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 Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the International Organization for Migration, the UN Refugee Agency, the World Meteorological Organization and the World Trade Organization.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Momal-Vanian said the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination would be starting its four-week seventy-sixth session on Monday, 15 February. It would be considering the reports of 11 countries, namely Monaco, Slovakia, Argentina, Cambodia, Guatemala, Cameroon, the Netherlands, Japan, Iceland, Kazakhstan and Panama. The background press release had been issued yesterday.

The Universal Periodic Review was continuing its seventh session. The background press release which was issued last week included the timetable and the list of countries coming up for review.

Haiti

Ms. Momal-Vanian said she wanted to speak about the security situation in Haiti today, almost a month after the earthquake struck the country. The security situation remained stable, despite isolated incidents, and this had allowed for humanitarian aid to get through. The Haitian National Police, the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) and US and Canadian forces were coordinating their efforts to ensure security. While security had always been somewhat volatile in certain areas of Port-au-Prince, it was under control, including in Cité Soleil and Martissant where UN troops and the Haitian National Police patrolled on a daily basis. According to Alain Le Roy, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, the United Nations had already received enough pledges to meet the additional 2,000 military and 21,500 police personnel recently authorized by the Security Council. 900 additional troops from Brazil should be deployed in Haiti in the coming days and the advance party of the Japanese engineering company had already arrived. Korea, Guatemala, Peru, the Dominican Republic and others had begun to step forward to provide additional forces. On the police front, the UN had received firm offers of Formed Police Units from Bangladesh, India, Italy, Pakistan and Rwanda, and smaller but very well-equipped detachments from France, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain.

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that while the security situation was under control, Edmund Mulet, the Secretary-General’s Acting Special Representative in Haiti, had said there were concerns about the 5,000 prison inmates who had escaped from the national penitentiary during the quake, including the most dangerous ones. The United Nations was particularly worried that gang leaders were trying to reorganize themselves and to take over control of certain areas. He said that according to their information, none of the gangs had started trafficking in drugs, but there were other violations by the gangs. The main priorities in Haiti continued to be humanitarian. The European Union announced yesterday that it would mount a military operation to create semi-permanent shelters before the start of the rainy season, expected in April, and Mr. Le Roy and Mr. Mulet welcomed this.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said nearly one month after the earthquake hit Haiti, the United Nations and its partners were continuing one of the biggest and most complex responses to the crisis. The Haiti Flash Appeal was funded by 95 per cent, but the generosity and quickness of the international community must continue. The two main challenges which they were facing now were shelters and sanitation conditions. The rains had started but it was imperative that before they intensified, all persons without homes had a roof above their heads. As for the spontaneous settlement sites, 19 priority sites had been identified for decongestion. For example, the Petionville spontaneous settlement site at the golf course was assessed and was reported to be one of the most vulnerable sites for epidemics and flooding. Some 25,000 people were living on the site, which was very densely populated. A large number of shelters were on unstable slopes and heavy rains would cause them to slide.

Ms. Byrs said yesterday, John Holmes, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and the Emergency Relief Coordinator, had arrived in the Dominican Republic, and he would be arriving in Haiti today on a three-day visit. A press release would be available later.

Brigitte Leoni of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction said that it had rained yesterday in Haiti and some shelters had been affected. The ISDR Secretariat reiterated that disaster risk reduction principles must be fully integrated into the different phases of the Haitian reconstruction process, including for the temporary shelters. She had put a press release in the press room in which Margareta Wahlstrom, the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, stressed that disaster risk reduction principle should be fully integrated into the different phases of the Haitian reconstruction process. ISDR and its partners were working together to ensure this.

Praveen Pardeshi of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction said even as the emergency shelter requirements, water and sanitation were the most urgent needs on the ground, they could see from the heavy rains that a lot of the temporary shelters, including the coordination offices, had been washed away. It was important to keep in mind the forthcoming hurricane season to build risk resilience. ISDR and its partners were considering that the temporary shelter phase may go on for a long time because the reconstruction of Port-au-Prince may take up to 10 years. Proper drainage patterns, flood lines and other measures needed to be factored in so that even the temporary rehabilitation was risk resilient.

Responding to a question, Mr. Pardeshi said most reconstruction programmes never really ended and took a long time. Time was important because time enabled them to plan a strategy so that they built back better and not in a hurry. On the other hand, removal of rubble was to be preceded by a proper land use plan, because the rubble should not be dumped in other places which could block the drainage. He did not think that had taken place yet in Haiti. There were multiple assessments going on now. Now, only the rubble blocking roads and essential services was being moved.

Emilia Casella of the World Food Programme said today at the WFP Headquarters, there would be a conference on food security in Haiti and the way forward. Attending would be the Minister of Agriculture of Haiti; the Chief of Staff of Hilary Clinton, the United States Secretary of State; the Brazilian Minister responsible for food security; and the three Rome-based food agencies: WFP, FAO and IFAD. The proceedings would be webcast on the websites of the three Rome-based agencies. There would probably be a statement issued at the end of the meeting and it would be sent to journalists. WFP had now reached 2.5 million persons in Port-au-Prince and across the disaster zone with food supplies since the earthquake struck. Outside the capital, WFP had established two new offices, in addition to the office it had in Jacmel. WFP had started a nutrition drive, alongside the general food distribution, targeting 53,000 children under the age of five, and 16,000 pregnant and breast feeding mothers with specialized food to prevent malnutrition. The priority areas remained shelter and food. WFP’s partner agencies were the real heroes, along with the WFP staff, in working in situations that had been very difficult. Those partner agencies were CARE, the Adventist Development Relief Agency (ADRA), Catholic Relief Services, Samaritans First, Agence de Cooperation, Technique et Development, Save the Children, World Vision and GOAL. The work of WFP and others was completely dependent on the work of many many international and national non-governmental organizations.

Paul Garwood of the World Health Organization said there had been recent discussions about the provision of drugs in Haiti. A central drug store in Haiti, which was coordinated and managed by a WHO partner, would continue providing essential drugs and medical supplies free nationwide, to all public hospitals and health facilities, including international and national non-governmental organizations and faith-based organizations that were supporting humanitarian activities. All organizations had to be registered with the Ministry of Health to ensure that these services were providing care to people affected by the humanitarian crisis. WHO was hearing anecdotal accounts, mainly in the press, of how some hospitals were charging people for medicines, but they had no confirmation of this. On top of this, vaccination campaigns were continuing in multiple areas. Mental health services were being assessed and a plan was being drawn up to provide future care for people who needed mental health support.

Melissa Fleming of the UN Refugee Agency, speaking on behalf of UNHCR and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said they were jointly urging countries to suspend all involuntary returns to Haiti due to the continuing humanitarian crisis. While the international response to the disaster was well under way, assistance efforts and services had still to reach a significant portion of the affected population with many people still lacking basic amenities such as shelter, food, water and medical assistance. Over 1.2 million had lost their homes. UNHCR and OHCHR were particularly concerned about the large numbers of highly vulnerable people, including the injured as well as separated or orphaned children. Therefore, pending stabilization and until such time as people could return safely and sustainably, OHCHR and UNHCR called on all countries not to return Haitians at this time and to continue granting interim protection measures on humanitarian grounds.

Responding to a question, Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said he did not recall OHCHR and UNHCR ever putting out a joint statement like this. The reason was that many of the Haitians outside would not be refugees or asylum seekers, they were talking about any or all Haitians who had left recently or even before the earthquake, it was just clearly not appropriate to send them back in these circumstances. That was why the High Commissioner for Human Rights was joining this appeal.

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said one month after the earthquake in Haiti, for UNICEF, this crisis had affected a large number of children. Forty per cent of the population of Haiti was under the age of 14 years. Children were very much at risk. UNICEF was the lead agency concerning water and sanitation. It was now distributing water in 300 water distribution points, providing water to around 1 million persons daily. Concerning sanitation efforts, UNICEF had built 847 latrines. With regard to education, they were preparing 3,000 schools-in-a-boxes to serve 120,000 children. UNICEEF and Save the Children had also set up 32 “spaces” reserved for children in which they could play.

Mongolia

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said weeks of freezing temperatures and heavy snows had left more than half of Mongolia’s 21 provinces in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, with the winter conditions locally known as the dzud leaving temperatures hovering between –40 and -50 degrees Celsius. The Government of Mongolia had declared the disaster status in 12 provinces. UNICEF, along with other UN agencies including UNFPA, UNHABITAT, FAO and UNDP, had mobilized to help children and families, addressing their most urgent humanitarian concerns, including food, fuel for heating and cooking, blankets and warm clothing. So far, the dzud had killed more than two million livestock, devastated the livelihoods of families in the agriculture sector, which employed 35 to 40 per cent of the population, and isolated herders and villages from accessing food, fuel and medical care. While the people of Mongolia were used to cold winter conditions, it was the combination of a severe summer drought, where little fodder was generated, and severely cold temperatures that hardened heavy snow, which had crippled the rural population largely reliant on herding and agriculture. There were 22,000 children living in dormitories in need of urgent assistance, and this number was growing. UNICEF faced a critical need for $ 400,000 for medical supplies, equipment, micronutrients and hygiene interventions as well as $ 322,000 to reach the growing number of affected communities with other life saving interventions. There were more details in the briefing notes.

Afghanistan

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said heavy rains and snowfall had resulted in floods and avalanches in most of the regions in Afghanistan. In the North/Northeastern regions, a total of 166 people were killed and 66 seriously injured by a series of avalanches in the Salang pass. In Badakhashan province, avalanches had killed five persons. In the southern regions, 20 persons had been killed, houses had been destroyed and damages to infrastructure, livestock and livelihoods were still under assessment. There were details in the briefing notes to damage in the western and eastern regions, and the central highlands. IOM would lead assistance efforts with the support of OCHA and relief stocks were available from IOM, WFP WHO and the Afghan Development Association.

Somalia

Melissa Fleming of the UN Refugee Agency said UNHCR was very concerned that clashes between government forces and the Al-Shabaab militia in the Somali capital Mogadishu were displacing thousands of civilians. Reportedly, some 24 civilians had been killed and another 40 injured in the latest fighting that erupted on Wednesday. Some residents had already begun to stream out of Mogadishu a few days earlier following reports of a major military build-up and a possible government offensive against the armed opposition groups occupying parts of the city. Since the beginning of February, over 8,000 people had left the city to escape the fighting. Many had gone to relatively safe areas of the capital or to the Afgooye corridor, where there were already an estimated 366,000 people displaced by previous conflicts. UNHCR was very concerned about the escalating violence in south and central Somalia including the capital, which was causing large-scale displacement and human suffering. UNHCR called upon all parties to the conflict to respect international humanitarian law, breaches of which had been the main cause of displacement in the capital and elsewhere in the last year. UNHCR was stepping up its preparedness to intervene and deliver emergency relief to the affected population as soon as the security situation permitted. As with other humanitarian actors, UNHCR’s own access was affected by the conflict.

International Organization for Migration on Kenya, Sri Lanka, Yemen and the Malaysia-Indonesia Remittance Corridor

Christopher Lom of the International Organization for Migration said IOM was beginning construction of shelters for internally displaced persons returning to Kenya's Rift Valley. IOM had completed over half of 1,784 shelters for internally displaced people (IDPs) returning to Burnt Forest, a town in the Uasin Gishu district of the Rift Valley. The shelters were part of a US$ 1.89 million IOM shelter construction project to build 5,184 shelters in five Rift Valley locations. The area experienced massive displacement and loss of property following recurrent election violence that began in May 2008. Thousands of families subsequently fled to IDP transit camps.

Mr. Lom said the US State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons would fund an IOM project to help Sri Lanka develop a national strategy on combating human trafficking, to identify and prosecute trafficking cases, to protect victims and to improve the country's collection of trafficking data. In Yemen, the European Union and IOM were backing Yemeni national migration policy. The euro 2 million programme, funded by the European Union, would allow IOM to help the Government to address emerging security and humanitarian issues linked to the large numbers of vulnerable migrants and asylum seekers travelling to Yemen from countries in the Horn of Africa, via the Gulf of Aden.
Finally, he said IOM Indonesia was working to promote links between migration and development with banks, remittance service providers and key government agencies through an IOM study of the Malaysia - Indonesia remittance corridor. Remittances could play a vital role in economic development. In 2008 alone, Indonesian labour migrants sent home US$ 6.6 billion to their families.

World Health Organization and H1N1

Gregory Hartl of the World Health Organization said the usual update on H1N1 figures, including the cumulative number of laboratory confirmed deaths which stood at around 15,300, would be provided shortly on the website.

Mr. Hartl said on 14 February, the vaccine strain selection meetings would start. There would be an open session when the decisions on the recommendations for which strains should be included in the vaccines was communicated to the pharmaceutical industry.

In response to a question, Mr. Hartl said the H1N1 vaccine was included in the seasonal influenza vaccine in the southern hemisphere, but it was not in the current northern hemisphere vaccine because of the time needed to produce a vaccine. The decision for the northern hemisphere were taken every February, and production of vaccines for the upcoming northern hemisphere winter began almost immediately after the decisions in February. The identification of the H1N1 vaccine strain in early May was way too late to allow it to be included in a seasonal vaccine.




Other

Gaelle Sevenier of the World Meteorological Organization said as the Winter Olympics were opening tonight in Canada, a new website was being set up by one of WMO’s members which provided all details about the weather conditions during the games. It was www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/2010

Janaina Borges of the World Trade organization said WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy would this afternoon be meeting with the European Union Trade Commissioner. There would be a photo opportunity. Next week, there would be a meeting on the accession of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 17 February. There would be the monthly meeting of the dispute settlement body on 18 February, and on 17 and 18 February, there would be meetings on trade and the environment. On 19 February, Mr. Lamy would be attending a conference in London organized by the Policy Network on “jobs, industry and opportunity: growth strategies after the crisis”.