REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which provided information on the Secretary-General's priorities for 2008, upcoming Geneva meetings, the situation in Kenya and floods in southern Africa, among others. Spokespersons for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Food Programme, the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development made statements.
Secretary-General's Priorities for the New Year
Ms. Heuzé began the first briefing of 2008 by wishing everyone a happy New Year. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in a statement made at a press conference yesterday, had stressed that 2008 should be a year devoted to the poorest of the world’s poor – the “bottom billion” left behind by global economic growth – most of whom lived in Africa or the small developing islands of Asia, "eking out lives of hardship" on incomes of less than $1 a day. Climate change, in addition to the world's poorest, was also on the Secretary-General's agenda. The Secretary-General had highlighted that the General Assembly planned to hold a special session in September to re-energize commitments towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The Secretary-General's press statement and a transcript of the press conference was available, in French and English, in the Press Room.
Geneva Meetings
Ms. Heuzé announced that the 2008 calendar of meetings for the United Nations Office at Geneva was now available, in French and English, in the Press Room.
Next week would mark the opening sessions for 2008 of two human rights treaty bodies: the Committee on the Rights of the Child; and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which was holding its first session in Geneva since its transfer from the Division for the Advancement of Women to the aegis of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The Committee on the Rights of the Child, meeting from 14 January to 1 February at Palais Wilson, would hear reports from Georgia, Timor-Leste, Germany, Dominican Republic, Ireland, Kuwait and Chile, on what those countries were doing to promote children's rights and welfare. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, meeting during the same three-week period at the Palais des Nations, would consider reports from Bolivia, Burundi, Saudi Arabia, France, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Morocco and Sweden, Ms. Heuzé said.
Ms. Heuzé also noted that the Conference on Disarmament would be opening the first part of its 2008 session (21 January-28 March) soon.
Kenya
Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that, if the security situation in Kenya had now improved, the humanitarian situation remained disquieting and, indeed, was actually growing worse. An estimated 255,000 people had been displaced in Kenya as of 6 January, and people were still on the move around Eldoret and Kericho – the areas worst affected. The District Commissioner had recently approved the establishment of a camp for 50,000 of the internally displaced.
A joint OCHA, UNICEF and United Nations Department of Safety and Security assessment team, which had visited camps for the displaced in Eldoret and Kericho – had presented its first report yesterday. Following that mission, OCHA had decided to send two field coordination specialists to Eldoret to assist the authorities in coordinating humanitarian assistance and to establish information-sharing mechanisms. In terms of delivering aid, staff on the ground had reported that the port of Mombasa was constricted, with insufficient facilities to handle the increased flow, and that many truck drivers were reluctant to make deliveries to affected areas without escorts, despite the improved security situation. A United Nations emergency appeal for Kenya was in the works, Ms. Byrs added, to cover the needs of some 250,000 persons for a period of three months.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) was providing relief supplies to tens of thousands of Kenyans displaced by the recent turmoil, Ron Redmond of UNHCR underscored. "We're making available immediate non-food aid materials for up to 100,000 people", he specified. UNHCR had supplies for 50,000 people in its Nairobi warehouse and would complement that with items from UNHCR regional emergency stockpiles. Today, UNHCR was shifting 24 tons of blankets and soap from its warehouses at Dadaab refugee camp in north-eastern Kenya to aid the displaced. The trucks were expected to arrive tonight or tomorrow morning in Nairobi for onward delivery to the affected areas.
UNHCR already had a large refugee operation in Kenya – with over 200 staff caring for more than 270,000 refugees in Kenya – Mr. Redmond noted. To augment its presence on the ground, a UNHCR emergency team had been sent to help coordinate assistance to the displaced.
In Uganda, some 3,000 Kenyans who had crossed the border into eastern Uganda four or five days ago were receiving assistance from the Ugandan Government, the Ugandan Red Cross and UNHCR. There were no signs of further cross-border movements since then, Mr. Redmond added.
Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme (WFP), responding to a question on the "improved" security situation, acknowledged that security was "still a problem". WFP trucks that had left Nairobi for Eldoret had reached Nakumu. Up to that point, a police escort had not been needed. From Nakumu to Eldoret, however, a police escort was necessary because of the checkpoints on the way. That was obviously delaying the food distribution.
Adding to that, Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said IOM staff members had confirmed that transport was an issue not just because of insecurity but because of limited access. There were "lots of roadblocks" made up of "boulders, crude barricades, burning tyres, trees, and even tractors". Going in and out of Eldoret an armed escort was required for people and goods.
Responding to a question about what remained to be done to ensure that all those who needed help got it, Ms. Berthiaume emphasized that Eldoret was in the region considered to be the "bread basket" of the country. Moreover, WFP already had a programme in place in Kenya and food was available. It was a question of access from Nairobi to Eldoret. There was also an issue of distributing aid to dispersed populations. It was good news that a camp for the displaced was being set up outside Eldoret, which would facilitate the distribution of aid.
Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said UNICEF was particularly concerned about the children already suffering from endemic chronic malnutrition, which affected 30 per cent of Kenyan children. The present situation obviously meant that there was a risk that situation would worsen. UNICEF, in partnership with Médecins sans frontiers-Switzerland, was currently working to establish the nutritional needs of the displaced families and was ensuring that children's needs were protected. Four thousand family kits would be distributed by UNICEF today, and an additional 4,000 would be distributed in the coming days. Education kits would also be made available to displaced families.
Responding on how development in Kenya was affecting international assistance programmes in neighbouring countries, WFP noted that, in the first days of the crisis, WFP trucks had indeed been stranded at various borders inside Kenya. Fortunately, the problem appeared to be solved now and trucks were "going in". Although the situation was "still not ideal" there had been progress. Kenya was a major regional humanitarian hub for UNHCR and other agencies, according to UNHCR's spokesman. A lot of aid supplies to operations in southern Sudan and northern Uganda, as well as in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, were dependent to one extent or another on the flow of aid supplies through Kenya. Fortunately, UNHCR had stockpiles in most of those places that were sufficient to last for some weeks. But in the long run, they needed to see continued stability in Kenya because it was "absolutely essential" for the humanitarian effort throughout the eastern Horn of Africa. UNICEF concurred that "stability and calm" had to come back to Kenya in order for UNICEF to provide assistance in Somalia.
WFP noted that flights to Somalia had been stopped at the beginning of the Kenyan crisis, and had led to the cancellation of what was supposed to be an important meeting in Mogadishu to see how to solve the humanitarian crisis in Somalia. At the end of the briefing, Ms. Berthiaume was able to confirm that flights to Somalia would start up again this Sunday.
Floods in Southern Africa
Ms. Byrs of OCHA said that torrential rainfall had caused flooding in the Zambezi River Basin, endangering the lives and livelihoods of tens of thousands of people in the region. So far, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Zambia had been hardest hit. In 2007, similar unusually early and heavy rains had caused nearly 1 million people across the same region to lose everything, and many of those who had yet to recover from the 2007 floods were likely to be those struck again. In Mozambique, it was estimated that 56,000 people had been affected; in Zimbabwe, there were thought to be 8,000 victims so far; and 34 of Zambia's 72 districts had been placed on red alert for floods. A briefing note and a map of the affected areas was available at the back of the room.
UNICEF calculated that $2.425 million was needed to carry out its humanitarian assistance to children affected by the flooding in Mozambique, Ms. Taveau said. UNICEF would use those funds to provide emergency medical equipment, food assistance, and for efforts to prevent the spread of diseases such as malaria and cholera. A news note and an immediate needs assessment document were available at the back of the room.
UNHCR Appeals for $261 to Aid Iraqis in 2008
UNHCR was seeking $261 million this year for its operations on behalf of some of the 4 million people uprooted by the conflict in Iraq, Mr. Redmond said. The appeal covered programmes for many of the 2.2 million Iraqis displaced within Iraq, as well as the 2 million who had fled to other countries in the region – including Syria, Jordan, Iran, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey and several of the Gulf States. UNHCR also cared for some 41,000 non-Iraqi refugees inside Iraq, including Palestinians, Iranians, Turks and others.
In addition to direct assistance to some of the most vulnerable refugees, UNHCR was supporting efforts by Governments in the region, struggling to cope with the huge numbers of Iraqis who had strained local resources and infrastructure, Mr. Redmond added. Over the past year, UNHCR had registered more than 220,000 Iraqis in neighbouring states; given health assistance for some 210,000 cases; and provided educational support in Syria, Jordan and other countries that had enabled 100,000 refugee children to attend school. The 2008 appeal included funds for sending a further 100,000 Iraqi refugee children to school this year.
While UNHCR could not promote or encourage the return of Iraqi refugees at this time, it stood ready to support the Government in providing assistance to those who wished to return on their own, Mr. Redmond said. Resettlement of the most vulnerable Iraqis, and programmes for internally displaced Iraqis, were also provided for in the appeal. UNCHR's focus on getting assistance to 400,000 of the most vulnerable among the internally displaced in Iraq in 2008 included provision for protection and legal help; counselling; provision of household and shelter items; support for camps for the internally displaced; and infrastructure rehabilitation projects to increase the capacity of local communities struggling to cope with internally displaced populations. A press release and copies of the appeal were available at the back of the room and on UNHCR's website (www.unhcr.org).
Other
Catherine Sibut of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) announced that Heiner Flassbeck, Director of UNCTAD's Division on Globalization and Development Strategies, would present the report, "World Economic Situation and Prospects 2008" at a press conference on Wednesday at the Palais. The report was being jointly published by UNCTAD and the Department of Economic and Social Affairs in New York. The launch date had been brought forward a day, to Wednesday, and Ms. Sibut would later confirm the meeting details, tentatively scheduled for tomorrow, at 11 a.m. in Room III. The embargo on the report would also be consequently moved forward to 12 p.m. on Wednesday, 9 January. Among others, the report would discuss the challenges presented by troubled world markets and climate change, and identify priorities for developing countries to grow, as well as for developed countries to maintain growth.