REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Officer-in-Charge of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by spokespersons for and representatives of the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNAIDS, the World Health Organization, the International Organization for Migration, the World Meteorological Organization, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and the UN Refugee Agency,

Secretary-General’s Activities

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was in Washington, DC, today where he had meetings with senior administration officials and Congressional leaders to discuss the status of international climate change negotiations.

Copies of new statements by the Secretary-General on the Berlin Wall, Iraq, Madagascar and Lebanon were available in the press room.

World Summit on Food Security

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the World Summit on Food Security would be held in Rome from 16 to 18 November. Available at the back of the room were fact sheets prepared by the Department of Public Information about the upcoming summit.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said there were three meetings being held this week relating to the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects (CCW). The Third Conference of the High Contracting Parties to Protocol V on Explosive Remnants of War to the CCW opened yesterday and would conclude today. The Secretary-General’s message to the meeting was available. The Eleventh Annual Conference of the High Contracting Parties to CCW Amended Protocol II would meet on 11 November and would focus on improvised explosive devices. The Meeting of the High Contracting Parties to the CCW would convene on 12 and 13 November.

The Committee against Torture was this morning starting its consideration of the report of Colombia, and this afternoon would conclude its review of the report of Azerbaijan. The Committee would also review the reports of the Republic of Moldova and Spain this week.

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was this morning concluding its review of the report of Madagascar, and this afternoon, it would start to consider the report of the Republic of Korea. This was the last country report that the Committee would be considering during this session.

Both Committees would be issuing their concluding observations and recommendations and ending their sessions on Friday, 20 November.

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Geneva Discussions would be held on Wednesday, 11 November at the Palais des Nations. The three-co-chairs of the discussions would brief journalists at 5 p.m. in Room III, and this would be followed by briefings by the Russian delegation and then by the Georgian delegation.

UNRISD Conference on Social and Political Dimensions of the Global Crisis

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) was organizing its bi-annual conference on 12 and 13 November and the theme was social and political dimensions of the global crisis, focusing on its implications for developing countries. Several experts from around the world would be participating in the conference and would be available for interviews. Press releases and agendas for the conference would be available shortly. The conference would be held in Room XVI. Journalists interested in more information could contact the UNRISD press office on 022 917 1497.

IKEA UNICEF Partnership

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said a news note was available at the back of the room about IKEA’s “1 euro is a fortune” campaign which was entering its fifth year. For every soft toy sold by IKEA in its stores, it donated 1 euro to UNICEF and Save the Children which was used to give children in 30 countries a quality education and a better future. The IKEA Social Initiative would provide the donations to UNICEF in support of “Schools for Africa”, with a focus on Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Ethiopia, South Africa and Madagascar. More than 500,000 children along with their teachers and parents were expected to benefit from this year’s campaign alone.

Progress and Challenges in Monitoring the AIDS Epidemic

Sophie Barton-Knott of UNAIDS said she would like to introduce her colleague, Deborah Rugg, Chief of Monitoring and Evaluation at UNAIDS, who would talk about some of the progress and challenges in monitoring the AIDS epidemic that had been published today in the Journal AIDS.

Deborah Rugg, Chief of Monitoring and Evaluation at UNAIDS, said she wanted to talk about some work UNAIDS was doing to monitor the progress of countries in addressing HIV, which would be published today in the Journal AIDS. One of the things they had been looking at was whether they would be able to tell in 2015 if the HIV epidemic had indeed been halted as per the Millennium Development Goals. As the world was only five years away from this date, UNAIDS was asking whether countries would have sufficient mechanisms in place to assess whether or not they were achieving progress and had indeed reached this goal. They were also looking in-depth at the reporting systems that countries had put in place. UNAIDS was mandated to collect information on HIV from all Member States on behalf of the Secretary-General, and to use this information to report to the General Assembly. Every two years, since 2003, information had been collected on a set of standard indicators that addressed issues such as the resources that were available for HIV at the national level, national policies, treatment and prevention programmes and policies, HIV-related behaviours, and the prevalence of HIV. The proportion of countries that submitted a progress report had steadily increased, with currently more than 150 Member States now reporting. More information, including the report, would be available later today on the UNAIDS website.

World Health Organization

Thomas Abraham of the World Health Organization said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan would be traveling to Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines next week. More details about this trip would be given to journalists at the next briefing.

Gregory Hartl of the World Health Organization said journalists had probably seen the press release about the H1N1 50 million doses donation from GlaxoSmithKline to WHO. This donation had already been spoken about publicly, but the formal agreement was only signed yesterday. WHO expected to start receiving doses towards the end of this month or in early December, with the full 50 million doses to come probably by the end of spring next year. WHO welcomed this and hoped it was the first of many donations. WHO had been focusing on helping developing countries vaccinate priority groups.

There would be a virtual press conference on H1N1 on Thursday on clinical manifestations of the disease.

Asked about what how they felt about the closure of schools to stem the H1N1 epidemic, Mr. Hartl said in early September WHO had put up some early guidance to that effect. WHO believed that early in the spread of H1N1 virus into a country, if it was estimated that less than 5 per cent of the population had been infected, then there was rational for closing schools and other institutions where the virus spreads, because they could slow down the spread of the virus. That was important for reducing the strain on health systems. However if a decision was taken to close schools and universities, they had to be aware that there were other social and economic consequences to this decision. Systems would need to be in place to care for these children. As the virus became more wide spread in a country, closing schools had less of an impact.

International Organization for Migration – Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said, in close coordination with the Government and the United Nations, IOM had scaled up its logistics and transport operations in the past month to help return some 90,000 internally displaced people from the Menik Farms displacement camp to their home districts across northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The returns, in hundreds of IOM-chartered buses, were funded by the UK's Department for International Development and Australia, and at one point reached 4,000 people in a single day. Destinations included Jaffna, Mannar, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Ampara and more recently, Mullativu and Kilinochchi districts. The IOM return operation of the past month brought the number of internally displaced persons to leave Menik Farms, which in July housed about a quarter of a million people, to over 100,000. Clearing landmines and unexploded ordinance before the IDPs returned home to towns and villages across northern Sri Lanka was a major challenge. IOM, with US$1.3 million of funding from Australia, had provided the Government's humanitarian de-mining unit with 220 mine detectors, helmets and other safety equipment. Part of the money is also helping the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action to hire more de-mining teams.

Mr. Chauzy said IOM was also helping returnees through the provision of shelter kits, transitional shelters and water purification systems, as well as clearing wells, and installing drainage and sanitation facilities. It was also setting up temporary health care facilities and strengthening the capacity of local government to cope with the additional needs of the returnees. Post-return, these would include early recovery initiatives and the need for new livelihoods. In addition to the United Kingdom and Australia, the Netherlands and Sweden were also funding various IOM Sri Lanka IDP resettlement projects.

In Zimbabwe, Mr. Chauzy said efforts were underway by IOM, UNICEF and the UN's Population Fund to provide help and support for victims of gender-based violence in Zimbabwe after a joint assessment mission earlier this year found that the social, political and economic instability in the country had led to the increased vulnerability of women and girls to sexual violence and abuse. Zimbabwe currently only had one centre for rape survivors based in a central hospital in the capital Harare. The three organizations had teamed up to increase access to a more holistic care and support for survivors of gender-based violence by setting up one-stop referral, support and response centres in areas identified as having the largest gaps in the provision of such services.

In Kenya, Mr. Chauzy said a nationwide multimedia campaign to raise awareness and stimulate discussions on issues related to human trafficking would be launched 12 November in Eldoret in Kenya's Rift Valley Province.

Hurricane Ida and El Salvador

Gaelle Sevenier of the World Meteorological Organization said hurricane Ida was now moving toward the Gulf of Mexico after leaving 140 dead in El Salvador. It was not hurricane intensity anymore, but a tropical storm. It was now offshore of Mississipi. A tropical storm warning remained in effect from Grand Isle Louisiana eastward to the Aucilla River Florida, including New Orelans and Lake Pontchartrain.

Paul Garwood of the World Health Organization said El Salvador had been severely affected by Hurricane Ida. National authorities had said that at least 140 people had died in the emergency, and upwards of 14,000 people had been displaced and were now residing in 118 shelters. WHO had launched an initial response to this emergency, providing 100,000 aqua tabs, water purification tablets, to El Salvador, along with communication and other experts to help with the damage. They had seen initial damage reported to health clinics in at least five locations in El Salvador. The local response set up had been rapid and strong.

Forum for Minority Issues

Xabier Celaya of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said on 12 and 13 November, the second session of the Forum for Minority Issues would be meeting, under the theme of “minorities and effective political participation”. At 2 p.m. on Wednesday, 11 November, there would be a press conference to brief journalists about the upcoming session. Speaking would be Barbara Lee, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives and Chair of the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus, who would chair the Forum; Gay McDougall, Independent Expert on minority issues; and Graciela J. Dixon, attorney and former Chief Justice of the Corte Suprema de Justicia de Panama (Supreme Court of Panama). The Forum would be meeting in Room XX.

Somalia

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said at least 16,000 people had been displaced by flooding in Hiraan, Gedo and Lower Shabelle regions in the south of Somalia. The floods had damaged the Shabelle and Juba river embankments, collapsed latrines and contaminated shallow wells. The forecast for the coming week was moderate risk of flooding in the lower reaches of Shabelle and Juba river valleys due to moderate rainfall. To prepare for anticipated floods between October and December, a contingency plan had been developed for caseload of 450,000 beneficiaries living mainly along the Juba and Shabelle rivers.

Ms. Byrs said despite increasing humanitarian needs, there had been a significant drop in humanitarian funding for Somalia in 2009. While the number of people needing aid had doubled, humanitarian funding had dropped by nearly 40 per cent. So far this year, the Consolidated Appeal Process for Somalia had received approximately $ 507 million or 60 per cent of the $ 850 million requested.

Mr. Garwood of WHO said the worrying funding situation in Somalia was being particularly reflected in the health sector. The health sector currently needed $ 103 million for 2009 to meet the multiple health needs in Somalia. Funding so far received this year had almost reached $ 50 million, which meant that they were 48 per cent covered. This year, WHO had required $ 12.9 million to carry out its crucial activities in Somalia. So far, $ 3.2 million had been received.

United Nations Refugee Agency

Andrej Mahecic of the UN Refugee Agency said new details of the ethnic bloodshed in the Equateur province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the beginning of this month were emerging as UNHCR and the Republic of the Congo authorities visited refugees scattered in villages along a 160-kilometre stretch of the Oubangi River that formed the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Congo. UNHCR now put the number of new refugees at 21,800, mainly ethnic Munzayas, who began fleeing into the Republic of Congo on Wednesday. They told UNHCR they were fleeing Enyele tribesmen, who, they said, had gone from house to house, pillaging, raping and killing mostly Munzaya civilians in Dongo and surrounding villages, which were now virtually empty. The root of the violence, they said, as a dispute over farming and fishing rights. Seventy per cent of the refugees were women and children. UNHCR began giving them blankets, sleeping mats, mosquito nets, kitchen sets and jerry cans over the weekend.

In Yemen, Mr. Mahecic said UNHCR was extremely concerned about the recent escalation of the conflict in northern Yemen and its impact on the civilian population. UNHCR again appealed for the protection of civilians and secure and unhindered access for humanitarian workers to deliver much needed assistance. Displaced families from embattled Sa’ada governorate continued to arrive at Al Mazrak camp in Hajja governorate where the past two days had seen a significant increase in the number of arrivals. Most of them were coming from Khuba area, where they had taken refuge after having fled the fighting of Sa’ada governorate. This meant that this was their second or third displacement. The Al Mazrak camp now hosted 8,700 internally displaced persons and it had been reorganized and extended to accommodate new arrivals. Another 11,000 internally displaced persons were sheltered by host families and communities. This weekend, UNHCR airlifted a shipment of emergency relief items from UNHCR’s central emergency stockpile in Dubai. Meanwhile, UNHCR’s office in Riyadh was informed yesterday by the Saudi authorities that the situation at the Alp border was stable, allowing UNHCR to continue its cross-border activities. UNHCR was hopeful that they would receive the security clearances from the Saudi authorities for the next aid convoy in the coming days. It was now estimated that some 175,000 people had been affected by the conflict since 2004, including those displaced by the latest fighting.