REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Corinne Momal-Vanian, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was attended by the Spokespersons for the United Nations Refugee Agency, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, World Health Organization, United Nations Children’s Fund, and the Food and Agriculture Organization.
Gaza
Ms. Momal-Vanian informed that the Secretary-General was in Gaza today and had met this morning with the Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of national consensus, Ziad Abu Amr. The Secretary-General said that he was moved by the destruction which he had seen. He felt nevertheless that there was a sense of hope because of the formation of the Government of national consensus and the arrival of the first trucks which had been let in under the tripartite mechanism. The Secretary-General talked of the UN showing solidarity with the people of Gaza.
The Secretary-General would also hold a townhall meeting with UN staff today and salute the sacrifice made by those who had died during the conflict. He would pay tribute to the work done throughout the conflict by UN staff to deliver essential services to the people of Gaza.
Later, the Secretary-General would visit a UNDP fishery project, a UNRWA school in Gibaliya and would meet with IDPs. Before leaving Israel to travel back to New York, the Secretary-General would visit a kibbutz in southern Israel whose inhabitants had had to endure rocket fire during the conflict.
On the question what the Secretary-General’s position was on the international recognition of Palestine, in the context of the vote by the British Parliament, Ms. Momal-Vanian said that his position on that issue was well known. The Secretary-General did not comment on sovereign decisions of Member States.
Christian Lindmeier, for the World Health Organization (WHO), stated that, in the wake of the donor conference over the previous weekend, WHO had appealed for USD 8.7 million in order to rejuvenate and improve Gaza’s health system. That would be part of a USD 45.1 million project to repair and enhance Gaza’s health care system. According to a preliminary survey, 67 health facilities had been damaged to varying degrees. There was a whole range of trauma patients both during the conflict, and after the hostilities ceased. That has caused the stocks of essential medicine and the health staff to be exhausted. Mr. Lindmeier said that 2,145 people had been killed during the conflict, and 11,231 had been injured, of whom 10 per cent were likely to have long-term or permanent injuries. It had been estimated that up to 20 percent of Gaza’s population, or some 360,000 people, could need treatment for mental-health disorders in the wake of the hostilities. There was a shortage of mental health services before the conflict, which was even more urgent now.
Ebola
Tarik Jašareviæ, for the World Health Organization (WHO), informed that the virtual press conference would take place at the India room of the WHO today at 2 p.m. Dr. Bruce Aylward would provide an overview on the response to the outbreak of Ebola and on progress towards the objective to have 70 percent patients in treatment centres and to conduct 70 percent burials safely. The facts which would be delivered could be used to measure the success of the response in the previous and upcoming months.
The press conference was scheduled to last for one hour, but the actual duration would depend on questions asked. As always, a transcript of the conference plus a video and audio file would be provided subsequently.
Christophe Boulierac, for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), briefed on a conference on Ebola survivors in Sierra Leone that would take place on 16 and 17 October at Kenema, in the South East of Sierra Leone. The event is being organized by the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs, with support from UNICEF, the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The conference would include a meeting between Ebola survivors from Sierra Leone and practitioners in psychosocial and health mental support. The main idea of the conference was to find out the story from survivors, to provide them with Psychosocial support and mobilize them as helpers and advocates in communities.
Mr. Boulierac underlined that the conference was a pilot project that would gather 35 Ebola survivors who had developed immunity to the virus. The conference aimed to discuss on how Ebola survivors could be involved in the fight against Ebola virus, in caring for quarantined persons in communities and in treatment centers.
A key challenge faced by parents, care, health and humanitarian working on Ebola response was to care about children affected or infected with Ebola. One creative way to address this was to build a pool of Ebola survivors who could provide those children the attention they needed.
The first day of the conference would consist of sharing information between survivors and practitioners about the immunized status and to promote psychosocial well-being. The second day would focus on how to turn them into advisors for their community. The conference was an innovative move to enlist people immune to Ebola in Sierra Leone in the fight against the disease.
Mr. Boulierac noted that a recent survey on 1,400 households across Sierra Leone had found that Ebola survivors were facing high level of stigma, shame and discrimination from communities, and that was undermining their ability to recover. According to that survey, about 96 percent of households reported discriminatory attitude towards people with confirmed or suspected Ebola, while 76 percent of people said they would not welcome back in their community someone who had recovered from the Ebola virus.
Answering to a question about the number of survivors participating at the conference, Mr. Boulierac underlined that that conference was a pilot project, and that the 35 survivors were from Kemena. He also reminded that it was expected that 2,500 survivors would be trained over the following six months. The conference was the first initiative, and should be followed by many others of that kind. A lot of clarifications would also be tackled during these two first pilot days
With regard to the situation of survivors, Mr. Jašareviæ said that many survivors were facing stigmatization at home and knew what it was like to be in the ward. Some of them, especially those with health background, had immediately engaged as health workers. In Liberia they were trying to get organized in an association. WHO was working together with UNICEF on how best to use survivors ready and willing to join the response.
On the number of survivors in the three most affected countries, Mr. Jašareviæ would need to check for the precise current figure.
Mr. Jašareviæ specified that surviving Ebola provided immunity to survivors to the particular species of Ebola, in this case the Zaire strain.
It was clarified that the person who had died in Leipzig this morning was a UN Volunteer working at UN Mission in Liberia. WHO at the moment could evacuate only its own workers.
Answering a question, Mr. Jašareviæ stated that 42 days was the period to declare the end of the epidemics in any country, which was twice the time of incubation. Senegal and Nigeria were approaching this timeframe, which should happen in the coming days.
Syria/Iraq
Melissa Fleming, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), stated that the latest ISIS offensive on the city of Hit in Iraq’s Anbar province had triggered another wave of internal displacement in central Iraq, while the north of Iraq received a surge in the numbers of Syrians fleeing Kobane in Syria, via Turkey.
In the previous few days, after its capture by ISIS and affiliated armed groups over the weekend, an estimated 180,000 people had fled from Hit, 180 km from Baghdad, and the surrounding areas. The city’s mostly Sunni residents, as well as other Iraqis who had found refuge there in the past, fled to Ramadi, Khaldiya, Hadithat, Rawa, Ana, Amiryah Rahaliya, and other places in Anbar province, as well as further afield to Kerbala and Baghdad. Many were sheltering with relatives and friends, as well as in schools, mosques and public shelters that were already hosting Iraq’s mounting numbers of internally displaced.
Until recently, Hit had been a safe haven for those who had fled earlier waves of violence in Ramadi, Fallujah and other parts of Anbar, providing shelter for some 100,000 displaced people. The exodus from Hit represented the fourth major wave of displacement in less than a year in Iraq, and for many of those caught up in it, it was the 2nd, 3rd or even 4th time that they had had to flee since January. Tens of thousands of desperate Iraqis were now caught in a rolling wave of multiple displacement amidst the conflict’s shifting frontlines.
Ms. Fleming said that the UNHCR field staff had met with some of them while conducting a rapid needs assessment in western Baghdad the previous day. Among them was a 30-year-old woman, originally from Ramadi, who had just fled from Hit with her elderly mother and disabled brother. The family had been displaced three times since January, fleeing the advance of ISIS throughout Anbar. They had first fled to Khaldiya where they had stayed eight months, then fled to Hit for a month, before running for their lives once more in the previous few days.
Another 27-year-old woman with two young children had fled her home town of Hit after her husband had been killed by shelling. Although afraid to leave the house, she was even more afraid of the impact of new ISIS rules on herself and her children if she stayed, having heard stories from relatives in Al Qaim and other places in Anbar already overrun by the group. After a long 14-hour journey to Baghdad via Kerbala, she was now staying with relatives. Those families joined the ranks of Baghdad’s existing 75,000 displaced people whose key concerns included shelter, health care and finding a source of income, and added to the estimated 1.8 million citizens who had been internally displaced throughout the country in 2014.
UNHCR was sending mattresses, jerry cans, blankets and other relief items to Ramadi, Kerbala, Abu Greihb and the west of Baghdad city where displaced people had fled. However, humanitarian access to large parts of Anbar province was extremely limited by the ongoing conflict.
Ms. Fleming added that meanwhile in northern Iraq, an increasing number of Syrian Kurds from Kobane were seeking shelter in Dohuk province, having crossed the border from Turkey. The previous week, the Kurdish authorities had opened the Ibrahim Khalil border, near Zakho, easing the journey for the steady stream of people who had had to pay smugglers USD 250 each to cross.
Some 5,400 Syrians from Kobane had now entered Iraq, including 3,600 people in the last 72 hours. Another 10,000 to 15,000 people were expected to cross in the coming days.
The Syrians cited various reasons for moving on from Turkey. Those include civil unrest; the high cost of living; difficulties with aid - especially with the looming winter; and family links to people already living in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
Upon arrival in Iraq, the asylum-seekers were screened by border authorities and transferred by IOM to Gawilan camp, set up a year earlier for previous waves of Syrian refugees. But the camp had reached its capacity the previous day, and new arrivals from today onwards would be taken to the Arbat refugee camp in Suleymaniyah province, which could host an additional 7,000 people. Plans were already under discussion with the authorities to expand the Darashakran camp in Erbil province, if more people were to come. UNHCR was also setting up a reception centre at the Ibrahim Khalil border to protect the new arrivals from the elements while they were screened by border officials. UNHCR protection teams and its partners were at the border to identify particularly vulnerable people.
Ms. Fleming reminded that Iraq already hosted some 214,000 Syrian refugees with the vast majority residing in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The more than 1.8 million internally displaced people in 2014 added to almost one million existing internally displaced people who had fled violence in previous years.
Asked about what was going on inside Hit now, Ms. Fleming said that an estimated 180,000 people had left, but she did not have precise figures on how many had stayed behind. Displaced people who had fled several times were now being forced to flee again. UNHCR was doing its best to help, but the situation for all UN workers and partners on the ground was extremely difficult. It was becoming increasingly difficult to even assess the number of people in need.
On the changing demographic image of Iraq, Ms. Fleming said that the UNHCR was hugely disturbed that Iraq’s traditionally rich mosaic was being disrupted and crashed. Iraq used to nurture many different minority groups for centuries, and it was an absolute tragedy to see them being uprooted and pushed away.
Mr. Lindmeier added that the WHO was supporting the Directorate of Health in the Anbar province with half a ton of medical supplies, including for chronical diseases. WHO had also supported the Directorate in Dohuk.
Central African Republic
Ms. Fleming said that the UNHCR was alarmed at the recent outbreak of violence in parts of the Central African Republic’s capital Bangui, targeting civilians, humanitarian workers and United Nations peacekeepers. The latest surge in attacks had badly hampered humanitarian activities.
The recent unrest had been reportedly sparked by a grenade attack in Gobongo in the 4th district of Bangui on 7 October that had killed four people. The alleged attacker, a presumed Seleka member, had been caught by an angry mob and was believed to have been killed. Those events had been followed by attacks on civilians that had left around nine civilians dead and 55 people injured.
Although some shops had reopened since the weekend and traffic had resumed since 13 October, the situation in Bangui still remained tense.
Ms. Fleming said that the UNHCR had received initial reports of over 6,500 people being newly displaced, but the number could be much higher as the UNHCR had been unable to confirm figures without access to the displacement sites in the city and surrounding areas. The recent episode of unrest in Bangui represented a disturbing trend of attacks on humanitarian workers who were trying to access and assist displaced populations in Bangui and its suburbs.
UNHCR was, once again, calling on all parties involved in the conflict to respect humanitarian work and allow unhindered humanitarian access to relief agencies working to support thousands of displaced people in desperate need. UNHCR reiterated the call of the UN Senior Humanitarian Coordinator in CAR that the joint efforts were aimed to help the most vulnerable people based on the principle of humanitarian impartiality.
Ms. Fleming specified that there were some 410,000 internally displaced persons in the Central African Republic, including over 60,000 in 34 sites in Bangui. Around 420,000 CAR refugees had fled to the neighbouring countries.
World Food Day
Xiangjun Yao, for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), stated that World Food Day would be commemorated on 16 October. This year’s event would emphasize the crucial role played by family farming and farmers on an international scale, under the title “Family Farming: Key to Ending Hunger and Rural Poverty.” The event would be in collaboration with the local family farmers of the Geneva region providing fresh products and the opening of a photography exhibition on family farming. Those speaking included Michael Møller, Acting Director-General of UNOG, Ehadj As Sy, Secretary-General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and Ms. Xiangun Yao, Chief of FAO Office in Geneva.
Ms. Yao explained the origin of World Food Day by stating that the day had been “established in 1980 by the UN General Assembly to show solidarity with people suffering from hunger and to raise the awareness and important of food and nutrition security to all.” This year’s topic of family farming reflected the decision of the UN General Assembly to designate 2014 as the “International Year of Family Farming.” That method of farming provided food and nutrition security, improved small householder livelihoods, protected the environment and achieved sustainable development in particular rural areas.
An estimated 805 million people in the world still did not have enough to eat and 63 developing countries had reached the Millennium Development Goal hunger target of halving the proportion of chronic undernourishment. Clearly, a lot more still needed to be done. Despite being one of the world’s largest employers, farmers were faced with major constraints such as limited access to resources, land, and/or education. They were also vulnerable to risks including diseases, droughts or floods. By now 70 per cent of the world’s food insecure populations lived in rural areas. A strong political commitment, a holistic approach, social participation and a family farming system would help win the war against hunger.
Ms. Yao said that family farming was an extremely beneficial factor on a local and global scale. It helped stabilize economies, bettered the nutrition on a grand scale and equalized the work distribution throughout women and children. It was a win-win situation: when family famers were stronger, there was more food available locally translating into more food security. Around 500 million of the world’s 570 million farms were run by families.
The 2014 World Food Day event would take place at the Palais des Nations at Door 40 – E building on the second floor at 1:00 p.m. The various presentations, local farming product distribution and photography exhibition, would help the public visualize the value-added of family farming’s multidisciplinary activities that covered agriculture, livestock, forestry and fisheries. The event would underline the importance of family farming in feeding a world population that would likely reach 9 billion people by 2050.
WHO Updates
Mr. Lindmeier, making a statement on behalf of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, said that the agency had launched the fourth edition of the European Code Against Cancer with the participation of the European Commission. Based on the best available scientific evidence, the new code provided 12 ways to adopt healthier lifestyle and boost cancer prevention across Europe. The Code was the result of two years of collaborative work between cancer specialists and other experts from across the European Union.
Mr. Lindmeier reminded that the 6th session of the Conference of the Parties on the WHO framework of tobacco control was ongoing in Moscow. Both the FCTC and the WHO had been posting updates. The closing press conference was expected to take place at the end of the day on 18 October. WHO would forward any specific updates that might occur.
Mr. Lindmeier reported two additional cases of MERS and one death in Saudi Arabia. The total figures reported stood at 855 laboratory confirmed cases of infection and 302 related deaths. Two updates remained pending. At the time of the briefing the WHO was still evaluating older figures. At least six new cases had been reported between 4 and 11 October. It was stated that none of the new cases had been attributed to the Haj. A team of three experts had been dispatched to Saudi Arabia and worked with the local authorities in preparation of the Haj.
Geneva activities
Ms. Momal-Vanian informed that the Human Rights Committee was completing its consideration of Malta this morning, after which it would start considering the report of Montenegro. The report of Israel would be on the agenda the following week, on 20 October.
The Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) would commence its three-week long session on 21 October, during which it would consider reports of Venezuela, Poland, China, Ghana, Belgium, Brunei Darussalam, Guinea and the Solomon Islands.
FAO would hold a press conference on humanitarian situation in Somalia today, at 3:30 p.m. in Press Room I. The speaker would be Luca Alinovi, FAO's Representative in Somalia.
High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein would hold his first press conference at Palais des Nations, in Press Room III, on 16 October at 11 a.m.
Catherine Sibut, for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), provided an update on the World Investment Forum (WIF) which was taking place at the Palais des Nations from 13 to 16 October. Today, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m, there would be a session of the World Leaders’ Investment Summit I - Investing in Sustainable Development: Vision and Roadmap.
Ms. Sibut presented five more women finalists for EMPRETEC Women in Business Award 2014, and showed a short video featuring them. Three criteria for deciding the EMPRETEC winner would be innovation, leadership, and impact on the local community. The award ceremony would take place in Room XX on 15 October at 6:30 p.m. Names of all ten finalists can be found at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B31z6O0eNqMZWjJiZVdjTVo3dEE/view?usp=sharing (English), while the videos can be seen at: http://youtu.be/MOzHMZ4PbcY and http://youtu.be/T1C5UxPhCs8
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Spokespersons for the International Labour Organization, International Organization for Migration and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs were also present, but did not brief.
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The webcast for this briefing is available here: … http://bit.ly/1yyshQW