REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Marie Heuzé, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, and Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of UNIS Geneva, co-chaired the briefing which was attended by spokespersons for and representatives of the United Nations Children’s Fund, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the International Organization for Migration and the World Meteorological Organization. Representatives of the World Food Programme, the International Labour Organization, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe were also present but had no announcements to make.

Farewell to UNIS Director

John Zarocostas, President of the Association of Correspondents Accredited to the United Nations Office at Geneva (ACANU), bid farewell to outgoing UNIS Director, Marie Heuzé, thanking her for all her good work over the years.

Ms. Heuzé, noting that this was her last briefing as Director of UNIS, said she was very touched by the words addressed to her. She had had enormous pleasure and satisfaction in working with journalists in Geneva. If she had been able to provide a good service, it was also due to the good team with whom she worked at UNOG, and she therefore thanked her colleagues as well.

Ms. Heuzé said she believed her successor would be named sometime in the summer. Until that time, Elena Ponomareva-Piquier would be Officer-in-Charge of UNIS.

Programme of the Secretary-General

Ms. Heuzé said the Secretary-General would soon be making his fourth visit to Geneva this year. He was starting his latest round of visits in Japan today, where he was meeting with the country’s Prime Minister, Taro Aso, and Foreign Minister, Hirofumi Nakasone. After that, the Secretary-General would visit Myanmar, at the invitation of the Government, on 3 and 4 July. The Secretary-General had three key objectives for the visit: he would reiterate his request that all political prisoners be released, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi; he would urge the resumption of dialogue between the Government and Opposition as a necessary part of any national reconciliation process; and he would stress the need to create conditions conducive to credible elections.

The Secretary-General would then travel to Geneva, where, on 6 July, he would open the substantive session of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and address the Second Global Review of Aid for Trade, organized by the World Trade Organization (WTO). He would also open the Innovation Fair at ECOSOC, and hold a meeting with donors on H1N1 at the World Health Organization. He would leave Geneva late on 6 July and would travel to Ireland for his first official visit to that country from 6 to 8 July. On 9 and 10 July, the Secretary-General would be in Italy to attend the meeting of the Group of Eight (G-8) in L’Aquila, where he would seek to press G-8 countries for greater cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, financing the Gleneagles Scenarios for Africa, and weathering the consequences of the economic crisis on developing countries. The Secretary-General was expected back in New York on the evening of 10 July.

Available in the Press Room were the Secretary-General’s statements on Iraq and on the situation in Honduras.

Geneva Activities

Turning to activities in Geneva, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier noted that the Conference on Disarmament would be concluding the second part of its 2009 session at the end of this week, on Friday, 3 July. This morning, the Conference was holding a public plenary, the first under the new Australian Presidency. The former Foreign Minister of Australia, Gareth Evans, co-Chair of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, had just addressed the Conference. Available in the Press Room was Mr. Evans address. At the moment, Ambassador Akio Suda of Japan – the other co-Chair of the International Commission – was addressing the Conference.

Ms. Ponomarev-Piquier recalled that on Wednesday, 1 July, the sixth round of the Geneva International Discussions on Georgia would take place at the International Labour Organization Headquarters in Geneva. However, all the associated press conferences would be held at the Palais des Nations, in Room III. At 4:30 p.m., the three Co-Chairs of the Geneva International Discussions – Pierre Morel, Special Representative of the European Union; Johan Verbeke, Special Representative of the Secretary-General; and Charalampos Christopoulos, Special Envoy of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office – would speak with journalists. Following would be press conferences by Georgia and by the Russian Federation, in the same room.

UNICEF in Iraq

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced that a $10 million project funded by the European Community to improve Iraq’s water and sanitation services, implemented by UNICEF, was now under way in Iraq. The project would make it possible to distribute clean water and to improve sanitary conditions for over 100,000 people, as well as to train hundreds of government staff on best global water and sanitation practices, so that they could maintain the system. It was highlighted that 30 schools, including in Erbil, Sulaymaniyah and Basra, would benefit from this programme. In the medium-term, the goal was to enhance the quality of water and sanitation coverage to all Iraqi children and families. Currently, around 6 million Iraqis did not have access to safe drinking water.

Ms. Taveau added that, in tandem, UNICEF, which had for many months been working out of Amman, Jordan, because of the security situation in Iraq, had begun to develop and reinforce its presence in Baghdad, and would then be beefing up its presence in the rest of Iraq, to strengthen its support to the Government and to better serve the rights of children. A press release was available.

Resettlement of Myanmar Refugees

William Spindler of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said the world’s largest resettlement programme today passed a new milestone when the fifty thousandth Myanmar refugee left a camp in Thailand to begin a new life in the United States. Resettlement from the nine refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border had been ongoing since 2004, but had received an enormous boost in early 2005 when the United States offered to give new homes to refugees from the camps. The refugees, most of whom had been in Thailand for more than 20 years, had not seen a realistic prospect of returning to Myanmar any time soon and were also not able to settle permanently in Thailand. For them, resettlement in a third country was the best option. Some 112,000 registered Myanmar refugees remained in the nine camps along the Thai-Myanmar border and UNHCR expected to resettle a further 6,000 to 7,000 of them in 2009.

Asked for specifics on how many of the 50,000 Myanmar refugees had gone to the United States, Mr. Spindler said he would have to get back with an exact figure, but he understood that the bulk of them had gone to the United States.

Burundian Refugees in Tanzania

UNHCR welcomed a decision by the Tanzanian Government to give more time for the voluntary repatriation of some 36,000 Burundian camp-based refugees, Mr. Spindler said. The Mtabila refugee camp in Kasulu district in northwest Tanzania, the last camp hosting Burundian refugees in the country, had been scheduled for closure today. However, on June 20 – World Refugee Day – the Tanzanian Minister of Home Affairs had announced that more time would be given to the Burundians, who had been refugees in the country since 1990s, to go back to Burundi. The Minister had also reiterated that no refugee would be forcibly returned and reaffirmed his Government’s commitment to uphold international laws and standards relating to the protection of refugees. Since 2002, UNHCR had assisted the voluntary repatriation of over 485,000 Burundian refugees from the neighbouring countries of Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda.

Situation in Somalia

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), beginning with the security situation in Somalia, said that, as of 29 June, the number of people who had fled Modadishu since 7 May because of renewed fighting in the capital had climbed to more than 170,000. However, she wanted to highlight today the growing threat posed by an ongoing drought in the central regions of Somalia, which was becoming more and more serious and spreading to the north and northwest, in particular the six regions of Somaliland, which had been most heavily hit. Some 40 per cent of the population of Somaliland – or 1.4 million people – were affected by the drought.

The drought was not new, Ms. Byrs pointed out. Since 2007, the two rainy seasons, in particular the long (“Gu”) rainy season had been especially poor. Crops and livestock had suffered, and the population – mainly pastoral – had suffered in turn. The drought was putting in jeopardy the way of life, livelihoods and the lives of some 700,000 pastoralists. Emergency assistance was imperative if they were to avert a serious humanitarian catastrophe. She noted that the consolidated appeal for Somalia for $983 million was only 43 per cent funded, with assistance for agriculture only 12 per cent funded. A briefing note and a map were available at the back of the room.

Responding to a question concerning how the United Nations was getting aid through to those in need in Somalia, given the security situation, Ms. Byrs said that, despite significant delays due to the fighting in Mogadishu, non-food items distribution by UNHCR and partners had commenced during this week, reaching 9,000 beneficiaries so far, including in the Afgooye corridor, while distribution to 4,900 others was ongoing, and an additional distribution to 4,000 persons in the Afgooye corridor was planned. “Even in the most insecure areas, the United Nations agencies are gearing up their efforts to distribute assistance, food and non-food items as well”, she said. UNICEF and partners were also supporting the provision of safe drinking water in the Afgooye corridor to about 200,000 people.

Other

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that available at the back of the room was a press note in English, French and Spanish on the election of IOM’s new Deputy Director General, Ambassador Laura Thompson Chacón of Costa Rica. Also in a press note was information about a new agreement between IOM and the South Korean Government to open up a Migration Research and Training Centre in that country. The centre would look at migration problems in Asia, initially looking at the integration problems faced by the many Asian women who had been taken to South Korea for marriage purposes. The press note also contained information on an IOM migration profile on Ecuador, just published today.

Lisa Munoz of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said that, following the regular briefing, there would be a press conference in Room III at 11.30 a.m. to discuss announcements and preparations for the upcoming World Climate Conference 3, which was being held in Geneva from 31 August to 4 September 2009. WMO Secretary-General, Michel Jarraud, would be present, along with Daniel Keuerleber-Burk, Director of MeteoSuisse and José Romero from the Federal Office of the Environment in Switzerland. A press release and a media kit would be available.