HIGHLIGHTS OF REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Corinne Momal-Vanian, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the UN Refugee Agency, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the International Organization for Migration, the World Trade Organization, the United Nations Environmental Programme, and the International Labour Organization.
Geneva Activities
Ms. Momal-Vanian said the next plenary of the Conference on Disarmament would be held on Tuesday, 22 February at 10 a.m. and it would be the first meeting under the Presidency of Chile.
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was continuing its work this week. This morning, the Committee would conclude its review of the report of Uruguay. Next week, the Committee would consider the reports of Norway, Ireland, Spain, Serbia and Yemen.
A small ceremony would be held at 12:15 p.m. on Monday, 21 February at the Villa Bocage to inaugurate a plaque commemorating the frequent visits in 1857 to the Villa Bocage by Leo Tolstoy. That year, Mr. Tolstoy had embarked on a tour of western Europe, and had visited his cousins at the Villa Bocage many times. UNOG Director-General Sergei Ordzhonikidze and the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to UNOG, Valery Loshchinin, would be attending the ceremony. Journalists were welcome.
At 12:30 p.m. today, there would be a briefing organized by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs about the situation in Sri Lanka. Neil Buhne, UN Resident and Humanitarian Co-ordinator in Sri Lanka, would be speaking about the situation in that country.
The Human Rights Council would be opening its sixteenth regular session on Monday, 28 February. Next week, the background press release would be issued.
Ms. Momal-Vanian said the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights would be sending out a statement by High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on the situation in the Middle East and North Africa sometime this afternoon. If journalists had any questions, they should kindly contact OHCHR’s Ravina Shamdasani.
Côte d’Ivoire
Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said WHO was concerned about the deterioration of the health system in Côte d’Ivoire, which had been exacerbated by the post election crisis. A number of epidemics had flared up recently, including yellow fever, cholera and measles. Four districts were affected by yellow fever since the end of last year, especially in the north of the country where there had been 14 cases, including 10 deaths, and in the centre of the country where there had been 18 cases, including 9 deaths. In total, there had been 79 cases of yellow fever, including 26 deaths. WHO and other partners, including UNICEF, had organized a vaccination campaign from 21 to 28 January 2011. More than 700,000 persons older than six months had been vaccinated. With regard to measles, Adiake district in the south of the country had been affected by an epidemic since 15 February. There were 47 cases of measles reported, including one death. There was a risk that this epidemic would spread to another nearby district. The epidemic highlighted the weak vaccination coverage for measles in the country and it was necessary to reinforce it urgently. WHO had started a vaccination campaign yesterday and it would continue until 26 February aiming to reach 100,000 children above six months. There were also reported cases of cholera in Abidjan. Some 358 cases had been reported, including 11 deaths. WHO had helped to train local health workers to care for the affected people.
Concerning the internally displaced persons in the west of Côte d’Ivoire, WHO was working with other UN partners to help them. Medicines and medical supplies had been prepositioned in Liberia and Guinea and other bordering countries.
Marixie Mercado of the United Nations Children’s Fund also referred to the measles vaccination campaign underway. Early indications showed that people were coming out in the expected numbers. But the campaign was a limited one, focused on the epicenter of the outbreak rather than nationwide, because the vaccine cold chain system, which was the uninterrupted temperature control supply chain critical to preserving the safety and potency of vaccines from manufacturer to beneficiary, had broken down. The chain depended on trained personnel, proper storage capacity and a distribution system to transport the vaccines to immunization sessions. Because of the political deadlock in Côte d’Ivoire, UNICEF estimated that around half of health workers were not at their posts. Some health workers who travelled from outlying areas to Abidjan to vote in the elections two and a half months ago had not been able to return home due to the insecurity. Power outages and a massive shortage of gas needed to run vaccine fridges had compromised safe storage capacity. The shortage of cash needed to pay for fuel so that motorbikes could conduct door to door vaccination was another logistical hurdle. It was an overriding UNICEF priority over the next three month to immunize all children against measles. It was clear that the political deadlock in the country was enflaming what was already a high-risk immunization context in the country.
Putting the figures on the measles epidemic in context, Ms. Mercado said that in 2008, there were 22 confirmed cases of measles, 183 in 2009 and 443 in 2010. The number of districts with epidemic outbreaks had also risen from 10 in 2009 to 15 in 2010. The last nationwide measles campaign was done in 2008 and they had planned for one in 2010 as well. The campaigns were conducted by the Ministry of Health. UNICEF continued to work with all of the partners at the technical level, and it continued to provide supplies and advice.
Ms. Momal-Vanian noted that the Secretary-General had issued a statement on the situation in Côte d’Ivoire last night and on the upcoming visit by the five-member high-level panel established by the African Union’s Peace and Security Council to facilitate a peaceful solution to the post-election crisis in Côte d’Ivoire.
In response to a question about the closing of all banking transactions, Ms. Chaib said that she had discussed the situation with the WHO Representative in Côte d’Ivoire who had said that since 14 February, five banks had shut down, and that this could certainly have an impact on the work of WHO, but he could not give more details at this point.
Côte d’Ivoire Refugees in Liberia
Adrian Edwards of the UN Refugee Agency said in Liberia this morning, UNHCR teams were beginning the relocation of Ivorian refugees from the border area to the newly established camp at Bahn, some 50 kilometres further west. Some 150 people were being moved by truck from the villages of Old Luguato, Kissiplay and Duoplay in Nimba County. UNHCR staff and other humanitarian workers had been helping people board the trucks and load their few belongings. Road conditions in this part of Liberia were extremely poor and this had made it difficult to help refugees and the host communities they had been living in, comprising some 76 villages. The UN Mission in Liberia had helped by grading road surfaces, but the journey was still expected to take around six hours. The Bahn camp was within easier reach of UNHCR’s offices in Saclapea and refugees there would have ready access to basic services such as healthcare, clean water and primary school education. Over the coming weeks, UNHCR planned to move a further 15,000 refugees into the Bahn camp. UNHCR had so far registered 38,257 refugees in Nimba county of Liberia, all of whom had fled Côte d’Ivoire amid the instability following November’s elections.
Cholera Epidemic in Haiti
Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the appeal dealing with the cholera epidemic in Haiti, was for $ 175 million, and it was only funded at 45 per cent. These funds were urgently needed to continue efforts to deal with the cholera epidemic. The overall trend of the cholera epidemic was towards a plateau or a slow decrease in cases. But the focus remained on ensuring services were available to people in remote areas, where an increased number of cases continued to be reported. Certain non-governmental organizations were closing down their operations, while others were about to wind down their chlorination operations because of a lack of funding or to focus on longer-term strategies. In rural areas people continued to drink non potable water from the river due to the lack of water purification systems. There were more details in the briefing notes at the back of the room.
Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization, in response to a question, said the reports coming from the Ministry of Health of Haiti and major health actors from the Cuban Brigades and MSF continued to show a decline in new cases of cholera. However, in some places, there were reports of a rise in the mortality rate. WHO and its partners was following closely the situation to see if there was a full reporting of data on the situation in these places, why there was a rise in the mortality rate and what improvements needed to be made in the management of the cholera epidemic in particular places. Cholera would continue to be a disease to be dealt with in Haiti for the months and years to come. It was more and more integrated now in the overall health management programme in the country. Some non-governmental organizations were leaving because their mandate was over, or they had just been there for emergency purposes, or they believed that Haiti could continue the work that they had started. WHO was working with the Ministry of Health to replace these non-governmental organizations.
International Organization for Migration
Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said she had a short update on the situation in Lampedusa. Last night, there was another boat arrival carrying 26 people, all young men. They left from Djerba. They said that they had tried to set off several times but the rough seas had stopped their boat from leaving. Eventually they did leave and arrived. There was a storm last night around Lampedusa and it had been raining extremely hard. As IOM had said before, the Centre in Lampedusa was way overcrowded, even though yesterday 276 of the migrants were transferred to migrant reception centres on Bari. There were still just under 1,800 migrants in the centre that was meant to be for 800 people. Some of the migrants were actually having to sleep outside in the open. The storm was meant to continue for several days, so it was unlikely that there would be arrivals of other boats arriving on Lamedusa for a day or two.
Ms. Pandya said following up on their press release on 16 February about two boats carrying Egyptians arriving in Sicily, of the 36 minors who were on the boats in total, they were still waiting for transfer for facilities for unaccompanied minors. The minors said they left from Alexandria but had come from various regions in the country, and that the land journey to Alexandria took about 11 days. They stayed five days in a shack in Alexandria, and then spent another six days on the boat journey. This kind of trip had to have been planned many months in advance so it was still way too early to talk about any kind of outflow from Egypt because of the situation in the country.
Over the years, Ms. Pandya said IOM had talked about human trafficking, but not about re-trafficking, people who had been trafficked, rescued, and then trafficked again. It was extremely difficult to have any kind of statistics on human trafficking, and on re-trafficking there was no information. A report was being issued today called the “causes and consequences of re-trafficking”. Using a sample of 14,000 trafficking cases on the IOM data base, the report saw that there were 79 clear cases of re-trafficking, all of them women from southeastern Europe. It was almost certain that the real level of re-trafficking would be much much higher. Copies of the report were available at the back of the room
Other
Ankai Xu of the World Trade Organization said on 22 February there would be a General Council meeting, and there would be a briefing either on 22 or 23 February. On 24 February, the Dispute Settlement Body would hold a regular briefing and a briefing would follow. As for Director-General Pascal Lamy, on 21 February, he would speak at the conference organized by the Consumer Unity and Child Society on accountability in the trading system. On 22 February, he would attend the General Council meeting.
Isabel Valentiny of the United Nations Environment Programme said some of the journalists had been present at the start in August of the “zero emission race” around the world, or the electric car race. The participants would be back in Geneva next week at the end of their world tour and on Thursday, 24 February at 11 a.m. they would drive in through the UN Place de Nations entrance. UNEP had been supporting this race as an important initiative to inform people in countries around the world about the possibility of another kind of car, the electric car. The return was being organized by UNEP, the United Nations Office at Geneva and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.
Ms. Valentiny said concerning the Green Economy, as she had promised, journalists would have the main chapters under embargo this afternoon.
Corinne Perthuis of the International Labour Organization said that on Sunday, 20 February, for the third time, ILO would be commemorating the World Day of Social Justice. An information note was available at the back of the room on what was social justice and how it could be ensured. The Director-General of the ILO would also issue a statement on the World Day of Social Justice this afternoon. She showed journalists a video clip on this issue.
Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said a technical symposium was being held at WHO today between the heads of WHO, the World Trade Organization and the World Intellectual Property Organization. It was entitled “Technical symposium on access to medicines, patent information and freedom to operate”. She would send journalists the WHO Director-General’s statement and the agenda of the meeting. This was part of a series of meetings between the three agencies on issues relating to law, intellectual property and access to medicines.
Marixie Mercado of the United Nations Children’s Fund said the launch of the State of the World’s Children report, which focused this year on adolescence, was originally scheduled to be launched in Geneva on 25 February, but it would now be launched in New York to coincide with the UN high-level briefing of the Adolescent Girls Task Force. This was unfortunate but this change was to take advantage of the presence of a number of UN agencies, non-governmental organizations and governmental partners who would be attending the event, including Michelle Bachelet, the new Executive Director of UN Women, and Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, the Executive Director of UNFPA, which co-chaired with UNICEF the Adolescent Girls Task Force. Advance copies of the report would be circulated at the briefing next week. The embargo had been set for 0001 GMT on 25 February.