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 Meteorological Organization, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the International Organization for Migration, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the UN Refugee Agency, the United Nations Environmental Programme and the International Labour Organization.

Director-General’s Agenda

Ms. Momal-Vanian said Director-General Sergei Ordzhonikidze would be travelling to Hiroshima, Japan next week, where he would be attending the 2010 World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates on the theme of “the legacy of Hiroshima: a world without nuclear weapons.” The Director-General would be participating in a discussion on security and nuclear weapons.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Momal-Vanian said the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was this morning starting its consideration of the report of Switzerland, which would be concluded on Monday, 8 November at 1 p.m. The Committee this week reviewed the reports of Uruguay and the Dominican Republic, and next week, it would consider the reports of Sri Lanka and the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles.

The Committee against Torture would this morning be concluding its consideration of the report of Bosnia and Herzegovina and this afternoon it would start its review of the report of Mongolia, which would be concluded on Monday, 8 November at 1 p.m. The Committee this week had already reviewed the reports of Ethiopia and Turkey, and next week, it would take up the reports of Ecuador and Cambodia.

At 1:15 p.m. today, there would be a press conference by the United States Permanent Mission in Room III following the United States’ Universal Periodic Review this morning.

Haiti

Claire Nullis of the World Meteorological Organization said the United States National Hurricane Centre, which was based in Miami, had issued an advisory a short while ago to say that an air force reconnaissance plane found that Tomas had indeed strengthened to become a hurricane, thus confirming the worst fears. It said the centre of Tomas would pass near western Haiti, near or over the extreme east of Cuba and near or over the southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Capers islands later today or tonight. The National Meteorological Service in Haiti, which was strengthened as a result of the lessons learned from the earthquake, had been issuing regular bulletins and their latest bulletin warned that they expected rainfall of 150 to 250 millimeters and indeed up to 300 millimeters over Haiti, with winds of up to 100 kilometers per hour.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that even with the existing pre-positioned stocks, the potential magnitude of this disaster urgently called for additional emergency supplies and equipment. There was not a minute to lose. The international community was being called upon to provide what was still missing. Tarps and tents were in stock to cover the needs of 300,000 individuals, but they were working with a preliminary working figure of 500,000 persons who would be affected after the hurricane passed, so that meant that they only had the needs for tarps and tents covered by 60 per cent. Haiti had a serious deforestation problem, and with the rains and winds approaching, there was nothing to hold back the water and the mud, and this could have dramatic consequences for the population, especially those near the coast and those in temporary shelters in Port au Prince. Aerial assessments and first response live saving aid would be launched from amphibious ship USS IWO JIMA. The American military would be pre-positioned for assistance where there was capability gaps and would plug into the UN and OCHA humanitarian coordination mechanisms already in place. It was also a serious concern that bad sanitary conditions in Haiti, combined with the rains or mud waters, would very likely accelerate the cholera infection rate.

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said IOM yesterday evacuated more than 2,000 people from the exposed Corail camp to a nearby disused hospital with young children, women, the elderly, the infirm and several handicapped people being given priority in the move. Those people were provided with food as well as shelter and aqua tabs to purify water in a bid to help prevent the further spread of cholera. A further 4,000 internally displaced persons stayed back at Camp Corail to protect their few possessions.

Ms. Pandya said IOM was continuing its efforts to ensure that whatever early gains were made in containing the cholera outbreak were not reversed by Tomas. IOM, together with its UN partners and others, were rapidly scaling up their operations to the cholera response. They were already focusing very much on the displaced people in the camps to ensure that they were provided with hygiene messages. IOM was also strengthening monitoring and case response mechanisms. To support its efforts, IOM was launching an appeal for $ 15 million to provide immediate support for the Haitian Government’s National Cholera Response Plan. Given Haiti’s mobile population, containment was essential to the cholera response. IOM had also deployed teams to four strategic border areas with the Dominican Republic to monitor movement and carry out cholera sensitization and awareness campaigns.

Fadéla Chaib of the World Health Organization said journalists should have received the latest update on Haiti which was sent by email yesterday and was also posted on the WHO website. The number of cases of cholera was 6,742, including 442 persons who had died. There were now five Departments in Haiti affected by the cholera epidemic. Five cholera treatment centres were now operational in Port au Prince and three outside the capital. Three others were still in the process of being set up in other areas. WHO was preparing for hurricane Tomas to hit. Yesterday, WHO and its Washington office had sent emergency health kits to Port au Prince which contained medicines to treat 10,000 persons for three months. Other emergency kits were sent to other areas with the capacity to treat between 10,000 to 20,000 persons for three months. The arrival of hurricane Tomas could indeed have an effect to the spread of the cholera epidemic. WHO and its Washington office continued to work with the Haitian Government.

Emilia Casella of the World Food Programme said that based on WFP’s experience with the storms of 2008, WFP had put preparative measures in place for some time now. All of WFP’s essential staff were on standby for a rapid response and food distribution could start in a matter of hours after the hurricane passed. WFP, along with its Haitian and other partners, had pre-positioned food supplies in 32 locations in the most vulnerable areas and that food was sufficient to feed 1.1 million people for six weeks. WFP’s logistical team had also set up an alternate transport system for the hurricane season, including a barge service which connected all the major ports so that humanitarian aid could be transported around the country if the roads became impassable. The humanitarian air service had also already been taking supplies into the most hard to reach areas of the country, and would continue to do that if the roads became impassable. In terms of response to the health system in terms of the cholera outbreak, WFP had provided more than 40,000 ready to eat meals to hospitals for staff, patients and care givers so that they had clean food that did not require water for its preparation.

Marixie Mercado of the United Nations Children’s Fund said that one of the key challenges in responding to the dual impact of both Tomas and cholera was the very real risk that flooding and contamination of water sources would spread cholera throughout the country. The key to saving lives in this context was information on cholera prevention and access to safe water. In past days, UNCIEF and its partners and community mobilizers had been sharing health and sanitation related information and distributing UNICEF supplied oral rehydration salts and water purification tablets. Patients and families at the healthcare facilities were also receiving preventative information. UNICEF’s staff were prepositioned around the country and UNICEF had distributed and prepositioned medical, nutrition and sanitation stuff, including water purification tablets, tarpaulin, oral rehydration salts, and zinc tablets in all camps.

Pakistan

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said there was a press release at the back of the room to remind the world that 100 days into the flooding crisis in Pakistan, millions remained in urgent need of support. The emergency was far from over with an estimated 14 million people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. The humanitarian crisis was still wide spread. To date, funding for the Floods Relief and Early Recovery Response Plan was only at 40 per cent of the requirements of $ 1.9 billion. There were more details in the note. It was urgent that the resources came through to provide much needed relief and rehabilitation work. On 26 November at 6:30 p.m., the Permanent Mission of Pakistan would be organizing a fund raising event to support the victims of the floods.

Marixie Mercado of the United Nations Children’s Fund said the UNICEF Pakistan country office was warning that without significant new funding now, life assistance and recovery work for flood affected families and communities would need to be substantially scaled back in the new year. UNICEF had only received $ 134 million of its $ 251 million revised appeal. Without the new funding, 1.4 million people, half of whom were children, would stop receiving clean drinking water. One million people that UNICEF now provided with sanitation services would no longer receive them. The UNICEF nutrition programme would have to scale down by half the number of severely malnourished children that it intended to reach. UNICEF was emphasizing that for millions of flood affected people, the emergency was very much a living reality, and that the winter months ahead posed new and critical challenges for extremely vulnerable families. There were more details in the briefing notes.

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said IOM was also very short of funding in Pakistan. Out of an appeal for $ 114 million, it had so far received only 30 per cent of it. There were still 3.6 million people currently without shelter.

Republic of Congo

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said that late yesterday, WHO had issued a release concerning an acute outbreak of polio in the Republic of Congo, with 120 cases of acute flaccid paralysis and 58 deaths. Half the cases had been reported in the past 10 days, with the first case occurring in early October. Two cases had been confirmed to have been caused by wild poliovirus type 1 and laboratory testing was continuing. Most of the cases were in young adults. The outbreak was due to imported poliovirus. The Republic of Congo had recorded its last case of indigenous polio in 2000. Investigations were ongoing to determine definitively the origins of the virus. The Government of Congo had alerted the public to the outbreak and launched an emergency response plan. At least three nationwide vaccination campaigns were expected, targeting the entire population. There were more details in the notes.

Oliver Rosenbaueur of the World Health Organization said poliovirus type 1 was potent, tended to cause more disease and outbreaks and travelled much more easily geographically. The most at risk group for polio was children under the age of five years, and it was rare that polio affected adult populations, but it did happen. The disease was clearly more deadly among adults than in children.

Somalia

Adrian Edwards of the UN Refugee Agency said UNHCR was very concerned over the fate of more than 8,000 Somalis, many of whom had been pushed back across the border by local authorities in northeast Kenya. Initially most moved into no-man’s land and refused to go further. As of this morning, it appeared that some had dispersed, while others were believed to have fled into neighbouring Ethiopia. Most of them were women and children and elderly people who had fled two weeks ago to escape fighting between Al-Shabaab and Ahul Sunna Wal Jamaa forces around the Somalia town of Bulla Hawo. In October, UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres appealed for Somalis to receive international protection in line with the updated eligibility guidelines that UNHCR issued this year. These guidelines pointed to the very substantial risks for anyone being returned to central or southern Somalia. UNHCR reiterated that appeal today.


Other

Isabelle Valentiny of the United Nations Environmental Programme said tomorrow was the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict. The objective of this International Day was to draw attention to the fact that damage to the environment in times of conflict impaired natural resources long after the end of the conflict. This International Day was also used to recognize that the negative impact often extended beyond the limits of the national territory. A copy of the Secretary-General’s message on the International Day was available at the back of the room. This year, his message focussed on the importance of action to prevent conflict, especially conflict over natural resources.

Corinne Perthuis of the International Labour Organization said a G-20 summit would be taking place in Seoul on 11 and 12 November. ILO Director-General Juan Somavia would be attending the summit. There would be an update released on Monday, 8 November on employment trends in the G-20 countries, as well as a press release on ILO’s message to the summit.