REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Corinne Momal-Vanian, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was also attended by spokespersons and representatives of the United Nations Population Fund, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Children's Fund, the World Health Organization, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the International Organization for Migration and the International Trade Centre.

Egypt

Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCRH) said in a statement that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, praised the extraordinary popular movement in Egypt and said she was deeply alarmed by the sharp rise in casualties over the past few days, and urged the authorities to listen to the demands of the Egyptian people for fundamental reforms to improve human rights and democracy.

The popular movement in Egypt, unprecedented in recent decades, had for the most part been carried out in a courageous and peaceful manner. The whole world was watching how the President and the reconfigured government would react to the continuing protests demanding a radical change to a wide range of civil, political, social, cultural and economic rights.

Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights clearly laid down the political rights of the people, stating that “The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government.”

The High Commissioner was concerned about the casualties that had been mounting on a daily basis, with unconfirmed reports suggesting as many as 300 people may have been killed so far, more than 3,000 injured and hundreds arrested. The High Commissioner urged the Egyptian authorities to ensure police and other security forces scrupulously avoided excessive use of force, and there needed to be a full investigation into the role of security forces in the violence that had occurred over the past few days.

The authorities in Egypt had a clear responsibility to protect civilians, including their right to life, and to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression. People must not be arbitrarily detained, simply for protesting or for expressing their political opinions – however unwelcome those opinions may be to those in power, said Mr. Colville.

Egypt’s longer-term record on human rights was a key factor in the protests. The population appeared to be clearly rejecting a system that had deprived people of fundamental rights, and had committed a range of serious abuses, including widespread acts of torture. Under international law, torture was illegal under all circumstances, including during a conflict or a state of emergency.

The preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stated the following: “It is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by rule of law.”

The High Commissioner believed that the Egyptian Government, by maintaining an emergency law for thirty years, had clearly shown that human rights had not been one of its prime concerns. The emergency law was enacted in 1981, in the wake of the assassination of President Sadat, and had never been lifted, even though Egypt has not experienced a war, or serious civil strife, in the three decades since then. The emergency law had enabled key checks and balances regarding human rights to be circumvented and abused by security forces and other state institutions.

Respect for human rights was fundamental to democracy and it was therefore not surprising that large segments of the population were combining calls for their rights to be observed at the same time as they demanded political change.

The High Commissioner was deeply concerned about the security vacuum that developed over the weekend after the police had been withdrawn from the streets. This allowed free rein to looters, and made the advent of chaos – which President Mubarak said he was keen to avoid – far more likely. It was unheard of for the national police to completely disappear like this. The High Commissioner believed there should be a clear investigation into why the authorities had taken the decision to expose the population to considerable risk in this way, and who had been responsible for such a grave breach of the people’s right to safety and security.

Ms. Pillay welcomed Monday’s announcement that the Egyptian army would never use force against the people. The army’s primary function was to protect the nation and its people, and as such it should remain above the political fray. Ms. Pillay also called on the air force to refrain from further low-level over-flights by jet fighters, which was an extraordinarily intimidating way to deal with civilian street protests.

With a million people expected to be out on the streets on Tuesday, the High Commissioner urged both the army and the police to act with the utmost care and restraint. Ms. Pillay I also urged the protesters to avoid any acts of violence that might tarnish their extraordinary achievements so far. Today’s march seemed likely to be a pivotal moment in Egypt’s transition to a freer, fairer and more democratic society.

The High Commissioner also called on the Government to stop interfering with communications, internet and transport systems, as well as individual journalists and media organizations such as Al Jazeera which were trying to report on the situation. People had a right to protest, and freedom of information was especially important at times like these.

Ms. Pillay urged all governments, both in this region and elsewhere, to reflect on the fact that, in the long term, genuine and lasting stability did not depend on a ruthless security apparatus, or a ring of military steel, but on the development of human rights and democracy. These were the principles on which the United Nations was founded. Stability cannot be approached solely through a security lense. This was a short-sighted method that, in the end, was bound to fail.

Possible Link between H1N1 Vaccine and Cases of Narcolepsy in Children in Finland

Gregory Hartl of the WHO said that the National Institute of Health and Welfare of Finland had today issued a statement indicating that an increased risk of narcolepsy had been observed among children and adolescents vaccinated with pandemrix, an adjuvanted H1N1 vaccine manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline.
WHO was also posting its own statement on this event on its European website.

WHO welcomed this announcement by the Government of Finland. It was very significant that Finland was being so open and transparent about this matter. The National Institute of Health and Welfare considered it probable that the pandemrix vaccine was a contributing factor to the observed increase in narcolepsy cases in children and adolescents (aged between 4 and 19) in Finland.

The evidence was not yet complete, Mr. Hartl underscored, saying the final report from the Finnish narcolepsy task force was expected by 31 August 2011. WHO's Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety was also considering all available data relating to reports of increased rates of narcolepsy, and was expected to issue a statement on its website within the coming days.

The pandemrix vaccine has been used in 38 countries worldwide and an increase in cases of narcolepsy had been observed only in Finland, Sweden and Iceland. In Sweden and Iceland, however, the difference in increases in narcolepsy cases between vaccinated and unvaccinated groups was not significant . This was different to Finland. Eighteen of the 38 countries had received the vaccine from WHO. These were: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Cuba, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Mongolia, Namibia, the Philippines, Rwanda, Senegal, Tajikistan and Togo.

The recommendations for the use of seasonal vaccine in children and adolescents remain unchanged, Mr. Hartl underscored.

Haiti

Mr. Colville said the High Commissioner had sent a letter to the Haitian authorities to offer technical assistance in the prosecution of crimes committed under the leadership of Jean Claude Duvalier, and to stress that the serious human rights violations which had occurred during that time should not go unpunished.

There was no statute of limitations under international law for serious human rights violations such as torture, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and rape, all of which were alleged to have occurred in Haiti during that period.
Haiti had an obligation to investigate the well-documented serious human rights violations and to prosecute those responsible for them.

Also on Haiti, Fadéla Chaib of the World Health Organization (WHO), responding to a question, said that according the Ministry of Health there had been more than 200,000 cases of cholera and 4,030 deaths as of 24 January, and the overall case fatality was at 1.9 per cent. However, there was not enough information on people in remote areas who lacked access to health care centres, and the number of cholera cases was thus underestimated. However, a detailed report was expected in a few weeks, following a recent meeting in Port-au-Prince which was aimed at assessing the cholera situation in the country.

Many non-governmental organizations said they would leave the country or slow down their activities in Haiti, Ms. Chaib went on to say. She added that WHO and the Ministry of Health were therefore working on an exit strategy to mitigate the impact of the probable departure of major non-governmental organizations and to hand out the activities to locals and the Ministry of Health.

Côte d’Ivoire/Liberia

Christopher Tidey of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said a measles vaccination campaign targeting all children in Liberia’s Nimba County, which hosted over 30,000 refugees from Côte d’Ivoire, would begin tomorrow for seven days. The campaign was intended to reach all children between six months and 15 years old from both refugee and host communities. The campaign was led by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, with support from UNICEF and WHO. UNICEF was providing the vaccines and covering operational costs.

Turning to the cholera situation in Côte d’Ivoire, Mr. Tidey said there had been 35 cases with 7 deaths when cholera initially broke. Since this 20 per cent fatality rate at onset, and after the immediate response, there were now 61 cases with 8 deaths, and the fatality rate was now down to 13 per cent.

Somalia Drought

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the drought in Somalia caused increasing concern. According to UNHCR, nearly 20,000 people were reported to have been displaced due to drought during the last two months. This notably included pastoralists who moved to urban areas in search of fodder for animals, food aid and casual work.

The drought had also increased malnutrition levels in southern regions. Seventy-five per cent of the estimated 241,000 malnourished children were in the conflict-affected southern regions. Shrinking humanitarian space, 48 humanitarian aid workers having been killed since 2008, and reduced access to basic services such as health care and clean water, meant that these children faced restricted development and increased risk of death. While local authorities and the United Nations were trying to respond to this major drought, the USD 529 million appeal launched by the United Nations was only funded to 16 per cent. An estimated 2.4 million people, or 32 per cent of Somalia’s total population, were in need of humanitarian assistance or livelihood support. A note with further information was available at the back of the room.

International Day against Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting

Anne Wittenberg of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said Sunday 6 February was the International Day against Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting. Three million women and girls suffered female genital cutting every year in Africa, while up to 143 million had already undergone the practice worldwide, most of them living in 28 countries in Africa and Western Asia.

UNFPA and UNICEF were leading efforts to end female genital cutting through a joint programme. Three years into the programme, which was currently being implemented in 12 African countries, 6,000 communities in Africa had already abandoned female genital mutilation. The joint programme would tomorrow issue a press release (embargoed until 6 February).

The coordinator of the programme and a female genital mutilation survivor from Senegal were available for interviews. Both would be in Geneva from Saturday to participate in an event organised by the Inter-African Committee and supported by UNFPA and UNICEF, to take place on 7 February from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Centre International de Conférences Genève. Journalists were welcome to attend.

New website to assess voluntary sustainability standards

Jacquelyn Campo, Senior Communication and Events Officer, said the International Trade Centre had today launched a website allowing impartial assessment of dozens of voluntary sustainability standards.

Joseph Wozniak, Manager, Trade for Sustainable Development, added that the website answered many questions that small and medium size enterprises may have regarding voluntary sustainability standards. These questions included, for example, how much the certification cost, what the different requirements between the schemes were, how one could become certified and how much time the certification process would take. By answering these and other questions, the International Trade Centre intended to help small-scale pineapple farmers in Ghana, tea-producers in Sri Lanka, small-scale coffee producers in Latin America and other small and medium size enterprises who wanted to target new markets.

The project came from the realization that private or voluntary sustainability standards in economic, social and environmental areas had been multiplying over the past decade and the criteria were becoming increasingly necessary to enter northern markets. The tool -- developed in collaboration with the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, as well as the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs -- would be a global public good. A press release was at the back of the room.

IOM Study Highlights Plight of Young Central American Migrants in Mexico's Southern Border Region

Jared Bloch of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that a new study, conducted by IOM in partnership with the Mexican National Commission for Human Rights, looked at the plight of children and adolescent migrants in Mexico's southern border region.

It was estimated that some 400,000 irregular migrants from Central America transit through Mexico each year on their journey north to the United States. In 2010, Mexico's National Migration Institute, in coordination with Governments in the region, had returned 4,815 minors to their countries of origin, the vast majority from Central America.

Mr. Bloch said the study, entitled “Child and Adolescent Migrants from Central America in Southern Mexico Towns”, was the first of its kind in Mexico. This highlighted the difficult situation that young Central American migrants face, particularly those who remained for extended periods in the border region.

The report noted recent initiatives by the National Institute for Migration to address the situation of child and adolescent migrants, such as the disaggregation of migrant statistics by sex and age, and implementing child specific protection mechanisms. The study also included concrete recommendations for protecting the rights of child and adolescent migrants in the country. These included: implementing a best interest determination procedure to ensure that children are not being repatriated to harmful situations; improving access to migrant shelters and services including medical, nutritional, psychological and vocational services; registration of children and adolescent family members accompanying migrant labourers; supporting and encouraging of further research; and improving information collection and sharing at the regional level.

Iraqi Christians Continue to Face Threats of Violence and Economic Insecurity

Mr. Bloch said Christians in Iraq were still living under the threat of violence three months after the attack on the Saidat al-Najat church in Baghdad.

In its latest update on Christian displacement in the country, IOM monitors in Baghdad had reported that Christians were facing grave threats to their lives despite the increased presence of security checkpoints near their homes.

Persistent insecurity was driving more Christians from their homes, with IOM monitors now counting over 1,300 Christian families seeking refuge in the northern governorates of Erbil, Dahuk, Sulaymaniyah, and Ninewa. Erbil had witnessed the greatest influx with over 830 Christian families being displaced to the governorate since November 2010.

The physical instability driving Christian displacement was now leading to financial hardship as well. Some in Baghdad had sought to exploit the situation by publishing rumors of impending violence against Christians in order to drive down prices of Christian homes and to force Christians to flee. Unable to sell their homes for a fair price or finding new sources of income, many Christians were finding it difficult to support themselves while displaced.

IOM monitors noted that in some areas with high numbers of displaced Christians, rents for very modest accommodation had risen by 200 to 300 per cent since last November when the current wave of Christian displacement began.

Education was a serious concern for many of the displaced, particularly among university students. Almost all those previously studying in Baghdad and Mosul had found it almost impossible to continue their studies at universities elsewhere.

The IOM update also reports that with little promise of improved security for Christians in Baghdad and Ninewa, a majority of those displaced to Erbil, Dahuk, and Sulaymaniyah say they intend to settle where they had been displaced to.

Agenda

Corinne Momal-Vanian said that the Conference on Disarmament was meeting this morning.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child yesterday examined the report of Mexico under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and would meet in closed meetings until next Friday.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, for its part, had examined all reports scheduled for consideration during this session and would meet in private until the end of the session next Friday to adopt its concluding observations.

The Universal Periodic Review Working Group this morning examined the human rights situation in Niger, before reviewing the situation in Mozambique this afternoon.

Ms. Momal-Vanian said UNCTAD Secretary-General Supachai Panitchpakdi and Samuel Gayi, the Chief of UNCTAD's Special Unit on Commodities, would give a press conference on the Global Commodities Forum today at 11.30 a.m. in Press Room III.

WHO would give a press conference on the occasion of World Cancer Day at 11 a.m. on Thursday in Press Room I. The speakers would be Eduardo Cazap, the President of the Union for International Cancer Control, and Tim Armstrong, the Coordinator of WHO’s surveillance and population-based prevention.

Also this week, the Information Service would hold a lunchtime screening of the film “Daring to Resist”. The film told the story of three Jewish women who had refused to remain passive under the Nazi regime and would be shown at 1 p.m. on Friday February in Room XVII, in the context of the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, which had been marked last week.

Turning to the agenda of the Secretary-General, Ms. Momal-Vanian said Mr. Ban would be in London tomorrow, where he would meet with senior officials, including Prime Minister David Cameron and the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, William Hague. While in the United Kingdom, the Secretary-General would deliver a lecture at Oxford University and give an address at the International Maritime Organization. Mr. Ban would then travel to Berlin and Munich, where he would address the Munich Security Conference and attend a meeting of the Middle East Quartet. The Secretary-General would be back in New York on Sunday 6 February.