REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by spokespersons for and representatives of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Meteorological Organization, the International Labour Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNAIDS, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the UN Refugee Agency, the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction and the International Organization for Migration.

Secretary-General Appoints Corinne Momal-Vanian as Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said she would start with some very good news which journalists had been waiting for. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had appointed Ms. Corinne Momal-Vanian as the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva. She was taking up her duties today, 1 December. Ms. Momal-Vanian, a national of France, had served as Senior Political Adviser in the Office of the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva since 2007. Ms. Momal-Vanian had been with the United Nations for 22 years and details of her impressive career were available in a press release at the back of the room.

Ms. Momal-Vanian said she was very happy with this appointment, which was officially effective today. She still had some ongoing issues that she had to conclude and Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier would continue to do her excellent work until she was finished with them. Ms. Momal-Vanian said she was really looking forward to working with everyone. This was going to be a big challenge. It was a responsibility that she would be taking very seriously.

Secretary-General and Climate Change

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said Secretary-General Ban was back in New York after attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Trinidad and Tobago. At the conclusion of the summit, the Secretary-General said that momentum had been growing for success at the Climate Change Summit starting in Copenhagen on 7 December. He urged the leaders, not only to come to Copenhagen, but to express their full political will by staying focused and committed to seal a deal in Copenhagen. “We will be able to seal a deal that is ambitious, comprehensive and binding,” the Secretary-General said, adding that the world was united in purpose but was not yet united in action. Now was the time for world leaders to show that they were united and committed in action, he stressed.
The Secretary-General was particularly encouraged by the shared desire of Commonwealth Heads of State and Government to achieve a successful outcome in Copenhagen. He strongly welcomed a statement by the Commonwealth committing their leaders to the crucial global effort for consensus and results in Copenhagen. The full statement of the Secretary-General was available in the press room.

Secretary-General and Afghanistan

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Secretary-General, while he attended the Commonwealth meeting in Trinidad, spoke at a joint press conference with the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown and expressed his appreciation for the Prime Minister’s proposal to host an international conference on Afghanistan on 28 January 2010 in London. He said that the London Conference, as well as a further high level Conference to be convened in Kabul within a few months after that, would outline the framework for an increased lead role for the Afghans in the shaping of their destiny. The Secretary-General underlined the readiness of the United Nations to contribute to the success of these conferences. The full remarks of the Secretary-General were available in the press room.



Annual Renewal of Accreditation

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the renewal of accreditation for 2010 would start on 7 December 2009, and would continue until 29 January 2010. A note to correspondents had already been issued with more details.

High Commissioner for Human Rights and Switzerland

Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said High Commissioner Navi Pillay regrets Switzerland’s ban on building minarets, which would be enacted as a result of Sunday’s referendum on the subject, adding that such a ban was “discriminatory, deeply divisive and a thoroughly unfortunate step for Switzerland to take, and risks putting the country on a collision course with its international human rights obligations”. Ms. Pillay said she hesitated to condemn a democratic vote, but she had no hesitation at all in condemning the anti-foreigner scare-mongering that had characterized political campaigns in a number of countries, including Switzerland, which helped produce results like this. Noting that the Government of Switzerland did not support the referendum initiative, Ms. Pillay said that banning an architectural structure that was associated with one religion only was clearly discriminatory. She said some of the politicians who proposed this motion argued that it was not targeting Islam or Muslims, while others claimed that banning minarets would improve integration. She said these were extraordinary claims when the symbol of one religion was targeted. The High Commissioner said she was sad to see that arguments like these had sufficient resonance with a proportion of Swiss voters to overcome their long-standing support of fundamental human rights.

“Politics based on xenophobia or intolerance is extremely disquieting, wherever it occurs,” Ms. Pillay said in the press release. “Sometimes it is channeled against adherents of a particular religion, as in this case. Sometimes it is channeled against people of different racial or ethnic origin. It is corrosive, and – beyond a certain point – can become socially disruptive and even dangerous. We are not at that point in Switzerland but this initiative, taken alongside some of the blatantly xenophobic posters used in this and several recent political campaigns targeting asylum-seekers, migrants or foreigners in general, is a part of an extremely worrying trend.” The High Commissioner noted that the Durban Review Conference, which was held in the Swiss city of Geneva last April on racism, xenophobia and other forms on intolerance, had highlighted the increase in incidents of racial and religious intolerance, including Islamophobia and anti-Arabism, and had specifically noted the stigmatization of people based on their religion and belief. “I urge people everywhere to take this issue of discrimination extremely seriously. If allowed to gather momentum, discrimination and intolerance not only do considerable harm to individual members of the targeted group, they also divide and harm society in general.”

Mr. Colville said that on 3 November, the UN’s Human Rights Committee had expressed concern about the referendum and the inflammatory advertising campaign in support of the “Yes” vote. The Committee, a body of independent experts that monitored States’ compliance with their obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, clearly noted that the initiative, if adopted, would bring the State party into non-compliance with articles 2, 18 and 20 of the Covenant. The full statement of the High Commissioner was available at the back of the room.

World Meteorological Organization and El Nino/La Nina Update

Gaelle Sevenier of the World Meteorological Organization said WMO today was presenting its latest update on El Nino/La Nina. The report, embargoed until 4 p.m. Geneva time today, was available at the back of the room.

R. Kolli of the World Meteorological Organization said it was well known that the El Nino and La Nina represented anomalous conditions in the tropical Pacific Ocean. Typical El Nino/La Nina events were strongly coupled to large-scale atmospheric circulation, and had significant regional climatic impacts across the world. In the prvious update, issued in August, it was reported that El Nino conditions had become established over the tropical Pacific, and that it was very likely that these would continue at least through the reminder of 2009 and probably into the first quarter of 2010. In this update, they concluded that an El Nino event was now well established across the tropical Pacific, and was expected to continue into the first quarter of 2010. Large scale conditions in the tropical Pacific, as captured by dynamical and statistical forecast models, suggested further substantial intensification of El Nino conditions was unlikely. Decay of the El Nino event to near-neutral conditions across the tropical Pacific during March-May 2010 was considered the most likely further development. This assessment had important implications for climate patterns around the world, continuing at least into the second quarter of 2010. During this time, climate patterns typical of an El Nino event may have increased likelihood of occurrence. However, this information should be combined with that on other relevant regional systems to estimate the net impacts. A further WMO update was expected to be issued after about three months.

ILO World of Work Report 2009

Corinne Perthuis of the International Labour Organization said the World of Work report 2009: the global crisis and beyond, would be launched on 7 December at 3 p.m. in Salle III. This was the second report in the World of Work series. The report said it was too early to talk about returning to normal and efforts had to continue to try to minimize the consequences of the crises on employment. It also showed that for certain population categories, the return to employment was not possible and the consequences were irreversible. Copies of the embargoed report would be available as well as executive summaries.

Joint UN Report on AIDS and Children

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said available at the back of the room was a new UN report on children and AIDS. This was a joint report by UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNICEF and WHO. This was the fourth report on the subject since Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS was launched in 2005. It was a call to action around the impact of HIV and AIDS on children and focused on the needs of children in four key areas: preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV, providing paediatric treatment for children infected with the virus, preventing new infections among adolescents and young people, and protecting and supporting children affected by HIV and AIDS. The report said national efforts to combat AIDS, particularly by preventing mother-to-child transmission, were showing positive results, but many HIV and AIDS affected children still struggled to have their basic needs met. There were more details in the report.

Sophie Barton-Knott of UNAIDS said today was World AIDS Day, a day of solidarity for people living with HIV and a day to remember the 25 million people who had lost their lives to AIDS. The theme this year was human rights and universal access, and had been chosen to address the critical needs to protect human rights and ensure universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.
Today, UNAIDS was also calling on countries to remove the laws that discriminated against people living with HIV, women and marginalized groups, including men who had sex with men. As every year, the UN Secretary-General and the UNAIDS Executive Director among others had issued statements on the occasion of World AIDS Day. They were sent to journalists yesterday and there were additional copies at the back of the room. There were a large number of events taking place around the world to commemorate the Day.

Ms. Taveau said there was also a statement attributable to UNICEF’s Executive Director Ann Veneman confirming that their colleague, Tashome Mandefro Ergete was the previously unidentified United Nations’ victim of the savage attack on a UN guesthouse in Kabul on 28 October. His remains had now been formally identified through genetic testing. Mr. Ergete, an Ethiopian national, had worked for UNICEF Afghanistan since September 2009. UNICEF extended its deepest condolences to Teshome’s family and friends, said Ms. Veneman.

Chad

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said eastern Chad remained characterized by persistent insecurity which impeded the implementation of humanitarian programmes. A trend of increased banditry acts affecting civilians, humanitarians and the police force had been noticed in the east and especially in border areas. Several humanitarian organizations had temporarily suspended or reduced their activities for reasons related to insecurity in the Assoungha and the Dar Sila. To date at least 96,500 people in need were at risk of deteriorating living conditions due to the continued suspensions or reduction of operations by humanitarian organizations. About 70 humanitarian organizations worked in the east of Chad to help 256,700 Sudanese refugees, 168,000 internally displaced persons and around 150,000 people in host villages affected by the crisis. The Government had taken some security measures aimed at reinforcing the protection of civilians and humanitarians with the presence of humanitarian police protection, and MINURCAT had increased its patrols in the areas where humanitarians operated and continued to offer escort to humanitarians who accepted it. But it was still not enough.

Tajikistan

Ms. Byrs of OCHA said after floods and mudflows destroyed hundreds of houses in Tajikistan in April and May this year, over 1,000 victims were still left without adequate shelter in Khuroson, a district in the south of the country. The appeal for $ 7.7 million to help the people recover and rebuild disaster-resilient communities had only received $ 1.7 million or 21 per cent of the total amount.

Afghanistan

Andrej Mahecic of the UN Refugee Agency said in Kabul today, UNHCR had begun distributing blankets, warm clothes, charcoal and other winter supplies to 1,500 returnees and internally displaced people in greatest need as part of a countrywide programme to help some 200,000 vulnerable Afghans survive the harsh winter. UNHCR had pre-positioned winter supplies throughout Afghanistan based on an earlier needs assessment of tens of thousands of families across the country. Supplies were strategically moved to the areas with harsh winters, such as the western region, where heavy snow would otherwise impede access. UNHCR had also teamed up with the government and local partners to ensure relief could reach less accessible areas. The winterization programme was a coordinated effort between UNHCR, its partners and the Afghan Government. It would continue over the coming weeks and was expected to be completed by the end of December.

Other

Brigitte Leoni of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction said ISDR would organize a press conference on Thursday, 3 December at 9:45 a.m. in press room 1 to talk about adaptation to climate change. This was being organized a few days before the climate change conference in Copenhagen. There was also a brochure available.

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said on Thursday, 3 December, there would be a press teleconference at 10 a.m. Washington time, 4 p.m. Geneva time, by the Measles Initiative partners to announce the latest global health achievement concerning the measles initiative. A media advisory would be sent out.

Ms. Chaib said there would probably be a virtual press conference on Thursday, 3 December at 1 p.m.
on H1N1.

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said a new IOM information campaign, designed to inform migrants of their rights and their responsibilities, was being launched this week in Costa Rica. The campaign aimed to regularize the flows of Nicaraguan migrant workers to Costa Rica by ensuring legal integration into the local labour market, improving the economic and psychosocial situation of the migrants and their families and by promoting their social integration into society. There were more details in the briefing notes.

There would be a working breakfast with the Director-General of IOM on 10 December, between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. Ms. Pandya said she hoped to see journalists there.