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 of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the International Labour Organization, the UN Refugee Agency, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Meteorological Organization, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Organization for Migration.

Geneva Discussions on Georgia

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the latest session of the Geneva Discussions on Georgia will open this afternoon at the Palais des Nations. The discussions will be held in Working Groups this afternoon and tomorrow. There will be a photo opportunity of the delegations arriving at the Palais on Wednesday, 18 February starting 8:30 a.m. at Door IV. The three co-Presidents will hold a press conference on Wednesday, between 3 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. The Permanent Mission of Georgia to the United Nations Office at Geneva will also be holding a press conference following that by the co-Presidents, but she did not have the name of the person who would be briefing journalists. Press conferences by the Permanent Missions of the United States and the Russian Federation would also follow.

Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination yesterday opened its seventy-fourth session at the Palais Wilson, hearing an address by the High Commissioner for Human Rights and adopting its agenda and programme of work, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said. In her statement, High Commissioner Navi Pillay said she would be meeting in the afternoon with the delegation sent by President Barack Obama to discuss whether or not the United States will participate in the Durban Review Conference to be held from 20 to 24 April at the Palais des Nations. The Committee started its review of the periodic review of Tunisia yesterday afternoon, and it would conclude it this morning.

Special Session of the Human Rights Council

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Human Rights Council will hold its tenth Special Session on Friday, 20 February on “the impact of the global economic and financial crises on the universal realization and effective enjoyment of human rights”.

The Special Session was requested by Egypt on behalf of the African Group and by Brazil, as a joint initiative. So far, it has been supported by 25 Member States of the Council and 21 Observer States. The Special Session will be held in Room XVII starting 10 a.m. on Friday. A background press release would be issued shortly.

Conference on Disarmament

The Conference on Disarmament was today holding a public plenary in Room VII, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said. The Deputy Defense Minister of Norway was addressing the meeting. The next public plenary of the Conference will be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 19 February. A press release would be issued at the end of the meeting.

Preparatory Talks on Durban Review Conference

Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said there were now frequent updates on the negotiations, the procedure, and the preparations for the Durban Review Conference on the OHCHR website. There was a new website for the Durban Review Conference through a link with the OHCHR website and a regular newsletter was appearing on the website. Updates on the negotiations were regularly put up.

Asked for more information about the ongoing preparatory talks for the Durban Review Conference and the United States’ delegation sent to discuss the Review Conference with the High Commissioner, Mr. Colville said that he would try to provide an update on the talks at the Friday briefing.

Afghanistan

Mr. Colville said a new report was coming out today in Geneva and Kabul by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. The report was on the protection of civilians in armed conflict in 2008. The report said that the number of Afghan civilian casualties rose by almost 40 per cent in 2008 compared to the previous year – a total of 2,118 civilian casualties were killed, compared to 1,523 civilian deaths in 2007. The report focused both on the casualties caused by what they called anti-government elements – the Taliban or other groups of a similar type – and pro-government forces – that was the Government themselves and various international forces in the country. Fifty-five per cent of the overall death toll was attributed to anti-government elements and 39 per cent to Afghan security and international military forces. The rest were in a grey area.

The armed opposition was responsible for 1,160 civilian deaths, this represented an increase of 65 per cent over 2007 figures, Mr. Colville said. Some 85 per cent of those killed by anti-government elements died as a result of suicide and improvised explosive devises. 2008 saw a distinct pattern of attacks by the armed opposition in crowded residential and other such areas with apparent disregard for the extensive damage they caused to civilians. The insurgents had also persisted with an intimidation campaign that included the summary execution of individuals perceived to be associated with, or supportive of, the Government and its allies. Victims included teachers, students, doctors and health workers, tribal elders, civilian government employees, former police and military personnel, and labourers involved in public-interest construction work. Schools, particularly those for girls, had also come under increasing attacks, thereby depriving thousands of students, especially girls, of their right of access to education.

Regarding casualties by pro-government forces, Mr. Colville said air strikes were responsible for 64 per cent of the civilian deaths attributed to pro-government forces. Night time raids, which sometimes resulted in death and injury to civilians, were of continuing concern and were widely resented. Also 38 aid workers, mostly from non-governmental organizations, were killed in 2008, double the number in 2007, and another 147 aid workers were abducted.

Sri Lanka

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said with a growing number of children being recruited by the LTTE Tamil Tigers and scores of children being killed or injured in fighting, UNICEF today expressed its gravest concerns for children as Sri Lanka ‘s conflict entered a new phase. Philippe Duamelle, UNICEF’s Representative in Sri Lanka, said that UNICEF had clear indications that the LTTE had intensified forcible recruitment of civilians and that children as young as 14 years old were now being targeted. These children were facing immediate danger and their lives were at great risk. Their recruitment was intolerable. From 2003 to the end of 2008, UNICEF had recorded more than 6,000 cases of children recruited by the LTTE. Mr. Duamelle said child soldiers suffered physical abuse, traumatic events and faced death. UNICEF was also extremely alarmed at the high number of children being injured in the fighting in the northern area of Sri Lanka known as the Vanni. Children were the victims of this conflict by being killed, injured, recruited, displaced, separated and denied their every day needs due to the fighting. The main injuries to children were burns, fractures, shrapnel and bullet wounds. UNICEF, together with other UN agencies and partners, was responding to the needs of 30,000 people who had been able to leave the Vanni and were now receiving humanitarian assistance away from the conflict. UNICEF’s emergency support was in water and sanitation, nutrition, protection and education. It was crucial that all civilians in the Vanni were able to leave and reach a safe area where they could be urgently assisted.

Ms. Taveau said if there was interest, she could arrange a video conference with UNICEF’s Representative in Sri Lanka. It was so agreed.

World Day of Social Justice

Corinne Perthuis of the International Labour Organization said in November 2007, the United Nations General Assembly declared 20 February as the World Day of Social Justice. The first World Day of Social Justice will be observed on Friday, 20 February 2009. ILO was organizing a panel discussion on “The Crisis: Threat or Opportunity for Social Justice?” Participating would be representatives of civil society, the economy, banks, and non-governmental organizations. The ongoing economic and financial crisis was threatening social justice. The Swiss Press Club was organizing a working breakfast with the Director-General of ILO on Wednesday, 18 February at 9:30 a.m. at the Villa Pastoralle. A press release with more details on the panel discussion would be sent out this afternoon.

Refugees

Ron Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency said refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo were fleeing in several directions as a result of two separate conflicts in the eastern and northern parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Concerning the continued influx of Congolese refugees into South Sudan, the number of Congolese refugees who had sought safety in South Sudan since attacks by the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army last year had now surpassed the 15,000 mark. UNHCR staff late last week accompanied local South Sudanese authorities to Lasu, a sparsely populated village in Central Equatoria State where they found the population of Congolese refugees had swelled from 2,000 to approximately 6,000. Most of them had fled from the Democratic Republic of the Congo town of Aba, which had been attacked several times since January, the latest time last week. Lasu was 45 kilometres from the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There had been fears of a mass influx of refugees from Aba after last week’s attack by the Lord’s Resistance Army. Refugees interviewed in Lasu by UNHCR teams confirmed that Aba, with an estimated population of 100,000, was deserted. Earlier reports of large numbers of displaced people moving towards Central Equatoria in South Sudan appeared to have been unfounded and it was now believed they had moved to the south based on accounts from the new arrivals in Lasu. Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports from local residents indicated that the Lord’s Resistance Army was also active in South Sudan, looting property and abducting 21 people in the village of Neuf, 9 kms from Lasu. The refugees in Lasu were generally in good health but were in need of emergency assistance.

Meanwhile, Mr. Redmond said in South Sudan’s Western Equatoria State, the registered population of Congolese refugees who fled attacks by the Lord’s Resistance Army in the Dungu area of north-western Democratic Republic of the Congo in January had reached 9,139. It was critical to move all of these refuges away from border areas both for security reasons and to facilitate distribution of aid. Work was underway in other camps away from the border.

Further to the south, there was the second conflict underway in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the Kivus, Mr. Redmond said. As a result of that conflict, increasing numbers of Rwandan civilians in North and South Kivu were approaching UNHCR for assistance in repatriating. They feared the new escalation of violence sparked by the launch of a joint Rwandan/DRC offensive against the rebel group, Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda in late January. In the first six weeks of this year, UNHCR assisted the return of 3,000 Rwandans from eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. In comparison, during all of 2008, some 8,000 Rwandans returned voluntarily to their homes in Rwanda. UNHCR expected the return of thousands more Rwandan civilians, some of whom fled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo after the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

Mr. Redmond said UNHCR looked forward to the publication on 18 February by the
European Commission of a proposal to establish a European Asylum Support
Office. UNHCR hoped that such a support office would help ensure more consistent and better quality asylum decision-making across the European Union. Research by UNHCR had shown that asylum-seekers of similar backgrounds and profiles had widely varying prospects of finding protection in different Member States of the European Union.

In response to a question, Mr. Redmond said the United Nations team in Pakistan which was working on securing the release of John Solecki issued a statement this morning which said that the United Nations reiterated its appeal to those who were holding John Solecki for his immediate and safe release. The United Nations was aware of the message conveyed yesterday through the press club in Quetta. The United Nations was grateful for the growing community support for John Solecki and the response that their support had generated. The Secretary-General over the weekend had contacts with the President of Pakistan. They discussed Mr. Solecki’s case and a statement was issued out of New York on Saturday. The United Nations had teams working on the release of Mr. Solecki in Pakistan, Geneva and in New York 24 hours a day.

Ethiopia

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs said it was estimated that in 2009 in Ethiopia, an estimated 12 million people, 20 per cent of the rural population, would continue to require humanitarian assistance. This number included 4.9 million people requiring emergency food assistance. The Government and humanitarian partners have issued a joint humanitarian requirement document seeking $ 454.3 million, including $ 389 million for food assistance, for the first six months of 2009. Poor performance of seasonal rains, poor crop production coupled with the soaring cereal prices have contributed to the food insecurity in Ethiopia and posed several humanitarian challenges to the lives and livelihoods of many in some areas in the eastern half of the country. There were more details of the situation in Ethiopia in the notes at the back of the room.

Latest Update on La Nina or El Nino Events

Gaëlle Sévenier of the World Meteorological Organization said WMO was today issuing an update on La Nina and El Nino. Available at the back of the room was a press release and copies of the update.

Rupar Kumar Kolli of the World Meteorological Organization said concerning the latest WMO La Nina, El Nino update, it was well known that La Nina and El Nino represented anomalous in the tropical Pacific Ocean. During El Nino events, sea temperatures in the surface in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean became substantially higher than normal. In contrast, during La Nina events, the sea surface temperature in these regions became lower than normal. Typical El Nino and La Nina events were strongly coupled with large-scale atmospheric circulation and had significant regional climatic impacts across the world. WMO, in collaboration with a large number of agencies and experts across the world dealing with climate prediction, prepared this update at regular intervals to provide a consensus outlook on El Nino and La Nina. The latest update showed that conditions resembling La Nina developed in December 2008, but that they were already weakened and were not expected to herald a prolonged La Nina event. Most assessments concluded that a transition back to neutral conditions was expected for the next couple of months. The outlook for March-May 2009 was near neutral conditions across the tropical Pacific Ocean. The likelihood of El Nino or La Nina development for the remainder of 2009 was considered to be essentially unpredictable at this stage. A further WMO update would be issued after three months.

ICRC and Occupied Golan

Dorothea Krimitsas of the International Committee of the Red Cross said that just two hours ago, the ICRC started an operation of the transfer of 8,000 tons of apples from the occupied Golan into Syria proper through the Kuneitra crossing point in the occupied Golan. The ICRC was acting in its capacity as a neutral intermediary at the request of the Syrian farmers living in the occupied Golan, and with the approval of the Syrian and Israeli authorities. ICRC hoped that this kind of operation would contribute to create an environment conducive to raising other humanitarian concerns it had in the region, namely the problem of family members in the occupied Golan separated from their family members in Syria, who could no longer meet like they used to do. The apple transfer operation had been coordinated with all the parties concerned, including the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force. The transfer of all of the apples was expected to take between six and eight weeks. This would be the fourth time the ICRC had conducted such an operation at the Kuneitra crossing. The sale of the fruit was the main source of income for the Syrian farmers of the occupied Golan, as apple production was the backbone of the local economy. A press release would be issued shortly.

Other

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said she wanted to provide an update on the IOM resettlement of Bhutanese refugees from camps in eastern Nepal. IOM’s resettlement programme, which started in January 2008, had now assisted more than 10,000 people. The vast majority of the refugees, known as Lhotsampas, had been resettled in the United States. More details were available in the briefing notes.

Ms. Pandya said that thanks to a one million Swiss franc programme funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, IOM had launched a two-year programme to prevent human trafficking in Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia.