REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was attended by Spokespersons for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the International Labour Office, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Food Programme and the International Organization for Migration.

Activities of the Secretary-General

Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said Secretary-General Kofi Annan had yesterday received the Global Leadership Award of the Zayed International Prize for the Environment. The ceremony had taken place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The Secretary-General said he would use his prize as seed money for a foundation he would establish to work in Africa for agriculture and girls’ education. Available was the text of the Secretary-General’s statement, as well as a transcript of his comments to journalists afterwards.

The Secretary-General yesterday sent a message to the Haitian people on the eve of their presidential elections. He said the vote was an opportunity for Haiti to move away from violence and uncertainty and towards a future of peace and stability. The Secretary-General called upon all Haitian citizens to participate and exercise peacefully their right to vote. The message of the Secretary-General was in the press room. Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said if none of the candidates gained more than 50 per cent of the vote today, a second tour would take place on 19 March and the new President would start his work on 29 March. The electoral process would start with the organization of local elections on 13 April. Starting today or tomorrow, the transitional government would play the role of the interim government until 29 March.

Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Secretary-General had issued his latest monthly report on the situation in Darfur in which he said that tragically, another year had come to an end without a major breakthrough in efforts to resolve the crisis in that Sudanese region. He called on all parties there to reach a negotiated settlement at their talks in Nigeria’s capital while cautioning against the conflict’s spread across the border with Chad. He said since the African Union’s Peace and Security Council had expressed its support, in principle, for a transfer of peacekeeping from the African Mission in Sudan to the UN Mission in Sudan in Darfur, the UN would work closely with the AU and all other stakeholders to take the matter forward. The report was available in the Documentation Centre.

Geneva Activities

Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Conference on Disarmament was today holding a plenary. For the moment, only France and Nigeria had asked to speak.

The open-ended Working Group to consider options regarding the elaboration of an Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights started its third session yesterday. The Working Group would be meeting until 17 February in Room XVI. The meetings were public and documentation of the session was available in the press room.

Human Rights

José Luis Díaz, Spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said High Commissioner Louise Arbour would be going to the Russian Federation from 19 to 25 February. The visit would include stops in Chechnya, specifically Grozny, and Beslan in North Ossetia, in addition to Moscow and Saint Petersburg. There were plans for Ms. Arbour to meet with President Putin during the visit. There would be more details on the visit when the agenda was finalized, probably by the time of the press briefing on Friday, 10 February.

Asked if this was the first time that a High Commissioner visited Chechnya, Mr. Díaz said in 2000 then High Commissioner Mary Robinson visited Chechnya. Ms. Arbour visited the Russian Federation a year ago.

Other

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization introduced to journalists Marta Seoane, Communications Officer for the Tobacco Free Initiative. It was Ms. Seoane who was dealing with the meetings of the Conference of Parties of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control which were being held in Geneva this week. A press release was available and if journalists had any questions, they could address them to Ms. Seoane.

Ms. Chaib said concerning avian influenza in the north of Iraq, the eight-person WHO team had arrived on 5 February in Solaymaniya. The team would look at whether there were cases of avian influenza among the poultry and would also work with the Iraqi authorities on the human cases of avian influenza, especially what Iraq needed concerning monitoring and laboratory conditions. For the moment, WHO only recognized one case which had been confirmed as being avian influenza. There were eight other suspected cases but the samples had not been confirmed by the international laboratories in Cairo and London.

Catherine Sibut-Pinote of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said the Commission on Trade in Goods and Services and Commodities was meeting from 6 to 10 February. A briefing would be set up at the end of the week.

Corinne Perthuis of the International Labour Office said the first maritime session of the International Labour Conference of the twenty-first century was opening today at the Palais des Nations and would consider a major new international labour instrument, the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006. A briefing would be held today at 11:30 a.m. on the work of the Conference, which should culminate towards its conclusion on 23 February in a vote among the 1,200 participants, to consolidate and update more than 65 international maritime labour instruments adopted over the last 80 years.

Damien Personnaz of the United Nations Children’s Fund said available was a press release on drought creating a crisis for children in the Horn of Africa. The severe drought was endangering an estimated 1.5 million children under the age of five in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Djibouti. The drought had left an estimated 8 million people in need of emergency assistance. Rains had largely failed in the area for two years, leading to livestock deaths, crop failures and the loss of water sources. UNICEF was requesting $ 16 million to fund its response to the drought in the region. These additional resources would allow it to move quickly in getting water and other services into the affected areas, including measles immunization campaigns for children and families.

Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said that while talking about the Horn of Africa, she wished to inform journalists that Secretary-General Kofi Annan had appointed Kjell Magne Bondevik, the former Prime Minister of Norway, as his new Special Humanitarian Envoy for the region. A biographical note was available.

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said the insecurity situation in Darfur was seriously threatening WFP’s food operations in the region. This was extremely worrying to WFP which was feeding 2.7 million persons in the region and the security situation could affect the future work of the programme there. The north and south of Darfur were of particular concern. WFP trucks transporting food were daily attacked. The food and trucks were looted and the drivers kidnapped. In recent weeks, 20 trucks had been lost like this. The rainy reason was starting in April. This situation could also affect WFP’s operations in the whole of Sudan where it was helping 6 million persons. Some $ 300 million were needed by WFP before the end of February and $ 177 million by the end of April for its operations in Sudan.

Concerning WFP’s work in Armenia where it helped 110,000 persons, Ms. Berthiaume said WFP urgently needed $ 4 million because a lack of funds had meant that it could only feed 65,000 children and older persons. The whole Caucuses region was affected by the shortage of funds. Last month, WFP had launched an appeal for the 250,000 Chechens in Chechnya and Ingushetia. The pledges had not materialized and WFP had been forced to cut by half its operations. Only 12 per cent of the requested $ 22 million had been funded.

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said in Sudan, a first group of 400 vulnerable Dinkas helped by IOM had arrived to a rapturous welcome in Bor on Sunday after an 18-hour long river journey up the White Nile on board an IOM chartered ferry. They were part of a group of some 12,000 Dinkas who fled Bor for Maridi, in Western Equatoria as many as 18 years ago to escape fighting between Sudanese government forces and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA). Following the signing of the peace agreement on January 2005 and the subsequent handover of Bor to the Government of Southern Sudan, the group decided to return on foot to their former homes via Juba, with up to half a million cattle, their prized possession.

Ms. Pandya said in Benin, a two-day ministerial conference would get underway this week in the capital Cotonou aimed at improving the impact of migrant remittances on development in the world's least developed countries. In Indonesia, representatives of IOM and the American Red Cross yesterday handed over keys to the new owners of dozens of homes built for tsunami-affected people in Aceh province.