REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was attended by Spokespersons for the International Labour Office, the UN Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration.

Statements on Situation in Iraq

Ms. Heuzé said a number of statements had been issued in the last few days on the situation in Iraq. They included a statement by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq which expressed deep concern about the continuing acts of violence committed against innocent civilians in Iraq including women and children, and most recently, against Russian diplomats in Baghdad on 3 June 2006. The Mission condemned these outrageous crimes, and demanded that the perpetrators were swiftly brought to justice.

The Secretary-General also condemned the murder in Baghdad of a Russian diplomat and the kidnapping of four other Russian diplomats. He offered his condolences to the family of the Russian diplomat and to the people and government of Russia and called for the immediate and unconditional release of the four kidnapped diplomats. The Secretary-General deplored this attack and called for the cessation of all such acts of violence. He also called on the Iraqi Government and the Multinational Force (MNF) to take all necessary measures to counter the present wave of violence.

A Security Council statement also condemned in the strongest possible terms the attack against employees of the Russian Embassy in Baghdad. The Security Council Members demanded that the hostages be treated humanely and released immediately. They also reaffirmed their support for the Iraqi people, their condemnation of all terrorist attacks in Iraq, and reiterated their determination to combat all forms of terrorism.

All the statements were available in the press room.

Timor-Leste

Ms. Heuzé said the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy to Timor-Leste, Ian Martin, had wrapped up his meetings with various Timorese leaders and would be reporting to the Secretary-General later this week.

Security Council Members in Sudan

Ms. Heuzé said a Security Council mission to Sudan had arrived in Khartoum yesterday. Today, the Council members were scheduled to meet with the Sudanese leadership including President Omar al-Bashir, as well as with the UN Mission in Sudan. A press conference was being planned for this afternoon in Khartoum.

Migration

Ms. Heuzé said the issue of international migration was a concern of the United Nations and the Secretary-General was today presenting to the General Assembly a wide-ranging UN report on the development impact of international migration. In the report, the Secretary-General was proposing a standing forum which governments could use to explore and compare policy approaches. A number of embargoed documents related to the report were available in the press room.

Some of the interesting figures highlighted in the report were that 191 million persons lived outside their home countries in 2005 – 115 million in developed countries and 75 million in the developing world. “South-South” migration was almost as common as “South-North” migration. Nearly half of all migrants worldwide were women.

The aim of the Global Migration Forum would be to make new policy ideas more widely known, add value to existing regional consultations and encourage an integrated approach to migration and development at both the national and international levels. The report would give impetus to more coherence in migration policy. The report highlighted that migrants took on necessary jobs seen as less desirable by the established residents of host countries and also stimulated demand and improved economic performance overall. The developing countries benefited from the estimated $ 167 billion a year sent home by the migrant workers. Migrants worldwide sent home an estimated $ 232 billion in 2005.

In response to a question on whether the Forum would be based in Geneva, Ms. Heuzé said that the proposed standing forum came under the purview of the General Assembly and that Member States would decide. It was highly likely that it would be based in New York. On 8 June, Peter Sutherland, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General who was engaged in preliminary talks with governments on the subject, would give a press conference in New York. There would be further consultations in Geneva on 4 July in the afternoon with Government representatives attending the Economic and Social Council and representatives of UN agencies and programmes concerned with the issue of migration. The President of the General Assembly would also hold consultations with representatives of civil society and the private sector in New York 12 July. All these consultations would culminate in the high-level dialogue by the General Assembly on 14 and 15 September.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration, responding to a question on why women made up nearly half of all migrants worldwide, said IOM had been speaking about the feminization of migration since 2000. Women also became more vulnerable as migrants, risking exploitation.

Mr. Chauzy said an IOM report was being issued today entitled “Migrants’ remittances and development: myths, rhetoric and realities”. The report concluded that at the household level, remittances often had a positive development effect and alleviated the hardship of poverty. As for their impact at the national level, although remittances, especially for some small countries, could be a valuable source of foreign exchange and an important addition to gross national product, their overall development impact at the macro-level had so far been less impressive. A briefing with the author of the report would be organized.

World Cup

Ms. Heuzé said a joint statement issued today by the Secretary-General and the President of the International Federation of Football Associations, Joseph Blatter, stated that football was a global language which could bridge social, cultural and religious divides. The statement said the World Summit had also noted that sports could foster peace and development and could contribute to an atmosphere of tolerance and understanding. The Secretary-General and Mr. Blatter appealed to players and fans everywhere to support the United Nations in its mission and to help it harness the magic of football to the quest for development and peace. The statement was available in the press room.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Heuzé said the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Sergei Ordzhonikidze, had yesterday addressed the Black Sea Forum for Dialogue and Partnership Summit in Bucharest. Copies of his statement were available in the press room.

The Conference on Disarmament was holding its next plenary at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 8 June to continue with its thematic discussion on prevention of an arms race in outer space. On 7 June at 11 a.m., Mr. Ordzhonikidze would hold a press conference to introduce to the press Ambassador Tim Caughley, the newly appointed Deputy Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament.

ILO Conference

Hans Von Rohland of the International Labour Organization reminded journalists that the President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, would address the International Labour Conference at noon at the Palais des Nations on Wednesday, 7 June. There would be a press conference with her at 4 p.m. in Room III. The other eminent guest speaker, President Oscar Arias Sanchez of Costa Rica, would address the Conference at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 8 June.

Other

Ron Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency said UNHCR was extremely concerned about continuing attacks by janjaweed militia in eastern Chad and the potential for more internal displacement of local Chadians. This ongoing insecurity also posed a threat to 213,000 Sudanese refugees from Darfur in a dozen UNHCR-administered camps in this remote region along the border with Sudan. The janjaweed attacks against Chadians appeared to have become more systematic and deadly over the past three months and there was no sign that this pattern would stop. UNHCR urged authorities in Chad and Sudan to reinforce security in border regions to prevent further attacks and displacement and call for international engagement in dealing with the very serious issue of spreading instability and insecurity.

In Timor-Leste, UNHCR’s emergency airlift of shelter supplies for some 30,000 displaced people was underway. In total, 400 metric tons of supplies were expected to be sent to Timor-Leste, Mr. Redmond said.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said as street violence continued in Timor-Leste, IOM and the Timorese Ministry of Labour, were delivering food and water to thousands of displaced people around the country. As the scale of the emergency unfolded, IOM was planning to appeal for nearly $ 6 million from the international community to provide transport and logistics, camp management coordination, and return and reintegration assistance to the tens of thousands of Timorese displaced by the violence.

In Indonesia, Mr. Chauzy said IOM today began delivering critically-needed medical supplies and hundreds of tons of rice from government warehouses in Klaten, Central Java, to remote areas hard hit by the May 27th earthquake on Java island.

In conclusion, Ms. Heuzé said Anna Nelson of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies wished to inform journalists that the report on the International Federation’s appeal for Indonesia would be issued later in the day with a press release.