REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Information Service, chaired the briefing, which also heard from spokespersons of the International Labour Organization (ILO), World Health Organization (WHO), UN-Habitat, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Activities of the Secretary-General

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that the Secretary-General had chaired the first meeting of the Advisory Board of the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) in New York yesterday. The purpose of the meeting was to approve the governing arrangements and the programme framework for the Fund, which was charged with promoting and consolidating new and restored democracies with financial and technical help.

The establishment of the Fund in July 2005 was welcomed by Member States during last September’s 2005 World Summit. Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that the Secretary-General saw UNDEF as “an innovative and flexible mechanism for advancing the UN democracy agenda,” according to a message transmitted by the Secretary-General’s spokesman yesterday. The text of the Secretary-General’s message was available in the Press Room.

Geneva activities

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that a plenary session of the Conference on Disarmament had begun at 10:00 a.m. this morning.

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was continuing its 68th session today with a review procedure for States parties whose reports are seriously overdue, which was the case with Antigua and Barbuda, the Republic of Congo and Nicaragua.

The fifty-ninth session of the Governing Council of the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC) was beginning today under the Presidency of Ambassador Tassos Kriekoukis of Greece. The Council’s meetings were private. A background press release was available in English and, as usual, Mr. Kazazi and Mr. Joe Sills would brief the press on the results of the session at its conclusion on Thursday, 9 March 2006. The briefing would take place in Press Room I at around 4:30 p.m.

International Women’s Day (8 March 2006)

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier drew journalists’ attention to the message of the Secretary-General on the occasion of International Women’s Day, available in English, French and German.

Ms. Corinne Perthuis of the International Labour Organization (ILO) said that International Film Festival, which this year was devoted to Women in Sports, had begun at ILO yesterday. Two films would be screened this evening, Girlfight and Million Dollar Baby. The second film would be introduced by Myriam Lamar, a French boxer, who would also be participating in a roundtable discussion at ILO tomorrow, International Women’s Day, at 10:00 a.m. The roundtable was organized in cooperation with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and would also feature, among others, Nawal El Moutawakel, winner of the 400 m hurdles in the 1984 Olympic Games. At 11:00 a.m., Ms. El Moutawakel would present the IOC annual “Women in Sport” trophy awards, which are presented to women, men or organizations that have worked to develop, encourage and strengthen the participation of women and girls in sports activities. All the participants in the roundtable would be available for interviews.

Simon Pluess of the World Food Programme (WFP) said that WFP had chosen “partnering with men to achieve gender equality” as the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day observance. For its part, WFP has been developing the global practice of targeting women as key recipients of food aid to ensure that food reaches those who really need it. Experience had shown that when women were in control of food, their children were better fed, had better access to education and had a better chance of becoming productive members of society.

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reminded journalists that at 11:30 a.m. in Room III, there would be a press conference on International Women’s Day, with a focus on stigmatization and discrimination towards women who had been trafficked for sexual exploitation. Press releases were available in English, French and Spanish at the back of the room.

Also taking place on International Women’s Day, was an auction of art works by students of Collège du Léman and the International School in Geneva organized by IOM. The students had been asked to produce pieces that reflected their interpretation of what migration, gender and decision-making could mean. The pieces would be auctioned at IOM headquarters tomorrow, 8 March 2006, at 4:30 p.m. The proceeds would go to a Geneva-based NGO that provides French language classes to migrant refugee women and children.

Avian influenza

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the technical meeting of international public health experts to discuss a rapid response strategy in the event of the emergence of an influenza pandemic was scheduled to conclude tomorrow, 8 March 2006, at around 5:00 p.m. A press release would probably be issued summarizing the main recommendations of the meeting. The official report of the meeting would likely be finalized by 15 March 2006, at which time a press conference would be held to formally introduce the report.

Commission on Human Rights

Asked to update the briefing on the latest developments with regard to the 62nd session of the Commission on Human Rights, José Diaz of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said that a lot would depend on what happened in New York this week in relation to the proposed Human Rights Council. For the moment, planning was proceeding on the assumption that the Commission would start on Monday, 13 March 2006, and that there would be a full six-week session. Planning on a high-level segment of the Commission also depended on what happened in New York. As of this afternoon, all of the documents for the Commission would be placed on the homepage of the 62nd session of the Commission, with the exception of the agenda and timetable.

Murder of UN-Habitat staff member

Mr. Abbas of UN-Habitat said that it was with a heavy heart that UN-Habitat had learned of the brutal murder of one of its staff members in Afghanistan, an engineer named Mohammed Hashim. Mr. Hashim, an Afghan national who had worked with UN-Habitat on a number of projects, was undertaking a routine monitoring visit in Farah Province on 4 March 2006 when he was reportedly stopped by armed men, dragged from his vehicle and summarily shot. On receiving the news of the tragic event, UN-Habitat Executive Director Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka immediately issued a strong condemntation of the murder. Strong condemnation had also come from the Afghan Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development. A press release containing further details was available at the back of the room.

Other

Ms. Chaib drew attention to a press conference on the progress made in the fight against measles, scheduled for 2 :00 p.m. on Thursday, 9 March 2006, in Press Room I. Featured speakers would be Dr. Jean-Marie Okwo-Bele, Director of WHO’s Department of Vaccines and Vaccination and a representative of UNICEF. A press release would be made available.

Ms. Chaib said that the Director-General of WHO, Dr. Lee, was currently visiting three countries – Madagascar, Mauritius and Kenya – as part of his programme of country visits. He would be returning to Geneva on Friday. Today, Dr. Lee was in Mauritius where chronic diseases and the disease Chikungunya, which had hit the country hard, would be high on the agenda in talks with local authorities. The latest figures indicated that there were 2,553 cases of Chikungunya in Mauritius. Elsewhere in the Indian Ocean, 2,406 cases of the disease had been reported in Reunion although it was thought that close to 157,000 people had been infected since March 2005. Other regions or countries in the Indian Ocean that had reported cases since mid-January included Mayotte (924 cases), Seychelles (4,650 cases) and Madagascar (a few reported cases). WHO had deployed a team to the region to evaluate the measures undertaken to fight the disease. A press briefing would be organized upon the return of the team to Geneva, which was expected to be around 10 March 2006.

Mr. Pluess of the World Food Programme recalled that WFP had yesterday announced that AXA Re had been awarded the world’s first insurance contract for humanitarian emergencies. This new scheme had the potential of becoming an entirely new way to finance disaster aid. In the developed world, governments, companies and individuals regularly insured against weather hazards like hurricanes and earthquakes. But in the developing world, where the stakes were even higher, this kind of insurance was still very rare. WFP been developing this scheme over the past two years in collaboration with the World Bank and the Ethiopian Government, and had now launched a pilot programme for Ethiopia to test whether or not the insurance model could be used in international disaster relief work. The contract provided US$7 million in contingency funding to provide coverage in the case of an extreme drought during Ethiopia’s 2006 agricultural season. WFP was the holder of the policy and in the event of a payout, would use the funds to assist poor farmers. Mr. Pluess said that this was an exciting project that could make it easier for humanitarian agencies to intervene at the very early stages of a crisis.