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 Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the World Health Organization, the Gavi Alliance, the World Trade Organization, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the World Meteorological Organization, the International Labour Office and the International Organization for Migration.

Durban Review Conference

Ms. Heuzé said that today was the last day of the Durban Review Conference. At 1:15 p.m. today there would be a last press briefing by the Conference’s Spokesperson.

Ms. Heuzé also underscored that several news articles had wrongly reflected the exact number of States that had adopted the Final Declaration. According to United Nations rules when a document was adopted by acclamation or by consensus the document was declared adopted by all the participants to the conference. Thus the number of countries that had adopted the Declaration was of 182, as there were 192 UN Member States and 10 of them had officially announced their non-participation in the Conference.

Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said that the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Navi Pillay was scheduled to give a press conference at 1:30 p.m. this afternoon. The Durban Review Conference would however not come to a close before later this evening, as there was still around five hours of non-governmental organizations speeches to get through, before moving into the final session, where the Conference would adopt its Final Report.

Activities in Geneva

Ms. Heuzé said that next week the Committee Against Torture would start Monday a three-week session, during which it would review the reports of Chad, Chile, Honduras, Israel, New Zealand, Nicaragua and the Philippines.

The United Nations Compensation Commission’s Governing Council would also meet next week from 28 to 29 April said Ms. Heuzé.

Situation in Sri Lanka

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that the situation was still catastrophic in the northeastern Vanni region where an estimated 50,000 persons were still caught in the crossfire. Further, an estimated 95,000 persons had been able to reach refugee camps. It was highly difficult to get exact figures, some of them had been acquired through satellite pictures and OCHA had no clear information about the situation inside the conflict zone.

The United Nations had called for the end of hostilities. As a matter of urgency, aid agencies needed full access to all areas where there were displaced people, including in the combat zone. OCHA was also concerned about the possible overcrowding of refugee camps and asked that vulnerable persons, such as pregnant women, children, elderly persons and disable persons could leave as rapidly as possible the camps. It was important that the Government identified emplacements for additional camps, said Ms. Byrs.

Andre Mahecic of the United Nations Refugee Agency said that fresh displacement had topped 100,000 in Sri Lanka’s north as tens of thousands of civilians continued to flee heavy fighting between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the north-eastern coastal belt of the Mullaitivu district. UNHCR continued to support the government in managing the intensifying emergency in Vavuniya and Jaffna. A majority of the displaced, an estimated 97,000 people, were in Vavuniya while smaller movements had also been recorded in Jaffna during the course of the week. UNHCR was working with partners to provide emergency shelter support and the distribution of non-food aid while carrying out protection monitoring at the transit centers and internally displaced person sites.

UNHCR and shelter partners were also putting up tents within the vicinity of existing transit sites to increase the total capacity, said Mr. Mahecic. There were some 38 different internally displaced persons sites in this area. Yesterday, UNHCR had received reports that some 1,200 new arrivals had been recorded in
Trincomalee and were currently being accommodated in Pulmoddai, north of the district.

Meanwhile, UNHCR welcomed the government’s decision to open the Mannar and Trincomalee areas to accommodate the large number of new arrivals and future movements. UNHCR was also working with the government to identify additional land and buildings for the new arrivals in Vavuniya and Jaffna. In addition, UNHCR was seeking access to Kilinochchi to provide assistance to people on the move, said Mr. Mahecic.

Overcrowding continued to be an overriding concern at all internally displaced persons sites, especially in terms of the large numbers in Vavuniya. With tens of thousands expected during the next few days, UNHCR was asking the government to speed up the process of identifying additional sites for the new arrivals. Mr. Mahecic said that UNHCR was also calling on the government to provide partners with unhindered access to sites to carry out relief work. Failure to do so could have an impact on services which were already stretched thin at the sites.

UNHCR remained deeply concerned about the estimated 50,000 people who were still trapped inside the conflict zone where fighting was intensifying and urged the government to exercise extreme caution in its military actions and called upon the LTTE to allow displaced people to leave the area immediately, said Mr. Mahecic.

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said that this week around 100,000 people had fled the conflict zone in the north and entered Government territory. This meant that the number of people in camps would more than double in the coming days. The urgent need for assistance by these displaced persons would put even greater strain on already overcrowded camps, and on the resources of UNICEF.

In addition, tens of thousands of civilians, including a large number of children, remained trapped in LTTE controlled territory. Those still trapped were living in dire circumstances and were consistently being caught in the crossfire from fierce fighting. With this latest surge in fighting, UNICEF’s greatest fear was that many more children might be killed, said Ms. Taveau.

Women and children coming out of the conflict affected areas had endured extreme conditions, including grave shortages of food, water and sanitation, for extended periods of time. Ms. Taveau said that yesterday UNICEF had sent 20 metric tonnes of high-energy biscuits to Vavuniya for those newly arrived people who currently had scarce access to food.

UNICEF’s emergency support for children and their families in camps included nutritional support to malnourished children and their mothers, the provision of safe water, latrines, bathing facilities, hygiene kits, emergency health for mothers and children including a pediatric ward and a maternity ward at the Vavuniya general hospital, temporary learning spaces and educational kits for children. UNICEF was supporting the provision of psychosocial support and the identification of separated and unaccompanied children, said Ms. Taveau.

UNICEF was in urgent need of US$ 5million to cover the most immediate needs of the internally displaced persons in the areas of health and nutrition, water and sanitation, protection and education.

Simon Schorno of the International Committee of the Red Cross said that the situation in the conflict area was still catastrophic as tens of thousands of civilians were still trapped in the area with very little access to medical care, food, water and wit deplorable sanitation. Many civilians were caught in the crossfire, resulting in many wounded or killed civilians.

The single first aid point still in the conflict area had treated over 1,000 patients since Monday. ICRC had evacuated 900 persons from the conflict area since Monday. Those evacuations were continuing, said Mr. Schorno. A ferry was coming in today to evacuate around 300 to 400 persons.

The situation remained critical for those that were caught in the fighting and ICR had requested the evacuation of those civilians and for greater protection of the civilians by all the parties, said Mr. Schorno. ICRC was registering people at cross points and had started working in the camps with water supply and sanitation projects were underway.

Answering to a journalist question about whether the Sri Lankan Government was still hindering the movement of supplies in the area where the LTTE was, Mr. Schorno said that it was still a problem. Doctors operating within the conflict zone were working with absolutely nothing; they had no blood supplies, no antibiotics and a very limited amount of bandages. ICRC had not been able to bring in medical supplies into the zone, although they had repeatedly tried it and they were continuing to negotiate entrance into the zone with the authorities.

Swine Influenza in USA and Mexico

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization reported that there was a swine influenza outbreak in the United States of America and Mexico. In the United States there was currently a total of seven known cases: five in California and two in Texas.

Meanwhile in Mexico, an unusual end of season influenza activity began to be noticed at the end of March, peaking in April, said Ms. Chaib. To date, there had been some 800 suspected cases with flu like illness with 57 deaths in the Mexico City area.

Similar cases had been found in San Luis Potosi in Central Mexico, with 24 suspected cases and three deaths. Most of the Mexican cases had been found in healthy young adults with known prior illness. There had been very few cases in people under the age of three or over 60 years old, noted Ms. Chaib.

The virus had been described in the USA as a new subtype of A/H1N1, and Mexico, for the time being, had not said anything about what type of virus it was, said Ms Chaib. WHO’s Strategic Health Operations Centre had been activated and WHO was in constant contact with health authorities in both Mexico and the USA and was receiving regular updates.

Answering to questions by journalists, Ms. Chaib said that the US Government’s Center for Disease Control was already involved and that they had done a press conference on the subject yesterday. Also, no casualty had been reported in the US cases.

Indigenous People in Colombia

Mr. Mahecic said that UNHCR welcomed Colombia’s decision to support to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People as a significant step forward in efforts to protect indigenous groups in the context of forced displacement. While not legally binding, the Declaration affirmed a State’s commitment to abide to its spirit and respect its principles. It outlined a series of human, cultural and economic rights for indigenous people worldwide. It contained a number of articles of importance to help protect and prevent the forced displacement of indigenous groups during armed conflict.

Mr. Mahecic noted that there were about 1 million indigenous people in Colombia, that were divided between more than 90 different groups and making up around 2.5 percent of a total national population of some 43 million people. Partly because of their geographical location, many were living in remote and conflict-ridden parts of the country, and partly as a result of historical and cultural factors, they had been suffering disproportionately from the effects of Colombia’s internal armed conflict, including forced displacement.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Mr. Mahecic said that UNHCR was increasingly concerned by the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo as Congolese civilians continued to flee their homes fearing reprisal attacks by the rebel Hutu militia, the so-called Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). UNHCR estimated that more than 100,000 people had been displaced by these raids over the past two months.

The situation was particularly dramatic in the Lubero area, said Mr. Mahecic. In Luofo village, some 170 km from Goma, the FDLR had issued further threats to the local communities. According to the local government the FDLR were now engaged in a house-to-house terror campaign, telling those they visited: “You will all die.” The FDLR rebels had already attacked Luofo and Kasiki on 17 and 18 April, killing several people, including children, and torching more than 365 homes. The population in Luofu refused to leave the village and was calling for protection and humanitarian assistance.

Pneumococcal Vaccine in Rwanda

Dan Thomas of the GAVI Alliance presenting his organization said that they were a public -private partnership of major stakeholders in immunization and health system support. It included developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry in both industrialized and developing countries, research and technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and individuals.

Mr. Thomas said that a historic event would be happening in Rwanda tomorrow, when the very first child in the developing world would be routinely immunized against pneumococcal disease. If fully ruled out in GAVI countries, the pneumococcal vaccine could save the lives of more than 440,000 children by 2015. This would help achieve Millennium Development Goal number four. The vaccination was a life-long protection which was common for infants in rich countries. It was only now made available for children in developing countries.

The introduction of pneumococcal vaccination in Rwanda tomorrow marked a historic milestone in global health. Rwanda was the first developing nation to integrate the pneumococcal vaccine into its national immunization programme, thanks to donation of the Prevenar vaccine by Wyeth, through the GAVI Alliance, said Mr. Thomas.

Pneumococcal disease was the leading vaccine-preventable killer of children under five worldwide. It was responsible for up to a million deaths in children younger than five every year. More than 90 percent of these deaths occurred in the developing countries, said Mr. Thomas. Pneumococcus was also the main cause of pneumonia, which killed more children than any other disease. Pneumonia caused nearly one in five deaths of children under five worldwide and killed more children than AIDS, malaria and measles combined.

WTO Agenda

Janaina Borges of the World Trade Organization said that WTO’s Director-General, Mr. Pascal Lay was currently in Washington, meeting with several Government officials and would give a speech at the Peterson Institute for International Economics today and would also participate on the High Level Panel on the modernization of the World Bank Group.

Tomorrow he would take part in the International Monetary and Financial Committee Meeting and Sunday he would participate in the Development Committee Meeting, which was the spring meeting between the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Ms. Borges said that next week he would meet with Mr. Juan Somavia, Director-General of the International Labour Office.

Turning to WTO’s general agenda for next week, Ms. Borges said that the WTO’s General Council would meet to decide on next Director-General. Mr. Lamy would give a presentation to Member States on Wednesday, as the only candidate for the next term. Members would take the decision on Thursday whether to reappoint him or not.

Also scheduled for week, were meetings on the Trade Facilitation Negotiating Group, Market Access Committee and Import Licensing Committee scheduled, said Ms. Borges.

UNCTAD Agenda

Catherine Sibut of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said that UNCTAD’s Secretary-General would also be in Washington this weekend. Today he was attending the Meeting of Finance Ministers of the Group of 24. Tomorrow he would also address the International Monetary and Financial Committee.

Next week, two meetings would take place in Geneva, said Ms. Sibut. There would be an expert meeting on trade and climate change called “Trade and investment opportunities and challenges under the Clean Development Mechanism” from 27–29 April 2009. This Expert Meeting was expected to contribute to a better understanding of the Clean Development Mechanism, of how this mechanism functions and how its contribution to sustainable development in developing countries might be enhanced.

On Thursday 30 April at the World Intellectual Property Organization there would be a joint International Center on Trade and Sustainable Development/UNCTAD event in parallel to the WIPO Committee on Development and Intellectual Property meeting. Ms. Sibut said that the objective of this meeting was to provide WIPO delegates with an opportunity to discuss the concept of "public domain", in preparation for their debate on the subject within the WIPO Development Agenda.

WMO Agenda

Gaelle Sevenier of the World Meteorological Organization said that next week, from 27 to 30 April, WMO was organizing in Burkina Faso an International workshop on the adaptation of agriculture to climate change in Western Africa. On 30 April a Seminar would take place at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva on Climate Information for Humanitarian Development and Activities.

ILO Agenda

Corinne Perthuis of the International Labour Office said that a seminar on social security in times of crisis was taking place today. On 27 April at 3 p.m., ILO would launch its book entitled: “ILO and the Quest for Social Justice”, which marked ILO’s 90’s birthday.

Tuesday would be the World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2009 and an event would take place at the ILO for this occasion with the presence of Dr. Margaret Graf, Head of the Work and Health Section of the Departement of Labour of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs and Shirley Hickman, Executive Director, Threads of Life. Further said that a symposium on business responses to the demographic challenges would take place Tuesday afternoon. Also, ILO’s Director-General would also participate to the International Monetary Fund meeting in Washington.

Migration

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said that on 27 and 28, IOM’s Director-General, Mr. Lacy Swing would be in Prague where he would be making a statement at the European Union’s Ministerial Conference e on Building Migration Partnerships.

Further, Ms. Pandya said that IOM had issued today a new study on human trafficking amongst the illegal logging and mining industry in Peru. IOM and the Catholic University of Peru had conducted this study in the Madre de Dios region of the country in southeastern Peru bordering Brazil and Bolivia. It was a sparsely populated and isolated area with vast natural resources, including precious woods and gold. In the past five years the area had received more than 20,000 internal migrants, leading researchers to believe that attractive job offers are leading poor Peruvians from neighbouring regions to fall prey to human trafficking.

The study had confirmed that 90 percent of the victims were men from the high-Andean region who were trafficked to work in illegal logging activities and the informal gold mining sector. 20 percent of the males trafficked were boys between 12 and 14 years old, said Ms. Pandya.