REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Alessandra Vellucci, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Information Service, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for the United Nations Refugee Agency, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Health Organization, the International Organization for Migration, and the World Meteorological Organization.
Famine in the Horn of Africa
Bruno Geddo of the United Nations Refugee Agency, speaking through a telephone link, said he had come back from Dollo in Somalia, near the border with Ethiopia. He confirmed that internal displacements as well as daily refugee outflow from Somalia into Ethiopia resulting from the food shortage were affected by five elements. First, early in July, Al Shabab had acknowledged that there was a problem in central and southern Somalia in the areas under their control and that humanitarian assistance was needed. But then Al Shabab had reversed their decision to allow food in. This had prompted people to start moving as humanitarian assistance was not forthcoming. Second, after the famine was declared, people thought that humanitarian assistance would be available in Mogadishu and so they had started to move there. Third, Somali who had arrived in Dollo Ado told relatives and friends back home that the type of food assistance available was not what they had expected and the registration time was too long. Fourth, Al Shabab had realized that the movement of people would deprive them of a base from which to choose recruits, so they appeared, according to the refugees and internally displaced persons that he had spoken to, to have put up road blocks and stop groups from leaving. Only individuals could leave. Fifth, many factors influenced the decision to move or not, including that some people might receive money from their friends and family in the diaspora to help them cope until the next rainy season, and others wanted to plant before the rainy season. So the decision to move was not something that was taken easily and some people were still thinking about it.
Another important aspect was the perceptions among the internally displaced persons in Dollo. Some believed that it was better to remain inside Somalia, as they would have more freedom of movement there than in the Dollo Ado camp. Also, they could carry out menial work for money in Somalia. Staying in Somalia would allow them to return to their areas of origin to plant for the rainy season in October. Also, if news came of humanitarian assistance being distributed in Somalia, they would be able to move quickly to get to it. All these activities would be much more difficult if they crossed the border into Ethiopia.
Mr. Geddo said that his deputy had also visited Dobley on the way to the Dadaab camps in Kenya. Somalis coming from the inland had to pay $ 50 to public taxis to reach Dobley and from Dobley they had to pay another 2,000 Kenyan shillings to reach Dadaab camps. According to the local authorities, around 200 Somalis reached Dobley daily, and between 800 and 1,200 would be crossing the town at any given time to go to Dadaab. Among these people were those who had been uprooted from fear of military recruitment. Others were also stuck in Dobley because they did not have enough money to pay to get to Dadaab.
Asked what the real reason was for Al Shabab not giving access to a number of bodies and organizations, including the United Nations, while the International Committee of the Red Cross could work there, Mr. Geddo said Al Shabab had not forbidden all humanitarian workers to operate in the regions they controlled. For example, UNICEF and others were allowed to work there. There was also a cultural issue: the fact that Muslim humanitarian aid workers distributed food aid to people during the fasting month of Ramadan was difficult for Al Shabab to accept. That was why the World Food Programme had problems of access.
In response to a question that Al Shabab was basically holding Somalis hostage because they wanted to recruit them, and if he thought many more Somalis wanted to flee, Mr. Geddo said that according to the internally displaced persons, the increase in food prices had boosted Al Shabab recruitment because Somalis were joining them to be paid, so that they could buy food. Also, if all people did move, Al Shabab would be deprived of manpower. Another issue was that Somalis realized that if they went out of the country, it would be very difficult for them to return. So they thought twice before crossing the border.
The fact that Somalis talked to Somalis was also key: UNHCR did not speak directly with Al Shabab, but their Somali partners talked to other partners and these local partners talked to Al Shabab.
If massive humanitarian assistance was injected inside Somalia, hopefully this would turn around some of above-described variables of this situation.
Andrej Mahecic of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said UNHCR, in partnership with the Government of Ethiopia and the International Organization for Migration, today began the relocation of nearly 15,000 Somalia refugees who had been living in Dollo Ado to a new site. They would be taken to Hilaweyn camp. There would be medical screening carried out before the move as there was an outbreak of suspected measles in the Dollo Ado camp, with several suspected cases in the transit centre as well as in other camps in the area. On Thursday, the workers in Kobe camp reported 25 deaths in this camp of 25,000 people, and half of these deaths were suspected to be from measles. The current priority was to strengthen surveillance to detect new cases and refer them to the health facilities. A measles vaccination for all children under 15 was also planned. There were more details in the briefing notes.
Regarding Kenya, Mr. Mahecic said the number of daily arrivals of Somali refugees in Dadaab camps had increased to an average of 1,500 a day in the first four days of August, up from an average of 1,300 a day in July. On arrival at the reception centres established in each of the camps, all new refugees received a 21-day food ration from the World Food Programme, plastic sheets, cooking utensils, jerry cans, blankets, sleeping mats and soap.
The first UNHCR airlift to Somalia in five years would take place soon. Three flights were planned.
On the funding front, UNHCR was encouraged by the initial response from the donor countries, from the private sector and from individuals. Nonetheless, UNHCR was facing critical shortages and unless funds were shortly committed, this shortfall would impact vital humanitarian assistance for tens of thousands of Somali refugees and internally displaced people.
Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said efforts to ensure funding had to continue. The total funding was now 45 per cent of the appeal. In Somalia, cluster partners continued to scale up food and nutrition assistance to meet increased and urgent needs to reach an additional 2.2 million people in the South over the next six months by seizing opportunities to re-engage in crisis areas that had been largely inaccessible to humanitarian organizations. Some $ 1.1 billion had been received so far for the Horn of Africa, but unmet requirements were $ 1.4 billion. The health sector especially needed funds and the Central Emergency Response Fund had released $ 2 million for this sector. There were more details in the briefing notes.
Marixie Mercado of the United Nations Children’s Fund said that following the appeal last Tuesday for free cargo space to bring emergency nutrition supplies into Somalia, Fed Ex had committed to donate to UNICEF the airlift of a Boeing 777 cargo aircraft from Paris to Nairobi. That was a great contribution and again UNICEF was looking to others to come forward with more help. Following what UNHCR said about the circumstances forcing people to flee for assistance, Ms. Mercado said UNICEF was undertaking efforts to also help people who stayed inside Somalia; for that, it had delivered close to 2,000 metric tons of emergency supplies via air, land and sea. These supplies had reached 23,300 children suffering from the most extreme level of malnutrition. Over 100,000 malnourished children had also received supplementary feeding support. These supplies had been delivered in south central Somalia, the areas that were the hardest hit by the famine. Beginning last Tuesday, UNICEF had also started using two planes for daily rotations between Nairobi and Somalia to move supplies into the country, and tomorrow UNICEF had a ship landing in Mogadishu with 600 tons of corn soya blend as supplementary food for the affected southern areas.
Concerning Dadaab refugee camps, Ms. Mercado said that around 80 per cent of new arrivals in Dadaab were women and children; UNICEF was working with partners to bring more therapeutic food to the camps and the surrounding host communities. Immunization campaigns were also underway. They had already reached 100,000 children but the target was 200,000 ones. UNICEF was also providing water and sanitation supplies to people living on the outskirts of the camps and was working to significantly ramp up education activities for these children.
Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said she had already distributed her notes, so she would not read them out. She just wanted to point out that WHO was concerned about the high risk of disease outbreaks in the drought affected areas due to poor access to potable water, living conditions in overcrowded camps and susceptible malnourished children. Acute watery diarrhea was on the rise in Somalia with children under five years being particularly affected. In Mogadishu, out of 3,839 people affected by acute watery diarrhea, 77 per cent of them were children under five. There were also measles and kalaazar outbreaks in Kenya. WHO was working on four major areas. It was coordinating health response activities in the Horn of Africa. It was preventing and controlling communicable diseases, including through the strengthening of early warning and response systems for epidemic-prone diseases. WHO was supporting six mobile clinics in Somalia and had sent one diarrheal disease kit which could treat 100 severe cases, in order to complement response activities. WHO was also providing medicines and medical supplies and had participated in conducting a poliomyelitis, measles, deworming and vitamin A supplementation campaign. WHO was providing technical assistance for enhanced management of medical complications of severe acute malnutrition. Funding of the health sector stood at 21 per cent and WHO called on donors to donate $ 29.9 million to respond to the health aspects of the Horn of Africa crisis for the next six months.
Michel Yao of the World Health Organization, who had just returned from Nairobi, said in Somalia, a few cases of cholera had been confirmed, but in most other places, due to the security challenges, it was quite difficult to confirm cases. WHO, through its network of national programme officers, was helping workers in health facilities there to give appropriate response to the outbreak.
Jumbe Omari Jumbe of the International Organization for Migration said IOM had now offered its capacity in Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Uganda in various areas, including transport, shelter, health and livelihood. Some activities had actually been started, and some had to be enhanced and expanded. IOM wanted to really put its feet on the ground and support its partners in these areas. For example, in Kenya, IOM was working with UNHCR and UNICEF to assist the movement of vulnerable populations from the outskirts of Dadaab camps. IOM was also offering to transport Somalis from Dobley and Liboi to Dadaab camps. IOM had already assisted 204 particularly vulnerable persons. In shelter, IOM Kenya had deployed a shelter and site plan expert to Dadaab with a view to providing emergency shelter at one of the Dadaab extension camps. Also IOM was targeting host communities in north eastern Kenya of some 40,000 pastoralists, to support their livelihood. In health, IOM was involved in providing psycho-social support to Somali refugees in Dadaab camp and comprehensive TB diagnostic and treatment support at Dadaab camp and north eastern Kenya. IOM’s work in Ethiopia would focus mainly on transport. It was for these and many other tasks that IOM was appealing for $ 26.6 million to expand and enhance what it was currently doing.
In response to a question, Ms. Byrs said that donors were duly briefed and received regular updates on what was being done and on the worsening situation. But then it was up to the donors to respond to the question on why they were not more reactive to the funding needs. Donors were also thanked for their efforts and contributions.
Haiti
Robert Masters, Director of Development and Regional Activities Department of the World Meteorological Organization, said there had been a lot of press coverage about tropical storm Emily that had gone through Haiti in the last day. On 2 August, a red alert was issued by the Haitian meteorological service, through a WMO coordinated coalition of countries including Canada, France, the United Kingdom and the United States, that was created right after the earthquake. This coalition was working well and providing services. Also, two weeks ago a group of Haitian forecasters completed their training in France and returned to Haiti just in advance of this hurricane so they were able to help with the weather forecast efforts from Haiti itself. WMO was still awaiting more detailed reports, but the latest forecast from the Haitian meteorological service through the coalition were accurate. From 100 to 300 millimetres of rain fell and more were expected in isolated areas, particularly in the higher zones. However, some had indicated that this might actually be on the low side.
Emily had currently been downgraded to a tropical low: as it was passing over Haiti, it slowed down from approximately 10 kilometres speed to about 4 kilometres. WMO was still waiting to hear more. As of last night, the red alert was still in effect in Haiti. However, surrounding countries had downgraded it to a tropical low. At this time WMO was not aware of the extent of any casualties, only of at least one death and of flooding. On coordination and preparedness, WMO was very pleased that the national centre for emergency operations as well as the emergency preparedness and disaster risk management stakeholders prepared very quickly on notification of the red alert, including evacuation plans from the refugee camps. WMO was also very happy to have been able to participate in a simulation exercise from 19 to 22 July.
Jumbe Omari Jumbe of the International Organization for Migration said he would like to share with journalists the outcome of the survey which was carried out on the internally displaced persons’ camps in Haiti. An overwhelming majority of people living in the more than 1,000 displacement camps in Haiti since the 2010 earthquake wanted to leave, but did not have the financial resources to do so. This was important because there had been a lot of talk that people in the camps wanted to stay there indefinitely. It also showed that more efforts should be done to find a way out of this displacement sites by building new houses, providing more financial support and creating more income generating activities and micro credit facilities to those who were still in the camps.
Iraq
Mr. Jumbe said that although fighting between Iranian military forces and Iraqi Kurdish separatists had subsided due to the observance of the holy month of Ramadan, displaced families in northern Iraq were still in urgent need for relief assistance.
Geneva Activities
Ms. Vellucci said the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination would be starting its work on Monday, 8 August. It would be reviewing the anti-discrimination efforts undertaken by the Governments of Paraguay, the Maldives, Kenya, Georgia, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Albania, the United Kingdom and Malta. The background press release had been issued yesterday.
The Human Rights Council Advisory Committee would be starting its seventh session on Monday, 8 August. The background press release had also been issued yesterday and Cedric Sapey would speak more about the session.
Ms. Vellucci said the Conference on Disarmament held the first public plenary of the third and last part of its 2011 session yesterday. The Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva and the Secretary-General of the Conference, Kassem-Jomart Tokayev, told the meeting that he continued to believe that the Conference had immense value and was irreplaceable; it could resume its leading role as the main multilateral disarmament forum. To that end, it was necessary to look at all the opportunities to revitalize it. The next plenary of the Conference would be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 11 August.
Human Rights Council Advisory Committee and Human Rights Council
Cedric Sapey of the Human Rights Council said the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee would be holding its seventh session from 8 to 12 August. The Advisory Committee would be discussing a number of issues including the right of peoples to peace, discrimination in the context of the right to food, the promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms through a better understanding of traditional values of humankind, and the enhancement of international cooperation in the field of human rights. The draft programme of work of the Advisory Committee was available at the back of the room, and the background press release had been issued yesterday by the United Nations Information Service.
Mr. Sapey said the draft programme of work for the upcoming session of the Human Rights Council – 12 to 30 September – was now available on the extranet. It was very possible that there would be changes in the programme of work in the coming few weeks.
Asked whether the Advisory Council, in studying the right to peace, would be taking up issues like NATO’s role in Libya and the United States in Pakistan in the context of the Nuremburg principles and wars of aggression, Mr. Sapey said that the Advisory’s mandate on this issue was very general and they would not be taking up specific situations. The Advisory Committee was working on a background document which would then be sent to the Human Rights Council.
In response to a question on whether the Human Rights Council would put out a resolution on the situation in Syria, Mr. Sapey said that the draft resolutions were only tabled in the last week of the Council, so it was too early to say.