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 High Commissioner for Refugees, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the Human Rights Council, the Economic Commission on Europe, the International Organization for Migration, the World Trade Organization and the World Health Organization.

Syria

Tarik Jasarevic for the World Health Organization (WHO) said his organization was deeply concerned by the plight of the civilian population in affected areas and was watching information from partners with the greatest concern, in particular disturbing videos claiming patients were tortured inside hospitals. On this, he reiterated the position that health facilities must be treated as neutral premises and not used by one side or the other in any type of conflict.

In terms of the Syria situation the main challenges faced by WHO were getting unhindered access to the population in need, the limited capacity of NGOs, and the limited presence of international and national humanitarian organizations, he explained. A rapid response team of an Emergency Coordinator and a Public Health Officer had been deployed to reinforce coordination and health information management and dissemination and further staff would be deployed to ensure continuity for these critical functions.

It was very difficult to assess needs and provide an independent evaluation in order to get a clear overview of the situation and the needs on the ground. However, all stakeholders, including the Ministry of Health, local NGOs and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) reported a need for strengthening and restoration of the trauma management capacity, addressing the lack of medicines and supplies, ensuring the on-going provision of basic health services, and strengthening the health workforce in some areas.

In order to understand the impact of the on-going crisis more adequately and assist the health system to deliver services more effectively, WHO and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) were planning to conduct a rapid health sector needs assessment regarding the situation of the health facilities and actual needs in 4 areas impacted by the crisis: Homs, Dara'a, Der Ezzour and Rural Damascus. The survey would start next week and would be conducted by Syrian medical students and SARC volunteers. The results would be analysed by a technical committee composed of most of the agencies of the health sector. The first of these inter-agency Health Sector Coordination meetings took place on March 7 and they would now take place on a weekly basis.

Since the beginning of the crisis, the WHO Country Office in Syria was able to provide ambulances and life-saving medical equipment such as ventilators, incubators for newborn babies and medical supplies for surgical operations and trauma care, he said.

Answering questions he said the survey had been negotiated with the Ministry of Health and so it was hoped that the Syrian medical students taking part would be able to get access. The findings of the report would be used to help with a more comprehensive needs assessment once access improved.

Elisabeth Byrs for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that the figure of 1.5 million Syrians used for contingency planning for a potential humanitarian response came from World Food Programme figures compiled before the crisis. The actual number of beneficiaries was to depend on a future needs assessment, she said.

Somalia

Tarik Jasarevic for the World Health Organization (WHO) gave an update on a recent visit by the WHO to a hospital in Baidoa, Somalia, which was seen as a frontline facility as fighting continued in the area. During the visit an operating theatre was installed and supplies to treat injured patients were delivered. Funding was also provided for one surgeon and two nurses in the hospital, while training in emergency procedures and obstetric care was also to be provided, he said.

Ahead of the rainy season, cases of acute watery diarrhea and cholera were expected to rise quickly, he explained, and the WHO was urging partners to step up health education and procedures such as water chlorination. Fixed oral rehydration centres were also encouraged.

Human Rights Council

Ms. Momal-Vanian announced a press conference this afternoon (9 March) at 13:45 (with copy under embargo until 15:00) in Room III on the report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Libya which had already been made available to the press online. The speaker was the Chairman of the Commission of Inquiry on Libya.

Rolando Gomez said the Council’s schedule today (9 March) included a general debate on the third item of the session, the promotion and protection of all human rights. This was to include three and a half hours of speeches, and input from 20 states and 65 NGOs, he said, and would last all morning and into next week if needed. However, the presentation of the report from the Commission of Inquiry on Libya would still certainly start at 15:00.

Monday next week saw three interactive dialogues at the beginning of the country-specific mandate holder presentations, starting with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, he said, followed by Myanmar and Iran. The presentation of the Commission of Inquiry report on Syria was to then start at 15:00 and would be followed by a briefing for the press.

Mali

Elisabeth Byrs for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said more than 172,000 people had now been displaced by conflict in Mali and aid agencies in northern countries were trying to coordinate field operations.

An inter-agency mission traveled to Gao on March 3 and met with displaced people from Menaka who asked for food, shelter, health services, she said. Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) funding of $ 2.6 million for WFP's programs in Mali had been approved as part of the answer to the food and nutrition crisis in the Sahel and this added to the CERF funding of $1 million awarded on Feb. 24 for humanitarian flights, she explained.

Uganda

Adrian Edwards for the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said more than 3,000 Congolese civilians had fled into Uganda from Democratic Republic of the Congo's North Kivu province since the beginning of this year and with continued fighting in North Kivu UNHCR was concerned that more people will be forced to flee.

Those arriving in Uganda were mostly farming people, and his agency had heard accounts of abductions, looting, harassment, and rape. Some of the refugees told UNHCR staff that following nightly attacks by armed men, whole villages had fled, he said. In Kisoro, UNHCR staff heard from a Congolese man who described how he was sexually assaulted by several armed men after being forced to witness his wife being gang raped. His daughter, who resisted, was killed by the same group.

UNHCR now fears that further deterioration of the security situation will bring to a halt the tripartite process initiated by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and UNHCR in October 2010 to pave the way for the voluntary return of Congolese refugees living in Uganda, he explained. When the tripartite agreement was signed, 32,000 out of the 81,000 Congolese refugees living in Uganda had expressed a wish to return home. More than 7,000 returned spontaneously to DRC in 2010 and 2011 but renewed violence was forcing many of them back to Uganda.

Yemen

Adrian Edwards for the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said Yemen was facing a new wave of internal displacement as tens of thousands of civilians fled tribal clashes in the north and renewed fighting between government troops and militant groups in the south.

The situation was particularly difficult in Haradh governorate north of the capital Sana'a where, according to Yemeni authorities, sporadic tribal clashes have displaced some 52,000 people over the past three months. This was in addition to the estimated 314,000 Yemenis already displaced in the north and unable to return to their homes in Sa'ada governorate.

Despite the peace agreement signed between the Yemeni government and Al-Houtis in June 2010, the situation in northern Yemen remained volatile, he said, and insecurity hindered large-scale return and severely limited humanitarian access. Two camps for displaced Yemenis in the north were still operating, he added, and were providing assistance to internally displaced people (IDPs) in the camps and in host communities.

Meanwhile, in the south, at least 1,800 people had been displaced in the last two weeks by the latest escalation in fighting between government troops and militants in Abyan governorate. The displaced from the town of Ja'ar now joined more than 150,000 IDPs in the south. This included virtually the entire populations of the towns of Zinjibar, Khanfar and Al-Kud, displaced since the beginning of the conflict last May.

Cholera in Haiti

Tarik Jasarevic for the World Health Organization (WHO) was asked about comments from President Bill Clinton that cholera was probably brought to Haiti by peacekeepers from Nepal and replied that the independent panel tasked with investigating this allegation some months ago found no evidence that this was true. Ms. Momal-Vanian clarified that the report of the Independent Panel of Experts said the outbreak was caused by a confluence of factors.

She added that the Secretary-General had established a task force to study the findings by the Panel. She quoted the Spokesperson in New York who had noted that President Clinton “emphasized the importance of focusing on improving Haiti’s sanitation system” and the fact that the United Nations and others were working hard to do this.

IOM donation

Christopher Lowenstein-Lom for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced a $26.7 million donation by the Japanese government to support IOM programmes in Afghanistan (which was to receive $10 million) and the Horn of Africa (which was to receive $12.7 million) in 2012.

Geneva activities

Ms Momal-Vanian said the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination finished its work today with the closing session scheduled for this afternoon (9 March) from 15:00, or possibly earlier. The Committee must make public its concluding observations of the 11 reports reviewed, she explained, but this may not happen until the beginning of next week. In any event, an announcement will be published later today showing the website where the concluding observations were published once they were authorized for publication. The Committee had considered reports from Mexico, Israel, Kuwait, Portugal, Vietnam, Canada, Turkmenistan, Laos, Qatar, Jordan and Italy.

The Conference on Disarmament held its next public meeting next Tuesday.

On Monday (12 March) at 11:00 in Press Room 1 there was a press conference by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WUPO) on International Trademark & Design systems in 2011, she continued. The speaker was the WIPO Director General. Finally, also on Monday (12 March) at 15:00 in Press Room 1 was a press conference on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, she announced. The speaker was the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Jean Rodriguez for the Economic Commission on Europe (ECE) announced the nomination of a new ECE Executive Secretary, Mr. Sven Alkalaj, a national of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The nominee had previously served Minister of Foreign Affairs of his country and Ambassador in Washington and Brussels, he said.

He also gave details of the 6th World Water Forum happening next week (12-17 March) in Marseille saying it was the principle event discussing water in the world, with 25,000 participants from all sectors including governments, NGOs, local authorities and other partners. The meeting sought to find practical solutions to the problems of water supply and provision, and would be attended by the current ECE Executive Secretary, national ministers and two European Union commissioners. It was not a United Nations conference, he explained, but was an essential forum of discussions on water-related issues.

Ankai Xu for the World Trade Organization (WTO) said meetings next week included a trade policy review for Nepal starting on Tuesday (and Thursday) at 10:00. Also on Thursday was a Technology Transfer Working Group at 10:00 and Laos membership negotiations were held on Friday starting at the same time. The Director-General, meanwhile, would on Wednesday attend the press conference of the International Chamber of Commerce Symposium in Geneva and from Thursday (15 March) to Saturday (17 March) be in Tokyo, Japan, to meet with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, and other Japanese officials. He was to then speak at the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA).