REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which provided information on the Millennium Development Goals Report 2005, Geneva activities, human rights and other issues. Spokespersons for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Labour Office, the World Health Organization, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Food Programme, the United Nations Children's Fund, the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, the International Telecommunication Union and the International Organization for Migration participated in the briefing.

Millennium Development Goals Report 2005

Ms. Heuzé said the Secretary-General had launched the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Report 2005 on Thursday, 9 June in New York, and it was made available to the press corps in Geneva at the same time. The report was prepared by 25 agencies, funds and programmes of the United Nations system and focused on the progress made so far in fulfilling the MDGs and the delays and challenges still ahead. As Geneva was the headquarters for many of the agencies, funds and programmes which had helped prepare the report, the Information Service was today organizing a press briefing at 2:30 p.m. during which experts would describe the work being carried out by their agencies and programmes towards the MDGs.

The participants to speak this afternoon were: Mr. Andrew Cassels, Director MDGs, Health and Development Policy at WHO on progress on the health-related goals;
Mr. Achmat Dangor, Director, Advocacy, Communication and Leadership at UNAIDS; Ms. Jane Stewart, Deputy Executive Director at ILO on the challenge of youth employment; Mr. Charles Gore, Senior Economist at UNCTAD, Team Leader of the Least Developed Countries Report (on Goal 8) with a particular focus on increased and better-quality aid, more comprehensive debt relief and the removal of barriers to developing country exports. Finally Dr. Tim Kelly, Chief of Policy and Strategy at ITU on the role of mobile phones at the cutting edge of the information revolution that is just getting started in the developing world.

Already available in the press room were copies of the report, a press release on it and a note to correspondents about the press event in French and English.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Heuzé said the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Sergei Ordzhonikidze, would be in Saint Petersburg from 14 to 16 June to represent the Secretary-General at the Ninth Petersburg International Economic Forum. Mr. Ordzhonikidze would be delivering a message from the Secretary-General.

The Conference on Disarmament had held a plenary yesterday. A press release on the meeting had been issued in English and in French. The next plenary would be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 16 June.

The third Meeting of Experts from States Parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction would be held in Geneva from 13 to 24 June 2005. A press release was available in the press room in English and in French.

Human Rights

José Luis Díaz, Spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that in response to an earlier question, he had asked his colleagues on whether particular human rights issues had been raised regarding the situation in Bolivia and they had said no. OHCHR was following the situation with concern, though.

Mr. Díaz said High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour had set up a fact-finding mission to try to establish the circumstances which led to alleged violations of human rights in Togo between 5 February and 5 May 2005. The mission would go to Togo, and possibly to the neighbouring countries of Ghana and Benin, from 13 to 26 June. The mission would seek to verify the reports of alleged violations and compile information on the nature of those violations, their culprits and perpetrators. The mission would also examine the human rights issues arising from the conduct of the presidential elections in April 2005, including the existing constitutional and electoral frameworks and their impact on the implementation of basic international human rights principles governing free and fair elections. The mission would be led by Doudou Dienne, the Special Rapporteur on racism of the Commission on Human Rights. Following its return, the mission would prepare a report for the High Commissioner, including recommendations.

In response to a question, Mr. Díaz said there was a decision taken at the Economic and Social Council yesterday to set aside two days next week for informal consultations in Geneva on plans for reform of the Commission on Human Rights. The consultations would be open to all members of the Commission. He would try to get the text of the ECOSOC decision and send it to journalists.

Other

Corinne Perthuis of the International Labour Office said this morning, the Minister of Labour of Iraq would be addressing the International Labour Conference. This afternoon at 3 p.m., the President of Nigeria would be addressing the Conference. Available in the press room were documents related to the World Day against Child Labour.

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said that available at the back of the room were three press releases on World Blood Donor Day, 14 June, including an embargoed press release on the Day; a feature on blood safety and availability in Malawi; and a fact sheet entitled "blood, safety and donation: a global view". There was also a fact sheet available on WHO and the Millennium Development Goals.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said concerning funding for Sudan, requirements for the United Nations 2005 work plan were $ 1.56 billion, including $ 1.5 billion for UN agencies and $ 58 million for non-governmental organizations. To date, contributions to the plan were only 42 per cent, which amounted to $ 648 million. The work plan was for all the regions in Sudan which suffered from mal-nutrition, food security and other poverty related problems. OCHA was renewing its appeal to donors to finance the Sudan work plan. She would distribute a document which showed a break down of which sectors and which areas in Sudan had received how much funds.

Ms. Byrs said a press release on Benin was available at the back of the room. It would also be released in New York today. Four weeks on since the launch of a $ 5.9 million flash appeal for Benin, there had been no response whatsoever. The money was needed to help the country host some 20,000 Togolese refugees, nearly half of them children.

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said the Nigerian President was presently in Rome where he was addressing WFP's Administrative Council. This was the first time that a Head of State spoke before the Administrative Council to thank WFP for helping some 37 million people in Africa. He was also supporting the idea of a special partnership with Africa to help WFP in its fight against hunger in Africa and to sensitize the importance of WFP's work to control famine and hunger in Africa to African Heads of State. The Nigerian President was the present Head of the African Union.

Ms. Berthiaume said WFP was hoping to raise more than 2 million Euros for its global school feeding programme through its "Walk the World" event. In Geneva, the event would take place at 10 a.m. on Sunday, 12 June, starting in the English Garden Park, across the Mont Blanc bridge and up to the Botanical Gardens.

Damien Personnaz of the United Nations Children's Fund said UNICEF's Regional Director for East Asia and the Pacific, Anupama Rao Singh, had recently visited Myanmar to speak about the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the country. Myanmar had one of the highest HIV/AIDS infection rates in Southeast Asia. Every year in Myanmar, at least 10,000 HIV-positive women became pregnant and gave birth to at least 3,000 to 4,000 children who were infected with HIV. UNICEF spent an average of $ 2 million each year in Myanmar in support of HIV/AIDS prevention and care programmes. A press release with more details was available.

Jennifer Pagonis of the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees said that UNHCR had been shocked to discover that four men who fled Uzbekistan in the wake of the explosion of violence in Andijan on 13 May had been returned against their will yesterday, Thursday, from Kyrgyzstan. This was a direct violation of an agreement UNHCR had reached with the Kyrgyz Government that no one would be forcibly returned unless they had been determined not to be a refugee after going through an asylum procedure. UNHCR was today issuing an urgent appeal to the Kyrgyz Government to cease all further deportations of Uzbek asylum seekers until a proper asylum procedure had been carried out. Uzbek authorities were still exerting considerable pressure on the asylum seekers to return home, with increasing numbers of relatives of asylum seekers going to visit them in Kyrgyzstan and urging them to return home. The relatives were clearly not acting of their own free will.

Ms. Pagonis said that in Togo, there had been little change in the pace of the outflow of refugees from Togo over the last week, with the total number of refugees in neighbouring Benin and Ghana slowly climbing to 36,809, compared to 35, 743 last eek. UNHCR was trucking in further non-food supplies for 2,500 people from its regional emergency stockpile in Accra, Ghana.

Brigitte Leoni of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction said the ISDR secretariat was starting a new collaboration with the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union. To promote this collaboration, two media workshops gathering more than 30 broadcasters from the Indian Ocean region would be organized in Bangkok from 13 to 16 June, together with the participation of UNESCO and WMO. The media could play an important role in convincing Governments and citizens to invest in disaster reduction. A press release was available with further details at the back of the room.

Sarah Parks of the International Telecommunication Union reminded journalists that there would be an ITU press conference next Thursday, 16 June at 2:30 p.m. in Room III to launch a new initiative called "Connect the World". Press kits would be available next week.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said in Lesotho, IOM and Population Services International had on 9 June launched a joint programme aimed at reducing HIV vulnerability among migrants and their families. The programme, which was funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, would target mineworkers and their families, Lesotho Defence Force personnel, factory workers and taxi drivers.

Mr. Chauzy said that the IOM Regional Office for the Middle East in Cairo was next week launching a project in Yemen to assist in combating the trafficking of children to neighbouring countries. The new project aimed to increase the knowledge and capacity of Yemeni officials and non-governmental organizations to deal with child trafficking victims and to raise awareness in remote areas of the country on the risks and consequences of child trafficking.

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