REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which provided information about the Security Council resolution on Lebanon and Syria; new statements by the Secretary-General on Bolivia, India and Côte d'Ivoire; the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe; Geneva activities, the killing of two demining experts in an ambush in South Sudan; human rights and other issues. Spokespersons for and representatives of the United Nations Children's Fund, the Fondation Suisse de Deminage, the World Food Programme, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development participated in the briefing.
Security Council Resolution on Lebanon and Syria
Mrs. Heuzé said the Security Council had yesterday unanimously approved a resolution responding to the report issued by the International Independent Investigation Commission concerning the 14 February bombing in Lebanon, which killed former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, among others. Secretary-General Kofi Annan was in attendance for the Council vote. The resolution asked all States to prevent entry or transit through their territories to all individuals designated by the Commission or the Government of Lebanon to have been involved in the bombing, as well as a freeze in all funds and financial assets held by such individuals. It also asked Syria to detain Syrian officials or individuals that the Commission considered as suspects. The Security Council meeting was being presided over by Romania on the last day of its presidency. Starting today, the President of the Security Council was the Russian Federation.
Copies of the resolution were available in the Documentation Centre.
New Statements by the Secretary-General
Available in the press room were new statements by the Secretary-General on Bolivia, urging all political and social actors to reach a solution to the political impasse regarding the necessary steps to hold elections in December 2005; on India, condemning the series of terrorist bombings which had resulted in many deaths in the Indian capital, New Delhi; and on Côte d'Ivoire, calling on all the Ivorian parties and their followers to refrain from any actions that might create tensions and to remain committed to the ongoing process aimed at restoring lasting peace and stability to their country. Mrs. Heuzé said copies of the statements were available in the press room.
Humanitarian Situation in Zimbabwe
Mrs. Heuzé said the Secretary-General remained deeply concerned by the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe. The United Nations continued to receive reports that tens of thousands of people were still homeless and in need of assistance, months after the eviction campaign began in May 2005. The Secretary-General was particularly dismayed to learn that the Government of Zimbabwe’s Ad-Hoc Inter-Ministerial Cabinet Committee had rejected offers of UN assistance. In an official communication, the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and Urban Development had stated that there was no longer a compelling need to provide temporary shelter as there was no humanitarian crisis. The Minister, in the same communication, also claimed that Government interventions had addressed the most urgent shelter needs.
The above statements directly contradicted the report by the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Human Settlements Issues in Zimbabwe, Anna Tibaijuka, as well as most recent reports from the United Nations and the humanitarian community. A large number of vulnerable groups, including the recent evictees as well as other vulnerable populations, remained in need of immediate humanitarian assistance, including shelter. Furthermore there was no clear evidence that subsequent Government efforts had significantly benefited these groups. The Secretary-General noted the Government’s decision to decline assistance came despite extensive consultations on relief efforts that ensued in the past months between the United Nations and the Government. Meanwhile the impending rainy season threatened to worsen the living conditions of the affected population.
Mrs. Heuzé said the Secretary-General was disturbed by the continued suffering and made a strong appeal to the Government of Zimbabwe to ensure that those who were out in the open, without shelter and without means of sustaining their livelihoods, were provided with humanitarian assistance in collaboration with the United Nations and the humanitarian community in order to avert a further deterioration of the humanitarian situation. Copies of the statement were in the press room in English and in French.
Damien Personnaz of the United Nations Children's Fund said over the past six months, the situation in Zimbabwe had not improved at all, if anything, it was deteriorating. There were some 700,000 persons without shelter, including 215,000 children. The situation was particularly worrying for persons who were not able to return to their villages. These persons were in a very vulnerable situation. UNICEF still needed $ 3.5 million to bring assistance to the displaced persons.
Geneva Activities
Mrs. Heuzé said the Human Rights Committee would be concluding its eighty-fifth session on 3 November. The Chairperson of the Committee, Christine Chanet, would today brief journalists at 12:30 p.m. in press room 1. The Committee's final observations and recommendations on the reports of Canada, Paraguay, Italy and Brazil, which were considered during the session, would be released on 3 November.
The Committee against Torture would be meeting from 7 to 25 November in Geneva to review reports from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nepal, France, Ecuador, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sri Lanka.
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights would also be meeting in Geneva from 7 to 25 November to consider reports from Slovenia, Austria, Uzbekistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Libya.
There were several other meetings which would be held in Geneva in November and the Director said a list would be put in the press room.
Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, would be delivering the keynote statement at the Diplomatic Club on Thursday, 3 November following its General Assembly. Mr. Ordzhonikidze would speak at 7 p.m. about the United Nations at sixty, challenges and opportunities.
Mrs. Heuzé said that journalists who had been following the events of the International Year of Microcredit might be interested in the International Forum to build Inclusive Financial Sectors which would be held in New York from 7 to 9 November. Press kits on the Forum, which was the closing event of the International Year, were available in the Documentation Centre in a number of languages.
Finally, Mrs. Heuzé reminded journalists that the Palais des Nations was closed on Friday, 4 November for the Eid el Fitr and there would be no briefing.
Two Demining Experts Killed in Ambush in South Sudan
Henri Leu, President of the Fondation Suisse de Déminage (Swiss Foundation for Mine Action), said the organization collaborated with the World Food Programme (WFP) with the aim of helping WFP to undertake its work in full safety by clearing all problems linked to landmines and unexploded ordinance. An extremely grave incident took place yesterday in South Sudan in the context of this work: three vehicles were ambushed about 15 km from Juba in South Sudan by unidentified forces. Two staff members were killed, and two members of the Sudanese Army who were accompanying the convoy were wounded. This was the first time that the Foundation had lost a member of its staff since its inception, and it was taking it very seriously.
Mr. Leu said one of the staff members was a Sudanese national, the other was an expatriate, Mr. Boya Casper, aged 34, married, with two children, who came from Erbil in North Iraq. He had wide experience in de-mining activities, and had been working in Sudan since September. The Foundation always trained local members of staff in countries where it had activities, with the aim of transferring knowledge and improving capacities, but could not yet give out the name of the local staff member who had been killed, as it had not yet managed to reach his family to inform them.
It had been a routine convoy for the Foundation, and its teams had been working on that part of the road near Juba since 1 August 2005, and the zone had not been considered dangerous, even if the teams were always accompanied by soldiers, as required by the United Nations. The programme, which had been suspended until the inquiry could provide more information, aimed to remove landmines from access points to the roads in South Sudan. Six hundred kilometres of roads had been made safe so far, over 2.5 million square metres of land had been cleared, and 2,800 landmines and anti-tank mines had been removed on that stretch of road. The aim of the operation was to be able to deliver international aid by road, rather than by air, as this was much cheaper. Other operations had taken place with the WFP in Laos, in Afghanistan and in Iraq in order to open the way to WFP convoys.
In response to a question on how vehicles were marked, Mr. Leu said they had the FSD’s logo, as well as that of WFP. They were white, and constant information was provided to local authorities and communities in order for them to know what was going on and why. Every time a team went through a village, they educated the population on the risks of landmines, in order to reduce the number of deaths caused by these. Answering a question on what group had carried out the attack, Mr. Leu said that so far this was unknown, but it had been attributed to the Lord’s Resistance Army of Uganda, although this had not yet been confirmed. It could possibly be due to bandits. It could not be confirmed that it was aimed at stopping the land-mine removal programme. Answering a question on what groups were active in the region, Mr. Leu said there were groups in the region that were currently unaffiliated to any movement. The Lord’s Resistance Army had been reported to be undertaking activities in the area, but this needed to be confirmed.
Simon Pluess of the World Food Programme said WFP condemned these murders, which had caused terrible suffering to the families of the victims, and the incident would have a very negative effect on the capacities of the WFP and its partners to rehabilitate the roads of South Sudan, which aimed to facilitate the safe return of millions of inhabitants and to facilitate the economic reconstruction of the area.
In response to a question on how long the programme would be frozen, Mr. Leu said that operations had been halted, and teams had retreated to their base camps. Discussions would be held with WFP, and the decision as to when to resume the programme would be taken jointly, and it was hoped that this would be soon, as the programme was crucial for the area. A press release with the latest details would be coming out later in the day. Answering a question on how many people were in the Foundation’s teams in South Sudan, Mr. Leu said the programme it was running for WFP had 30 expatriates and over 250 local personnel.
Human Rights
Praveen Randhawa of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Vitit Muntarbhorn, would be visiting the Republic of Korea from 2 to 11 November on an official mission to examine the consequences of the human rights situation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on the Republic of Korea. During the mission, he expected to meet with officials from relevant Government Ministries, non-governmental organizations, academics, UN agencies, the diplomatic community, and in particular defectors from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. On 3 November, Mr. Muntarbhorn would be participating in the International Symposium on North Korea and Human Rights, which was being organized by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea. He would also participate in the Second International Consultation on Peace and Human Rights in North Korea, which was being organized by the NGO Forum Asia, on 4 November.
Ms. Randhawa said the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, would be travelling on a mission to Thailand from 8 to 20 November. A request by the Special Rapporteur to visit Myanmar was again turned down recently by the Government. The Special Rapporteur would be visiting Bangkok, Chiang Mai and refugee camps on the Thai-Myanmar border to meet with key actors on Myanmar, including parliamentarians, members of the diplomatic community, representatives of the NGO sector and UN agencies.
Ms. Randhawa said a statement was issued yesterday by five independent experts of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights who were undertaking a joint study on the situation of detainees in Guantanamo Bay. The experts said that they had carefully considered the invitation of the United States for three of them to visit Guantanamo Bay, and decided to accept it on the following basis. In a spirit of cooperation, they accepted the short duration of the visit and the fact that only three of them would be permitted to visit the facilities. However, they said they could not accept the exclusion of private interviews with detainees as this would not only contravene the Terms of Reference for Fact-finding missions by Special Procedures but also undermine the purpose of an objective and fair assessment of the situation of detainees held in Guantanamo Bay.
Asked about Mr. Muntarbhorn's visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and whether the Government had rejected a request for him to visit or had just not responded, Ms. Randhawa said the mission was to the Republic of Korea.
Earthquake in South Asia
Vincent Lusser of the International Committee of the Red Cross said ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger had arrived in Pakistan. During his visit, Mr. Kellenberger would meet with Pakistan's President, General Pervez Musharraf, and visit ICRC operations in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. According to the latest bulletin on the situation in South Asia, which would be released this afternoon, ICRC was accelerating its distribution of aid. It was assisting around 1,000 families daily thanks to the seven helicopters it was using. ICRC had also installed two primary health units in addition to its other health care activities which were already functioning.
Jennifer Pagonis of the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees said with some 2,000 tons of UNHCR aid supplies now on the ground and more on the way to Pakistan, UNHCR and its partners were rushing to get everything distributed -- especially tents -- before the onset of winter weather in just a few weeks. The distribution of more than 20,000 UNHCR tents was a top priority. While 2,000 tons was a lot, it was still just a drop in the bucket in comparison to the enormous needs. UNHCR logistics experts were still analysing the remaining emergency stocks around the world and had identified additional materials. UNHCR had so far received $ 5.5 million for its $ 30 million appeal.
Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said the first of six 50-truck IOM convoys carrying winter aid items donated by the Dutch Government arrived yesterday at an army base in the remote Haveli region of Bagh district, close to the line of control of India. The consignment would be taken to Kahuta, the main town of Haveli on Wednesday, where IOM and its partner non-governmental organization Islamic Relief would start to distribute the items to persons made homeless by the earthquake in high altitude villages to the north. IOM's pipeline of tents on order in the coming two weeks now included 7,500 from India, 1,500 from Turkey and 1,000 from China. But with fear that up to 200,000 families still faced a winter without a roof over their heads, it had also launched a pilot project to distribute 600 shelter repair kits that included sheet iron roofing, plastic sheet, hammers, nails, spades, pickaxes, hand axes, saws, wire, buckets and other items essential for salvaging the remains of houses and rebuilding habitable shelters. Lack of funds could soon seriously hamper IOM's operations. To date, it had only received $ 8.5 million of the $ 60.5 million requested for the next six months.
Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said $ 131.1 million had been received for the UN appeal for $ 550 million, which meant that the appeal had only been funded by 23.9 per cent. This was very disappointing. It was not enough. More money was needed as if the money did not come, it would not be possible to rent helicopters, and some agencies would have to slow down their operations.
Simon Pluess of the World Food Programme said that for WFP's programme to feed one million persons, only 16 per cent of the requested money had been received. The pipelines were practically empty. WFP was also trying to set up an operation of helicopters to run 24 hours a day for $ 100 million, but it only received 10 per cent of this figure and if more money was not received, there was real danger that helicopters would have to grounded.
Mrs. Heuzé said that on the UN website, there was a summary of where the appeal stood and the implications for the UN and its agencies and programmes and funds.
In response to a question to the bilateral aid which was given to Pakistan, separately from the UN appeal, Mrs. Heuzé said the bilateral aid received by Pakistan was mainly for reconstruction efforts, and was not for the rescue operations.
Other
Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said a note to correspondents had been sent to journalists late last Friday which contained interesting information about what could be done in Africa if the H5N1 virus was found in that continent, including the challenges. One problem was that health professionals might not be able to diagnose avian flu quickly because its symptoms resembled other respiratory diseases or the flu. Rwanda was preparing a meeting to discuss Africa's response in case avian flu arrived in Africa.
Catherine Sibut-Pinote of the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development said the thirteenth Raul Prebisch lecture would be held on 2 November at 3 p.m. at the Palais des Nations and would be delivered by Professor Lawrence R. Klein, 1980 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences. The title of the lecture was South and East Asia: Leading the World Economy. Journalists were cordially invited to attend. At 2 p.m. on the same day, a new report by UNCTAD entitled Developing Countries in International Trade would be released. Professor Klein would participate in the press conference on the report, and other speakers. The embargoed report was already available as well as a press kit.
Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said in Colombia, IOM was today inaugurating two fully equipped computer centres in the Department of Narino in order to improve the quality of life in areas affected by forced displacement and the cultivation of illegal crops. In Cambodia, the IOM office in Phnom Penh was today launching a pilot project to help the Cambodian Ministry of Labour develop a national strategy on labour migration.