REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section, chaired the briefing which also heard from Spokespersons for the World Health Organization, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the UN Refugee Agency, the World Food Programme and the International Organization for Migration.
Activities of the Secretary-General
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier reported that, in a press encounter following his monthly luncheon with Security Council members, the Secretary-General had discussed the situation in Darfur and Chad, among others. A transcript of the press encounter with the Secretary-General was available in the Press Room.
Situation in Israel
The Secretary-General had also made a statement strongly condemning the Tel Aviv suicide bombing and calling on the Palestinian Authority to take a clear public stand against such unjustifiable acts of terrorism. The Secretary-General’s statement was available in the Press Room.
Global Alliance for Information Technologies and Development Launch
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan had approved the launch of a Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Development. The Alliance would hold its inaugural meeting, hosted by the Government of Malaysia, on 19 June in Kuala Lumpur. As stressed by the 2005 World Summit and the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), information and communication technology had to be effectively integrated into development activities if internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals, were to be achieved within the agreed time frame. A press release on the launch was available.
New Report
The Eighth report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (S/2006/222) had been released, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said. The report was available from the Documents Centre.
20th Anniversary of the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that 26 April 2006 marked the twentieth anniversary of the Chernobyl catastrophe, which the General Assembly, by its resolution 60/14, decided to mark by a special commemorative meeting on that date.
Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that she was sure that some journalists had already seen a press release, which she believed had been posted on the WHO website last Thursday afternoon, on the twentieth anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident. It would be sent to those who subscribed to the online list at some point today, but it was available on the WHO website: http://www.who.int/ionizing_radiation/chernobyl/en/index.html. There was no breaking news, but it outlined the WHO report on the health impacts of the Chernobyl accident, including cases of thyroid cancer, cardiovascular problems, and the emotional consequences of that terrible accident, among others. An updated fact sheet was available on the WHO website, and copies were also available in the Press Room. The WHO media contact for Chernobyl was Gregory Hartl (079 203 7015).
Anna Nelson of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said that IFRC had also put together a press kit highlighting the work of the International Federation, which since 1990 – together with the Red Cross Societies of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia – had been running the Chernobyl Humanitarian Assistance and Rehabilitation Programme (CHARP) to address the basic health needs of those living in contaminated areas. Since 1990, IFRC had assisted more than 3 million people and screened over 800,000 for thyroid cancer, with a special focus on those who were under 18 years of age at the time of the accident. Since 1997, using six mobile diagnostic laboratories, IFRC had been providing annual screening through ultrasound examinations to approximately 90,000 people living in very remote areas in order to detect thyroid gland cancer and other types of thyroid pathologies, as well as provide referral for further treatment. Since 1997 IFRC had detected 1,120 cases of thyroid cancer and each year that number continued to increase. Donor interest in the IFRC programme, however, had steadily declined. As the twentieth anniversary was marked next week, IFRC hoped to see their appeal fully covered. B-roll on CHARP activities was available, as well as a press kit in English, French, Spanish and Arabic. The press contact on the issue was Marie-Françoise Borel.
Situation in Chad
Jenifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency said that the long weekend had been very eventful for UNHCR and the situation in Chad. After the turmoil of the last few days the refugees from the Darfur region of the Sudan in the east of the country had been relieved to hear Monday that Chad had no intention of forcibly returning them to Sudan. Although still anxious about the political upheaval and fighting in Chad, their fears of expulsion had been allayed after High Commissioner António Guterres spoke to President Idriss Déby Itno on Sunday night, who told him that Chad would not expel the 200,000 refugees back to their violent and insecure homeland across the border. In the telephone conversation, President Déby had expressed concerns about the difficulty of providing security both to the refugees and to the humanitarian organizations helping them. Recent security concerns had prompted UNHCR and its partners, as well as other United Nations organizations, to relocate non-essential staff from Chad. So far, some 35 UNHCR staff out of a total of 280 national and international staff in the country had been flown to Cameroon. UNHCR was now trying to strike the right balance between continuing essential services to refugees in the camps, who felt reassured by their presence, and security precautions for UNHCR staff. It was an ongoing exercise, but there were no immediate plans for any further evacuation flights.
Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme (WFP) said that, thankfully, at least the situation had been calm over the weekend. For that reason, WFP had been able to resume the distribution of supplies in the camps, which had been halted for security reasons. When the hostilities broke out WFP had completed its distribution to only four camps. In the others, distribution was either suspended or put off. Distribution had resumed after the cessation of hostilities, but at a much slower pace given that, for security reasons, WFP had relocated a large number of its staff, as well as UN and NGO staff working with WFP, deemed non-essential, over the weekend. WFP still had 12 international staff on the ground. In its capacity as the United Nations’ lead logistics agency, WFP relocated 71 non-essential UN staff and NGO staff from Abéché on Saturday in a Boeing 727 to Yaoundé in Cameroon. It was the second such operation, as 150 non-essential UN and NGO staff had already been relocated from a base in N’Djamena to Yaoundé Thursday night.
Ms. Berthiaume said that it was essential that the security situation continued to improve, as WHO hoped to preposition as many supplies as possible before the rainy season began and the roads became impassable. Over 45,000 Chadians had fled their homes owing to insecurity since December.
Responding to a query, Ms. Berthiaume said that normally WHO distributed the equivalent of one month’s food rations to refugees in camps. WHO had resumed distributions, but with a skeletal staff, in places where it would normally take three days to do a distribution it would now take a week or even more. The rainy season usually began in June, and this was traditionally the time when WHO began prepositioning supplies.
Africa Malaria Day
Stéphanie Durivage of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, a division of the World Health Organization, announced that tomorrow, on the occasion of Africa Malaria Day, WHO was holding a press conference at 14.00 in Le Club Suisse de la presse to underscore the importance WHO attached this year to making Artemisinin-based Combination Therapies (ACTs) to prevent malaria available to everyone. Indeed, the slogan of this year’s anti-malaria campaign was “Get your ACT together! Universal Access to Effective Malaria Treatment is a Human Right”. A media advisory with details of the press conference was available at the back of the room. On 24 April an information session on the same subject would be held at the Ramada Park Hotel at 3 p.m. in the presence of Ambassadors of all of the African countries.
International Drug Purchase Facility
Fadela Chaib of WHO said that at the end of this week, on Thursday, 20 April, and Friday, 21 April, WHO would host a technical meeting, jointly organized by Brazil and France, on the International Drug Purchase Facility in the WHO Executive Board Room. The participants would discuss the aviation tax in order to finance health programs. The media were invited to an informal press briefing at the closing of the session on Friday 21 at 1 p.m., outside the Executive Board Room meeting. The speakers would be Dr. Lee Jong-wook, WHO Director-General, and Philippe Douste Blazy, Foreign Affairs Minister, France.
UNHCR Closes Office in Uzbekistan
Jenifer Pagonis of UNHCR said that yesterday UNHCR closed its office in Uzbekistan on orders of the Government. In March UNHCR had received an ultimatum by the Uzbek Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying UNHCR had to end its work in the country by 17 April. The Government said that UNHCR had fully implemented its tasks and that there were no evident reasons for its further presence in the country. UNHCR expressed regret over that decision, as its work in the country was ongoing and many refugees continued to depend on its assistance, but UNHCR could only work in a country by invitation and in support of the Government. UNHCR staff had worked very hard over the past 30 days to prepare for the end of its activities in Uzbekistan and to ensure alternative arrangements were in place for those in need of protection. UNHCR was pleased that the United Nations Development Programme in Tashkent had agreed and will be allowed under an alternative arrangement to continue providing basic care and assistance to some 1,800 refugees, most of whom are Afghans.
Other
Late last week, Australia had announced that it was going to tighten its border control measures to deal with new boat arrivals, saying the measures would reflect its commitment to its international protection obligations, Ms. Pagonis said. Under the proposed legislation – which UNHCR had not seen yet – all new boat arrivals, whether they arrived on the mainland or in the offshore excised area, would be transferred offshore to have their asylum claims processed. UNHCR was aware of the difficulties and shared the concerns Governments faced in dealing with people smuggling and managing irregular arrivals in their territories, including unauthorized boat arrivals. However, these proposed new measures raised some serious concerns. In particular the stated intention that persons who land on the Australian mainland – who should normally fall under the migration act and have their claims processed in Australia – will be taken offshore for assessment of their claim, with Australia’s responsibilities to bona fide refugees deflected elsewhere. If that were to happen, it would be an unfortunate precedent. It was even more worrying in the absence of any clear indications as to what might be the nature of the envisaged offshore processing arrangement.
In response to a query, Ms. Pagonis noted that until UNHCR saw the legislation and what actually happened in practice, she could not say that whether the new procedures envisaged by Australia would be in breach of the 1951 Refugee Convention. Violations essentially occurred when people were refouled back to another country, which had not yet occurred. At the moment UNHCR were simply concerned; they were hoping for further clarifications and were talking with Australia about the situation.
The book, “The State of the World’s Refugees: The New Displacement in the New Millennium”, along with a press release in English and French, embargoed until 9 a.m. tomorrow, were available in the Press Room, Ms. Pagonis said. Books and press kits were only available to media in Geneva and London, where the High Commissioner would participate in a book launch with its publishers there. The book is the first one in the series since 2000, and it examines the changing dynamics of displacement over the past half decade.
Ms. Nelson of the IFRC noted that 8 May was World Red Cross Red Crescent Day. The theme of this year’s event was “Universal assistance through volunteering”. A press release would be available soon.
Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said UNHCR was to provide US$2.25 million to support IOM’s operations to facilitate the voluntary, safe and dignified return of internally displaced persons from relief camps in Pakistan’s earthquake-affected areas to their home villages and towns. Under the agreement, which would run from April through August, the UNHCR funds would contribute to IOM’s UN Action Plan mandate to provide medical screening and transport facilities to quake survivors, especially vulnerable people willing to leave the camps and go home with the onset of spring.
Other
Mr. Chauzy said that Government officials from each of Afghanistan's 34 provinces today concluded a two-day IOM workshop in Kabul aimed at coordinating the fight against human trafficking in one of Asia's poorest countries. The workshop, was part of an IOM counter trafficking project implemented with the Afghan government to improve understanding of human trafficking in Afghanistan, particularly among women in government and to synergize counter trafficking interventions. To date, IOM had directly assisted nearly 100 victims and potential victims of human trafficking in Afghanistan, 80 of whom were of foreign origin, smuggled across the country's porous borders.
Mr. Chauzy said that a two-year IOM programme aimed at helping migrant diasporas contribute to the reconstruction and development of several post-war countries in Africa, Europe and South Asia had just begun in the Netherlands. The programme aimed to facilitate the temporary return of qualified nationals living in the Netherlands to Sudan, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Bosnia Herzegovina, Serbia Montenegro and the province of Kosovo, where there was great need for skills, expertise and experience to help rebuild those countries.
Press Conferences
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that at 3 p.m. today in Room III there would be a OHCHR press conference on the forthcoming meetings of the various human rights committees, including the Committee on Human Rights, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Committee against Torture, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, among others. On Thursday, 20 April at 2 p.m. IFRC was holding a press conference on the launch of its Avian Flu Appeal in Room III. On Friday, 21 April, Edouard Dayan, Director-General of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and Claude Defoundoux, UPU's Programme Manager for Africa, would speak at a press conference on the theme “Quality of Service Fund: How the fund has become a secure and steady source of financing for developing and least developed countries” at 11.30 a.m. in Room III.