REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Office at Geneva, chaired the briefing which also heard from spokespersons and representatives from the World Health Organization, the World Meteorological Organization, the United Nations Conference on Trade And Development, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations High-Commissioner for Refugees and the World Trade Organization.

UNAMID Attacks / Situation in Darfur and Chad

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that during a press conference yesterday the Secretary-General had condemned the deadly attacks on 8 July against a UN-African Union Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) joint police and military patrol which had been ambushed by unidentified militia between Gusa Jamat and Wadah in northern Darfur. Seven peacekeepers had been killed and twenty-two were wounded, seven of them critically. Mr. Ban Ki-moon had condemned in the strongest possible terms that unacceptable act of extreme violence against AU-UN peacekeepers in Darfur and had called on the Government of Sudan to do its utmost to ensure that the perpetrators were swiftly identified and brought to justice. Mr. Ban had also called on all parties to respect their agreements, to redouble their efforts to ensure the safety and integrity of the peacekeeping force and reach a comprehensive settlement to the crisis in Darfur as soon as possible. He also reiterated his appeal to the international community to provide all necessary support to the peacekeeping force in Darfur.

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier noted that this month’s President of the Security Council and Permanent Representative of Viet Nam to the United Nations, Le Luong Mingh, had yesterday also strongly condemned the attack. The Security Council President had also underlined that all attacks or threats against UNAMID were unacceptable.

On a related matter, in a report to the Security Council made public yesterday, Mr. Ban had expressed deep concerns over the prevailing insecurity in Chad and had recalled that only a real political dialogue between the Chadian Government and opposition groups could help to resolve the conflict lastingly.

Revised Appeal for Myanmar

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier drew attention to the press conference given yesterday in New York by the under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordination, John Holmes, during which he had presented the revised appeal for Myanmar, to which 13 United Nations agencies and 23 Non-governmental organisations were associated. The new appeal was scheduled to cover assistance requirements until April 2009.

Geneva Activities

Turning to Geneva, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that from 8 to 10 July a general cooperation meeting had been held at the Palais des Nations between the United Nations and the Organization of the Islamic Conference. A final outcome document had been published at the end of the meeting, and was available at the request of journalists. The opening address made by UNOG Director-General Sergei Ordzhonikidze at the meeting had also been issued as a separate press release.

At Palais Wilson, the Human Rights Committee had started its ninety-third session this week, having concluded yesterday its review of the report of France. Today, the Committee was scheduled to review the report of San Marino. On the afternoon of Monday, 14 July and the morning of Tuesday, 15 July, the Committee would consider the report of Ireland on how that country was implementing its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Marburg Haemorrhagic Fever Case in the Netherlands

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that WHO had been notified by the Government of the Netherlands of a case of Marburg Haemorrhagic Fever. The infected person was a Dutch tourist who had recently returned from a visit to Uganda. The 40-year-old woman had travelled in Uganda from 5 to 28 June and had entered caves on two occasions, where she had reportedly had, in one instance, direct contact with a bat. Some bat species in sub-Saharan Africa were known to carry filoviruses. The woman returned to the Netherlands on 28 June in good health. The first symptoms had occurred on 2 July and she had been admitted to hospital on 5 July. Rapid clinical deterioration with liver failure and severe haemorrhaging had occurred 2 days later and the patient remained in critical condition. Contact tracing for persons that had been in contact with the women after 2 July had been initiated and the Dutch authorities had alerted the tour operator to avoid visits to the caves until further information was available.

A person with the Marburg Haemorrhagic Fever would become infectious only after the outbreak of the first symptoms, Ms. Chaib explained. Transmission of the virus from person to person required extremely close contact with a patient and infection resulted from contact with blood or other body fluids.

Humanitarian Crisis in Ethiopia

Paul Garwood, Communication Officer of the Health Action in Crises department of WHO, in an update on the humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia, said a worsening in levels of malnutrition and the threat of disease outbreaks were compounding the humanitarian crisis in the country. WHO was launching a donor appeal of more than $25 million to assist Ethiopia in the reconstruction of its health centres, as well as to provide for the nutritional and health needs of to the 4.6 million people in the country who required urgent emergency food relief. Some 75,000 children under 5 years old needed therapeutic and supplementary nutritional support.

The number of government-run food centres had risen from 200 three months ago to 605 today. WHO had recently sent two missions to the country, but much more assistance was needed from all players, Mr. Garwood concluded.

Least Developed Countries Report, 2008

Catherine Sibut of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said the Least Developed Countries Report 2008 was being released today. The report gave an account of the economic situation in the least developed countries, as well as their progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and changes in the terms of the development partnership.

Ms. Sibut pointed out that the report demonstrated a paradox: although least developed countries as a group had registered quite an important economic growth over the past 30 years, the number of poor continued to rise. Some 277 million people in least developed countries lived on less than 1$ a day. Although economic growth had improved, the population had grown faster. The food crisis had also worsened the situation, with one least developed country out of three being dependent on food imports. Taking into account the development patterns and policies that were currently implemented in the least developed countries, those countries were off-track to achieve the MDG of reducing the incidence of poverty by half by 2015.

Recalling there would be a meeting in Accra, Ghana, in September 2008, to review the outcomes of the Mechanism on Aid Effectiveness established within the framework of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, Ms. Sibut said the report offered critical analysis on that issue.

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

Véronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that for the first time since 2006 access for international agencies to two north-eastern provinces of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea had resumed. The United Nations Country Team had been negotiating to resume humanitarian access in those provinces since early 2007. On 7 July, at a meeting with the Resident Coordinator, it had been confirmed that UN agencies and non-governmental organizations would once again be permitted to travel to the provinces. UNICEF welcomed that decision.

"It is now urgent we reach children as quick as possible with life-saving support", Ms. Taveau said, quoting the UNICEF representative in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Gopalan Balagopal. Mr. Balagopal had said UNICEF’s priority was to work closely with other partners to reach vulnerable children quickly and to ensure that severely malnourished children got the treatment needed to save their lives. An assessment on food security, which had been completed by the World Food Programme, indicated that there were a large number of malnourished children in the two provinces.

A team led by Mr. Balagopal and including UNICEF’s Chief of Health and Nutrition would leave for an 11 days mission to these provinces on Saturday, 12 July. They planned to visit hospitals, health facilities and institutions for children. Ms. Taveau also said UNICEF trucks loaded with nutritional supplies and medicines intended for children in these provinces had started rolling out of Pyongyang. The chronic malnutrition rates in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea were 37 per cent for children under five and 32 per cent for pregnant women. The child mortality rate was estimated at 55 deaths per 1,000 live births.

In response to query as to why the Government had closed the two provinces to assistance in 2006, Ms. Taveau said the reasons were not clear.

South Africa - Zimbabwe

Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said UNHCR had noticed some disturbing developments with the pattern of displacement from Zimbabwe following the March general elections and accelerating since the 27 June presidential run-off vote, with more refugees crossing the border into South Africa seeking asylum. Previously, most Zimbabweans crossing the border had been single men (about 90 percent) or women seeking work. An increasing number of families were now arriving as a result of political violence, with several people showing signs of beatings or torture. A further indication of the evolving refugee situation was the growing crowds of Zimbabweans – around 3,000 to 4,000 – approaching the Crown Mines Refugee Registration Office in Johannesburg each Thursday and Friday, which were the days set aside for Zimbabwean asylum-seekers.

Ms. Pagonis said many new arrivals were entering South Africa through unauthorized border points, making it difficult to give an accurate estimate of the numbers involved. Fearful of arrest and deportation, they remained underground, making them vulnerable to other forms of violence and exploitation such as rape and robbery, she added. According to reliable sources, in the last 40 days alone, some 17,000 Zimbabweans had been deported from South Africa through the Beit Bridge border post, despite earlier calls from UNHCR to suspend all deportations. UNHCR, working together with the authorities, had reinforced its presence at the border and was discussing these issues with the government to try and ensure that refugees and asylum seekers got the protection they needed. The High Commissioner was reiterating his appeal to South Africa to halt all deportations of Zimbabweans and ensure that those seeking asylum have access to the national asylum procedures.

Zimbabwean asylum seekers had also been reported arriving in neighbouring countries since March with some 700 arrivals in Botswana and 38 arrivals in Zambia, Ms. Pagonis added. UNHCR monitoring teams in Mozambique’s border provinces had also identified several hundred asylum-seekers from Zimbabwe who needed protection. A briefing note was available at the back of the room.

Doha Round

Jana Borges of the World Trade Organization (WTO) recalled intensive negotiations on the Doha Round would take place in Geneva starting on 21 July. WTO would brief the press every day, and numerous press conferences were expected. All press conferences would be webcast and podcast, she said. Mediators for agricultural and non-agricultural market access negotiations had released their texts. Members would have an opportunity to comment on them the coming week, on Wednesday morning for non-agricultural goods and Wednesday afternoon for agricultural goods. Briefings would follow both meetings. The Trade Facilitation Negotiating Group would meet all week long and the Trade and Environment Negotiating Group from Tuesday to Thursday next week.

Other

Jennifer Pagonis of the UNHCR said close to 400 Lao Hmong had been repatriated to Laos by the Thai army from a camp in northern Thailand on Thursday. That repatriation brought to 1,228 the total number of Lao Hmong who had been repatriated from Ban Huay Nam Khao camp in the last three weeks. On 22 June, a group of 837 had been repatriated after a mass protest at the camp, raising concerns about the conditions surrounding the return. There were currently about 6,000 Lao Hmong still living in the camp. An additional 200 to 300 were believed to be living outside the camp, some of them in hiding. Ms. Pagonis said UNHCR did not have access to the camp, where the Lao Hmong had started arriving around mid-2005. UNHCR had repeatedly urged the Thai authorities to allow access to the camp so that it could play a role in facilitating appropriate solutions. UNHCR had also called for Thailand to meet international standards for voluntary repatriation.

Ms. Carine Van Maele from the World Meteorological Organization said that a workshop with expert groups in forest fires would take place from 14 to 16 July in Edmonton, Canada, with the aim of improving weather systems for fire danger rating that should help tackle the growing threat of forest fires worldwide. Meteorological data was critical to forecasting the potential for fires to get started and for their behaviour once started as well as for the prediction of smoke trajectories and dispersion. Some 75 experts from 25 countries would participate in the workshop.

Jana Borges of the WTO announced that the World Trade Report 2008 would be launched on Tuesday, 15 July. A special event opened by WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy was planned at 11 a.m. to launch the report.

Ms. Borges also said that, among other meetings next week, the Singapore Trade Policy Review would be held on Tuesday, and accession negotiations would be held for Kazakhstan on Thursday and for Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday.