REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Corinne Momal-Vanian, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for the World Trade Organization, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the World Food Programme, the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the International Organization for Migration and the World Health Organization.

WHO reform

Gregory Hartl of the World Health Organization (WHO) said a special three-day session of the Executive Board on reform issues had closed last night.

Speaking on the conclusions of the Board’s meeting, Dr. Daniel López-Acuña explained that three major areas were addressed in discussions: programme priorities for the WHO, governance and managerial issues.

In the arena of programme priorities, the Board gave guidance to the secretariat for priority setting for the next general work programme of the WHO in the next six years, and had emphasized that this had to be a truly Member State-driven process.

In the area of governance, it was proposed to strengthen the executive role of the Executive Board by increasing its oversight and also to make the work of the Health Assembly more strategic, thereby enhancing the Member States’ policy-making process. Closer alignment of the six regional offices with the global governance bodies would also be sought. Another key point was guidance given to the Secretariat to engage more with a wide spectrum of stakeholders, he said, while also safeguarding the independence and the objectivity of the WHO.

In terms of managerial structures, a request was received for a report by January on a mechanism for an increase in the amount of, and flexibility of, funding for the WHO, given that many contributions were voluntary and less easy to predict than assessed contributions. Increasing mechanisms of transparency and accountability was also discussed, he continued, as well as ways of improving and simplifying the process of oversight by the governing bodies.

Responding to a question he said some reforms ran on parallel tracks, with some involving consultative processes under the direction of Member States, while others were managerial actions delegated to the Director-General which could be acted upon immediately. The strengthening of the country offices was one example, he explained, saying it would not have to wait for debate by the Board or Assembly and discussions with regional offices on the scope for aligning the work that had been mandated. Other measures on improving financial controls and accountability could also start without delay.

The reform should be considered as an overall effort to position the WHO better, in light of changes to the environment and the global health architecture, but at the same time to build an organization efficient enough to be able to do this in the medium to long term, said Mr. López-Acuña.

Some of these decisions would involve shifting financial and human resources to country programmes, he said, and priority setting by Member States would put emphasis on some programmes over others. This would not translate into sudden changes, or “a big bang”, he explained, but rather in a gradual process of organizational adjustment.

Answering a question he said that Member States had expressed a clear need for coherence in global health policies, and the need for greater convergence between the WHO and other stakeholders. The general preference of the Board was therefore to increase collaboration.

In response to another question he said around 8,500 people worked in the Organization as a whole, including its headquarters, regional offices and country offices. The long term effect of the reforms was difficult to predict, though he reiterated that a gradual shift in resources to the country offices was likely.

Indonesia

Andrej Mahecic of the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said his office was greatly saddened by Tuesday’s boat accident off the coast of Western Java in which at least nine people lost their lives, though prompt action had meant that 47 people were rescued. The incident underlies the risks people were willing to take in their search for protection, he said, and added urgency to UNHCR calls for governments to work closer together in addressing irregular migration and providing
protection and solutions to refugees, thus averting the need for individuals to undertake such perilous journeys by boat.

The boat was reportedly en route to Nusa Tenggara Timur and then to Australia. The passengers were Afghani, Pakistani and Iranian nationals, he continued. Investigations were continuing into both the cause of the accident and whether any survivors wished to register as asylum seekers, or in fact have already been recognized as refugees. Responding to questions he said it was believed that the boat may have been a smuggling boat, and was severely overloaded.

Somalia

Thousands of refugees had been displaced by heavy rains in parts of Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, said Andrej Mahecic of UNHCR. In Mogadishu, the shelters of around 2,800 people had flooded in IDP camps and assistance had been provided to those affected, with more distributions planned. The transport system was also affected, which had slowed the pace of internal displacement, though nonetheless some movement continued, thought to be due to general insecurity or people returning to their homes for fear of security degenerating further.

In the Dadaab complex in Kenya, 5,000 refugees had lost their shelters due to flood waters and had been moved to drier areas while drainage was improved. Road access was also difficult, facilities had been damaged and there was a worrying deterioration in the health of residents, with some 600 people seeking health advice daily. The numbers of people approaching these camps was in decline, he said.

In Ethiopia’s Dollo Ado area, however, there were more refugee arrivals in the last month than in the previous two months, with over 8,800 people registering, claiming food shortages and poor security. All four camps in the Dollo Ado complex were now full, and construction on a fifth should be completed in weeks.

So far this year, some 330,000 Somalis had fled drought and insecurity
and sought refuge in the neighbouring countries of Kenya, Ethiopia, Yemen and Djibouti. Although the rains may bring some relief to drought hit areas, it was unlikely to ease the famine unless farming activities could resume in an improved security climate, said Mr. Mahecic.

Marixie Mercado of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that the Fund had opened its first humanitarian transit hub to speed up delivery of nutrition supplies to Somalia. Around 5,000 metric tones of corn soya blend flour would be moved through the warehouse in the port of Dubai, monthly to Mogadishu and other affected areas in the south of the country. Previous deliveries exclusively used Mombasa as the gateway to the Horn of Africa, and although some freight would still land there, using Mogadishu would speed up the arrival of life-saving supplies, she said.

According to UNICEF, 1.5 million children in Southern Somalia were in need of humanitarian assistance, she said, including 450,000 acutely malnourished children, of which 190,000 who would die within weeks if they did not receive assistance.

Tarik Jasarevic of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that according to health partners on the ground, fighting in Lower Juba Region had, just last week for example, caused 70 weapons related injuries, and 12 related deaths. Middle Juba also reports casualties and deaths, two under the age of five. In response to this the WHO was dispatching one trauma kit for 100 surgeries and one inter-agency emergency kit.

In Mogadishu the figures received show that from 1 to 23 October 2011, 441 casualties from weapon related injuries were treated in one hospital. He later responded to a question saying he could not comment on the reason for these injuries, as the information he received was of a medical, not a political or security nature.

In the first two weeks of October, 2810 cases of acute watery diarrhea had been reported, with 66 related deaths in the south and central zone. Testing of a small number of stool samples from Mogadishu suggested a 44% incidence of cholera in these cases. Following this, the WHO had issued three diarrhea disease kits in Bay region. Measles was also a growing concern, he added, with unvaccinated populations moving into Mogadishu. Programmes of vaccination were being started where security allowed, he explained.

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that over 100 days had passed since famine in southern Somalia was declared and a significant scale-up of activities meant that 2.2 million people had now benefitted from enhanced access to food. Nearly 1.2 million people now had sustained access to drinking water, up from 850,000 at the end of June.




Cambodia

Gaelle Sévenier of the World Food Programme (WFP) said her organization was stepping up work in severely flood-hit Cambodia, where 240,000 people had been displaced. In addition, ten per cent of the rice crop had been destroyed and 265,000 hectares of rice fields had been damaged, causing a month-on-month rise in the price of rice of 12 per cent. To try and mitigate these impacts, the WFP had launched an emergency operation to meet the immediate food needs for 60,000 people and would be distributing 50kg of rice to each family, she explained. A plan to help the 150,000 most vulnerable was also being put in place for the next 12 months and $2.5 million had been given to the WFP through United Nations emergency funding, part of $4 million allocated overall.

Chad

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the call for assistance for Chad, launched at the end of last year, had received 56 per cent of the money asked for, leaving $233 million still to be found. Areas still not funded included early recovery (which had as yet received absolutely nothing) which would provide help for citizens to rebuild and return their lives to normal. Approximately 1.6 million people were affected by malnutrition, she said, stressing that in the Sahel belt, around a third of cultivated surfaces had been lost through poor weather conditions. Cholera was also having an impact, she added, with 16,904 cases recorded so far this year.

Libya

Jumbe Omari Jumbe of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) gave details of the resumption of the air evacuation of migrants from Tripoli, saying on Tuesday and Wednesday 332 migrants from Niger were airlifted to Niamey, aboard two IOM chartered flights. It was believed there were around 2,000 Nigeriens in Tripoli who would like to return home, he said. Nationals of many other African countries were also in the city and plans to remove them also were being put together in the wake of protection fears and dropping temperatures, he added.

The main challenge for the operation was citizenship verification, it was explained, with over 90 per cent of migrants not having identity papers and because of the lack of diplomatic representation of African countries in Libya. Further support was also needed by the evacuees to kick start their lives on their return, he said, as most had nothing after being stripped of their positions. Two small programmes to help returnees were already running, and further expansion of these was expected. A total of 314,000 migrants had returned from Libya since the outbreak of violence in February.

Responding to questions, Mr. Omari Jumbe also said the IOM was now in closer contact with African migrants and was facilitating contact between them and the interim authorities. He also underlined that harassment of migrants was not happening across the board and many Libyans had offered them help and support, though some reports of harassment were still being received.


Angola

Andrej Mahecic of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said the UNHCR was today restarting a repatriation programme for Angolan refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after a four year hiatus.

Around 20,000 people had already signed up for help with returning, said Mr. Mahecic, as they thought that the situation in Angola had improved and their families were waiting for them. They felt that they would be better off at home and they missed their country. Angola had provided assurances that refugees returning would be helped with housing, microcredit, vocational training and other projects and the UNHCR would monitor their progress over 18 months, he said.


Geneva activities

Ms. Momal-Vanian reminded journalists that the United Nations Office at Geneva would be closed on Monday for a holiday.

She said the Committee on Human Rights had yesterday made public its concluding observations on Iran, Jamaica, Kuwait and Norway and these could now be found on the webpage for the 103rd session of the Committee within the website of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Information Service would issue a final press release after the closing session this afternoon.

The Committee against Torture had been presented the report of Germany this morning, she continued, and the German delegation would answer the Committee's questions on Tuesday afternoon. This afternoon, the delegation of Paraguay would answer questions asked of it yesterday. Next week, the Committee planned to examine the reports of Sri Lanka, Bulgaria, Madagascar and Belarus. The reports already considered related to Morocco, Djibouti, Paraguay and Germany. Discussions on Greece would continue on 14 and 15 November.

The new Committee on Enforced Disappearances would begin work on Tuesday, with discussions focusing mainly on the election of its President and its rules of procedure and working methods. This was the first session of the Committee.

Catherine Sibut-Pinote of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development announced an “Ad-hoc Expert Meeting on the Green Economy, Trade and Sustainable Development Implications” from 8-10 November 2011.

Ms. Ankai Xu of the World Trade Organization (WTO) announced an “Open Forum on China’s role in the New Global Order on Thursday 10 November from 15:00 to 17:20 in Room CRI of the World Trade Organization building in Geneva.

Additionally, she said on Monday 7 November a Goods Council meeting would be held; on Wednesday 9 November the Regional Trade Agreements Committee; and on Thursday 10 November, a formal meeting of the Russian membership negotiations (Accession Working Party) followed by a briefing.

Schedule of heads of agencies/programmes

Gaelle Sévenier of the World Food Programme (WFP) said the Executive Director of the Programme, Ms. Josette Sheeran, would be in Brazil on Monday 7 November to launch the new Centre of Excellence Against Hunger.

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the UN Assistant-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Ms. Catherine Bragg, would pay a four-day visit to El Salvador and Nicaragua next week to visit areas affected by flooding. She was currently in El Salvador, where she would meet President Mauricio Fuentes.

Ms. Ankai Xu of WTO said that on Monday 7 November, the WTO Director-General would meet the Minister of Foreign Trade and European Affairs, Finland, and then the Secretary of State for International Development, United Kingdom, she added. On Tuesday, he would meet the President of Renmin University of China and on Thursday he would address the concluding remarks at the Open Forum on China's role in the new global economic order.