REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Rhéal LeBlanc, Chief, Press and External Relations at the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing attended by spokespersons of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the World Health Organization, and the International Organization for Migration.

UN Secretary-General

Mr. LeBlanc said that the Secretary-General had addressed the Human Rights Council’s High Level Segment at the opening of the 31^st session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on 29 February. The Secretary-General had said that one of his priorities had been to bring the three pillars of the United Nations together and to use human rights as a compass. The same day, he had designated the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra as a United Nations Global Advocate for Cultural Understanding, in the presence of Maestro Daniel Barenboim, co-founder and conductor of the Orchestra, and UN Messenger for Peace. As the Secretary-General had said, the Orchestra’s every performance was a testimony to the power of music, to break down barriers, to promote cultural understanding and to build bridges between communities. He had also indicated that Maestro Barenboim and the Orchestra would be performing at the World Humanitarian Summit in Turkey in May.

The Secretary-General was in Geneva until midday on 1 March, and on that day had inaugurated the Russian Room in the Palais des Nations with Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. He would also be meeting with Mr. Lavrov and a readout would be distributed. The Secretary-General had also met with several NGOs (Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Service for Human Rights, and others) to discuss a broad range of human rights issues, including the Secretary-General’s recent visits to Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. The NGOs had called upon the Secretary-General to continue to mainstream and institutionalize human rights.

The Secretary-General would then be leaving Geneva and traveling to Spain to meet with its Foreign Minister. On 2 March, he would be going to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, where on 3 March he would meet with senior Government officials and visit a UN project. On 4 March he would be traveling to Nouakchott in Mauritania, where he would meet with Government leaders and deliver a keynote speech on peace and security in the Sahel region, and also likely visit a UN project. From Mauretania, he would be going to Tinduf in Algeria, to visit a nearby Sahraoui refugee camp. He would meet with the Secretary-General of the Frente Polisario in Rubani, and would meet the UN staff working there. He would then visit the Bir Lahlou team site of the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Western Sahara, known as MINURSO. Finally, on 6-7 March he would be in Algiers, meeting with senior Government officials. During his stay in Algiers, he would open the 5^th General Assembly of the Kigali International Conference on the role of security forces in combatting violence against women and girls, and also speak to university students.

Geneva activities

Human Rights Council

The Human Rights Council had opened its thirty-first regular session on 29 February; the session would go until 24 March. Today, it would continue until 9 p.m. its three-day High-Level Segment begun the previous day, after holding in the morning a High-Level Panel on the 50^th anniversary of the adoption of both Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Rolando Gomez for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said that the High-Level Panel on the 50^th anniversary of the adoption of both Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on 1 March, was being chaired by the President of the Human Rights Council, Ambassador Choi. An opening statement had been delivered by the High Commissioner on Human Rights, who had said that it was crucial that the Covenants were more widely and effectively implemented, noting the deepening economic inequalities. He stated, “when 62 people enjoy the same wealth as 3.8 billion individuals, and the wealth of the poorest part of the world’s population is diminishing steadily, we are far from the Covenants’ freedom from want”.

On 1 March, 39 speakers were scheduled to speak throughout the day. Mr. Gomez also announced two cancellations, from the Minister for Human Rights of Yemen and the Minister for Foreign Affairs for El Salvador.

The situation in Syria had been among the dominant issues evoked during the opening of the High-Level Segment on 29 February. The speakers condemned the ongoing human rights violations committed by all parties to the conflict, and demanded that perpetrators be held accountable. The unprecedented influx of refugees and migrants to Europe had also been discussed. Finally, speakers had highlighted the fact that the Council was marking its 10^th anniversary in 2016, providing an opportunity to take stock of the achievements reached since 2006, and the challenges which remain.

On 2 March the High-Level Segment would continue, with 29 speakers and a number of side events taking place in parallel.

In response to a question, Mr. Gomez said that if Mr. Lavrov’s speech were available it would be distributed. Mr. Gomez would also get back to the press regarding the High Commissioner’s bilateral appointments. All efforts would be made to give the press a clear vision of the programme and highlights of the three weeks of the HRC session.

Conference on Disarmament and Committees

Mr. LeBlanc said that the Conference on Disarmament (CD) had opened its three-day High-Level Segment (HLS) on 29 February. On the morning of 1 March it would be holding a public meeting to hear statements of High Dignitaries from Finland, Norway, Russian Federation, Greece and Cuba. An updated list of speakers was distributed on
29 February, and would be kept up to date on the webpage. The CD was currently under the Presidency of Norway (ending on the 20 March). After Nigeria and Norway, the CD would be successively chaired, in 2016, by Pakistan, Peru, Poland and the Republic of Korea.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women would be ending today the review of the Haiti report. The Committee would then meet in private until the closure of the session, on 4 March. The Committee would then issue its concluding observations concerning the eight States Parties whose reports have been reviewed during the 63^rd session: Japan, Iceland, Sweden, Mongolia, Czech Republic, Vanuatu, Tanzania and Haiti.

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights would be meeting in private in the week of 29 February, until the closure of the session on 4 March. The Committee would then issue its concluding observations concerning the three States Parties whose reports had been reviewed during the 57^th session: Namibia, Canada and Kenya.

Press conferences

Mr. LeBlanc announced a press conference of the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), on 1 March at 11:30 a.m. in Room III with the Humanitarian Coordinator for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dr. Mamadou Diallo, on the situation in the east of the DRC.

On 2 March at 2:30 p.m. in Room III, the United States Permanent Mission would be organizing a press conference with United States Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken, following his remarks at the 31st session of the Human Rights Council.

On 3 March at 11:30 a.m. in Room III, the United Nations Refugee Agency (OHCHR) would be launching its new report on the human rights situation in Ukraine. The speaker would be Gianni Magazzeni, Chief of the Americas, Europe, and Central Asia Branch.

Hans von Rohland, for the International Labour Organization (ILO), announced the release of a new report titled “Women at Work: Trends 2016” for International Women’s Day, containing the latest statistics and policy analysis. The report would be embargoed until 7 March, 5 p.m. On 7 March at 11 a.m. in Press Room 1 there would be a press conference with Shauna Olney, Chief of the ILO’s Gender, Equality and Diversity Branch, and Lawrence J. Johnson, Deputy Director, ILO Research Department. A panel at the ILO would also examine the conditions of achieving equality by2030.

Mr. LeBlanc also reminded journalists that the International Narcotics Control Board, based in Vienna, would be releasing its Annual Report 2015 tomorrow, 2 March, from Berlin. The findings of the report could be interesting in anticipation of the Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on the world drug problem in April. The press conference will be webcast live on 2 March, 11am CET: http://www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/en/events/2016/incb_2016.html
He added that UNIS could also put journalists in touch with INCB experts available for interviews.

Syria

In response to a question, Mr. LeBlanc said that the Humanitarian Access Task Force was expected to meet on 2 or 3 March, with a possibility of a stakeout afterwards. The Cease Fire Task Force would meet on an as needed basis.

In response to a journalist’s question, Fadela Chaib from the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the WHO’s Tarik Jasarevic was in Damascus and that she would check with him regarding the number of children who had died from starvation in Syria over the course of the past two months.

Refugees in Europe

Mr. Adrian Edwards, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that
Europe was on the cusp of a largely self-induced humanitarian crisis. This was in light of a rapid build-up of people in an already struggling Greece, with governments not working together despite having already reached agreements in a number of areas, and country after country imposing new border restrictions. Inconsistent practices were causing unnecessary suffering and risked being at variance with EU and international law standards.

As of 29 February, the number of refugees and migrants in Greece and needing accommodation had soared to 24,000. Around 8,500 of these were at Eidomeni, near the border with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. At least 1,500 had spent the previous night in the open. The crowded conditions were leading to shortages of food, shelter, water and sanitation. Tensions had been building, fuelling violence and playing into the hands of people smugglers.

Overall, Mediterranean arrivals had slowed during the winter, but remained high. Data as of March1 showed that 131,724 people had made the journey during January and February (122,637 of these landing in Greece). In 2016 so far, 410 lives had been lost.

Solving Europe’s refugees and migrants situation and preventing a new crisis in Greece required a number of clear actions. Among the most urgent of those when it came to Greece was the need for better contingency planning, with increased accommodation capacity and other support. Greece could not manage the situation alone, it remained absolutely vital therefore that the relocation efforts that Europe had agreed to in 2015 were prioritized and implemented. It should concern everyone that despite commitments to relocate 66,400 refugees from Greece, States had so far only pledged 1,539 spaces, and only 325 actual relocations had occurred.

Increased regular pathways for admission of refugees from countries neighbouring Syria would also help in the overall management of the situation. More resettlement and humanitarian admission, family reunification, private sponsorship, and humanitarian and refugee student and work visas all served to reduce demand for people smuggling, onward movements, and dangerous boat journeys. They thus saved lives. UNHCR would convene an important conference on this topic in Geneva on 30 March and hoped for concrete offers in this regard.

UNHCR was urging Greece and States along the Balkans route to act quickly to avert a disaster and approach this emergency in a spirit of solidarity and sharing of responsibility. Safe access to asylum, shelter and basic assistance, and treating people with dignity and respect must remain essential elements of Europe’s response.

Mr. Vincent Cochetel, UNHCR Regional Refugee Coordinator for the Refugee Crisis in Europe, said that the total of 122,000 arrivals in Greece since the beginning of 2016, should be compared to 129,000 for the first six months of 2015. Out of those arriving, 57 per cent were women and children. Many of the Syrians were coming from Aleppo. Only 25 per cent of the Syrians arriving had resided in Turkey, most had just been passing through.

In terms of contingency planning, the Greek authorities had been late initially but were acting quickly now, trying to respond on the ground, creating additional reception capacities. The Greek military had built three camps with a total capacity of 6,000 people. UNHCR was providing the stranded people with core relief items such as tents, refugee housing units and other forms of material assistance. But Greece did not have the reception capacity adequate for the number of people already stranded and those coming on a daily basis. The daily arrival rate in Greece in January was of 2,175 and in February, 1,904. In the week of 22 February, there had been two days with more than 3,000 arrivals. Daily arrival rates depended very much on the conditions at sea and were thus very difficult to forecast.

UNHCR was concerned about the restrictions at the Macedonian border, as well as other borders, as access to asylum should be based on protection needs and not one’s alleged nationality, or whether one was carrying documentation. Countries along the Balkan route were now operating with a daily cap, around 300-500 a day. UNHCR was also concerned about potential acts of violence and disproportionate use of force, which had already been seen at the Macedonian border.

In response to a question, Mr. Cochetel said that there was no plan B – relocation was one of the important solidarity measures in regards to Greece, which needed a safety valve: the orderly intake of refugees through the relocation process. States had so far only pledged 1,595 spaces for those in Greece, out of the 66,000 that had been agreed upon by the EU Member States in September 2015, and only 325 had departed. The pledge number was below the daily arrival rate in Greece. There would either be massive, orderly relocation from Greece, or a repeat of what had been seen in 2015, with a fragmentation of the western Balkan routes. Mr. Cochetel concluded that countries had to “wake up”.

In response to another question, Mr. Cochetel said that it was not clear whether a NATO ship under German command would be operating in Turkish or Greek territorial waters, and to what extent it would be involved in rescue at sea operations. The agreement at that stage was for NATO to share intelligence with the Greek and Turkish coastguards to help combat human smuggling and undertake rescue at sea activities in their territorial waters.

Mr. Cochetel also said that more and more Syrian refugees were coming to Turkey.
UNHCR had called upon the Turkish authorities to increase the level of assistance to the people intercepted at sea, provide them with counselling and trying to increase the number of people staying in Turkey. UNHCR was hoping that the opening of Turkey’s labor market to Syrian refugees, as well as better access to education, would provide an incentive to stay in Turkey. However, there was no sign of any significant changes, with many people still ready to go, in the provinces in the west of Turkey.

Regarding the creation of hotspots, Mr. Cochetel said that there were gaps, as the Greek authorities did not have access to databases allowing to verify the identity of the arrivals. The creation of hotspots was an instrument to boost relocalization, reception, returns; they were a large registration centre, a way of working better, but not an objective in itself, which some EU Member States might have been confused about.

In terms of risks faced by the migrants, a major one was falling prey to organized criminal networks, as well as congestion on some of the sites that the Greek military was putting into place, with a lot of frustration building up, and a risk of violence.

In response to a final question, Mr. Cochetel said that a number of countries had believed that there was a magical fix given the cessation of hostilities. However, no massive returns to Syria could be expected. Also, 30 per cent of those arriving in Greece were from Afghanistan, and there was no plan for stabilizing that situation. An orderly departure from Greece, and orderly distribution, were preferable.

Migrants – Resettlement in Canada and arrivals in Greece

Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), announced that Canada had welcomed 25,000 Syrian refugees living in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. A final charter flight had arrived in Canada on 29 February, meeting the targeted deadline. It was a very important resettlement effort. Regarding Mediterranean crossings, Mr. Millman added that based on the figure of over 2, 000 people arriving per day, the total amount of arrivals by sea to Greece since the beginning of the opening of the Eastern Greek route in January 2015 would hit the million mark by the middle of March 2016 (860,000 had arrived in 2015 and 140,000 would arrived during the first twelve weeks of 2016).
Zika

Ms. Fadela Chaib, for the World Health Organization (WHO), announced a PAHO meeting in Washington on 1-2 March, where researchers would work to identify current gaps in the scientific knowledge about Zika virus, its impact on humans and its public health implications in the regions of the Americas. They would also look at the mosquito vector of Zika virus and what vector control tools were working against aedes aegypti mosquitoes. The closing press conference would be live-streamed and details were available in the media advisory sent on 1 March.

Another meeting, in Geneva (Starling Hotel) from 7 to 9 March, on research and development for Zika, would discuss the outcome of the PAHO meeting as well the research protocols and priorities for Zika, Guillain-Barré and microcephaly, looking at all the existing studies to try and determine causality. An overview of the research and development blueprint would also be conducted. A closing press conference would probably take place on 9 March in the afternoon.

In response to questions, Ms. Chaib said that she would bring the issue of the location of the press conference to the attention of the WHO, as the press was requesting to have it held at the Palais. In response to another question, Ms. Chaib said that the procedure for the selection of the new WHO Director-General was for the countries to present their candidates to the Executive Board, which would then make a short list, and the new Director-General would be appointed at the World Health Assembly. By January 2017 the shortlist of the candidates would be known. By May 2017 the new Director-General’s name would be known and he or she would start their work in June 2017.

Childhood hearing loss

Ms. Chaib introduced Dr. Alarcos Cieza, Coordinator, Blindness and Deafness Prevention, Disability and Rehabilitation (BDD) at the WHO. Dr. Cieza presented the latest data and outlined ways to prevent and mitigate childhood hearing loss. Using examples, she made a point about the decisive effects of early diagnosis and early intervention. Today, 360 million people around the world were living with disabling hearing loss, and 32 million were children, of which 31 million lived in middle- and low-income countries. Up to 60 per cent of childhood hearing loss could be prevented. Infections such as measles, mumps, rubella and meningitis accounted for 31 per cent of childhood hearing loss, and could be prevented through immunization. Also, 17 per cent of childhood hearing loss was due to complications at birth, including prematurity, low birth weight and neonatal jaundice, and could be prevented with good maternal and child health programmes. Another 4 per cent were due to the use of harmful medicines. Although 40 per cent of childhood hearing loss could not be prevented, early detection and early intervention were key to mitigate the impact. Inclusive education and learning sign language could also help improve the lives of those affected by hearing loss.

WHO was highlighting childhood hearing loss in the run up to World Hearing Day on 3 March, to highlight the possibility of acting through prevention, early detection, and early intervention, as well as reducing the stigma associated with hearing loss. In response to a question, Dr. Cieza said that to create awareness and fight against stigmatization, the WHO was driving community-based rehabilitation, aiming to empower people with disabilities and their families, in low- and middle-income countries. This strategy was being implemented in more than 100 counties in the world. Dr. Cieza also said, regarding the cost of hearing aids in low-income countries, that it was around USD 100 in India. Cochlear implants were more expensive. Given those high costs, the WHO had created the Global Initiative on Assistive Technology, with the single purpose of making assistive devices accessible for people around the world. WHO was also working with UNICEF and UNESCO on educational initiatives within communities.