REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Ahmad Fawzi, Director, a.i, of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was attended by the spokespersons for the International Labour Organization, the International Organization for Migration, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization.

Activities of the Secretary-General

Ahmad Fawzi, Director, a.i, of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, said United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was currently traveling in Europe. The Secretary-General was in Ireland today, from where he would travel to Brussels, Belgium. There the Secretary-General would meet with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday, as well as the commissioners for migration and international development. The Secretary-General would also meet with European Council President Donald Tusk. Mr. Fawzi added that he had no update on the status of the Geneva Consultations on Yemen and he would share any information received with the press as soon as possible.

Suicide attacks in Nigeria

Christophe Boulierac, for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said UNICEF was very concerned by an alarming spike in suicide attacks involving women and girls in north-east Nigeria, a trend which began in 2014 but had become aggravated in 2015. He introduced Laurent Dutordoir, a UNICEF child protection specialist based in Abuja, Nigeria who briefed the press via the phone.

Laurent Dutordoir, for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), speaking by phone, said a sharp increase in the number of suicide bombings had been observed on the ground since the start of the year. Since the beginning of 2014, UNICEF staff had recorded 53 incidents of suicide attacks which often featured multiple suicide bombers or a suicide bomber and a gunman. The number of attacks recorded so far this year had already surpassed the total number of suicide attacks carried out in 2014, said Mr. Dutordoir. In 2014 there were 26 incidents of suicide attacks recorded but during the first five months of 2015, 27 incidents had been recorded (until mid-May). The large majority of those attacks took place in Borno and Yobe states, but had also take place outside the combat zones in Kano and Gombe states.

At least 75 per cent of the suicide attacks were strongly indicated to have been carried out by women and children. UNICEF had documented nine cases from 2014 and 2015 in which children aged between seven and 17 years of age were used as child suicide bombers. All of them were girls, said Mr. Dutordoir. The first reports received by UNICEF dated from July 2014, indicating it was a fairly recent trend, and there were four documented cases of child suicide bombers that year. Since the beginning of 2015 UNICEF had already documented five cases of girls being used as suicide bombers in Borno and Yobe states.

Mr. Dutordoir said it was very important to note that children were not instigating the attacks but that they were being used, and sometimes without their knowledge. The profile of the children was not necessarily one of children who had been abducted but included children who had been displaced, separated from their families, and who lacked protection which rendered them vulnerable to exploitation by armed groups.

UNICEF estimated the 1.3 million people displaced within Nigeria as a result of the conflict included 743,000 children, which meant that more than half of displaced people in Nigeria were children under 18 years of age. The number of unaccompanied and separated children was estimated to be as high as 10,000. UNICEF staff were travelling into the field on a weekly basis and were working with local partners on the ground to reach those children, both in internally-displaced persons camps and in informal settings. UNICEF was providing psychosocial support to 35,000 children in north-east Nigeria, it was running a Safe Schools Initiative within existing schools by providing remedial education to children who had been displaced, and it was also providing basic medical care and vaccinations.

Responding to a question about the targets of suicide attacks, Mr. Dutordoir said the targets were mainly populated places such as markets or bus stations, but had included schools. Asked for the reasons behind the alarming spike, Mr. Dutordoir replied that the tactics of the armed group had shifted from hit-and-run attacks in populated and crowded areas targeting specific locations in 2014, to take-and-hold attacks capturing territories in early 2015, to more opportunistic attacks and attempts to recapture lost territory since March 2015. The modus operandi of the armed groups regarding women and girls had not changed but such tactics were on the increase.

A journalist asked about the fate of 200 women and girls released a month ago by Boko Haram, who had since been confined by the military and whether perhaps they had been being prepared to carry out suicide bombings themselves. Mr. Dutordoir responded that UNICEF was aware of a group of women and children, totaling 275 persons, who were rescued from Borno state and were initially brought by the Government and security forces to an IDP camp in Adamawa State. The security forces recently relocated those persons from the IDP camp in Adamawa State to another undisclosed location. UNICEF had not been involved in the latest transfer and was, through its ongoing dialogue with the Government and security agencies, in the process of finding out how it could support those persons and gain access to them. The Government had acknowledged that those persons were seen as victims, not as perpetrators.

Burundian Refugees in Tanzania

Adrian Edwards, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said the cholera epidemic deaths among Burundian refugees in Tanzania, as well as members of the local population, has halted and the number of new cases has sharply decreased. In western Tanzania’s Lake Tanganyika area, containment measures to deal with a cholera epidemic that has claimed some 30 lives among refugees and the local community appeared to be working, with no new deaths reported since last Thursday.

A death that last week was reported as being cholera had now been reclassified as the cause of death was not diarrhoea, meaning that the total cholera death toll had been revised downwards by one to 30. In all, 4,408 cases had so far been reported but the number of new cases daily had fallen to around 100 from a peak of 915 on 18 May. The reduction in the reported cases was largely due to the concerted approach to contain the spread of the outbreak through intensified measures to promote hygiene. For now, the situation was improving, but resolving it fully may take several weeks.

UNHCR, WHO and their partners were working closely with the Tanzanian health authorities to ensure the treatment of patients and to strengthen prevention measures, including improved access to safe water and sanitation. A Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) team was running the Cholera Treatment Centres in Kagunga and supporting other partners in Kigoma. The health programme at the Nyarugusu refugee camp was being run by the Tanzanian Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières was setting up the Cholera Treatment Centre.

The village of Kagunga, one of the epicentres for the outbreak and which until only recently was hosting tens of thousands of people, had now been almost emptied of refugees. Around 30,000 people there had been moved to the Nyarugusu refugee camp and UNHCR hoped to complete the movements of the remaining few thousand refugees either today or tomorrow. Arrangements had begun for massive decontamination.

At the Tanganyika stadium in Kigoma, another epicentre, efforts to improve the water and sanitation situations had also been showing positive results with fewer critical cases appearing. Currently, at both Kagunga and in Kigoma, there was still a shortage of bed nets and malaria was still a concern. In Nyarugusu, all refugees were undergoing vaccination programmes for childhood illnesses and a nutritional assessment, and the camp’s capacity was being expanded.

Across the region the outflow of refugees from Burundi had not stopped but rates were down to 100 arrivals per day in each of the main receiving countries. There were at present more than 90,000 Burundian refugees in the region, including 10,000 from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 47,000 in Tanzania, 28,000 in Rwanda and 5,500 in Uganda, concluded Mr. Edwards.

Christian Lindmeier for the World Health Organization (WHO), introduced the World Health Organization’s representative to Tanzania Dr. Rufaro Chatora, who had just returned from his visit to Kangunga, Tanganyika stadium and the Nyarugusu refugee camp.

Dr Rufaro Chatora, for the World Health Organization (WHO) briefing by phone, said the challenge faced in western Tanzania was ongoing, where more than 4,400 cases of suspected or recorded cholera were known and 51 people had died. The emergency was caused by large population movement, weak water supply and poor sanitation, and strained health services.

Despite significant improvements over the last few days, the crisis remained dire and most of the refugees had now moved to the Nyarugusu refugee camp where the sudden increases in population had resulted in very limited access to clean water, poor sanitation and inadequate access basic health care services. Other health needs still existed, such as the need to prevent and treat malaria and day-to-day health conditions, said Dr. Chatora, noting that there had been a total of 72 births, of which 17 occurred in Kangunga.

Dr Chatora said there was a need to further strengthen coordination mechanisms to scale-up the provision of health care services and basic shelter, food, water and protection services to the high risk populations. The WHO was working tirelessly in partnership with the Tanzanian health authorities as well as United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations and civil society partners to treat the sick, provide safe and clean water and monitor the three main sites and local communities.

WHO, through the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOHSW), had mobilized the deployment of 12 health experts to support cholera case management in Kagunga and Tanganyika Stadium Cholera Treatment Centres, and provided medicines and supplies to all three sites to treat more than 60,000 people for cholera, acute watery diarrhoea, and common diseases like malaria for three months. WHO had also deployed international experts in Outbreak and Disaster Management, Surveillance and Data Management.

The priority in the coming days was to step up the response, including intensifying treatment and prevention of cholera, ensuring adequate supply of medicines and supplies, and improving access to clean water. There was a need for continued coordination and management of people who were presenting symptoms, for disposable waste facilities and for safe water supplies. Once it had taken stock of all medical commodities WHO would be able to assess the gap for medical supplies, concluded Dr. Chatora.

Responding to a question about how cholera on the Burundi side was being treated Dr. Chatora said colleagues in Burundi had confirmed there was cholera there but for now he and his teams were unable to cross the border.

Mr. Fawzi noted that the United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office in Kigali had confirmed that Rwanda had received US$7.9 million from the United Nations emergency relief fund CERF to assist it with supporting Burundian refugees.

Mali

Elisabeth Byrs, for the World Food Programme (WFP), reported that WFP had on Saturday began distributing 13 metric tons of high energy cereal bars and a month’s supply of food rations to approximately 29,000 people who had been displaced by recent violence in northern Mali.

More than 31,000 people had been forced to flee their homes over the past two weeks, mostly in the Timbuktu region, following an escalation of attacks by armed groups. Ms Byrs said the newly displaced people in the Timbuktu region were finding refuge in the towns of Tonka, Goundam and Gourma Rharous in the north of Mali, staying in temporary shelters, camping, or staying with host families.

The displaced people were in urgent need of water, food, other relief items and shelter but humanitarian assistance for vulnerable populations was hampered by the fighting in northern Mali, which was reducing the already limited humanitarian space. Deliveries of food assistance by WFP and partners had been further disrupted because river and road transportation had been severely affected by the fighting.

The already difficult situation in Mali was being exacerbated as over three million people struggled to find enough food to eat, and host communities braced themselves to face a harsh lean season. If the situation would continue to deteriorate, WFP expected that more people would be in need of life-saving food assistance, said Ms. Byrs, and was urgently appealing for an additional $64 million in funding to help it continue to meet the growing needs.

Migrants in South-East Asian Boat Crisis

Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), announced that IOM had launched a $26 million appeal to assist migrants in the South East Asian Boat Crisis. IOM believed that the amount would be sufficient to assist up to 10,000 people affected by the migrant crisis in the Andaman Sea.

IOM staff in the field had noted that over the past three weeks, thousands of victims of people smuggling had landed in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand after enduring horrific voyages of up to four months duration. Thousands of economic migrants from Bangladesh, as well as Rohingya from Myanmar, were believed to be still at sea. People who had reached land told harrowing tales of overcrowding, beating and a chronic lack of food and water, which in some cases resulted in extreme violence.

IOM estimated that at least 5,000 people would require support to return to their country of origin in safety and dignity, with additional support for their reintegration once home.

In regard to the smuggler camps recently discovered, the IOM mission in Thailand had said early this morning that one had a capacity of 1,000 people and in general the camps were on the Thai side of the border. The camps served as transit centres where migrants made the final payment – around US$2,000 - for the last part of their journey. If a person’s family did not pay then they had to stay in the camp, suffering torture and deprivation of food. Consequently IOM had discovered dozens of cases of beriberi, an easily-curable tropical disease which was devastating for the person who suffered it. Malaysian officials reported 61 cases of beriberi being treated in the country. Dead bodies had been found in Thailand and Malaysia next to what was believed to be abandoned camps, and hundreds more were predicted to be found in the coming days.

Answering a question on beriberi disease, Mr. Millman said beriberi was linked to torture and food deprivation leading to malnutrition. The disease caused immobility and some people suffering from beriberi were unable to stand. Asked how many people were believed to still be on the ocean, Mr. Millman answered that with landings occurring almost daily, IOM knew it was around 2,000 people. Last week the estimate was between 2,000 to 6,000 but the figure was decreasing as more people made it to land.

Concerning the return of migrants from Myanmar, Mr. Millman stated that IOM would assist those who wished to return to their country but cases were dealt with on an individual basis. Often the country in which migrants landed did not want to take them in, so resettlement was the only remaining option.

In response to questions Adrian Edwards, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), added that 2,000 was the number of those off the coast of Bangladesh and Myanmar, and at least 500 other migrants were adrift further south in the Andaman Sea. Mr. Edwards added that around 200 people wished to return to Rakhine State in Myanmar and now was time to review the way in which Rohingya arrived and were treated in Malaysia and in the region itself. He noted that a meeting taking place in Bangkok on Friday to look at solutions to the crisis would be crucial in resolving the situation.

Kyrgyzstan

Rupert Colville, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said the Kyrgyz parliament was scheduled to begin its first reading tomorrow of a draft law on “foreign agents” which could negatively affect the work of numerous civil society organisations working on human rights and delivering services in Kyrgyzstan.

The draft law required non-commercial organisations established in the Kyrgyz Republic, involved in “political activities” and receiving funding from foreign sources, to register as “foreign agents”. It failed to clearly define the term “political activities”, referring only to “activities aimed at influencing the decisions of public authorities in order to change their policy, as well as activities aimed at influencing the public opinion for the above-mentioned purposes”.

The vague wording may put at risk numerous organisations working to deliver services or conduct human rights advocacy, said Mr. Colville. The draft law required that materials published by such organisations through the media and the Internet state that they were published or distributed by a non-commercial organisation acting as a “foreign agent”. The term "foreign agent" carried extremely negative connotations and could lead to stigmatization, mistrust and hostility towards activists, human rights defenders and civil society organizations.

The draft law also granted the Ministry of Justice the power to conduct inspections, scheduled and unscheduled, of such organisations; request and check internal documents; send representatives to participate in internal activities; determine whether an organisation complies with the goals of its creation; and, in case an organisation fails to file an application for inclusion in the register of non-commercial organisations acting as a “foreign agent”, to suspend their activities for up to six months without waiting for a court decision. If adopted, those new oversight powers would contradict the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Kyrgyzstan was a party, said Mr. Colville.

The draft law also provided for criminal liability and imprisonment of up to three years for establishing a non-commercial organisation whose work aims to “incite citizens to refuse to fulfil their civic duties or commit other unlawful acts”. Mr. Colville said that provision may lead to the criminalisation of the work of human rights defenders, adding that the terms “inciting” and “propaganda acts” were ill-defined and broad, and may give rise to subjective interpretation.

OHCHR called on the Government of Kyrgyzstan to ensure that freedom of expression and association were protected in line with international human rights law and standards, said Mr. Colville, and urged that the draft law be reviewed to ensure that it did not restrict the important work of civil society organisations in the country.

Geneva Activities

The Committee on the Rights of the Child would continue its session this week, considering the reports of Netherlands, the Lao People's Democratic Republic and Israel, announced Mr. Fawzi. The background press release is available here.

The Conference on Disarmament would resume its 2015 session this week, holding a plenary at 11.15 a.m. on Wednesday 27 May in the Council Chamber of the Palais des Nations. The programme of work is available here.

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights would start a three week session next week in which it would consider the reports of Kyrgyzstan, Venezuela, Mongolia and Thailand in the first week, and the reports of Ireland, Chile and Uganda in the 2nd week. A background release would be published on Thursday, noted Mr. Fawzi.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) would hold a press conference on the crisis in north-eastern Nigeria and its impact in the region. The event would take place in Press Room 1 at 12:15 p.m. on Thursday, 28 May. Robert Piper, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel and George Okoth-Obbo, Assistant High Commissioner (Operations) at the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) as well as a senior United Nations official from Nigeria would be speaking.

The Sovereign Military Order of Malta would hold a press conference at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, 27 May in Press Room 1 about a symposium titled "Religions Together for Humanitarian Action - the special role of faith-based actors in reaching out to victims of armed conflicts", organized in cooperation with the UN Secretariat of the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit.

For the first time in Switzerland, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) would hold a benefit concert in Geneva, announced Mr. Fawzi. The fund-raising event would take place on Wednesday, 3 June at the Beau Rivage hotel in Geneva, starring the popular Palestinian singer Mohammed Assaf. The concert would be opened by UNRWA Commissioner General Mr Pierre Krahenbuhl, who would be available for media interviews that same day. The concert was open to the media and those wishing for more information could contact Ms. Raheek Ador of UNRWA.

Hans von Rohland, for the International Labour Organization (ILO), announced that a press conference to launch the ILO’s annual report on the situation of workers of the occupied Arab territories would take place at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 28 May, in Press Room 1. The report would focus on the economic, social and political situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and its findings were in part based on the visit of ILO Special Advisor Kari Tapiola to the Occupied Palestinian Territories in March 2015. Mr. Tapiola would be the main speaker at the briefing.

The ILO’s annual International Labour Conference would take place from Monday, 1 June to Saturday, 13 June at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, announced Mr. von Rohland. The Conference would highlight many issues including transitions from an informal to a formal economy, the challenges faced by small and medium-sized enterprises, decent and productive employment creation, social and labour protection and international labour standards. The Conference would be opened on 1 June by ILO Director-General Guy Ryder who would refer to global job insecurity and the impact of technology on work and the future.

On Thursday, 11 June, there would be a World of Work Summit which would address the impact of climate change on the workplace. The Summit would be attended by the President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, and the President of Panama, Juan Carlos Varela. Mr. von Rohland also highlighted events to mark the World Day against Child Labour on Friday, 12 June. The International Labour Organization would launch its annual report on child labour and Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi would take part in a panel discussion and also give a press briefing at 11.30 a.m. that day.

Tarik Jašareviæ, for the World Health Organization (WHO) said that today was the last day of the 2015 World Health Assembly. All draft resolutions approved by committees were expected to be adopted in the plenary which would start at 5 p.m. Other items under discussed today included non-communicable diseases, engagement with non-State actors and the health impact of air pollution.

Mr. Jašareviæ announced that Dr Bruce Aylward, World Health Organization Assistant Director-General for Emergencies, would give a press conference at 1 p.m. today in Press Room III at which he would brief the press on the Ebola situation and decisions taken by the World Health Assembly in that context.

In the lead-up to World No Tobacco Day on 31 May, the World Health Organization would hold a press conference at 2 p.m. Wednesday, 27 May in Press Room 1. Dr Douglas Bettcher, Director of the WHO’s Department for the Prevention of Non-communicable Diseases and Dr Vera da Costa e Silva, head of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Secretariat, would be speaking at the press conference. The theme of this year’s World No Tobacco Day was combating the illicit tobacco trade. The press release for that event was under embargo until noon on Friday, 29 May, he noted.