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 the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Food Programme, the UN Refugee Agency, the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development, the World Meteorological Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Secretary-General

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had welcomed the first adoption by the 64th session of the General Assembly, of the resolution on the Responsibility to Protect (A/63/677). It was particularly praised as significant because the resolution had been adopted by consensus. Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier quoted the Secretary-General as saying “I welcome it as an important step as we chart a common path towards meeting the commitment made at the 2005 World Summit to protect the world's peoples from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity.” The resolution was available on the UN website, she added.

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the fifty-third General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had begun yesterday in Vienna. Sergio Duarte, the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, had read out a statement on behalf of the Secretary-General, in which the Secretary-General hoped that the 25 non-nuclear-weapon States that were party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) but which had not brought their comprehensive safeguards agreements into force would do so before 2010 NPT Review Conference. The statement of the Secretary-General was available in the press room.

Conference on Disarmament

This morning, the Conference on Disarmament, which should finish its annual session at the end of the week, was holding a public plenary meeting. This would be followed by another plenary on Thursday to adopt the report, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier added.

Committee on the Rights of the Child

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the fifty-second session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child had begun yesterday at the Palais Wilson and that it examined the initial report of Turkey on the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on children in armed conflict. Today, the Committee was examining the report on the Philippines.

International Year of Peace

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier then drew attention to the International Day of Peace that had been adopted by the General Assembly in 1981 (A/RES/36/67), which was devoted to “the celebration and reinforcement of the Ideals of Peace and concentrate the efforts of the United Nations and its Member States, as well as of the whole of mankind. In 2001, the General Assembly decided that the International Day of Peace would be observed every year on 21 September as an “International Day of Ceasefire and Non-Violence.” In 2009, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said, the International day would be commemorated by a number of UN offices around the world on 18 September. Here at the Palais des Nations, the United Nations Office at Geneva would also commemorate this event on 18 September with a special ceremony between 3 p.m. and 5.45 p.m. in the Council Chamber. A note to the correspondents will be issued today, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said.


Open Day at UNOG Library

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier informed the press that the Library of the United Nations Office at Geneva would be holding an Open Day on Thursday 17 September, in which they would be offering guided tours showing the different services they provide in the field of electronic resources, databases and printing. They would also be offered a cup of coffee, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said.

International Discussions of Geneva

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier then informed the press that the Geneva International Discussions would take place on 17 September at the International Labour Organization, but that related press conferences would be held at the Palais des Nations. At 5 p.m., the Co-Chairs would hold their press conference, followed at 5.35 p.m. by the Georgian delegation and then at 6:00 p.m. by the Russian delegation, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier added.

Human Rights Council

Regarding the twelfth regular session of the Human Rights Council, Rolando Gomez of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said that the Order of the Day had been distributed and that the Council would today continue its consideration of the participation of the delegation of Honduras in the work of the Council. The Council might make an announcement on the issue this morning, but Mr. Gomez pointed out that no decision had yet been taken and that they couldn’t confirm when the Council actually could begin. Mr. Gomez said that when a decision had been taken, it would be brought to the forum and then yesterday’s scheduled presentation by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, would take place. This presentation would update the Council on the activities of her office and spell out some of the key human rights issues over the last year, he said. Following the statement of the High Commissioner, a general debate would likely continue into the afternoon, which would then be followed by a presentation of the report by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children in Armed Conflicts, Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy. She would also be holding a press conference at 1.30 p.m.

Mr. Gomez said that despite the suspension due to the Honduran issue, the session did, in fact, open when the Council did proceed with three High-Level statements from dignitaries from Sri Lanka, the United States and Thailand who did address the Council and in the afternoon they held the drawing of lots to determine the order of review of States to be considered at the seventh, eighth and ninth sessions of the Universal Periodic Review Working Group and to select the troikas for the sixth, seventh and eighth Universal Periodic Review Working Group sessions.

Asked what the United Nations position was on the Honduras situation and whether the current delegation should be allowed to seat and if the General Assembly would encounter the same problems, Mr. Gomez replied that they had issued the statement made by the President of the Council who drew attention to resolution 63/301 which condemned the coup in Honduras and called on states to not recognize any Government other than that of the constitutional President.
Asked if Ms. Coomaraswamy would speak to the Council before or after her press conference, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said she would have the press conference first because of the delays.

UNCTAD

Catherine Sibut-Pinote of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development reminded the press corps of the next three press conferences that were to take place, first at 11.30 a.m. just after the briefing with the Secretary General of UNCTAD, Mr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, the Ecuadorian Minister of Economic Policy Coordination, Mr. Diego Borja Cornejo, and Mr. Pedro Baey, Chairman of the Presidential Commission for a New Regional Financial Architecture. This morning, Mr. Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute, had already held a press conference on the Global Economic Crisis and tomorrow at 11 a.m. another press conference to present would be held on the occasion of the 2009 World Investment Report – Transnational Corporations, Agricultural production and Development, with the participation of Mr. Panitchpakdi and James Zhan, Director of the UNCTAD Division on Investment and Enterprise.

Declaration for Road Safety

Jean Rodriguez of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe announced that, in cooperation with the European Basketball Family, a Declaration for Road Safety would be signed today during EuroBasket 2009 with FIBA and FIBA Europe as well as the Polish Ministry of Infrastructure, the Polish Ministry of Sports and Tourism, in a plea to respect road traffic rules.
In an effort to reach out to people’s everyday lives, the Declaration offers a new perspective on road rules and tries to counter the “avoid getting caught” attitude with one of respect for fellow road-users.

Yemen

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the Yemen Flash Appeal which was launched on 2 September for US$ 23.75 million, had still not received any funding. This had reduced agencies to use reserve funds and the CERF to finance their activities, she said. The security situation in Sa’ada remained extremely tense and volatile and the agencies ability to provide assistance were still hindered by the prevailing insecurity, while information about conditions inside the conflict area was still very limited, Ms. Byrs said. The humanitarian community estimated there were around 150,000 IDPs, she added.

Emilia Casella of the World Food Program said that yesterday, WFP and their partner Islamic Relief, had begun distribution in Sa’ada town for 19.500 people of various foods and oils. In addition, they had been able to get forty metric tons of wheat into the town of Sa’ada which was a piece of positive news.

Paul Garwood of the World Health Organization said they had begun distribution of two tons of medical supplies that had arrived in Yemen last Friday. This was, however, too little for a population that suffered from a variety of illnesses and diseases ranging from diarrhea to respiratory and skin diseases. Finally, WHO also continued to ask for financial support for their operations in Yemen, he added.

A Spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that after more than a month following the renewed outbreak of hostilities in Northern Yemen, thousands of people are in dire need of food, shelter and medical care and heavily depend on humanitarian aid. People continue to flee the areas affected by the fighting while rainfalls, flash floods and drastic falling of temperatures were compounding an already dire situation, she said. Around 30,000 persons were getting assistance from the ICRC who works in close cooperation with the Yemeni Red Crescent (YRCS) and, last Friday, the ICRC had been able to deliver nine tons of medical supplies which were distributed to Primary health care centres supported by the ICRC and the YRCS throughout the governorate of Sa’ada.

Veronique Taveau of UNICEF read out the statement of UNICEF Executive Director, Ms. Ann M. Veneman, regarding the death of a 12-year old child bride in Yemen. In the statement, Ms. Veneman expressed her sadness on the death of the 12-year old, Fawziya Youssef, and said that “Child marriages violate the right of children in the most deplorable way. The younger the girls are when she becomes pregnant, the greater the health risks for her and her baby. Girls who give birth before the age of fifteen are five times more likely to die in childbirth than women in their twenties.”

Apart from this, Ms. Taveau said, UNICEF – like other humanitarian colleagues – remained as concerned about the general situation in Yemen as more than a month after the state of emergency was declared; the conflict areas were still inaccessible. UNICEF had not received any funding either and they had started dipping into their reserve funds to keep up with the demand for assistance, Ms. Taveau said.

Asked about the death-toll figures in Yemen, the representatives of both WHO and the ICRC said they had no specific figures, mainly because of the difficulty to get access to the conflict areas. In response to a question regarding whether Arab countries had received the request for donations to Yemen, the Spokesperson for UNICEF said the flash appeal had been circulated to all member states and the Arab countries were no exception.

West Africa Floods
Ms. Byrs of OCHA said the region’s annual flooding reflected the explosive population growth in the cities, poverty and poor urban management. The most recent assessment estimated 63,000 people were sheltering in temporary accommodation such as schools, churches and public buildings in 88 sites, while at least 40,000 were thought to be staying with host families, she said.

Zimbabwe

Ms. Taveau of UNICEF said the Government of Zimbabwe, UNICEF and the international donor community today had unveiled a US$ 70 million partnership through the Educational Transition Fund (ETF) and the revitalisation of the Basic Assistance Module (BEAM) to ensure access and quality education for the country’s children. Recent assessments had revealed serious shortages of learning materials, textbooks and supplies in schools, she said.

Guatemala

Ms. Casella of WFP said WFP was extremely concerned about the worsening nutritional situation in Guatemala and they were continuing to distribute food there, the Spokesperson said. The situation in Guatemala had been caused by a combination of different factors, including high food prices, the global financial crisis, unemployment and recurrent poor food crops.

UNHCR awards 2009 Nansen Refugee prize to Senator Edward Kennedy

Melissa Fleming of the UN Refugee Agency said that the UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award had been awarded to the late Senator Edward Kennedy for his achievements as an unparalleled champion of refugee protection and assistance for more than 45 years. Senator Kennedy’s work in establishing US refugee admissions, resettlement, and asylum programs directly helped millions of persecuted individuals to find protection and start new lives in the United States. He was the chief sponsor of more than 70 refugee related measures and was instrumental in codifying international refugee obligations into US law, Ms. Fleming said. In announcing the Nansen award, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres had said: “Senator Kennedy stood out as a forceful advocate for those who suddenly found themselves with no voice and no rights. Year after year, conflict after conflict, he put the plight of refugees on the agenda and drove through policies that saved and shaped countless lives.” The price was US$ 100,000 and was expected to be handed over to a member of Mr. Kennedy’s family on 28 October in Washington DC, she added.

Global Campaign for Violence Prevention

Mr. Garwood of WHO announced that WHO would be organizing the 4th Milestones of a Global Campaign for Violence Prevention Meeting entitled “Boosting Global Violence Prevention” and would take place on 17-18 September at the Executive Board Room of the WHO.

International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer

The World Meteorological Organization said today the world was celebrating the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer. The 2009 Antarctic ozone hole had appeared earlier than usual but was similar in size to those of recent years. WMO and the scientific community use ozone observations from the ground, from balloons and from satellites together with meteorological data, to keep a close eye on the ozone holes, she said

Iraq

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that work, shelter and food topped the needs of the internally displaced in Iraq, considered to be around 1.6 million people who were forced to flee their homes three and half years ago after the 2006 bombing of the Samarra mosque in Iraq that triggered one of the worst displacement crisis in recent times. Releasing its bi-annual profiles of internal displacement throughout Iraq's 18 governorates today, the IOM had found that across the board, the three issues remained the most common concerns of nearly 224,000 internally displaced (IDP) families that it has assessed so far. Water too was emerging as a growing issue. In Muthana, more than half the displaced would gets their water from rivers, lakes or streams, posing a major health risk. The lack of access to clean water and the ensuing health problems was also highlighted in other governorates such as Anbar and Kirkuk, where the problem was exacerbated by distances to nearest health facilities, the spokesperson said.