REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the UN Refugee Agency, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development, the World Trade Organization, and the International Organization for Migration.
Activities of the Director-General of UNOG
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Sergei Ordzhonikidze, would address on Monday, 24 November at 10 a.m. the Ninth 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. The Director-General would read out the message of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The Ninth Meeting would be held from 24 to 28 November in the Assembly Hall and it was a public meeting.
The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People would be commemorated on 24 November from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in Salle XVIII. The commemoration would be opened by the Director-General of UNOG who would read out the message of the Secretary-General, which Mr. Ban would read out himself in a similar ceremony to be held in New York. A note to correspondents with more details was available in the press room.
On 26 November, Mr. Ordzhonikidze would inaugurate the sixth seminar organized by the United Nations Office at Geneva and the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces. The theme was “meeting the security challenges of today while upholding human rights standards”.
Geneva Activities
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Committee against Torture were both concluding their autumn sessions today. They would issue towards the end of the day their concluding observations and recommendations on the country reports which they considered during the sessions. Round-up press releases would be issued as soon as the concluding observations and recommendations were made available.
The Committee on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families would be held from 24 to 28 November at the Palais Wilson. During this session the Committee would examine the initial report of El Salvador. A background press release was available in the press room.
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said there were three press conferences being held today.
There would be a press conference at 11:30 a.m. in Salle III for the Global Launch of the Landmine Monitor Report 2008. Markus Kummer, Executive Coordinator of the Secretariat of the Internet Governance Forum, would speak to journalists at 12:30 p.m. in press room 1 on the Third Internet Governance Forum which would be held in Hyderabad from 3 to 6 December. And the Chairperson and some Members of the Committee against Torture would speak to journalists at 2 p.m. in press room 1. [This press conference was later cancelled.]
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Security Council yesterday authorized a temporary increase of more than 3,000 blue helmets serving with the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC). The extra 2,785 troops and 300 police officers would buttress the 17,000 uniformed personnel already serving with MONUC, the largest UN force worldwide. Council members voted unanimously for a resolution authorizing the extra numbers following a request from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who, along with other senior UN officials, had said that existing troop numbers in MONUC were inadequate to deal with the scale of the fighting and unrest. The resolution authorized the extra troops and police officers until 31 December, adding that the duration of the stay depended on the security situation in the North Kivu and South Kivu provinces.
Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the security situation in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo remained tense and very volatile, especially in North Kivu. Looting continued. On 19 November, elements from the national army ransacked the Therapeutic Nutritional Centre in Kayna, South Lubero. Also on 17 November, a centre of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Kirumba was looted. Illegal barricades were being set up to intimidate the population. The situation was not improving. The civilians lived in constant fear due to the insecurity and the looting, illegal barriers and forced labour. In Goma, there had been 20 cases of sexual violence reported between 12 and 18 November. Also, the price of food commodities in Goma between January and November 2008 had increased by 114.3 per cent.
William Spindler of the UN Refugee Agency said UNHCR was increasingly concerned about the safety of tens of thousands of displaced Congolese civilians in the Kibati camps in the outskirts of Goma. In an alarming incident very early this morning, a 20-year-old women was shot and killed at the Kibati camp and a number of families were forced to leave their huts, which were then looted by armed men. UNHCR’s team in Kibati was assessing the situation and the needs of the victims. Over the past weeks, UNHCR had repeatedly expressed its concern for the safety of some 67,000 internally displaced Congolese civilians sheltered in the Kibati camps. The latest incident added to the pressure on UNHCR and the provincial authorities to move almost half of the 67,000 internally displaced people currently staying in two camps in Kibati to the new Mugunga III camp, located west of Goma. UNHCR and its partners had been taking advantage of the relative calm in North Kivu this week to step up work on the new camp for up to 30,000 people. UNHCR planned to start the relocation of internally displaced people from Kibati to Mugunga III as soon as the basic conditions were in place, but the work conditions were extremely difficult. Meanwhile, UNHCR was bringing in additional aid to North Kivu.
Paul Garwood of the World Health Organization said in Goma, the situation regarding cholera was stabilizing to some extent. New cases were still being received, but the systems in place to respond were operating effectively thanks to the efforts of numerous health sector partners. On 20 November, there were reports of 26 new suspected cholera cases in North Kivu. From 10 to 16 November, 486 suspected cholera cases were recorded in North Kivu, with nine deaths. Efforts were ongoing to ensure improved access to drinking water, sanitation and hygiene. As for the situation with regard to measles, from 10 to 16 November, there had been 148 cases of measles, including two deaths. A vaccination campaign against measles was expected to commence.
Anna Schaaf of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said the situation was still very tense in North Kivu and this week there had still been tens of thousands of people moving toward the north of Northern Kivu. There was also a continuing influx of displaced people into the Goma area. ICRC in coordination with the World Food Programme this week had started a distribution of food and essential non-food items north of Goma for 50,000 both internally displaced persons and residents. ICRC still had ongoing other activities in Kibati camp to supply water and medicines and to promote hygiene.
World Congress Against Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents
Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said the Third World Congress Against Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents would be held from 25 to 28 November in Rio, bringing together 3,000 delegates, including 300 adolescents. The Congress would address five key themes: forms of sexual exploitation and its new scenarios; legal framework and accountability; integrated cross-sector policies; initiatives of social responsibility; and strategies for international cooperation. A media advisory was available at the back of the room as well as other documentation.
Susan Bissel, a senior member of the UNICEF delegation to the Congress, said one of the key issues around the Rio Congress was the fact that focus had been expanded since the last two Congresses beyond the scope of commercial sexual exploitation and the Congress would now look at all forms of sexual exploitation. They would not only talk about children who were exploited in prostitution but actually children who were sexually exploited through pornography, other forms of on-line exploitation, or children who were sexually exploited by their teachers or coaches etc. One of the most important aspects of the Third Congress was that they were looking at a broader range of issues. Also, the issue of enhanced international cooperation would be focused on at the Congress. There were three key examples; one of those was a financial coalition to stop the purchase of on-line pornography; the second was the world’s effort to end the sexual exploitation of children in the context of travelling tourism; and the third was Interpol’s data base of on-line sexual abuse images which had expanded tremendously. Another innovation was “Child Exploitation On-line Protection”, a global collaboration of police forces to create an on-line child protection system.
Outbreak of Cholera in Zimbabwe
Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said IOM was working in coordination with UN agencies and local authorities to combat a deadly outbreak of cholera in Zimbabwe, which had so far claimed dozens of lives. Current IOM activities included case finding, reporting and hospital referrals, the deployment of nurses to the Cholera Treatment Centres and the provision of drugs, medical supplies and non-food items such as protective clothing and gumboots to health staff working at the Cholera Treatment Centres. IOM had also been at the forefront in providing support to the Ministry of Health in the border town of Beitbridge, where 1,302 suspected cases and 46 deaths have so far been reported. There were more details in the briefing notes.
Fadela Chiab of the World Health Organization said there were reportedly 2,940 cases of cholera so far in Zimbabwe, including 115 deaths from five parts of the country. Many Zimbabweans were looking for treatment across the border. WHO was working with Zimbabwe to get more information. WHO did not have information directly from the Government of Zimbabwe or from WHO personnel, it was reporting figures provided by the United Nations and the media.
Floods in Ethiopia
Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said heavy rains in Ethiopia’s Somali region started on 2 November and caused severe floods in six administrative districts, hitting 85 villages. According to preliminary assessments, more than 1,600 households had been affected and approximately 3,200 hectares of crop land had been damaged. The floods had cut off the roads, delaying delivery of assistance. The immediate needs were food, water, health and non-food items. An inter-agency mission would soon assess emergency and recovery needs. There were more details in the press notes.
Other
Catherine Sibut-Pinote of the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development said the Fourth Annual Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development would be held from 24 to 26 November. The Intergovernmental Forum was the institutional framework for the Global Dialogue on Mining/Metals and Sustainable Development which was one of a number of Partnership Initiatives launched at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg, South Africa, 2002). It was a voluntary initiative by national governments with an interest in mining to work collectively to advance priorities identified for the sector in the Johannesburg Plan of Action. The Forum was the only global policy forum for the mining/metals sector with the overarching objective to enhance capacity for the overall governance in the sector.
Ms. Sibut-Pinote said UNCTAD would be participating actively in the Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development to Review the Implementation of the Monterrey Consensus to be held in Doha from 29 November to 2 December. UNCTAD’s Secretary-General would be participating in the meeting. UNCTAD was organizing a parallel event on 30 November on “financial crises, world disequilibrium and the margin of political manoeuvre at the national level”. UNCTAD’s Secretary-General would also be organizing the multi-stakeholder meeting on Cotton on 2 December.
Janaina Borges of the World Trade Organization said she did not know if there would be meetings of the negotiating groups next week. It was likely but there was nothing confirmed at this point. There were informal meetings on 24 and 25 November to discuss the membership of Russia, the Russian accession negotiations. On 24 and 26 November there would be a trade policy review of the Dominican Republic. Also on 24 November, the Director-General of WTO would be meeting with Japan’s Minister of Agriculture. On 25 November, the Director-General would participate in a conference on confronting the global food challenge at the World Council of Churches.
Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said in Senegal, an EU-funded information campaign aimed at raising awareness of the dangers of irregular migration in order the prevent the many tragedies befalling irregular migrants was today being extended to the southern Casamance region. In Ireland, two IOM-organized information and job fairs were taking place over the next three days in Dublin and Monaghan to provide Lithuanians currently living and working in Ireland with up-to-date information on the possibilities of employment in Lithuania.
Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the Consolidated Appeal for the Palestinian territories would be launched on 26 November in Jerusalem. There was a media advisory at the back of the room.
Ms. Byrs said Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes would be visiting Chad starting today and until 24 November.
Anna Schaaf of the International Committee of the Red Cross said that the press conference on landmines to be held at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, 25 November, was actually a webcast press conference. Also ICRC would be announcing its Emergency Appeals for 2009 next week at a press conference on Thursday, 27 November at 10 a.m. Embargoed information on this would be available next week.