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 United Nations Economic Commission on Europe, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Development Programme, the World Health Organization, the International Labour Organization and the International Organization for Migration.

Democratic Republic Of Congo

Adrian Edwards for the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said renewed violence involving government troops, FDLR forces and local defence groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo's volatile eastern region had forced over 100,000 civilians out of their homes since late November.

He said UNHCR was very concerned about the consequences of this violence on the civilians. In North Kivu an estimated 35,000 people have been displaced as a result of attacks and clashes between rival militia groups in Walikale and Masisi territories. At least 22 people were reported killed and an unknown number of women raped during the fighting, he said. A United Nations assessment mission to affected areas last week found several empty and burned villages, as well as looted healthcare centres.

Meanwhile in South Kivu, attacks in Shabunda had displaced some 70,000 people since November. These were continuing and, according to local sources, some 4,400 were estimated to have fled violent attacks during the past two weeks. The displaced were seeking refuge in South Kivu Province but were also reported to be moving towards the neighboring provinces of Maniema and Katanga.

In a separate development further south, there had been reports of more than 12,000 people having been recently displaced in central Katanga Province, he said, though an inter-agency mission planned to go to the area this week had to be postponed for security reasons. According to initial information, 65 percent of these displaced were young boys and girls who have sought refuge in 17 villages in Mitwaba territory to escape from new militia activities in this relatively stable province, he explained.

Answering questions he said violence had been on and off in North Kivu in recent years and the reason for the latest surge was not currently known, though was perhaps related to recent elections. He also explained that access was a problem in some areas, making assessment difficult. There were no indications of people yet being able to return to their homes.

Gulf of Aden

Adrian Edwards for the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that despite growing instability and a worsening security in Yemen, a record 103,000 refugees, asylum seekers and migrants from the Horn of Africa made the perilous journey across the Gulf of Aden and the Red sea in 2011. This was an almost 100 per cent increase from 2010 when 53,000 people made the same journey.

Most of the new arrivals reached Yemen's shores in desperate condition - dehydrated, malnourished and often in shock, he explained, while among those who made the crossing last year more than 130 were known to have drowned. And once in Yemen itself new arrivals face other difficulties including inadequate access to basic services such as shelter, water, food, emergency health care, limitations to the freedom of movement and lack of access to a means of livelihood.

He continued by saying the latest data also showed a striking increase in the number of Ethiopians arriving in Yemen - who now account for three out of every four arrivals. Until 2008, the majority of those making the crossing were Somali refugees fleeing violence and human rights abuses in their country. This trend shifted in 2009, since when Ethiopian nationals have been in the majority.

On arrival in Yemen Somalis were automatically recognized as refugees, which gives them access to documentation and relatively unhindered movement. However, for Ethiopians, the situation in Yemen was far more challenging and dangerous, he explained, and they were routinely subject to robbery, abuse, and extortion at the hands of smugglers and traffickers.

The current situation of instability and reduced police presence in Yemen was making this worse, he said, as it gave human traffickers and smugglers more room to operate. It was also preventing patrols along Yemen's shores by humanitarian teams as they tried to reach new arrivals before the smugglers.

‘Energy Plus’ report

Martin Krause for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said a report on good practices and lessons learned from Asia and the Pacific had been released yesterday following the launch by the Secretary-General of a global campaign on “sustainable energy for all” earlier this week in Abu Dhabi.

The report showed that 800 million people remain without access to electricity he said, with almost 2 billion people depending on the traditional use of biomass for cooking. Nearly two million people around the world die prematurely due to illnesses attributable to indoor air pollution. Add to this that six per cent of annual global deforestation was due to full wood collection, and it was clear that the lack of energy access became a serious hindrance to economic and social development, he said. It contributed to a self-perpetuating cycle of poverty and problems of health, hygiene, gender inequity and environmental degradation.

The report had found that development efforts had too often focused only on electricity through extending the national grid energy, thus neglecting energy needs for cooking and heating. However, cooking fuels remained the primary energy need of poor households. Also, many energy programmes adopted a “minimalist approach” focusing purely on delivering energy technologies, were very technology driven, top down and electricity-focused.

Looking at seventeen case studies, the report suggested four elements that a successful energy programme must have in common, he said. These included listening to the local population, in particular women, to see what they actually needed in terms of energy services and tailoring energy provisions accordingly. Second, energy access programmes should be combined with support for income generating measures, business skills for rural entrepreneurs. Thirdly, national governments should be involved through policies setting targets and providing favourable conditions, he said. The final point related to affordability and financing. Where poorer families could not afford to buy equipment outright or the fees for the delivery of energy services were prohibitive, then a blending of funding from international partners, national funds and commercial banks using microcredit had been very successful.

Latin American migrants

Jemini Pandya for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced a new IOM publication highlighting the fact that Spain became the main destination country for migrants from Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America to the European Union in the 1990s.

She said that an estimated 500,000 migrants arrived in Spain each year, with a total of five million by the end of the decade. Of these one-third came from Latin America, attracted by language, religion, cultural and historical ties, as well as liberal visa regimes for South American countries.

The report stressed the need for unskilled migrant labour during that time as more women entered the work force in Spain or acquired further education, coupled with a marked decline in births and an ageing population. The construction boom of the 1990s also provided ample employment for male migrants, while most women migrants readily found jobs providing domestic service and caring for the elderly.

But the global economic crisis led to the tightening of visa and immigration policies since 2008, she explained, beginning with the European Union Return Directive issued the same year allowing for the detention of undocumented migrants, including unaccompanied minors, for up to 18 months while deportation orders were finalized.

The second part of the publication focussed on Spanish immigration policy and argued that Spain and Europe as a whole would continue to need migrants to cover labour shortages and therefore current immigration policies needed to take into account today's political and social realities, she explained.

Geneva activities

Ms. Momal-Vanian said the Conference on Disarmament began its 2012 session next week, and a background press release had gone out yesterday. The first public meeting was Tuesday (24 January) and the United States, Morocco, Canada and Peru were currently on the list of speakers. The Conference would be chaired by Ecuador during the first four weeks of the session.

She continued saying the Committee on the Rights of the Child was to examine the report of Madagascar, and had yesterday completed the review of reports of Azerbaijan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Myanmar. Next week, the Committee would consider reports from Togo, Thailand, and the Cook Islands. Niue said yesterday that it would not be able to send a delegation to Geneva, and so the review of their report had been deferred to a future session.

Today (20 January) at 12.30 in Room III the International Telecommunications Union was to hold a press conference on the Radiocommunication Assembly, which concluded this afternoon, and the World Radiocommunication Conference, which opened on Monday (23 January). Speakers included the Director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau. Following on from this on Monday (23 January) at 16:00 in Room III the Head of the US Delegation would hold a press conference on the same subject.

Ms. Momal-Vanian also announced that a UNITAR representative was attending the briefing with a colleague from University of Geneva to distribute brochures announcing a series of high-level conferences with five African peacemakers next week (24 to 26 January) at Uni-Dufour.

Jean Rodriguez for the United Nations Economic Commission on Europe (UNECE) said the Working Party on Pollution and Energy had approved a proposal for an amendment to Regulation No. 49, concerning more stringent emission requirements for heavy duty vehicle engines. The proposal would be submitted to the World Forum in June 2012 for its final adoption, he said, and would enter into force gradually as of the first quarter of 2013, with full application in January 2014 for the 13 countries involved.

Some of these pollutants were contributing to global warming via their greenhouse gas, he explained, while others had adverse effects on human health. The technology to meet these limits was already available and new vehicles out on the market from next year would be expected to meet the standard.

Muriel Scibilia for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said the next UNCTAD Ministerial meeting (UNCTAD XIII) would be held in Doha, next April. The two functions of the meeting were to discuss the socio-economic situation globally and to start a dialogue between the public, private sector and NGOs on topical issues. It would also decide on the UNCTAD workplan for the four coming years. The Secretary-General, visiting Doha, had held meetings with relevant ministers to confirm arrangements and a press conference would be arranged soon, she added. Meanwhile the Secretary-General would also be attending the upcoming Davos conference, where he would have a series of formal and informal meetings.

She also announced the third Global Commodities Forum was to be held at the Palais des Nations next week (23 to 24 January). It would look at the financialization of commodities markets, expanding producers’ access to credit and markets and increasing value addition. In this context, discussions would focus on how developing countries could get more lasting value from their exports as they became more dependent on imports of food, oil, and manufactured goods. The benefit of the meeting was that it would allow various actors in the sector to come together and find solutions, exchange experience and make recommendations, she added. Experts would be available to take questions.

Hans von Rohland for the International Labour Organization (ILO) said the annual report on "Global Employment Trends 2012," would be launched on Monday (23 January) at 10:00 in Room III. The launch would be attended by the ILO Executive Director for the Employment Sector and interview opportunities were available, he said. Answering questions he added that the deadline for nomination of candidates to replace the current ILO Director-General was 9 March, ahead of a hearing in the governing body at the end of March and an election on 28 May.

Fadéla Chaib for the World Health Organization (WHO) said the discussions of the WHO Executive Board continued today and were currently looking at public health provisions globally. She also mentioned that there had been several enquiries about the Global Estimate of Abortion 2008, which had been featured in the Lancet, and a WHO specialist on reproductive health and research was available to take questions after the briefing.