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 also heard from spokespersons and representatives from the World Trade Organization, the Universal Postal Union, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration. Spokespersons from the United Nations Children’s Fund and the World Health Organization were also present, but had no announcements to make.

Secretary-General’s Activities / ICC

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that, yesterday, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the Rome Statute, the Secretary-General had praised the International Criminal Court for its accomplishments. For Ban Ki-moom, the creation of the ICC was unquestionably one of the major achievements of international law during the past century. That young Court remained a work in progress, however, the Secretary-General had cautioned, describing it as a “fragile part of a crucial and ongoing effort to entrench international law and justice”. Copies of the Secretary-General’s statement and a summary of the press conference by ICC Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, were available in the Press Room.

Darfur Peacekeeping Mission

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said yesterday the joint African Union-UN Mission in Darfur had reported that the Chinese Engineering Company had arrived in Nyala in South Darfur as scheduled. That deployment of 172 engineers brought the number of the Chinese contingent in Darfur to 315 and the total number of military personnel on the ground to 8,000.

UNMIK Report

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier drew attention to the publication of the Secretary-General’s latest periodic report on the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) yesterday. The report was now available via the Internet, and hard copies of the report were available to journalists from the UNIS Director’s office, on request.

Doha Round

Janaina Borges of the World Trade Organization (WTO) announced the WTO schedule for next week. There would be informal meetings of the Trade Negotiations Committee, composed of all WTO members, every morning at 10 a.m., except for Thursday, when there would be a meeting on meeting on services trade, which should last the whole day. On Saturday, 26 July at 10 a.m. a formal meeting of the Trade Negotiations Commitee had been tentatively scheduled, with a view to closing the series of negotations taking place throughout the week and delivering a result. It was very likely that there would be a change in either the time or the date for that meeting.

They had just launched a new section on the WTO website dedicated to the negotation meetings next week, Ms. Borges said. There were briefing notes on all main issues, links to podcasts and webcasts, and links to information about the most recent meetings in the Doha Round. There would also be daily summaries issued on the negotiations. Room W, at the main WTO building, would be a press centre starting on Sunday 20 July at noon. It would also host press conferences taking place at the WTO. Podcasts and live webcasts of all press conferences were also available at www.wto.org. The WTO schedule for next week, with details of press conferences already scheduled, would be available in the Press Room following the briefing.

24th Universal Postal Congress

Rhéal Leblanc of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) said that next week the twenty-fourth Universal Postal Congress would open in Geneva at the Geneva International Conference Centre. The UPU Congresses were held only once every four years, at roving locations. During the twenty-fourth Congress, which would be held from 23 July to 12 August 2008, representatives from UPU's 191 member countries would gather to discuss the major issues affecting the global postal sector today.

Available at the back of the room was a schedule of all the press briefings that would be held in the context of the UPU Congress. Also available at the back of the room was the most recent issue of Union Postale, UPU’s flagship magazine, which in this issue focused on the World Postal Strategy – one of the principal documents that would be adopted by the Congress and would serve as a roadmap for member countries and UPU bodies.

Responding to a query, Mr. Leblanc noted that in the context of the UPU Congress more than 330 proposals would be studied to modify the Acts of the Union. In that context, a number of issues would be discussed, from quality of service to standards to the role of electronic services, to postal payments and other themes. The decisions taken would give an orientation to the future of postal services worldwide.

Human Rights / European Union Immigration Directive

Rupert Colville of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said that a press release by 10 Special Rapporteurs and Working Groups had just been issued, expressing their concerns regarding the recently issued EU Return Directive. The main focus of the press release was on detention and the protection of vulnerable groups. The Chairperson of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention was available for interviews.

Other

Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that yesterday UNHCR had issued a press release concerning an $11.9-million shorfall in funding for UNHCR’s Southern Sudan repatriation and reintegration operations. UNHCR estimated that it could complete repatriation to Southern Sudan by the end of 2009 or start of 2010, but that was dependent on getting the funds needed on time. The funds were needed to continue to transport refugees, mainly from camps in neighbouring Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia, and to provide basic services when they arrived such as clean water, health and education facilities, as well as agricultural assistance so they could grow their own food.

Responding to a question on monitoring and follow-up on returns, Ms. Pagonnis noted that about 290,000 Southern Sudanese had already gone home since UNHCR had launched the programme, and about 128,000 were still outside the country. Conditions were tought back in Southern Sudan. There were still problems with water supplies, education and it was by no means easy for refugees to return there. But the thing was they overwhelmingly wished to return and were signing up to do so.

“I think there is more confidence in the CPA (Comprehensive Peace Agreement); We saw a big surge towards the beginning of the year, around April, that they wanted to be home to register for the census which means that they could vote in the elections that were coming up”, Ms. Pagonnis said. It was the refugees desire to return that was driving the programme, and UNHCR needed the funds to be able to provide the basics for them when they got there. Asked about possible concerns over the problems associated both with oil installations in Abeye and the ICC warrant against the Sudanese President for war crimes, Ms. Pagonnis said, with regard to Southern Sudan, she had not heard that those were the big concerns in the areas to which the refugees were returning.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced the results of IOM’s biannual report on the situation of the internally displaced persons in Iraq, which principally underscored that, while improved security over the first six months of 2008 had slowed the rate of displacement down to a trickle and encouraged some limited returns, 2.8 million internally displaced Iraqis continued to face dire living conditions with mediocre access to shelter, food, health care, water, and other basic services.

The “Mid-Year Displacement and Return Review”, which was published today, contained a number of significant statistics, Mr. Chauzy emphasized. For example, while 61 per cent of internally displaced Iraqis wished to return to their place of origin, 26 per cent of the displaced said their property was currently occupied, controlled or claimed by other private citizens and 15 per cent had reported that it had been partially or completely destroyed. Access to food also remained problematic, with only 29 per cent of IDPs having regular access to the Government's food rations. Although 80 per cent of IDPs assessed said they had access to water, 53 per cent said they got their water from nearby rivers, lakes, and streams and 52 per cent from open or broken pipes, and often the water was not safe to drink. Copies of the report and a briefing note were available at the back of the room. The full report could also be accessed via the Internet on the IOM website (www.iom.int).

At the end of the briefing, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier reminded journalists that there was a press conference at 11 a.m., in the same room, by the Director of the World Food Programme’s Geneva Office, Daly Belgasmi, on the alarming food and nutrition crisis in Djibouti.