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 Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, the World Meteorological Organization and the International Organization for Migration.

Haiti

Rupert Colville for the Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights said his office was very concerned about reports quoting Haitian judicial officials to have said that former president Jean-Claude Duvalier would face charges of only financial corruption, rather than any relating to the serious human rights violations which took place during his time in power. Claims of torture, rape and extra-judicial killing were extensively documented by both Haitian and external human rights organizations in Haiti during the Duvalier regime, he said.

The High Commissioner had consistently reminded Haiti of its absolute obligation to investigate these well-documented and serious violations, he continued, and to prosecute those responsible for them. It was also clear under international law that there was no statute of limitations for such crimes and the United Nations human rights office had provided technical assistance and legal advice pressing this point to the Haitian authorities. It was therefore extremely disappointing Mr. Duvalier may not be charged with any human rights crimes, despite numerous complaints by victims to the prosecutor.

He added that impunity for such serious crimes could not be allowed to prevail and he urged the relevant authorities to ensure that justice was, albeit belatedly, delivered to all the victims of human rights abuses committed by the government of Mr. Duvalier.

Syria

Answering questions, Rupert Colville for the Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights said events on the ground had become very hard to verify in recent weeks and so the casualty number had not been updated. In addition, specific events were also hard to confirm, despite the continued release of video footage which seemed to suggest a dangerous and alarming escalation in the suburbs of Damascus. He therefore once again urged the Syrian authorities to stop the killing of civilians and the opposition fighters to also take extreme caution to ensure no further unnecessary loss of life.

Nigeria and Sahel

In response to another question, Rupert Colville for the Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights said a statement had been issued expressing very serious concern about the activities of Boko Haram and the extreme danger of sectarian killings in Nigeria. In her statement, the High Commissioner had urged the country’s leadership to join forces to condemn all violence, including retaliation.

Ms. Momal-Vanian also drew attention to a recent briefing given to the Security Council by the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs on the entire Sahel region.

Mozambique

Elisabeth Byrs for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said an estimated 117,000 people had been affected, and 40 people killed, following two tropical storms between 18 and 26 January in Zambezia province.

These numbers were expected to continue to climb as assessment was ongoing, she said, and getting access to some districts was proving difficult though aerial reconnaissance was being organized to survey the full extent of the damage, which was mostly caused by a huge peak in flow of the Limpopo River, from 1500m3/s up to 5200m3/s in 48 hours.

It was also known that ongoing rains had destroyed some of the designated community shelters, such as schools and churches and there was a possibility that in-country prepositioned shelter material would not be enough to respond to the emerging needs. In this context the biggest need currently was for shelter and 16,000 kits had been issued to families. Further parts of the region could be affected in the weeks to come.

Clare Nullis for the World Meteorological Organization confirmed that the floods had been caused by a category four storm which had reached such devastating capacity having spent the best part of a week in the Mozambique Channel.

Mixed migration on the Mediterranean Sea

Sybella Wilkes for the High Commissioner for Refugees said that according to UNHCR estimates more than 1,500 people drowned or went missing while attempting to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe in 2011. This made 2011 the deadliest year for this region since UNHCR started to record these statistics in 2006.

Survivors told UNHCR staff harrowing stories of being forced onboard by armed guards, particularly during April and May in Libya. They then undertook the journey on unseaworthy vessels with refugee and migrant passengers often forced to skipper boats themselves. In addition, some survivors told UNHCR that fellow passengers beat and tortured them. Judicial investigations were ongoing in Italy following these reports.

The majority of last year's arrivals by sea landed in Italy (56,000, of whom 28,000 were Tunisian) while Malta and Greece received 1,574 and 1,030 respectively. The vast majority arrived in the first half of the year. Most were migrants, not asylum- seekers.

She said that UNHCR welcomed the ongoing efforts of the Italian, Maltese and Libyan authorities to aid boats in distress in the Mediterranean and called on all shipmasters in the Mediterranean, one of the busiest stretches of water in the world, to remain vigilant and to carry out their duty of rescuing vessels in distress.

Somalia

Jumbe Omari Jumbe said the International Organization for Migration had, together with partners, now provided transport assistance to 100,000 Somalis fleeing into Kenya and Ethiopia because of war and famine over the last eight months. This translated to half of all of those in Ethiopian camps.

Transporting people out of severely over-crowded camps and centres had been vital because the congested conditions were dangerous for refugees' health and well-being, he explained. And the support offered to new arrivals had allowed them to complete their journey despite exhaustion, illness and lack of food and water after spending many weeks travelling on foot. In Ethiopia, IOM had also been assisting to reunite separated families in the camps, he added.

He answered a question by noting that insecurity had limited the ability of the IOM to transport refugees in some locations, though he also explained that they continued strongly in other areas, even though the numbers of arrivals had dropped considerably.

CITES

Juan Carlos Vasquez for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species said an entirely new Enforcement Support Team had been recruited to help countries combat wildlife crime and illegal trade.

The team comprised three staff, he explained, Mr. Janse van Rensburg, Chief of Enforcement Support who was coming from South Africa and had worked for Interpol, Ms. Pia Jonsson, Enforcement Support Officer, coming from Sweden, where she served as an analyst working on policy intelligence activities in the Office of the Prime Minister, and Ms. Liliane Garcia-Ferreira, Enforcement Support Officer, who had been seconded to the Secretariat for 12 months from Brazil, where she served as Senior Environmental Prosecutor in the Office of the Attorney General of Sao Paulo.

A calendar of key dates for CITES this year was available at the back of the room, he said, mentioning in particular the COP16 talks in Bangkok.

He also answered a question saying that the estimated trade arising from wildlife crime was $10 billion each year, excluding timber and fish.

European weather warnings

Clare Nullis for the World Meteorological Organization said many parts of Eastern, Central and Northern Europe had issued alerts about wintry weather, with Serbia putting out an alert at the highest level because of the sub-zero temperatures. One step lower on the scale Bulgaria and Romania had said the weather was dangerous and France, Germany and Switzerland had also advised residents to be ready for any eventuality. The website http://www.meteoalarm.eu/ was good for further details on this, she said.

She also gave details of a new WMO information system that became operational today which would make it easier to find and use meteorological observations and products and share them with new partners such as the research and disaster risk reduction communities.

Clare Nullis answered a question on reports in the British media that no global warming had been recorded in the UK for 15 years saying the WMO official findings, which included data from the British Meteorological Office clearly showed a trend towards warming in that period.

Finally, Ms. Nullis referred to WMO’s Facebook page which conveyed a great deal of information at the following address: https://www.facebook.com/pages/World-Meteorological-Organization/71741701887

Food security

Answering a question Ms. Momal-Vanian said David Nabarro was still serving as the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Food Security and Nutrition and it had been conveyed to his office that there would be interest in him briefing the Geneva press corps.

Geneva activities

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the Committee on the Rights of the Child was to now meet in private until the end of its session on Friday. At its closing meeting (planned for 17:00 on Friday), it would make public its concluding observations on all the reports reviewed.

The Conference on Disarmament was currently holding the second public session of its meeting in 2012.

The ceremony marking the International Holocaust Remembrance Day was held this afternoon at 17:00 in the Assembly Hall of the Palais de Nations, she noted. This would be attended by the Director-General of the United Nations Office in Geneva, a number of ambassadors and Agnes Hirschi, the daughter of Carl Lutz who saved many lives through his position as Swiss Consul in Budapest during the Second World War.

The 50th session of the Commission for Social Development began today in New York, she added, saying work would particularly focus on a report from the Secretary-General which would look at progress towards the Millennium Development Goal of poverty eradication.