REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Marie Heuzé, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the press briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Health Organisation, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Intellectual Property Organization, the World Trade Organization and the International Organization for Migration.

Humanitarian Situation in the Sudan

Ms. Heuzé said, on the humanitarian situation in the Sudan, that the United Nations was very concerned about the situation after the decision by the Government of the Sudan to expel 13 non-governmental organizations highly involved in aid operations in Darfur. The Secretary-General had made a statement in which he had expressed his strong concern about the humanitarian assistance and the survival of some 4.7 million Sudanese people which were receiving aid in Sudan. He also underlined that these organizations were providing humanitarian assistance to those who needed it in a neutral and impartial manner. As such, he appealed to the Government of the Sudan to urgently reconsider its decision. The Secretary-General was also concerned about the safety and security of national and international humanitarian workers in the Sudan and their assets. The confiscation of equipment, money and other materials was unacceptable and had to end immediately.

Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said that the decision by the Government of Sudan to expel 13 international non-governmental organizations from Darfur could prove disastrous given the life-saving work performed by several of these non-governmental organizations in sector such as health, water and sanitation. This decision by the Government could threaten the life of thousands of civilians in the internally displaced persons camps and elsewhere in Darfur. They were also concerned about the closing-down of at least two and possibly three or four important Sudanese non-governmental human rights organizations.

The operations of those non-governmental organisations were providing a lifeline to 4.7 million Sudanese people. The High Commissioner for human rights joined the United Nations Secretary-General in calling the Government to reconsider its decision. To knowingly and deliberately deprive such a huge group of civilians of means to survive was a deplorable act. Humanitarian assistance had nothing to do with the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) proceedings. To punish civilians because of the decision of the ICC was a grave dereliction of the Government’s duty to protect its own people, said Mr. Colville.

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said that WHO was really concerned about the expulsion of international non-governmental organizations from Sudan. These non-governmental organizations were partners of WHO and other health parties working in Sudan and were helping the local population as well as internally displaced persons. The decision could lead to the increase of mortality and morbidity due to the interruption of health services the decline of immunization coverage and the increase of mortality and morbidity among children if they did not have access therapeutic feeding and nutrition services.

Another important fact for WHO was that these non-governmental organizations were helping them to do surveillance of infectious diseases, which was a very vital work. “Without their help, we might see the emergence of infectious diseases such as diarrheal diseases, respiratory infections, etc.” she said. These non-governmental organizations were also doing vital in the field of water and sanitation. WHO was present with international and national staff in Darfur, noted Ms. Chaib, but the non-governmental organizations had been also very active in this region. If they were not present anymore, WHO would have to see with other partners how they could fill in the gaps in the immediate term; their absence would soon be felt on the ground.

Ron Redmond of the United Nations Refugee Agency said that UNHCR obviously shared the deep concern of the Secretary-General and the rest of the UN system over the ordered departure of several non-governmental organizations from Sudan and the serious implications this had for humanitarian efforts on behalf of hundreds of thousands of extremely vulnerable people in Darfur and elsewhere. For UNHCR’s part, at least five of the non-governmental organizations asked to leave Sudan had been UNHCR implementing partners carrying out important humanitarian programmes in Darfur but also Blue Nile State and Khartoum State. So it was noteworthy that this could have an impact not only on Darfur, but on vulnerable people elsewhere in the country.

They also had to be concerned at the possible implications this could have more broadly in the region, said Mr. Redmond. Their experience showed that when vulnerable populations were unable to get the help they need, they went elsewhere in search of protection and assistance. If people could not get food these people suffered and they looked elsewhere. With some 4.7 million Sudanese, including 2.7 million internally displaced, already receiving assistance in Darfur, UNHCR was very concerned over the prospect of new population movements in the region should the fragile aid lifeline inside Sudan be disrupted. There were also some 40,000 Chadian refugees in West Darfur.

Their work for internally displaced people as part of the UN team in Darfur had helped internally displaced people to stay as close to home as possible while also relieving pressure on neighbouring Chad, where UNHCR and its partners were already caring for nearly 250,000 refugees from Darfur in a string of 12 remote camps spread over 600 kilometers near the Sudan border. These isolated camps and the remote communities surrounding them were already struggling to provide the basics needed to sustain 250,000 people. In addition, there were some 180,000 internally displaced persons in eastern Chad. Any influx to Chad would be an additional challenge for UNHCR, said Mr. Redmond and other humanitarian agencies because of ongoing insecurity and instability in the country, as well as because of the limited resources such as water.

Elisabeth Byrs of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that they also shared the concern of the Secretary-General. The 13 non-governmental organizations that had been asked to leave accounted for more than half of the aid delivered in the region, while there were 76 non-governmental organizations in Darfur. This decision affected a significant number of aid workers in Darfur, national and international staff, many of whom had been forced to leave Darfur as of yesterday. Sudanese officials had also requested some agencies to hand over a list of their assets and banking details. Government officials in Khartoum have also began to confiscate equipment. This was unacceptable.

With the loss of these non-governmental organizations, 1.1 million people would be without food, 1.5 million without health care, and over one million without potable water, noted Ms. Byrs. The United Nations was looking into contingency planning to fill the gaps left by these expulsions, it would be extremely challenging for the remaining humanitarian actors to fill the operational gap and, at this stage, the United Nations did not see how these gaps could be fully covered. On 20 November 2008 OCHA had launched an appeal for Sudan, requesting US$ 2.18 billion almost half of which constituted relief and early recovery in Darfur. As of today, the appeal was funded by up to 31.6 percent. OCHA urged the Sudanese Government to reconsider its decision to enable vital humanitarian assistance to continue uninterrupted.

Miranda Eeles of the United Nations Children’s Fund said that their main concerns currently were in areas of water and sanitation, nutrition and health and they were doing what they could to ensure that programme to continue whether by using existing non-governmental organisations which licences had not been revoked or other partners to implement such life-saving assistance.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Heuzé said that today the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was holding today its last day of meeting of its current session and its concluding observations should be released in the afternoon.

Also today, a roundtable to celebrate the International Women’s Day was taking place at the Palais des Nations and the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Mr. Sergei Ordzhonikidze was also scheduled to make a statement during the roundtable, said Ms. Heuzé.

Further, the Conference on Disarmament would meet tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. to hear an address by the Russian Foreign Minister, Mr. Sergey Lavrov. This would be followed at 11 a.m. by a press conference in Press Room III, said Ms. Heuzé.

Also today, three new Ambassadors were planned to present their credentials to the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Mr. Sergei Ordzhonikidze, namely: Indonesia, Viet-Nam and Zambia.

Human Rights Council Tenth Session

Rolando Gomez of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said that the Human Rights Council today was currently holding a general debate on a number of reports that had been prepared by OHCHR. The Council would then move on to have an interactive panel discussion on the rights of persons with disabilities. The idea of the panel discussion was to heighten awareness and to create understanding about the rights of persons with disabilities, as well as the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which had entered into force last May. This would be followed by an interactive discussion with the working groups on arbitrary detention and on mercenaries.

Turning back to a question asked last week by a journalist concerning the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Mr. Gomez said that on 16 March 2009 the Special Rapporteur would present his report to the Council. He would not defend his mandate, however the mandate itself was up for renewal as it expired this month. The country mandates on Myanmar and Somalia where also up for renewal during this session.



Durban Review Conference

Mr. Colville said, concerning the Durban Review Conference and the decision of Italy to withdraw from the preparatory process, that the United Sates had made its position clear regarding certain aspects of the current text of the draft outcome document. These same aspects had also been troubling a number of other countries, including Italy. The United States had also made it clear that they were prepared to re-engage in the process, if the text was changed sufficiently to meet its main concerns. Italy’s statement seemed to mirror that position.

There were still more than six weeks to go before the Durban Review Conference and there was still time to settle on a text that was acceptable to everyone. Negotiations would always going to be extremely difficult in this process, but the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights was hopeful that States would be able to work together to find language that was acceptable to all, said Mr. Colville.

One option that had been gaining quite a lot of ground in recent weeks amongst states had been to move towards a significantly shorter text, which would focus more on concrete proposals for future action and highlighted common ground. The current version of the text was around 336 paragraphs, which was only five paragraphs shorter than the original Durban Declaration and Plan of Action of 2001. It was obvious that States should make a really serious effort to reach a conclusion that would help the millions of people around the world who suffered from racism, xenophobia and similar forms of intolerance on a daily basis, said Mr. Colville. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights had repeatedly appealed to States to cast aside narrow parochial interests and to block politics in order to reach consensus. This process should not be about winning political points but about reducing racism.

Sri Lanka

Mr. Colville said that the High Commissioner for Human Rights was very seriously concerned by the deteriorating situation in the northern Vanni region, especially the plight of the trapped civilians. It was believed that there were between 100,000 and 200,000 people taking refuge in a new 14 square kilometre no fire zone. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights was very concerned over reports of increasing civilian deaths and casualties, as well as reported deaths from lack of food and medicine.

The High Commissioner called on both parties to the conflict to immediately suspend their hostilities and called on the Tamil Tigers LTTE to let the civilians get out of the conflict zone. There seemed to be a reckless disregard for the safety of this huge group of ordinary people trapped in the conflict zone, said Mr. Colville.

Kenya

Mr. Colville said that yesterday evening, gunmen had murdered the founder of the Kenyan non-governmental human rights organization “Oscar Foundation Free Legal Aid Clinic”, Mr. Oscar Kamau Kingara, as well as a staff member of the Foundation. The two human rights defenders had been on their way to a meeting with staff of the Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights when they had been shot, sitting in their car in heavy traffic near Nairobi University.

In 2007, the Oscar Foundation had published a report that had been entitled “License to Kill – Extrajudicial Executions and Police Brutality in Kenya”. The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Mr. Philip Alston had met with Mr. Kingara during his visit in Kenya last week. The Oscar Foundation had also provided testimonies to the Special Rapporteur of family members of person who had been killed allegedly by elements of the Kenyan police. The High Commissioner urged the Government of Kenya to ensure the safety of the witnesses to the shooting, to investigate this killing and bring the perpetrators to justice. The High Commissioner also urged the Government to take all the necessary steps to ensure the safety of all people with whom the Special Rapporteur had met during his recent visit.

Zimbabwe Cholera Outbreak

Ms. Chaib of WHO gave the current figures on the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe, dated as of 5 March 2009. Some 88,000 people were now affected, including 3,975 deaths. The Crude Fatality Rate was of 4.5. This week had seen a confirmation of the declining trend of new cholera cases reported at the national level. Very high levels of cholera cases had been reached at the beginning of the year, with as much as 8,000 cases per week. Since a few weeks there was a slight decrease as the number was now around 4,000 cases per week. But there was still a need to remain alert as the health crisis was still important and cholera continued to cause casualties every day. The rainy season had also restarted and cholera cases could increase again due to it.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Mr. Redmond said that UNHCR was greatly concerned about the rapidly deteriorating security situation in North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since January some 160,000 people had been displaced there. Since the end of the joint military operation by the Congolese and
the Rwandan armed forces in North Kivu against the Hutu militia (FDLR) in mid-February, the FDLR group had been returning to the north and central areas of the province, attacking civilians and targeting humanitarian relief convoys and NGOs.

Since 17 February, the UN had registered 17 incidents carried out by the FDLR, including the killing, looting, kidnapping and raping of civilians, and the ambushing and burning of vehicles. Most of the FDLR attacks had occurred along main roads. According to their team in the field, over the past two weeks the FDLR had killed 34 people, kidnapped four and injured 22 others, said Mr. Redmond. On 26-27 February, the FDLR ahd ambushed several relief convoys belonging to humanitarian agencies that provided assistance to internally displace people. As a result of the upsurge in FDLR attacks, they were finding it increasingly difficult to reach the newly displaced and to assess their needs. Yesterday, a joint UN team from Goma to Remeka near Masisi had had to abandon its mission for security reasons.

This new displacement was putting additional strains on an already dramatic humanitarian situation in North Kivu, which had a total of some 850,000 internally displaced people, said Mr. Redmond. They included some 250,000 forced to flee just since last August, and many of them had been displaced multiple times. There was also continuing violence in Haut Uele territory in the northeastern part of the country. The problem there was with the Ugandan rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The LRA had intensified its attacks again in late February, following a relative lull earlier in the month. According to the UNHCR team in Dungu, the dispersed elements of the LRA continued to attack the civilian population at random. There were frequent reports of rape and pillaging. So far, they had registered more than 43,000 displaced just in that area alone.

Ms. Byrs also said that in the North Kivu attacks against humanitarian aid personnel was increasing. International as well as national humanitarian aid agencies were being targeted. A total of 13 incidents had been recorded in February, compared to five in January. The problem of rape was ongoing and continued to be used as a weapon of war.

Health

Ms. Chaib said that a report would be issued tomorrow in Baghdad. Iraqi and WHO officials would present during a press conference the results of a study on the mental health of Iraqi civilians in the 2006 to 2007 period. The report would be available on the webpage of the Iraqi Health Ministry.

Olivier Fontaine of the Child and Adolescent Health and Development Department, World Health Organization talked about childhood diarrhoea and the work and research done by WHO in that regard and presented embargoed information to the journalists that would be made public on Monday 9 March 2009.

Intellectual Property

Samar Shamoon of the World Intellectual Property said that they would hold a press conference with WIPO Director-General Francis Gurry on the subjects of international trademark system in 2008 and arbitration and mediation, domain name disputes resolutions in 2008 on Monday 9 March 2009 at the WIPO Headquarters. Also, on Tuesday 10 March they would hold an information meeting on the topic of intellectual property as a financing tool.

Migration

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said that to celebrate this year’s International Women’s Day they wanted to draw attention on the lack of access to maternal and child healthcare for migrant women across the world and to call for authorities everywhere to provide these services regardless of a migrant’s legal status.

Trade

Janaina Borges of the World Trade Organization said that next week the WTO would conduct the Trade Policy Review for Brazil on Monday and Wednesday. On Thursday 12 March there would be a meeting of the Agriculture Committee and on Friday a meeting of the Trade and Development Committee. WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy was in New Zealand today and would be in Paris and Geneva next week.