REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Office at Geneva, chaired the briefing which provided information on the upcoming Climate Change Conference in Bali, the Human Rights Council's resumed sixth session, Human Rights Day celebrations, the agenda of the Director-General for next week, human rights, the ITU Global Forum on Effective Use of Telecommunications/ICT for Disaster Management, the situation in Bangladesh, and growing Iraqi returns. Spokespersons and representatives for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Telecommunication Union, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the International Organization for Migration made statements. A representative of the World Trade Organization announced the schedule for next week for the WTO and its Director-General, Pascal Lamy (see www.wto.org).

Also present at today's briefing were representatives and spokespersons from the World Health Organization; the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; and the International Labour Organization.

Climate Change Conference in Bali

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier reported that the Secretary-General would leave tomorrow to attend the high-level segment of the United Nations climate change conference in Bali, where he expected an agreement to be reached on a timetable to negotiate a new treaty. "Our ultimate goal is a comprehensive agreement on climate change that all nations can embrace", the Secretary-General had said yesterday in an informal exchange with members of the press. "In Bali, we need to set an agenda – a roadmap to a better future, coupled with a timeline that produces a deal by 2009," the Secretary-General had affirmed. The Secretary-General highlighted that the Kyoto Protocol was set to expire in 2012, and that ratification of a successor agreement would take roughly two years. "That leaves only two years to negotiate one of the most complex multilateral treaties ever to be undertaken," he had concluded.

Darfur

At the same press encounter yesterday in New York, the Secretary-General had also launched a renewed appeal for the urgent supply of 24 helicopters, without which the joint African Union/UN mission in Darfur could not succeed, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier continued. "We must absolutely have an effective, robust force. Without it, there can be no security, nor credible progress in the peace talks", the Secretary-General had emphasized. "Rebel leaders will simply not join the process without an effective peacekeeping force in place. But for this we need on-the-ground capability – specifically helicopters. We’re not getting them. Because of that the entire mission is at risk" he had declared. Adding that it was a "question of political will", the Secretary-General had sent a letter to the Security Council yesterday "calling on its members ... to live up to their responsibility to deliver on [its] resolution 1769".

Human Rights Council

Turning to Geneva, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier noted that starting on Monday and running through all of next week, 10 to 14 December, the Human Rights Council was resuming the work of its sixth session, begun last September. Background press releases in French and English, as well as a provisional programme of work for the week, had been placed in the press room. As usual, copies of statements provided by speakers would be available in the Documentation Centre, along with the Order of the Day and, as always, press releases for each session, in French and English, would be issued for each meeting.

Human Rights Day

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier recalled that Monday, 10 December, the United Nations would celebrate International Human Rights Day. On that occasion, the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, in Bali, and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, here in Geneva, would simultaneously launch a year-long campaign to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (10 December 2008). The theme of the campaign for the sixtieth commemorative year was to be "Dignity and Justice". The commemorative event would be held in Room XVII at the Palais des Nations.

Praveen Randhawa of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said that the commemorative event on Monday morning to celebrate Human Rights Day and to launch the campaign commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights would be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., prior to the commencement of the resumed sixth session of the Human Rights Council. The event would begin at 10 a.m. with a video message by the Secretary-General, to be followed by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Director-General of UNOG, and the President of the Human Rights Council. The floor would then be opened to Member States to make their statements. On behalf of the Special Procedures, Miloon Kothari would be issuing a statement, and then on behalf of the human rights treaty bodies, Philippe Texier would be addressing the meeting. Jennifer Lynch, Chair of the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions would speak next, followed by a representative of civil society. It was expected that the meeting would conclude at 1 p.m., following which the High Commissioner for Human Rights would be holding a press conference at 1.15 p.m.

Meeting of States Parties to Biological Weapons Convention (10-14 December)

Also next week in Geneva, the Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction would be held at the Palais (10-14 December), Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier announced. A background release on the meeting was available.

Agenda of the Director-General of UNOG

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier announced the schedule for Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, for next week. On Monday, 10 December, the Director-General would address the Global Forum on Effective Use of Telecommunications/Information Communication Technology (ICT) for Disaster Management: Saving Lives, organized by the International Telecommunication Union, at 9.30 a.m. at the Geneva International Conference Centre. That event would bring together up to 1,000 high-level representatives of Governments, the United Nations system, regulatory authorities, the private sector, regional disaster management organizations, and non-governmental organizations.

Later Monday morning, the Director-General would make a statement at the meeting to be held in commemoration of Human Rights Day, in Room XVII at the Palais des Nations, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said. Then, at 11:30 a.m., the Director-General would address the 14th General Assembly of the Students' League of Nations, which would bring together 280 high school-level students in the Assembly Hall. The majority of students were from the International School of Geneva, but around 60 of the participating students attended schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Norway, Oman, the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Switzerland. The Director-General would speak about the challenges before the United Nations, including in disarmament and non-proliferation, addressing climate change, accelerating development and promoting human rights.

On Tuesday, 11 December, at 2 p.m., in Room XIX, the Director-General would speak at the opening of the first meeting of the "High Commissioner’s Dialogue on Protection Challenges", organized by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The Dialogue would focus on the asylum-migration nexus, and was intended to highlight the issue of "forced migration", as part of the preparations for the second meeting of the Global Forum on Migration and Development to take place in Manila, Philippines, in 2008.

Saving Lives: Global Forum on Effective Use of Telecommunications/ICT for Disaster Management

Adding to the announcement already made by Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier, Sanjay Acharya of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) said that next week ITU would be holding a Global Forum, "Saving Lives: Telecommunications in Disaster Management", from 10 to 12 December, at the Geneva International Conference Centre. On Monday, 10 December at 11.45 there would be a press meeting and the launch of two publications – Best Practices on Emergency Telecommunications; and a Compendium of ITU's work on Emergency Telecommunications. Available at the back of the room was an information flyer and a media advisory on the Forum.

Human Rights

Ms. Randhawa of OHCHR said that High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour had issued a statement this morning expressing her grave concern over the execution of Makwan Moloudzadeh on Wednesday in a prison in Kermanshah Province in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Mr. Makwan had been convicted of the rape of three boys seven years ago, when he was 13 years old. It had been reported that the execution had been carried out despite the withdrawal of accusations by the alleged victims and the issuance of stay of execution order by the Head of the Judiciary, pending a further judicial review of the sentence. The High Commissioner recalled in her statement that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child – to both of which Iran was a party – placed a legal obligation on States parties not to impose the death penalty for those under the age of 18 years at the time of commission of crimes.

The High Commissioner was also concerned about reports released this week concerning abuses allegedly committed by Angolan security forces in the province of Lunda Norte on Congolese migrants, especially women, prior to their expulsion to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ms. Randhawa said. The High Commissioner called on the Angolan Government to investigate those reports and to bring perpetrators to justice.

Later today the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous people would conclude his mission to Bolivia. Ms. Randhawa said that a press release on that mission would be sent out later today.

2008 Humanitarian Appeal

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said available at the back of the room were press kits for the UN Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) for 2008, as well as a press release. All materials were under a strict embargo until Monday, 10 December at 9 a.m. Geneva time. The Humanitarian Appeal 2008 would be launched here in Geneva by John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator; António Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees; Richard Branson, Founder and Chairman of Virgin Group (in a recorded message); Robert Glasser, Secretary-General of CARE International; and Akoi Bazzie, of the Refugee Council (UK), on Monday, 10 December 2007 at 9 a.m. in Room XIX. In the afternoon following the launch event, at 3.15 p.m., Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier would chair a press briefing with John Holmes and Dr. Glasser, in Room III at the Palais des Nations.

Update on Bangladesh

Ms. Byrs said available at the back of the room was an update on the aftermath of Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh. The number of those affected was much larger than first estimated – having grown to 8.7 million, with a death toll of 3,295, 871 still missing and nearly 53,000 injured. The material damage had also been enormous, with almost 1 million houses damaged and nearly 600,000 totally destroyed. In response to the catastrophe, 26,000 metric tons of food had been distributed: some 17,000 by the Government and the remainder by the UN and its agencies. Disease surveillance and damage evaluations were ongoing. The Government of Bangladesh had so far received pledges and donations amounting to $156 million. A Government relief and early recovery plan was under preparation, with the assistance of OCHA.

The number of Cyclone Sidr's victims was well below that of previous cyclones that had hit Bangladesh in 1990 and 1971. That showed the efficacy of preparation and preventive strategies that had been put in place, and which were improving yearly, Ms. Byrs underscored.

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that UNICEF had installed 49 Child Friendly Centres – temporary shelters for children and their parents were children were offered a safe place to play and learn – serving about 10,000 children victims of the Cyclone. A further 66 such centres were planned. A news note was available at the back of the room.

UNHCR Staff Member Shot Dead in Chad

William Spindler of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that UNHCR had been shocked and saddened by the killing of a staff member in a shooting incident yesterday near Koumra in the south of Chad, an area where UNHCR had not experienced many security incidents in the past. The circumstances surrounding the shooting were still not clear and UNHCR was working with the Chadian authorities to find out exactly what had happened. Mahmat Mahamadou, a driver based at the UNHCR Field Office in Danamadji in southern Chad, where UNHCR cares for over 43,000 refugees, had been returning alone in a vehicle after delivering a staff member to a regular meeting point for transfer of staff members, when he was attacked.

Iraq Returns

Between August and end November, UNHCR staff in Syria had received reports that 97,000 Iraqis had entered Syria from Iraq, through the main Al Waleed border point, while at the same time a total of 128,000 had left Syria for Iraq, Mr. Spindler said. That included all categories of Iraqis – including bus and taxi drivers and not only refugees who returned. UNHCR did not have a 24-hour presence at the border and relied on various sources to estimate numbers, he underscored.

According to the Iraqi Red Crescent Society, an estimated 25,000 to 28,000 Iraqis had returned home between mid-September and end November, with the majority – some 20,000 – returning to Baghdad. In addition, the Ministry of Displacement had reported that some 10,000 internally displaced Iraqi families had returned to their homes-- mainly in Baghdad. UNHCR staff had spoken to a wide range of refugees before they left Syria. Some said they were returning because they believed the security situation had improved; others that they had run out of resources or that they had outstayed their visas. There was, however a real concern among the returnees about longer-term security with many saying they are only returning to areas where they feel secure because of the local security arrangements in place.

Asked about the UNHCR position on Iraq returns, Mr. Spindler said that UNHCR's position was that the situation in Iraq was not yet conducive to large-scale returns, because of the lack of security and the lack of services. "We are not promoting or facilitating in any way returns to Iraq. However, people have the right to return to their country, and if they feel that they can return, they are the best judges of that," Mr. Spindler concluded. As for the conditions they found on their return, there was still a general lack of access to material, legal and physical safety and proper services, such as drinking water, sanitation, food, shelter, health services, education, access to land, recovery of property and employment opportunities. However, under the present circumstances in Iraq, consistent monitoring and information gathering was very difficult. Furthermore, some of the returnees interviewed had said that they had found their properties occupied.

Dialogue on Protection Challenges for Refugees

As mentioned earlier by Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier, the first meeting of the High Commissioner's Dialogue on Protection Challenges would take place next week in Geneva, from 11 to 12 December 2007, Mr. Spindler announced. The Dialogue, chaired by High Commissioner António Guterres, would examine the challenges and dilemmas to refugee protection posed by today's migration flows. It sought to go beyond a focus on control of irregular migration and to examine more broadly the relationships between protection, solutions and migration. The Dialogue was expected to highlight the opportunities for strengthening operational and other partnerships, and to promote a protection and human rights perspective when dealing with situations combining both asylum and migration aspects. The opening ceremony, to be held in the Palais des Nations, in room XIX, at 2 p.m., would be open to the media, including the High Commissioner's opening statement.

Other

Ms. Taveau announced the launch of a flagship report, "Progress for Children", to be released on Monday, 10 December, in New York, a day ahead of the opening of a major UN meeting to the five-year review meeting on progress since the 2002 UN Special Session on Children – "The World Fit for Children +5". Among progress achieved, according to the report, in 2002, the number of children not enrolled in or attending school in school was 115 million; in 2006, that number has fallen to 93 million. Another key statistic was the decrease in the under-five mortality rate, which had fallen below 10 million, to 9.3 million, for the first time in recent history. Available at the back of the room were a press release, a list of UNICEF spokespersons, and a media advisory, containing details of how to participate in a media briefing in New York via telephone, with all materials under strict embargo until 12.01 p.m. GMT on Monday, 10 December.

A UNICEF representative in Africa issued an appeal today to all parties to the current conflict in Mogadishu to help to reduce the impact and trauma of war on children and women in the Somali capital by granting safe access across checkpoints to those in need of medical care. According to reliable reports from Mogadishu, children, adolescents, pregnant women and mothers – some of them injured by shells or stray bullets – were being stopped and turned back at checkpoints, particularly at night, while attempting to reach health facilities, Ms. Taveau of UNICEF said. A media release was available.

Catherine Sibut-Pinote of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) announced the publication of a new report, the Review of Maritime Transport 2007, showing that a growing world economy, lead by mounting demand in Asia, had spurred a growth in international trade carried by ship to 7.4 billion tons in 2006, representing a 4.3 per cent increase. A press release was available in the back of the room and the full report would be posted on the UNCTAD website at noon today (www.unctad.org).

Sian Bown of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) announced the launch next week of the IFRC's annual World Disasters Report, which this year focused on the issue of tackling discrimination in disasters, on Thursday, 13 December. The day before, on Wednesday, 12 December, there would be a press briefing here with IFRC Secretary General Markku Niskala and others, at 11 a.m. in Room III. A press kit was available with all information under embargo until 12.01 p.m. GMT on 13 December.

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that IOM had re-established a presence in Somalia's Puntland where, in collaboration with various partners, it had begun a series of activities to help reduce the number of migrants and asylum-seekers dying in attempts to cross the Gulf of Aden via smuggling networks. An estimated 1,221 people had already died so far this year trying to make the journey from the Puntland town of Bossasso to Yemen, and 26,913 safe arrivals, according to UNHCR. While the core team of IOM staff would be located in Bossasso, they would also conduct outreach missions to Garowe in Puntland, the main transit point for Somalis, and to Burao in Somaliland, the main transit point for Ethiopians, heading to Bossasso. Along those transit points IOM staff would be preventing information to migrants and asylum-seekers on the dangers of their situation and their journey, as well as advocating for their rights and better protection among the local communities.

Ms. Pandya announced the opening next Monday of an international meeting, co-organized by IOM and partners, which would bring together experts in the fields of psychosocial assistance, post conflict reconstruction and recovery and students from all parts of the world at the Geneva International Conference Centre. The conference, entitled "Healing the War", would look at ways of empowering young people to ensure they could play a key role in post-conflict recovery and in peace consolidation activities. The agenda and background documents were available on the following website: www.healingthewar.org.