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 attended by Spokespersons for the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the UN Refugee Agency.

Secretary-General Condemns Attack on African Union Peacekeepers in Darfur

Ms. Heuzé said the Secretary-General has condemned in the strongest possible terms the recent attack on African Union peacekeepers in Haskanita, South Darfur, and has called for the perpetrators to be held fully accountable for this outrageous act. The African Union was reporting that 10 personnel from the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) have been killed, several more have been wounded and many more are missing following the shocking and brutal assault on the AMIS peacekeepers. The Secretary-General called on all parties to immediately end the violence and recommit as a matter of the highest priority to a peaceful resolution to the conflict as the Government and rebel movements prepared for peace talks in Libya on 27 October, and as the African Union and United Nations prepare to deploy a joint peace operation in Darfur.

Copies of the Secretary-General’s statement were available in English and in French in the press room.

Human Rights Council’s Special Session on Myanmar

Ms. Heuzé said the Special Session of the Human Rights Council on Myanmar will start this morning at 11 a.m. in Room XVIII of the Palais des Nations. The Special Session will meet from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and then from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. when it should conclude its work. Copies of the draft resolution on Myanmar expected to be adopted at the end of the session had been put in the press room since yesterday.

Ms. Heuzé said Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the Human Rights Council’s Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, was in Geneva for the Special Session, and he would speak to journalists at 6 p.m. in press room 1.

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said WFP has received assurances that government-imposed restrictions on the movement of WFP food assistance in Myanmar would be lifted. The Mandalay Area Military Commander on Saturday had issued the transport permit for the delivery of 195 metric tonnes of WFP food to Lashio in northernmost Myanmar. WFP has therefore scheduled food deliveries to WFP operational areas to resume. Local authorities in Mandalay had stopped all movements of food commodities out of the Division, affecting WFP operations for 200,000 persons in northern Shan and the Central Dry Zone which all depended on food deliveries from Mandalay. WFP also fed another 200,000 persons in north Rakhine, and the food passed through Sittwe, but the food distributions there had not received permission to resume. This was very worrying for WFP, especially since the price of rice and fuel had increased seriously. The rates of food insecurity, malnutrition and poverty were even more dramatic in Myanmar’s isolated regions, where there were ethnic conflicts near the border, and that was where WFP tried to help. It provided food assistance to vulnerable persons in Myanmar including HIV/AIDS and TB patients under treatment, primary school children in marginalized areas of the country as well as communities in former poppy-farming areas. A programme supporting the nutritional status of mothers and children addressed acute malnutrition rates that prevailed in several operational areas.

Ms. Berthiaume said in total, WFP helped 500,000 vulnerable persons in Myanmar with food aid, and the international community should not forget that there were serious humanitarian problems in Myanmar which needed funds. Out of a needed
$ 51.7 million, only $ 12 million had been received. Some $ 3 million were urgently needed to avoid cutting food rations in November and December.

In response to a question, Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said that 40 per cent of the population of Myanmar was under 18 and UNICEF was very concerned about the situation of children there. Many children were under-nourished, and the situation was worse in provinces. When there was a political crisis, it usually led to an economic crisis, so UNICEF was very concerned about being able to deliver humanitarian assistance and that it would have access to all the children in need. At the moment, it was difficult for staffers to move around and see what the situation was on the ground because of the unrest. UNICEF staff had been asked to stay at home, but they had not been evacuated.

Committee on the Rights of the Child

Ms. Heuzé said the Committee on the Rights of the Child was continuing its work at the Palais Wilson. Yesterday, the Committee had reviewed the initial reports of Spain on how that country was implementing the provisions of the two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. This morning, the Committee was taking up the initial report of Syria under the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict.

The final conclusions of the Committee on the reports which it has reviewed during this session would be released on Friday, 5 October, and Ms. Heuzé said the Information Service would try to make the concluding observations and recommendations available to journalists as soon as possible.

Climate Change

Ms. Heuzé said the Second International Conference on Climate Change and Tourism was being held in Davos from 1 to 3 October. Available in the press room was a note to correspondents which included a summary of what happened on the first day. Speakers yesterday noted that tourism was both a victim of and contributor to climate change. The Conference was expected to produce a declaration to be submitted to a United Nations World Tourism Organization Ministerial Summit in London on 13 November, leading up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia, 3-14 December 2007. The Second International Conference on Climate Change and Tourism is being organized by the United Nations World Tourism Organization, together with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and supported by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Swiss Government. Journalists who were interested in further details or setting up interviews could contact Jon Herbertsson of the Information Service who was in Davos.

International Day on Non-Violence

Ms. Heuzé said today was the First International Day of Non-Violence. In his message to mark the day, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Mahatma Gandhi’s inspiration was needed now more than ever. Copies of the Secretary-General’s message were available in the press room.

Other

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said there would be a press conference on finances for treatment for Tuberculosis with UNITAID and the Stop TB Partnership on Thursday, 4 October in the morning. The press conference would talk about how they want to finance access to treatment against TB in 19 countries, mostly in Africa. UNITAID aimed to scale up access to treatment for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis for the people in developing countries by leveraging quality drugs and diagnostics price reductions. A press release would be issued.

Ms. Chaib told journalists they could expect an update on the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo later in the day.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, rainstorms and strong winds caused by Typhoon Wipha from 17 to 20 September had led to severe damage in four provinces – North and South Hwanghae, South Pyongan and Pyongyang - the same provinces which had already been seriously affected by flooding. The rains reportedly caused additional damage to more than 109,000 hectares of farmland across the country. The Red Cross Society of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea estimated that some 1,649 persons were made homeless by the Typhoon Wipha, and 14,000 houses were completely destroyed. The Red Cross Society volunteers were mobilized to carry out first aid and to assist with evacuation regarding these recent rains, but no special request for assistance was made by national counterparts to assist with the damage. The Flash Appeal for
$ 14.1 million to help with the floods in the Democratic People’s republic of Korea was 35 per cent funded, with a further $ 4.78 million in uncommitted pledges. The UN Emergency Relief Coordinator had approved the Central Emergency Revolving Fund application for $ 3 million to fund rapid response projects in the agriculture, food security and health and nutrition sectors. More details were available in the note at the back of the room.

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said available was a media advisory about a meeting which would be held at 12:15 p.m. on Friday, 5 October at the end of the closing meeting of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the presentation and handover of the fully revised third edition of the Implementation Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child commissioned by UNICEF.

Ms. Taveau said on the occasion of the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai, China, which would open on 3 October, a partnership to advance the rights of children with intellectual disabilities would be announced tomorrow by UNICEF and Special Olympics International. Working together, the two organizations would advocate for health care, education, recreational sports and employment policies that would benefit children with intellectual disabilities. A joint press release was available at the back of the room.

Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency said UNHCR was facing a critical shortfall of
$ 11.1 million for its refugee return and reintegration operations budget in Southern Sudan for 2007. The funding situation was so dire that transportation of refugees back home from camps in neighbouring countries to Sudan, due to pick up pace again soon after the rainy season ended, might not be able to go ahead, defeating the purpose of UNHCR’s work in South Sudan and neighbouring Blue Nile State. UNHCR urgently called on donors to come forward with funds to help keep this operation going. UNHCR’s aim this year was to facilitate the return and reintegration of 102,000 Sudanese refugees and some 25,000 internally displaced persons, but without further funds, this number would be limited.

Ms. Pagonis said UNHCR was pleased to announce a $ 10 million donation by His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, in support of UNHCR’s operations for Iraqi refugees in Syria. The donation would help ease the suffering of Iraqi refugees and alleviate some of the burden being shouldered by host countries such as Syria.