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 High Commissioner for Refugees, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the World Food Programme, the International Telecommunications Union, the World Meteorological Organization, the International Organization for Migration and the World Health Organization.

Somalia

Elisabeth Byrs for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the combination of the massive scale-up in humanitarian assistance and an exceptional harvest had helped to improve the humanitarian situation in Somalia to the point where famine conditions were no longer present. She stressed, however, that any significant interruption to assistance would reverse the gains made since last July.

These conclusions were included in the analysis released today (3 February) by the Food and Agricultural Organization's Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU) and the Famine Early Warning System (FEWS NET), she said. She also noted that the UN humanitarian coordinator for Somalia had also said that 2.3 million people were still in need for assistance, 1.7 million of these in the south of the country.

The 2011 appeal for Somalia was financed at 84 per cent and this year it currently sat at just five per cent. This again underscored the need to continue the work done so as not to lose the gains already made, she explained.

Answering questions she said that Somalia remained in a humanitarian emergency and the crisis was not over. And the ongoing ban on aid agencies such as the International Committee of the Red Cross remained a deep concern, and would leave many Somalis vulnerable.

Gaëlle Sévenier for the World Food Programme (WFP) added that although it was good news that conditions in Somalia had eased, millions were still in need of food assistance and the WFP would continue to feed one million people each month.

Answering a question Marixie Mercado for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that UNICEF had over 100 partners across Somalia and were working everywhere they could. She added that UNICEF figures showed there were still over 320,000 children acutely malnourished and among the IDP population in Mogadishu the death rates among children were still above the famine threshold.

Adrian Edwards for the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said the improved farming prospects in parts of Somalia had prompted some 7,000 Somali refugees in Ethiopia and Kenya to temporarily return home, mainly returning to the previously famine-affected Bay, Bakool, Gedo and Banadir regions.

In the face of the large movement of people UNHCR staff had been cautioning refugees who wish to return about risks they may face en route, he said, and were planning to distribute some emergency assistance to needy returnees in the border area towns of Dhobley, Bulo Barwago, Diif and a number of surrounding villages.

He continued by saying that although famine and drought conditions had indeed eased, insecurity continues to cause displacement within the country, with more than 49,000 Somalis uprooted in December and January, half of them for security reasons. This had brought UNHCR estimates of the total number of internally displaced Somalis to 1.36 million.

He also gave an update on last week’s warning from the agency of several suspected polio cases, which after testing was shown to be a false alarm. However, a routine polio immunization campaign for Somali State in Ethiopia was planned for next week.

Giving context to the situation he said that more than 293,000 Somali refugees had fled conflict and famine into the neighbouring countries of Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Yemen since January last year.

South Sudan

Rupert Colville for the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said the High Commissioner for Human Rights was very concerned about the latest killing in Warrap state in South Sudan, where a deadly cattle raid left at least 78 people dead, nine missing and 72 wounded. Reportedly, three quarters of those killed were women and children and the county commissioner had informed a United Nations team that nearly 70,000 cattle were stolen in the raid.

This was extremely worrying, he explained, as now around 40,000 people were left without a livelihood and there was a shortage of food, water and medicine for those displaced by the attack, most of who belong to the Luac Jang tribe. He therefore called on all relevant authorities to ensure that measures were taken to help secure the economic and social rights of those affected by the incident, which was supposedly carried out by men from neighbouring Unity State. The OHCHR continued to investigate, though access was difficult, he said.

Answering questions he noted this was nothing to do with the events in Jonglei, which was some distance away, and the attackers’ identity was unclear. The area was highly favoured for cattle grazing and the aggression on this occasion seems to have been particularly targeted on the Luac Jang village.

Jean Philippe Chauzy for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that the IOM Director-General arrived in Juba yesterday (2 February) to meet South Sudanese authorities for discussions on the preparations needed for the return and reintegration of South Sudanese who remain in the North. He also took the opportunity to offer assurances of the IOMs ongoing support for reintegration and repatriation programmes, he explained.

An estimated 2.5 million people had returned to South Sudan and there were an estimated 500,000 still in Khartoum and elsewhere in the north. To date, IOM had provided transport assistance to over 52,000 stranded returnees by road and river barges. Aerial returns of vulnerable people also continued.

The Director-General would tomorrow visit Pibor, the scene of ethnic violence in recent weeks, where IOM had sent four convoys of non-food relief items.

Syria

Answering a question, Rupert Colville for the High Commissioner for Human Rights said that conditions in Syria were not improving, and could in fact be getting worse. Furthermore his office was unable to give updates on casualties as it had done previously as it was now too difficult to effectively verify any figures. The last number issued was back in December 2011 and referred to 5,000 people killed.

Responding to another question, Ms. Momal-Vanian added that the Secretary-General had stated that he hoped the Security Council could take a common position so that an immediate end to this bloodshed could be brought about and the urgent aspirations of the Syrian people could be realized.

Democratic Republic of Congo

Adrian Edwards for the High Commissioner for Refugees said that UNHCR was alarmed by recent reports that internally displaced people had been tortured and killed by armed elements in the internally displaced person (IDP) camps of North Kivu province in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In addition, he explained that displaced Congolese were constantly threatened by various groups and militias who accused them of collaborating with one armed group or another. And on 13 December last year, seven IDPs were beaten to death because they had refused to take part in forced labour imposed by the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR). UNHCR had also received reports of IDPs being tortured.

Ongoing violence was also hindering humanitarian access to the camps and preventing aid workers from protecting and assisting the displaced people with only eight IDP camps out of 31 are accessible to humanitarian workers without military escort, he said.

UNHCR therefore called on all parties to respect the civilian character of IDP sites in North Kivu, he said, and appealed to provincial authorities to increase security in and around the camps.

He further explained that there were nearly 79,000 displaced Congolese currently living in 31 IDP camps in North Kivu. Many of them had no hope of going home in the near future due to continued insecurity and renewed fighting.

Philippines

Elisabeth Byrs for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the appeal for the victims of the Philippines cyclone Washi had been revised and the figure sought was now $39 million. This funding would be used to assist more than 300,000 people in the next six months, she said.





World Freerice week

Gaélle Sévenier for the World Food Programme (WFP) said that the WFP was encouraging Freerice players to use their social networks to bring food to the world's most vulnerable populations by recruiting six friends to the online game next week.

Under the theme of "6 Degrees of Freerice," which echoed the theory of six degrees of separation, players were being asked to invite friends to play the online trivia games at Freerice.com during World Freerice Week to help feed the hungry.

Explaining the Freerice project she said that with each correct answer to a set of trivia questions, ten grains of rice were donated to WFP, paid for by sponsored banners on the site. Players could choose from 45,000 questions in a range of subjects, including flags of the world, chemistry and literature, and in six languages.

Freerice currently had over one million registered players, who together had donated nearly 100 billion grains of rice to feed almost five million people since the game's launch in 2007, she said. Players spent an average of eleven minutes on the site with each visit and 10 per cent had returned over 200 times.

Extreme weather

Clare Nullis for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said nearly all of Europe from Scandanavia down to the Mediterranean was now gripped by a cold spell which began in Russia at the end of January and now moved progressively west and had now reached Western Europe in the last few days.

The weather system stopped warmer weather from approaching and this had effectively left Europe subject to Siberian conditions. In addition, cold air was coming down from the North adding to snowfall over South-Eastern Europe. Although the conditions were not the worst seen in recent times, records could be broken in some locations, she said.

Wood as a renewable energy

Jean Rodriguez for the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) said a UNECE report had confirmed wood as the primary source of renewable energy in Europe. Wood energy accounts for 3 per cent of the total primary energy supply and 47 per cent of the renewable energy supply in the UNECE region in 2009, confirming its role as the leading source of renewable energy, he said.

The report also showed how residential use, mainly dependent on direct supplies of firewood was prevalent in South and Central Europe with Serbia, France, the Czech Republic, Italy, Lithuania, Germany, Austria and Switzerland reporting this category as their primary use for electricity and heating. Between 2005 and 2009 the amount of wood used for energy purposes grew annually by 2.7 per cent, he explained.

Malaria

Gregory Härtl for the World Health Organization (WHO) answered a question on recent reports which showed that the global figures for malaria were falling, saying they reflected the work being done in endemic countries. Asked about WHO figures on the disease recently published in the medical journal the Lancet, he noted that they were the result of different methodologies, including the Lancet’s use of verbal autopsies, which did not include a physical diagnosis. The WHO therefore stood by its use of its own figures, and he reiterated the need for future work on the accuracy and consistency of data, he said.

Sri Lankan migrants in Togo

Jean Philippe Chauzy for the International Organization for Migration said a group of 28 Sri Lankan migrants hoping to get as far as Canada who had been living in very difficult conditions in a stadium in Lomé, Togo since November had been given IOM assistance to return home. Other members of the over 200-strong group who had yet to leave or undertake alternative arrangements were having their needs assessed by IOM and partners, he said.

Geneva activities

Ms. Momal-Vanian confirmed that the Committee on the Rights of the Child concluded a three-week session today and would hold its final session at 17:00, making public its concluding observations on the seven countries examined. The concluding observations should be available on the webpage of the session, and the address would be indicated in the final press release to be issued later in the day, she said.

She continued saying the Conference on Disarmament was to start its next meeting next Tuesday and would run to March 30. In addition the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women were to begin on February 13.

She also announced a special panel discussion on the report of the Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Global Sustainability on Monday (6 February) at 11:00 in Room XX. This important document would help to shape policy making for years to come, she explained, and served as a vital contribution to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in June 2012. Participants included the former President of Switzerland, the Executive Secretary of the High-level Panel and the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Federation of Migros Cooperatives, she said.

Ms. Momal-Vanian added that a second report would also be launched on Monday (6 February), “The World Youth Report”. It was under strict embargo until Monday 6 February, 15:00 local time. The report contained details of youth concerns over employment prospects, she said, and interview opportunities were available.

Gregory Härtl for the World Health Organization said that tomorrow (4 February) was World Cancer Day. Giving some context to the awareness raising event he said that in 2008, 7.6 million people died of cancer, making it one of the leading causes of death worldwide and these figures were projected to increase by 45 per cent between 2008 and 2030. He also explained that 30 per cent of all cancer deaths could be avoided by a change of lifestyle and more healthy behaviours.

He further mentioned the World Day against Female Genital Mutilation on Monday (6 February) saying there were no specific events planned by the WHO though he recommended an expert and gave her contact details. Jean Philippe Chauzy for the International Organization for Migration also mentioned the Day saying the IOM was joining with partners to call for the strengthening of the legislative framework around the practice and a culture change amongst communities in destination countries.

Answering questions Mr. Härtl said the recent consultation on oral contraception had produced a revised guidance which would now have to be approved by the WHO guideline review committee on February 15, with the results available soon after.

Muriel Scibilia for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) announced a press conference by the Secretary-General of UNCTAD on Tuesday at 11:45 in Room III on his report ahead of the UNCTAD XIII meeting in Qatar in the last week of April. The meeting was held every four years and had two functions, she explained, to hold a high-level debate on questions on the global economy and to stage a platform for negotiation for the work of UNCTAD in the next four years. The speakers for the press conference were yet to be confirmed and more details would be available shortly.

Sanjay Acharya for the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) gave an update on three decisions made during the World Telecommunications Conference. The first was an extension of the existing allocation of bandwidth to the meteorological-satellite service after mission requirements for next-generation meteorological satellites clearly showed a need to transmit higher data rates compared to current systems, he said.

The second was to make no additional allocation to the mobile-satellite service in both the Earth-to-space and space-to-Earth directions, in the frequency range 4-16 GHz. Thirdly, the Conference decided that the use of the frequency bands between 275 and 1000 GHz by passive services (sensors flying on meteorological and environmental satellites) did not preclude use of their range by active services. All frequencies in the 1000-3000 GHz range could be used by both active and passive services.

Answering questions he said that discussions on issues related to 4G mobile services were still ongoing, and that there would be a press conference on 17 February at midday in Room III.