REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Ahmad Fawzi, Interim Director of the UN Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was attended by the Spokespersons for the United Nations Refugee Agency, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Health Organization, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Intellectual Property Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the International Organization for Migration, the World Trade Organization and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Yemen
Sitara Jabeen, for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said that the situation in the country was changing fast and changing for the worse by the day.
Cedric Schweizer, also for the ICRC, speaking on the phone from Sana’a, said that the situation was still very volatile, with a lot of air strikes in both the north and Sana’a the previous night. There was a lot of street fighting in Aden, with more confrontation in other cities today.
Emergency medical assistance was the priority for the ICRC. Fifty tons of medical assistance had arrived, but the challenge was delivering it across the country. Part of the assistance had been sent, but security remained a major concern.
Amid rumours of a ground intervention, it remained difficult to collect information on the internally displaced persons. Other concerns included the lack of fuel for generators in hospitals; there was no electricity in Sana’a for the previous four days. A way ought to be found to deliver fuel, at least to hospitals, to avert a catastrophe, Mr. Schweizer said. It was difficult for medicines to enter the country, as there was an embargo in place, and a solution had to be found as soon as possible. There was an urgent need to deliver food in Yemen, which could become very problematic in the weeks to come.
Mr. Schweizer, in response to a question, said that the concern was particularly over importing of medicine for chronic diseases, rather than emergency medicine. That was mainly due to the embargo on imports, as it was difficult to import pretty much anything to Yemen. Yemen was a country experiencing numerous conflicts, and the ICRC had asked for a humanitarian break so that medical patients could be transferred and humanitarian supplies brought in. The previous day, there had been a ceasefire for 30 minutes which had allowed evacuation of some of the wounded. There needed to be more ceasefires like that.
Answering a question, Mr. Schweizer gave an example of dialysis patients, who were at risk as there was not enough medicine to treat them. A way had to be found to import such medicines. On attacks against aid workers, Mr. Schweizer stated the Yemeni Red Crescent had lost three volunteers several days earlier, and it remained a serious problem. There was an effort to have a dialogue with all parties to ask them to protect medical and humanitarian personnel, and allow for the transportation of the wounded. Ambulance cars were stolen occasionally by warring parties.
Asked about the agreement with the coalition on regular airlifts, Mr. Schweizer said that there was no problem in receiving clearance from the coalition now. Plans were being made on approaching Aden by boat with a medical team on board. Medicine for chronic diseases could be uploaded on such planes, in agreement with the coalition, and it was important to ensure that such medicine could be delivered across the country. The key was to find a pipeline for bringing in and distributing such medicine.
On the numbers of the dead and the wounded, Mr. Schweizer said that it was very difficult to provide clear figures. There were rumours that there were already more than 1,000 casualties. It was too complicated to even make estimates, but human consequences were certainly big.
Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), informed that the United Nations and its humanitarian partners in Yemen today called on the international community to urgently provide USD 273.7 million to meet the life-saving and protection needs of 7.5 million people affected by the escalating conflict in Yemen.
The conflict had escalated significantly in March, spreading to many parts of the country, Mr. Laerke said. Airstrikes had now affected 18 of Yemen’s 22 governorates. In the south, conflict had continued to intensify, particularly in Aden, where widespread fighting continued, including in residential neighbourhoods. Across the country, access to people in need remained severely constrained by insecurity and logistical challenges, including difficulties in bringing emergency supplies and aid workers into Yemen and moving supplies and staff safely to affected locations. Hospitals, schools, airports and mosques had been damaged and destroyed across the country and there were reports of serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.
The conflict was taking a significant toll on civilians: at least 150,000 people had been displaced; food prices had risen by more than 40 percent in some locations; and fuel prices had quadrupled. Lack of fuel and electricity had triggered a breakdown in basic water and sanitation services.
Mr. Laerke said that the most urgent needs included medical supplies, safe drinking water, protection, food assistance as well as emergency shelter and logistical support. Humanitarian organisations urgently needed resources for mass casualty management. Physical protection of civilians was a top priority, especially for displaced people, refugees, migrants and conflict-affected communities.
Adrian Edwards, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that shelter was emerging as one of the press humanitarian needs in Yemen. The number of civilians displaced by the escalation of violence in Yemen in the previous few weeks was provisionally estimated at between 120,000 and 150,000. That figure was expected to rise significantly if violence continued, and was in addition to the 300,000 plus Yemenis already displaced by previous violence. Along with food and clean water and sanitation, shelter was identified as one of the greatest needs.
The Flash Appeal for Yemen launched today was seeking USD 25.4 million for improving shelter and delivering relief items for 250,000 people. Across Yemen, the security situation continued to deteriorate, with 18 out of 22 governorates now affected. The scarcity of food, water and fuel was triggering more displacements as well as ongoing violence. Reports from Sana’a spoke of an increasingly distraught population; the price of food had doubled, fuel prices were soaring, electricity supplies had dwindled, and many had lost family members to air strikes or conflict.
Mr. Edwards said that, despite the volatile situation, the UNHCR and its partners were providing a number of services in Sana’a as well as in Aden and in the Kharaz refugee camp. That included medical care to vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers. UNHCR also provided counselling and legal aid through its partners, and operated a number of around-the-clock telephone hotlines to answer questions from refugees and asylum seekers, handle requests for aid and refer people to services.
Meanwhile, a steady flow of people continued to flee Yemen by boat for the Horn of Africa, with some 1,518 people arriving to Djibouti and Somalia on boats over the previous few weeks.
Tarik Jašarević, for the World Health Organization (WHO), stated that the main challenges were connected to treating casualties, especially in the South, the shortage of fuel or electricity for hospitals, and shortage of medicines in locals markets. He added that some medicines for chronic diseases were much more difficult to purchase locally.
Speaking about numbers and according to the latest figures by the WHO, since 19 March until 14 April, there had been 767 deaths and 2,906 wounded people. Those numbers were the ones reported by health facilities and did not necessarily mean the overall total.
Some WHO staff were on the ground in Yemen, in five cities, and were working with the people from Ministry of Health and health providers to distribute what had been prepositioned and what they had managed to get in the country.
The previous day, a plane with 70 tons of medical supplies, mainly with surgical supplies, had landed in Sana’a and would help to cover around 41,000 beneficiaries.
The WHO was looking to raise USD 25.2 million to meet humanitarian health needs in Yemen.
Answering a question about the problems of getting medicines to Yemen, Mr. Jašarević said that the first problem was to get medical supplies in the country and the second was to know how to distribute them in an efficient way in the infected area.
Christophe Boulierac, for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said that the escalating conflict was expected to increase the problems of nutrition for children under five and to increase the nutrition vulnerability of children and pregnant and lactating women. He reminded that the rise of prices and the lack of fuel was gravely impacting to ability of Yemenis to access clean drinking water. Hygiene related problems were very important, with reports of large amounts of contaminated waters which need to be removed.
Mr. Boulierac reminded about the chronical vulnerability of children in Yemen before the current conflict. He said, for instance, that Yemen was ranked 50th out of 194 countries in terms of highest “under 5 mortality rate” and that a third of babies born were underweight. In 2012, only 55 percent of the population had access to improved drinking water and 53 percent had access to adequate sanitation. In 2014, a third of children between 6 and 11 had been out of school. Those indicators were a reminder that children in Yemen had already been in a difficult situation before the conflict.
Responding a question regarding the figures of malnutrition, Mr. Boulierac said that 160,000 children were in need of urgent therapeutic treatment for malnutrition.
On whether there were concerns about the possible ground intervention, Mr. Laerke said that OCHA did not comment on military operations on the ground. The conflict was clearly making the humanitarian situation more difficult. OCHA and its humanitarian partners did not keep track of who was in charge of certain ports in the country.
Ravina Shamdasani, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said that the confirmed civilian death toll was 405, including 86 children. The total number of injured civilians stood at 785.
Ukraine
Ms. Shamdasani stated that the OHCHR was becoming increasingly worried that the dire human rights situation in areas of the east of Ukraine was likely to deteriorate further as a result of breaches in the ceasefire. There were reports of intensification of fighting, especially in the vicinity of the Donetsk airport and near the village of Shyrokine in the Donetsk region, where heavy weapons, including mortars, artillery and tanks were reportedly extensively used - in violation of provisions of the Minsk Agreement.
In one day alone, on 13 April, the Ukrainian armed forces had reported six servicemen killed and 12 wounded, while the self-proclaimed ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ and self-proclaimed ‘Luhansk people’s republic’ had claimed four of their fighters had been killed and 17 wounded. OHCHR feared a further escalation of hostilities.
Since April 2014, at least 6,116 people, both military personnel and civilians, had been killed and 15,474 wounded. Those figures were estimates, up to 14 April 2015, and the actual number of casualties could be considerably higher. Hundreds of people remained missing and hundreds of bodies were still pending recovery and/or identification.
Ms. Shamdasani said that civilians continued to suffer seriously as a result of the protracted conflict. So far, in 2015 alone, about 400 civilians had been killed as a result of indiscriminate shelling of residential areas and because of landmines and unexploded ordnance, both in Government-controlled territories and in territories controlled by armed groups.
The killings in Kyiv of a former parliamentarian, Oleh Kalashnikov, and of two journalists, Oles Buzyna and Serhiy Sukhobok, were also very disturbing and had to result in a swift, independent and credible investigation shedding light on those crimes and ensuring justice and accountability for those responsible.
The conflict continued to severely affect the daily life of the population, both in conflict-affected zones and in the rest of Ukraine. OHCHR urged all parties to comply at all times with international humanitarian law and human rights law and respect the provisions contained in the Minsk Agreement.
Asked to describe the humanitarian situation in Ukraine at the moment, Ms. Shamdasani said that the reports from the ground showed that the situation was very difficult, with people having difficulties to access basic necessities.
On who was mainly to blame for the breakdown of the ceasefire agreement, Ms. Shamdasani said that the OHCHR had monitors on the ground in Ukraine, but was not in a position to attribute responsibility at this stage.
In response to a question asked about the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, Mr. Laerke referred to OCHA's latest situation report, available at: http://bit.ly/1CT42Lm.
Central African Republic
Mr. Laerke stated that explained that the Central African Republic remained one of OCHA’s top three emergencies for the humanitarian community. The Government had announced that at the end of May they would close the site close to the airport just outside of Bangui, called Boko Airport, which was a massive site for internally displaced persons, after the flare up of the violence at the end of 2013 and which had hosted around 100,000 people at the peak of the crisis. The site currently hosted 18,300 IDPs, most of them from Bangui. Many had stated that they would like to go back home so the humanitarian community was supporting this return.
OCHA could not provide information on whether the elections would go ahead in 2015 as planned.
Mediterranean deaths
Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that the figures on this week’s tragedy in the Mediterranean were been constantly updated, but there was a possibility that the figure would go up to 450 deaths. It had been an extraordinary period of traffic in from North Africa, more specifically Libya, to the Italian waters with more than 11,000 migrants having been rescued in the previous seven days. Considering the testimony of survivors that the IOM staff was trying to verify, the number of deaths could be ten times higher than in 2014.
The director of the IOM Coordination Office for the Mediterranean stated that the Italian maritime forces were doing an incredible work and were trying to rescue as many people as possible. At the same time, he added that the situation was unacceptable and search and rescue efforts had to be more comprehensive and supported by the European Union and its Member States.
As of 16 April, the Italian Coast Guard, the Italian Navy and several commercial ships had come to the rescue of approximately 10,000 migrants in the six days since 10 April. As of 17 April, the total number of migrants reaching the Italian coasts was 21,191 since 1 January 2015, according to the IOM estimate. After the rescue operations at sea, the migrants had been brought to the ports of Lampedusa, Augusta, Trapani, Messina, Porto Empedocle, Agrigento (Sicily), Reggio Calabria (Calabria) and Taranto (Apulia).
This week, the IOM reported that around 400 migrants had lost their lives at sea when a wooden fishing boat carrying about 550 people capsized. It was reported by survivors of the shipwreck that men on deck had become restless and started moving about when they had seen a rescue boat approaching them. An estimated third of the passengers on board had been women and children who, at the moment of the shipwreck, had been staying in the hull of the boat to be better protected from the cold. When the boat capsized, the hull was flooded with water and it is presumed that they all died.
Mr. Millman specified that the majority of incoming migrants appeared to be from Sub-Saharan Africa, Eritrea, Somalia and Syria and were, for the most part, rescued in international waters. Migrants confirmed that they were gathered by smugglers in Libya in what they call “connection houses,” and that they had to wait there for up to a month. They report being systematically subjected to violence and abuse at the hands of smugglers.
Mr. Edwards stated that earlier this morning, an Italian naval vessel had docked in Lampedusa carrying 70 refugees saved from a deflated dinghy, and in state of severe shock. They had told UNHCR staff that they had been victims of a cooking gas explosion at a holding centre run by smugglers in Libya, and that they had been forced onto the dinghy with their wounds untreated. They were mostly from Eritrea and Somalia.
This latest incident involving ruthless human smugglers showed the urgent need to create safe legal alternatives so that refugees did not need to put their lives at risk in this way. So far in 2015, over 35,000 refugees and migrants had crossed the Mediterranean Sea, two thirds of whom had landed in Italy. Some 950 person had been reported dead or missing at sea. In 2014, around 220,000 refugees and migrants had crossed the Mediterranean, and Italy alone had received over 170,000.
UNHCR had been advocating for a comprehensive and urgent response from the European Union and its Member States to deal with the challenges posed by the thousands of refugees and migrants who risked their lives trying to reach Europe each year. UNHCR had shared a number of specific proposals in that regard.
Asked about the possible set-up of so-called welcome centres in North Africa to help refugees fill in visa applications, Mr. Millman said that the conditions in Libya at the moment would not allow for such a thing. IOM supported anything that would allow people to find alternatives to crossing the sea in unsafe boats. Once Libya stabilized, there would not be so many people wanting to cross on such vessels. Mr. Edwards added that, if one wanted to establish facilities of that kind, it should be a processing rather than a detention centre.
On whether it could be confirmed that Muslim migrants had thrown Christian migrants overboard in the latest incident, Mr. Edwards said that they did not have specific confirmation of that. Present search and rescue capacities were not up to the scale of the problem. Mr. Millman also did not have any information on the alleged case of the fight between Muslims and Christians on the boat. There were certainly religiously mixed groups on those boats, he added, but it was uncommon to hear about sectarian violence. Recent example of migrants being saved from the sea and subsequently dying of hypothermia proved once again the inadequacy of the existing operation.
Mr. Edwards, responding to a question, said that some of the boats were not operated by professionals, but often left in the hands of the passengers themselves, with boats left in the water to drift until they were found. Mr. Millman added that many of those migrants relied on agents, the so-called “coyotes”, and someone from among the migrants would be put in charge of operating a vessel, as a way of repaying their debts. There were no confirmed stories of migrants being pushed over board by traffickers.
Burundi
Mr. Edwards said that the pre-election violence and intimidation in Burundi had triggered a recent rise in the number of people seeking asylum in neighbouring Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In all, more than 8,000 Burundians had sought refuge in those two countries over the previous two weeks. In Rwanda, the main arrivals had been from Kirundo Province in Burundi’s north; more than 60 percent were children.
Mounting violence and insecurity were cited as the reason for fleeing. The Burundians had reported incidents of harassment, disappearance of family members who had been associated with the political opposition. People also spoke of alleged forced recruitment by the “Imbonerakure” military youth group, which had been accused of politically motivated violence.
The asylum-seekers were now being hosted in two reception centres in Nyanza and Bugesera Districts, in southern Rwanda. Because of the proximity of the centres to the Burundian border, UNHCR and the Government of Rwanda were identifying a potential site for a new camp where they could be relocated. UNHCR and its partners had been providing basic assistance in the reception centres.
Mr. Edwards specified that Rwanda was already hosting more than 74,000 refugees, mostly from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo. In the DRC itself, more than 1,000 Burundian asylum-seekers had arrived in South Kivu so far this month.
On who would monitor the elections in Burundi, and who was on the ground to protect the people, Mr. Edwards replied that election monitoring would not be something the UNHCR was normally involved with. UNHCR was providing support to people arriving to the reception centres in Rwanda, and was working together with the Government of Rwanda to identify potential new sites, due to the number of people arriving. It was hard to keep up with the pace of people arriving to Rwanda over the previous few weeks.
Asked whether the recent message from the High Commissioner for Human Rights had been heard in Burundi and Rwanda, Ms. Shamdasani said that there was a field office of the OHCHR in Burundi, and the office was following up on the strong messages with the authorities.
South Africa
Mr. Edwards said that, in South Africa, xenophobic attacks had killed six persons over the previous three weeks. UNHCR welcomed Government efforts to contain a wave of xenophobia in South Africa but was still extremely concerned about the attacks, which had also displaced more than 5,000 foreigners. Those uprooted included refugees and asylum-seekers.
The attacks in KwaZulu-Natal province had begun in late March following an apparent labour dispute involving South African and foreign workers. Those latest population movements came on top of displacement that had taken place in January as a result of similar incidents in Soweto, near Johannesburg in Gauteng province.
South Africa's President Jacob Zuma had told parliamentarians on 16 April that refugees and asylum-seekers would be accorded support in line with international law and protocols, with the support of the UNHCR.
Hurricane Committee meeting
Clare Nullis, for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), informed that the Hurricane Committee met all week in Costa Rica. The Committee was meeting to review the 2014 hurricane season in the Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific Basins, and to prepare for the forthcoming season that would start at the end of May. During the meeting, the main focus had been to try to improve warnings of hurricane related hazards such as storm surges and coastal flooding. They discussed how the United States National Hurricane Center, which acted as the original specialized meteorological center, could start to roll out storm surges warnings for other members in the region.
During the session, the Committee also considered the retirement of hurricane names from the list if they were considered inappropriate, like the name “Isis”.
Geneva activities
Mr. Fawzi informed that the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities would hold a closing meeting this afternoon when it would issue its concluding observations and recommendations on the seven country reports it had considered since opening the session on 25 March. A round-up release would be issued this evening. Countries considered were Germany, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Turkmenistan, the Dominican Republic, Mongolia, and the Cook Islands.
The Committee against Torture would be holding a four-week session starting on 20 April to consider the reports of eight countries: New Zealand, Congo, Romania, Luxembourg, Spain, Serbia, Colombia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. A background release had been distributed the previous day.
Mr. Fawzi also informed that the Committee on the Rights of Migrant Workers was meeting in private until the close of the session on 24 April, after having considered, this week, the reports of Kyrgyzstan, Peru and Uganda.
Edward Harris, for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), informed that the World IP Day was coming on 26 April, with music being this year’s theme. The motto was “Get Up, Stand Up. For Music”. Member States would organize scores of events around the world, which could be seen on WIPO’s Facebook page. On 21 April, at 5 p.m, several famed musicians from around the world will provide their views on the future of music. “It’s Always Rock and Roll” photo exhibition would be exhibited in the WIPO New Building Lobby from 6:30 p.m. on 21 April. A film festival would also be organized at the Cinémas du Grütli would be organized between 23 and 26 April.
Mr. Jašarević announced that the following week, WHO would organize two events regarding the World Malaria Day of 25 April and the World Immunization Week from 24 to 30April.
The first meeting would be on 22 April at 10:30 a.m, in Press Room I, where the WHO would inform about the progress towards the global vaccination targets for this year. WHO had been calling for new efforts to get progress back on course for the immunization targets.
WHO had already sent you an invitation to the journalists the previous week about a panel discussion and a movie screening at WHO from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on 23 April, on the occasion of the World Musician Week. That panel discussion would be focused on polio eradication.
Mr. Jašarević also informed that on 23April at 10:30 in Press Room I, there would be a press briefing on the occasion of the Malaria Day.
Melissa Begag, for the World Trade Organization (WTO), informed that on 20 April there would be Services negotiations at 10 a.m. On 21 April, the Committee on Import Licensing would meet at 10 a.m, and on 22 April the Dispute Settlement Body would hold a meeting at 10 a.m. The Committee on Market Access would meet at 3 p.m. on 23 April, while Agriculture negotiations would be held at 10 a.m. on 24 April.
Ms. Nullis also announced that a fact-finding mission would be sent to Vanuatu the following week. As the cyclone which had hit Vanuatu had been forecasted well in advance and the warnings had been really good, the team would look at how they could improve the warnings and the understanding of those warnings.
Ms. Nullis also announced that the Club Diplomatique de Genève would organize an event on “Climate Change: Reactions of the International Community”. It would be held at the WMO headquarters and the speakers would be WMO Secretary General Michel Jarraud, WHO Director General Margaret Chan, and the Permanent Representative of France to the UN in Geneva Nicolas Niemtchinow.
Finally, Ms. Nullis made an announcement for the South Asian Climate Outlook Forum (the body meeting every year to issue the predictions for the Indian monsoons), which would take place in Dhaka the following week. They would be also inviting water managers to the event to get the users to understand how to use the predictions.
Catherine Huissoud, for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), announced the publication of a new book on the commodity dependence of 135 developing countries. 30 indicators measuring the imports and exports of commodities for each country helped evaluate their state of dependence. The data were from 2012-2013 and allowed make comparison between countries. The publication would be made available for journalists in Press Room 1 and experts from the Special Unit on Commodities would be present to answer questions.
Ms. Huissoud also made an announcement on the seventh session of the Commission on Investments, which would take place on 20-24 April, and during which the Commission would present its work to member States. On the second day of this session, the Commission would make a review of the Investment policy of Sudan and the DRC.