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 Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the UN Refugee Agency, the Universal Postal Union and the International Organization for Migration.
Secretary-General Appoints Board of Global Compact
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan had appointed a group of 20 business, labour and civil society leaders from around the world to serve on the Board of the United Nations Global Compact, the world’s largest voluntary corporate citizenship initiative. Operating under the auspices of the Secretary-General, the Board would help ensure the Global Compact’s continuity and facilitate its further growth. It would provide strategic advice for the initiative as a whole and make related recommendations to the United Nations Global Compact Office, participants and other stakeholders. The Board would also play a role with regard to the implementation of the Compact’s integrity measures. Board members would act as champions of the initiative. The Global Compact Board would meet once a year, with the inaugural meeting planned for summer 2006 at United Nations Headquarters in New York.
Launched in 2000, the United Nations Global Compact brought business together with United Nations agencies, labour, civil society and Governments to advance universal principles in the areas of human rights, labour standards, the environment and anti-corruption. Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier noted that a press release on the subject, with a list of the Global Compact Board members, was available in English in French in the Press Room.
High Representative for Elections in Côte d’Ivoire Appointed
In an important appointment for Geneva, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan had appointed Gérard Stoudmann of Switzerland his High Representative for elections in Côte d’Ivoire. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Stoudmann served as Director of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy. A biographical note was available in the Press Room.
Human Rights Council
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier noted that consultations and an exchange of views on the preparations for the first session of the Human Rights Council and related matters was being held today, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in conference room XVII of the Palais des Nations. She also reminded journalists that a list of States Members that had announced their candidacy for membership on the Council of Human Rights was available on the United Nations website at www.un.org/ga/60/elect/hrc.
Geneva Activities
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that next week the fourth session of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families would be held at the Palais Wilson in Geneva from 24 to 28 April 2006. On 25 April, the Committee would consider the initial report of Mali, which would be the first consideration by the Committee of a State party’s report. Background press releases were available in English and French in the Press Room.
The Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances would hold its seventy-eighth session in public meetings from 24 to 28 April at the Palais des Nations, Room IX, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said. The Working Group, established in 1980 by the Commission on Human Rights, was composed of five independent experts and held three sessions a year. Its mandate had been extended in 2004 for an additional three years.
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier also drew journalists’ attention to the observance of Africa Malaria Day on 25 April. The Secretariat of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership and the Permanent Mission of the African Union were organizing an information session that would highlight the need to provide universal access to artemisinin-based combination therapies. The session would be held at 3 p.m. on Monday, 24 April 2006, at the Ramada Park Hotel in Geneva.
Praveen Randhawa of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said that there was a curfew in Kathmandu today from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. There were currently reports of gatherings of demonstrators in a number of locations. However, those were more in the thousands than in the tens of thousands. At this stage, there were no reports of violence or clashes. There were OHCHR teams visiting hospitals to get a sense of the number of injured. They had so far received reports that there were a total of 14 injured from gunshot wounds yesterday alone. The Office remained concerned about the excessive use of force, and after an intervention by the High Commissioner, the Office had received a limited number of curfew passes. OHCHR had received 5 passes today, rather than the 8 they had requested. However, she understood from her colleagues on the ground that the authorities were still obstructing OHCHR monitoring activities.
Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that the situation was critical, and OCHA was concerned about the impact of events on that population, 86 per cent of whom lived on 2 dollars a day. What had started as a four-day strike had now entered into its third week, with the clear support of the general populace. OCHA was also concerned about the rise in prices. The price of a kilo of tomatoes had gone from 42 cents to one and a half dollars and the price of salt had also risen. People were stocking up for fear of future shortages, there were lines at food shops, some shops had closed, and the banks were closed. There was also no transport, hospitals were at maximum capacity, medical staff was limited, and there was no permission for ambulances to get through during the curfew. United Nations offices remained closed today, with no staff allowed in except for two OHCHR teams and United Nations security staff. The United Nations was currently trying to negotiate with all parties so that the principal programme in place there, led by UNICEF, to distribute vitamin A, could be continued. Details of that programme and the present distributions could be found in the briefing note that was available in the back of the room.
Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme (WFP) said that thanks to the calls to provide laissez-passers to the food convoys, WFP had been able to get supplies to refugee camps in the eastern part of the country, where there were 100,000 refugees, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. WFP renewed its appeal to all parties to continue to allow access for humanitarian aid to all the vulnerable people WFP had been helping. WFP also supplied aid to the 900,000 Nepalese that lived mostly in the west of the country, the region that was the most vulnerable to food insecurity. Of those 900,000, approximately half a million were children that benefited from school food programmes. She recalled that Nepal was one of the poorest countries in Asia and that Nepalese children often would have nothing to eat all day aside from there school meal. WFP planned to send an evaluation mission to the western region in a few days time. However, owing to recent events WFP had to temporarily close its offices in the country, she noted. Yesterday the WFP office in Kathmandu was closed, as it was today, because of the curfew.
High Commissioner for Human Rights to Visit Africa
Ms. Randhawa of OHCHR said that High Commissioner Louise Arbour would undertake an official mission to Ethiopia on Sunday, 23 April. She would then travel to Nairobi on 26 April to discuss Somalia. On 30 April, the High Commissioner would undertake a one-week trip to Sudan. Details on the mission would be issued in an OHCHR press release later today.
In response to a query, Ms. Randhawa confirmed that the High Commissioner planned to visit Darfur in the context of her trip to the Sudan.
Situation in Chad
Ms. Berthiaume of WFP said that they were trying to complete the distribution of supplies for the month of April to the refugees in the east of country. The level of insecurity, however, threatened to make an already complex operation still more difficult – not only on the Chadian side of the frontier, but in Darfur as well. She recalled that the month of April and the upcoming months were crucial for WFP to preposition supplies in the 12 frontier refugee camps before the onset of the rainy season. Approximately 50,000 people had been displaced owing to the conflict since December.
Situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
Ms. Berthiaume said that WFP had received a number of contributions, including a grant of $30,000 from the U.S. Government, for its operations in the Gaza Strip. At present, however, the WFP appeal for $180 million in funds for the programme still fell 65 per cent short of that mark. Thanks to contributions from the U.S. and from the European Union WFP had been able to start supplying foodstuffs to the Gaza Strip, but those supplies still had to enter by means of the Karni checkpoint, which remained only irregularly open. The other entry point, via Egypt, was the port of Karem Shalom. Although it was not equipped to handle a large volume of goods, the Egyptians had transported 300 trucks, or a total of 6,700 tons of supplies to Gaza via that route. WFP wanted to transport 1,000 tons of supplies via that crossing point, but they would have to wait two to three weeks while other shipments, already scheduled, passed through.
Floods in Colombia
Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that the rainy season, which began in early January and could continue until May, had exacerbated flooding and landslides in Colombia. More than 57,000 people had been affected to date and the national authorities had reported at least 81 deaths. The worst incident had occurred on 12 April, when a mudslide along a stretch of highway connecting Cali and Buenaventura in the Valle del Cauca region swept through two villages killing at least 33 people. The Government of Colombia had not requested international assistance to date. However, OCHA had allocated an emergency cash grant of $100,000 to the Colombian Red Cross, had convened a meeting of the United Nations Emergency team today, and an inter-agency team composed of OCHA, IOM, WHO, the United Nations Department of Security Services and WFP had been established in Cali to monitor the impact of the rainy season in Valle del Cauca. She had further details for interested journalists, and there was some additional information in the briefing note available in the back of the room.
Pakistan Earthquake Survivors
Ron Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency said that UNHCR Deputy High Commissioner Wendy Chamberlin today had ended a six-day visit to Pakistan, where she witnessed the signing of a breakthrough agreement with the Government on the registration of Afghan citizens in Pakistan. The Memorandum of Understanding signed on Wednesday would pave the way for Afghans counted in the Pakistan government census of March 2005 to be registered at an individual level later this year. The data collected would allow both the Pakistani and Afghan Governments to develop policies for voluntary repatriation and manage the future of that population. The $6 million exercise would be conducted by Pakistan's National Database and Registration Authority.
The Deputy High Commissioner was able to see the devastation first hand, Mr. Redmond said. She toured two of Muzaffarabad's relief camps and assured quake survivors of UNHCR's continued support. With the emergency phase of the operation coming to an end and following the Pakistan authorities' announcement that relief camps would start closing in March, quake survivors had begun returning home. Over 80,000 camp dwellers have already gone back to rebuild their homes in the last month, including more than 25,000 from Muzaffarabad alone.
Responding to a journalist’s query, Mr. Redmond noted that UNHCR believed the number of quake-affected Afghans in Pakistan to be in the low millions.
Other
The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, Rodolfo Stavenhagen, will visit Ecuador from 25 April to 5 May. The Special Rapporteur was expected to meet with high-level government officials in Quito, as well as representatives of non-governmental organizations and members of academia. Ms. Randhawa said that he would also hold talks with indigenous representatives. A release would be issued later today with further details.
Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization (WHO) reminded journalists that there was a press conference today at 1 p.m. on the International Drug Purchase Facility in the WHO Executive Board Room. Copies of speeches to be made by Dr. Lee Jong-wook, WHO Director-General, Mr. Philippe Douste Blazy, Foreign Affairs Minister, France, were available. Mr. Rhéal LeBlanc of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) said that he would like to announce two events: immediately following the regular press briefing at 11.30 a.m. in Room III, a press conference by UPU Director General Edouard Dayan, on the first five years of the Quality of Service Fund. The Fund was developed by UPU to finance postal development projects in developing countries and it carried out more than 280 such projects in its first five years. Secondly, UPU was holding a one-day conference in Bern next Thursday, 28 April, which would explore the development models that some of the world's more modern and innovative postal authorities had adopted in response to growing competition and increased market liberalization. A press kit was available in the back of the room with information on media accreditation for interest journalists.
In Liberia yesterday UNHCR marked the completion of its involvement with the return of some 314,000 internally displaced persons to their areas of origin, said Mr. Redmond of UNHCR. They had been living in camps mainly around the capital, Monrovia, during the more than decade-long Liberian conflict. A ceremony was held at the former Salala camp for internally displaced people in western Liberia.
Jean Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that, in response to a request from the Sudanese government and in coordination with the United Nations, IOM was to organize over the next six weeks the voluntary, safe and orderly return of some 10,000 internally displaced Dinkas from three sites in South Darfur to their homes in Northern Bahr El Ghazal province. A first group of some 500 displaced Dinkas was scheduled leave Beliel camp for the nearby state capital town of Nyala, where they would board an IOM chartered train on 24 April.
Sixteen months after establishing the crucial post-tsunami land-bridge into Aceh, IOM's final truck convoy arrived today in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Mr. Chauzy said. By the time the last 20 trucks rolled into the provincial capital Friday afternoon from Medan, North Sumatra, a total of 7,985 trucks would have travelled the equivalent of more than six times around the world carrying 81,214 tons of supplies into Aceh and the islands of Nias and Simeulue. More than 100 government agencies and departments, national and international aid organizations and United Nations agencies, used the service.
Mr. Chauzy also noted that today IOM Sri Lanka would start a 10-day mobile medical camp for tsunami-affected and low-income families in Kalutara district, 35 kilometres south of Colombo. The camp would bring free health care to some 20,000 people.
Human Rights Situation in Iraq
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier introduced Gianni Magazzeni, representative of the High Commissioner of Human Rights in Iraq and Head of the Human Rights Office of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI). He said that he was here on his way back to Iraq. His office looked into the human rights situation in the country, and had a mandate from the Security Council under resolution 1546 (2004) to promote the protection of human rights, national reconciliation, legal and judicial reform so as to set up the basis for a State built on the rule of law in Iraq. It was a very arduous task, as could be imagined, but he did think that a great deal was happening on the margin with respect to implementing the provisions of the Constitution that were relevant to human rights, preparing the ground for strengthening the judicial system and key ministries responsible for human rights. His office was very concerned about ongoing violations and also the situation of people in detention. He said that there were 29,000 cases of people in detention – a figure that was available in the UNAMI bimonthly report released in March – as well as cases of torture and executions, which happened every day. The situation had deteriorated dramatically since events in Samara on 22 February, when the mosque was bombed.
Responding to a query, Mr. Magazzeni said that, of the 29,000 detainees reported at the end of February, some 14,000 were in Multinational Force detention facilities and the rest were in various ministries in Iraq. Only the Ministry of Justice was competent to hold people for longer than 72 hours, so most of those in detention in the other ministries, which were still in the thousands, were not in a situation that was in line with Iraqi law.
One initiative his office had taken recently, Mr. Magazzeni said, was to help Iraq to implement some of the provisions of the Constitution, including article 99, that foresaw the setting up of an independent national human rights commission, not linked to any specific ministry.