REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Marie Heuzé, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which provided information on the commemoration of the Genocide in Rwanda, the elections in Timor-Leste, the murder of a journalist in Afghanistan, climate change, the recent Tsunami in the Solomon Islands, and the situation of displaced persons and refugees in Chad and Iraq, among other things.

Spokespersons for the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the UN Refugee Agency, the World Economic Forum and the International Organization for Migration participated in the briefing. Spokespersons for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the World Health Organization, and the World Food Programme were also present.

Commemoration of Genocide in Rwanda

Ms. Heuzé announced that tomorrow, to mark the thirteenth year since the genocide in Rwanda, the Permanent Mission of Rwanda, in conjunction with the United Nations Office at Geneva, was organizing a ceremony to be held under the patronage of the Director-General, Sergei Ordzhonikidze, in Room XVIII at the Palais des Nations from 4 to 5 p.m. An information note on the event had been sent to journalists.

In a message delivered yesterday, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had said the UN had learned profound lessons from that tragedy – appointing a Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide and establishing an Advisory Committee on Genocide Prevention. But more remained to be done, and the Secretary-General had declared his intention to strengthen the existing UN mechanisms. He had also appealed for the creation of a global partnership against genocide. Copies of the Secretary-General's remarks were available in French and English, Ms. Heuzé said.

Murder of Journalist in Afghanistan

Ms. Heuzé drew attention to the statement by the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, condemning the murder of Afghan journalist, Ajmal Naqshbandi – abducted by Taliban extremists on 5 March – and calling on the authorities to bring those responsible to justice. The Special Representative had said that the perpetrators of that crime had shown "absolute indifference to the value of human life” and had added that the rights of journalists to go about their work, free from interference or harm, should be recognized and respected by all.

In that connection, it was worth recalling that the Security Council had adopted a resolution last year condemning attacks against journalists in conflict situations (resolution 1738 (2006)). Ms. Heuzé indicated that, in the context of the celebration of World Press Freedom Day, on 3 May, the Information Service would like to organize a round table and asked interested journalists to get in touch with her office.

Elections in Timor-Leste

In a statement issued yesterday, the Secretary-General had underscored his satisfaction with the way recent elections had been carried out in Timor-Leste, Ms. Heuzé said. In a video message delivered on the eve of the 8 April elections, the Secretary-General had expressed his hope that the elections would be "free, fair, transparent and credible", that they would be "unmarred by violence and intimidation" and that they would "lead to results accepted by all". The Secretary-General's message was available in the press room.

Climate Change

Ms. Heuzé recalled that the findings of Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had been published last Friday in Brussels.

Aurelia Blin of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) reminded journalists of the press conference to be held tomorrow on the IPCC report and how climate change would affect people and assets. At the conference, Sálvano Briceño, the Director of the ISDR Secretariat would react to the conclusions of that report, in particular what sort of preventive measures should be taken, as well as discuss what role the global platform on climate change would have. (The global platform was scheduled to hold its first meeting in Geneva in a meeting from 5 to 7 June.) Also speaking at the press conference would be Maarten K. van Aalst, the lead climate specialist for the Red Cross and Red Crescent Climate Centre in the Hague. The press conference would be held on Wednesday, 11 April, at 10 a.m. in press room 1.

South Pacific Tsunami

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that, regarding the tsunami that had struck the Solomon Islands on 2 April 2007, the situation was being brought under control on the islands. The United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination Team (UNDAC) experts had already created two coordination centres, one at Honiara and one at Gizo. The main problem was access to drinking water, as all the water pipes had been destroyed when the tsunami hit. According to information received, there were now sufficient medical staff and supplies in place, those who had fled to high ground were returning to their homes, shops in Gizo had reopened yesterday, and fishermen were slowly returning to work. The health situation, however, required continued monitoring, as some 1,500 people were still living in the 12 camps that had sprung up around Gizo, and some 5,500 people remained affected by the disaster. A situation report was available at the back of the room.

Conference on Humanitarian Situation in Iraq

Ron Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) provided an update on the upcoming UNHCR international conference on the humanitarian situation of the displaced and refugees in Iraq and the surrounding region. Among those who had confirmed their attendance were Iraqi officials, including the Minister of Displacement and Migration; the Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister; the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq; the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator; the Director-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East; the Director-General of the International Organization for Migration; high-level officials from Sweden, Italy, Norway, the United States, and the European Union; and the heads of national Red Crescent Societies from throughout the region, as well as other national Iraqi non-governmental organizations.

The conference, which would be chaired by UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres, would be held over one and a half days in the Assembly Hall, beginning at 10 a.m. on 17 April, and ending at 1 p.m. on 18 April, followed by a press conference by Mr. Guterres at 1.15 p.m. in the Council Chamber. Although the conference would be a closed meeting, there would be media access for the opening on 17 April, including opening remarks by Mr. Guterres, Mr. Redmond said. A media centre would be available during the conference, UNHCR spokespeople would be available to provide updates, and press kits would be provided. Accreditation was being handled by the Press and External Relations Section at the Palais and television and radio arrangements would be made through Yvette Morris in the UNIS TV and Radio Section. More organizational information was available on the UNHCR website at http://www.unhcr.org/media.html under "Upcoming Events". There was also an Iraq page on the UNHCR website with background information on the displacement crisis in the region.

Spiralling levels of sectarian, political and criminal violence, dwindling basic services, loss of livelihood, inflation and uncertainty about the future had all contributed to an exodus now estimated at 40,000 to 50,000 a month fleeing their homes inside Iraq. The idea of next week's conference, Mr. Redmond said, was to alert the international community to the humanitarian dimensions of the displacement crisis. It was not a pledging conference, but rather a forum for awareness, advocacy and ongoing action on specific humanitarian needs.

Situation in Chad

Mr. Redmond said, unfortunately, the humanitarian situation in south-eastern Chad following brutal attacks on 31 March on the villages of Tiero and Marena, had proven to be far worse than expected. More than 9,000 Chadians from 31 villages had now arrived at the new Habile site for internally displaced people (IDPs), joining another 9,000 who had fled earlier attacks in the region. Estimates of the number of dead had also increased substantially and now ranged between 200 and 400. Because most of the dead had been buried where their bodies had been found - often in common graves - the exact number might never be known, and many who had survived the initial attack had died in subsequent days from exhaustion and dehydration, often while fleeing.

The precise number of new IDPs remained unclear. Mr. Redmond noted, however, that the situation appeared to have generally stabilized for the time being, with a massive deployment of Chadian military forces to the region. On Sunday, an inter-agency assessment mission led by UNHCR to Tiero and Marena found a situation that one UNHCR staff had described as "apocalyptic". A week after the attack, decomposing bodies were still being found in the area, hundreds upon hundreds of homes had been burned to the ground, and there were many indications that people had little or no time to flee, given that many essential household goods, food and domestic animals had been left behind.

Other

In Colombia, thousands of people were fleeing their homes to escape fighting and generalized insecurity in the southern region of Nariño, Mr. Redmond of UNHCR said. Over the past two weeks, more than 6,000 people had taken refuge in the small towns of El Charco and La Tola, in the north of Nariño. Local authorities had opened schools and other public places to house the displaced, who were fleeing fighting further to the south between the army and an irregular armed group.

Mr. Redmond also wished to draw attention to new tragedies in the Gulf of Aden, where at least 34 people being smuggled from Somalia had drowned after being forced overboard by smugglers in deep waters off the coast of Yemen. The first incident had occurred early Friday when three smuggling boats approached the Yemeni coast near Bir Ali following a two-day voyage from the Bosaso region of Somalia. Witnesses and survivors said two of the boats had begun dropping their passengers off near shore when they reportedly came under fire from Yemeni authorities and the boats then moved back out to sea. Twenty-two people forced into the deeper water drowned and were later buried on the beach. A third boat that had approached the coast of Yemen early Friday afternoon also forced its passengers overboard far from shore and another 12 people drowned. They, too, were buried on the beach. Passengers aboard the third boat said they had been beaten throughout the voyage from Somalia, and that at least two Ethiopian men unable to endure the mistreatment had jumped overboard.

Responding to questions, Mr. Redmond noted that this was not the first time the boats had been fired on by Yemen authorities, who claimed that they had been fired on first by the smugglers.

Yemi Babington-Ashaye of the World Economic Forum outlined the programme for the World Economic Forum on Africa, to be held in Cape Town, South Africa, from 13 to 15 June this year. The Forum, whose theme was "Raising the Bar", would gather together regional leaders in business, government and civil society to draw lessons from best-performing States, assess new opportunities, address risks and identify priorities for action. The focus of discussions would be on capacity-building, arranged under five subthemes: building capacity for success; enhanced investment; Africa as a global partner; a competitive future; and pathways to prosperity. Also on the agenda were traditional themes such as infrastructure, HIV, malaria, water, governance, education, and post-conflict peace building. The situation in Zimbabwe would also be addressed. Several heads of State, such as President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, and major global business leaders, including Sir Sam Jonah of Jonah Capital, as well as the head of the China Import-Export Bank, had already confirmed their participation.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that one of the areas that IOM was looking at in its next meeting was the impact of remittances on development and how expatriates could help development policy. Jennifer Petree of IOM then introduced the main findings of the IOM report published this week on the effect of remittances from Switzerland on Serbian households. The survey, carried out by IOM among 343 households in two rural regions of Serbia, found that such remittances accounted for 40 per cent of household income, and were mostly sent informally on a monthly basis – either hand carried by migrants, friends or acquaintances, including a vast network of bus drivers. The money was a very important factor in many peoples' financial well-being, and was keeping many of the most vulnerable out of poverty. Other than poverty alleviation, the remittances were used for housing, which had a vast impact on physical security. The use of informal channels could be explained by a lack of trust in Serbian financial institutions and by high remitting costs, and the survey underlined the need to reduce those costs. The survey had been funded by the Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs, and the full report and additional information was available on the IOM website: www.iom.int.

Mr. Chauzy also announced an IOM plan to raise awareness about human trafficking during the Cricket World Cup – currently under way in nine Caribbean countries – developing new counter-trafficking material for television, radio and airline magazines in cooperation with Caribbean partners. Some 100,000 fans were expected to attend the World Cup, in addition to the millions of fans that followed the event worldwide. Mr. Chauzy recalled that the Caribbean was a region of fairly intense trafficking, not just for sexual exploitation, but also for forced labour.