REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Corinne Momal-Vanian, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for and Representatives of the Conference on Trade and Development, the World Trade Organization, the World Meteorological Organization, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the World Health Organization, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration.

Agenda of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the Secretary-General would participate in the investiture of President Alassane Ouattara in the Ivorian capital Yamassoukro on Saturday before meeting peacekeepers and staff of the UN Mission in Côte d’Ivoire in the country’s economic capital, Abidjan.

The Secretary-General would then travel to Nigeria and Ethiopia in a visit dedicated to maternal health. In Ethiopia, Mr. Ban would visit a rural health programme and meet with Meles Zenawi, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, as well as other leaders participating in the India-Africa Forum Summit in Addis Ababa.

After that, Mr. Ban would participate in the G8 Summit in Deauville, France, where he would plead for ongoing attention to maternal and child health in global development policies.

World Health Assembly

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said that the plenary session had adopted three resolutions this morning, on the implementation of the international sanitary regulations, on future funding for the WHO, and on the sanitary situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem and the Syrian Occupied Golan.

Committee A had started to discuss the “Global Immunization Vision and Strategy”. This would be followed by discussions on how to strengthen health systems and about WHO’s strategy for tackling HIV/AIDS in 2011/2012. Committee B, for its part, discussed more administrative matters such as human resources.

Journalists were invited to participate in the technical briefing “Towards Successful Implementation of the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel: Challenges and Opportunities”. The briefing was held today from 12.30 p.m. to 2.15 p.m. in Room 12 and more information was available from Sarah Russell.

It was very likely that the eradication of smallpox and the destruction of smallpox virus stocks would not be discussed before Monday - more information to follow shortly.

Annual UNRWA Health Report

Dr. Akihiro Seita, the Director of Health at the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, said that the report was an annual publication on the health status of Palestinian refugees, of which there were about 5 million in the Middle East and about 2 million in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. UNRWA’s role was extremely important for the health of Palestinians.

Along with encouraging innovations in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, the 2011 report highlighted a reduction in the infant mortality rate. The rate was now reasonably low and Palestinians were on track regarding Millennium Development Goal No. 4.

But the report also highlighted that non-communicable diseases were a major health problem for Palestinians. Indeed, evidence showed that non-communicable diseases were responsible for 70 to 80 per cent of the deaths of Palestinians.

UNRWA has been working to address the non-communicable diseases, but was constrained by a lack of financial resources. In the middle-income region where UNRWA was working pro-capita expenditure per refugee was only $20, even though WHO recommended at least $60 for low-income countries.

Copies of UNRWA’s Annual Health Report were available at the back of the room.

Forthcoming Study and Press Conferences by the International Agency for Research on Cancer

Dr. Nicolas Gaudin of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), speaking ahead of a study to be published by IARC on 31 May, said IARC was the cancer-research Institute of the World Health Organization. Established in 1965, it was and was based in Lyon, France.

As part of its epidemiology programme, the IARC dealt with the classification of human carcinogens, called the IARC Monographs. Through the Monographs Programme, the IARC sought to identify the causes of human cancer. This was the first step in cancer prevention, which was needed as much today as when IARC was established.

The global burden of cancer was high and continued to increase: the annual number of new cases was estimated at 12 million in 2008 and continued to increase. IARC expected it to reach 27 million by 2030. With current trends in demographics and exposure, the cancer burden had been shifting from high-resource countries to low- and medium-resource countries. As a result of Monographs evaluations, national health agencies had been able, on scientific grounds, to take measures to reduce human exposure to carcinogens in the workplace and in the environment.

Recently, there had been growing concern about the possibility of adverse health effects resulting from exposure to radiofrequency radiations such as those emitted by wireless communication devices. In May, a Working Group of 31 scientists from 14 countries, met at the IARC in Lyon to assess the carcinogenic hazards from exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields. These assessments would be published as Volume 102 of the IARC Monographs, which would be the fourth in the series on physical agents, after Volumes 75 and 78 on ionizing radiation (X-rays, gamma-rays, neutrons, radio-nuclides), and Volume 80 on non-ionizing radiation (extremely-low frequency electromagnetic fields).

The Working Group would discuss and evaluate the publicly available literature on the following exposure categories involving radiofrequency radiation: (a) occupational exposures to radiation from radar and to microwaves, (b) environmental exposures associated with transmission of signals for radio, television and wireless telecommunication, and (c) personal exposures associated with the use of cell phones. The conclusions and evaluations of the Working Group would be presented and discussed in a virtual press briefing on 31 May at 6 p.m. Journalists could also physically attend a press conference at 7 p.m. on the same day in Lyon. A media alert would be sent on 25 May.

Fifth UNCTAD-OECD Report on G20 Trade and Investment Measures

Catherine Sibut-Pinote of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said that, based on the G20 mandate given to UNCTAD, the OECD and the WTO to monitor protectionist measures after the 2008 financial crisis, the fifth UNCTAD-OECD Report on G20 Trade and Investment Measures would be published on Tuesday, 24 May.

The report and a press release embargoed until Tuesday, 24 May would hopefully be available to journalists as soon as Monday afternoon.

World Meteorological Congress

Clare Nullis of the World Meteorological Organization said that the World Meteorological Congress was nearing the end of its first week and would continue until 3 June at the CICG.

There had been a very successful high-level segment, attended by more than 50 heads of government and ministers, which voiced strong support for the proposed Global Framework on Climate Services. Norway had made a very generous pledge of $2.5 million to support capacity development in vulnerable countries and India pledged $125,000.

Committees were currently discussing the programme of work and the priorities. The priorities included the proposed Global Framework for Climate Services, proposals to improve observation and information systems, to strengthen Disaster Risk Reduction activities, and to reinforce the Aeronautical Meteorological Services program.

According to the current schedule, it was likely that the proposed adoption of the Global Framework and other priorities would be in the final week, around 1-3 June. Once this happened a press conference would be organised (details to be announced in due course).

There was a side event this lunchtime at 12.30 p.m. on the role of the Japanese Meteorological Administration in the aftermath of the earthquake. Aimed primarily at the meteorological community, it was not a press briefing as such but could still be of interest to the press. The event would take place in Rooms 3 and 4 of the CICG.

Monday saw the opening of MeteoHydex, which brought together 88 exhibitors and producers of meteorological and hydrological instruments and systems. Running from 23-25 May, it would be inaugurated by WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud.

The WMO Congress would also appoint the WMO Secretary-General and elect the President and Vice-Presidents, said Ms. Nullis.


UNHCR working with Lebanon to help people fleeing Syria

Andrej Mahecic of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said that UNHCR was working with the Lebanese government in the border areas of Wadi Khaled and Tall Bire in northern Lebanon to help families who had fled the violence in Syria in recent weeks.

According to local Lebanese leaders some 1,400 people had crossed into the Wadi Khaled and Tall Biri regions over the past week from the Syrian town of Tall Kalakh. This was in addition to those that have crossed since late April. Local authorities estimated that around 4,000 Syrians had crossed to Lebanon recently.

Last week, care-taker Prime Minister Saad Hariri had called on the government’s High Relief Committee to supervise and coordinate the response to the humanitarian needs of those displaced in the north. The pro-active role taken by the Lebanese authorities to ensure that new arrivals are assisted was encouraging, said Mr. Mahecic.

Many of those who had crossed the border recently had come without any belongings; having fled what they said was heavy military bombardment of Tall Kalakh and surrounding areas. Most had found shelter with relatives or host families, and some were residing temporarily in a school in Tall Biri.

UNHCR had participated in a number of distributions of mattresses, blankets and food kits to assist the new arrivals. To date, this includes some 3,500 mattresses and 1600 blankets as well as over 500 food packages - each package could feed a family of four for a month.

Most of the people who had crossed the border in recent weeks were women and children. In addition to their immediate need for food, shelter and medical help, they also needed psycho-social support. The latter was being addressed by the Ministry of Social Affairs. UNHCR was supporting these efforts and had established a field presence in the north, working closely with the ministry to assess and provide needed protection interventions.

Mr. Mahecic said that UNHCR was following up directly with the government concerning reports of individuals being detained for illegal stay/entry and some being returned to Syria.

Central Emergency Response Fund

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) had surpassed $2 million in funds disbursed to aid agencies in natural and conflict-related emergencies. CERF had been launched in 2006 to ensure that life-saving aid was made available within ours of a major emergency, allowing the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs to allocate funds immediately to a crisis in order to kick-start operations.

The CERF has become the UN’s sixth largest source of revenue for humanitarian appeals, allocating an average of $400 million a year to 82 countries. CERF had allocated $10 million to the Haiti earthquake and $1.4 million to the humanitarian response in Libya. In 2010 alone, CERF money had helped more than 22 million people in 45 countries.

Several Thousand Migrants Stranded in Desperate State in Remote Chadian Border Town with Niger

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said that more than 3,800 migrants, including women and children, were in a very difficult situation in Zouarké with limited food, no water and transport to make their journey south. With no-one to help them and without transport to take them to Faya, 600 kilometers south east of Zouarké, many were famished and suffering from exposure to extreme heat and dust. Water was also a key issue with the nearest well 7 kilometers away from the town.

An IOM mission was underway to begin helping these migrants stranded in the remote mountainous Chadian border town of Zouarké close to Niger. IOM hoped to evacuate the most vulnerable among these migrants over the next 2-3 days.

More than 25,000 migrants, mainly Chadians, had so far arrived in the remote northern towns of Faya and Kalait from Libya since the crisis began.

IOM called for vigilance, not only regarding the people who continued to flee by boat, but also with regards to those crossing the southern borders of Libya, particularly the Chadian and Nigerien border.

Conference on Disarmament

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the Conference on Disarmament would meet at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, 24 May in honour of the appointment of UNOG Director-General Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as the new Secretary-General of the Conference. In the afternoon, the Conference is scheduled to hear from the Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Mr. Ahmet Üzümcü, and Mr. Üzümcü would meet with Mr. Tokayev on Monday.

Ms. Momal-Vanian drew attention to the op-ed published in the Swiss newspaper “Le Temps”, by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the Conference on Disarmament.

Human Rights Committees

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights would close its session today. Later today, it was expected to make public its concluding observations on the five countries examined (Turkey, Moldova, Germany, Yemen and Russia) since Monday, 2 May.

The Committee against Torture had started to review the report of Monaco this morning. It would hear the responses of Mauritius this afternoon and those of Monaco on Monday. Also next week, the Committee would examine the report of Ireland, the last report to be reviewed during this session.

WTO Agenda

Ankai Xu of the World Trade Organization said a book launch of the joint WTO-Cambridge University press volume on the “WTO Regime on Government Procurement: Challenge and Reform” would take place on Monday. The launch would start at 5 p.m. at the WTO and would notably include opening remarks by WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy and time for questions and answers. On Tuesday, 24 May there would be a dispute settlement body meeting at 10 a.m., to be followed by a briefing (probably in the afternoon). The complete schedule of WTO meetings was available from Press Room I.

Mr. Lamy would be in Paris on Monday, 23 May to attend the G20 high level conference on economic and social policies coherence, before delivering the opening remarks at the book launch in Geneva in the afternoon.

On Wednesday, 25 May Mr. Lamy would return to Paris to attend the opening session of the OECD’s 50th Anniversary Forum and attend the OECD’s 50th anniversary Ministerial Council Meeting.

The next day, on Thursday 26 May, Mr. Lamy would meet with Banri Kaieda, the Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, and hold other bilateral meetings.

Other

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the message of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for the International Day for Biodiversity, in which he particularly spoke about the links between biodiversity and the International Year of Forests, was at the back of the room.

UNOG Director-General Kassym-Jomart Tokayev would take part in the dinner the Foreign Press Association in Switzerland offered tonight in honour of Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey.