REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Marie Heuzé, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which also heard from Spokespersons for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, the World Meteorological Organization, the World Health Organization, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the World Intellectual Property Organization, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Food Programme, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the International Organization for Migration, and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Human Rights Council
Ms. Heuzé said that the Human Rights Council would this morning consider the interim report of the open-ended intergovernmental Working Group charged with formulating concrete recommendations on the issue of reviewing and, where necessary, improving and rationalizing all mandates, mechanisms, functions and responsibilities inherited from the Commission on Human Rights. [It was later announced that the afternoon meeting would be closed for informal consultations.]
Yesterday, the Council had addressed the modalities of its Universal Periodic Review mechanism. The Working Group to develop modalities of the Universal Periodic Review mechanism, facilitated by the Permanent Representative of Morocco, would continue its work with meetings from 13 to 15 November 2006.
Ms. Heuzé said that a list of the draft resolutions submitted to the Council would be made available to the press at the end of the morning. The deadline for submission had passed last night. At last count, 35 draft resolutions had been submitted and three to four additional draft resolutions were expected.
José Luis Diaz of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said the Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, Martin Scheinin, had asked him to flag that the rapporteur would be issuing a statement today in which he would be asking the Governments of Algeria, Egypt, Malaysia, Philippines, South Africa, Tunisia and the United States to extend an invitation to him to visit their countries. The Special Rapporteur pointed out in his statement that five of these countries were members of the Human Rights Council.
Asked about the reason for the special rapporteur's initiative and whether the choice of countries he was requesting to visit was related to the issue of the CIA's secret prisons, Mr. Diaz said the initiative sprang from the rapporteur's mandate to examine the impact of counter-terrorism measures on the enjoyment of human rights and individual liberties. The rapporteur was pointing out in his statement that a number of these countries were examining draft legislation on countering terrorism.
In response to a question on the approach the special rapporteur would be taking in relation to each of the countries he wanted to visit, Mr. Diaz said one would have to ask the special rapporteur what he concretely planned to do in each country. The rapporteurs worked according to terms of reference that applied equally to all countries. Of course, they took account of the conditions in each country, but their methods of work were the same for all.
Responding to a question on the work of the Human Rights Council under the so-called "1503" procedure, Mr. Diaz said this was a mechanism inherited from the Commission on Human Rights. Under the confidential "1503" procedure, Council members examined allegations of human rights violations lodged against specific Governments. At or towards the end of its session the Council was expected to make a statement on the work it did under the procedure at this session, such as which countries it looked at, what country situations it would continue to look at or drop. He could not say which countries were being looked at because the procedure was confidential, but, for example, one could deduce that at least one country, Uzbekistan, was under examination at this session because an expert had been appointed previously [in 2005] under the procedure to monitor the situation there.
Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery
Sálvano Briceño, Director of the ISDR secretariat, announced that ISDR was teaming up with the World Bank to launch a Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery. The aim of the Global Facility was to reduce the impact of disasters caused by natural hazards on populations and their livelihoods. The World Bank Global Hotspots Study had identified 86 vulnerable countries to natural hazards with high mortality and economic loss and had decided to work closer with ISDR to increase the national capacities of these countries to natural hazards. The World Bank would initially contribute USD 5 million annually to the ISDR secretariat for a period of three years, by the terms of this partnership, which was envisaged to last for the next ten years.
Mr. Briceno said that the Global Facility had a three-track operation to achieve its development objectives at the global, regional and country levels. The USD 5 million contributed annually by the World Bank in the first three years would be used under track 1, which was focused on creating an enabling environment at the global and regional level. Track two would focus on providing direct technical assistance to countries at risk. Some USD 35 million annually, provided by donors, would be geared toward national activities, beginning with 35 of the 86 vulnerable countries that the World Bank had identified as being most at risk. Already this year, five countries benefit from this assistance, namely Nicaragua, Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal and Vietnam. Track 3 would concentrate on accelerated recovery in low income countries that have experienced natural disasters.
Environment
Mark Oliver of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said that over the past few days the WMO had been closely monitoring the hole in the ozone layer over the Antarctic and could now confirm that it was the most serious on record. It was the largest in surface area and also suffered the most mass deficit, meaning that there was less ozone over the Antarctic than ever before. The measurements had been taken using instruments from both NASA and the European Space Agency satellites, which had yielded slightly different values. According to NASA, the area of the ozone hole reached 29.5 million km2 on 25 September, slightly larger than the previous record of 29.4 million km2 in September 2000. The European Space Agency measurements were 28 million km2 on 25 September 2006, compared to 28.4 million km2 in September 2000. The ozone mass deficit reached 39.8 megatons on 1 October 2006, the highest ever. Mr. Oliver said that the large size of the ozone hole had been caused by a particularly cold stratospheric winter, between 10 and 40 km above sea level. WMO expected large ozone holes to reoccur during the next two decades before a clear decline in the size and depth of the ozone hole over the Antarctic was expected to occur. WMO stressed that adherence to the Vienna Convention and the Montreal Protocol must be maintained with the utmost vigilance.
Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that there would be a press conference on Thursday, 5 October 2006, at 11:30 a.m. in Room III to introduce the first WHO global report on air quality guidelines. The report constituted the most recent evaluation of the health effects of air pollution. An executive summary of the report was available in English in Press Room I. Journalists were requested to respect the embargo of 11:30 a.m. Thursday, 5 October.
Michael Williams of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) announced that a small team of environmental experts was arriving in Lebanon today to start assessing the impact of the recent conflict. It normally took two to three months to complete all the analyses and to issue the report.
Mr. Williams said that at the meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), taking place in Geneva this week, a decision was expected tomorrow afternoon on whether or not to authorize sales of 60 tons of elephant ivory by Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. Unless there was any unexpected change in plan, a press briefing on the issue would be held tomorrow, Wednesday, 4 October, at 5:30 p.m. in Room III.
Iraq
Jennifer Pagonis of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that UNHCR was deeply concerned over the well-being of Palestinian refugees inside Iraq, as well as those who fled targeted harassment and violence in Baghdad and are now stuck at the border between Iraq and Syria and in camps in Jordan and Syria. The security situation of Palestinian refugees in Iraq has deteriorated -- particularly since the Samarra bombings last February. Palestinians in Iraq lack protection, have serious problems obtaining identity cards, and have been the target of continuing harassment, death threats, kidnapping and killings. UNCHR was also very worried about the deplorable humanitarian conditions faced by some 330 Palestinians who tried to flee Iraq and have been stuck for more than four months at the Al-Tanf border crossing with Syria. Winter was coming and there was no solution in sight for these people. International support and goodwill were needed to find a solution for Palestinians from Iraq. Under the present circumstances, return to Iraq was not an option unless security was restored. Further details were available in the briefing note.
Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) added that the number of Iraqis displaced by violence since the bombing in Samarra in late February this year had now increased to nearly 190,000 in the 15 central and southern governorates, with 9,000 people on average being displaced weekly. Displacement was following largely sectarian lines with Shias moving to the south of the country and Sunnis to the centre. The displacement was increasingly looking like permanent settlement, with the vast majority of those displaced this year indicating that they were not planning to return to their former homes. The majority were moving in with friends and families, living in crowded conditions without sufficient resources such as food. Ms. Pandya said that IOM had been carrying out emergency distributions of food, non-food items and water assistance over the past few months in most of the affected governorates with funding from the United States Government. However, IOM’s funding for this assistance was running low and with no sign of the violence ending, the plight of the displaced was likely to deteriorate as winter approaches.
One year after the earthquake in northern Pakistan
Anna Nelson of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) drew attention to IFRC’s press packet (in Arabic, English, French, Spanish) commemorating the one year anniversary of the 8 October 2005 earthquake in Northern Pakistan, which killed more than 73,000 people and made over 3.5 million homeless. The relief and recovery challenges over the past year had been huge. The IFRC and the Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) had provided assistance to 1.1 million people. However, it was estimated that around 66,000 families could face another winter without permanent shelter. IFRC and PRCS were making plans to provide emergency shelter, if required, for 13,500 families. IFRC experts, both in Geneva and in the field, were available for interviews.
Ms. Pandya of IOM said that IOM had launched a shelter security survey in 100 of the worst affected union councils of Pakistan-administered Kashmir (PAK) and North West Frontier Province (NWFP) to identify the population’s most urgent shelter needs before the upcoming Himalayan winter. Official estimates of the number of houses in the region still in need of rebuilding or repair topped 600,000. The survey would help the governments of the two provinces to adapt their contingency plans ahead of what could be a very harsh winter. The survey would also help IOM, which was helping to set up rapid response teams and support hubs in earthquake-affected areas before the winter.
Mr. M. Pociurkiw of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that UNICEF would have more to say on the anniversary of the earthquake in Northern Pakistan on Friday, 6 October. He recalled that the earthquake had happened on a school day when most of the children had been sitting in their classrooms. Some 18,000 children had died and 10,000 had been disabled. Almost 8,000 education institutions had been fully or partially damaged, representing almost 67% of all schools. In response, UNICEF had pledged to build 500 earthquake-resistant schools in the next two to three years.
On Thursday, in Islamabad and New York, UNICEF would be launching a children’s photo project. Some 160 Pakistani children from the earthquake affected areas had been given digital cameras by Sony to take photographs of their surroundings. The exhibit was opening in New York and Islamabad, and also in the next few days in Rome, British Airways headquarters in London and in Tokyo.
Other
Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) briefed journalists on the effects of the recent flooding in West Africa, specifically in Guinea, one of four countries that had experienced serious floods. Torrential rains had hit the city of Kindia, situated 135 km from Conakry, for 12 hours straight, from 31 August to 1 September, resulting in the biggest flooding in 50 years. The 1,200 people left homeless were vulnerable to malnutrition, respiratory infection and illnesses such as cholera, malaria and typhoid fever. There was a real fear of disease epidemics. Cholera was already widespread in many places. The priorities for the United Nations agencies were treatment of water supplies, as well as provision of medical supplies and aid. Ms. Byrs added that, as a result of the flooding in the region, the number of people left homes totalled 47,000 in Niger, 12,000 in Burkina Faso and 9,000 in Mauritania, in addition to the 1,200 in Guinea.
In response to a question on what WHO was doing in response to the cholera outbreaks in West Africa, Ms. Chaib of WHO said that WHO was present in a number of countries in the region, including the following: Kenya, which had reported 46, including 2 deaths; Niger, which had reported 564 cases, including 47 deaths; Democratic Republic of Congo, with 264 cases, including 12 deaths; and Angola, which had been undergoing a cholera epidemic for a number of months with more than 54,000 cases, including 2,225 deaths. WHO was assisting and training health authorities in each country to detect and respond to cholera.
Ms. Byrs announced that Jan Egeland, United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, would be in Geneva next week for a meeting of the Advisory Board of the Central Emergency Relief Fund. He would be holding a press conference on Thursday or Friday, 12 or 13 October 2006.
Catherine Sibut-Pinote of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said that this afternoon there would be a presentation of a study on the investment policies of Rwanda, carried out by UNCTAD experts at the request of the Government of Rwanda. Participating in the meeting would be Donald Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank, and Bernard Makuza, Prime Minister of Rwanda. The Prime Minister would be participating, in place of President Kagamé, in the high-level policy dialogue entitled “UNCTAD, Development and the Way Forward”, which would begin tomorrow, Wednesday, 4 October 2006. He would also be holding a press conference at noon tomorrow in Room III to introduce the publication of the Investment Guide to Rwanda.
Ms. Sibut-Pinote added that UNCTAD’s Trade and Development Board was continuing its session and would tomorrow be discussing the implementation of the Sao Paulo consensus, adopted at UNCTAD XI in 2004. Finally, Ms. Sibut-Pinote announced that the World Investment Report would be released on 16 October 2006. A press conference to introduce the report would be held at 11:00 a.m. on that day in Room III. Every effort would be made to make the press kit for the report available around 10 October.
Samar Shamoon of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) said that the Assemblies of Member States of WIPO would conclude today. A plenary session was scheduled for 4:00 p.m. today to adopt the final report. Ms. Shamoon said she had copies of some of the decision that were taken that had received the most interest from the press, including broadcasting, the development agenda, and the Standing Committee on Patents. She would be available to provide further information after the briefing or to help arrange interviews with delegates or WIPO officials. A wrap up press release would be issued at the conclusion of the event.
Ms. Pagonis of UNHCR announced that a press conference would be held at the conclusion of UNHCR’s Executive Committee meeting on Friday, 6 October 2006, between 12:30 and 1:00 p.m., depending on when the meeting concluded. Speaking at the press conference would be UN High Commissioner António Guterres and Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki, Chairman of the Executive Committee.
In Afghanistan, Ms. Pagonis said that UNHCR was concerned about the increasing number of people internally displaced in southern Afghanistan as a result of recent hostilities between government forces, NATO and insurgents. Since July, an estimated 15,000 families have been displaced in the southern provinces of Kandahar, Uruzgan and Helmand, already 116,400 people earlier uprooted by conflict and drought. The Afghan government had created a Disaster Management Committee in Kandahar to coordinate relief efforts, in cooperation with the United Nations. UNHCR, together with UNICEF, has distributed non-food items such as plastic sheeting, blankets and warm clothes for children to approximately 3,200 families in the Kandahar province.
Mr. Pociurkiw of UNICEF said that children continued to take the brunt of the unrest in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Still, to this day, 500,000 school children were out of school due to an ongoing strike in the West Bank, leaving most of the public schools closed. Of all the schools in the West Bank, 24% were run by UNRWA, 6% were private, and 70% were Government run, so the majority of children attended public schools. The main reason for the strike was non-payment of civil service salaries. Teachers had not been paid for months. The lack of access to schools came on top of an already very difficult year, where the number of children killed and injured were close to record highs. In Gaza, since 28 June 2006, 128 children had been injured and 58 killed. Because of the violence, there had been a real upswing in parents bringing their children to psycho-social child protection centres that UNICEF supported in Gaza. The number of cases at one center had gone from a low of 7 in May to 214 cases as of 20 August. In response to the lack of access to schools, UNICEF had established youth clubs to provide extracurricular activities, safe play areas both indoors and outdoors, and adolescent friendly places that provided things like literacy and computer training to help reduce the cumulative effects of lost school days and help prevent drop-outs.
Simon Pluess of the World Food Programme (WFP) said that in Sri Lanka, WFP remained concerned about the very short supply of food in the Jaffna and Kilinochchi area. For that reason, WFP had been in constant negotiation with the Government to see how to bring urgently needed food into the Tamil Tiger controlled areas. As a result of these negotiations, a total of 30 trucks filled with approximately 500 tons of food had been dispatched to the area. On Saturday, 30 September, 19 of these trucks had crossed over into the Vanni, a Tamil Tiger controlled area. WFP was currently distributing food aid to approximately 150,000 internally displaced persons in the districts affected by the conflict, including Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Jaffna, Mullaitivu and Kilnochchi. Some 63,000 of these people are in Tamil Tiger controlled areas where access has been very difficult and the delivery and distribution of food has been intermittent and limited. Mr. Pluess said that a high level meeting would take place on Friday, 6 October, between the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator and the Government to discuss the issue of humanitarian access, which was a real problem in the region.
Ms. Nelson of IFRC drew attention to a press release on IFRC’s appeal for the Philippines, following the deadly typhoon last week, for 5.7 Swiss francs (USD 3.6 million) to help over 126,000 people affected.