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 attended by Spokespersons for the World Health Organization, the World Meteorological Organization, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the International Organization for Migration and the International Labour Organization.
Myanmar
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday convened and chaired the eighth meeting of the Group of Friends of the Secretary-General on Myanmar to discuss the current situation in the country and ongoing efforts in the context of his good offices mandate. He called on the authorities in Myanmar to send positive signals, to release all political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and to resume the dialogue between the Government and the opposition without delay and without preconditions. He said there were still hundreds and hundreds of prisoners held for political reasons in Myanmar.
Somalia
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said available in the press room was the statement issued by the Secretary-General in which he strongly condemned the suicide bombing in Mogadishu which took the lives of 11 Burundian soldiers from the African Union contingent in Somalia and seriously injured 15 others.
ECOSOC Meeting on Philanthropy and Public Health
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Economic and Social Council has held a special meeting on philanthropy and public health. Secretary-General Ban told the meeting that the role of philanthropists and philanthropic organizations was crucial in tackling some avoidable health threats which killed millions of vulnerable people every year. The aim of the meeting was to advance progress in strengthening maternal and girls’ health, as well as fighting neglected tropical diseases. The Secretary-General’s statement was available in the press room.
Director-General’s Activities
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, would today be addressing a seminar organized by the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) to mark the launch of a project to promote discussion on an arms trade treaty. The project was being implemented with funding from the European Union and would consist of six regional seminars, as well as a side-event during the United Nations General Assembly’s First Committee in October 2009, and a final report with general conclusions and recommendations. The overall objective of the project was to facilitate an exchange of views among States, regional organizations, civil society and industry representatives around a possible international treaty on arms trade. The seminar would be held in Salle XI at 3 p.m. and was public. Journalists were welcome to attend.
Conference on Disarmament
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Conference on Disarmament this morning held a short public plenary in which it decided to exceptionally hold a public plenary on Saturday, 7 March at 10:30 a.m. in the Council Chamber to hear a statement by the Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, Sergei Lavrov.
Cholera in Zimbabwe
Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization, updating journalists on the latest figures on the cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe, said that as of yesterday, there were 83,036 cases of cholera and 3,868 deaths in Zimbabwe, making the fatality rate 4.7 per cent. There were cholera cases in all 10 provinces of Zimbabwe. There was also an increase in the numbers of cholera cases in countries neighbouring Zimbabwe. In South Africa, there were now 10,000 cases and 54 deaths in three of the country’s provinces, with a fatality rate of 0.6 per cent. As she had indicated before, for the cholera crisis to be under control, the fatality rate had to be less than 1 per cent. In Malawi, there were 1,854 cases of cholera, and 52 deaths. In Mozambique, there were 3,414 cases and 27 deaths. And in Zambia, there were 2,748 cases and 41 deaths. It should be underlined that cholera was endemic to those countries she had just listed. There were more than 364 cholera treatment centres around the country in Zimbabwe. The tendency now was to decentralize the main command centre in Harare treating cholera and to create small command centres across the country to ensure the ability to reach people in distant villages. More than 61 per cent of the deaths were still taking place outside treatment centres and in local communities which meant that many people still did not have access to treatment centres.
Ms. Chaib reminded journalists that at 11:30 a.m. today in Room III, there would be a press conference on the situation of influenza and the latest cases in China, Viet Nam and Egypt, and on how much progress had been made in pandemic influenza vaccine preparedness.
Polar Year
Gaelle Sevenier of the World Meteorological Organization said journalists were today invited to the opening of a picture exhibition related to the Polar Year at 6:30 p.m. in “E” building of the Palais des Nations. The exhibition would remain on show until 23 March.
Ms. Sevenier said the Secretary-General of WMO, Michel Jarraud and others would speak to the press at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, 25 February in Room III on new evidence about change in the Polar regions. There would also be a ceremony at WMO Headquarters from 3:30 p.m. until 5 p.m. tomorrow to show a film on the Polar Year.
Humanitarian Aid by Qatar
Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Qatar has provided a donation of $ 40 million to the United Nations for its humanitarian programmes worldwide. Of that amount, $ 30 million has been pledged for emergency operations in Gaza while $ 10 million would go through the Central Emergency Response Fund. This donation made Qatar the ninth largest contributor to the Fund for 2009. The top donors for the Fund are the United Kingdom, Sweden, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Canada, Ireland and Germany. A press release was available at the back of the room.
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said also available was a statement by Secretary-General Ban in which he thanked Qatar for the donation.
Refugees
Ron Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency said six people drowned and another 11 were reported missing and presumed dead after smugglers carrying 52 Somalis and Ethiopians across the Gulf of Aden forced their passengers overboard in deep water off the Yemen coast. Authorities had recovered six bodies near Huseysa, about 500 kilometres east of Aden. The boat, reportedly carrying 40 Somalis and 12 Ethiopians, was one of seven smuggling boats that reached the Yemen coast on Friday after making the perilous voyage across the Gulf of Aden from the Horn of Africa. Survivors reported that the boat departed on Thursday from Suweto, in Somalia’s Bossasso region. When the smugglers noticed the presence of the Yemeni police onshore, they refused to get closer to the coast and forced passengers overboard in deep water. Initial reports said 35 persons reached shore near Huseysa, where UNHCR’s local partner provided them with first aid, food and water. This was the third fatal incident since the beginning of 2009. So far this year, a total of 168 boats and 9,449 people had reached the Yemen coast. To date, the death toll stood at 47 people.
In North Kivu, Mr. Redmond said UNHCR remained extremely concerned about the increased violence against civilians in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since 13 February, the so-called Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda
(FDLR) had carried out numerous attacks in Masisi, Lubero and Walikale areas in North Kivu, sparking a new wave of displacement. Local authorities had informed UNHCR that some 3,000 people had been internally displaced in Remeka village, some 20 kilometres south of Masisi, following a recent FDLR attack. Today, a joint UN team was visiting Kitanga, on the outskirts of Masisi, to monitor and assess the needs of the newly displaced. There were more details in the briefing notes.
Other
Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said at the end of last year, IOM carried out a survey among migrants in various locations in Limpopo province in South Africa, as part as a larger programme aimed at providing protection assistance to Zimbabwean migrants in Limpopo province and to see what the migration trends and challenges there were. The survey found that the Zimbabwe migrants, and in particular unaccompanied minors, were in dire need of humanitarian assistance and greater protection from the risks they faced as largely undocumented migrants. There were more details available in the briefing notes and copies of the report itself were also available.
Catherine Sibut Pinote of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has announced the appointment of Ambassador Petko Draganov of Bulgaria as Deputy Secretary-General of UNCTAD. Mr. Draganov would take up his post in May. A press release was available at the back of the room.
Hans von Rohland of the International Labour Organization said more than 100 senior representatives of governments, workers’ and employers’ organizations were meeting today and tomorrow to discuss the impact of the economic crisis on the more than 30 million people employed in the financial sector worldwide. A press release with more details was available.