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 World Meteorological Organization, the UN Environment Programme, the UN Conference on Trade and Development, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Health Organization and the International Organization for Migration.

Sudan

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said an interagency assessment team had reached Agok by road from Wunrok yesterday, but was forced to return to the base of the UN Mission in Sudan outside Agok due to security concerns. While the number of displaced persons could therefore not be comprehensively assessed, UNMIS estimated that about 15,000 people had been displaced around Agok. It was also possible – but not confirmed – that UN offices and stocks in Abyei have been looted.

Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said that Ms. Navi Pillay called on both sides of the conflict in the disputed Sudanese region of Abyei to immediately cease hostilities and respect international human rights and humanitarian law. “I condemn the recent attacks and counter-attacks in the Abyei region by both sides – this is certainly no way to advance the peaceful coexistence of North and South Sudan,” she said.

“I am particularly alarmed by the shelling of civilian areas in Abyei by the SAF, as well as reports of aerial bombardment in other locations such as Todacch, Tajalei and in the vicinity of the River Kiir bridge,” Ms. Pillay said. “I urge all parties to explore a negotiated solution to the Abyei crisis and to avoid a descent into further conflict and chaos.”

The United Nations Mission in Sudan had confirmed reports of bombing and shelling in and around Abyei by the SAF, as well as widespread looting and burning of houses by militiamen. Thousands of civilians had fled from the area as tanks from both the SAF and the SPLA had been positioned on either side of the Banton Bridge, which led south from Abyei to Agok.

“Any remaining civilians in Abyei and surrounding towns and villages must be protected and guaranteed safe passage in line with international human rights and humanitarian law,” Ms. Pillay said. She had called on the Government of Sudan to ensure that, in areas under its control, homes and property were not burned and looted. Those found responsible for such criminal acts must be brought to justice.

World Health Assembly

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said that the discussions on the destruction of smallpox virus stocks were still ongoing.

Before closing today, the World Health Assembly would meet in a plenary session at 2.30 p.m. in the Assembly Hall. As usual, the Assembly would need to adopt all resolutions adopted in Committees A and B, which would be followed by an address by WHO DG Margret Chan.

WHO would issue a press release on the 64th World Health Assembly.

Dr. Maria Neira, Director, Public Health and the Environment, WHO, said that the Assembly had discussed several issues related to health and the environment. The resolution on drinking water, sanitation and health, for example, underlined the importance of primary prevention and linked water and sanitation to human rights. This was significant because the UN General Assembly had decided that access to drinking water and sanitation was a basic human right.

The Assembly had also adopted a resolution on cholera. In addition to revitalizing the global working group on cholera, the resolution called for an integrated approach to fighting cholera by including factors such water and sanitation, hygiene and vaccination.

In addition, the Secretariat had presented progress reports on climate change and health and on the management of obsolete pesticides and chemicals.

Etienne Krug, Director, Violence and Injury Prevention and Disability, WHO, said that the Assembly had discussed the prevention of child accidents for the first time and would formally adopt a resolution on this subject today.

While accidents were the leading cause of death for children above 5 and a key cause of deaths among younger children, there was sufficient knowledge on how to prevent them, notably through speed limits, drink and drive prohibitions, smoke detectors and safety vests. If implemented throughout the world, the set of measures available today would make it possible to save the lives of at least 1,000 children every day.

It was therefore significant that the World Health Assembly had adopted a resolution on child accidents. As well as requesting prevention measures and means to treat traumatised people, the resolution asked for the establishment of a network for governments, agencies and NGOs to work jointly to prevent child accidents.

Côte d’Ivoire

Ms. Byrs said that the general security situation continued to improve in most of Côte d’Ivoire, but continued to spark concern in some parts. There had been clashes among civilians in some Abidjan neighbourhoods, including Yopougan and Abobo, and acts of violence continued in the West.

Tensions also persisted in the Southwest. Between 4,000 and 6,000 people were reported to have fled from San Pedro towards Soubré since 8 May. According to the NGO “Solidarités”, the displaced people needed water and hygiene products, and MSF Netherlands had sent a mobile clinic to assist displaced populations.

Ms. Byrs said that the $184 million Emergency Humanitarian Action Plan for Côte d’Ivoire and neighbouring countries was only 22 per funded ($40 million received). The World Food Programme alone needed an additional $20 million to continue its operations in the country in 2011.

WMO Congress

Ms. Nullis said that WMO Congress was considering the appointment of the Secretary General this morning. There were four candidates: Michel Jarraud, Secretary-General since 2003 and eligible for a further 4 years in office, Mehmet Caglar, the Director-General of the Turkish State Meteorological Service since 2008, Geoff Love, the Director of WMO’s Disaster Risk Reduction Department since 2008, and Petteri Taalas, the Director-General of the Finnish Meteorological Institute. (It was later announced that Petteri Taalas was not a candidate.)

The elections of the President and Vice-Presidents of the Organization would take place on Wednesday. The candidates for the position of President were David Grimes, the Permanent Representative to the WMO from Canada, Ali-Mohammed Noorian, the Permanent Representative to the WMO from Iran, and Tyrone Sutherland, the Permanent Representative to the WMO from the British Caribbean Territories.

WMO programmes and priorities and the budget were being discussed in committees this week. The decisions would be made in plenary next week. WMO was tentatively planning a press conference on Friday, 3 June at 9.30 a.m. to brief journalists on the outcome of Congress.

Libya

Ms. Pandya said that IOM’s seventh evacuation mission since mid-April had evacuated 726 migrants, including 54 war casualties, from Misrata. However, several hundred migrants continued to be stranded in Misrata and the figures fluctuated on a daily basis.

The situation had become calmer and some still preferred to wait and see. Migrants without shelter were being looked after at two sites in the city and IOM was looking into how to continue providing assistance to those wanting to leave Misrata.

Assessment Mission to Remote Chadian Border Town Finds Vulnerable Migrants in Need of Help

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said that water, food and health care were urgently needed for migrants fleeing the violence in Libya and arriving at the remote border village of Zouarké, close to Niger. An IOM team sent to Zouarké last week with desperately needed supplies had found access to water to be the most pressing issue as thousands of migrants transited through the village, a small cluster of about 20 huts with very limited services.

Although a group of 3,800 migrants, reported to have been stranded at the village for some weeks, had managed to leave of their own accord, IOM staff on the ground had reported there had been 16 trucks present during the assessment in Zouarké, with more than 1,200 migrants arriving in one go in a 24 hour period. These included women and children.

Even on a day when only 200 people were at the well, one migrant told IOM that he had queued for five hours to fill his jerry can; others said they had waited longer. The next day, after the arrival of another 700 migrants in the town, scuffles broke out by the well as emotions ran high in the wait for water. With migrants typically staying three to four days to rest, recover from illness or to allow repair time for the trucks that will eventually carry them to Faya, tensions over access to water were mounting.

The IOM team had found that a number of migrants arriving in Zouarké were sick, with no available medical services in the village. Some of the migrants had measles and were quarantined in the open under some trees just a few hundred metres from the rest of the migrant population, sleeping near the trucks. The local prefect had told IOM that authorities had recorded 15 migrant deaths since the outflow from Libya began with three people having died in Zouarké and the others either in Niger or en route to Faya.

The IOM team had delivered 15 cartons of medical supplies, including polio vaccination kits donated by the International Rescue Committee, to enable a military nurse to begin treating the sick. An IOM truck carrying food supplies including flour, rice, oil and sugar had also arrived at the weekend. It would be used to start up a food assistance programme for migrants after their long, arduous and physically challenging journey on overloaded trucks from Gatroun and other towns in Libya.

With tens of thousands of Chadians still believed to be in Gatroun and elsewhere in southern Libya and expected to transit through Zouarké in the coming days and weeks, IOM would be establishing a way station in the village, a mid-way point in the journey from the southern Libyan city to Faya. The way station would provide migrants fleeing Libya with food, water, shelter and basic health care.

Volcanic ash

Clare Nullis of the World Meteorological Organization said that the World Meteorological Congress was being regularly updated about developments in the eruption of the Grímsvötn volcano in Iceland. The British Geological Survey had described the eruption of Grímsvötn that began over the weekend as a “significant eruption” and the Icelandic Met Office had reported ash continuing to be ejected to a height of 10 kilometers.

There were nine Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers across the world, established by the International Civil Aviation Organization in close cooperation with WMO and the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics. These were operated by WMO Members and provided meteorological information in support of the International Airways Volcano Watch system.

The Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers (VAAC) responsible for the area where the eruption had occurred issues a Volcanic Ash advisory based on observations, meteorological data and forecasts of transport and dispersion. The lead VAAC was based in the United Kingdom and was responsible for monitoring and reporting the spread of ash over the United Kingdom, Iceland and the north-eastern part of the North Atlantic Ocean.

Experts from the United Kingdom Met Office, which acted as the Lead VAAC, were providing regular briefings to Congress about the dispersion and predicted direction of the volcanic ash plume. Information could be found at http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/releases/latest/volcano

The movement of the ash plume would depend on how long the volcano continued to erupt and how weather patterns developed. The Met Office London Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre continued to provide forecast guidance up to 24 hours ahead to support decision-making.

Further ahead, the outlook is very changeable with areas of low pressure likely to track across parts of northern Britain during the remainder of the week. This meant that wind direction was likely to be quite variable and people were advised to stay up to date with the latest weather forecast from the Met Office.

Zoom in on European forests

Isabelle Valentiny of the United Nations Environment Programme said that UNEP had organised a press briefing with experts from UNECE, FAO, the European Institute, FOREST EUROPE, CITES and CMS on Tuesday, 31 May at 3 p.m. in Press Room 1, ahead of the World Environment Day on 5 June.

Information would be provided on the first legally binding instrument for sustainable forest management in the pan-European region and a UNEP green economy report to be launched on 5 June. In addition, journalists would be briefed on the key findings of the upcoming “State of Europe’s forests 2011” report prepared for the Ministerial conference in Oslo from 14-16 June. The information could be used as of 31 May.

The key challenge facing European forests today was forest fragmentation. Caused by urbanization or mismanagement, fragmentation leaves only small forest areas which are insufficient to capture enough CO2 to keep the ecological balance.

Other

Corinne Momal-Vanian said that the Conference on Disarmament would meet at 11 a.m. this morning to mark the appointment of UNOG Director-General Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as Secretary-General of the Conference. In the afternoon, the Conference would be addressed by the Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

The Committee against Torture would this afternoon hear the response of Ireland to the questions asked yesterday, therewith concluding the review of reports scheduled for consideration during this session. The remainder of the session, up to 3 June, would be primarily dedicated to adopting concluding observations on the eight country reports reviewed by the Committee.

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that Manuela Tomei, ILO Expert and Coordinator of the Committee on Domestic Workers, would give a press conference on a proposed Convention and Recommendation on Domestic Workers to serve as a basis for the discussion at the 100th session of the International Labour Conference from 1-17 June. The press conference would be held in Press Room I at 2.30 p.m. today.

Catherine Sibut-Pinote of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said a press release and the Fifth UNCTAD-WTO-OECD Report on G20 Trade and Investment Measures, embargoed until 1 p.m. Geneva time, had been sent to journalists.

On Tuesday, 31 May Heiner Flassbeck, Director, UNCTAD Division on Globalization and Development Strategies, would give a press conference on a new publication entitled “Price formation in financialized commodity markets: The role of information” (report under embargo until 5 June at 5 p.m. GMT). The briefing would take place at 12 p.m. in Room III.