REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Corinne Momal-Vanian, the Director of the UN Information Service, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for and Representatives of the UN Research Institute for Social Development, the International Labour Organization, the Human Rights Council, the UN Refugee Agency, the World Trade Organization, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Organization for Migration, the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization.

Bahrain

Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said that OHCHR was concerned about the harsh sentences which had been handed down this week by the Court of National Safety in Bahrain to 20 medical staff, two leaders of a teachers’ association and at least 32 other individuals. The sentences ranged from three years’ imprisonment to the death penalty. The Court had also upheld the sentences of 21 others. For such harsh sentences to be handed down to civilians in a military court, with serious due process irregularities, raised severe concerns, said Mr. Colville.

OHCHR called on the Government to ensure that every detained person was charged with a recognizable criminal offence and had enough time to prepare a defense case. The Government had announced that all cases would be referred to civilian courts in October. While OHCHR welcomed this announcement, it was unclear how appeals by those who had been convicted in military courts would be handled in the civilian courts.

Responding to a question by a journalist, Mr. Colville said that the Court of National Safety was headed by three judges, all of whom were directly appointed by the Bahrain Defense Force Commander-in-Chief, and cases were prosecuted by Military Public Prosecutors. OHCHR understood that defendants had had limited access to lawyers and that lawyers had insufficient time to properly prepare the defense of their clients in most cases. A defense lawyer representing a number of medical professionals also told reporters that the trial had lasted no longer than 10 minutes. Also, the Court of National Safety had not been investigating torture allegations and did not permit recording of the proceedings, all of which caused serious concern.

In response to another question, Mr. Colville said that the High Commissioner for Human Rights had met with the King of Bahrain in New York last week. On that occasion Ms. Pillay had urged Bahrain to continue its efforts of dialogue, while commending the establishment of the commission of inquiry and the fact that it was composed of respected, independent commissioners. She reiterated that her office was prepared to send an assessment team to assist in due course and expressed concern at the use of excessive violence by the security forces. Ms. Pillay also pointed out that the Government must represent the diverse community in Bahrain.

Responding to a question, Fadéla Chaib of the World Health Organization said that WHO was aware of what was happening in Bahrain regarding health personnel. Health care workers should abide by several principles: First, they had a moral and ethical obligation to treat injured persons regardless of their political affiliation, and they should never be punished for doing what was required by this obligation. Second, in times of conflict medical neutrality must be respected under the Geneva Conventions, meaning that injured patients must be allowed to receive treatment regardless of their political affiliation. Third, health care workers must be allowed to access and treat the injured, and medical facilities must be protected. WHO Director-General Margaret Chan in person would underscore that medical personnel must indeed be protected and not punished for what they were obliged to do at a speech to be delivered at the Annual Regional Committee meeting for the Eastern Mediterranean from 2-5 October.

Pakistan

Gaelle Sévenier of the World Food Programme said that 73 per cent of the harvest had been destroyed and 36 per cent of the livestock killed in flooded areas, with 5.4 million people affected and 665,000 houses damaged. WFP, which had provided 7,000 tons of food rations to 490,000 people and was reaching close to 50,000 new beneficiaries each day, was currently stepping up its efforts to provide food assistance to 500,000 people by the end of the month. WFP had access to five districts of Sindh Province and aimed to scale up its deliveries to cover 2.55 million people. In addition to the latest response, WFP had reached nearly 4.4 million individual beneficiaries in all flood-affected areas across Pakistan through its early recovery activities since last year.

Tarek Jasarevic of the World Health Organization said that 12,466 cases of dengue fever and 125 related deaths had been reported across Pakistan between 1 January and 28 September 2011, with around 93 per cent of cases in Punjab Province alone. In 2010, 11,024 confirmed cases of dengue fever and 40 deaths had been reported Pakistan – more than all cases reported during the previous five years. WHO had facilitated a meeting arranged by the planning commission on 13 September to which all provinces had sent representatives to exchange on the dengue situation and the plans of action. As an outcome, sub-groups had been formed and WHO was facilitating sub-groups on dengue case management, community mobilization, vector control and media and communications. WHO had presented the new clinical case management guidelines drafted by Pakistani physicians on the basis of a retrospective study of Pakistan hospital data and global and regional experiences. WHO had been facilitating and supporting the dengue case management trainings of master and district trainers in several provinces. An expert had arrived last week in Pakistan to provide technical guidance in several meetings on dengue fever control. The dengue booklet for teachers and the teachers' orientation had been printed and was being disseminated. WHO was also supporting the provincial and territorial dengue monitoring and coordination committees.

Kosovo

Mr. Colville said that OHCHR was concerned that a key witness in a war crime case in Kosovo had this week been found dead in a park in Germany. While the circumstances of his death remained to be confirmed, German police reportedly said that Agim Zogaj had hanged himself in a park in Duisburg in western Germany. Zogaj had been a key witness in the case against former Kosovo Liberation Army Commander Fatmir Limaj and nine others who had been charged last month with various counts of war crimes allegedly committed in 1999 at a detention centre.

While the exact reasons behind his apparent suicide were difficult to ascertain, this case added to OHCHR’s longstanding concerns about witness protection in Kosovo. The office called for an effective and independent witness and victim protection system in Kosovo to be put in place. Only an effective and well-resourced witness and victim protection system in Kosovo could help render justice to the victims and end impunity regarding past violations.

Mexico

Mr. Colville said that OHCHR was deeply concerned about the recent killings of - and other brutal attacks against - journalists in Mexico, illustrating increasing insecurity in general and the exceptionally vulnerable situation of journalists in particular, as well as the deteriorating situation of freedom of expression in the country.




The most recent journalist to be killed was María Elizabeth Macias, an employee of the Nuevo Laredo newspaper Primera Hora, whose decapitated and mutilated body was found on Saturday, 24 September. Ms. Macias’ postings on internet-based social networks had often been critical of violent groups. Alongside her body had allegedly been left a handwritten message signed by the Zetas drug cartel saying that she had been killed in retaliation for her postings. Eleven days earlier, on 13 September, a man and a woman had been found dead, hanging from an overpass in Nuevo Laredo with a handwritten message saying “this is what will happen to internet users.” It was clear that such killings were designed to send a chilling message to silence reports on drug gang violence and to challenge campaigns led by the authorities to promote anonymous reporting of criminal activities. In addition to the above, in September alone, the UN human rights office in Mexico had publicly condemned three other murders of journalists. Other gruesome killings had also continued to take place in Mexico.

OHCHR understood the challenge the Mexican Government was facing in its fight against rising violence. However, it was also extremely concerned at the prevalent impunity regarding these killings. It was particularly concerned that some crimes appeared to have been committed with the cooperation or acquiescence of state agents. OHCHR urged the Mexican authorities to launch immediate, full and impartial investigations into these killings.

Côte d’Ivoire

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said that, while at the height of the conflict about 600,000 people had been living in displacement sites in western Côte d’Ivoire and the Abidjan area, the numbers of displaced people at the displacement sites had dropped significantly since the resolution of the political crisis. According to IOM, which was collecting information on internal displacement in Côte d’Ivoire, the number of internally displaced persons at displacement sites was now just under 26,000 in 35 sites around the country. IOM was itself managing 10 sites for internally displaced persons in Guiglo and Duékoué in the western region of Moyen Cavally. These 10 sites were currently hosting more than 17,000 internally displaced persons – 66 per cent of all internally displaced persons in displacement sites. However, nobody really knew the number of people who were living with host communities. While the humanitarian community believed this figure to be high, tracing these displaced groups was extremely difficult.

IOM was concerned at both the conditions in which the internally displaced persons were living at displacement sites and those encountered by people returning to their home villages even though their homes had been destroyed. At the displacement sites, shelter was particularly an issue. People were living in makeshift ad-hoc constructions offering little protection and the rainy season was now beginning. While water and sanitation was very poor in some places, people remained by fear that their homes had been destroyed or that those occupying their land would refuse to leave.

Many of those in the displacement sites – often privately owned – were being evicted or about to face eviction. Fourteen sites had been closed in recent months due to evictions, forcing 800 families into secondary displacement. Another 15 sites - hosting 1,250 families - were under imminent threat of eviction. IOM was urgently asking the donor community to respond to the displacement needs in Côte d’Ivoire. Its appeal for $41.6 million, launched early this year, had received under $4 million to date.

IOM was beginning work on providing transitional shelter for internally displaced people and those who had returned to home villages to plant crops, but had no homes to return to. The organization was also working on projects aimed at building greater social cohesion, particularly ahead of elections in December and as progress was needed in finding durable solutions over ethnic and land issues. IOM and other agencies were also planning to carry out go and see visits for those displaced who were considering returning home.



Green Economy and Sustainable Development Conference

Kiah Smith, Research Analyst with the UN Research Institute for Social Development, said that UNRISD would host a conference on Green Economy and Sustainable Development on 10-11 October as part of its current research agenda and in the build up to Rio+20 in 2012. The conference was seeking to fill a gap in current international discussions on approaches to sustainable development by paying specific attention to the often neglected social dimensions of sustainable development. Despite being identified as a core issue in the original earth summit in Rio in 1992, social concerns had recently given way to an emphasis on a “green economy”.

The UN Commission on Sustainable Development had announced that the theme for next year’s Earth Summit, Rio+20, would be the “Green Economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication.” The conference hosted by UNRISD would thus bring together academic researchers, UN policy-makers, Government officials, civil society and activists from around the world to discuss the social dimensions in more detail. More information and contact details were at the back of the room.

Ms. Smith said that UNRISD was an autonomous entity within the UN system conducting policy-relevant, cutting-edge research on social development. Its mission was to produce and communicate knowledge and policy alternatives that contributed to progressive social change, in keeping with the UN goals of reducing poverty and inequality, addressing well-being and rights, and creating more democratic and just societies.

Annual Session of UNHCR’s Governing Body

Melissa Fleming of the UN Refugee Agency said that the sixty-second annual session of UNHCR's governing body - the Executive Committee - would begin on Monday, 3 October in Geneva. Throughout the meeting, a number of side events looking into specific issues and operations would be held and the High Commissioner for Refugees was scheduled to give his traditional press conference at the end.

Monday would conclude with the Nansen Refugee Award ceremony, which this
year went to a Yemeni NGO, the Society for Humanitarian Solidarity. Journalists were invited to participate in the ceremony, to be held at the Bâtiment des Forces Motrices but needed to register in advance.

ACTRAV Symposium on Precarious Work

Mahmadou Kaba Souaré of the International Labour Organization said that some 50 unions and experts would meet from 4-7 October in Geneva to discuss precarious work and solutions thereto, notably against the backdrop of the financial crisis which had caused measures rendering the activity of workers more precarious. A symbolic march in front of the Palais des Nations would take place on Friday, 7 October to call on Governments to make work more decent. Press releases and programmes of the symposium were at the back of the room.

Human Rights Council

Cédric Sapey of the Human Rights Council said that the Council was taking action on the latest resolution before concluding its eighteenth regular session later today. Next week the Council’s Universal Periodic Review Working Group would start its twelfth session to consider the situation in Tajikistan, Tanzania, Antigua and Barbuda, Swaziland, Trinidad and Tobago, Thailand, Ireland, Togo, the Syrian Arab Republic, Venezuela, Iceland, Zimbabwe, Lithuania, Uganda, Timor-Leste, Moldova and Haiti. All UN Member States would be reviewed by the end of the session.




Human Rights Committees

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the Committee on the Rights of the Child was holding a day of general discussion on the rights of children whose parents were incarcerated. On Monday afternoon, the Committee would examine the report of Sweden under the Protocol on child exploitation.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, for its part, would open its three-week session on Monday to examine the reports of Paraguay, Montenegro, Oman, Kuwait, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Lesotho and Mauritius. The Information Service had distributed a background release yesterday.

WTO Agenda

Ankai Xu of the World Trade Organization said that the Committee on Trade-Related Investment Measures would meet at 10 a.m. on Monday, 3 October and the Dispute Settlement Body at 3 p.m. on Wednesday.

WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy would be in Vienna, Austria, on 5 October to meet with Mr. Kandeh Yumkella, the Director-General of UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). The day after Mr. Lamy would be in Berlin, where he was to give a speech at Deutsche Bank, meet with the State Secretary of Germany, other heads of organizations and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as well as attending a press conference at Ms. Merkel's office.

Other

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the Director-General of the UN Office at Geneva, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, would travel to New York this weekend to participate in the discussions of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) of the General Assembly.

Human Rights Council President Laura Dupuy Lasserre would give a press conference on the Council’s eighteenth regular session at 2 p.m. in Press Room 1.