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 Secretary-General's trip to France, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Tunis and Pakistan; a visit by the Security Council to the Great Lakes region; a statement by the Secretary-General on the elections in Liberia; Geneva meetings; the avian influenza conference; humanitarian aid for the victims of the South Asia earthquake; cholera in West Africa; and other issues. Spokespersons for and a representative of the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations Environmental Programme and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization participated in the briefing.
Secretary-General's Trip to France, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Tunis and Pakistan
Mrs. Heuzé said Secretary-General Kofi Annan met yesterday in Paris with French President Jacques Chirac. They had a wide-ranging discussion and exchange of views, in which they talked about Syria and Lebanon, Côte d'Ivoire, Iraq, UN reform and development issues. Immediately following his meeting with the President, the Secretary-General took off for Cairo, where he would begin a two-day official visit this morning. On Wednesday, 9 November, the Secretary-General would deliver a lecture in honour of the late Nadia Younes, who was killed in the attack on UN headquarters in Baghdad on 19 August 2003 and who, he would say, was "almost a prototype of the modern Egyptian woman." Copies of his statement in English and in Arabic were available. The Secretary-General's trip would also take him to Saudi Arabia, Tunis and Pakistan.
Security Council Trip to Great Lakes Region
Mrs. Heuzé said the Security Council sometimes undertook ground trips to deal with implementing important security or peace issues. It was now undertaking a trip to the Great Lakes region of Africa, which was not its first to that area but which took special significance for a number of reasons. Available in the press room was the transcript of a press conference which had been held yesterday by the leader of the Security Council delegation, French Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sablière, who called on Congolese authorities to speed up the political transition to meet the June 30 deadline to hold elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Ambassador de la Sabliére said the Security Council would be very vigilant for any obstacles that might block the process for the elections. The delegation’s five-nation visit started in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and would also take it to Burundi, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania.
Statement by the Secretary-General on the Elections in Liberia
Mrs. Heuzé said the Secretary-General was pleased to note that the Liberian National Elections Commission, with support from the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and other partners, had put in place all the necessary arrangements for the second round of presidential elections to take place on schedule today. The Secretary-General called on all Liberians registered to vote to do so in a peaceful and orderly manner, just as they did during the first round on 11 October.
Geneva Meetings
Mrs. Heuzé said there were a number of interesting meetings taking place in Geneva in November. Two human rights committees had started their three-week fall sessions yesterday. The Committee against Torture was this morning considering the report of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Salle XI of the Palais des Nations. Tomorrow, the Committee would take up the report of Nepal, and it would review the report of Sri Lanka on Thursday, 10 November. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was meeting at the Palais Wilson. It was this morning considering the situation in Slovenia. Tomorrow afternoon, it would start its review of the situation in Austria, and it would consider the situation in Uzbekistan on Friday, 11 November.
From 14 to 18 November, the Working Group on the right to development and the high- level task force on the implementation of the right to development would meet at the Palais des Nations in public. Available were a list of documents concerning the meeting.
From 14 to 22 November, the Group of Governmental Experts of States Parties to the Conventional Weapons Convention would meet in private. The Chairman of the Group of Experts was Ambassador Gordan Markotic of Croatia. The Group had two Coordinators: Ambassador Markku Reimaa of Finland who worked on the issue of mines other than anti-personnel mines; and Ambassador Jayant Prasad of India who worked on explosive remnants of war. There would be a press release on this meeting.
The Seventh Annual Conference of the States Parties to the Amended Protocol II to the Conventional Weapons Convention would meet on 23 November.
From 21 to 30 November, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances would be meeting at the Palais des Nations in closed session.
Available in the press room was a list of meetings that were being held in Geneva, New York and other cities until the end of 2005.
Question
A journalist said he was working on the issue of alleged discrimination against Africans in the United Nations system and wanted figures on the number of Africans working at the Palais and other relevant information. Mrs. Heuzé said the journalist should speak to her following the briefing to discuss this issue.
Avian Influenza Conference
Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said the three-day conference on avian influenza at WHO was continuing its work. Today, the conference was discussing the global and regional dimensions of avian influenza and human pandemic influenza. Tomorrow, the last day, the conference would discuss supporting the implementation of integrated country programmes: financing and coordination issues. The provisional agenda was available in the press room.
Humanitarian Efforts for Victims of South Asia Earthquake
Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said WFP welcomed the announcement by the Pakistani and Indian Governments that the Line of Control which divided Kashmir would be opened. This would provide access to hundreds of thousands of persons living high in the mountains in Pakistan-administer Kashmir. Many of these persons had still not received any aid because roads continued to be blocked by landslides. Helicopters were being used to ferry aid, but this limited the amount of aid reaching these areas. This opening would hopefully allow WFP to save thousands of lives in the upcoming months. To date, WFP had only received 14 per cent of the $ 100 million needed to ensure the availability of 30 helicopters for the system-wide humanitarian operation. This was insufficient. There were too many areas which could only be reached by helicopters. Thanks to the work of the Pakistani army, some roads had been cleared and WFP could reach some areas with trucks, but not enough. For now, WFP was using the 17 helicopters available. Concerning the appeal for the food aid, WFP had received $ 14 million of the $ 56 million needed for its own operation. Again, this was insufficient. This again was a rush against time, because winter had almost arrived and the snow would further limit access.
Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said yesterday, OCHA had held an information meeting in Geneva for all Member States on assistance to communities affected by the earthquake in South Asia, to present the immediate response plan and priorities of the international community for the next 30 days before winter set in. Humanitarian actors were struggling to raise sufficient resources to fund vital aid activities. The United Nations had already advanced $ 25.6 million from various reserves in order to start and maintain the momentum of relief provision and some agencies had borrowed heavily to keep operations running. Immediate shortfalls for UN agencies approximately amounted to $ 42.4 million.
Jennifer Pagonis of the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees said a month after the South Asia earthquake, UNHCR was preparing for a new exodus of people from remote valleys that were just being made accessible as roads were cleared and cold weather approached. The restored roads would allow UNHCR to send aid to those hard to reach areas, and would also allow residents to seek assistance elsewhere if they wished. With the onset of cold weather, that second option was a distinct possibility for tens of thousands of people. According to the Government of Pakistan, more than 241,000 tents were needed and 3.8 million blankets. Of this huge amount, UNHCR would be providing half a million blankets and over 20,000 family tents from UNHCR's global stocks. UNHCR was continuing to look for additional sources of supplies, but its efforts were still hobbled by a lack of funds.
Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said the tent situation for victims of the earthquake in Pakistan had improved with deliveries from the international humanitarian community reaching 132,000 and those from the Pakistani Government reaching 241,000. With the need for half a million tents still assumed, the shortfall of 127,000 would be covered by those already ordered and in the pipeline. The IOM emergency shelter programme planned for November currently faced a shortfall of $ 4.55 million. IOM had appealed for $ 60.5 million for a six-month operation in Pakistan covering emergency shelter, health and transport activities.
Cholera in West Africa
Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said an appeal for $ 3.2 million to fight cholera in West Africa was launched yesterday in Dakar and Geneva. The UN hoped to prevent cholera's further spread in Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal and Sao Tome and Principe. OCHA hoped that despite the difficulties the UN was having in raising money for various emergencies, the health of Africans was not forgotten. An alarming wave of cholera had swept across West Africa this summer, infecting more than 42,000 people and causing 702 deaths. Available was a press release with further details
Other
Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said that in Guatemala, WFP had appealed for $ 14 million to help 285,000 victims of Hurricane Stan. WFP had only received $ 4.4 million. Guatemala's population had already been suffering from a precarious existence before the Hurricane, with 50 per cent suffering from mal nutrition.
Jennifer Pagonis of the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees said High Commissioner Guterres was in Brazil on a two-day mission, his first visit to Latin America since he took office in June. Mr. Guterres was seeking support for the Mexico Plan of Action, an operational instrument to protect and assist refugees, as well as Brazil's continued promotion of refugee issues at regional and international fora.
Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said IOM's income generation and community development projects for minority ethnic groups in Kosovo had received new funding from the European Agency for Reconstruction. The 2 million euros funding would allow IOM to continue its efforts to improve the social and economic conditions of minority communities living in enclaves and in isolated areas throughout Kosovo by providing support for enterprise development in minority regions.
Michael Williams of the United Nations Environmental Programme said at 11 a.m. on Thursday, 10 November, UNEP would launch its new report entitled "Chemically-Contaminated Sites in Iraq - a Post-Conflict Environmental Assessment". The report was in English and there were executive summaries available in Japanese and Arabic. It was an assessment of five priority hot spots that had been identified by the Government of Iraq. They were industrial sites and warehouses that had been either bombed during the war or looted afterwards, resulting in wide-spread contamination with pesticides or petrochemicals. A UNEP-led clean-up operation would also be announced. The Iraqi Minister of Environment and UNEP's Executive Director would be present at the press conference. Copies of the embargoed report and press releases would be available.
Ingeborg Breines of UNESCO said she would like to present to journalists two recent and important reports. The first was a UNESCO World Report called "Towards Knowledge Societies" which was launched in Paris last week and which would be more broadly presented at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis. The authors of the report stressed that knowledge societies were not to be confused with information societies. The report urged Governments to expand quality education for all, increase community access to information and communication technology, and improve cross-border scientific sharing in an effort to narrow the digital and knowledge divide. A press kit on the report was available.
The second report was entitled "Literacy for Life" and would be launched tomorrow in London. The report was under embargo until 2 p.m. GMT tomorrow. This was the fourth global monitoring report on education for all, and this year, the focus was on literacy. Interested journalists were invited to the pre-launch event today at 2 p.m. with two of the authors of the report at the International Bureau of Education.