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 International Labour Organization, the World Economic Forum, the United Nations Conference on trade and Development, the United Nations Refugee Agency and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.

Secretary-General Activities

Ms. Heuzé said that the Secretary-General had spoken at an informal meeting of the General Assembly yesterday, briefing them on his upcoming participation to the G-20 Summit in London. The Secretary-General had said that he had sent a letter to all G-20 leaders, urging them to show leadership in four areas: providing a substantial and truly global stimulus package that also meets the needs of all developing countries; standing firm against protectionism; moving towards a “green new deal”; and reforming global rules and institutions.

In another statement, the Secretary-General also condemned the terrorist attack yesterday that had killed Mr. Kamal Medhat, the deputy head of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Lebanon, said Ms. Heuzé.

Human Rights Council Tenth Session

Rolando Gomez of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said that the Human Rights Council had concluded this morning the interactive discussion with Richard Falk, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Also today the Council continued with a general debate on situation of human rights in Palestine and other Occupied Arab Territories.

Further, the Council planned to conduct a general debate on the implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. This would be followed by a general debate on racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia. Tomorrow, the Council planned to hold an interactive discussion with the Independent Expert on Somalia, said Mr. Gomez. Also tomorrow, if time permitted, the Council would start considering the 35 draft resolutions which had been tabled before it. The voting would continue throughout Thursday and Friday, when the current session would conclude.

International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members

Ron Redmond of the United Nations Refugee Agency said that today was the 50th day of captivity for John Solecki, UNHCR's head of office in Quetta, Pakistan, who had been abducted in an attack on February 2 that had also left another colleague, Syed Hashim, dead. The last they had heard, John's health had been deteriorating and UNHCR was increasingly worried about his medical condition. Tomorrow was the International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members, a day which was aimed at raising awareness globally of the risks that were faced by UN staff, NGO partners and journalists in carrying out their important work around the world. In his message marking the day, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted that there were currently 19 UN staff members under arrest, detained or missing. One of them was John Solecki.

High Commissioner António Guterres and more than 6,000 UNHCR staff in some 120 countries around the world did not really need a special day to remember John because he and his family had been in their thoughts each and every day since February 2. And they would remain so until John is released and back where he belongs, with his family, his colleagues and the uprooted people he had committed his life to helping, said Mr. Redmond. But the High Commissioner wanted to take this occasion to remind everyone that attacks on humanitarian workers were occurring all too often and in far too many places around the world. People like John Solecki had one goal, which was to help those in need. Attacking them hurts all of us, but especially the most vulnerable. So as they marked this International Day of Solidarity with Missing Staff Members, UNHCR again appealed to those holding John to release him immediately so he and all of his colleagues could continue to carry out their vital humanitarian work, said Mr. Redmond.

2008 Asylum Statistics

Mr. Redmond said that today UNHCR was releasing the provisional asylum statistics for 51 industrialised countries in 2008. The statistics showed that the number of asylum seekers in industrialised countries had increased in 2008 for the second year running. The increase could partly be attributed to higher numbers of asylum applications by citizens of Afghanistan, Somalia and other countries that were experiencing turmoil or conflict. Although the number of Iraqi asylum seekers had declined by 10 percent in 2008, Iraqis continued to be the largest nationality seeking asylum in the industrialised world.

Some 383,000 new asylum applications had been submitted last year in the 51 industrialised countries, a 12 percent rise compared to 2007, when there were had been 341,000 applications. This was the second consecutive annual increase in the number of asylum seekers since 2006, when the lowest number of asylum applications in 20 years had been registered. The top country of origin of asylum applicants in 2008 had been Iraq, followed by Somalia, the Russian Federation, Afghanistan and China, said Mr. Redmond. Several countries of origin recording a significant rise in applications included Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Somalia, Nigeria and Sri Lanka. All of these countries had experienced unrest or conflicts in 2008.

The United States had continued to be the main country of destination for asylum seekers of all nationalities in 2008, with an estimated 49,000 new asylum claims. After the United States, the main countries of destination for asylum seekers in 2008 had been Canada, France, Italy and the United Kingdom, said Mr. Redmond.

The full report is available under: http://www.unhcr.org/statistics/STATISTICS/49c796572.pdf.

Answering a question on the situation in Iraq, Mr. Redmond said that UNHCR was not recommending return at this time, but there had already been spontaneous returns of refugees. If people wanted to go back, UNHCR was ready to help facilitate these returns.

Situation in the Sudan

Mr. Redmond said that the deteriorating security situation in several parts of Southern Sudan was hampering the repatriation of Southern Sudanese refugees from Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia. Several towns in Central and Eastern Equatorial regions had been paralysed last week by coordinated blockades organized by war veterans from the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) who had not been paid their benefits for five months. Roads that UNHCR used to return refugees from surrounding countries had thus been blocked. A fairly substantial number of planned returns had been delayed on different routes.

Answering a journalist’s question on the situation in the northern Sudan, Ms. Heuzé said that the report of the joint UN/Sudanese Government Assessment Missions would soon be published. The Secretary-General had also told the General Assembly yesterday that the results of those assessments were indicating significant gaps and that the capacity on the ground was insufficient to sustain relief assistance in the short and the medium term.

Refugees

Mr. Redmond said that over the weekend the French Navy had helped rescue scores of Somali and Ethiopian boat people, but at least seven of them had drowned when their vessel had capsized shortly after docking in the Yemeni port of Aden. Five people were missing and were presumed dead. The tragedy had occurred Saturday as passengers had tried to disembark from a rickety smugglers' boat, which had just been towed to the Yemeni coast by a French frigate that on Thursday had found it adrift and taking on water in the Gulf of Aden, about 200 kilometres from Aden and 86 kilometres off the coast of Yemen.

The crew of the French frigate, Floreal, which was part of the European Union's Atalanta Operation in the Gulf of Aden, had stopped the leak and then had towed the boat, which was carrying 104 people, to Aden. As it had docked at a pier, the frightened passengers had all rushed at the same time to disembark, causing the vessel to founder because of the sudden shift in balance, said Mr. Redmond. French sailors and the Yemeni coastguard had rescued 85 passengers and four of the smugglers, who had later been arrested. UNHCR was grateful to the French Navy and the Yemeni authorities, including port officials and the coastguard, for the rescue operation.

63rd Economic Commission for Europe

Jean Rodriguez of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe said that next week, from 30 March to 1 April 2009, the Economic Commission for Europe, which was the governing body of the UNECE, would hold its 63rd session in Geneva. The meetings were public and open to the media.

During the first two days, the Commission would discuss the economic situation in the region, said Mr. Rodriguez. On Monday 30 March, during the opening meeting, Mr. Marek Belka, former UNECE Executive-Secretary and current Director of the IMF’s European Department, Mr. Jean-Daniel Gerber, Executive Secretary of the Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs and Mr. Alexander Yakovenko, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation would share their opinion on the current crisis and the role the UNECE could play to address it.

After the opening meeting, a press conference would take place in Room 27 from 11:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., during which Marek Belka, Alexander Yakovenko and Jan Kubic, UNECE Executive-Secretary would be available to answer questions, said Mr. Rodriguez. Also on Monday, three roundtables would take place, to discuss the economic situation in the region and the problems linked to economic integration, competitiveness and economic cohesion.

On Tuesday, the Commission would address the issue of climate change, said Mr. Rodriguez. During Tuesday’s opening session, the Commission would hear from the Minster of Tourism and Environment of Montenegro, Mr. Predrag Nenezic, the German State Secretary for the Environment, Mr. Matthias Machnig, the Head of the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment, Mr. Bruno Oberle and the Chief Executive Officer of IVECO, Mr. Paolo Monferino. Tuesday’s three roundtables would address the issues of energy, forestry and societal changes to address climate change. On the third day, the Commission would address organizational matters

Labour

Corinne Perthuis of the International Labour Organization said that ILO’s Director-General, Mr. Juan Somavia would hold a press conference this afternoon at 2p.m. together with Raymond Torres, Director of the ILO's International Institute for Labour Studies to present the new ILO’s report called "Global crisis: the decent work response".

Trade

Catherine Sibut of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said that they would hold tomorrow a press conference at 11 a.m. in Press Room III to present the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific’s “Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2009” report. Mr. Cape Kashara, UNCTAD Economist would present to present and comment the study.

Information Technology

Thierry Geiger of the World Economic Forum announced the upcoming release of their “Global Information Technology” report and presented embargoed information. The report would be launched on 26 March 2009 in Geneva. This year’s report placed a particular focus on the role of networked readiness in spurring innovation.

The report, being published for the seventh consecutive year with record coverage of 127 economies worldwide, had become the world’s most comprehensive and authoritative international assessment of the impact of ICT on the development process and the competitiveness of nations, said Mr. Geiger.