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 the World Health Organization, the International Labour Office, ATD Fourth World, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the International Organization for Migration and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Secretary-General’s Activities

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that the Secretary-General yesterday made a statement on the financial crisis and expressed concerns over its impact on the developing world. He had also made a statement at the occasion of World Food Day where he recalled the impact of the financial crisis on food prices. In a third statement he welcomed the agreement between the United States and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on denuclearisation verification measures. He had said that the accord would allow the Six-Party Talks and related activities to resume and that this was another step towards a verifiable non-nuclear Korean peninsula.

The Secretary-General arrived this morning in Geneva, said Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier. He would hold several private bilateral meetings today and planned to meet with the High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres and with UNHCR Staff at the UNHCR Headquarters at 3 p.m. At 8:15 p.m., the Secretary-General would participate at a dinner organised by the European Union Presidency at the Council of the European Union Mission in Geneva, which would be followed by a press briefing at 21:30 p.m. Tomorrow, a closed meeting on the situation in Georgia would take place at the Palais des Nations.

Geneva Activities

Turning to the activities in Geneva, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that the Human Rights Committee this morning was finishing its review of the report of Denmark. This afternoon and tomorrow morning the Committee would review the report of Monaco. Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning the Committee would review the report of Japan and this session will not take place at Palais Wilson as the other sessions but at the Palais des Nations in Room XXVI.

Situation in Somalia

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that the humanitarian situation was deteriorating in Somalia. Humanitarian space in South and Central Somalia had shrunk even further during the weekend due to several incidents. On 6 October 2008, two UN personnel were injured in a roadside explosion in Marka which had killed the driver of the vehicle.

A group of 52 non governmental organizations and the United Nations had asked the authorities to do their outmost possible to investigate the circumstances and the causes of the explosion, said Ms. Byrs. Marka was an important humanitarian hub; six UN Agencies and all major international and national non governmental organizations were present there. At this time, around 3.2 million Somalis were in need of urgent assistance, representing 43 per cent of the country’s population. Some 25 aid-workers had been kidnapped since the beginning of the year and were still in captivity and pirates had attacked 60 boats in the same period. This situation had led to the suspension of activities by several non governmental organizations, notably by CARE.

Situation in Central African Republic

Turning to the Central African Republic, Ms. Byrs said that about 108,000 persons still remained displaced there and were living without access to food, water and any basic social services after their villages had been attacked. Some 85,000 people had returned to their villages of origin, only to find them destroyed by the violence. But the humanitarian presence had greatly increased in the country, from seven offices in 2006 to 46 this month. Aid agencies had also tripled their programmes in the country. Of the US$ 116 million required for Central Africa in 2008, close to US$ 90 million had already been received by OCHA from generous donors. If donors and the international community continued to support the efforts, there would be a real possibility to improve the situation in the country.

Situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Ron Redmond of the United Nations Refugee Agency said that according to the latest assessments, more than 50,000 people had been forced to flee their homes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s northeastern Ituri region due to intense fighting between the Congolese army and Uganda’s rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

The fighting had broken out in September and had since caused heavy loss of life, according to UNHCR staff. The rebels had caused widespread destruction of houses and public buildings. At present the UNHCR staff had access only to the displaced in Dungu, a town located just south of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s border with Sudan, and surrounding villages. People had found shelter with relatives and friends, as well as in churches and public schools. A UNHCR team on mission to Dungu reported that the internally displaced people were in dire need of basic humanitarian assistance, said Mr. Redmond. In response to the unfolding crisis, UNHCR was gearing up to send additional emergency staff to beef up its presence in the Ituri region and to help meet the basic needs for shelter and water.

Further south, fresh fighting in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo’s province of North Kivu between government forces and rebels led by Laurent Nkunda had displaced 100,000 people since hostilities erupted at the end of August, according to the latest assessments. The newly displaced civilians had fled in all directions, but most were heading towards sites for internally displaced persons around the provincial capital, Goma. The fighting throughout September had forced all humanitarian agencies to withdraw their staff from the field, noted Mr. Redmond.

Other Humanitarian Situations

Mr. Redmond said that some 190,000 people had been displaced from Pakistan’s Bajaur agency bordering Afghanistan since fighting had started in mid-August. The large majority of the displaced people were staying with host families on both sides of the border. UNHCR could not access most of these areas for security reasons, and relied on government estimates. In Pakistan, authorities said there were 168,463 internally displaced people in the North Western Frontier Province. UNHCR could not verify this figure as population movements were fluid and registration was ongoing in the 10 official camps for internally displaced persons. Last Friday, UNHCR had signed an agreement with the North Western Frontier Province government to extend registration to internally displaced persons living with host families there as well. UNHCR was also trying to improve conditions in camps by providing urgent shelter and relief materials, as well as technical support to the government camp managers, said Mr. Redmond.

Across the border in Afghanistan’s Kunar province, UNHCR and its partners had been assisting the 20,700 people who had fled the Bajaur conflict in the last two months, said Mr. Redmond. UNHCR and other agencies had provided them with relief items, food packages and medical kits.

Turning to the situation of the ex-Iraq Palestinian refugees, Mr. Redmond said that in the lead up to UNHCR’s bi-yearly informal consultations with resettlement countries tomorrow Wednesday 15 October, UNHCR had issued an urgent appeal for the resettlement of Palestinian refugees. Most had been stranded for over two years in two camps at the Iraq-Syrian border and in Baghdad, while a small group has been stranded in Al Hol camp inside Syria.

Of the estimated 34,000 Palestinians in Iraq in 2003, less than 15,000 remained in Iraq - including 2,943 Palestinian refugees currently living in the border camps at the Iraq-Syrian border. Of those in the border camps, 1,278 persons were considered to be highly vulnerable - having life-threatening diseases, needing urgent medical treatment or fearing persecution if they return -- and therefore were in urgent need of resettlement, said Mr. Redmond.

Answering a question by a journalist on what UNHCR’s response was to yesterday’s BBC report on UNHCR’s work in the refugee camps in South Africa, Mr. Redmond said that the High Commissioner yesterday had received a document from several groups in South Africa who had expressed their concerns over UNHCR’s response during the crisis there earlier this year. To ensure full objectivity and transparency, an inquiry would be conducted that would include a senior staff member designated by UNHCR’s Office of the Inspector General, one person designated by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and one person designated by the Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response, an alliance of major humanitarian agencies. They were expecting a report on their inquiry in the next few weeks.

Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body on a Protocol on Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products would hold its second meeting from 20 to 25 October 2008 at the International Conference Center of Geneva. The body had held its first meeting in February of this year.

Ogwell Ouma, WHO Expert, said that during this second session they were expecting to continue negotiations on a Protocol on Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products. This meeting was the result of a decision taken by the Parties to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to begin negotiations on illicit trade. The first session held in February had helped to set out parameters of how the negotiations should continue. For this second session, there was a definite text that was on the table that was going to be used for the negotiations.

The reason why the decision had been taken to conduct negotiations on such a Protocol under a public health convention was because illicit tobacco trade had very clear effects on the amount of consumption, said Dr. Ouma.

Answering questions from journalists, Dr. Ouma said that illicit trade was not only linked to counterfeit products as big brand products were also involved. Being illicit in nature, it was difficult to give precise measures of the cost of this trade, but the current estimate was that over an US$ 50 billion were being lost globally due to this kind of trade.

World Work Report 2008

Corinne Perthuis of the International Labour Office (ILO) said that on Thursday 16 October Raymond Torres, Director of the International Institute for Labour Studies of the ILO, would hold a press conference at the Palais des Nations for the launch of the World Work Report 2008 entitled “Income Inequalities in the Age of Financial Globalization”. The report was the first of its kind and spanned from 1990 to 2007 and was highly relevant in the actual financial context.

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

Ms. Perthuis said that the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty would be commemorated on Friday, 17 October. For this occasion ILO would support the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation which awarded each year a prize to an organization which had made a significant contribution towards the alleviation of human suffering. This year’s recipient was an organization called BRAC, originally from Bangladesh and now operating in nine countries across Asia and Africa in the area of micro-credits. A press conference would take place at the Palais des Nations on Thursday, 16 October 2008 at 11:30 a.m. and the prize would be handed over on Monday, 20 October at the World Meteorological Organization.

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that an event would also take place at the Palais des Nations on 17 October 2008 to celebrate the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, in partnership with ATD Fourth World. A note to correspondents with more details was available

Janet Nelson of ATD Fourth World said that the celebration would take place at the second floor Mezzanine in Building E at 3 p.m.. The event was organized along with the UN Millennium Campaign. This year’s theme was “Stand Up and Take Action”.

Global Handwashing Day

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said that tomorrow would be the first ever Global Handwashing Day. It was a planetary battle for hygiene that UNICEF was launching with its partners. The actors of this battle would be the children themselves. At home they would also sensitize their parents to the problem. Some 120 million children in Asia would take part in the exercise tomorrow and wash their hands in schools and institutions. The aim of the exercise was to reduce child mortality. Every day, some 5,000 children under the age of five died from diarrheal diseases. Handwashing at critical times, such as after having used the toilet, could reduce diarrhea rates among children under five by almost 50 per cent. A similar campaign would also take place in Africa, with millions of children participating.

Caroline Van der Voorden of the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council said that this first ever Global Handwashing Day was organized by the Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing and was taking place during the International Year of Sanitation. The basic intervention of handwashing was a very essential part of sanitation and a cost-effective way to prevent diseases which was often forgotten and thus it had been felt that it needed some extra attention. The Public-Private Partnership included many agencies and several private companies active in soap production. The aim of the partnership was to reduce diarrhea and the number of child deaths due to it.

Fadela Chaib of WHO said that WHO was also supporting this initiative and that the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council was one of its close partners. The campaign was highly important, as hygiene was very important to help reduce the most ravaging diseases in developing countries, such as diarrhea.

Other

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said that a first group of Sri Lankan migrants workers leaving Kuwait were arriving today in Sri Lanka. The migrants, who were currently covered by an amnesty extended by the Kuwait government, were being allowed to leave the country voluntarily before 15 October 2008. Most had lost their legal visa status in Kuwait due to various difficulties with their employers. The Sri Lankan government and the IOM had been working closely with Kuwait to facilitate the repatriation under an emergency humanitarian framework. In response to a request from the Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, IOM was using its own funding to support the initial repatriation of 200 of the most vulnerable, focusing on women, children and people with special needs.

Simon Schorno of the International Committee of the Red Cross said that ICRC was assisting more than 1,000 people affected by the fighting in the Phillipines.

Jessica Barry of the International Committee of the Red Cross said she had just returned from a mission in Georgia this morning. The situation on the ground was improving; many people were now returning home. But the main problem was the state of their homes. People were concerned about the winter and how they would manage it with broken windows or burnt roofs. Many wished they could have taken their tents from the refugee camps with them, in order for them to stay dry during the winter. ICRC teams were currently making assessments of the needs of the population for the winter.

Ms. Chaib of WHO recalled that WHO was launching today its report on primary health care in Almaty, Kazakhstan.