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 Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Health Organization, the World Meteorological Organization, the World Food Programme, the High Commissioner for Refugees, the Economic Commission for Europe, the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development, the World Trade Organization and the International Organization for Migration.

Global Financial Crisis

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon held an informal meeting yesterday on the financial crisis with eminent economists, including Nobel Prize laureate Joseph Stiglitz and Kemal Dervis, the head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). They discussed the impact of the global financial crisis on UN efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. They also discussed prospects for the world economy, and how the present financial crisis will affect the emerging economies, as well as the least developed countries. They exchanged views on financing for development, the international reserve system, trade and the regulatory role multilateral institutions can play, as well as reforms of the existing institutions.

The issue of the financial crisis will also be raised Friday at the regular meeting of the UN Chief Executives Board that will be attended by the heads of the specialized agencies and the Bretton Woods institutions.

President Bush has invited the Secretary-General to attend the upcoming November 15 meeting in Washington of the G8.

Secretary-General Congratulates India on Space Launch

The Secretary-General has warmly congratulated the Government and people of India for the successful launching of the Chandrayaan 1 spacecraft. He said this achievement was yet another manifestation of the importance that India attached to the quest for knowledge and scientific advancement.

Director-General of UNOG to Hold Meetings with Regional Groups

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that as part of the efforts of the United Nations Office at Geneva to promote the priorities of the Organization and to support the diplomatic community, the Director-General Sergei Ordzhonikidze is holding a series of meetings this week and early November with the members of the Geneva-based regional groups. These meetings are an opportunity for the Director-General to outline the Secretary-General's priorities and plans for the Organization as well as UNOG's main activities, and to hear the Ambassadors' views on a number of wide-ranging of issues.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the sixty-third anniversary of the United Nations was being celebrated today with a ceremony in the Salle des pas perdus at 12:15. After paying respect to the United Nations flag, the Director-General would deliver remarks and read from the preamble of the Charter. Throughout the day, a number of events will take place at the Palais des Nations in the context of the celebrations. These diverse events will highlight the Organization’s work across the three pillars of security, development and human rights. At 12:45 at the UNOG Library (Door 20), there will be a guided visit to the exhibition on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. From 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., there will be a round table discussion on “What is the UN Charter’s real value in 2008?” The Director-General will deliver remarks at the opening segment.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women was today reviewing the periodic reports of Slovenia in Salle XVI and Mongolia in Salle VII. Next week, the Committee would consider the report of Bahrain on 30 October and the reports of El Salvador and Madagascar on 31 October.

The Human Rights Committee was today discussing a draft general comment on obligations of States parties under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Committee would be meeting behind closed doors most of next week before it issued on 31 October its concluding observations and recommendations of the reports of Denmark, Monaco, Japan, Nicaragua and Spain at this session.

Cholera Epidemic in Guinea Bissau

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Guinea Bissau was hit by a cholera epidemic annually and humanitarian actors needed funds to further prepare for it. More than $ 1 million was mobilized by the UN system this year to support Guinea Bissau, but more funds were needed. Guinea Bissau was the only country in the region where cholera rates were not decreasing. The cholera rates were decreasing in Senegal, Mali, Benin and Niger. In 2005, Guinea Bissau recorded one of its most serious epidemics of cholera, with 25,000 cases and 400 deaths. This year, there were so far 12,225 cases of cholera recorded, with 201 deaths. They expected these figures to continue to rise.

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said the cholera epidemic this year started in May in Guinea Bissau. Between 23 August and 21 October, there were 4,871 cases, including 915 children between 0 to 14 years. Cholera was endemic in Guinea Bissau. This year, the epidemic was made worse by the fact that the rainy season, which usually concludes in the middle of October, is still continuing. The capital was the worse affected, but there were also cases in 11 other parts of the country. While the cholera epidemic was registering a decreasing trend in the number of cases registered in the past two weeks, UNCIEF was worried about the fact that the electoral campaign that was starting could result in a new increase in cases. UNICEF had been actively engaged with the Ministry of Health to combat the outbreak and to train government officials, including teachers and hundreds of volunteers on cholera prevention practices.

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said 11 provinces in Guinea Bissau were affected by the cholera epidemic, but the most affected was the capital Bissau. WHO was working with various partners to help the health authorities in Guinea Bissau to prepare a plan to contain the outbreak.

Third World Climate Conference

Carine Richard-Van Maele of the World Meteorological Organization said World Climate Conference-3 will be held from 31 August to 4 September 2009 in Geneva. The Conference will consider scientific advances in seasonal, inter-annual and multi-decadal climate predictions and spur their applications to real-world problems. The first World Climate Conference organized by WMO in 1979 led to the creation of the 2007 Nobel Peace prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The second World Climate Conference in 1990 called for a climate convention and ultimately resulted in the establishment of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The third World Climate Conference is intended to help bridge the gap between the assessments of the WMO/UNEP co-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the practical climate adaptation needs of the Parties to the Framework Convention. A note to correspondents with more details was available and of course in coming months, more information on this Conference would be forthcoming.

Food Aid for Somalia, Haiti and Democratic Republic of the Congo

Emilia Casella of the World Food Programme said WFP was expecting to receive the first shipment on 25 October for a new feeding programme for 64,000 children in Somalia. This was the first time that WFP was using “Supplementary Plumpy”, which was a peanut-based high nutrition food product which came in little sachets and if a child took a daily dose of it for two months, it would help them to recover quickly from malnutrition and protect them for a further four months. In Somalia, the number of people who were vulnerable had increased this year by 77 per cent, with 3.2 million people in Somalia in need of assistance. The most recent assessments were indicating critical rates of malnutrition throughout South Central Somalia and the North. This was why they had introduced this specific programme which would be carried out in existing supplementary feeding centres together with WFP’s international and local partners. WFP was expecting 20 metric tons to arrive in Somalia by air tomorrow and a further 70 metric tons would arrive later by truck.

In Haiti, Ms. Casella said WFP had now distributed over 1 million food rations to beneficiaries affected by the disaster in nine departments of Haiti. The rations would benefit 566,000 persons, almost half of whom were in Gonaives. WFP was also continuing to reach areas which were particularly difficult to reach. They had yesterday reached an isolated island called Ile de la Tortue by helicopter.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ms. Casella said the situation in North Kivu and Oriental provinces was extremely alarming and they were finding many thousands of people newly displaced. WFP was having major difficulties reaching these people and it was expecting some severe breaks in the food supply line in the coming weeks and months. For more information on that, the Director of the WFP Geneva office, who had just come from spending two years in Congo as WFP Country Director, would give a more in-depth briefing right after the briefing in press room I.

Refugees – Afghanistan and Iraq

Ron Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency said UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie yesterday concluded her first visit to Afghanistan, where she saw both the successes and difficulties of refugee return and reintegration. Ms. Jolie appealed for long-term commitments to Afghanistan and greater humanitarian support for the population as the harsh Afghan winter approached. Ms. Jolie had met with Afghan refugees in neighbouring Pakistan twice in recent years and wished to see for herself how returnees were coping on their return to Afghanistan. Her visit was also aimed at raising awareness of the refugee issue ahead of an international conference on return and reintegration to be held in Kabul in November.

Mr. Redmond said UNHCR was helping thousands of Iraqi Christians who had fled the northern city of Mosul over the past fortnight, most of them to villages elsewhere in Ninewa province but also about 400 who had crossed into Syria. It was not clear who was behind this intimidation that caused them to flee. More than 2,200 families, or some 13,000 people, were estimated to have left Mosul by mid-week. That was more than half of Mosul’s Christian population. UNHCR and its partners had delivered aid to at least 1,725 of the displaced families in about 20 areas of northern Iraq. UNHCR would also provide support for those Iraqis who sought refuge in neighbouring countries and very much appreciated that Syria continued to welcome refugees.

Floods in Central America

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said a tropical depression has caused heavy rains in Honduras, Costa Rica, Belize, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala, which had affected 300,000 persons.

In Honduras, Ms. Byrs said there were 193,000 persons affected and most of the country was touched by the floods. Preliminary estimates said 23 persons had been killed. The torrential rain was expected to continue for the next 36 hours. OCHA had sent a United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination Team, which would deploy today in Honduras. The Government of Honduras had formally requested humanitarian assistance and declared a state of emergency.

In Costa Rica, Ms. Byrs said the precipitation levels were the highest in 40 years. Seven deaths had been reported and 470 communities affected, including 92,000 persons. In Nicaragua, 10,633 persons were affected by the rains and floods, in El Salvador 3,600, in Guatemala 35,000 and in Belize 269 persons.

In conclusion, Ms. Byrs said concerning the UN appeal for $ 30 million to help survivors of four tropical storms and hurricanes which recently struck Cuba, the Central Emergency Response Fund had contributed $ 8.7 million, leaving a shortfall of $ 21.3 million.

Other

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said the meeting on the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Body on a protocol on illicit trade in tobacco products will conclude on Saturday, 25 October at 1 p.m. Journalists interested in finding out about the outcome could contact her colleague Brenda Abrar Milani on 079 476 7088. If there was a breakthrough, a press release would be sent to journalists by email.

Ms. Chaib reminded journalists of the press conference at 10 a.m. on Monday, 27 October to launch the WHO report “Global Burden of Disease”. Embargoed copies of the report would be available later in the day.

Charlotte Griffiths of the Economic Commission for Europe said as journalists were aware, the European Forest Week was held in Rome all of this week. She wanted to draw the attention of journalists to the conclusions of one of the events, a joint UNECE/FAO workshop on building green. The event was held to draw attention to the environmental and economic benefits of building green, and particularly of building with wood. The event concluded that given its potential role, green building could really help environmental and economic challenges and should therefore be placed higher on the global sustainable development and climate change agenda. Available was a press release with more details.

Catherine Sibut-Pinote of the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development recalled that on 1 September, the Secretary-General of UNCTAD had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Minister of Science and Technology of Iraq to examine the science, technology and innovation policy of Iraq. Today, in a second step in this process, Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi would sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Multi-Donor Trust Fund and UNDP as the Administrative Agent of the UN Development Group Iraq Trust Fund. There were more details in the press note.

Ms. Sibut-Pinote said a note would be sent out this afternoon on the reconstruction of financial multilateralism.

Janaina Borgese of the World Trade Organization said Director-General Pascal Lamy was in the United States where he would take part in the meeting of the Chief Executives Board in New York today and tomorrow. He would be visiting universities on the West Coast next week, and on 30 and 31 October, he would meet with United States government officials and the Heads of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

In Geneva next week, there were meetings of the Committees on antidumping, safeguards, subsidies and CV measures on 27 and 29 October, and meetings on intellectual property on 28 and 2 9 October.

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said IOM Director General William Lacy Swing and Deputy Director General Ndioro Ndiaye will be attending the second Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) that opens on 27 October at the Philippine International Convention Centre in Manila.
The four-day meeting will kick-off with two Civil Society Days followed by a two-day gathering of governments focusing on protecting and empowering migrants for development.

In Sudan, Ms. Pandya said an estimated 1. 7 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) had successfully returned to Southern Sudan since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in January 2005, according to IOM's latest tracking of spontaneous returns report. The report was available online at www.iom.int and included interesting figures.

In Myanmar, Ms. Pandya said IOM had launched a project to enhance community capacity to heal the psychosocial scars left behind by Cyclone Nargis - the lethal storm that swept through Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta six months ago.