REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also addressed by Spokespersons for the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Meteorological Organization, the Economic Commission for Europe, the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development, the International Labour Organization, the UN Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration.
Geneva Activities
Ms. Heuzé said that the Committee on the Rights of the Child was today holding a Day of General Discussion on the “right of the child to be heard” at the Palais Wilson. Available was the list of names of children and other participants who would be speaking and who were available for interviews.
The Conference on Disarmament was today holding its last plenary for the third and last part of the 2006 session. The meeting would start at noon in Room XX and the Conference would be adopting its draft report to the General Assembly.
The Human Rights Council would be starting its second session on Monday, 18 September until 6 October. The background press release which listed the special procedures which would be presenting their reports to the Council had been issued yesterday, and the President of the Council, Ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba of Mexico, had briefed journalists yesterday afternoon.
The Seventh Meeting of the States Parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (Ottawa Convention) would be held at the Palais des Nations from 18 to 22 September. The meeting would see States developing solutions to key challenges faced in implementing the Convention, including challenges related to meeting expectations in clearing mined land, destroying stockpiled mines and ensuring sustained support for landmine survivors. Micheline Calmy-Rey, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland and Teresa Gambaro, Australia’s Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Special Representative on Mine Action, would speak to journalists at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, 18 September in Room III. A background press release was available.
Ozone Layer Over the Arctic Region
As tomorrow, 16 September, is the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, Ms. Heuzé invited Mark Oliver and Geir Braathen of the World Meteorological Organization to brief the media. On this occasion, available in the press room was a statement by the Secretary-General. Mark Oliver said that WMO was launching its first bulletin detailing depletion of the ozone layer over the Arctic, rather than over the Antarctic. This bulletin provided a comprehensive picture of ozone depletion over the Arctic, where in contrast to the Antarctic, there were people living. The Antarctic hole in the ozone layer remained fairly static when it was actually there. Areas of depletion in the Arctic were much more mobile, they shifted erratically and subjected intermittent regions in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Northern Europe and Siberia to less protection from the harmful ultra violet rays emitted by the sun. The bulletin as well as a press release was available in the room (www.wmo.ch/news/news.)
Geir Braathen of the World Meteorological Organization, said this report summarized the Arctic winter 2005-2006. Luckily, this winter was very mild, which meant that the ozone loss was limited. This was in contrast to the previous winter 2004-2005 which had one of the largest Arctic ozone losses ever observed. This showed that the degree of ozone loss depended on a very large extent on the meteorological conditions. The report contained some major findings and described measurements and activities taking place in this region.
Asked about how serious the ozone layer problem was globally, Mr. Braathen said it depended very much on the region. In the tropics, there was no big ozone change observed. In the middle latitudes, there has been a decline in the ozone layer in the last 20 years or so. The ozone layer had come down and was flattening out, and it was not expected to see deterioration in the middle latitudes. But it was different in the polar regions. The most difficult region to understand was the Arctic. It was feared that in the future, there would still be serious ozone loss. In the Antarctic, it was expected that the ozone hole would come back every year, at least for the next 15 to 20 years or so.
Dumping of Toxic Waste in Côte d’Ivoire
Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said concerning the dumping of chemical toxic waste in Côte d’Ivoire, WHO already had a presence in the country. The WHO team had been touring hospitals to try and figure out who out of the many thousands of people who came daily for medical treatment were affected by the toxic waste and who were not. The team was still carrying out a preliminary evaluation. Many inhabitants in Côte d’Ivoire were afraid, there was a lack of communication on what had happened and how it affected people. Some people had respiratory and intestinal problems, there were cases of vomiting, nose bleeds, migraines and other symptoms. The hospitals were working 24 hours a day. For now, WHO did not have any specific recommendations on how to deal with the problem.
Michael Bociurkiw of the United Nations Children’s Fund said this crisis seems to have hit children particularly very hard. So far, it was known that three and possibly four of the victims who had died had been children aged 4, 9 and 15 years. The 15-year-old lived in a correctional centre near one of the dump sites. Apparently, a large number of children were living in that centre and UNICEF had requested the Ministry of Justice to move them. UNICEF had also provided aid including food, hygiene kits and medicine and blankets to those children. The estimates on the number of those seeking treatment had varied widely, from 9,000 to 23,000. But what was known was that children were the most vulnerable in such situations and many had been brought to clinics for treatment. They complained of headaches, stomach problems, and irritated eyes and skin. The lack of information available to people was a problem and it had contributed to a climate of fear and uncertainty. Another problem was that some of the dump sites had not been fully secured, and children still went there to play.
Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said, according to the UNDAC team, there were between 10 and 14 sites where the toxic waste had been dumped. This included eight confirmed sites. Four missing trucks which had carried the waste were being considered as sites but had not been located. Some of the identified sites had been cordoned off with warning signs posted. The dumped chemicals could be harmful to humans and the environment, but the effects depended on their characteristics and on exposure. Direct exposure was possible through skin contact and breathing in of the volatile substances. Secondary exposure through contact with surface water, groundwater and the food chain (vegetation, crops and fish) was being considered. The water quality was being monitored three times daily and it remained clean. There was so far no evidence that linked the presence of dead fish in the Ebrie lagoon to the toxic waste dumping. The latest situation report was available at the back of the room.
Human Rights
José Luis Díaz of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said the Office was very disturbed about the death in a Turkmen prison of Ogulsapa Muradova, the Ashgabat correspondent for Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe and a human rights defender. Ms. Muradova was arrested in June and tried and sentenced at the end of last month to six years in prison for illegal arms weapons after a trial that was largely reported to be unfair. Two other persons were also convicted on the same charges at the same time and were still in custody. The Office of the High Commissioner was urging the authorities of Turkmenistan to conduct a thorough, prompt and independent investigation into the cause of her death, including an independent medical examination of the body. The Office was monitoring the case, and was concerned about the fate of the two other persons convicted at the same time. The results of the investigation should be made public.
Other
Jean-Michel Jakobowicz of the Economic Commission for Europe said on Tuesday, 19 September, a forum would be held with the participation of a number of ministers from the countries of the Economic Commission for Europe to discuss “Pressing Urban Challenges of Today”. The forum would be open to the public and would be meeting in Room VII.
Catherine Sibut of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said available at the back of the room was the press kit for the embargoed new report on economic development in Africa. There would be a press conference on Wednesday, 20 September at noon in Room III to launch the report, and there would be other launches in Addis Ababa, Paris, Johannesburg, Accra and maybe Tanzania.
Hans von Rohland of the International Labour Organization said the “Tripartite Meeting on the Social and Labour Implications of the Increased Use of Advanced Retail Technologies” would be held in Geneva from 18 to 20 September to examine the role of new retail technologies, particularly radio frequency identification, in shaping the employment landscape in commerce. A new ILO report “Social and Labour Implications of the Increased Use of Advanced Retail Technologies” was available at the back of the room as well as an accompanying press release. The report said among other things that the introduction of new technologies would be one of the driving factors contributing to productivity gains in the retail sector but would also affect the levels and quality of employment.
Michael Bociurkiw of the United Nations Children’s Fund said political leaders and health experts would meet in New York on 18 September at UNICEF to discuss child survival and chart a course for the achievement of Millennium Development Goal number 4 which was a two-thirds reduction of child mortality by 2015. Queen Rania of Jordan, the President of Afghanistan, the Prime Minister of Norway and the Executive Director of UNICEF would be attending among others.
Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said in Lebanon, WFP has concluded an assessment of the food situation in the country. Lebanon would soon be food secure again and its commercial sector was bouncing back quicker than expected, paving the way for the withdrawal of WFP from the country by the end of October, according to the WFP food assessment and nutrition report issued today. The report, compiled from the findings of a two-week assessment mission across Lebanon at the end of August and beginning of September, also noted that while some parts of the population still suffer the effects of war, foodstuffs were available at affordable prices and nutritional levels were good throughout the country.
Ron Redmond of the United Nations Refugee Agency said a press release had been issued this morning on the desperate funding situation on the South Sudan repatriation process. This situation could result in the suspension, postponement, reduction or cancellation of some of UNHCR’s south Sudan operations by the end of this month. UNHCR had demanded $ 65.9 million and had only received $ 30 million. For the last three months of the year, UNHCR was going to need at least $ 5.2 million a month. This repatriation programme was one of the bright spots in Sudan right now.
Mr. Redmond said there was also information on Somali refugees arriving in Kenya; the Ahwazi (Iranian Arabs) refugees in Syria; Gulf of Aden smuggling; the Uganda mission by the UNHCR Executive Committee Chairman, Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki; the First Liberian repatriation from northern Côte d'Ivoire; and the High Commissioner attending the High Level Dialogue on Migration in New York in the UNHCR notes.
Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said while much public attention was currently focused on the numbers of irregular migrants reaching the Canary Islands or the Italian island of Lampedusa, IOM was continuing to receive requests to help migrants stranded in North Africa to return to their mainly sub-Saharan home countries. However, a lack of funds was seriously preventing IOM from providing humanitarian assistance to these migrants. Currently IOM was trying to arrange the voluntary return of a group of 15 Malian migrants who had been intercepted by the Moroccan authorities. After this assistance had been provided, IOM would only be able to register requests for the voluntary return home of migrants unless new funding was raised.
Ms. Pandya said IOM was expanding its counter-trafficking work in Argentina, particularly focusing on strengthening the capacity of government officials and non- governmental organizations in providing protection and assistance to victims of trafficking as cases of human trafficking increased in the country.
Ms. Pandya said the International Organization for Migration (IOM) was today presenting at the UN High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development a multi-agency evolving concept aimed at taking concrete steps to tackle today’s complex multidirectional labour migration flows to ensure they successfully contribute to development of home and host countries. The International Migration and Development Initiative (IMDI) aims to create synergies between governments, agencies with an interest and expertise in migration and development and the private sector, to better match the supply and demand for global labour.