledge folklore and access to genetic resources. There would be a press conference on Tuesday, 25 September at 3:00 p.m. to address the connection between WIPO and the Geneva International Academic Network, which aimed to boost the strategic use of intellectual property by health research institutes in the developing world.
Jana Borges of the World Trade Organization said WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body would be meeting on Tuesday, 25 September and again on Friday, 28 September. Additionally, the first hearing of the Boeing Panel would be held on 26 and 27 September. At the request of the parties, with the approval of the panel, a video recording of the non-confidential session of the proceedings will be shown at the WTO on Friday 28 September starting at 9:00 a.m.