REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Alessandra Vellucci, the Chief of the Press and External Relations Section, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for and Representatives of the Human Rights Council, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, the World Health Organization, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Food Programme, the International Organization for Migration and the UN Children's Fund.

Sudan

Tarik Jasarevic of the World Health Organization said that WHO’s office, warehouse and guesthouse in Kadugli town had been completely looted on 10 June. Looted items included medical drugs and supplies worth US$ 180,000. Additionally, office computers, laptops, office supplies and personal belongings of WHO staff had also been stolen and there was no information on the status of three WHO vehicles and communication equipment.

The Sudanese Red Crescent Society and the local NGO Mobadoron, with support from WHO and UNICEF, had established two primary health care centres for families camping around the UNMIS base. However, the possibility of disease outbreaks among the displaced population was growing due to a lack of clean water and proper hygiene and sanitation. The need for clean water and basic sanitation, including latrines, was now critical.

Most of the health workers had left the State of South Kordofan due to the fighting and clashes. The Kadugli hospital was no longer functioning as of 12 June and all inpatients were being referred to the UNMIS level 3 hospital. In total, 23 cases had been referred to this hospital, including 16 cases of gunshot wounds and 6 deliveries. The number of cases treated in the two primary health care clinics supported by WHO and UNICEF was 4,887. The leading causes of consultations were diarrhoea and eye infections.

Mr. Jasarevic said that the health cluster for North and South Sudan was currently 23 per cent funded for 2011, with US$ 35.9 million out of the requested US$ 158.4 million received.

Melissa Fleming of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said that UNHCR was appealing to authorities in Kadugli, the capital of the State of South Kordofan, as well as to the Central Government to allow air and road access for humanitarian agencies trying to help thousands of people who had been uprooted by fighting between the forces of North and South Sudan.

Humanitarian flights had been denied authorisation to land in Kadugli despite UNHCR’s efforts to secure such an agreement. Land access was also being hampered by armed militiamen who had set up roadblocks, from which UNHCR was hearing reports of harassment of people on the move. Insecurity meant that UNHCR’s operations were severely constrained and UNHCR was currently unable to reach a warehouse just five kilometres from the UN peacekeeping mission’s base in the city. If UNHCR were able to reach it, it could assist at least 10,000 of the displaced people.

UNHCR currently knew of an estimated 41,000 displaced people around Kadugli and in Southern Kordofan State whom it was seeking fuller access to. But it feared that many more were forced to flee their homes and were continuing to do so as fighting continued. Most were women and children, Ms. Fleming said, adding that UNHCR was coordinating humanitarian assistance in and around Kadugli.

Emilia Casella of the World Food Programme said that WFP and its partners had provided a 7-day ration to 12,000 people in South Kordofan as of yesterday. WFP estimated that it could reach about 26,000 people in South Kordofan in the coming days to provide them with desperately needed food. WFP hoped to assist all communities in need, especially those forced to flee their homes in Kadugli.

The WFP warehouse in Kadugli was reportedly undamaged and being guarded by local authorities. However, WFP was being restricted from having access and was currently using its food stocks in other locations. WFP’s premises in Kadugli had also been looted and the organisation had lost two vehicles and a motor cycle, but its staff were all safe and accounted for.

Two WFP trucks carrying food and non-food items for UN staff had departed for Kadugli and some food trucks managed to get into Kadugli in the past few days, said Ms. Casella.

Côte d’Ivoire

Ms. Fleming said that UNHCR was getting a clearer picture of displacement in Côte d’Ivoire. The number of displaced persons today was at about 300,000. However, this not only pointed to progress, but also highlighted continued displacement due to insecurity. These about 300,000 people, who felt it was not safe enough for them to return, were sheltered in sites for internally displaced persons or with host families.

These people told UNHCR’s assessment teams that others were still hiding in the bush. Also, communal tensions were still high in another region where more than 280 civilians had supposedly been killed by groups of pro-Gbagbo mercenaries on the run from Abidjan.

Bangladesh

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said that the IOM and the Government of Bangladesh had today signed an agreement to provide US$ 680 reintegration grants to some 36,500 Bangladeshi migrant workers who had been forced to return home from Libya over the past months.

A vast sensitisation campaign would be launched shortly at the national level to make sure that all concerned persons were informed of this programme. This would be followed by the establishment of a data base gathering all relevant data and the disbursement of the money.

The agreement, financed by a US$ 40 million World Bank loan to Bangladesh, would allow the repatriated people to find an income-generating activity.

“Son preference” perpetuates discrimination and violations of women’s rights

Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said that a joint statement and a joint press release by OHCHR, UNFPA, UNICEF, UN Women and WHO was at the back of the room.

Reading from the press release, Mr. Colville said that gender-biased sex selection reflected and fuelled a culture of discrimination and violence, and must be addressed urgently by all segments of Government and society as a matter of women’s human rights.

The statement reviewed the evidence behind the causes, consequences and lessons learned regarding “son preference” or sex selection favouring boys in many parts of South, East and Central Asia, where ratios as high as 130 boys for every 100 girls had been observed.

“Sex selection in favour of boys is a symptom of pervasive social, cultural, political and economic injustices against women, and a manifest violation of women’s human rights,” the statement noted, citing one man’s testimony that “the birth of a son enhances my status, while that of a girl lowers my head.”

“There is huge pressure on women to produce sons… which not only directly affects women’s reproductive decisions, with implications for their health and survival, but also puts women in a position where they must perpetuate the lower status of girls through son preference," according to the statement.

"It is also women who have to bear the consequences of giving birth to an unwanted girl child. These consequences can include violence, abandonment, divorce or even death.”

Against the backdrop of such intense pressure, women sought to discover the sex of a foetus through ultrasound. The discovery of a female foetus could then lead to its abortion. Sex selection could also take place before a pregnancy was established, or after the birth of a girl, through child neglect or infanticide. Over decades, the practice had caused a sex-ratio imbalance in many countries, particularly in Asia.

There was also the possibility of an increase in violence against women resulting from such an imbalance. For instance, the lack of women available for marriage in some areas might lead to the trafficking of women for forced marriages from other regions or the sharing of brides among brothers.

In some countries, pre-natal sex determination and disclosure were illegal while others had laws banning abortion for sex selection. But such restrictions were also bypassed by the use of clandestine procedures, which may put women’s health in jeopardy.

Claudia Garcia Moreno Esteva, responding to a question, said that the statement suggested a broad set of measures, including social measures aimed at improving the access of girls and women to education and employment opportunities, and that work was being undertaken to support various strategies of States rather than just looking at legal restrictions.

Countries with skewed sex-ratios included India, China and Armenia, and variations could even be observed between different districts and locations, said Ms. Moreno Esteva.

IOM Director General Visits India

Mr. Chauzy said that IOM Director General William Lacy Swing was in India this week and would notably meet with a representative of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs.

According to the World Bank, India was the world's largest recipient of migrant worker remittances in 2010, receiving US$ 55 billion, up from US$ 49.6 billion in 2009.

IOM Launches Pilot Project in Ecuador

Mr. Chauzy said that a new IOM pilot project in Ecuador's northern border region would focus on the prevention of forced recruitment of minors by illegal armed groups.

The project was being carried out in Santa Barbara, a rural community which has been directly affected by the spread of the Colombian conflict across the border into Ecuador.

Disaster through a different lens

Brigitte Leoni of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction said that a publication helping journalists writing about natural disasters and their prevention in a different manner, notably by enhancing the focus on the causes, was available both at the back of the room and online.

World Refugee Day

Melissa Fleming said that next Monday, 20 June was World Refugee Day. UNHCR was launching a major initiative on the theme “One is too many” and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie would today release a public service announcement asking the public to “do 1 thing” to help refugees.

For 20 June, UNHCR would release its Global Trends report, its major annual statistical overview of the state of the world’s forcibly displaced. Embargoed copies would be released to journalists ahead of this.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres would be travelling to Tunisia and Lampedusa ahead of World Refugee Day, and would be in Rome on World Refugee Day itself.

Human Rights Council

Cédric Sapey of the Human Rights Council said that the Council was currently holding a general debate on the human rights situation in Palestine and other Occupied Arab Territories. Around 11.30 a.m. the Council would start its interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on racism, contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.

Tomorrow, the Council would meet non-stop from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., starting with a discussion on best practices in the fight against racism. This would be followed by a discussion about the follow-up to the special session on Côte d’Ivoire with the Commission of Inquiry, which would present its report, and the follow-up to the special session on Syria, with the presentation of a preliminary report by the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights. The report would be published tomorrow during the day.

Other

Ms. Vellucci said that the Committee on the Rights of the Child was currently holding closed meetings to adopt its concluding observations on the countries examined during this session, namely the Czech Republic, Bahrain, Cambodia, Egypt, Cuba, Finland and Costa Rica. The Committee was expected to make public its concluding observations on Friday, 17 June.

The Conference on Disarmament would reconvene in public on Thursday, 16 June at 10 a.m.

Ms. Vellucci said that the Special Rapporteur on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Githu Muigai, would give a press conference on Tuesday, 14 June at 3.30 p.m. in Press Room I. Mr. Muigai would present his findings on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance against Roma, and discrimination based on work and descent, including discrimination based on caste and analogous systems of inherited status.

The International Commission of Inquiry on Côte d’Ivoire would present its report at a press conference on Wednesday, 15 June at 3.30 p.m. in Room III.

The International Labour Organization would give a press conference on the vote on the Convention on Domestic Workers at 2.30 p.m. on Thursday, 16 June in Room III. The vote would take place at 11.30 a.m. on the same day.

The Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Mr. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, would meet with the President of Indonesia and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at the Palais des Nations tomorrow. Photographers and cameramen who would like to take part in the pool covering the latter should contact Ms. Yvette Morris. Journalists would receive a note to correspondents with further information this afternoon. Moreover, Mr. Tokayev’s schedule was available from the UNOG website.

Marixie Mercado of the UN Children's Fund said that the Head of the UNICEF Libya Team would brief journalists on Friday, 17 June at 10 a.m. in Room III.