REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Corinne Momal-Vanian, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was attended by representatives of the International Organization for Migration, International Parliamentary Union, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations Children’s Fund, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, World Food Programme and the World Health Organization.

Ebola Response

Elisabeth Byrs, for the World Food Programme (WFP), introduced her colleague Denise Brown, WFP Regional Director for West Africa who briefed the press via audio link from Monrovia, Liberia, following a meeting with representatives of the new United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) and a tour of Ebola-affected countries in the region including Guinea. Despite best efforts “the [Ebola] virus was running faster than the international community”, said Ms. Brown. The concerted efforts to get the virus under control had not succeeded – it was way ahead of us, she added. It was an exceptional situation and the international community needed to take exceptional measures to collectively get in front of the virus and to stop it.

For WFP that exceptional response applied to its logistics operations. WFP was delivering food, logistical support, planes, helicopters, ships and building treatment centres but the virus was spreading exponentially, and the response had to increase exponentially as well. WFP was deploying a small army of logisticians to locations all over the country but it needed to increase its numbers and its geographical coverage and really make sure it could get to the most remote locations and help others to reach those remote locations as well.

WFP was managing a large part of the procurement, on behalf of UNMEER, procuring whatever the community needed, such as personal protection units, body bags, and the food that WFP used. On top of the planes, helicopters and ships already in place, WFP needed to bring in more to reach remote locations. It was extremely challenging due to the poor conditions of the road infrastructure, which hampered response, said Ms. Brown.

Storage was another very important issue in all three countries, said Ms. Brown, as it needed to be as close as possible to the infected and affected populations to enable WFP to access its materials. WFP was building two treatment centres in Monrovia which should be ready by the end of the month and would have 400 beds. That was something new for WFP, but it was doing it, and it was prepared to do more.

WFP’s work was only one part of the response and as we moved forward all the pieces needed to align, said Ms. Brown. For example, as treatment centres were built medical professionals needed to come and staff them, and beds equipment to treat infected people had to be delivered. Air corridors had to be opened, she added, noting that the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) last week opened an essential air corridor from Dakar to affected countries, with much credit going to the Government of Senegal who had accepted to take a lead role in the region. Protocols had been put in place and the French military was establishing infrastructure in the airport which would help WFP improve the efficiency of its response.

Regarding the food security situation, WFP knew that food prices had increased, but prices always went up at this time of year due to heavy rain making it difficult to transport food by road. Things that were produced up-country were not necessarily able to reach the major markets in town. People were running out of cash, particularly small businesses and producers. With FAO, WFP was collecting data on rising food prices and expected in a week to ten days to have a good snapshot of the food security situation. Then it would be able to say whether the food security crisis was related to the rainy season or was pegged to the health crisis. WFP was also carefully watching the market situation, because it wouldn’t want to bring food assistance at a time when farmers were harvesting their own food. WFP would consider the possibility of buying the local produce and therefore injecting cash into local communities.

It was an unprecedented situation, concluded Ms. Brown. All actors were having to adapt in order to respond. The faster we adapt the faster we’ll be able to get ahead, she said.

Elisabeth Byrs, for the World Food Programme (WFP), announced that a new operational update was issued today on WFP activities in the Ebola response such as building health centres and flying in aid workers and life-saving supplies, which was available in English and French.

Fadéla Chaib, for the World Health Organization (WHO), announced a situation report on WHO’s Ebola Response would be issued later today.

Journalists asked Ms. Chaib several questions on the Ebola response, including about the reported case of a Liberian man infected with Ebola who had travelled to Texas, and how World Health Organization was reacting to that case, particularly with regard to airport screening processes. Another journalist asked what screening measures were in place when someone left an affected country.

Ms. Chaib responded that WHO was of course following the situation. The United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was communicating about the case and carrying out that investigation and providing the details on it.

Regarding screening, Ms. Chaib explained the ‘Exit Screening’ process currently in place for people leaving a country affected by the Ebola outbreak. Individuals had to fill out a very detailed form, answering questions on what they were doing in the affected country, whether they had had any contact with someone infected with Ebola, where they had travelled inside the country. Travellers also had their temperature taken.

WHO was not recommending an international travel ban, Ms. Chaib emphasized. The only people asked not to travel were confirmed cases of Ebola or those who had had contact with Ebola. Ms. Chaib also noted that a person only became infectious when they displayed Ebola symptoms.

WHO was asking countries outside of those affected to get ready to detect Ebola cases as quickly as possible, to take measures to contain it, to isolate it, to provide the best healthcare possible for the person and to follow the contact of that person. It was a very important call, not only for affected countries and their neighbours, but for all countries. WHO also called on health workers to be ready to suspect Ebola immediately if a person had fever and a history of travel to an affected country. WHO also called on Governments to inform all citizens traveling to infected countries about the measures they should take.

A journalist asked about reports that five cases of Ebola were being diagnosed every hour in Sierra Leone. Ms. Chaib responded that the situation continued to deteriorate In Sierra Leone and there had been an increase in reported cases over the last six weeks. The last report showed 2,400 cases. Ms. Chaib said she would check whether the statistic of five cases per hour was correct, but she knew there were more cases being reported every week and it was true the situation was serious and deteriorating.

Ms. Chaib responded to a question about how effective alleged quarantine measures by the Government of Sierra Leone were. She emphasized that the measures were not quarantine, as was misreported in many media outlets. The Government of Sierra Leone decided to make a great effort to reach every household in the country over a period of three days to inform about Ebola and to detect cases. It was really an exercise in social mobilization and information, authorities were able to go to every household, discuss Ebola, reflect on the situation and what to do to contain it.

Bahrain

Rupert Colville, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said OHCHR was alarmed by the detention of human rights defender Nabeel Rajab in Bahrain on Wednesday after his return from an overseas trip during which he discussed the human rights situation in Bahrain with various interlocutors, including the United Nations Human Rights Office in Geneva.

Mr. Rajab had been accused of publicly insulting a Government institution on social media and detained until Thursday next week pending investigation. Mr. Rajab had just been released in May, after serving out a two-year sentence for ‘unauthorised gathering’ and ‘offending an official institution’

Mr. Rajab’s detention came a month after another prominent human rights defender, Maryam Al-Khawaja was arrested and charged with assaulting two police officers. She was conditionally released on 1 October and a travel ban against her was lifted. Her trial date had been set for 5 November.

The detention of high-profile human rights activists like Nabeel Rajab and Maryam Al-Khawaja sent a chilling message to other lesser-known activists of the consequences they may face for any criticism of the authorities. Mr. Rajab had expressed to United Nations human rights staff his fears that upon his return to his country, he may face reprisals for his advocacy for human rights in Bahrain. It was a very disturbing development.

OHCHR urged Bahraini authorities to immediately release Nabeel Rajab and all other individuals detained for peaceful exercise of their rights. Human rights defenders in Bahrain must be able to carry out their work without fear of reprisals, concluded Mr. Colville.

Answering a question Mr. Colville confirmed that the High Commissioner had been in touch on several occasions with the Permanent Mission of Bahrain to the United Nations Office at Geneva and there were attempts to contact the Mission yesterday.

ISIL

Rupert Colville, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said it had been brought to OHCHR’s attention that an important Armenian church was destroyed by ISIL in Deir Al-Zor in Syria in mid-September and it had seen photos of the destruction. OHCHR condemned the destruction of the church and of other religious institutions. As the media was aware from yesterday’s OHCHR report on Iraq, it was a wider pattern with ISIL, which had been blowing up mosques and shrines and damaging churches in northern Iraq. It was deplorable conduct, said Mr. Colville.

On Syria generally, Mr. Colville said the conduct of both Government forces and anti-Government armed groups continued to cause the destruction of religious, heritage and archaeological sites. Attacks by anti-Government armed groups on religious personnel and buildings including churches in Syria had also increased this year. Government forces continue to place military objectives around cultural sites and turn them into military bases. The United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria had documented specific incidents of that sort in its reports.

OHCHR was also concerned about the whereabouts of the Syriac Orthodox and Greek Orthodox Archbishops of Aleppo, Yohanna Ibrahim and Paul Yazigi, abducted in Aleppo in April 2013, and of Father Paolo Dall’Oglio, abducted in Ar Raqqah city in January. The fate of all three men remained unknown.

OHCHR stressed that religious personnel and buildings dedicated to religion enjoyed specific protection under international humanitarian law and must be respected and protected by all parties.

Mr. Colville responded to a question about the High Commissioner’s mention of takfiri doctrine in the report on human rights abuses by ISIL released yesterday. Mr. Colville explained that the Takfir was a doctrine adopted by some extremely radical religious groups. It meant they assumed the authority to declare anybody, even Muslims from other Muslim sects apart from their own, both Sunni and Shia, to be kafir – or apostate. They could make a decision to declare someone kafir because of their actions, their religious beliefs or just because they held different opinions on any number of issues.

That in effect enabled groups that followed takfiri doctrine such as ISIL or Boko Haram or others to claim that by killing people they had unilaterally decided were non-Muslims, or apostates, they were serving Islam while in reality they were simply trying to increase their power through fear and intimidation.

It explained why ISIL, in addition to committing all sorts of crimes against specific groups and individuals had also been blowing up Sunni mosques and shrines, killing Sunni men, women and children and even a number of Sunni Imams, said Mr. Colville. Essentially anyone who did not subscribe wholly to their very extreme brand of religion was at risk.

These beliefs were wholly at odds with the beliefs of other mainstream Muslims, both Sunni and Shi'a, as evidenced by the letter signed by 126 leading Muslim scholars that was sent to the ISIL leader Al-Baghdadi on 19 September. It was a very striking letter in which the scholars laid out all of the ways in which ISIL was transgressing against Islam, commented Mr. Colville. He also said the High Commissioner was drawing attention to takfiri doctrine to try to explain what it was: a very explicit extreme belief that was not subscribed to by the vast majority of Muslims. The High Commissioner said it was very important to show the brand was spread across groups and had indeed mentioned the doctrine in his first speech to the Human Rights Council, which he wrote himself.

Christophe Boulierac, for United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said a statement was released today attributable to Hanaa Singer, UNICEF Representative in Syria, in which UNICEF welcomed the release of 70 Kurdish children after 120 day of captivity.

The children were kidnapped on 29 May 2014 while traveling from their home-town of Ai’n Al Arab in the northern Syrian governorate of Aleppo to take their final school examinations, said Mr. Boulierac. In the statement Ms. Singer said: “The physical and psychological well-being of these children is currently being assessed. UNICEF remains deeply concerned about the safety of children and teachers who are still in captivity”.

Ms. Singer was also quoted as saying: “The abduction, recruitment and use of children in hostilities are grave child rights violations. In this time of conflict, it is the obligation of all Parties to ensure that Syrian children be kept out of harm’s way and grant unhindered and safe access to education.”

Answering questions from journalists about who had abducted the children, their age and how many children were still missing, Mr. Boulierac said the children were abducted by ISIL. As the media knew, it was a very tense and volatile environment and UNICEF was in the process of assessing how many children were still detained. The assessment was ongoing and Mr. Boulierac told the press he would provide more details as soon as possible.

Responding to another question, Mr. Boulierac said UNICEF knew that some children were on their way to the Turkish border and would look at coordinating with the UNICEF Turkey team, in particular to assess the psychological and physical state of the children. Their age was likely to be between 14 and 16 years, he added. It was important to consider that it was likely the children underwent mental stress due to being kidnapped and also possibly a re-education process. That stress may actually surface on their return home, so UNICEF would follow-up on the children’s needs, including possible provision of psycho-social assistance.

UNICEF called for the other detained children and teachers to be released quickly to allow them to return to their families as soon as possible and in the best condition, Mr. Boulierac concluded.

Lampedusa tragedy

Christiane Berthiaume, for the International Organization of Migration (IOM), briefed on the commemoration today of the tragic death a year ago of 368 migrants, mainly Eritreans, near the island of Lampedusa in the Mediterranean while trying to reach Italy.

IOM Director General William Lacy Swing, who met last year with the survivors of the shipwreck and heard their stories, would take part in the commemoration alongside survivors of the tragedy and relatives of the victims will return to the Island of Lampedusa for the first time to commemorate the event.

At midday, flowers would be placed at the spot where the boat sank, said Ms. Berthiaume. The Italian navy and coastguard, with others who participated in the rescue operation, would also place a gravestone on the seabed next to the shipwreck, which was about 130 feet below the surface. The commemoration would end at 7.00 p.m. tonight with the release of 368 thin paper lanterns donated by IOM into the night sky.

Ms. Berthiaume quoted Director General Swing who had said: “Last year the world watched in horror when these migrants lost their lives trying to swim to the shores of Lampedusa. A few days later, on 11 October, hundreds more people, many of them families from Syria, lost their lives in another sinking. And last month, less than a year later, another 500 migrants, including Palestinians, Syrians, Egyptians and Sudanese, met their death at sea off Malta. These tragedies appear endless.”

Director General Swing would also today attend a conference entitled “Humanitarian Channels for the Prevention of New Casualties” where he would stress the need to provide safer and legal entry opportunities to migrants entitled to international protection, which IOM saw as the best way to combat criminal organizations, smugglers and traffickers.

Ukraine

Christiane Berthiaume, for the International Organization of Migration (IOM), briefed that with winter swiftly approaching, IOM was extending its support to 4,000 more displaced people among the most vulnerable in Ukraine. The activities were currently funded by Switzerland, the United States and Norway and discussions with other partners – European Union, Germany and Sweden – were underway.

By the end of September, there were already 300,000 displaced people from Eastern Ukraine and Crimea, according to the Ukrainian State Emergency Service. IOM was targeting the most vulnerable among them in 13 regions of Ukraine hosting over 65 per cent of the displaced population.

So far, IOM had helped as many as 2,000 displaced – the majority being women and children (80 per cent) – with the distribution of relief such as hygiene items, refrigerators, ovens, microwaves, school supplies and uniforms in six regions of Ukraine, said Ms. Berthiaume. Furthermore, IOM had also been providing medicine and psycho-social support through local non-governmental organizations.

IOM long-term counter-trafficking partners, local non-governmental organizations assisting displaced people, were providing counselling and advice on the risks and the rules of safe travel. IOM had also established a migrant advice hotline and produced a special leaflet on counter-trafficking for distribution to the IDPs.

IOM expected be able to support more displaced people in seven more regions of Ukraine (Donetsk, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Ternopil, Lviv and Kyiv) at a very crucial moment, as winter is approaching with temperature sometimes falling below -20 C. Approximately 20 per cent of internally displaced people were believed to be staying in collective centres, which in many cases were old Soviet summer camps, sanatoria and dormitories with cracked wooden windows, leaking roofs and no heating, and definitely not fit for the cold weather.

IOM would reach 4,000 more internally displaced people across the 13 regions of Ukraine with the funds recently made available and would deliver blankets, warm clothing, and heating equipment to help people get through the winter. IOM would also conduct assessments among the displaced population to identify other needs, concluded Berthiaume, adding that there were more details in the press note.

Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), answered a question about the number of internally displaced people in Ukraine. Mr. Laerke said as of 26 September there were 295,156 internally displaced people in Ukraine and 341,000 had fled Ukraine to neighbouring countries.

Geneva Activities

Corinne Momal-Vanian, Director, United Nations Information Service Geneva, reminded journalists that Monday 6 October was an Official Holiday for Eid Al-Adha and the United Nations Office at Geneva would be closed.

On behalf of the World Trade Organization, Ms. Momal-Vanian announced that the meeting of the Trade Negotiations Committee originally scheduled for Monday 6 October had been postponed until further notice, at the request of delegations because of Eid Al-Adha.

Ms. Momal-Vanian highlighted that next Sunday 12 October 2014, for the first time the United Nations Office at Geneva would host a training session of the traditional Geneva run, the Course de l’Escalade, here at the Palais des Nations. The training session would start at 10 a.m. and was open to all, free to attend and no pre-registration was required.

The Human Rights Committee would open a new session at Palais Wilson in Geneva from 7 to 31 October in which it would review the reports of Sri Lanka, Burundi, Haiti, Malta, Montenegro and Israel, said Ms. Momal-Vanian.

Ms. Momal-Vanian informed journalists that the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities would close its session in a public meeting at 5.30 p.m. today, releasing concluding recommendations on the reports of the six States parties reviewed during the session: New Zealand, Mexico, Belgium, Republic of Korea, Ecuador and Denmark.

Mr. Colville noted that the High Commissioner was likely to give his first press conference on 16 October, although it was yet to be confirmed.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, would give a press conference today, Friday 3 October 2014 at 1.00 p.m. in Room III on the outcomes of the 65th session of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR)’s annual Executive Committee meeting, Ambassador Choi Seokyoung, Chairperson of UNHCR’s Executive Committee, would also be speaking.

Jemini Pandya, for the International Parliamentary Union (IPU) announced upcoming events for the IPU: a Young MPs meeting, the 131st IPU Assembly session and the World Future Policy Award ceremony. The first-ever global conference of Young MPs and parliamentarians titled “Taking Democracy on Task,” would take place next week, 10 and 11 October at the CICG. United Nations badge holders could access the conference which aimed to encourage youth involvement in political affairs around the world. Young people aged 15 to 25 made up 20 per cent of the world’s population but only two per cent of all the MPs of the world today were younger than 30 years old. That needed to be changed to engage youth in politics. Democracy was about giving a voice to all people in society but youth had long been denied a political voice, said Ms. Pandya. The Youth MP meeting would cover current youth participation in Parliament, barriers preventing young people from entering politics, how to address the misconception of young political apathy and disillusionment and how to ensure the youth had a say in the international agenda.

Ms. Pandya also announced that the one hundred and thirty-first IPU Assembly would take place at IPU headquarters in Geneva from 12 to 16 October. The main theme of the assembly was how IPU could end violence against women and how international law could be better used to protect respect for women’s rights in conflict. The agenda included the election of a new IPU president. Other proposed subjects focused on how to protect the rights of Palestinians, fighting terrorism and extremism (proposed by the United Arab Emirates and Syria), how the world could better address the sovereignty crisis (proposed by Argentina) and trafficking in persons (proposed by Morocco). Finally on 14 October the World Future Council’s annual World Future Policy Award would be presented in a ceremony, in partnership with IPU and UN Women. More information was on the IPU website.

Jean Rodriguez, for the United Nations Economic Commission, (UNECE) informed journalists that a two-day session of the UNECE Committee on Housing and Land Management would be opened on 8 October by the UNECE Executive-Secretary at 10.10 a.m. in Room XXII. During its session the Committee would discuss an Action Plan for Energy-Efficient Housing in the UNECE region it had developed, which provided a comprehensive list of possible measures to remove barriers to energy efficiency and move towards a low-energy and, ultimately, zero-energy and carbon-neutral housing sector.

On Thursday 9 October the Committee would discuss a study titled ‘Informal Settlements: Challenges and Opportunities from South-East Europe’ as the issue of informal settlements had become an increasingly important and urgent one in the UNECE region, said Mr. Rodriguez. For example in 2014, according to the study, there were approximately 2,500,000 informal buildings, constructed without building permits, in Greece; 500,000 in Albania; 350,000 in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; and 130,000 in Montenegro. The study suggested solutions to the issue, including regularization policies.

Mr. Rodriguez also announced that UNECE would celebrate World Habitat Day by calling upon all of us to live in "Greener and Smarter homes," through an exhibition on the energy efficiency of different buildings. The exhibition would be opened at 1.15 p.m. on Wednesday 8 October, and would be on display at the Palais des Nations until 10 October, providing examples of cost and energy-efficient technologies that could contribute to greener and smarter homes.

The representative of the International Labour Organization, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the United Nations Refugee Agency also attended the briefing but did not speak.
The webcast for this briefing is available here: http://webtv.un.org.