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 also heard from Spokespersons for the United Nations Children’s Fund, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the Economic Commission for Europe, the United Nations Environment Programme, the World Food Programme, the UN Refugee Agency, the International Organization for Migration and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Secretary-General to Visit Spain and the Netherlands

Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Secretary-General will be in Spain and the Netherlands in a few days. On 7 and 8 April, the Secretary-General will chair the twice-yearly meeting of the Chief Executives Board, which brings together the heads of the UN agencies, funds and programmes. This session is being hosted by the World Tourism Organization in Madrid. The Secretary-General will also meet in Madrid with Spain’s Prime Minister, as well as with the King. Next week, the Secretary-General will travel to The Hague, where he will speak on 12 April at the sixtieth anniversary of the establishment of the International Court of Justice. While in The Hague, the Secretary-General also expects to meet with officials from the International Criminal Court and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

Available in the press room was a press release with details about the solemn sitting which would be held on 12 April 2006 at 10 a.m. in the Great Hall of Justice of the Peace Palace to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the International Court of Justice. It also contained information about accreditation for journalists, who were interested in covering the ceremony, which would be attended by the Queen of the Netherlands and the President of the sixtieth session of the General Assembly, Jan Eliasson.

Report on International Year of Sport and Physical Education

Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said Adolf Ogi, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace, had yesterday presented to the Secretary-General and to Mr. Eliasson his report on the International Year of Sport and Physical Education 2005. The Secretary-General said he was delighted to accept this report on the achievements of the International Year of Sport and Physical Education and thanked Mr. Ogi and his team, as well as all the UN’s partners around the world, for making this year a real success. He also thanked Ambassador Hachani of Tunisia and Ambassador Maurer of Switzerland, co-chairs of the Group of Friends of Sport for Development and Peace. The Secretary-General said during this year, the UN had reached millions of people -- largely thanks to Mr. Ogi and his passionate belief in the power of sport to transform lives.

The full text of the Secretary-General’s statement was in the press room as was a press release about the report on the International Year of Sport and Physical Education. Copies of the report itself could be obtained from the Documentation Centre.

International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action

Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said the first International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action was being commemorated today. Available was the Secretary-General’s message on this occasion as well as an information note and the highlights of the press conference held yesterday in New York on the subject.

Also available was the Secretary-General’s message on the occasion of World Health Day which was commemorated on 7 April.

In response to a question, Damien Personnaz of the United Nations Children’s Fund said UNICEF had issued a press release yesterday which, among other things, detailed the number of children who were killed and wounded by mines annually, between 3,000 to 4,000 children. Countries most affected by mines included Angola, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina and others.

Conference on Disarmament

Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Conference on Disarmament had last week concluded the first part of its 2006 session. The second part of the 2006 session would open on 15 May, and the first plenary would be held at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 16 May under the Presidency of Ambassador Doru Romulus Costea of Romania.

Director-General’s Activities

Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, would today be receiving the letters of credentials of Mothae Anthony Maruping, the new Permanent Representative of Lesotho, and Matern Yakobo Christian Lumbanga, the new Permanent Representative of Tanzania to the United Nations Office at Geneva. Press releases would be available later this afternoon.

Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights

José Luis Díaz, Spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said the head of the OHCHR office in Nepal, Ian Martin, had spoken yesterday in Kathmandu about the report the High Commissioner had prepared for the Commission on Human Rights. That report would now be submitted to the Human Rights Council. Mr. Martin had said that since the finalization of the report in late January, the violations of international humanitarian law being committed in the conflict in Nepal had deepened a great deal. He talked about the role of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), which he said had been increasingly targeting urban areas which were more highly populated. The CPN (Maoist) had been making use of civilian buildings and targeting civilian buildings. This was of great concern to OHCHR.

Mr. Díaz said Mr. Martin had reported that the Maoists were also making use of improvised explosive devices, many of those placed in locations where there was serious risk that there would be civilian victims as well as members of the security forces. Among the other concerns that Mr. Martin cited were other breaches of international humanitarian law by the Maoists, including continued use of children within the People’s Liberation Army, despite denials by the Maoists that they were recruiting children under 18. The office of OHCHR in Nepal continued to interview many such children who had been in the ranks of the Maoists.

Turning to the response of the security forces, he said, Mr. Martin had indicated that one of the most troubling issues was the use of helicopters to fire on areas where Maoists had allegedly been operating, and the dropping of mortar bombs from these helicopters. Mr. Martin said such actions could not distinguish, as was required by international humanitarian law, between those who were legitimate targets, because they were Maoist fighters, and civilians. Also, Mr. Martin had said that concerning the Royal Nepalese Army, the office was investigating a number of alleged killings of Maoists who were allegedly already captured, or were in situations where they could have been captured without being killed. Mr. Martin would be in Geneva on 18 Geneva and interviews could be set up with him. It was agreed to set up a briefing with Mr. Martin.

Mr. Díaz said that the list of candidacies for the Human Rights Council was now up on the UN website. Seventeen countries had declared their candidacy for the Council, including Switzerland.

A journalist asked if there was a deadline after which countries would not be able to declare their candidacies for the Council, and what was the procedure. In response, Mr. Díaz said there was no deadline for declaring candidacies. It could even be done on 9 May during the elections. In response to another question, Mr. Díaz said he was not aware of any specific actions lobbying for membership, other than countries making public their candidacy.

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said OCHA had approved an emergency grant totalling $ 50,000 in response to the series of earthquakes which struck Lorestan province in West Iran last week. Some $ 30,000 came from the Netherlands reserve fund and $ 20,000 came from OCHA’s reserve grant. Kuwait had allocated $ 3 million for the victims and the Russian Government had transported blankets, tents and heaters to the 100,000 affected persons. The latest casualty figures stood at 70 dead and more than 1,300 injured. The most urgent needs included tents, blankets and heaters. The Iranian Red Crescent had already distributed 3,000 tents and other relief items. More details were available in the information note at the back of the room.

Ms. Byrs said that on Friday, 7 April, the regional launch of the Appeal for the Horn of Africa would take place. In Geneva, a press conference would be held by the Special Humanitarian Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Horn of Africa, Kjell Magne Bondevik. Jan Egeland, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, would launch the appeal in Nairobi almost at the same time.

In response to a question, Ms. Byrs said journalists probably knew that Mr. Egeland’s flight had not been given authorization to land in Khartoum or Darfur. He was in Rumbek now in South Sudan and would travel to Chad as previously planned to visit the refugee camps at the border with Sudan.

Other

Jean-Michel Jakobowicz of the Economic Commission for Europe said available was a press release on a survey conducted by the ECE and the Food and Agriculture Organization on how wood energy use had increased more than any other fuel source during this harsh winter in most of Europe: the Central European States and Countries in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. The press release noted that wood, when properly managed, as was the case in most of the UNECE region, was a sustainable and renewable source of energy and raw material. Yet only five countries had adopted measures to improve or regulate wood energy supply and use.

Michael Williams of the United Nations Environmental Programme said UNEP had a variety of activities in the Mediterranean region under its Mediterranean Action Plan. These activities included the “Plan Bleu” or the Blue Plan. There would be a press conference at 11:30 a.m. today in Room III to introduce the report of the Blue Plan entitled "A Sustainable Future for the Mediterranean - The Blue Plan's Environment and Development Outlook”. Speaking would be Guillaume Benoit, Director of the Plan Bleu at UNEP; and Mohamed Ennabli, former Tunisian Minister of Environment and Regional Development and Vice-President of the Plan Bleu. Copies of the report would be available shortly. The report looked ahead to the year 2025 and painted a scenario of what life would be like in the Mediterranean region in terms of pollution trends, population, development, the coastlines, species loss and so forth. The report also proposed various ways to minimize the effects of continuing growth of populations and economies and tourism.

Simon Pluess of the World Food Programme said concerning the food shortages in Gaza, 50 containers of wheat flour which WFP had purchased in Turkey were now at Ashdod port. WFP hoped that this week, some 10 containers per day would enter Gaza through Karni frontier. However, this would not immediately end the food shortages in Gaza. WFP needed an average 2,000 tons of food commodities per month for Gaza where it assisted some 162,000 of the most vulnerable non-refugees that lived in the area. Karni border had been closed for more than half of the time since the beginning of the year and WFP had been forced to reduce dramatically its food deliveries. For the past week, Karni had been open regularly so WFP had managed progressively to pass through food. It was important that both Karni and the entry corridor through Egypt remain open so that essential food aid shipments could get into Gaza. The general level of food stocks in Gaza was still very low. WFP was waiting for the arrival next Sunday of a donation from the United States of 1,200 tons of wheat flour which would help ease the situation.

William Spindler of the UN Refugee Agency said over the weekend, another 35 Palestinians decided to flee insecurity in Baghdad and travelled to the Iraq-Jordan border to join a group of 94 others who arrived there 10 days ago. None of the 35 was allowed access into Jordan. UNHCR staff in Baghdad spent several hours on the phone convincing Iraqi officials to allow the 35 to join the other 94 Palestinians near the Trebil border point just inside Iraq, which in the end was allowed. However, their presence at the border was problematic for security and other reasons, and a more appropriate solution needed to be found. The situation at Trebil border point was not good at all, and the sanitary conditions were very bad. Food and water were in short supply. Meanwhile, the situation faced by Palestinians in Baghdad remained very bad. They were afraid to leave their homes because of ongoing intimidation and attacks.

In Colombia, Mr. Spindler said that following a series of very serious incidents in recent days, UNHCR wanted to warn of a looming humanitarian emergency among Colombia's indigenous communities. In the north-western region of Choco, more than 1,700 Wounaan indigenous people were fleeing their traditional territory following the murder last week of two of their leaders. Already, residents of four river communities have fled, with some 1,100 people arriving in Union Wounaan, the group's biggest settlement. Indigenous associations and local authorities in the area were calling for help from the Colombian government and the international community.

Mr. Spindler said there were other stories in the briefing notes concerning verification of Togolese refugees in Volta region in Ghana; an information campaign for Liberian refugees in the Guinean capital Conakry; the arrival of the first repatriation convoy of Sudanese refugees from Ethiopia to south Sudan; and the UNHCR High Commissioner’s visit to the Russian Federation tomorrow.

Gemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said tens of thousands of Roma Holocaust survivors living in Central and Eastern Europe were facing a desperate future and possible death without basic humanitarian assistance. Nearly 74,000 elderly and impoverished Roma Holocaust victims had for the past four years received food, clothing, firewood, coal and other forms of assistance from IOM to enable them to survive, particularly through long and bitter winters. People were trying to live on state pensions ranging between US$8 - $120 a month without any support from a welfare system that once would have provided them with basic shelter, heating and medical care. Many were also supporting three generations under one roof as younger Roma were forced to migrate to other countries in search of work. Now, funds for IOM’s Humanitarian and Social Programmes that helped Roma, disabled, gay and Jehovah's Witness victims of Nazi persecution, had run dry and the programme had had to end. IOM was very worried about what was going to happen to these people who were living in 17 countries in eastern and central Europe. Available at the back of the room was a report on the situation of these people with many more details. International Roma Day was commemorated on 8 April.

Anna Nelson of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies introduced Christine South, the Federation’s regional officer for Pakistan, who would update journalists on the situation in Pakistan following the earthquake. Saturday, 8 April marked the six-month mark since the earthquake. Last week the Federation had revised its appeal for Pakistan upwards from $152 million Swiss Francs to 227 million Swiss Francs to include the recovery phase. Those funds would be used to assist over 1 million people over the next three year. Ms. Nelson said she herself had just returned from Pakistan and could say that while the relief phase was shifting towards recovery and rehabilitation, there was still a lot of work to be done and much of the real work was starting now.