REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Corinne Momal-Vanian, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the International Organization for Migration, the World Health Organization, the World Meteorological Organization and the UN Refugee Agency.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Momal-Vanian said the Conference on Disarmament would be meeting in public plenary at 3 p.m. this afternoon to hear a statement by the Deputy Foreign Minister of Italy, Vincenzo Scotti.

The Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review Working Group opened its two-week seventh session yesterday during which it will consider the situation of human rights in 16 countries. After reviewing the situation in Qatar and Nicaragua yesterday, the Working Group would be taking up the situation in Italy and El Salvador today.

Ms. Momal-Vanian reminded journalists that at noon today, Michel Jarraud, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization, would be giving a press conference in Salle III on Haiti’s need of meteorological services as the rain and hurricane season approached.

A note to correspondents by the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research was available at the back of the room, talking about a high-level concluding seminar of the EU-UNIDIR project “promoting discussion on an arms trade treaty. This event would take place in Vienna on 12 February, but a lot of the discussions on this issue were held in Geneva.

Statements by the Secretary-General

Ms. Momal-Vanian said there were two statements by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon available in the press room. There was the Secretary-General’s message calling for observance of the Olympic Truce as the XXI Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver drew near. He said the Olympic Truce brought hope of at least a temporary respite from violence and armed conflict. That was why the he joined the UN General Assembly, the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic Movement in urging warring parties all over the world to lay down their weapons during the Olympic Winter Games which would start this week. Concerning Sri Lanka, the Secretary-General had repeatedly appealed to all parties in Sri Lanka and their supporters to show restraint and refrain from violence and adhere to the electoral laws and to avoid provocative acts, not only in the election period, but also in the post-election stages. The peaceful conduct of the first post-conflict national election and its aftermath was of the highest importance for long term peace and reconciliation in Sri Lanka.

Haiti

Ms. Momal-Vanian said the Food and Agriculture Organization had launched an urgent support programme in Haiti to clear away irrigation canals to try and save the beans and corn harvest. In a programme similar to UNDP’s cash for work operation, the Food and Agriculture Organization was providing a small salary for 600 workers who would carry out the clearing away operation. According to a preliminary assessment on the agricultural sector carried out by the Food and Agricultural Organization, the ruble from the earthquake was obstructing irrigation canals, threatening the harvest which should be ready in a few weeks. The building of the Agriculture Ministry had been partially destroyed, including the laboratories and the warehouses, and the earthquake had also taken a human toll among the staff of the Ministry. The priority of the Food and Agricultural Organization was to ensure enough funds to provide seeds, planting equipment and fertilizer to Haitian farmers with the hope of saving the spring sowing season which represented 60 per cent of the national harvest and which started in May. Unfortunately, out of the $ 30 million which the Food and Agricultural Organization had requested as part of the Haiti Flash Appeal, only 30 per cent was available so far, which was not enough to ensure the requirements needed for the sowing season to start in May.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the Haiti Flash Appeal was covered by 93 per cent overall, however the agriculture sector was much less funded. The Flash Appeal would be further revised on 17 February to cover a period of 12 months. The provision of shelter material continued to be a priority in all affected areas. Sanitation in the temporary settlement sites remained a concern. It was estimated that less than 5 per cent of the needs for latrines had been met based on one latrine per 50 people. More than 1.2 million people lived in these spontaneous settlements and 467,701 people had left Port-au-Prince for outlying department, including Artibonite department and Centre department. It was necessary to increase aid going to these departments to help the resident rural population support the displaced persons. There was concern about the lack of transitional shelter materials in the pipeline. Regional distribution hubs were under establishment to relieve congestion in Port-au-Prince. The number of incoming flights to Port-au-Prince airport continued to drop and now averaged 74 per day as incoming air cargo increasingly shifted to sea transport. The Port-au-Prince port was handling an average of 350 containers per day now that specialized cranes were in place, even though it would not be completely reconstructed before May. UNHAS was establishing a passenger service to locations within Haiti, reflecting the aim of spreading aid efforts throughout the country. OCHA had two sub-offices in Jacmel and Leogane and it was establishing an antenna office in Petit Goave to cover coordination needs in petit Goave and Grand Goave. MINUSTAH and humanitarian partners were discussing the establishment of a humanitarian compound and reception centre for humanitarian partners in Leogane. There were more details in the briefing notes.

Chris Lom of the International Organization for Migration said IOM and its partners had been racing to deliver shelter materials to the cities of Petit-Goâve and Léogâne, now home to many former Port-au-Prince residents, before the start of the rainy season. IOM's partners included the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Handicap International and Oxfam International. On 7 February, US military helicopters delivered plastic sheeting, blankets and jerry cans to more than 2,000 isolated families living in the mountains above the neighbourhood of Petionville. IOM emergency staff and members of the Fraternite Notre Dame distributed the aid. IOM and its partner agencies working in the area of camp coordination and camp management had now identified 315 spontaneous settlement sites in and around the capital Port-au-Prince, hosting more than 91,000 families (468,000 individuals). Camp coordination and camp management agencies were working on registration of the displaced, improving shelter and creating drainage and latrines in the settlements, focusing on a group of 15 sites sheltering more than 5,000 displaced people. Efforts were also being made to secure additional land close to heavily congested sites where IOM and its partners were planning to distribute aid in the coming days.

Paul Garwood of the World Health Organization said as for the major health challenges at the moment, trauma injuries such as those sustained within the earthquake, broken bones and others, which previously accounted for more than 20 per cent of all consultations in health facilities, had now decreased to 10 per cent. There had been no notable increases in infectious diseases being reported. Acute respiratory infections accounted for 15 to 25 per cent of all consultations being reported, while acute diarrheal diseases represented 7 to 12 per cent of all diseases. There had been a few cases of bloody diarrhea which had reported, but without any epidemic characteristics. Some 15 cases of tetanus had also been reported but no cases of neonatal tetanus were among those. Sanitation in the temporary settlement sites remained a concern. Some 18,000 latrines were needed in Port-au-Prince to support 900,000 people. Mobile clinics had been deployed in more than 250 spontaneous settlements as identified by the Government. More than 22 containers of 200 types of medical supplies were received, including more than 1,000 beds, 200 stretches, crutches, bed sheets, blankets and pillows. Basic health supplies to treat 45,000 people from common diseases were received last week, and a further 1.5 tons of central drugs were delivered to areas outside of Port-au-Prince.

Gaelle Sevenier of the World Meteorological Organization recalled that today at noon, Michel Jarraud, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization, accompanied by two experts, would be speaking about urgent need for the reconstruction of Haiti’s meteorological services as the rain and hurricane season approached. A press release would also be issued shortly.

Asked what had happened with cases previously identified in audits concerning mismanagement of funds within MINUSTAH, Ms. Momal-Vanian said she would need to check on this and get back to the journalist.

In a question about how UNHCR reported on the visits of its goodwill ambassadors to disaster areas, in light of the fact that a visit by Angeline Jolie to Haiti had gone unreported, Andrej Mahecic of the UN refugee Agency said he could confirm that Angelina Jolie was in the Dominican Republic today and she visited a hospital caring for victims of the earthquake. Generally, the policy of any visit by a goodwill ambassador was not to share the information ahead of time for obvious reasons, especially security reasons.

Pakistan and Zimbabwe

Chris Lom of the International Organization for Migration said although Pakistan had disappeared from the headlines, there were still 800,000 displaced people in north western Pakistan and IOM was appealing for US$ 16 million in 2010 to contribute to relief and rehabilitation activities for families displaced by military operations in northwestern Pakistan, particularly in the FATA area. The IOM appeal was part of a joint UN Flash Appeal seeking US$ 537 million to help some 800,000 displaced people this year. It included 169 projects proposed by 68 national and international NGOs, UN and inter-governmental agencies, including IOM, to support humanitarian work in the country.

Mr. Lom said there had been concern about the lack of communication which had resulted in the spread of cholera from Zimbabwe between August 2008 and July 2009. IOM had handed over radio communications equipment to Zimbabwe's Ministry of Health and Child Welfare in an effort to improve disease outbreak reporting and response times at rural health centres in remote border areas. The equipment would help the public health system to respond faster to cholera and other disease outbreaks, and to control their spread.

WHO Briefings

Gregory Hartl of the World Health Organization said there would be two briefings this week. The first would be at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 10 February in press room 1 to talk about how the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization, the so-called SAGE Committee, handled declarations of interest and potential conflicts of interest. On Thursday, 11 February at 1 p.m. there would be a virtual press briefing on the upcoming seasonal influenza vaccine strains selection meeting which would be meeting next week. Also, WHO had now received notification of the first cases of H1N1 in West Africa, some 14 cases.