REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Officer-in-Charge of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by spokespersons for and representatives of the World Food Programme, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Health Organization, the International Organization for Migration, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Economic Commission for Europe and the UN Refugee Agency.

Secretary-General in Geneva

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was in Geneva. Yesterday morning, he spoke at the opening of the ITU Telecom World 2009. In his statement, he said that ICTs have revolutionized the world and his main interest was how these technologies were creating new possibilities for the United Nations to achieve its goals of peace, human rights and development. ICTs were also very vital to confronting the problems they faced as a planet, including the threat of climate change. The text of his statement had been put in the press room yesterday.

Yesterday afternoon, the Secretary-General participated in the third edition of the Geneva Lecture Series, a joint UNOG/UNITAR initiative to address global challenges. The theme of the lecture was “Resetting the Nuclear Disarmament Agenda”. The keynote speaker was Mikhail Gorbachev, former President of the Soviet Union and Founding President of Green Cross International. The introductory statement of the Secretary-General had also been put in the press room yesterday.

Secretary-General Ban would be flying back to New York today after participating in a roundtable with Heads of State and CEOS attending the ITU Telecom World 2009.

UN Deputy Secretary-General to Visit Geneva

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said UN Deputy Secretary-General, Asha-Rose Migiro, would be in Geneva this week where she would be chairing the Regional Coordination Meeting organized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Issues that would be discussed included coherent UN system support for climate change adaptation and mitigation in the region; the impact of the economic and social crisis on the most vulnerable segments of the population; and the Global Impact and Vulnerability Alert System. The Deputy Secretary-General would also be meeting with senior officials from the International Labour Organization, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, among others.

Director-General of UNOG to Visit New York

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, would be flying to New York on Wednesday, 7 October, to participate in the meetings of the General Assembly’s First Committee.

Security Council Meeting on Women, Peace and Security

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Security Council yesterday held a meeting on women, peace and security and it unanimously approved a resolution in which it strongly condemned all violations of applicable international law committed against women and girls in conflict and post-conflict situations. The resolution, among other things, called upon the Secretary-General to develop a strategy to increase the number of women appointed to pursue good offices on his behalf. It requested him to ensure that all country reports to the Security Council provided information on the impact of situations of armed conflict on women and girls.

Attack on World Food Programme in Islamabad, Pakistan

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said five United Nations employees working for the World Food Programme were killed in an attack yesterday in Islamabad. Secretary-General Ban issued the following statement: “I condemn in the strongest terms the attack at the Office of the World Food Programme in Islamabad, Pakistan. Such an attack is unjustifiable. This is a terrible tragedy for the United Nations and for the whole humanitarian community in Pakistan. This is a heinous crime committed against those who have been working tirelessly to assist the poor and the vulnerable on the frontlines of hunger and other human suffering in Pakistan. My deepest condolences go to the colleagues fallen in the line of duty for noble causes and their families and friends.” Following the attack, all UN offices in Pakistan had been closed until further notice.

Emilia Casella of the World Food Programme said yesterday, just afternoon noon local time in Islamabad, the WFP office was attacked by a suicide bomber and five of their colleagues lost their lives. Four others were injured, one of them critically. She just wanted to tell the journalists about these colleagues who had given their lives to help vulnerable people in Pakistan. Mr. Botan Ahmed Ali Al-Hayawi, an Iraqi ICT officer, with WFP since March 2006, was 41 and he had a wife and three children. He started working for WFP in Iraq and ran their Erbil telecommunications for many years. He had then worked in Sudan. What she found particularly moving about Mr. Al-Hayawi was that he was injured in the bombing in Peshawar in June, recovered from his injuries, and returned to Islamabad to work. Ms. Farzana Barakat, a Pakistani, was an office assistant, 22 years old. She had just been hired by WFP last month. Mr. Abid Rehman, a Pakistani, was a Senior Finance Assistant who had been with WFP since April 1999. He was 41 and had a wife and four children. Ms. GulRukh Tahir, a Pakistan, was an Office Assistant who had been with WFP since July 2008. She was 40 and married. And Mr. Mohammed Wahab, was a 44-year-old Pakistani Finance Assistant with a wife and four children.

Ms. Casella said she agreed with the statement issued yesterday by Josette Sheeran, WFP Executive Director, who said: “I wish to express my deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of those dedicated WFP staff members who were killed or injured in this terrible attack. All of the victims were haumanitarian heroes working on the frontlines of hunger in a country where WFP food assistance is providing a lifeline top millions. This is a tragedy – not just for WFP – but for the whole humanitarian community and for the hungry.” The WFP offices were closed in Pakistan, but the WFP staff were continuing to work from a temporary location. The field offices were closed yesterday for the loss of the WFP colleagues, but the WFP work was continuing to distribute food assistance to those who needed it.

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said UNICEF associated itself with the Secretary-General’s statement condemning the Islamabad attack yesterday and asked the UNICEF office in Pakistan to send condolences to the families of the victims. UNICEF remained committed to assist the most vulnerable children and women in the country and continued to deliver through partners essential services and supplies to those in greatest need.

Asked about the UN response to the Taliban claim of responsibility, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that they had seen the wires from the Associated Press on this but there was no comment from the UN yet.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes had also condemned the attack on Islamabad.

Situation in the Philippines

Ms. Byrs said OHCA was today launching in Geneva a flash appeal for the Philippines for the amount of $ 74 million to help one million persons in the Philippines for the next six months. Typhoon Parma was gathering strength off the coast and bringing more rains, and possibly floods and landslides. The same typhoon hit the north east of the Philippines a few days ago affecting almost 70,000 people. The effects of Typhoon Parma were likely to worsen the flooding caused by Tropical Storm Ketsana which left at least 300 people dead just a week ago and forced thousands to flee their homes after hitting the capital Manila. It was still too early to know the total numbers of people who had lost their homes and were in need of emergency assistance. An estimated 400,000 people were living in emergency shelter around Manila, and many of them would be returning home once the waters had subsided, unlike those who lived in the estimated 4,000 homes which had been destroyed.

Typhoon Parma had occurred in an isolated farming area, causing significant damage to crops, especially the rice crop. The losses to the agricultural sector amounted to
$ 117 million. The pre-emptive evacuation of more than 35,000 people appeared to have been successful. However, this number living in evacuation centres was expected to increase to 100,000 due to widespread flooding. Food, water, sanitation and hygiene relief remained the highest priorities. There was more information in the briefing notes.

Ms. Casella of WFP said in terms of food assistance, WFP was continuing to fan out its food assistance to feed up to 1 million people for the next three months. WFP was also coordinating air support for the entire humanitarian community, as well as telecommunications support. The WFP appeal, which was part of the flash appeal, was for $ 26 million. A press release would be issued later in the day and there was also a briefing note at the back of the room.

Ms. Taveau of UNICEF said water and access to drinking water remained to be the major concern in the Philippines. Certain areas had been flooded with stagnant water for many days, and evacuation centres were filled beyond their capacity, leaving the door open to epidemic risks. There were already cases of diarrhea and skin diseases. Hundreds of hygiene kits had already been distributed to families, and UNICEF was distributing $ 1.3 worth of other equipment to help those affected to face the situation. UNICEF continued to inform affected populations about hygiene concerns, and mothers were told that breast feeding was the best way to protect their children. Ann Veneman, Executive Director of UNICEF, would be in Manila on Wednesday, 7 October to check out the situation for herself. She would visit a number of evacuation centres in the capital and she would participate in the presentation of the UN appeal which was taking place in Manila tomorrow. UNICEF’s portion of the UN appeal was for $ 12.7 million.

Paul Garwood of the World Health Organization said with regards to the damage caused to the health facilities in the Philippines by the emergency, 16 hospitals, two rural health units, and one provisional health office were all damaged, and many community centres were flooded. In each of the hospitals, the medical equipment used to save peoples lives had been considerably damaged. WHO had deployed 10 extra staff to the region. It was providing supplies and facilitating extra support of delivering medicines and equipment to badly affected hospitals. WHO’s share of the emergency appeal was $ 7 million.

In response to a question, Mr. Garwood said there were fears of epidemics breaking out because of the extra challenges on the water and sanitation systems within communities. As yet there had been no major reported outbreaks. WHO was monitoring the situation with the health authorities in the Philippines.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said IOM, in partnership with the European Commission through its Humanitarian Aid Department would provide emergency assistance to some 4,000 typhoon-affected families in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. The three-month EUR 360,000 project, which followed a government appeal for international help, aimed to provide immediate emergency relief and assistance to at least 3,000 families in evacuation centres, and 1,000 families in return communities in five of the hardest hit areas.

Situation in Indonesia

Ms. Byrs said the search and rescues operations were coming to an end by the 22 international teams, made up of 77 search dogs and 512 rescuers. The Government of Indonesia continued to lead the emergency response operations in Western Sumatra, and was being complemented by the humanitarian community. It had indicated the shift of focus from search and rescue to relief and reconstruction. The Meteorological and Geophysics Agency was warning of storms over the next few days in remote areas which could further hamper distribution of relief items to places already cut off by landslides. The authorities had confirmed that 608 people had died, 434 were missing, 1,493 were injured and 738 displaced person. Over 178,000 houses had been damaged, and more than 500 schools. The Indonesian authorities had said that no more field hospitals were needed, but that mobile clinics were still in need to provide health services in remote villages. There was more information in the briefing notes at the back of the room.

Mr. Garwood of WHO said the hospital set up by the Russian Government’s relief agency was providing 200 consultations a day, which gave journalists an idea of the impact on health. As of 4 October, the Government had confirmed that there had been at least 788 people suffering from major injuries, and 2,680 people suffering from minor injuries. Four hospitals, 12 community health centres and 10 supporting community health centres were either damaged or destroyed, including the major general hospital in Padang. The major priorities now were to deal with the many people suffering from injuries and to overcome the water and sanitation challenges which existed, which raised the possibility and threat of potential disease outbreaks.

Mr. Chauzy of IOM said IOM had deployed a team of disaster response specialists to West Sumatra following the earthquake, and it had also deployed a fleet of 20 trucks and five pick-ups to IOM’s Padang office to deliver emergency relief provided by the local government and other national and international partners.

Ms. Taveau of UNICEF said less than a week after the earthquake, nearly 70,000 children had returned to school yesterday, representing 40 per cent of children in Padang. Some 250 tent schools had been equipped with educational material and opened. Some 60 school-in-a-box, which could cover the needs of 4,800 children, as well as 60 recreational kits were arriving today in the affected areas. In cases of such catastrophes, it was essential to return children to school as soon as possible.
Children could received psychological support according to their needs and express how they were feeling or how they were traumatized. The question of the protection of children was also a priority for UNICEF teams on the ground, who were registering unaccompanied children. Fears of child exploitation were also a problem in such conditions.

Ms. Casella said WFP’s first initial support was to send heavy moving equipment from Aceh and other locations to help with the rescue effort. Now that they had clearly moved to the relief effort, WFP had established a sub-office in Padang as well as a warehouse facilitiy. WFP had full-time liaison with the Government and OCHA in Padang examining the further needs. About 25 WFP staff were now in Padang full time and they were beginning the food distributions, notably today to 17,000 young children and pregnant and lactating women. There would probably be more details available tomorrow.

H1N1 Vaccination

Gregory Hartl of the World Health Organization, following up on a question he had been asked about yesterday, said adverse events were reactions which occurred when a person was given a vaccination. In the case of China, WHO was seeing reports - it did not have first-hand confirmation - that out of 390,000 persons vaccinated against the H1N1 influenza in China, apparently four people had had adverse events, all of them mild, including muscle cramps and headaches. Adverse events were fully to be expected, especially mild types. The vaccination had started in China, Australia, and would be starting soon in the United States and various places in Europe. It was important to note that the vaccines that had already been approved had been used for years and years in their seasonal vaccine formulation and had been found to be the safest vaccines that existed. WHO reiterated that the vaccine was the single most important tool that they had against the influenza pandemic. For certain groups, such as healthcare workers, it was doubly important to get vaccinated.

Twentieth Anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

Ms. Taveau of UNICEF said available at the back of the room was a report, the eighth of a series of reports on progress made in reaching the Millennium Development Goals. This year, with the twentieth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child coming up, this report was focused on child protection. The report would be presented at a press conference this afternoon at 2:15 p.m. in Room III via telephone conference.

Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said a two-day event linked to the twentieth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child would be held on 8 and 9 October at the International Geneva Conference Centre. There were details in the media advisory at the back of the room. About 450 participants from around the world would be participating in this event, including Government Ministers. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay would be opening the meeting on Thursday, 8 October. Children and young people from 15 different countries would also be taking part in this event.

Other

Jean Rodriguez of the Economic Commission for Europe said the Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers to the UNECE Aarhus Convention, which was adopted in May 2003 in Kiev, would enter into force on 8 October 2009 in 16 countries. By year end, a total of 20 countries were set to become Parties to the treaty. Asha-Rose Migiro, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, said the Protocol marked a milestone in the advancement towards environmental democracy. The list of countries who were Parties was available in the press release at the back of the room, as well as other details.

Michael Stanley-Jones of the UNECE said with the entry into force of the Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers, the parties were now turning their attention to the full implementation of national pollutant registers. The ECE had issued a guidance document on implementation of the Protocol, which was expected to help countries which had expressed interest in the Protocol but had not yet signed or ratified it.

Andrej Mahecic of the UN Refugee Agency said UNHCR had been advising some 2,300 Congolese refugees in Gihinga camp in Mwaro province in central Burundi not to go ahead with a plan to return to the troubled South Kivu province in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Due to the ongoing military operations in their areas of origin, UNHCR had urged the refugees not to go back for the moment, underlining to those planning to repatriate that under the prevailing security conditions, neither the Government authorities in the country nor UNHCR would be in a position to guarantee their safety upon return or to assist them in any way. The conditions which forced these refugees into exile in June 2004 and later were behind the Gatuma massacre in August the same year, still essentially prevailed. UNHCR supported return as a preferred solution for any refugee. However the conditions for organized voluntary repatriation to the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo did not exist at present.

Mr. Garwood of WHO said there was an event coming up on 14 October, the International Day for Disaster Reduction. The theme was “hospitals safe from disasters”. The main launch was in London but a briefing could be arranged in Geneva.