REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Office at Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the United Nations Refugee Agency.
Secretary-General in Bucharest
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addressed the high-level meeting on Afghanistan in Bucharest yesterday, pledging the United Nations' commitment to that country and vowing, "We shall not leave Afghanistan as long as we are needed by the Afghan people." He noted the signs of progress in the country, as well as the obstacles that were still present, foremost among them the threat posed by the continuing violence and militancy in various parts of the country. Another obstacle, he said, was the constantly growing drug economy. The Secretary-General acknowledged that the United Nations had not been as effective as it needed to be in coordinating the international community, adding that the new Security Council mandate would allow the United Nations to take a more assertive role in coordination.
The Secretary-General’s statement to the meeting was available in the press room.
Secretary-General to Visit Russian Federation
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Secretary-General will embark on a three-day official visit to the Russian Federation next week. This will be his first trip to the Russian Federation since taking office as Secretary-General. He is expected to meet with Russian Government leaders, including President Vladimir Putin, President-elect Dmitry Medvedev, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, will be part of the Secretary-General’s delegation. While in the Russian Federation, the Secretary-General will also address the launch of the UN Global Compact's Russia network.
New Statements by the Secretary-General
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said there were two new statements by the Secretary-General in the press room. In his statement on Cyprus, the Secretary-General welcomed yesterday’s opening of a crossing at Ledra Street in the old town of Nicosia. Since its closure in 1963, Ledra Street had come to represent the division of Cyprus. The Secretary-General said that its reopening, after more than four decades, was the symbol of a new and hopeful environment. As the Cypriots now embarked on what would be a challenging process towards renewed negotiations aimed at reunifying the island, the United Nations was fully committed to helping them succeed.
In another statement, the Secretary-General welcomed the entry into force of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol. The Secretary-General welcomed the 20th State depositing a ratification or accession, which triggered the entry into force of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Protocol on 3 May 2008. The Secretary-General congratulated the States that had already ratified or acceded to the Convention for enabling the entry into force only a year-and-a-half from its adoption by Member States on 13 December 2006. It is estimated that there are at least 650 million persons with disabilities worldwide, of whom approximately 80 percent live in less-developed countries.
Geneva Activities
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the first session of the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review Working Group will be held in Geneva from 7 to 18 April during which 16 States will have their human rights records examined under this new mechanism. The first group of States to be reviewed under the Universal Periodic Review are: Bahrain, Ecuador, Tunisia, Morocco, Indonesia, Finland, the United Kingdom, India, Brazil, the Philippines, Algeria, Poland, the Netherlands, South Africa, the Czech Republic and Argentina. The meeting will take place in Room XVII at the Palais des Nations.
Representatives of these 16 countries are expected to come before the Universal Periodic Review Working Group, which comprises the entire membership of the 47-member Human Rights Council, to present efforts they have made in fulfilling their human rights obligations and commitments, assessing both positive developments and identifying challenges. The review will be carried out by the Working Group composed of members of the Council that will meet three times per year for two weeks and will be facilitated by groups of three States members of the Council, or troikas, which will act as rapporteurs. The outcome for the first and second sessions of the Universal Periodic Review will be adopted by the plenary of the Council at its next regular session taking place in June. A background press release is available in the press room in English and in French.
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the International Day of Reflection of the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda will be commemorated at the Palais des Nations on Monday, 7 April. The ceremony, which is being organized by the Permanent Mission of Rwanda, will be addressed by Venetia Sebudandi, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Rwanda to the United Nations Office at Geneva, and two genocide survivors who will share their experiences. Jan Beagle, Deputy Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, will deliver a statement. The event will be held in Room XIX at the Palais des Nations from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. A note to correspondents has been issued.
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said yesterday Ecuador became the 20th country to deposit its ratification papers to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This meant that the Convention and its Optional Protocol would now officially come into force on 3 May, less than one and a half years after the Convention was adopted, which was quite fast. A further 106 countries had already signed the Convention, but had not yet ratified it. This was very good news. The disabled community and their supporters had fought long and hard to get to this point and OHCHR congratulated them warmly on this achievement. A press release was available quoting Louise Arbour, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, on this subject at the back of the room.
Mr. Colville said OHCHR was seeking nominations for the 2008 United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights, which was awarded to individuals or organizations once every five years for “outstanding achievements in the field of human rights.” More details about the prize could be found on a special page on the OHCHR website, www.ohchr.org.
In conclusion, Mr. Colville said there would be a briefing today at 2 p.m. in press room 1 by the author of an OHCHR-commissioned study on laws that discriminate against women. Dr. Fareda Banda of the School of Orient and African Studies in London found that such laws still existed in virtually every country on the planet, despite repeated commitments by governments to revoke or amend them.
Asked what was the High Commissioner’s reaction to the conviction of the human rights activist in China, Hu Jia, and if she had any new information about the situation in Tibet, Mr. Colville said the High Commissioner had received a letter on 26 March from a representative of the Dalai Lama requesting a meeting with her. That was not possible at the time because her agenda was full, but there had been meetings at the working level. The High Commissioner had also had private discussions with the Chinese authorities, but he could not say anything more about the content for the time being. The issue of accessibility to Tibet was obviously paramount because without that, it was very hard to come to any conclusions on what had happened or what would happen next. On the question of Mr. Hu, OHCHR remained concerned that security laws were being used to bring charges and convict human rights defenders or people who were activist on human rights issues. That was an ongoing concern and this case fit into that category.
Darfur Appeal
Ron Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency said UNHCR was issuing an appeal today for $ 40.3 million to provide protection and assistance to refugees and internally displaced people in the Darfur region of Sudan in 2008. The funds would be used to help some 2.5 million displaced Darfurians and returnees as well as 47,500 refugees from Chad and the Central African Republic who had fled inter-ethnic clashes and conflict in their own countries. UNHCR’s Darfur operations in 2008 would focus on protection activities, including monitoring the well-being of refugees, displaced people and returnees in accessible villages; strengthening UNHCR’s role in camp management and coordination issues; and providing community-based rehabilitation programmes in rural areas along with other partners and UN agencies. The appeal marks a sizeable increase over UNCHR’s 2007 budgetary requirements of $ 19.7 million, reflecting the expansion of UNHCR’s presence in Darfur and its increased role in camp management and coordination issues within the UN framework of coordination.
Other
Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization reminded journalists about the press conference on Monday, 7 April, at 10 a.m. by Margaret Chan, WHO Director General, and David Heymann, WHO Assistant Director General for Health Security and Environment, on World Health Day: Climate Change and Public Health. A 15-page document on this topic would be available at the press conference as well as a press release. Individual interviews with experts could also be arranged.
Catherine Sibut-Pinot of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said available at the back of the room was the press kit for the UNCTAD XII meeting which would held from 20 to 25 April in Accra, Ghana. UNCTAD met every four years at the level of Heads of State and Government and other senior officials. All the documents explaining the issues before the UNCTAD XII were available in the press kit.
Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said today was the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action. UNICEF was one of 14 UN bodies which in the field of the fight against landmines. In 2007, 6,000 persons were victims of mines, and three out of every four of those victims were children. Mines were a problem in around half of the villages in Cambodia and the Democratic People’s Republic of Lao. They were also problematic in Colombia, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Russian Federation (Chechnya), Iraq, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
An estimated 85 per cent of child victims of landmines died before reaching the hospital. Landmines and explosive remnants of war violated nearly all the articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child: a child’s right to life, to a safe environment in which to play, to health, clean water, sanitary conditions and adequate education. Today, UNICEF was active in the fight against landmines in 20 countries around the world. Available were two press releases at the back of the room.
For use of information media; not an official record