REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was attended by the spokespersons for the United Nations Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration.

Update from the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria

Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, read the following update on behalf of the Office of the Special Envoy for Syria:

“The Special Envoy, Geir Pedersen, was in Moscow on Monday 21 January for high-level meetings with senior Russian Federation officials. Mr. Pedersen said on Twitter that he had had comprehensive and fruitful talks with both Foreign Minister Lavrov and Defense Minister Shoigu. There was strong support for a UN-facilitated political process based on Security Council resolution 2254 and an agreement for closer UN-Russian Federation cooperation. The Special Envoy said that the discussions had focused on the constitutional committee, building confidence and moving ahead, and highlighted the positive discussions on a second UN humanitarian convoy, desperately needed for Rukban camp in Southern Syria.

The Special Envoy will be travelling to Davos today, and plans to consult regional and international players attending, as well as the Secretary-General.”

Responding to questions from journalists, Reem Ismail, for the Office of the Special Envoy for Syria, said that that information on the Special Envoy’s meetings in Davos would be given to the press as soon as a firm programme was available. Ms. Vellucci added that the Special Envoy intended to meet with the Geneva press corps as soon as possible.

Fadela Chaib, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said, in response to a question from a journalist, that WHO expected to publish a press release on the possible humanitarian convoy to Syria later in the week.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, in answer to questions about the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, referred journalists to the remarks on the general political situation there made by the Secretary-General during his press conference on Friday 18 January. She said she would endeavour to obtain information on recent reports of killings in Kikwit, as requested by correspondents.

Nigerian refugees in Chad
Charlie Yaxley, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), read the following statement:
“A new upsurge of violence in northeastern Nigeria has forced thousands of people – most of them women and children - to seek safety in Chad’s Lake Chad region.
An estimated 6,000 refugees have fled Nigeria's restive Borno State since 26 December, when clashes erupted between Nigerian government forces and non-state armed groups in Baga town, near the Chadian border.

Many of the refugees paddled across the lake to arrive in the Chadian village of Ngouboua, located on the shores of Lake Chad, 20 kilometres from the Nigerian border. It takes three hours for the crossing.

According to testimonies gathered by our teams, refugees are fleeing in fear of their lives after threats of retaliation and intimidation following militant attacks.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the Chadian authorities are carrying out registration and pre-screening of new arrivals to evaluate the needs for assistance. An overwhelming majority of the new arrivals are women and children, with some 55 per cent of them being minors according to our initial registration data.

Efforts are also underway by UNHCR to move arriving refugees away from the border areas, due to security concerns and after a government request. So far, we have relocated some 4,200 refugees to the already existing Dar-es-Salam camp 45 kilometres away. The camps already hosts some 11,300 Nigerian refugees who have arrived since 2014.

We are racing to provide timely shelter and other assistance to those arriving, including the most vulnerable. Currently, new arrivals are hosted in collective shelters. UNHCR is distributing relief items including blankets, mats and mosquito nets and refugees are getting hot meals.

Inside Nigeria, the same clashes have also forced tens of thousands of civilians to flee their homes, with more than 30,000 people arriving in Maiduguri, stretching even further beyond their limits the capacities of existing camps already hosting internally displaced people. People are in need of humanitarian assistance, notably shelter, food, water and sanitation. UNHCR is also following up on the fate of some 9,000 Nigerian refugees who were reported as forcibly returned from Cameroon last week. Refugees had fled across the border into Cameroon when militants attacked and ransacked the small border town of Rann in Nigeria’s Borno State on 14 January 2019.

UNHCR is reiterating its call on the countries in the region to keep borders open for refugees fleeing insecurity in Nigeria.”

Responding to questions from journalists, Mr. Yaxley said that access to Borno state was currently extremely restricted because of the security situation, with armed groups carrying out attacks on humanitarian workers and civilian infrastructure. UNHCR had therefore engaged with the Cameroonian authorities to call on them to halt the returns immediately and to ensure compliance with their obligations under international law and their own national legislation. Cameroon was currently host to more than 370,000 refugees, of whom 100,000 were from Nigeria. UNHCR was gravely concerned for their health and safety and called on the Cameroonian authorities to keep the borders open and ensure that people were able to access their fundamental human right to seek asylum.

On the Chad border, there was no indication that fighting had spread from Borno State, but UNHCR was trying to move the refugees there away from the border and into Dar-es-Salam refugee camp, 45 km away, on the request of the Government, both as a precautionary measure and to facilitate the provision of humanitarian assistance.

Mediterranean migrants

Charlie Yaxley, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), read the following statement:
“UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is watching with increasing alarm the situation on the Mediterranean, where over the past few days we have seen two shipwrecks, numerous other rescue incidents, a merchant vessel disembarking rescued individuals to Libya, and reports that the Libyan coast guard itself has been unable to respond to incidents within its designated search and rescue region of the Mediterranean because of shortages of fuel.

As we reported this past weekend, close to 170 lives are believed to have been lost in the two shipwrecks, the first a vessel with 117 people on board that sank off Libya, and the second in waters between Morocco and Spain with 53 on board. Already this year 4,507 people have crossed to Europe by sea, despite bitter cold and great danger.

UNHCR believes it has become urgent for States to take action to reassert effective rescue capacity on the Mediterranean by increasing coordinated multi-State rescue, restoring rapid disembarkation in a place of safety, and lifting impediments to the work of NGO rescue vessels. People who don’t have a valid claim to asylum or other forms of international protection must then swiftly be helped to return home.

At present, the politicking around sea rescues is preventing serious focus on a solution to the problem. Meanwhile lives are being tragically lost. Politicians must stop using human beings for political point-scoring, and to instead address this as a humanitarian issue, with saving lives the priority. Reducing arrivals cannot be the only barometer for success when people are drowning on Europe’s doorstep.

Of particular concern to us at present is the fate of some 144 rescued refugees and migrants rescued on 20 January by a merchant vessel, the Lady Sham, who last night disembarked in Misrata, Libya under instructions from the Tripoli Joint Rescue and Coordination Centre (JRCC).

In Libya’s current context, where outbreaks of violence and widespread human rights violations prevail, no rescued refugees and migrants should be returned there.”

Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), read the following statement:

“The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reports that 4,883 migrants and refugees have entered Europe by sea through the first 20 days of 2019, a slight increase over the 4,466 arriving during the same period last year. Deaths on the three main Mediterranean Sea routes through almost three weeks of the new year are at 203 individuals, compared with 201 deaths during the same period in 2018.

At this point in 2017 a total of 3,156 migrants or refugees had landed in either Greece, Spain or Italy after crossing the Mediterranean, and IOM had recorded a total of 228 deaths.

Nonetheless, IOM’s Missing Migrants Project (MMP) reports that January 2019 marks the fourth straight year in which January has seen at least 200 migrants and refugees drowning trying to reach Europe via one of three Mediterranean Sea routes. The worst was in 2016, when 370 people died in January crossings. Those fatality numbers had been dropping – to 254 and 243, respectively, in 2017 and 2018 – and could drop again this month depending on what occurs over the next 10 days.

The last time fewer than 200 migrants drowned in January in these waters was in 2015, when 82 died in January. In 2014, IOM recorded just 12 deaths of seaborne Mediterranean migrants in January.

The tragedy continued this past weekend, when scores of people lost their lives in several shipwrecks on the Mediterranean.

On 17 January, a boat with 54 people on board (including three women) capsized in the Alborán Sea, in waters between Morocco and Spain. The boat had departed from Nador, Morocco, five days earlier, and many of its occupants came from a single district in southeastern Mauritania. Two Spanish NGOs received distress calls to two of their emergency hotlines shortly after departure. Search and rescue operations conducted by Spanish and Moroccan rescue services could not locate the boat, however.

A single survivor was rescued by a Moroccan fisherman on 17 January, and he was hospitalized in Morocco. Staff from Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras spoke to him in the hospital, and he confirmed the tragic news that his 53 fellow travellers drowned at sea. No remains have been recovered.

The following day (18 January), three men were rescued 50 miles off Libya from a sinking boat by an Italian Navy helicopter and brought to Lampedusa, Italy. IOM staff spoke to the three survivors, who said the boat carried 120 people on board. Based on their testimony, IOM estimates that 117 people went missing and presumably drowned at sea before rescue services could reach them. According to the survivors, 10 women, one of them pregnant, and two children were on board.

IOM Libya reported on 20 January that the Libyan Coast Guard recovered two bodies and apprehended 141 people from a boat off the coast of Tripoli. Survivors reported that they had spent two days at sea before being intercepted, and many of them required emergency medical care.

In the Eastern Mediterranean, the Hellenic Coast Guard retrieved the body of a 23-year-old man off the Greek island of Farmakonisi on 18 January. According to the NGO Alarm Phone, he was travelling with a group of 53 people, among them seven women and ten children, who reported to the NGO that he had fallen overboard shortly before arriving to the island.

IOM Rome on Monday said that through Sunday 155 migrants have arrived by sea to Italy, according to the country’s Ministry of the Interior. January 2019 is on track to record the lowest monthly arrivals total in more than three years. They added that the NGO ship “Sea-Watch 3” rescued 47 migrants on Saturday. It remains unknown where the craft will receive authorization to land.

IOM Rome on Monday offered further information on what survivors of the Friday shipwreck off Libya told IOM staffers who took their testimony in Lampedusa.

Migrants told IOM staff they had been brought to two separate buildings described as “hangars” before their departure: in one of them, traffickers had put some 100 people of mixed nationalities, age and gender; in the other, only 28 Sudanese male adults. Just hours before departure the latter group was brought over to join the others, although only 120 or so were allowed to board. The survivors speculated that the eight left behind – all from Côte d'Ivoire – lacked sufficient funds for the crossing.

From the hangar, the 120 migrants walked to the beach, led by six Libyan males. The three survivors also reported to IOM that their 12-meter dinghy, which left directly from the beach and not from a dock, started taking on water after about 10-11 hours of navigation, due to high waves.

At one point, when a migrant navigating the boat took a phone to call for help, the survivors reported that agitation and a wave of unrest spread rapidly among the people on board, who feared return to Libya. They said they would have preferred dying instead.
IOM confirmed late Monday that the Sierra Leonian-flagged cargo vessel Lady Sham returned 144 migrants to Libya. It remains unclear when and from where in Libya these individuals departed. IOM staff counted 26 women and four children among those taken to a detention centre in Misrata. IOM staff are monitoring their condition and assessing their needs.

IOM believes the adoption of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration represented a landmark moment in the pursuit of international cooperation on migration for the benefit of all. The Global Compact on Migration, as it is based on the principles safe, orderly and legal migration and can and should be the basis sharing the responsibility to address issues of irregular migration, especially the Mediterranean emergency, now in its seventh year.

Federico Soda, director of the IOM Coordination Office for the Mediterranean in Rome, Said: ‘Until Libya can be considered a safe port where protection is guaranteed, governments must establish a safe and orderly disembarking mechanism in the central Mediterranean.’

IOM Spain reported that, through Sunday (20 January), 3,429 men, women and children have arrived in Spain as irregular migrants this month. They made up 70 per cent of all Mediterranean arrivals of this type; moreover, that total surpasses that of all arrivals of this type to Spain through the first three months of 2018.”

Mr. Millman added that IOM Greece had provided a complete compilation of all nationalities of the over 32,000 irregular migrants apprehended by Greek authorities as they attempted to enter Greek waters. For example, the number of Syrian arrivals had almost halved to 7,697 individuals in 2018 from 12,311 in 2017. At the same time Afghanistan, which had replaced Syria as the top sender country on the route in 2018, had nearly tripled the number of its arrivals. Nationalities that showed sharp increases in their arrival numbers included Cameroon, Somalia, Turkey, Palestine and Yemen. Those nationalities whose arrival numbers dropped included the Islamic Republic of Iran, Pakistan and Algeria.

As in years past, outliers continued to use the route. In 2018, 9 Haitians had been apprehended attempting the crossing, as had 16 nationals of the Dominican Republic. There were also 16 nationals of Myanmar, 15 from Nepal, 6 from Colombia and 3 from Zimbabwe.

Answering questions from journalists, Mr. Yaxley said that there had been unconfirmed reports that the 144 rescued refugees and migrants who had been disembarked in Misrata, Libya, had been taken to a detention centre in Libya. It was well documented that persons held in such centres faced appalling treatment, deprived of food and medical care for long periods. Because of security concerns, UNHCR had only restricted access even to official detention centres in Libya and many migrants were held in unofficial centres run by smugglers and traffickers. The extremely volatile security situation and the widespread reports of human rights violations in the country meant that there was no safe port for the docking of rescued passengers in Libya.

UNHCR was very concerned that the legal and logistical restrictions imposed by States on non-governmental organizations seeking to conduct search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean meant that far fewer boats were operating than in the past and there were rising rates of death among those attempting the crossing. UNHCR and IOM had together proposed a regional approach that would give shipmasters clarity about where vessels could dock rescued passengers. Voluntary States were now needed to propose an agreed relocation mechanism to allow the equitable distribution of persons disembarked. However, negotiations were currently at deadlock. The Mediterranean States had been at the forefront of receiving arrivals for many years and no single country could tackle the problem alone. Solidarity and support was needed from the whole of Europe in developing a comprehensive regional approach, addressing the root causes of the problem and dismantling the smuggling networks. Decisive leadership that tapped into fundamental values of humanity and compassion was sorely needed.

World Economic Forum

Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, said that the United Nations Secretary-General was today leaving New York to travel to Davos, where he would hold many bilateral meetings in the framework of the World Economic Forum. He would made a special address, which would be webcast, to the Forum on Thursday 24 January. Exact information would be provided nearer to the time.

Noting that the United Nations had a strong presence at the World Economic Forum, including the heads of many of the agencies, Ms. Vellucci said that all the spokespersons there would be available to respond to questions from journalists.

Announcements

Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, said, on behalf of Rolando Gomez, for the Human Rights Council, that the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review would review the human rights record of Chile this morning and that of Viet Nam this afternoon. The session had opened the previous day and would last until the end of the next week. The full calendar of reviews for the current session was available from the Information Service or Mr. Gomez.

Ms. Vellucci also said that the Committee on the Rights of the Child was this morning reviewing the report of the Czech Republic under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children and this afternoon would begin consideration of the report of Italy under the Convention.

Ms. Vellucci further announced that the International Labour Organization was today launching its centenary year. The embargo on the report by the ILO Global Commission on the Future of Work had been lifted at 9:30 p.m. GMT this morning, and the celebrations for the launch of the centenary starting at 3:00 p.m. in Geneva would be broadcast on its website. Journalists could contact Martin Murphy with any questions or Rosalind Yarde to request interviews with the ILO Secretary-General or other experts.