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 United Nations Refugee Agency, the World Trade Organization, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the World Health Organization.

Secretary-General’s Upcoming Trip to Asia

Ms. Heuzé said the Secretary-General spoke to journalists yesterday on his upcoming visit to Asia which starts today with stops in Japan, China, the Republic of Korea, and then again in Japan to participate in the G-8 summit meeting in Hokkaido. The Secretary-General said this year’s Group of 8 meeting had taken on a special urgency. He said it was no exaggeration to say that the international community faced three crises, all interrelated and demanding immediate action. The first and most pressing was the global food crisis. The second was climate change, and the need to act now if they were to reach an agreement to limit greenhouse gases by the end of next year. The third was the emergency of development, especially in Africa. He said countries were falling behind on their Millennium Development Goals. If they were to deliver on this promised future, they must take steps today. The Secretary-General said he had sent letters to each of the leaders of the G8 nations, laying out his concerns and requesting their leadership. Secretary-General Ban said in Hokkaido, he would appeal to world leaders to deliver on the measures agreed to in Rome earlier this month under the UN’s Comprehensive Framework for Action. He said the measures offered a roadmap for ending the current food crisis and preventing a recurrence. The Framework called on nations to remove export restrictions and levies on food commodities and reduce agricultural subsidies, particularly in developed countries. He would also propose that the international community triple the proportion of Official Development Assistance for agricultural production and rural development. To overcome this crisis, they needed nothing less than a second “green revolution.”

The Secretary-General said climate change was no less immediate a concern. The international community had achieved much in Bali last year. But they must press forward in order to achieve the climate change agreement that the world expected and needed in Copenhagen in 2009. In Hokkaido, he said he would ask for short- and medium-term targets for reducing greenhouse gases. The Secretary-General said he would also seek increased funding for specific programmes relating to infant and maternal health, community health projects and disease-control—HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and neglected tropical diseases.

A journalist said the Secretary-General referred to the outgoing High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour yesterday and asked what was the status of finding a new High Commissioner. Ms. Heuzé said that the Secretary-General told journalists yesterday that he and his senior advisers had been actively going through a selection process. There were a number of candidates, very qualified candidates, and they were now in the process of narrowing down to a final shortlist of the candidates. He said he had interviewed some of them, and he was still in the process.

A journalist said that Jose Ramos Horta, the President of East Timor, had claimed that the Secretary-General had offered him the post of High Commissioner for Human Rights and asked for confirmation. Ms. Heuzé said the Secretary-General was asked about this yesterday and he made it quite clear that he had never spoken to anybody to offer his nomination.

Zimbabwe

Ms. Heuzé said High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour yesterday issued a statement on the situation in Zimbabwe. There was also a joint press release by around 40 Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council who expressed their grave concern about widespread reports of recurring politically motivated violence in Zimbabwe and other obstacles to citizens’ free and equal participation in the country’s presidential run-off election scheduled for 27 June 2008. The statements were in the press room.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Heuzé said the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, was holding a seminar from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Council Chamber on Tuesday, 1 July. Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva and Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament, would make opening remarks. Sergio Duarte, High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, would offer opening remarks via video. Available was the agenda of the seminar.

Ms. Heuzé said the United Nations system held periodic general meetings with regional groups and organizations. There would be two such meetings in July in Geneva. The first was between the UN system and the League of Arab States and would be held from 1 to 3 July. The Director-General of UNOG, Mr. Ordzhonikidze, would chair the opening session. The second would be between the UN system and the Organization of the Islamic Conference and that would be held from 8 to 10 July. Available was the list of participants for both meetings.

The World Economic and Social Survey 2008 : Overcoming Economic Insecurity would be launched in Geneva and in New York on Tuesday, 1 July, Ms. Heuzé said. One of the authors would brief journalists on the report during the briefing next Tuesday. The embargoed report would be available on Monday, 30 June.

UNHCR Concerned Over Return of Lao Hmong from Thailand

Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency said UNHCR had written to the Thai Government expressing concern over the return of 837 Lao Hmong from Thailand last Sunday, 22 June. The operation came after a mass protest by thousands of Lao Hmong who broke out of a camp run by the Thai Army. The lack of transparency and the absence of any third party to monitor the return operation made it impossible to verify the voluntary nature of the repatriation. UNHCR was particularly concerned that a group of eight leaders and their families – 18 people in all – appeared to have been deported against their will without any determination of whether they were in need of international protection. For the remaining 819 who were sent back to Laos, the repatriation appeared to have taken place in conditions that raised doubts about the meaningful exercise of voluntary choice and without any prior adjudication of asylum claims.

Human Rights

Yvon Edoumou of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour today concludes her three-day visit to Pakistan. During her visit, the High Commissioner met with the President of Pakistan, the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister, the Minister of Justice and members of the diplomatic corps and the UN partners in Pakistan. The High Commissioner was holding a press conference today in Islamabad at 4 p.m. local time, around noon Geneva time to talk about her preliminary remarks on her visit.

World Health Organization

Dick Thompson of the World Health Organization said he would speak about three upcoming events today. First, at the beginning of next week, there would be an announcement on multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. Second, WHO hoped to have a complete health picture of Myanmar following the cyclone. Someone would brief journalists about that, probably on Tuesday, 1 July. Third, there would be a meeting of the Codex Alimentarius, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization body which provided recommendations on food safety and trade. The Codex Alimentarius would be adopting a number of proposals next week to help identify some of those issues. The meeting of the Codex Alimentarius was open to the press and there would be a media advisory on the main issues as well as other documents available.

Peter Ben Embarek of WHO’s Food Safety Group said next week, the annual session of the Codex Commission would take place in at the Geneva Conference Center. During the week, the Commission, which had 174 Member States participating, would adopt a series of new food safety standards, some of them relating to toxin nuts and other dried fruits, some covering the use of veterinary drugs in animal production, and some of them dealing with powdered infant formula with the aim of making it safe to avoid the death of premature babies using it. During the meeting, WHO would also present food safety rewards for the second time. This would take place on Monday, 30 June at the end of the first day’s session in the late afternoon.

World Trade Organization

Janaina Borges of the World Trade Organization said there would be an informal meeting of the Trade Negotiations Committee this afternoon. Director-General Pascal Lamy would talk to delegations about the timing of a gathering in Geneva with Ministers. There would be a briefing this afternoon at the WTO.

Next week, Ms. Borges said there would be meetings of technical barriers to the trade committee and the Goods Council, on the accession of Laos, on Tuesday, 1 July. The Director-General would be in Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt on Monday, 30 June to participate in the African Union Heads of State Summit. On Thursday, 3 July, he would be in Brussels to participate in the Conference “Who will feed the world?” at the European Parliament.