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 was also attended by Spokespersons for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the Universal Postal Union, the UN Refugee Agency, and the International Organization for Migration.

Secretary-General’s Agenda

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that on his way to Bali, where he would arrive today, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had stopped over in Thailand where he had met with Prime Minister Surayudh Chulanont. Speaking to reporters following the meeting and responding to a question on international action on Myanmar, the Secretary-General had said: “I know that the international community is very impatient, and our patience is running out.” He had added that he was continuing to promote an in-depth dialogue in Myanmar and he called the appointment of a liaison minister who is in contact with Aung San Suu Kyi “a good beginning”. “The people of Myanmar have suffered from isolation for a very long time,” the Secretary-General said, adding that it was high time for them to enjoy genuine democracy and freedom. “This is what the international community expects.” A transcript of the press conference was available in the press room.

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that in Bali, the second week of negotiations on a new climate change agreement had gotten underway yesterday, where the various contact groups had been intensifying their efforts ahead of the high-level segment that would begin on Wednesday.

Human Rights Council

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that the Human Rights Council had resumed the second part of its 6th session this morning by considering reports on the legal status of the Committee on the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Shortly, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, would be delivering her statement updating the Council on the activities of her office since she last addressed the Council in September. Her presentation would be followed by a general debate.

The debate on Mrs. Arbour’s report would be followed by a presentation of the report by the Group of Experts on the situation of human rights in Darfur, chaired by Sima Samar, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Darfur. After an interactive discussion on that report, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, would present his report.

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that tomorrow, the Council was scheduled to hear a presentation by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, Rudolfo Stavenhagen, on his recent mission to Bolivia and on the situation of the rights of indigenous peoples in Asia. Martin Sheinin, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, would then present reports on his missions to South Africa, the United States, Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory.

Finally, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier recalled that UNIS Geneva would be issuing press releases on the proceedings of the Council two times a day and that the statements of the Special Rapporteurs would be made available in the press room.

General Assembly Special Session on Children

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that in New York, the General Assembly was today holding a special session on the theme of “A World Fit for Children”, which would review progress towards the plan of action to improve the lives of children adopted by Governments in 2002. In addition to Heads of State and Government, some 130 high level national delegations would be present, including more than 40 government ministers. Twenty children would also participate in the session as members of their national delegations. Four main themes would be addressed in the debate: the promotion of healthy lives; providing quality education; combating HIV and AIDS; and protecting children against abuse, exploitation and violence. Ms. Taveau said that more than 90 children from around the world had met for two days in New York to prepare for the session. The highlight of the Youth Forum had been a live satellite link-up between seven of the children in New York and members of the new global entity called “The Elders”, including Graca Machel, Desmond Tutu and Mary Robinson, who were gathered in Cape Town. The dialogue was scheduled to be aired by CNN International today.

UNHCR’s Pledging Conference

Jennifer Pagonis of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that UNHCR’s annual Pledging Conference was getting underway this morning. The agency was presenting donors with its 2008 annual budget of US$1.096 billion and is asking for early pledges of funds to help millions of refugees, displaced and stateless persons around the world. As UNHCR relied almost entirely on voluntary funding, it was vital to get early and prompt funding so that the agency could plan effectively and continue its operations to help those uprooted by conflict and persecution without interruption. A wrap-up of the total amount of pledges made would be available towards the end of the day on UNHCR’s website, www.unhcr.org.

Other

Ms. Pagonis said that the High Commissioner’s Dialogue on Protection Challenges would open at 2:00 p.m. in Room XIX in the Palais des Nations. The opening segment, which would include the opening statement of High Commissioner, would be open to the media. The remainder of the meeting would be in closed session. Representatives of some 70 governments were expected to take part in the two-day UNHCR-sponsored meeting that would examine the difficult challenges in ensuring the protection of refugees among the millions of migrants now on the move worldwide. To mark the occasion, UNHCR had launched a special Asylum/Migration section on its website, which contained the latest facts and figures, video, photographs and useful information on protecting refugees and asylum seekers in mixed migration flows. Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier recalled that as previously announced, that Director-General Sergei Ordzhonikize would be participating in the Dialogue.

Ms. Pagonis said that last week, under the world's largest refugee resettlement programme, the number of Myanmar refugees who had left Thailand to begin new lives in third countries had passed the 20,000 mark. Nearly every day, Myanmar refugees were leaving Thailand for third countries, with the largest number having gone to the United States. Since the start of the programme in January 2005, 11,737 Myanmar refugees have resettled in the United States. Most of the refugees had fled fighting and oppression in Myanmar over the past 11 years, and had been sheltering in nine refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border, which now had a population of 124,300 registered refugees.

Laurent Widmer of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) said that Spain had agreed to join the UPU’s International Financial System (IFS). An agreement to that effect would be signed today. Some 60 countries were presently members of the IFS, which enables postal services to exchange electronic money orders among themselves, instead of the traditional paper money orders.

Mr. Widmer said that UPU had on 6 December published its world postal statistics for 2006, which had highlighted three main trends. First, the volume of postal letters was stabilizing with a slight increase compared to 2005. Second, worldwide postal revenue was up 13% compared to 2005. Third, parcel traffic was on the rise and had increased by 5% compared to 2005. The biggest rise in domestic parcels traffic had occurred in Africa, or 11.7%. The increase in parcel traffic was partly due to the rise of e-commerce. Paul Donohoe, UPU’s e-Business Manager, would brief the press on UPU’s support the growth of e-commerce at 11:30 a.m., immediately following the bi-weekly press briefing.

Ms. Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reminded journalists that there would be a press conference at 12:30 p.m. in Room III on the launch of the Sudan Work Plan 2008. The speaker would by Ameerah Haq, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) recalled that at 1:30 p.m. today there would be a press conference on “Healing the war: youth as key to sustainable post-conflict recovery” in Room III. Leading experts in the field of psycho-social assistance to war-fractured communities would discuss the importance of including young people in the difficult process of healing to ensure sustainable post-conflict recovery. Speakers would include the CEO of the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre and a young Iraqi who had left the country in 2005.