REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the
United Nations Refugee Agency, the Universal Postal Union and the World Intellectual Property Organization.

Nomination of New High Commissioner for Human Rights

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Secretary-General, following consultations with the President of the General Assembly and the Chairmen of the five regional groups of Member States, had informed the General Assembly of his intention to appoint Ms. Navanethem Pillay of South Africa as the new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Judge Pillay’s nomination was made at the end of an extensive selection process, which included consultations with Member States and with the broad-based NGO community. The Secretary-General was committed to ensure that human rights remained high on the agenda of the Organization. He expected that the new High Commissioner would preserve the independence of her Office and would maintain effective working relations with the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council. The Secretary-General was determined to fully support Ms. Pillay in carrying out her work, including with increased resources, as approved by the General Assembly. Judge Pillay had outstanding credentials in human rights and justice. Since 2003, she had served as Judge on the International Criminal Court (ICC). In 1999 she was elected Judge President of the UN International Criminal Court Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which she joined in 1995. According to the Spokesperson of the General Assembly, the General Assembly would be meeting in plenary on Monday, 28 July to approve the new High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said copies of a short biography of Ms. Navanethem Pillay and an article in the Harvard Law Journal which described her career up to the point where she joined the International Criminal Court were available at the back of the room. OHCHR was very pleased that the Secretary-General had announced his intention to nominate Ms. Pillay as the new High Commissioner for Human Rights and that she was so clearly well qualified to do this very exacting job. OHCHR was quite a big organization now, with close to 1,000 staff in 50 countries, and it operated in a very sensitive environment, so it would be good to have another strong highly qualified leader at the helm. On a personal level, as a member of a non-white in apartheid South Africa, and as a frontline, grassroots lawyer who acted as a defense attorney for many anti-apartheid campaigners and trade unionists, Ms. Pillay had direct personal experience of many of the issues that a High Commissioner for Human Rights covered under her mandate. She had also been very active in supporting women’s rights, and was one of the co-founders of the international non-governmental organization Equality Now which campaigned for women’s rights. She had also been involved with a number of other organizations working on issues relating to children, detainees, victims of torture, victims of domestic violence, as well as a range of other economic, social and cultural rights.

Mr. Colville said Ms. Pillay had served on two of the most important international criminal courts in the modern era, spending eight years with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, including four years as its President, and then spending the past five years in the International Criminal Court in The Hague, the first-ever permanent independent international criminal court. Both of these courts dealt with the extreme end of the human rights spectrum, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. They were at the cutting edge of the development of international law in these areas. Obviously judges, and especially court presidents, in the international arena had to function in a highly complex and politicized environment, as did the High Commissioner for Human Rights. In that respect, Ms. Pillay was exceptionally well qualified, with a career path quite similar to that of her predecessor Louise Arbour who also served on national courts and was Prosecutor for both the Yugoslavia and Rwanda Tribunals.

In response to a question, Mr. Colville said that if the General Assembly approved the appointment, the new High Commissioner planned to start her work as High Commissioner on 1 September.

Myanmar

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said in the absence of Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, she would talk about the three-day mission to Myanmar by Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, John Holmes. On the last day of the visit, Mr. Holmes praised the significant progress of relief and recovery in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, since his last visit two months ago. Highlighting that access for relief workers in affected areas had been much improved, Mr. Holmes called on the Government of Myanmar to maintain progress in its flexible approach and cooperation. He also strongly urged international donors to support generously through the Appeal as OCHA still needed $ 300 million for its humanitarian efforts in Myanmar this year. In the meantime, the Secretary-General convened on Wednesday afternoon a meeting of the Group of Friends of the Secretary-General on Myanmar to discuss the upcoming visit of his Special Advisor Ibrahim Gambari to the country. The Group expressed strong support for the Secretary-General’s good offices efforts. Members of the Group also noted their expectations that Mr. Gambari’s next visit would need to yield tangible progress on the issues of concern to the international community, particularly with regard to the resumption of dialogue between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the Government, the credibility of the electoral process, and the regularization of engagement with the good offices of the Secretary-General.

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said available was a news note on the situation in Myanmar. Close to three months after Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar, nearly 700,000 children under the age of 17 were still in need of longer term assistance. An estimated 2.4 million people were affected by the cyclone which destroyed or damaged hundreds of thousands of homes, schools and health centers. Today, the aid and reconstruction programmes were moving forward and were allowing schools to be re-built. Schools had re-opened a few weeks ago, giving hope for a better future for 6,000 children. UNICEF had distributed education supplies and recreational kits to children in the affected areas and had set up temporary learning spaces. In a recent appeal, UNICEF requested $ 90.7 million for its humanitarian operation until April 2009. This would help ensure that children continued to have access to primary schools, ensure the treatment and prevention of malnutrition among children and pregnant women, and provide support in the field of water, hygiene and sanitation.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, would represent the Secretary-General and deliver a message on his behalf at the fifteenth Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement, which would be taking place in Tehran from 29 to 30 July. This regular Ministerial Conference, to be chaired by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran, would take place at the mid-point between the tri-annual Summit Conferences of the Non-Aligned Movement (Havana in 2006 and Cairo in 2009).

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Human Rights Committee was today concluding its 93rd session and there would be a press conference on the Committee’s concluding observations and recommendations on the reports of France, Ireland, San Marino and Great Britain at 11:30 a.m. The roundup as well as copies of the concluding observations and recommendations would be available shortly.

Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reminded journalists that the Chairperson of the Human Rights Committee and a number of its experts would give a press conference at 11:30 a.m. today in Salle III.

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination would be holding its 73rd session from 28 July to 15 August. The Committee would be considering reports presented by Ecuador, Namibia, Togo, Russian Federation, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Sweden. The background press release was available in the press room.

The Conference on Disarmament would start the third part of its 2008 session on Monday, 28 July. This third part would conclude on 12 September.

Colombia

Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency said UNHCR and 10 other partners were launching a nationwide campaign to help the victims of forced displacement in Colombia today in Bogotá. The Internet based “Corre por la Vida” (Running for Life) campaign compared forced displacement to a long-distance race, which started when people had no choice but to flee from conflict, violence or
persecution. The race had many hurdles along the way from finding a new home and a reliable source of income to reaching long-term security and stability. The internal displacement crisis in Colombia was one of the largest and oldest in the world and for many, it was also a race with no clear direction and no end in sight. Corre por la Vida would be launched Friday in Bogotá and Medellin, the country’s second largest city, with a symbolic race by the campaign’s organizers.

Ms. Pagonis informed journalists that today would be her last briefing as she would be moving to a new position starting next week. Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier and a representative of ACANU thanked Ms. Pagonis for all her efforts and cooperation over the past four years.

Other

Rheal LeBlanc of the Universal Postal Union said the 80th Universal Postal Congress started on Wednesday, 23 July and would continue until 12 August. Today, the Congress was holding a general debate at the Geneva International Conference Centre all day, concluding at 6 p.m., and would be addressed by a number of important dignitaries. Available at the back of the room was the detailed programme. There would be a press conference on Monday, 28 July at 1:30 p.m.

Samar Shamoon of the World Intellectual Property Organization reminded journalists that there would be a press conference at 11 a.m. on Monday, 28 July by Francis Gurry, the Deputy Director General of WIPO, on the WIPO World Patent Report 2008.