REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Rhéal LeBlanc, Chief, Press and External Relations Section, United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing attended by the spokespersons for the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Food Programme, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Health Organization, the International Organization for Migration, and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Yemen

Christophe Boulierac, for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), introduced Meritxell Relano, UNICEF Representative in Yemen. Speaking via phone from Sana’a, Ms. Relano said the cholera situation in Yemen was very concerning with 192,983 suspected cases (half of them children) and 1,265 deaths attributed to the disease (one quarter of them children). The collapse of the health system in the country as well as that of the water and sanitation services had created the perfect circumstances for cholera to spread. Health and sanitation workers had not been receiving their salaries since October 2016. Prior to the conflict there had been no investment in repair of the water and sanitation networks in the country, and in the two years of conflict all the networks had become deteriorated.

In terms of the response, UNICEF had received on 22 June two cargo flights with 750,000 sachets of oral rehydration salts (ORS), as well as chlorine tablets for water purification. UNICEF had also provided intravenous fluid to be used at the cholera treatment centres, and the ORS would be used at the oral rehydration centres. The main issue right now was the availability of safe drinking water. It was very important to continue to provide fuel and electricity to operate the water treatment and pumping stations in the major cities.

UNICEF was also focusing its strategy on the household and community level in order to stop the spread of the disease, ensuring that families were chlorinating the water sources that they were using. UNICEF was working with 10,000 community mobilizers in order to raise awareness of cholera prevention among the public. Hygiene, hand washing, keeping food safe and handling sick family members were key issues.

Although the overall number of cases continued to increase, in the first 77 districts where cholera cases had been reported, and UNICEF had started an integrated package of interventions covering safe water, communication for development and the treatment of the first cases of diarrhoea, a downward trend had been seen in terms of number of cases and deaths.

Ms. Relano also underscored that out of all 192,983 cases, 80 per cent were either mild or moderate cases, and the number of deaths was below the 1 per cent rate, meaning that 99 per cent of the cases were cured.

In response to questions, Ms. Relano clarified that in total there were 333 districts in the country. The package of interventions included household water purification, with a team going house by house to check families’ water sources and chlorinate their water tank or other water storage methods. If the families had no storage methods they received jerry cans in order to store water properly. They were then informed on ways to prevent cholera, including hygiene and the handling of those who were sick. It was very important as well that families knew how to use ORS and how to seek treatment in the early stages, going to the oral rehydration centres at first instead of going to the hospitals.

Asked about the adequacy of available funding, Ms. Relano said there was an integrated response plan by the health and WASH clusters, which still required additional funding. UNICEF was receiving funding, but if the number of cases escalated beyond 200,000, additional funding would be required. The worst-case scenario was 300,000 cases, which would require an additional USD 64 million.

In response to further questions, Ms. Relano said 20 governorates out of 22 were affected and the disease was most present in the areas with the highest population concentration, such as the governorates around Sana’a, Hajjah, Hudaydah, where the majority of the population lived. WHO and UNICEF were paying incentives to health staff in diarrhoea treatment centres and oral rehydration corners. Workers did not even have money to take the bus to get to work, so incentives were essential. UNICEF had supported 22 diarrhoea treatment centres and the staff in all of those, as well as those supported by WHO and MSF, were paid.

Regarding the deaths, Ms. Relano would check why children were not dying in the same proportion as others, and would get back to the press.

Asked about the impact of military operations on the UNICEF response, Ms. Relano said UNICEF was working through the Ministry of Health, supporting the oral rehydration corners and diarrhoea treatment centres all over the country, either through the health system or with NGOs opening such centres and corners. So far UNICEF had been able to open centres wherever was needed, but it was true that it was easier to do that in areas which were not under active conflict right now. The health network did reach everywhere in the country although only 50 per cent of facilities were operational. In some cases, UNICEF was opening centres in schools and other locations.

In response to final questions, Ms. Relano said that the number of 300,000 cases could be reached by the end of August as the rainy season would be starting soon. The fatality rate would remain well under 1 per cent even then. The fatality rates were, however, not the same in every district. Regarding the cholera vaccine, it was only for the areas in which there were no cases, and there were few such areas. There was also not a lot of vaccine availability on the market, so the vaccines would not be available very fast.

Bettina Luescher, for the World Food Programme (WFP), said WFP was working side by side with UNICEF and WHO, providing food assistance in over 100 treatment centres to cholera patients and immediate caregivers, who needed help too as they struggled to take care of patients and relatives. It was urgent to stop Yemen from slipping into a famine.

WFP was also providing four airlifts of medical supplies and humanitarian assistance each month. The airlift operation was crucial to bring medical supplies in. It was very hard for humanitarian workers to do this, and there was still significant underfunding: for Yemen, WFP was so far only 21 per cent funded and required USD 442 million.

Ms. Luescher added that due to insufficient funds, WFP, which intended to bring food assistance to 6.8 million people this month, had to prioritize, and pick the most vulnerable. That was why this month, 3.3 million people in the areas most at risk of slipping into famine would receive a full food ration, whereas the others would receive only a 60 per cent food ration. Receiving less food would make them more vulnerable to disease.

Ravina Shamdasani, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said OHCHR had been coordinating efforts to respond to cholera in prisons in Yemen. The outbreak of cholera had affected eight prisons and detention centres in six governorates, with Sana’a recording the highest number of prisoners affected by cholera. Some 50 prisoners had contracted cholera and there were 72 other suspected cases. So far, four detainees had died from cholera. In the best of circumstances, prisoners were among the most vulnerable members of society. In the Yemeni context, this was even more so.

Ms. Shamdasani also said the UN Human Rights Office in Yemen continued to document reports of civilian casualties as a result of the conflict. Over the past month, OHCHR had been able to verify a total of 49 civilian deaths.

Between 21 May and 6 June, 19 civilians had been killed in Taizz. Witnesses interviewed by the UN Human Rights Office had said the victims had been hit by shelling attacks by the Popular committees affiliated with the Houthis. Twelve shelling incidents had reportedly hit ten civilian neighbourhoods and two markets. Also on 21 May, seven civilians had been killed reportedly as a result of mortar attacks from areas controlled by fighters affiliated with Popular Resistance Committees and Army Units loyal to President Hadi.

OHCHR had also documented the deaths of at least 23 civilians on 17 June as a result of an airstrike, helicopter attack and shelling on a house and nearby market area located just a few hundred metres from the Yemen-Saudi border in Shada District in Sa’ada Governorate.

According to information gathered by the UN Human Rights Office, the airstrike had hit a house on the western side of the marketplace in the village of Moshnaq at about 12.30 p.m. on 17 June. Local people had told OHCHR’s Yemen team that the house had been used by Qat smugglers as a staging post where they waited for night-time when they crossed into Saudi Arabia and that some 25 people were believed to be in the house at the time of the strike. Residents said those who had survived the airstrike had tried to flee the building but had come under machinegun attack from helicopters that had flown over the area some 10 minutes after the airstrike. Rescuers from neighbouring villages had been unable to reach the market for an hour as shelling reportedly continued.

Interviewees told our Yemen team that there had been no prior warning of the attack.

During the more than two years since the conflict in Yemen had begun, marketplaces had been struck a number of times, causing loss of civilian life.

OHCHR recalled that indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks or attacks targeting civilian objects such as markets were prohibited under international humanitarian law. OHCHR reminded all parties to the conflict of their obligation to ensure full respect for international human rights law and international humanitarian law. All incidents resulting in civilian casualties, including the attack on the house in Shada District, must be thoroughly investigated to ensure accountability when breaches of international law had been found to have taken place.

Since March 2015, the UN Human Rights Office had recorded a total of 13,504 civilian casualties, including 4,971 killed and 8,533 injured.

Asked about OHCHR staff’s access to prisons, Ms. Shamdasani confirmed that OHCHR did have access to some of those facilities.

Asked about the way OHCHR determined who was a civilian and who was not, Ms. Shamdasani said that OHCHR had people on the ground who went to the sites where attacks were alleged to have taken place. They spoke to witnesses and families of victims to collect testimony. The figures that OHCHR put out where only figures of cases where OHCHR had been able to verify the names of those killed, to corroborate information, and to confirm that those had been in fact civilians. The cases in which that was impossible to do were not counted, so the estimates offered were very conservative. Others had come out with much higher figures, and there were different methodologies. WHO recorded figures from hospitals and health care facilities, for example, and their figures did not make a differentiation between civilians and combatants.

Tarik Jasarevic, for the World Health Organization (WHO), confirmed the above, and said that WHO’s figures indicated more than 8,000 deaths and more than 40,000 injured.

Mexico

In response to a question regarding allegations that the Mexican Government had spied on Mexican journalists by tapping their phones, Ravina Shamdasani, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said OHCHR’s office in Mexico had been engaging with the authorities on this and had also called for an investigation. She would check for any further information with OHCHR’s Mexico office and would get back to the press.

Iraq

Ravina Shamdasani, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said that OHCHR condemned the destruction of the al-Nuri Mosque and the Hadba Minaret in the Iraqi city of Mosul on 21 June. Reports indicated that it had been blown up deliberately by ISIL as Iraqi security forces were approaching.

This destruction was the latest in a long line of such horrendous acts by ISIL, which had targeted landmark religious sites, including churches, mosques, shrines, tombs and graves.

Such intentional destruction was an attack on the religious and cultural heritage of the Iraqi people – and the whole world. International humanitarian law clearly prohibited such acts, and perpetrators who targeted those objects while being aware of their religious and historical character may be held accountable for war crimes, as in the ground-breaking Timbuktu case at the International Criminal Court.

Asked whether ISIL had destroyed other landmarks in Mosul and in Iraq, Ms. Shamdasani said ISIL had conducted massive destruction of many civilian objects, which was prohibited under international humanitarian law. This case was perhaps the most egregious; but Ms. Shamdasani would check other cases with colleagues on the ground and get back to the press. Asked why ISIL had chosen to destroy the mosque, Ms. Shamdasani said that it was OHCHR’s understanding that that had been done in order to prevent the approach of Iraqi security forces. This was one of the tactics used by ISIL, alongside with the use of human shields and setting fire to oilfields.

Mr. LeBlanc added that, as it had been reported in the UN noon briefing in New York on 22 June, Irina Bokova, the Director-General of UNESCO, had deplored the destruction of the al-Nuri Mosque and the Hadba Minaret in Mosul. She had said that they had been among the most iconic in the city. Her full statement was available on UNESCO’s website.

Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), mentioned a new report from the IOM office in Iraq, which dealt with the Mosul situation, called “Obstacles to return”. It was a comprehensive 110-page report which focused on the 3 million still displaced Iraqis around the country and the 1.7 million who had returned to their homes, and what surveying them had yielded. There was a lot of information on how people felt about the destruction of their home, whether or not the perpetrators were still present in the neighbourhoods they were returning to, and their prospects for employment.

Asked about the main obstacles to the return of displaced people, Mr. Millman said security was the number one concern. If they felt fighting was still going on or people who had destroyed their homes were still at large in the community, that was a major deterrent. He also mentioned a more positive reason for not returning home, which was the establishment of a new business or being able to bring their family life back to normal from a remote location or even a displaced persons’ camp. The report dealt with the ethnic conflict as well, and who the players were in some of those zones once the fighting had stopped.

Mr. Millman also said that according to the latest update, 190,000 had returned out of 800,000 cumulatively displaced in the Mosul theatre.

Mediterranean update

Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said there had been about 84,000 arrivals in the Mediterranean in 2017 as of June 23, almost all of them to Italy. Deaths had passed the number of 2,100.

On 22 June, IOM had learned of an incident in Libya. The remains of 18 migrants had been found in Garabulli, on the coast. Those remains had been retrieved and buried locally by citizens on site. From that incident, two migrants had survived and had been taken to the Triq al-Sika detention centre in Tripoli. IOM was hoping to speak to them today and see what this incident had been about. It may have been a shipwreck, or violence having to do with the gangs that put people on those boats – either there had been resistance or a rival gunfight of some kind with another gang.

The same day, remains of 5 men had been found in Tajura, to the west of Tripoli. Thus, in total, 23 bodies had been reported found in Libya on 22 June. Since 16 June, 49 bodies had been found on the coast, and the number of people rescued was over 10,000.

Some 72,000 people had arrived in Italy in 2017 from North Africa, compared to 70,521 in 2016 and 68,329 in 2015. So the figures for 2017 were slightly ahead of 2016 for the first six months of the year, and a little bit more ahead of the 2015 numbers.

It was important to note that despite the heavy traffic from North Africa in 2017 and the thousands of deaths, the total arrivals were right about what they had been in the past two years. IOM believed that the 10,000 rescued and the 4,000 who had been evacuated through its Voluntary Return Programme may have had something to do with those numbers remaining rather even. There had not been any big jump in arrival figuress either because the Libyan coastguard had been more active or because IOM had been active with foreign partners getting people in detention back to their home countries.

Human Rights Council Update

Rhéal LeBlanc, for the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, said on behalf of Rolando Gomez for the Human Rights Council, that the Council was set to close its 35th session today after taking action on the remaining draft resolutions. Rolando had sent to the press an update on the votes on 22 June in the evening. The Council had before it 14 draft texts to consider today. [Update following the briefing: the draft resolution on the Democratic Republic of the Congo was considered at the end of the morning today; it was adopted by consensus.] After action on draft resolutions would be completed, the President of the Council would adopt four new mandate holders (list sent on 22 June) and then close the session.

Conference on Cyprus

Rhéal LeBlanc, for the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, reminded the press of a curtain-raiser press conference ahead of the Conference on Cyprus, on 27 June at 11 a.m. in Room III, by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SASG), Espen Barth Eide. Exceptionally that day, the regular press briefing would start at 10 a.m.

Asked whether the Secretary-General would attend the Conference on Cyprus in Crans-Montana, Mr. LeBlanc said no decision had been made yet regarding the Secretary-General’s participation. The Secretary-General wished the Conference success and would be following it closely. The Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders would be present. The guarantor powers: Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom, would be represented at the ministerial level. It was already known that it would be the Foreign Ministers of Turkey and Greece who would represent those countries. For the European Union, High Representative Federica Mogherini would be present. European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans would be present as well.

Asked about the timing of the start of the Conference on 28 June as well as other practical information, Mr. LeBlanc said that UNIS would meet with the organizing team this morning and would send a note with as many details as possible to the press at the latest over the weekend. The Conference would take place at the Conference Centre “Le Regent”. There would be a media centre on site. The hope was to be able to provide the press with information as it became available as the Conference would unfold. Any press stakeout or conference by the SASG would be webcast. Media accreditation was provided until 7 July for now for practical reasons.

Geneva Events and Announcements

Catherine Huissoud, for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), briefed the press on the upcoming launch of a report on economic development in Africa. In 2017, the emphasis was on tourism and its possible contribution to the economic development of African countries.

Several aspects would be examined in greater detail. First, the way the economic growth could be more inclusive and lead to the reduction of extreme poverty, allowing women and the underprivileged to improve their livelihoods. Second, the development of the sectors related to tourism through various activities, whether it be service delivery, agriculture, or the development of infrastructure. Developing the potential of tourism on a regional level between African countries was also important, and in order to encourage it, it was necessary to promote the free movement of people between those countries. Finally, the issue of peace and the ways in which tourism could reinforce it would be examined.

The report would be under embargo until 5 July at 5 p.m. UTC time (7 p.m. Geneva time). It would be presented to the press on 3 July at 11:30 a.m. by both the UNCTAD Secretary-General, Mukhisa Kituyi, and the Director of the Division for Africa, Paul Akiwumi. The invitation would be sent out by UNIS shortly. The English press pack was almost ready and the online media room would open either today or on 27 June. The main press conference for the launch would be the one in Geneva, with other press conferences organized in several African countries.

Mr. LeBlanc said that the Conference on Disarmament would meet in plenary on 27 June at 10 a.m. This could be the last public plenary of the second part of the Conference’s 2017 session, but that remained to be confirmed. The third and last part of the session would run from 31 July to 15 September 2017.

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) would conclude this morning its 61^st session, following which it would publish its concluding observations on the reports of the six countries reviewed during the session, which were Australia, Uruguay, the Netherlands, Liechtenstein, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Mr. LeBlanc also announced a press conference of the Committee today, 23 June at 12.30 p.m. in Press Room 1, on business and human rights, launching the new General Comment on State Obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the Context of Business Activities. The speakers would be Committee members Virginia Bràs Gomes (Chair), Zdzislaw Kedzia, and Olivier De Shutter.

The webcast for this briefing is available here: http://bit.ly/unog230617