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 Economic Commission for Europe, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the UN Refugee Agency, the World Health Organization, the World Trade Organization and the World Meteorological Organization.

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier reminded journalists that the Palais des Nations was closed on Friday, 27 November 2009.

Secretary-General and Climate Change

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said climate change will be at the centre of Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon’s visit on Friday, 27 November 2009 to Trinidad and Tobago to participate in the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. During his two-day visit, the Secretary-General will participate in special sessions on climate change, as well as hold bilateral meetings with Heads of State and Government on issues of mutual interest. The Secretary-General expects to focus the attention of these leaders on key issues that require their engagement in the climate change negotiations, in particular, concerning mitigation and finance. This Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is an important gathering of political leaders in the run-up to next month’s Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change. The Secretary-General hopes to boost momentum for an ambitious outcome in Copenhagen that will advance international action on climate change.

Still on climate change, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Secretary-General yesterday addressed the General Assembly’s Informal Meeting on Climate Change. He said he remained positive about the prospects for the Copenhagen climate change meeting, especially in light of recent announcements and commitments by countries. He emphasized the need for the leadership and engagement of Heads of State and Government in the run-up to the conference, and their presence at the conference. The Secretary-General still believed the international community could achieve an agreement in Copenhagen that was operational, ready to be immediately implemented, and which would provide the foundation for a legally binding climate treaty that could be signed as early as possible in 2010.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Committee against Torture would today be concluding its forty-third session after issuing concluding observations and recommendations on Slovakia, El Salvador, Spain, Azerbaijan, Colombia and the Republic of Moldova, and provisional concluding observations and recommendations on the report of Yemen, which was discussed in the absence of a delegation. The President of the Committee, Claudio Grossman, and other members of the Committee would speak to journalists at 12:30 p.m. in Room III about their session.

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights would also be concluding its forty-third session today after issuing its concluding observations and recommendations on the reports of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chad, Poland, Madagascar and the Republic of Korea.

The roundup press releases for both Committees would be issued during the day.

Economic Commission for Europe

Jean Rodriguez of the Economic Commission for Europe said next week, Executive Secretary Jan Kubis would be in Vienna on 23 and 24 November for the opening of the International Forum on energy efficiency in housing, a conference which UNECE was jointly organizing with the city of Vienna and other local partners. Mr. Kubis would be in Minsk, Belarus on 26 and 27 November to deliver a statement at the opening of a summit entitled Connect CIS which would deal with telecommunications and new technology in countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. On 24 and 25 November, UNECE would be holding a conference entitled: the International Conference on Risk Assessment and Management, organized by the UNECE Working Party on Regulatory Cooperation and Standardization Policies, at the Palais des Nations.

Mr. Rodriguez said UNECE was today launching policy briefings on population ageing. A press release was available.

Andres Vikat, Chief of the Population Unit at UNECE, said population ageing was a universal trend throughout the world. What was not well known was that most countries still found themselves in the stage of the so-called demographic bonus, when the working age population was relatively large and the size of the older population and dependent children was not so large. This was rapidly going to change. In Europe, there were now 4.4 persons of working age per one person 65 or older. By 2025, there would be 3.1, and by 2050 only 2.1. In Eastern European countries, aging had not been so much pronounced yet. Western European countries had seen a considerable increase in life expectancy over the last decade. But this was also going to change in Eastern Europe and it was expected that life expectancy would start to rise. The region of the UNECE also included Central Asia. These countries were relatively young, but their populations were also ageing. Nevertheless, the main challenge for these countries was to make good use of a demographically advantageous period that they were entering now by creating employment opportunities for the currently still large young generations. Overall, population ageing had far reaching implications across all spheres of society, and to help Member States make policy responses, UNECE was launching this series of policy briefs on population ageing. The series opened with four policy briefs on mainstreaming ageing; gender equality, work and old age; older persons as consumers; and participation and integration of older persons.

Mr. Rodriguez said States parties to the UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention) recently adopted the “Guidance on Water and Adaptation to Climate Change”, whose main message was that countries needed to adapt to climate change jointly without delay.

Francesca Bernardini, Secretary of the Water Convention, said the socio-economic impacts of climate change were significant, causing an estimated $ 25 billion in global economic damage from flooding events and heavy storms alone between 2000 and 2006. The international community had to adapt, and it had to adapt now, and this was not happening. Of course adaptation would not be cheap, but the cost of climate change impact might be higher. The earlier they adapted, the most cost effective it would be.
Most extreme climate events involved too much or too little water, or sometimes the two together at different times of the year. Water management was the cornerstone of adapted capacity of societies. In the UNECE region, most watercourses were shared by countries, so this created an interdependency from the economic, social and ideological point of view between countries. There were obvious security implications with the climate change scenario. There was increased potential of conflict over declining water resources. Transboundary cooperation was necessary to support coordination of action between countries. This was the starting point for the States parties to the Water Convention, and they decided to equip themselves with a practical tool to enable them to jointly cope with climate change impact, through the Guidance on Water and Adaptation to Climate Change which they were presenting today.

Twentieth Anniversary of Convention on the Rights of the Child

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Agency said today was the twentieth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. UNICEF today welcomed the announcement by the Somali Transitional Federal Government that it intended to become a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Up until now, Somalia was one of only two countries in the world which had signed but not ratified the Convention. Somalia’s intended ratification reflected the importance that Somalia gave to children’s rights in a country gravely affected by violence, chronic poverty and malnutrition. A media release was available at the back of the room.

Anna Nordenmark Severinsson, Child Protection Specialist at UNICEF Central and Eastern Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States (CEE/CIS), said a media advisory was available at the back of the room. UNICEF CEE/CIS was calling on governments in Eastern Europe to accelerate reforms on social welfare services, and in particular childcare services, to respond to the current economic crisis. The current crisis was in fact starting to have a human face in this region, as social welfare services were not equipped to support the most vulnerable families and their children. These social welfare services needed to be comprehensively reformed in order to be able to respond to their growing vulnerability. All of this was happening as the Convention on the Rights of the Child celebrated its twentieth anniversary. Next week, from 24 and 26 November, there would be deputy ministers and high-level government officials from Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, who would meet to discuss how to accelerate child care reforms at a conference entitled “Childcare system reform : commitment, partnership and action”. The Republic of Moldova was hosting this conference with the support of UNICEF.

South Africa

Andrej Mahecic of the UN Refugee Agency said UNHCR condemned the latest xenophobic attacks that had driven some 3,000 foreigners, including refugees and asylum-seekers from Zimbabwe, from their shacks in De Dooms, a grapelands farming community with a population of around 13,000 South Africans, 140 kms northeast of Cape Town. UNHCR had moved quickly to help the displaced. They were now awaiting the outcome of negotiations with local farmers who attacked their homes on Tuesday, accusing them of stealing their jobs by accepting cheaper wages in vineyards. Documented refugees and asylum-seekers had the legal right to work in South Africa, but tensions often erupted over competition for jobs. The evicted foreigners were now staying in a sports field and a community centre in De Doorns, sleeping under three communal tents supplied by the government. Each tent was sheltering some 1,000 people.
UNHCR welcomed the rapid humanitarian response of the local authorities and the fact that water, portable toilets and a mobile health clinic were provided within hours. In addition, the South African Red Cross had also been feeding the evicted with two hot meals a day. This was the first large-scale xenophobic attack affecting refugees and asylum-seekers in South Africa since a country-wide violence in May, 2008. UNHCR condemned this most recent violence and was sending two staff members from its Pretoria office - at the request of the local authorities - to work with the South African Human Rights Committee and all concerned parties to help bring the situation in De Dooms back to normal and make it safe for foreigners to return there.

World Health Organization

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization reminded journalists of the joint WHO/UNAIDS press conference that would be held on Tuesday, 24 November at 9:30 a.m. to launch the UNAIDS OUTLOOK 2010 and the AIDS Epidemic Update. UNAIDS was publishing these two new reports ahead of World AIDS Day.

The latest update on the H1N1 would be put on the WHO website later today and would be sent to journalists as usual.

Asked about the briefing which would be held on Monday, 23 November to discuss the results of the global consultation for the development of a public health research agenda for influenza, which was held from 17 to 20 November by the WHO Global Influenza Program, Ms. Chaib said it was still not clear whether there would be a briefing held on a press release issued on the recommendations of the consultation. It was still being discussed. The WHO Global Influenza Program hosted the global consultation for the development of a public health research agenda for influenza based on five main areas ("streams") of public health research topics, namely: reducing the risk of emergence of pandemic flu influenza; limiting the spread of the pandemic, zoonotic and seasonal epidemic influenza; minimizing the impact of pandemic, zoonotic and seasonal epidemic influenza; optimizing the treatment of patients; and promoting the development and application of modern public health tools. The aim of this meeting was to review and highlight research needs to strengthen public health guidance and actions for the control of influenza pandemic (H1N1) 2009, seasonal epidemics and zoonotic infections. The meeting brought together a broad range of stakeholders from various disciplines. The expected outcome of the meeting was an agenda for influenza that highlighted public health research needs and objectives relating to pandemic (H1N1) 2009, zoonotic infections with pandemic potential and seasonal epidemics. Implementation of the research priorities outlined in the agenda was expected to provide benefits over a ten-year period.

Other

Janaina Borges of the World Trade Organization said this afternoon, there would be a briefing on the agriculture negotiations at WTO. The meeting would be starting at 3 p.m. and the briefing would take place right after the meeting. Those interested should be on standby starting 4 p.m. Next week, senior officials from capitals would be in Geneva for negotiations on the Doha Round. The week started with a meeting of the Trade Negotiations Committee at 3 p.m. on Monday, 23 November, to be followed by a briefing, and there would be another meeting of the Committee on Friday, 27 November, also followed by a briefing.

Ms. Borges said the WTO Seventh Ministerial Conference would be held in Geneva from 30 November to 2 December. Journalists could pick up their accreditation badges next week. An advisory note with arrangements for the media was available in the press room.

Gaelle Sevenier of the World Meteorological Organization said at 11:45 a.m. on Monday, 23 November, WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud would give a press conference to launch WMO’s annual bulletin on greenhouse gases in 2008. There was a note to the media available with more details.

Ms. Sevenier said there would be a briefing on the El Nino phenomenon on 1 December.