REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section, chaired the briefing which also heard from Spokespersons for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Food Programme, the UN Refugee Agency, the World Meteorological Organization, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Labour Organization, the Inter-Agency Secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction and the International Organization for Migration.

Activities of the Secretary-General

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that the Secretary-General had arrived in Brussels today to participate in the meeting of European foreign ministers, to encourage contributions of troops to the expanded United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). This morning the Secretary-General had met with Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt in his office. Following the meeting the Secretary-General had a brief press encounter in which he expressed his confidence in Europe. The transcript of the press briefing would be available in the Press Room shortly.

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier noted that this afternoon the Secretary-General would meet the Foreign Minister of Germany, Franz-Walter Steinmeier. He would also meet with Javier Solana, High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union. Later he would join Erkki Tuomioja, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland, which currently holds the Presidency of the European Union, before attending a meeting of European Foreign Ministers at the European Council at 3 p.m. Later, at 5.30 p.m., a joint press conference would be held in Brussels with the Secretary-General, Javier Solana, Erkki Tuomioja, and Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy.

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier informed journalists that the visit to Brussels kicked off the Secretary-General’s travels to Europe and the Middle East, which were intended to strengthen the situation in Lebanon and Israel following the cessation of hostilities and the passage of Security Council resolution 1701.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier announced that the Permanent Representative of Netherlands, Boudewijn J. van Eenennaam, yesterday presented his credentials to Sergei Ordzhonikdze, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.

She also observed that today was the last day of the fifty-eighth session of the Sub-Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. The Chairperson of the Sub-Commission would hold a press conference today at 1.30 p.m. in Room III.

The Conference on Disarmament would hold its next plenary meeting next Thursday, 31 August, at 10 a.m.

Situation in Lebanon

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier informed journalists that United Nations troops in southern Lebanon had set up checkpoints and were conducting intensive patrolling around the area of Bint Jbeil, which had seen intensive fighting during the recent month-long conflict, after Israeli Defence Forces had continued their withdrawal from the south. The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) had announced that it would hand over the area to the Lebanese army today, adding that the cessation of hostilities had continued to hold in the last 24 hours and that no incidents, breaches of the cessation of hostilities or air violations had been recorded. A press release on the subject was available in the Press Room.

Elizabeth Byrs, of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said available at the back of the room were a media fact sheet and a situation report, which contained updated detailed information on the activities of the United Nations Mine Action Centre, as well as on the whole logistical situation, including humanitarian convoys and the status of funding. To date just over $94 million had been committed to the $165 million Flash Appeal for Lebanon.

Michael Bociurkiw, of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said that in Lebanon assistance from UNICEF continued with the provision of essential supplies, such as water, assessment work, and planning for the next phase of reconstruction and rehabilitation. Water remained a major concern, and the 50,000 litres of bottled water a day UNICEF was currently supplying would be increased to 100,000 litres in the next 15 days owing to the massive damage done to water distribution systems. In particular, UNICEF had found a lot of rehabilitation work was needed for the schools; the damage estimate in the education sector alone was $70 million. On Monday 4,000 school-in-a-box kits, containing enough supplies to run a school for 80 kids in two-shifts, would be sent off to supplement the 1,000 already provided. In addition, 20,000 adult hygiene kits, containing supplies of such items such as toothpaste and soap for one couple for one month, and 10,000 baby hygiene kits, with diapers and other necessary items, would be distributed to supplement those already sent.

Christiane Berthiaume, of the World Food Programme (WFP), said that more and more convoys and food aid was reaching the affected areas in southern Lebanon and in southern Beirut. Today a convoy of nine WFP trucks with food aid left Beirut today for Faouqa via Nabatiyeh, four WFP trucks were going from Beirut, via Tyre, to Qabrikha, eight WFP trucks were heading for Messel-Jabal, and a convoy was heading from Beirut via Tyre to Hamine and Beit Leif. By sea, there was a ferry between Beirut and Tyre, as well as two boats with 150,000 tons of fuel each, which had been sent to Beirut. Responding to a question, Ms. Berthiaume confirmed that the situation had improved tremendously since the ceasefire in terms of getting aid to the regions that needed it, the south of Lebanon and southern Beirut. They had fed over half a million people so far, but with returns they expected the numbers to decrease significantly in the months to come.

Jennifer Pagonis, of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that
UNHCR's distribution of assistance to returned villagers in south Lebanon was now fully operational. Yesterday they had sent four convoys into the area, carrying goods stockpiled in Tyre, Sidon and Beirut, to those field teams had identified as needing urgent assistance. Today, three more convoys were planned. UNHCR was the lead UN agency for providing temporary shelter for those outside the major cities who had lost their homes. The convoys were bringing in large numbers of essential items like tents, blankets and plastic sheets. Available were briefing notes, containing more detailed information.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy, of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that the evacuation of migrant workers from developing countries in Lebanon was continuing albeit at a slower pace since the ceasefire had been established. Today, for example, 209 people were being repatriated to Mali on an IOM chartered plane. Since the ceasefire had been declared on 14 August IOM had evacuated 4,000 additional people, bringing the total to over 13,000 people who had been helped to return home since the start of the IOM operation on 20 July. Those returning were generally from Southern Asia – Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Viet Nam – but also from Africa – in particular, Ethiopia.

Floods in Ethiopia

Ms. Byrs of OCHA, said that unfortunately the flooding continued in Ethiopia and now the east of the country was affected as well, with 6,000 displaced persons in the region of Gambella. Available at the back of the room was a map indicated the vulnerable populations and the number of victims. Some 199,000 people were affected, with 8 of the 11 regions in Ethiopia experiencing serious flooding. Today from Addis Ababa the Government had launched a Joint Government and Humanitarian Partners Flash Appeal for $60.9 million for the most urgent needs including food, medicines and infrastructure reconstruction. The forecast was bad, and with continuing rains, the flooding was expected to worsen. OCHA today was sending an inter-agency evaluation mission, in conjunction with WFP, UNICEF and donors, to take stock of the situation. Malaria was a real concern and cases were cropping up in the 14 flooded villages. A press release and map were available in the back of the room.

Ms. Berthiaume of the WFP noted that there were three major dams which were currently at full capacity and the Government was obliged to allow some watersheds if they were to hold. That meant, effectively, that more flooding was to be expected.

Marc Oliver of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said that he would have a 10-day forecast for the flooded regions in Ethiopia for journalists later today. He confirmed that the situation was not promising.

Situation in Sri Lanka

Ms. Pagonis of UNHCR said that over the last few days, since UNHCR staff had gained greater access to areas of the country previously cut off by fighting, the Agency had dramatically revised the number of people who had had to flee their homes. The number of people displaced since April this year now stood at 204,602. While humanitarian agencies were still not able to reach all of the sites where displaced families were sheltering, UNHCR was pleased that agencies were now able to move into Muttur town, an area that had been at the centre of military operations. A joint UN mission was assessing security and immediate needs in Muttur, to make sure they provided the right sort of aid over the coming days. In addition to the people displaced within Sri Lanka, another 8,742 Sri Lankan refugees had arrived in India since the start of the year, and UNHCR repeated its deep concern for those fleeing across the Palk Straits on often unseaworthy and overcrowded vessels.

Ms. Berthiaume said WFP reiterated its call for better access to the affected populations in Sri Lanka that were in Tamil-controlled areas. WFP still did have access to those regions, where the population's needs were the most urgent. There were some WFP staff in Tamil-controlled areas, but their supplies were almost all gone. An ICRC boat, which arrived in the north of the Jaffna Peninsula yesterday, was carrying some 5,000 tons of WFP supplies, and those would be distributed to the 40,000 displaced in the affected regions, but only those that were under Government control, Ms. Berthiaume emphasized. Just today, WFP had received authorization to deliver assistance to the 25,000 displaced in a Tamil-control area and 9 trucks had been sent.

Carla Hadat, of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that ICRC had two boat operations under way in Sri Lanka. One, was the ship just mentioned, which had left Colombo on Tuesday for Jaffna containing food from WFP, relief items from the ICRC and Government relief supplies. It arrived in Jaffna yesterday and should be unloading today. There was a parallel operation, a ferry that would arrive in Jaffna in 10 to 12 hours to evacuate vulnerable people, as well as some foreigners. Priority was to be given to Sri Lankans with medical conditions, but foreigners whose Governments had requested their evacuation would also be accommodated, as possible. The local authorities, not the ICRC would make those determinations. The ICRC was also preparing a website which would allow the diaspora and the persons within Sri Lanka to reconnect with their families, or just to register, as a first step. The current budget for the Sri Lanka operation was some 21.5 million CHF.

Other

Mr. Bociurkiw said that UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman was in Koyoto to attend the Eighth World Assembly of Religions for Peace. She would address the Assembly tomorrow to call for religious leaders to work together for peace and development. Available was a press release, that was embargoed until tomorrow.

Mr. Bociurkiw announced that today UNICEF had launched a new donor appeal asking for $8 million for a back-to-school campaign, as well as a health and water programme, for the 1.6 million schoolchildren in Palestine and the West Bank. The education campaign would involve providing 10 schools in the enclaves, where the Israeli settlements used to be, with comprehensive supply packages, including lab and sports equipment, computers, library furniture and books, as well as 380 school-in-a-box kits and 1,000 recreational kits, and 210,000 school bags with basic supplies.

On Kyrgyzstan, Ms. Pagonis of UNHRC noted the Agency's grave concern over the fate of five Uzbek asylum-seekers who had disappeared in recent weeks in the southern Kyrgyzstan town of Osh. The first Uzbek asylum-seeker had gone missing on 10 July, and despite repeated inquiries, UNHCR had received no information from the Kyrgyz authorities on his whereabouts. In the past 10 days, four more Uzbek asylum seekers disappeared. All of them were registered with the Kyrgyz migration authorities and UNHCR. UNHCHR had received credible information that at least two of the abducted asylum seekers were currently in police custody in Andijan, Uzbekistan.

Ms. Pagonis announced that High Commissioner António Guterres was scheduled to start a four-day mission to Thailand on Monday where over 140,000 refugees from Myanmar were living in nine camps along the Thai-Myanmar border. For the first time, he would travel with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Ellen Sauerbrey, head of the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. They were scheduled to visit Tham Hin refugee camp, from which ethnic Karen refugees had started being resettled to the United States last week.

Praveen Randhawa, of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), announced that Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, had issued a statement to the press in Guatemala at the conclusion of his official trip to the country. The full text of that statement was available on the Office website: www.ohchr.org.

Mr. Oliver of the WMO said that there would be two experts on hand for interviews in conjunction with the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction Conference (Davos, Switzerland, 27 August to 1 September), a natural disaster prevention specialist and a specialist on water, drought and flooding. A new brochure on Drought Monitoring and Early Warning was being released now to coincide with the Conference. An information note and copies were available at the back of the room.

Hans Von Rohland, of the International Labour Organization (ILO), drew the attention of journalists to 14th Asian Regional Meeting, to be held in Busan, Republic of Korea from 29 August to 1 September. One of the greatest migrations of labour in history is underway in Asia. The ILO report prepared for the meeting emphasized the disparity between an increasing productivity and economic growth on the one hand, and work and employment conditions that lagged behind those gains. A report and a press release, embargoed until Monday at 9 p.m., would be available this afternoon.

Brigitte Leoni, of the Inter-Agency Secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, announced the publication of a new review entitled, "Let our children teach us", which looked at educational initiatives in the field, that would be launched at the Disaster Reduction Conference in Davos on Monday. Copies of the report were available at the back of the room and could also be obtained on the Internet.