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 attended by spokespersons for and representatives of the World Health Organization, the GAVI Alliance, the UN Refugee Agency, the Economic Commission for Europe, the World Trade Organization, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the World Meteorological Organization, the United Nations Environmental Programme and the International Organization for Migration.
Secretary-General’s Statements
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday briefed the Security Council on Afghanistan in closed consultations and then spoke to reporters at the Security Council stakeout. A transcript of his comments was available in the press room. Speaking to the Fifth Committee of the General Assembly yesterday, the Secretary-General expressed once more his shock and indignation at the heinous attack in Kabul on UN personnel and his sincere condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the attack. He also asserted his pride and admiration at the bravery shown by the officials in the face of the attack. The Secretary-General said that a strengthened and unified security management system should be of paramount importance to all. The proposals, he said, would enable the UN to strengthen security for staff, their dependents and UN premises. He urged Member States to consider these proposals favourably, saying, “After all, our people are your people.”
Meanwhile, UN agencies in Afghanistan met yesterday to review security for their staff in the wake of the attack. A number of recommendations for immediate actions had gone forward, and further discussion of longer-term measures would continue in the coming days. Steps were ongoing to care for the survivors of the attack, and arrangements were being made for those who died.
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said yesterday the Secretary-General addressed the Special Forum on the Food and Economic Crises in Post-Conflict Countries. He said that, unfortunately, aid to post-conflict countries far too often tapered off prematurely -- and just when countries were better placed to use it more effectively. The Secretary-General added that sustainable peace was the most important goal for aid. He also said it made no sense to abandon post-conflict countries in times of budget constraints.
The Secretary-General has appointed Dr. David Nabarro as his Special Representative on Food Security and Nutrition. As Special Representative, Dr. Nabarro’s role would be to assist the Secretary-General as he encouraged and supported country-led actions for food security and nutrition through comprehensive approaches, coordinated strategies, a strong role for multilateral agencies and increased international assistance. Dr. Nabarro had been working on the food issue since January of this year.
Geneva Activities
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Human Rights Committee would today be concluding its ninety-seventh session and would issue its concluding observations and recommendations on the reports of Switzerland, the Republic of Moldova, Croatia, the Russian Federation and Ecuador. A roundup press release would be issued towards the end of the day.
The Committee against Torture would be holding its forty-third session from 2 to 20 November at the Palais Wilson and would consider the reports of Yemen, Slovakia, El Salvador, Spain, Azerbaijan, Colombia and the Republic of Moldova. The background press release was in the press room.
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was also holding its forty-third session from 2 to 20 November at the Palais Wilson and would consider the reports of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chad, Poland, Madagascar and the Republic of Korea. The background press release was in the press room.
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the fourth meeting of the Internet Governance Forum on the theme of "Creating opportunities for all" would convene from 15 to 18 November 2009 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. A background press release had been issued. It was agreed that a briefing would be set up at the end of next week with Markus Kummer, Executive Coordinator, Secretariat of the Internet Governance Forum.
Global Burden of Food-borne Diseases
Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization recalled that there was a meeting on 29 October on the food-borne burden of disease: estimates on global burden of food-borne diseases, and her colleague would speak to journalists about what happened at the meeting and its conclusions.
Jorgen Schlundt, Director of the Food Safety Department, WHO, said the meeting was actually a one-week meeting, but yesterday was the stakeholder part of it, where the experts interacted with the stakeholders. The issue was that three years ago, WHO initiated a major study to analyse and present the global burden of food-borne diseases in all countries of the world. This was work that would go on for six years and there would be a final outcome around 2012. But they did not want to keep results from everyone while they were getting them. Some of the results which were announced at this meeting were very important because they showed that the burden of disease from diarrhea, that one got either from contaminated food or water, was significantly higher than was previously considered. The new figures related to people who were more than five years old. Before, they had a global estimate of around 300,000 deaths every year, and now in the estimation from only two regions of Asia and Africa, it was 1.1 million deaths in this group only from diarrhea. They also believed that new estimates related to food and diarrhea, and also in relation to other diseases which could be caught from food, would follow from this work.
First World Pneumonia Day
Jeffrey Roland, Director for Media and Communications at the GAVI Alliance, said pneumonia was killing many people. Monday, 2 November, was the first even World Pneumonia Day. Pneumonia was the largest childhood killer in the world, killing up to 1.8 million children under five every year. It was responsible for one in four child deaths, more than HIV/AIDS, malaria and measles combined. A child died of pneumonia every 15 seconds. Yet there was not enough focus, policy, decision or funding to get rid of this disease. There were effective vaccines available that children in developed countries received but children in developing countries did not. The GAVI Alliance, which was an alliance of WHO, UNICEF, the World Bank, the Gates Foundation and developing governments, as well as a number of other players, had been addressing pneumonia since 2001. They had introduced the vaccine for Haemophilus influenzae type b, better known as Hib, in 59 countries and in many cases had virtually eliminated it. Starting today, they were ready to roll out a vaccine against pneumococcus, which was one of the leading causes of pneumonia, in 42 countries, to vaccinate 130 million children by 2015. This would have a huge impact on Millennium Development Goal Four. On Monday, GAVI and over 50 other organizations around the world were ringing the bell for people to pay attention to this disease that was underrated and under examined. There were bracelets, cards and copies of a press release at the back of the room. There was also a joint briefing by WHO and UNICEF at 11:30 a.m. today on a report on the Global Action Plan for the prevention and control of pneumonia. Through vaccination, they estimated that one million deaths could be avoided through 2015. They were not sure how they would raise the up to four billion dollars required in addition to what they currently expected to bring in.
End of Repatriation for Burundians from Old Settlements
Andrej Mahecic of the UN Refugee Agency said today UNHCR reached an important milestone in ending one of the longest-running refugee sagas in the world with the return to their homeland of 400 Burundians who fled to Tanzania in 1972. They were scheduled to leave Katumba, one of the so-called “Old Settlements” in western Tanzania, this afternoon at the end of a year-and a-half-long voluntary repatriation programme. Since March 2008, UNHCR had helped 53,500 refugees from the Old Settlements to return home. The voluntary repatriation of the 1972 Burundian refugees unfolded under a landmark programme launched with the Tanzanian Government to end this protracted refugee situation. Under the same programme, 162,000 of the 1972 Burundian refugees in these Settlements applied for Tanzanian citizenship. Since August, some 29,000 had been naturalized. The Tanzanian Government aimed to complete the process by the end of the year for the remaining 133,000 applicants.
Other
Ms. Chaib of WHO reminded journalists there would be a joint press briefing today at 11:30 a.m. on the Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Pneumonia, which was the number one cause of death among children under the age of five. A media advisory was available. The report and the briefing were embargoed until 2 November.
Ms. Chaib said there would be a virtual press briefing on the H1N1 virus at 1 p.m. today. Two documents concerning the virus would be put on the WHO website today, one was the weekly update and the other was a web date on the SAGE recommendations concerning H1N1.
Anoush der Boghossian of the World Trade Organization said on Monday, 2 November, the Financial Services Committee would meet, and this would be followed by a briefing. There would be meetings of the Market Access (industrial products) Negotiating Group on 2 November and on 6 November, and there would be a briefing after the second meeting. Director-General Pascal Lamy would be in Canada on 2 and 3 November to meet with the Prime Minister of Canada and to receive the “Globalist of the Year” Prize at the Canadian International Council.
Jean Rodriguez of the Economic Commission for Europe said available was a press release about an important meeting which would be held on 2 and 3 November on how women were faring in the European region, fifteen years after the Fourth World Conference on Women took place in Beijing. Fifty reports from the 56 Member States of ECE had submitted national reports which were available on the UNECE website. The reports pointed to four major challenges to move towards greater gender equality and respect for women’s rights, including to combat violence against women; to ensure equal economic opportunities for women and men, both in terms of employment and incomes; to fill the persistent gender gap in the access to decision-making positions, and to strengthen national mechanisms for gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Simon Schorno of the International Committee of the Red Cross said in the wake of Wednesday’s bombing in Peshawar, Pakistan, ICRC was expressing alarm at the severe and intensifying impact of violence on Pakistan’s civilian population. Targeting civilians was the ultimate denial of humanity and its only conceivable aim was to spread terror among the population. The targeting of civilians clearly violated the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law. A press release on this issue would be issued shortly.
Gaelle Sevenier of the World Meteorological Organization said a fourth typhoon, Mirinae, was situated near the Philippines, in the North West of the Pacific. According to the Philippines Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, it was 580 kilometres north east of Infanta, Quezon.
Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said a new Survey on Remittances 2009: Children and Adolescents, the eighth in this IOM-Guatemala series and jointly produced with UNICEF, confirmed the negative impact of the financial crisis on children and adolescents in Guatemala. The decline in remittances from family members abroad had forced tens of thousands of children to leave school and find work to supplement the family income. Amongst the 3,000 households interviewed by IOM and UNICEF, 8.7 per cent of the children between 7 and 17 years-old could no longer attend school and 7.4 per cent or 92,905 children of the same age had been forced to find jobs to supplement the family income. The report was available on line.
Isabelle Valentiny of the United Nations Environmental Programme said she was the new information officer for UNEP in Europe. She had been traveling a lot for her first two months, but she would be available in Geneva now. UNEP’s Executive Director Achim Steiner would be in Geneva for a short period at the beginning of December and she could set up interviews for interested journalists with him. At Copenhagen in mid-December, UNEP would be launching two reports, the first on climate neutrality within the United Nations, specifically on the progress that the UN agencies had made on climate neutrality; and the second on the joint atlas that UNEP was launching with the European Environment Agency.