REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which also heard from Spokespersons for the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the International Organization for Migration, the Economic Commission for Europe and the UN Refugee Agency.

New Appointments by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

Ms. Heuzé said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Tanzanian Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Asha-Rose Migiro as Deputy Secretary-General. Vijay Nambiar of India, a former Special Advisor to Kofi Annan, was appointed as the Secretary-General’s Chief of Staff. Alicia Bárcena of Mexico, who served as Chef de Cabinet to Kofi Annan, was appointed as Under-Secretary-General for Management. John Holmes of the United Kingdom was appointed as Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. The biographies of all the new appointees were available in the press room.

Ms. Heuzé said the Secretary-General will be giving a press conference in New York on Thursday, 11 January at 11 a.m. Journalists will be able to follow it on the webcast, as all of the Secretary-General’s press conferences and the daily briefings from New York are available on the webcast.

Violence against Journalists

Ms. Heuzé said on the issue of violence against journalists, in Security Council resolution 1738 (2006), the United Nations condemned intentional attacks against journalists in situations of armed conflict and urged all parties involved in situations of armed conflict to respect the professional independence and rights of journalists. Copies of the resolution were available at the back of the room. She was bringing the resolution to the attention of journalists today because the resolution had been adopted just before the holidays, at a time when the briefings were suspended.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Heuzé said the Committee on the Rights of the Child will start its winter session on Monday, 15 January. A background press release will be available at the end of the week.

The Conference on Disarmament will open the first part of its 2007 session on 22 January. A background press release will be available soon.

There are two press conferences taking place this week. The first will be held on Thursday, 11 January on UNCTAD’s World Economic Situation and Prospects Report. There will also be a press conference on Friday, 12 January by the new Secretary-General of the International Telecommunications union, Hamadoun Touré, on the future direction of ITU under new management.

Ms. Heuzé reminded journalists that they have until 31 January to renew their UN press accreditation badges.

Other

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said although more than 12 million people each year were bitten by dogs or snakes, or stung by scorpions, the world’s capacity to treat them was inadequate because therapeutic sera was often unavailable or unaffordable in the countries where it was most needed. Top health experts will meet on 10 January at WHO in Geneva to agree on a global action five-year plan to boost production of therapeutic sera in developing countries, help authorities forecast market needs and strengthen regulatory capacity. A note to journalists was available at the back of the room.

Ms. Chaib said concerning the outbreak of rift valley fever in a province in northwestern Kenya, to date, there were 197 suspected cases, including 70 deaths. WHO had sent a team to the province on 27 December, and another more specialized team arrived this morning in Kenya to reinforce the first team.

Damien Personnaz of the United Nations Children’s Fund said a UNICEF staff member was killed in Baghdad yesterday. Janan Jabero, a 52-year-old Iraqi national, was shot while driving his car in Baghdad. UNICEF has 87 national staff in Iraq. All of UNICEF’s international staff are based in Amman. A note was available at the back of the room.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said IOM relief operations in flood-hit districts of the Central Highlands of Aceh in Indonesia will be stepped up following receipt of a $ 250,000 grant for lifesaving activities from the UN Central Revolving Emergency Fund.

Ms. Chauzy said an operation to assist some 3,000 Angolan refugees in Zambia to return home started today with the departure of an aircraft from Zambia carrying 116 Angolan refugees. Two more flights are scheduled to depart today, and the operation will run until the end of January.

Jean-Michel Jakobowicz of the UN Economic Commission for Europe said there will be a press conference on Wednesday, 17 January, on the occasion of the first meeting of States parties to a protocol on water and health which is jointly monitored by UNECE and WHO.

Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency said UNHCR yesterday appealed for $ 60 million for the Iraq situation in 2007, focusing on hundreds of thousands of the most vulnerable Iraqis displaced both internally and externally. While the appeal covered Iraq itself and five other countries in the region that have received the largest number of Iraqis, some were also fleeing beyond the region. As the security situation in Iraq was deteriorating, UNHCR recommended that governments should favourably consider as refugees Iraqi asylum seekers.

Ms. Pagonis said UNHCR remains extremely concerned over the security situation in eastern Chad, where it is taking care of more than 220,000 Darfur refugees and 100,000 internally displaced Chadians, 20,000 of them uprooted within the past three weeks. While there has been a decrease in fighting between the Chadian army and opposition forces, intercommuncal conflict continues in south-eastern parts of the country near the border with Sudan’s Darfur region.