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 Human Rights Council, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization.

Syria

Answering a question, Rupert Colville for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said the pictures shown by a British news programme last night (5 March) of alleged torture on patients in Syrian hospitals were truly shocking.

Such gross human rights violations, including torture, under the cloak of emergency legislation, have been documented in Syria since 1963, he said, and the brutality of the country’s security forces was notorious where a number of the security and intelligence agencies were involved in matters beyond their official functions. As such, methods of torture, most of which were known to have been used in Syria over many years, included severe beatings, electric shocks, suspension for long periods by the limbs, psychological torture and routine humiliation, he added.

In this vein, the November 2011 Commission of Inquiry report documented cases of injured people taken to military hospitals where they were beaten and tortured during interrogation, including the Homs Military Hospital (which featured in the film) by security forces dressed as doctors and allegedly acting with the complicity of medical personnel. And as people became afraid of going to public hospitals, makeshift clinics were set up in mosques and private houses, which also became targets, he said.

Individuals suspected by the Government of being involved in setting up and operating alternative medical facilities or providing medical supplies or treatments were also subjected to arrest and torture by the security forces, he said, and according to testimonies, security forces warned the staff of private hospitals and ambulance drivers not to treat or provide assistance to injured protestors, but to transfer them to public or military hospitals.

Other evidence from the February 2012 Commission of Inquiry showed how security agencies continued to systematically arrest wounded patients in State hospitals and to interrogate them, often using torture, he explained, saying some facilities had been transformed into torture centres. On this point he underlined that Article 2(2) of the Convention against Torture states that “no exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.” When widespread and systematic, torture amounts to a crime against humanity.

On whether he could give updated details of the situation he said the Commission of Inquiry on Syria was still active, the team supporting the commissioners was still working, and it was unsure until discussion of their report next week whether the Commission would continue or what their most recently collected information was.

Fadéla Chaib for the World Health Organization (WHO) also commented on the video saying the WHO could not identify the details as they had no representatives on the ground. She stressed, however, that WHO believed that hospitals should remain as a place where people could seek help in a secure environment, where health workers could go about their business neutrally and securely. Very little information from the ground was available, she added, though it was presumed that conditions in hospitals were difficult.

Ms. Momal-Vanian added that the joint United Nations – Arab League envoy Mr. Kofi Annan would visit Cairo and Damascus shortly.

Elisabeth Byrs for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the Under-Secretary-General and Emergency Relief Coordinator would travel to Damascus tomorrow (7 March) and stay until 9 March, while a technical meeting on operational coordination among a number of regional organizations, NGOs and United Nations agencies was to be held in Geneva on Thursday (8 March).

Responding to a number of questions, Sybella Wilkes for the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said as many as 2000 refugees may have crossed into Lebanon at the al Qua border area in the past two days but it was unclear at present how many had remained. The majority were fleeing violence in Al Qusayr, south of Homs and most were accommodated with host families and few families in a mosque in Aarsal. There were conflicting reports of the current situation, she added, with some suggesting that most had returned to Syria and the UNHCR was presently assessing the situation. Prior to Sunday estimates of Syrian displaced in this region was approximately 3000 persons. 7,000 Syrians had been registered since April 2011.

UNHCR and partners were presently verifying the situation and undertaking needs assessments, she said, and essential food and non-food items were being sent to the area to provide support. This included blankets, mattresses, food and hygiene kits. Primary health care was being addressed by the International Medical Corp and Medecin Sans Frontiers, she explained, while a coalition of NGOs had been providing secondary health care support.

On another point Ms. Fadéla Chaib for the World Health Organization (WHO) was asked whether the WHO Director-General had followed up on plans for a mission to Bahrain following reports of torture in hospitals during recent unrest there. She clarified that Dr. Chan had met with the Bahraini health minister during the World Health Assembly and had been invited on a country visit, which as of this time she had no further information on.

Again on Bahrain, Rupert Colville said torture was documented in the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry report (also known as the Bassiouni report). The Special Rapporteur on Torture, Juan Mendez, was due to visit Bahrain this week, but his visit had been postponed. However, it was important to note that the scale of torture in Syria was of another order. The February 2012 Commission of Inquiry report contains an annex listing 38 detention locations in 12 Syrian cities, where the Commission documented cases of torture since March 2011.

Human Rights Council

Rolando Gomez for the Human Rights Council (HRC) said the interactive dialogue with the working group on enforced disappearances continued in the Council today, as well as with the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief, who would be briefing later in the day.

Following this was the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, who was to give an update on his special missions to China, Mexico, South Africa and Madagascar, then a presentation from the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing who would brief on Argentina, Algeria, Israel and the Occupied Arab Territories, followed by interactive discussions with states and NGOs for most of the day.

Later came a presentation from the working group on arbitrary detention, he said, and the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, including details of missions to Maldives and Kenya. Tomorrow came the panel discussion on sexual orientation and gender identities, from 12:00 to 15:00, which was accompanied by a concept paper available online.

After discussing the agenda he also informed correspondents that informal consultations on draft resolutions that were to be eventually tabled were also part of this list, he said, and the deadline for these submissions was 15 March.

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that on Wednesday, 7 March, the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment would be giving a press conference in Press Room 1.

On Thursday (8 March) at 10:30, again in Press Room 1, the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography would brief on the protection of children from sale and sexual exploitation following humanitarian crisis due to natural disasters.

Democratic Republic Of Congo

Fatoumata Lejeune-Kaba for the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said UNHCR was very concerned at the recent displacement of several thousand people as a result of renewed attacks by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Orientale province.

After a lull in the second half of last year, which resulted in improved security conditions for the population in the north of the province, fresh attacks on civilians had been reported during the past few weeks in the territories of Dungu, Faradje, Watsa, Niangara, Bondo and Ango, causing 3,000 people to flee, she said.

In 20 new attacks since the beginning of this year one person was killed and 17 abducted, with abducted civilians often used as porters, while the LRA had forced young women into sexual slavery. The most recent attacks took place in the village of Bagulupa, 55 kilometres east of Dungu, she explained, where the village was attacked on February 10 and again on February 24, forcing most of the inhabitants to flee on foot towards Dungu, the main town of the Haut Uele district. Most of the displaced had moved towards Dungu and to settlements for internally displaced people (IDP) in the area.

According to information gathered by UNHCR field staff, most new arrivals were already displaced by previous LRA attacks, though other civilians could be displaced in areas that humanitarian agencies cannot reach due to insecurity and poor road access, she added. The humanitarian situation of the displaced was harsh, with newly arrived IDPs in and around Dungu sleeping in makeshift settlements and lacked clean drinking water and basic sanitation facilities. The situation of IDPs who fled to remote areas was almost certainly worse, she added.

Answering questions she said that although attacks were unpredictable, and communication was difficult, patrols along refugee routes had helped improve security and clarified it was possible to attribute attacks to the LRA as victims had an awareness of their methods due to previous encounters and had positively identified them.

On the reporting of violent incidents such as this Ms. Momal-Vanian said the spread of the terrain meant it was difficult for the mission on the ground to reach the many groups and quickly give details of problems. She said that a meeting had been held a few weeks ago in Kinshasa where the United Nations and several Central African countries had discussed measures against the LRA.

South Sudan

Fatoumata Lejeune-Kaba for the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said renewed clashes in the disputed border areas between Sudan and South Sudan were prompting more people to seek safety in South Sudan’s Upper Nile state and in western Ethiopia.

Last week, UNHCR staff registered 2,287 new arrivals in the Doro and Jammam refugee sites in Upper Nile, she explained, bringing to more than 80,000 the total number of registered refugees in this region. The refugees were crossing into South Sudan from Sudan’s troubled Blue Nile state and said they fled because of bombardments and the fear of more violence.

In western Ethiopia, UNHCR staff were also seeing a steady flow of new arrivals, mainly from Blue Nile state and were working at establishing a third camp to accommodate the growing Sudanese influx into Ethiopia. The new camp was located in Bambasi and would have the capacity to house up to 20,000 refugees when it was completed later this month.

Meanwhile, the security situation remained precarious in the other disputed border area between South Sudan's Unity state and Sudan’s Southern Kordofan, she added, with bombing reported on 29 February along the western border of Pariang County and on 26 February in the Lake Jau area. The UNHCR was therefore extremely concerned about the safety of people in the nearby Yida refugee settlement, which hosts 16,022 Sudanese.

Recently independent South Sudan now hosts more than 100,000 registered Sudanese refugees from South Kordofan and Blue Nile. Western Ethiopia had so far registered more than 30,000, mainly from Blue Nile, she highlighted.

Answering questions she said Yida was the settlement closest to the border and so was the area of most concern. Humanitarian access was a problem, she also noted, saying aeroplanes were being used for transport and the problem of landmines remained. Getting enough aid to the places where it was most needed ahead of the rainy season was a challenge.

Mali

Jumbe Omari Jumbe for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that in partnership with UNHCR, IOM had started the safe and orderly relocation of up to 5,000 Malian refugees and Nigerien returnees from their current location at Chinegodar on the Niger-Mali border, to Ouallam, a district of Niger.

The place was remote and inhospitable with no roads or communication infrastructure, making the provision of basic services a challenge to humanitarian organizations. In addition, its proximity to the border made it a continuing security hazard - hence the need to relocate the displaced far from the border areas, he explained.

Following a request from UNHCR the IOM had organized 30 trucks and buses for the daily transportation of the displaced between Chinegodar and Ouallam, a distance of 195 km. Each truck would carry 30 passengers, who include women, children, the sick and the elderly.

Migration Emergency Funding Mechanism

Jumbe Omari Jumbe for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said the United States government had announced a contribution of $2.5 million to the International Organization for Migration's newly-established Migration Emergency Funding Mechanism (MEFM).

The cash was the first donation to the new funding mechanism established by the IOM Council in December 2011 to reinforce IOM's operational and emergency response capacity by providing the organization with funds to bridge the gap between the period when an emergency occurs and when donor funding was received, he said.

UNICEF: Water, sanitation and hygiene

Patrick McCormick for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said award-winning singer-songwriter Lenny Kravitz had agreed to support UNICEF and its partners in their global push to improve the lives of millions of children by providing them with access to safe water and adequate sanitation. The singer was to use Facebook and Twitter to spread details of the campaign.

Geneva activities

Ms. Momal-Vanian said the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination yesterday finished reviewing the report of Italy, which was the last item of the agenda for its session. The Committee concluded its work Friday and should make public its concluding observations on the 10 reports reviewed. The Committee considered, since the opening of the session, reports from Mexico, Israel, Kuwait, Portugal, Vietnam, Canada, Turkmenistan, Laos, Qatar, Jordan and Italy.

The Conference on Disarmament held a public meeting this morning.

She also mentioned that the round table “Communicating to women on global issues” was held today (6 March) in Room XII of the Palais des Nations, Geneva at 16.00, in conjunction with International Women’s Day (8 March). A copy of the message from the Secretary-General marking the day was available at the back of the room.

Hans von Rohland for the International Labour Organization (ILO) gave details of another event to mark the day, a panel discussion on employment of women in rural areas to be held on 8 March from 12:30 to 14:30 in the Room of the Administrative Council at ILO Headquarters. Speakers included the Coordinator for Agriculture of the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Association, the Chief Executive Officer of Federation of Swaziland Employers and Chamber of Commerce and the Minister of Labour and Social Security, Barbados.

Fadéla Chaib for the World Health Organization (WHO) said a WHO book called “The evolving threat of antimicrobial resistance: Options for action,” was to be launched which gave examples from a number of countries on the threat of microbial resistance and detailed the work of pharmaceutical companies on the issue. A discussion between a number of experts was planned on Thursday (8 March), and was to be held at the World Health Organization Headquarters from 14:00 to 15:30 in Room B.