REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service at Geneva, chaired the briefing which included information on the World Summit in New York, Geneva meetings, the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, human rights and other issues. Spokespersons for the International Telecommunication Union, the World Meteorological Organization, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Labour Organization, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Food Programme, the World Trade Organization, the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development, the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration participated in the briefing.

World Summit in New York

Mrs. Heuzé said today was the third and last day of the World Summit in New York. The draft outcome document was expected to be adopted later today. Journalists already had copies of the draft. Also available in the press room was a two-page fact sheet on the draft outcome document which outlined the important aspects which it contained concerning development; terrorism; peacebuilding, peacekeeping and peacemaking; responsibility to protect; human rights, democracy and the rule of law, including the transformation of the Human Rights Commission into a Human Rights Council; management reform; the environment; international health; humanitarian assistance; and updating the UN Charter. The big losers of the draft outcome document remained disarmament and non-proliferation.

Geneva Activities

Mrs. Heuzé said the third Prepcom for the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society would be held at the Palais des Nations from 19 to 30 September.

Sarah Parks of the International Telecommunication Union said that around 1,500 participants from the United Nations, the private sector, civil society, media organizations and others were expected to participate in the two-week long Prepcom which would start on 19 September. The main focus of the Prepcom was Internet governance which remained a contentious issue. UN accredited journalists needed to pick up a special badge so that they could attend the meetings of the Prepcom. On the website of the Prepcom, which was www.itu.int/wsis, there was the draft agenda and the draft schedule of meetings as well as the full list of participants. If journalists wanted to set up interviews, they could contact her.

Mrs. Heuzé said today marked the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer. The statement of the Secretary-General on this subject was available in the press room.

Geir Braaten of the World Meteorological Organization said available was a bulletin which provided an update on the latest developments on the Antarctic ozone hole. For this time of the year, WMO had never observed such a low ozone value as now seen over the South Pole. Also, ozone destruction started this year earlier than usual. The size of the ozone hole this year was expected to be in the same region as in 2000 and 2003, the two largest ozone holes recorded so far. This showed that ozone depletion was still going on and that the so-called ozone recovery still had to be confirmed. It was possible to say that ozone depletion was going on at a slower rate than before.

Mark Oliver of the World Meteorological Organization said there would be a press release out later in the day with the view of the Secretary-General of WMO on the ozone hole.

Mrs. Heuzé said at 2 p.m. this afternoon in press room 1, there would be a briefing by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies on the IFRC emblem.

The International Day of Peace was commemorated on 21 September and the Secretary-General's message on this occasion was available in the press room.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child was today holding a day of General Discussion on "Children without Parental Care", Mrs. Heuzé said. On 19 and 20 September, the Committee would be taking up the periodic report of China. It would consider the periodic report of Finland on 22 September.

The remarks by the Secretary-General yesterday delivered at his meeting with the Francophonie, in which he spoke about the advances and the delays faced by the Francophonie in a number of fields, were available in the press room, Mrs. Heuzé said.

In conclusion, Mrs. Heuzé recalled that next week was the last week of the 2005 session of the Conference on Disarmament. The President of the Conference (Peru) had made available to Member States today an informal text concerning the programme of work of the Conference. The President wished to ensure that no effort was spared to break through the stalemate in the Conference. An informal plenary would be held at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, 20 September to discuss this informal text. This week, the Conference had been discussing its draft annual report to the General Assembly. The last plenary of the Conference would be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 22 September when the Member States were expected to adopt the report.

Human Rights

José Luis Díaz, Spokesperson of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that available shortly would be the embargoed statement of High Commissioner Louise Arbour would be issued in New York upon the adoption of the outcome document of the World Summit. The High Commissioner would be conveying the Office's impressions that there had been some very solid gains made by the Summit in the area of human rights, including the agreement on setting up a Human Rights Council and the agreement on doubling the resources of the UN's human rights programme. Mrs. Arbour would also identify other advances made in the outcome document. Throughout the document, human rights were identified as one of the three pillars of the United Nations alongside development and security. The World Summit would also recognize the responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. There was also very clearly stated support for closer cooperation between the High Commissioner and the Security Council. The outcome document would also reaffirm the importance of protecting the rights of women, minorities, indigenous peoples, children, internally displaced persons, refugees and persons with disabilities. Also the outcome document would state concerning the Human Rights Council that Member States would now have until the end of the General Assembly's session to work out the modalities, functions, and composition of the Human Rights Council.

Mr. Díaz said he wanted to clarify something for the record. The High Commissioner had met with the President of the Maldives on 15 September, and subsequently, there had been a statement from the authorities in the Maldives saying the High Commissioner had praised the Government for the measures taken to improve human rights. What the High Commissioner said was that she was encouraged by the steps taken to strengthen national human rights institutions and she had offered the expertise of the Office of the High Commissioner in order to assist in the necessary revisions of the Human Rights Commission Act of the Maldives so that the eventual national Human Rights Commission of the country would be in conformity with the Paris Principles which called for the independence of national human rights commissions. The High Commissioner had also strongly encouraged the Government to safeguard the rights to assembly and freedom of expression and to ratify the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. She had also expressed concern about recent events in that country.

In conclusion, Mr. Díaz said that the Special Rapporteur on the situation in Belarus, Adrian Severin, would be visiting Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania from 18 to 24 September 2005. The mission would take place in the Baltic States because the Government of Belarus had denied the Special Rapporteur access to that country. There would be a statement on this mission shortly. Also, journalists would be getting a statement issued by the Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak, who was ending a visit to Nepal. It was a detailed statement and the Special Rapporteur would also be giving a briefing in Katmandu on his findings. Journalists would be getting a comprehensive statement by the Special Rapporteur on trafficking, Sigma Huda who had been to Lebanon. The Special Rapporteur on the right to housing, Miloon Kothari, would be briefing journalists at 3 p.m. on 19 September in press room 1 on his recent visit to Cambodia.

Other

Corinne Perthuis of the International Labour Organization said that the Seventeenth World Congress on Safety and Health at Work would start in Orlando, Florida on Monday, 19 September. The embargoed IOM report which had been prepared for this World Congress, entitled "Decent Work - Safe Work", was available at the back of the room as was a press release. The report said that some 2.2 million people died of work-related accidents and diseases every year, adding that this figure may be vastly under estimated due to poor reporting and coverage systems in many countries.

Ms. Perthuis said ILO had also issued a book entitled "Food at Work" which was also available. There would be a press conference on Monday, 19 September at 2 p.m. in press room 1 with one of the authors of the book and Francois Eyraud of ILO to talk about it further. Later in the day copies of a press release as well as an executive summary of the book would be made available
Francois Eyraud of the International ILO said ILO had observed that there was a very strong relationship between nutrition and productivity. The book "Food at Work" was very practical and provided examples from a series of countries around the world.

James Gillies of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) said
an African Research and Education Networking International Workshop would be held from 25 to 27 September at CERN in Geneva as part of the World Summit on the Information Society process. The main objective of the Workshop was to discuss business principles for a future pan-African university network and to provide input to Prepcom three for the World Summit. A press release with more details was available at the back of the room and journalists were welcome to attend the Workshop.

Mr. Gillies said that in a ceremony to be held on 26 September in the afternoon, IEEE, the world's largest organization for electrical and electronic engineers, would present an award to CERN in recognition of the discovery of a new form of particle detector which had broad application on society by Professor Georges Charpak in 1968. The programme of the ceremony was available at the back of the room.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in response to a question from a journalist about OCHA's work on the floods in Senegal, OCHA did not provide help on floods or other disasters around the world unless a country requested international assistance. There had been serious flooding in Senegal on 19 and 20 August which had affected 61,500 persons in and around Dakar. The Government of Senegal and the Senegalese Red Cross, with the support of the French Government, had assisted 6,500 persons who were presently living in schools or camps. The Resident Coordinator of the UN in OCHA's regional office for West Africa had offered the help of the UN to the Foreign Minister of Senegal on 6 September but to date, the UN had received no formal request for assistance. The Resident Coordinator had contacted donor countries which had in turn bilaterally contacted the Senegalese Government offering their help. OCHA continued to update donor countries on the situation in Senegal.

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said WFP hoped to complete soon its first round of distribution of food to 1.8 million persons in Niger. On Sunday, 18 September, WFP would start its second round of distribution. Included in the 1.8 million figure were 7,000 nomads. WFP had had difficulty to access them because they were always on the move. Nomads used to be able to adapt to climate changes but this was no longer the case because of increasing desertification as well as the locust attacks and the shortages of water. The first and second rounds of food distribution should help the most vulnerable in Niger survive until the next harvest in October.

Joseph Bosch of the World Trade Organization said WTO had three main meetings next week. The negotiating group on trade facilitation would meet on Tuesday, 20 September. On 21 and 22 September, there would be the negotiating group on market access for non-agricultural projects. The negotiations on the clarification and improvement of the dispute settlement understanding would also be meeting next week. There was a regular dispute settlement meeting on Friday, 23 September and the Airbus /Boeing dispute between the European Union and the United States was on the agenda.

Mr. Bosch said WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy would be meeting on Monday, 19 September with the Director-General of the International Labour Organization, Juan Somavia, and the Vietnamese Minister of Trade, Truong Dinh Tuyen. Next weekend, he would be travelling to Washington to participate in the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group.

Catherine Sibut-Pinote of the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development said that available at the back of the room was a compilation of strategic views on foreign direct investment which had been prepared by UNCTAD, Invest in Sweden Agency and the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies.

Ron Redmond of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said that the first of some 2,000 Central African Republic refugees stranded by floods for the past three weeks in southern Chad this morning began a strenuous journey by foot, canoe and truck to reach one of UNHCR's refugee camps. An average of 300 people would be moved every day to the camp and the relocation operation should be completed within a week. Many of the refugees were in poor health.

Mr. Redmond said that UNHCR deplored a decision by the Government of Tajikistan this week to deport five members of an Afghan refugee family, three of whom had been accepted for resettlement to Canada. UNHCR deplored this refoulement which regrettably was not the first time and was a clear violation of the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees and the 1984 Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. UNHCR was also deeply concerned about the continuous denial to UNHCR of access to persons of concern in detention.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization of Migration reminded journalists of the press conference at 11:30 a.m. today in Room III to launch the Second Annual Report on Victims of Trafficking in South Eastern Europe. The report and the press release were available at the back of the room.

Mr. Chauzy said days before landmark elections in Afghanistan, a new report revealed that after almost four years of steady reconstruction, Afghanistan's ability to function without significant international involvement had only just begun. The report: "In the Balance: Measuring Progress in Afghanistan", confirmed that war lords continued to play a destablizing role in post-Taliban Afghanistan and that only the early foundations of political, economic, and social infrastructure had been established. The report outlined five core principles that should guide the reconstruction effort. The report was commissioned by IOM and was produced by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Mr. Chauzy said IOM this week assisted the Cuban and Haitian Governments to return nine Haitian migrants, including one infant, from Santiago de Cuba to Port au Prince. In 2003, IOM and the Governments of Cuba and Haiti signed an agreement to assist with the voluntary return of irregular Haitian migrants stranded in Cuba. Since 2000, IOM had assisted more than 1,400 Haitians who had arrived in Cuba to return to their country.


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