REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Corinne Momal-Vanian, Director, United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was also attended by Spokespersons for the International Labour Organization, the International Organization for Migration, the Inter Parliamentary Union, the International Trade Centre, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization, the World Meteorological Organization and the World Trade Organization.

Ukraine

Ms. Momal-Vanian noted that both the Secretary-General and the Security Council expressed serious concern about the violence in Ukraine and asked for full implementation of the Minsk Protocol.

Rupert Colville, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said more than 5,000 people had now been killed since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine in mid-April last year. The significant escalation of hostilities in Ukraine since 13 January had taken the total death toll in the country to at least 5,086 – and OHCHR feared that the real figure may be considerably higher. At least 10,948 people had also been wounded between mid-April last year and 21 January 2015.

In just nine days, between 13 and 21 January, at least 262 people were killed due to the hostilities. That was an average of at least 29 people killed per day. That had been the most deadly period since the declaration of a ceasefire on 5 September, said Mr. Colville.

In addition to the intense fighting and shelling in the Donetsk region, particularly around the airport where tanks and heavy artillery had reportedly been used by both sides, shelling had also been reported in several towns of Luhansk region. The killing of civilians when an artillery shell hit a bus stopping for passengers in the Leninskyi district of Donetsk yesterday has brought into stark focus the impact of the ongoing hostilities on civilians. That was the second bus to have been struck, with significant casualties, in the last 10 days, said Mr. Colville.

OHCHR was concerned about the lack of implementation of the 12 provisions of the Minsk Protocol and the continuing presence of foreign fighters in the east, allegedly including servicemen from the Russian Federation, as well as the presence of heavy and sophisticated weaponry in populated areas under the control of armed groups. Civilians held or trapped in those areas were subject to a total lack of respect for human rights and the rule of law, said Mr. Colville. OHCHR reminded all parties to the conflict that international humanitarian law prohibited the targeting of civilians and required that all necessary measures be taken to ensure the safety and protection of civilians, and that the principles of military necessity, distinction, proportionality and precaution be strictly respected.

OHCHR was also concerned about the impact on civilians of the recent decision by the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine to restrict movement in and out of the areas controlled by armed groups. As of 21 January, people travelling to and from those areas needed to obtain special passes and provide documents to justify the need to travel. Those limitations were worrying, especially in light of the escalating hostilities. It added to concerns created by the Government decision in November 2014 to discontinue providing State services in the territories controlled by armed groups. The introduction of such restrictions would likely have a severe effect on the most vulnerable groups, such as older people, mothers with children and people with disabilities who may depend heavily on social benefits. OHCHR urged Ukrainian authorities to take immediate steps to redress this situation.

Karin de Gruijl, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that UNHCR was concerned that Ukrainian government regulations were undermining humanitarian agencies ability to help people in need. New security clearance procedures had been put in place and specific documentation was now required to pass through checkpoints in the east of Ukraine. The new procedures applied to Ukrainian nationals, the United Nations, NGOs, national and some other international humanitarian organisations, said Ms. De Gruijl.

The restrictions on movements within Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the east of the country further complicated an already difficult situation for those forcibly displaced and made worse by the intensified fighting seen in recent days. The practices restricted access to non-government controlled areas and limited the delivery of needed humanitarian assistance into the conflict zones. The Ukrainian Government had reportedly adopted a resolution, which entered into force on Thursday 22 January, to limit all movements in and out of the conflict zones. UNHCR had already experienced obstructions on a number of occasions prior to the resolution coming into force when attempting to deliver aid in the east, noted Ms. De Gruijl.

The new measures came on top of existing Government resolutions restricting funding of any government institution and relating to services in “temporarily uncontrolled territory”. The regulations were creating additional displacement by forcing some vulnerable people to leave their homes and register as an internally displaced person (IDPs) in order to receive pensions and other social benefit payments. It also deepened the humanitarian suffering in non-government controlled areas by cutting people off from their pensions, life-saving services and isolates people living in institutions. UNHCR was concerned that the plight of people living in non-government controlled areas was worsening by the day and the conditions were being created for a major humanitarian crisis, said Ms. De Gruijl.

Ms. De Gruijl recalled that UNHCR established a presence in Donetsk in late December as a part of a wider United Nations initiative to meet the acute needs in the region following security assurances received from the de facto authorities. Since the third week of December UNHCR had managed to provide some aid in Donetsk. It included blankets, jackets and reinforced plastic sheets for fast temporary repairs of damaged windows and roofs. UNHCR had placed a small number of staff in Donetsk to provide further assistance ahead of February, one of the coldest months in Ukraine. UNHCR had prepositioned a further 3,500 blankets, 3,500 bed linen kits and 7,000 towels in Donetsk. So far this year UNHCR had managed to deliver to 2,800 vulnerable IDPs residing in five Donetsk collective centres. Similar aid had been provided to the Donetsk city hospital that served most of the affected population.

According to the Ukrainian Government, the number of people internally displaced currently ranged from 659,000 (according to data from the State Emergency Services) to 921,000 (according to data from the Ministry of Social Policy). UNHCR had reports that many displaced people had registered with the Ministry of Social Policy as IDPs for the sole purpose of transferring their pension and move back to their usual homes once their pensions and social benefits had been collected. UNHCR was working with authorities in Ukraine to improve IDP data collection system, including more accurate numbers of people displaced by the conflict, said Ms. De Gruijl.

UNHCR called on all parties to the conflict to respect international humanitarian law, to facilitate the movement of civilians affected by the conflict, ensure the unhindered movement of humanitarian aid organisations and to guarantee the safety of aid workers, concluded Ms. De Gruijl.

Responding to a question about how many Ukrainian citizens had applied for international protection in Russia, as reported by the authorities, while some 244,326 Ukrainians applied for other forms of stay in Russia, though many were using the visa free agreement. There were more details in the briefing note, said Ms. De Gruijl.

WHO special session on Ebola

Fadéla Chaib, for the World Health Organization (WHO), announced that the WHO Executive Board would hold a special session on Ebola on Sunday 25 January at the WHO office in Geneva. The special meeting would take place ahead of the Board’s one hundred and thirty-sixth session starting Monday 26 January and continuing through to Tuesday 3 February.

The meeting would be the third special session in the history of the Executive Board. The other two special sessions took place in May 2006, following the death of then Director-General, Dr Lee Jong-wook; and in November 2011 to consider WHO reform.

The Ebola special session would last for one day, during which the Board would review the WHO’s Ebola response and make recommendations on the strengthening of WHO’s capacity to respond to future large-scale and sustained outbreaks and emergencies. The Board would also discuss preparedness in non-affected countries and regions. Member States would have the opportunity to provide comments as well as recommendations.

The morning session would take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. focusing on WHO report EBSS/3/2 “Current context and challenges; stopping the epidemic; and preparedness in non-affected countries and regions”, on the history of the epidemic. The agenda would be as follows: election of the Chairperson, opening remarks by Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General, and an intervention by David Nabarro, UN Special Envoy on Ebola, as well as a survivor of the Ebola virus from Sierra Leone.

The afternoon session would start at 3 p.m. focusing on the response of the international community and WHO to the Ebola outbreak, and on how to improve that response for future situations. The discussions may continue until 9 p.m. on Sunday, Ms. Chaib noted.

In response to questions raised by journalists regarding the outcome of the special session, Ms. Chaib said that at the end, a set of recommendations and conclusions would be presented. Member States would then probably be invited to create a working group to follow-up on the implementation of these recommendations.

The special session would be open to journalists, said Ms. Chaib, noting that the left side gallery and two Library rooms had been reserved for media. The discussions would also be webcast, with details on the WHO website. A copy of Dr Chan’s speech would be shared in advance with the press.

Ms. Chaib noted that on Tuesday 27 January the Executive Board would also consider the election of two WHO Regional Directors. The current WHO Regional Director for Europe would be re-elected, she said, and Dr Matshidiso Moeti from Botswana would be elected as new WHO Regional Director for Africa. A press conference with her would be organized shortly.

Ms. Chaib also reminded journalists about a press conference taking place today, Friday 23 January at 2.15 p.m. in Room III, with Dr Bruce Aylward, WHO Assistant Director-General, who was in charge of the Ebola operational response, on the situation of Ebola in West Africa.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Rupert Colville, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said OHCHR was alarmed by the apparent excessive use of force by law enforcement officials in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where more than 13 people had been killed and more than 30 injured in the context of several days of demonstrations in Kinshasa, and Goma.

The protests, which began on 19 January against the passing of an electoral bill in the lower house of the legislature, had also resulted in the detention of more than 300 individuals across the Democratic Republic of the Congo including prominent members of the opposition and civil society representatives. The electoral bill was now before the Senate and there were fears that its passage may escalate the situation and result in more violence. The bill required the conduct of a national census before the holding of elections. There were fears that it could considerably postpone the next elections, which were currently scheduled to be held in 2016, said Mr. Colville.

OHCHR urged the Government to promptly conduct a thorough and independent investigation into any excessive use of force by law enforcement officials – and in particular the reported use of live ammunition against protestors. Any use of force during demonstrations must be exceptional and, when used, must be proportional and strictly necessary. The intentional lethal use of firearms may only be made when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life, said Mr. Colville, adding that OHCHR also called on the protestors to refrain from any acts of violence or vandalism.

Mr. Colville briefed that State authorities had also restricted Internet and mobile text messaging services for more than three days now, not only disrupting communication between individuals but also creating disruption in the conduct of economic activities, like banking. OHCHR reminded the authorities that it was the duty of the State to ensure that the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly were respected, said Mr. Colville.

OHCHR also called on the authorities to promptly release all those who had been detained for exercising their right to peaceful assembly, for expression of their views, for their affiliation with the opposition or for disagreeing with the amendments to the electoral bill. The right to vote in genuine, periodic elections was a fundamental human right enshrined in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. OHCHR would continue to monitor the situation through the UN Joint Human Rights Office in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, said Mr. Colville.

A journalist asked whether the Inter-Parliamentary Union had any comment on the violence, which related to a bill to extend the term of President Kabila, and the delaying of elections.

Jemini Pandya, for the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), replied that a parliament was one of the three key pillars of good governance in any country, which were government, judiciary and parliament. For effective democratic rule each of them had to be completely independent of each other. The job of a parliament was to represent the interests and the voice of the people, to hold governments to account, and to make sure that democratic principles were applied. The job of a parliament was to do what the people elected it do: it must represent the wishes of the people and exercise its mandate to oversee government.

Nigeria Refugees Crisis

Elisabeth Byrs, for the World Food Programme (WFP) said that the situation in North-Eastern Nigeria, at the Chadian Lac side border, remains tense and highly volatile. There were more than 13,000 refugees in the region according to UNHCR. WFP rations of 159 tons had started today in the border region in Baga Sola. WFP was planning a first round of distributions for 10 days to more than 7,800 refugees from Ngouboua in Nigeria, of whom 4.103 were new arrivals. WFP was able to respond to the first wave of refugees of 6,250 persons within two days of their arrival, with an emergency ration of two days.

WFP was concerned about the impact of this crisis on the host communities. Prior to the crisis, the November 2014 emergency food security assessment showed that the areas within the Lac Region were the most food insecure: 32% of the population was found to be food insecure while the global acute malnutrition rates were above 15% - which was above the WHO critical threshold. Secondly, there was an impact on trade flow: Chad exported cattle to Nigeria through the Lac Region and most of this trade had been affected due to the crisis. The income of livestock keepers in the region would be affected. Maize farmers who exported their grains to Nigeria would also be affected. The decrease of trade had also a negative impact on Kanem and Bar El Ghazal‘s regions, which had the highest level of food insecurity in Chad.

Many of the refugees were currently located in several hard to reach small islands on Lake Chad. In the coming weeks, the Government and humanitarian partners would relocate them on a voluntary basis to areas where they can be reached. WFP urgently required over USD 11 million to meet the needs of the refugees.

Malawi floods

Jens Laerke, for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that on 21 January a preliminary response plan was launched seeking US$ 81 million to address the needs of 638,000 people. There were currently 174,000 internally displaced people in Malawi, he noted.

Christophe Boulierac, for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said that there were about 174,000 displaced persons in Malawi. UNICEF believed that more than half of them were children and that 20 per cent of them were children under five years old. Many areas remained isolated, he said, due to roads and bridges being impracticable. UNICEF continued, together with its partners, to conduct emergency interventions in the most affected districts. It was difficult to obtain precise numbers, he said.

So far 108 unaccompanied children had been registered until now in the Zomba and Nsanje districts. At least 350 schools had been destroyed and 181 schools were occupied by displaced persons, which affected the education of 300,000 children. UNICEF anticipated a quick deterioration of the nutrition situation for children, said Mr. Boulierac.

UNICEF’s priorities were now to provide potable water and temporary sanitation, monitor the nutritional situation of children and treat severe cases of malnutrition, and distributing vital medicines for women and children. It was also important to provide access to education through the creation of ad hoc schools.

UNICEF recently sent 100 tons of materials to Malawi, including medicines, tents, nutritional facilities, health kits, and school materials, and would intensify this response.

UNICEF was in need of US$9.3 million to undertake the necessary actions during the forthcoming months under the Humanitarian Action Plan. The Plan would be launched next Thursday at 10.30 a.m. with a press briefing in Press Room III. Ms. Afshan Khan, Director of UNICEF’s Office of Emergency Programmes and Peter Salama, UNICEF Global Ebola Emergency Coordinator, would be speaking.

Elisabeth Byrs, for the World Food Programme (WFP), said that WFP was scaling up its assistance to flood victims in Malawi, but was facing funding challenges and urgently needed US$18 million to continue its assistance to the victims.

WFP had started distribution of high-energy biscuits to people stranded by floodwaters in Nsanje district, one of the worst-hit districts. Some 77 metric tons of biscuits, enough to feed 77,000 people, were airlifted into Malawi from the UN Humanitarian Response Depot in Dubai earlier this week.

It was extremely difficult to reach the worst-hit areas to assess needs, said Ms. Byrs, as many roads and bridges had been damaged. According to the latest figures, some 370,000 persons required urgent food and other relief assistance in the most affected districts. WFP aimed to provide food assistance to up to 150,000 displaced people by the end of this week. A helicopter was due to arrive today, 23 January to support WFP’s relief operation, concluded Ms. Byrs.

Central African Republic

Karin de Gruijl, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that today, UNHCR and 18 partners were presenting the Regional Refugee Response Plan to assist more than 460,000 refugees from the Central African Republic who had fled to the neighbouring countries. The plan appealed for US$331 million to provide, food, clean water, shelter, health, protection and other basic services to the Central African Republic refugees in Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo.

Nearly 190,000 people had fled the country since the anti-Balaka militia overran the capital Bangui in December 2013. Before that, more than 230,000 people had already fled violence and lawlessness, bringing the total number of refugees from the Central African Republic to some 425,000. Nearly 10 per cent of the Central African Republic’s population of 4.5 million now lived in exile. UNHCR was extremely concerned that violence in the Central African Republic would continue and that the number of people forced to flee their homes would grow, possibly reaching 460,000 or even more by the end of the year.

Recently, violence in Kouango district, some 300km from Bangui, sent thousands of refugees into the territory of Bosobolo in the extremely remote and inaccessible north of Equateur Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. While UNHCR had received reports of the arrival of 10,000 refugees since December, local government officials had registered up to 30,000. UNHCR and the Congolese National Commission for Refugees were currently on the ground to verify these numbers and register the new arrivals. UNHCR’s teams were saying that people continued to cross the Oubangui river on a daily basis. Refugees who managed to cross into the Democratic Republic of the Congo were telling stories of their villages being burnt, violence and murder. Some refugees arrived with bullet wounds.

Most of the newly arrived refugees had settled on the shores of the Oubangui River, but some others lived on the small islands in the river. They lived in makeshift shelters with limited access to health care and potable water. An emergency evaluation team, including several partners, had just returned from the area and was working on a plan to relocate the refugees away from the border, so that they were safer and could receive humanitarian assistance. During their mission, the evaluation team converted one of their cars into an ambulance to evacuate refugees with bullet wounds to the local hospital.

Most of the Central African refugees had fled to the north of Cameroon and Southern Chad, countries that were also receiving thousands of refugees fleeing violence in north-eastern Nigeria. In the meantime, more than 430,000 people remained internally displaced inside the Central African Republic

In 2014, UNHCR and partners appealed for US$210 million under the Central African Republic Regional Refugee Response Plan. That plan was funded at 57 per cent (US$120 million), allowing humanitarian agencies to provide only the most basic life-saving assistance to the refugees.

El Salvador

Rupert Colville, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said OHCHR welcomed the ground-breaking decision of the Salvadorian Legislative Assembly to pardon Carmen Guadalupe Vásquez Aldana (known simply as "Guadalupe"), a 23-year-old domestic worker who suffered a miscarriage at the age of 18 after reportedly being raped and was convicted of aggravated homicide after her crime was reclassified from "abortion" to "aggravated homicide" during her trial.

Guadalupe’s petition was one of 17 cases presented before the Supreme Court in 2014 requesting pardons for women who were imprisoned on similar charges. The pardon was granted on 21 January following a complex judicial review by the Supreme Court of Justice, which also required a majority plenary vote by the Legislative Assembly. Guadalupe had served seven years of her 30 year sentence.

El Salvador has a complete ban on and criminalizes abortion, even when the woman's life or health is at risk or in cases of rape or incest, said Mr. Colville. Human rights mechanisms, including treaty bodies and special procedures, had regularly expressed serious concern about the total ban and criminalization of abortion in El Salvador, and its impact on women's right to be free from discrimination as well as their rights to life and to health among other human rights.

OHCHR was encouraged by the decision to pardon Guadalupe and welcomed the steps taken to review each case in line with due process standards. It hoped that other imprisoned women in El Salvador who received similar convictions would be freed and that efforts would be made to reform the legal framework on sexual and reproductive rights in line with the recommendations of numerous human rights bodies, concluded Mr. Colville.

Attitudes to Migration

Joel A. Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), briefed on initial findings of a new IOM report “How the World Views Migration” – to be released later this spring – which were being released at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week.

The findings, based on Gallup interviews with 183,772 adults across more than 140 countries between 2012 and 2014, showed a global population that was generally in favour of raising the number of newcomers arriving each year, or else keeping migration at its present level.

An important exception was Europe, said Mr. Millman, noting that Gallup’s research showed a sharp divergence in attitudes between Northern Europe and the continent’s Mediterranean zone. There were more details in the note, and copies of the Executive Summary were available.

Trafficking victim in Somalia

Joel A. Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), reported on the repatriation of the first Somali by IOM, a woman who had been held in captivity in Libya. When 21 year-old Fartunn (whose name has been changed to protect her identity) was trafficked from Somaliland 15 months ago she weighed 60 kilos. But now she was home safe after an ordeal that took her from her village to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and eventually Libya. However, now paralyzed from the waist down, Fartuun was a pale reflection of the vibrant girl who left home in 2013 to seek her fortune in Europe, said Mr. Millman.

Fartuun’s case was brought to IOM’s attention when her mother, who lived in Somaliland, contacted IOM after she listened to an IOM radio show that drew attention to the dangers of irregular migration. It took IOM officers over a month to find her in a crowded Tripoli hospital, injured and close to death. She had been held captive by traffickers for over three months. IOM offices in Libya and Somalia then arranged temporary travel documents for her and organized her evacuation from Libya last week, flying through Istanbul, then on to Somaliland, where she was reunited with her family in Hargeisa. As thrilled as the young mother was to be home, the IOM team was just as gratified, said Mr. Millman.

Syrian Parliament

Jemini Pandya, for the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), said Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Secretary General Martin Chungong has urged Syria’s leaders to put in place an independent and politically representative parliament as a fundamental step in ending conflict and eventually stemming terrorism in the country.

During discussions with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Speaker of the Syrian Parliament Mohammad Jihad al-Laham in Damascus this week, the IPU Secretary General highlighted the 2016 elections as a key opportunity to ensure a politically diverse parliament is returned. Parliament should be independent of government so as to be able to oversee it effectively. Prior to the IPU Secretary General’s arrival in Damascus, he held talks with the Lebanese Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Speaker of Parliament in Beirut on the impact of the Syrian crisis on Lebanon.

Ms. Pandya said Secretary General Martin Chungong would brief the press next Tuesday 27 February on his missions to Syria and Lebanon, during which he held discussions with many political voices.

Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians

Jemini Pandya, for the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), said on Saturday 24 January the IPU Committee on Human Rights of Members of Parliament (MPs) opened a three-day session in Geneva in which it would assess how to move forward on cases involving the human rights abuses of 301 MPs.

The Committee would examine cases which covered 40 countries in the world. Abuses include death, torture, threats, arbitrary arrest and detention, lack of fair trial, violation of freedom of expression or the unlawful suspension or loss of their parliamentary mandate. Most of the cases had been with the Committee for less than five years, but others include allegations of violations that dated back more than 10 years, and there were also new cases from Africa and South America.

A press briefing would take place at 10 a.m. on Wednesday 28 February in Press Room I, added Ms. Pandya.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Momal-Vanian, speaking on behalf of Rolando Gomez for the Human Rights Council, announced that this morning the Universal Periodic Review Working Group was reviewing Guinea-Bissau, and was scheduled to adopt this afternoon its reports for Kyrgyzstan, Kiribati, Guinea, Laos, Spain and Lesotho (reports will be shared later). On Monday, the Universal Periodic Review Working Group would review Sweden in the morning and Grenada in the afternoon. Regarding Sweden, the State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Ms. Annika Söder, would address journalists after the review at the stakeout outside of the Council.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child ended its consideration of all country reports yesterday afternoon with Switzerland. The rest of the session will be held in private until the public closing next Friday. Responding to a question from a journalist, she said that concluding observations for all countries would be publicized at the end of the session. [The Information Service was later informed that the observations may be published on 4 February only]

The Conference on Disarmament had scheduled three days of public hearings next week, at 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesday 27 January, a full-day meeting on Wednesday 28 February, and from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursday 29 February, noted Ms. Momal-Vanian.

Answering a question about the Libya Talks, Ms. Momal-Vanian said she had not received any confirmation about whether or when the talks would resume. There was still a possibility that talks would resume in Geneva next week, and the press would be kept informed as soon as the matter was settled.

Melissa Begag, for the World Trade Organization (WTO), announced the schedule for the coming week, during which Director-General Azevêdo would continue consultations with WTO members in Geneva on developing a work program on the remaining Doha Round issues. On Monday 26 January Director-General Azevêdo would meet with the Deputy Minister of Trade of the Republic of Korea Choi Kyong-lim, said Ms. Begag. There would also be meetings of the Dispute Settlement Body and of the Committee on Trade and Development at 10 a.m. On Tuesday 27 and on Thursday 29 January the Trade Policy Review of Barbados would take place, starting at 10 a.m. on both days. On Wednesday 28 January Director-General Azevêdo meets with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Barbados, Senator Maxine McClean. An informal meeting on agriculture negotiations would take place at 10 a.m. and there would also be a press briefing, time and place to be announced. On Thursday 29 January there would be an informal meeting of Heads of Delegation at 10 a.m. chaired by Director-General Azevêdo, followed by a briefing, details to be announced, concluded Ms. Begag.

Hans von Rohland, of the International Labour Organization (ILO), announced a new ILO report on how to strengthen the positive aspects of the European Investment Plan for the next three years presented by European Commission President Juncker. The report, to be launched on Wednesday 28 January, focused on how the European Investment Plan could promote Europe’s competitiveness through public and private investments. A press briefing would take place at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, 28 January in Press Room I.

Clare Nullis, for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced that next week the WMO would issue its figures on global temperatures for 2014. It used three data sets for this purpose, two of which had already reported that 2014 was the hottest year on record. The third data set, from the United Kingdom Meteorological Office, has not yet been released and would be announced on Monday. Ms. Nullis noted that a press conference may take place next week and she would inform journalists as soon as possible.

Jarle Hetland, for the International Trade Centre (ITC), announced that ITC was launching today in Davos two joint reports, in partnership with the World Economic Forum and Bain & Company, to highlight the benefits of trade facilitation. The two reports both highlighted the benefits of implementing the World Trade Organization’s Trade Facilitation Agreement. The first report was titled “Enabling Trade: Catalysing Trade Facilitation Agreement Implementation in Brazil”, and provided an insight into how an emerging economy like Brazil was implementing the Trade Facilitation Agreement. The second report “Enabling Trade: Increasing the Potential of Trade reforms” takes many of the lessons from the specific country focus of Brazil and set out the actions needed to maximise the benefits of implementing the trade facilitation reforms. Mr. Hetland said he would send out a press release later today with more information.

Mr. Hetland also highlighted a new partnership between ITC and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to support economic empowerment for refugees. The collaboration would seek to improve the livelihoods of refugees by enhancing their skill set and connecting them to opportunities linked to international trade. There were more details in the press release, he added. Finally, Mr. Hetland noted that next Tuesday, 27 January, he hoped to organize a press briefing with Liberia’s Minister of the Economy on the impact of Ebola on his Liberia’s economy.

Ms. Momal-Vanian invited members of the press to attend an inauguration ceremony of a photography exhibition paying tribute to photographers accredited to the United Nations and they work they had carried out over the years in covering United Nations activities. The event was co-organized by UNOG and the Association des correspondants auprès des Nations Unies (ACANU), and invitations were at the back of the room.

The spokesperson for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development also attended but did not brief.

The webcast for this briefing is available here: http://webtv.un.org