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 and representatives of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the World Health Organization, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the World Trade Organization and the World Meteorological Organization. The Spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights was also available to answer questions, but had no announcements to make.

Secretary-General’s Activities

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that the Secretary-General had welcomed yesterday the signing of a new START Treaty between the Russian Federation and the United States which provided for a significant reduction in those countries’ nuclear arsenals. He hailed the Treaty as an important milestone in the international efforts to advance nuclear disarmament and to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons.

Secretary-General Ban would participate next week in the Washington Nuclear Security Summit, where he would stress the importance of good coordination of international regional and national efforts to face challenges to nuclear security, including the strengthening of international conventions and institutions. He would also discuss his initiatives, including his plan of action for disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation. As already announced, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Sergei Ordzhonikidze, would participate in the Summit as part of the Secretary-General’s delegation, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier added.

Situation in Kyrgyzstan

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Secretary-General had announced yesterday in Vienna that his special envoy, Jan Kubiš, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), would travel to Kyrgyzstan today, where opposition leaders had declared they had taken power following a bloody uprising. In a press conference in Vienna yesterday, the Secretary-General had said that he had had a telephone conversation with Foreign Minister Saudabayev of Kazakhstan, the Chairperson-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The Secretary-General had informed him that he would immediately send his special envoy Ján Kubiš.

Jean Rodriguez of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), clarifying the role of UNECE Executive Director Kubiš, explained that Mr. Kubiš would remain the Executive Director of UNECE; the mission was a short-term one. Mr. Kubiš would arrive in Kyrgyzstan tomorrow during the day for an initial mission of two to three days, where he would conduct consultations with the constitutional representatives of the country, all the relevant political forces and civil society representatives. He would assess the situation and make recommendations to the Secretary-General upon his return. During his mission, Mr. Kubiš would closely cooperate with the envoys or representatives of other international organizations, in particular the OSCE and the European Union, as well as representatives of neighbouring countries and permanent members of the Security Council.

Simon Schorno of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that ICRC had a team of about 35 persons in Bishkek. The situation remained a bit volatile today. Yesterday, the ICRC had supplied first aid materials to the three main hospitals in Bishkek, where about 500 wounded persons had been received in the last 48 hours. ICRC would continue that assistance over the coming days. Today, a joint ICRC-Kyrgyz Red Crescent team were going up to Talas, where clashes had also been reported, to bring in relief to the main hospital there. ICRC would have a flight of medical aid flying in from Peshawar to Bishkek, bringing in a war-wounded kit to treat about 100 patients. ICRC continued to remind the authorities to show restraint and to respect the principle of humanity above all.

Paul Garwood of World Health Organization (WHO) reported that WHO had had a request from the Ministry of Health for medicines. Today, WHO had announced that it would make available medical equipment, such as forceps and stethoscopes and other surgical equipment, and medicines, including antibiotics that could treat up to 1,500 cases. The State Secretary of Health of Kyrgyzstan had informed WHO today that more than 500 had been wounded and were now being treated in the three major hospitals in Bishkek, and that at least 75 had been reported killed. There was a lack of surgical equipment and materials to cope with the increased number of casualties. The Ministry of Health had requested additional trauma supplies in that regard, and WHO was working to provide those supplies. Speaking with those inside the country today, WHO had heard that the situation was getting a bit more stable, at least with regard to the provision of health care and the state of security inside the capital.

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that the statement of the Secretary-General on this subject was available in the press room, in which he expressed his shock at the reported deaths and injuries that had occurred in Kyrgyzstan and had urgently appealed for dialogue and calm to avoid further bloodshed. More details on the situation in the country would be forthcoming once Mr. Kubiš was on the ground.

Haiti

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) highlighted that, three months after the Haiti earthquake, the appeal for Haiti continued to stagnate and remained at 50 per cent following an initial inflow of funds. They still lacked $751 million for Haiti, where the United Nations had nevertheless made some significant progress, feeding over 3.5 million persons, distributing potable water to 1.3 million each day, providing 1 million with emergency shelter and distributing hygiene kits to 510,000, among others. However, much remained to be done. Further details of the funding status and the work remaining to be accomplished would be available at next Tuesday’s briefing.

Christiane Berthiaume of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that UNICEF would publish a report looking at Haiti 90 days later, setting out what had been accomplished and what challenges remained. She hoped to be able to deliver an embargoed report to the media on Monday.

Jared Bloch of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that, starting this weekend, IOM would take part in a multi-agency effort led by the Haitian Government to relocate several thousand people deemed at risk from the Petionville Golf Club settlement in Port-au-Prince. Many Petionville residents were situated on steep hillside areas, deemed to be at significant risk once the rainy season, which was expected to start this month, began. IOM was also working with engineers from the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti and with the United States military to identify specific locations in the camp at risk, where individuals could remain but mitigation work had to be carried out to prevent flooding and mudslides. As a result that mapping exercise, 7,500 residents had been informed that they were in dangerous areas designated for movement, and presented with potential options for voluntary relocation. Where other options were not possible, relocation would be facilitated to the new Corail Cesselesse site. Corail Cesselesse, prepared by IOM together with military engineers and humanitarian partners, was suitable for up to 6,000 individuals, and services at the site would include health care and food distribution in addition to specialized services for children, including a learning area provided by UNICEF and Plan International and child friendly spaces operated by Save the Children. The first day of relocation to the Corail site was scheduled for Saturday, 11 April, when an initial 100 families were slated for relocation. The process was expected to take several days.

Food Crisis in the Sahel

Turning to the Sahel, Ms. Berthiaume said UNICEF was very concerned about the impact on children of the ongoing drought and the food crisis it had sparked in Niger and other countries of the Sahel. There were tens of thousands of children in the Western Sahel who were in situations of extreme distress, including from Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, the north of Nigeria and Chad. UNICEF estimated that some 859,000 children under five that would need treatment for severe malnutrition. It was a region that already had a high level of child malnutrition – with a rate of severe malnutrition over 10 per cent for some time now. The good news was that UNICEF was ready to act: it knew what to do, and had partners and infrastructure in place. The problem was a lack of funds and a lack of time. They needed $50 million and to date only half those funds had been received. The money was needed “yesterday”, as in two months’ time the crisis would be at its peak.

Gulf of Aden Migration

Melissa Fleming of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that UNHCR had noted a slowing in flows of people crossing the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, which had nearly halved during the first quarter of the year in comparison with the same period in 2009. The largest drop was registered in the number of the new Somali arrivals: some 3,200 Somali refugees had arrived in Yemen this year, approximately a third of their number during the first quarter of 2009 – despite the fact that the same period of 2009 was considered one of relative calm. The drop in the number of Somali arrivals was unfortunately not driven by improvement of conditions inside Somalia. Many civilians were still daily forced to flee their homes. In fact, this year had seen the worst and deadliest fighting in Somalia since early 2009. The first three months of 2010 had recorded some of highest displacement rates since last year, with an estimated 169,000 people being forced to leave their homes in south central Somalia, particularly from Mogadishu. The numbers fleeing to Kenya had also come down: 27,000 Somalis had arrived in Kenya for the first three months of 2009, as compared to 12,000 for the same period in 2010. Flows to Ethiopia had remained relatively the same, at 6,500, since the beginning of the year.

As to why they were seeing this trend, Ms. Fleming noted that the new Somali refugees reaching Yemen claimed that those fleeing the fighting faced increasing difficulties in reaching the port town of Bossaso in northern Somalia. They cited increased insecurity as the main reason deterring their movements towards the north. In addition, they said that more and more people simply had no means to pay for the trip to Puntland. The refugees also reported that there were visible efforts by Puntland authorities to stem the human trafficking and mentioned that there were still new groups of arrivals in Bossaso waiting to be smuggled to Yemen. UNHCR teams were trying to assist, including through intensive information campaigns to warn those contemplating the risky passage to Yemen of the dangers involved, and it was hoped that had been part of the reason for the reduction of the flows.

Asked about whether this drop in migration was a good or a bad trend, Ms. Fleming said that UNHCR was perhaps inclined to see it as positive, given that the number of deaths in journeys across the Gulf of Aden in 2008 and 2009 had been quite shocking: last year, 290 people had drowned and 220 were still missing. So far this year, no one had died from the crossing. On the other hand, UNHCR remained concerned as the number of those displaced within Somalia was not going down.

Experts Meeting To Review WHO Management of H1N1 Flu Pandemic

Responding to questions, Christine Feig of WHO confirmed that the review committee would start on Monday, 12 April, and run through Wednesday. That would be the first meeting of the review committee. The meeting would begin at 10 a.m. on Monday, with a speech by the WHO Director-General, which would be open to the media. Following the speech, the expert committee would elect a Chair and Vice Chair in closed session, and decide whether their deliberations would be open to the media or not. The agenda, scope and method of work of the committee would be determined when they met. However, clearly, they would have to look at things like the response to the H1N1 pandemic.

Ms. Feig apologized for the delay in providing the list of participants, but said she was hoping they would get it today; they would make it public as soon as they received it.

Australian Decision to Suspend Asylum Requests from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka

Asked to comment on the decision by Australia to detain all new illegal arrivals from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan without allowing asylum applications, as a way to curb human smuggling, Ms. Fleming noted that the announcement was made independently from UNHCR. UNHCR was currently examining the announcement, particularly with regard to issues around the detention of vulnerable persons and provision of social support for asylum-seekers subject to that suspension. UNHCR had guidelines for how to deal with asylum-seekers from each country. It was true that UNHCR was in the process of looking at the situations in Sri Lanka and in Afghanistan and perhaps revising its guidelines, but the Australian decision was taken completely separately from UNHCR. Current guidelines for Sri Lanka, for example, were based on a situation of generalized violence there and that no Tamil should be returned forcibly and should have their case considered individually under the 1951 Convention. In other words, most Tamils arriving in other countries were in need of protection. That situation was changing, with many of the internally displaced persons having now been able to return to their homes.

Other

Ms. Byrs of OCHA drew attention to a humanitarian appeal in grave need of funds – the food insecurity and acute malnutrition appeal for Guatemala, which was experiencing the worst drought in three decades. The United Nations appeal launched on 5 March for $34 million to cover the needs for some 680,000 people over the next six months was only 3 per cent funded.

Mr. Rodriguez said that, on Sunday, UNECE would receive the 2010 Regional Award from the International Association for Impact Assessment for its major contributions to the regional development of impact assessment, particularly through its role in the development and implementation of the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (also known as the Espoo Convention). That Convention had 44 parties – 43 States parties plus the European Union – and had recently had a burst of new growth, with the accession of Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. An embargoed press release was available.

Paul Garwood of WHO announced the launch of the One Million Safe Hospitals and Schools Campaign yesterday in Manila. It was a joint initiative by the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), as well as the WHO, UNICEF and others, aimed at making schools and hospitals safer from disasters and emergencies and to make them more resilient so that they could continue to provide services. A press note was available at the back of the room.

Catherine Sibut-Pinote of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said that on Monday, 12 April, there would be a review of the Burundi’s investment policy, at the request of the Government, in the afternoon, following which recommendations would be issued. Two Ministers – the Minister of Planning and Reconstruction and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation – would be present. There would be a press release in the middle of the afternoon.

The following week, from 19 to 23 April, UNCTAD would host negotiations in Geneva for a new agreement on cacao to replace the 2001 agreement, Ms. Sibut-Pinote noted. Finally, she announced that, on Monday, 26 April, UNCTAD would award its second prize for a woman entrepreneur from a developing country. There would be a press conference that day at 12 p.m. in Room III with the 10 nominees; the announcement of the winner would be made at the official ceremony at the end of the afternoon at the Palais des Nations.

Janaina Borges of the World Trade Organization (WTO), announcing next week’s schedule for WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy, said that, on Tuesday, 13 April, Mr. Lamy would meet Louis Lévesque, Canada's Deputy Minister of International Trade, in Geneva. On Thursday, he would start a weeklong trip to Latin America, where he would meet trade officials in four countries – Chile, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. The full schedule of the Director-General’s trip was available in the press room.

Gaëlle Sévenier of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said available at the back of the room was a press release on the First Conference of Ministers Responsible for Meteorology in Africa, which would begin next week, gathering together over 200 delegates, including 37 ministers or vice ministers. She noted that the countries of Africa, which were among the most affected by climate change, were also the least well equipped to predict weather events. At the end of the one-week Conference, participants were expected to adopt a declaration on the development of meteorological, hydrological and climatological services in Africa, along with a plan of action. A press release was available.