REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Alessandra Vellucci, Director, United Nations Information Service, chaired the briefing attended by the spokespersons for the Human Rights Council, the World Meteorological Organization, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the World Health Organization, the International Organization for Migration, and UN-WATER.
Syria
Ms. Vellucci read a statement from the Office of the Special Envoy for Syria (OSE), saying that the Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, looked forward to the resumption of intra-Syrian talks in Geneva on 23 March. He noted that all invitees who had already attended the previous round of talks in February 2017 had confirmed their participation. The Special Envoy was pursuing consultations in various capitals over the next few days. He had been in Riyadh over the weekend, and would be in Moscow and Ankara in the coming days, before returning to Geneva on 23 March.
As the Special Envoy completed those consultations, Deputy Special Envoy Ambassador Ramzy would engage the parties bilaterally on 23 March in Geneva in order to prepare the round ahead.
As indicated in his Security Council briefing on 8 March, and welcomed by the Security Council on 10 March, the agenda of the talks, guided by resolution 2254/ 2015, would focus on governance, constitutional issues, elections, and counter-terrorism, security and confidence-building measures.
The Special Envoy had urged the invitees in his Security Council briefing and in all contacts since the conclusion of round four, to do the necessary preparations in advance of the fifth round, to be ready to engage substantively and proactively on the substance of all four baskets on the agenda in parallel.
The Special Envoy looked forward to the inclusion of Syrian women in the political process through sustained consultation and dialogue, and the promotion of their full and effective participation.
The Special Envoy also intended to brief Foreign Ministers of the League of Arab States via a brief visit to Amman during the round, and was later to brief the Security Council during the first half of April.
Ms. Vellucci added that in terms of logistics, there had been consultations with the local authorities and while the accredited journalists’ badges were absolutely valid for all activities at the Palais des Nations, the journalists who wished to attend press activities in hotels needed to collect from Security a special badge, similar to that of the journalists who were not permanently accredited. A note to correspondents would be sent this morning with a link to register with UNIS. After registration journalists needed to pick up the badges at Pregny.
In response to questions, Ms. Vellucci clarified that on the first day of the talks Mr. de Mistura would still be continuing consultations abroad and his Deputy would engage with the participants. Mr. de Mistura would also leave for Amman at one point during the round of talks; however, he would be present in Geneva most of the time. The round of talks would probably continue until 1 April although there was no set date. A pre-round press conference by Mr. de Mistura would most probably take place on 24 March; more details would be shared as soon as possible. Ms. Vellucci would ask OSE for the list of participants and heads of delegations requested by the press. So far, there was no confirmation of a plenary with the members of the ISSG.
Human Rights Council 34th session
Rolando Gomez, for the Human Rights Council (HRC), said that the Council was currently engaged in an interactive discussion with the Independent Expert on the Central African Republic, Marie-Thérèse Keita Bocoum, following the general debate on item 9 which had concluded at 10 a.m. today. That would be followed by the presentation of a report by the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Mali, Suliman Baldo, followed by the presentation of a report by the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Haiti, Gustavo Gallon. Afterwards, at around 4 p.m. would take place the presentation of a report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Libya, including on the investigation by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (to be presented by Deputy High Commissioner Kate Gilmore).
On 22 March, 11 country situations would be presented to the Council: Ukraine (oral update based on a recent report by the office), Guinea (based on a report produced by the Office which had been made public some time ago), an interactive discussion on the Democratic Republic of Congo (with the participation of the Minister for Human Rights, Marie-Ange Mushobekwa), Sri Lanka (the High Commissioner would deliver that statement), and a series of reports in one joint statement on Guatemala, Colombia, Honduras, Cyprus, Iran, Afghanistan, as well as an oral update on Yemen.
Looking forward to 23 and 24 March, 41 draft resolutions had been tabled for consideration by the Council. They were all available on the extranet. An approximate schedule for the consideration of those resolutions would be sent on 22 March in the afternoon.
In response to questions, Mr. Gomez said that the statement on Sri Lanka would be presented around noon or 1 p.m. on 22 March. For all the country situations, the concerned country would have the opportunity to speak. The oral update on Yemen would delivered probably by the Deputy High Commissioner, Kate Gilmore. There had been no changes so far to the resolution on Sri Lanka that had been tabled, but changes were still possible until the last minute. The joint statement on Guatemala, Colombia, Honduras, Cyprus, Iran, and Afghanistan would be pronounced at around 3 or 4 p.m. on 22 March, and the statements would be shared in advance.
Asked about the United States’ position regarding the discussion on item 7, Mr. Gomez said that points of order had been made during the general debate on item 7. The Human Rights Council provided space for civil society representatives to speak, and it was one of the most transparent and inclusive organizations. There was a long list of NGOs who had spoken on 20 March. The views expressed were not always subscribed to by all participants, and it was a prerogative of States to voice dissent or raise points of order, but it was important that voices were heard, and it was one of the unique assets of the Council to hear a wide variety of voices. If something that was said was out of order, lowering the decorum of the gathering, the President would step in and make a point of order, which NGOs and States should respect. Answering a question regarding a press statement that had come from the United States State Department, indicating the need to reform the Council, Mr. Gomez said that item 7 was a standing agenda item. No-one could deny that there were human rights concerns in the occupied Palestinian territory. Removing an agenda item would require the approval by the General Assembly and was a State-driven process. For the time being, the item remained on the agenda of the Council. Procedurally speaking, the Council was a subsidiary body to the General Assembly so it could recommend the removal of an item, but ultimately the General Assembly, which had created the Council, would have to approve that. Mr. Gomez also specified that the focus on Israel and Palestine had been diminishing over the past years. Only one out of 19 special sessions between 2012 and 2016 had been devoted to the conflict in the occupied Palestinian territories, compared to seven out of eight in the Council’s first five years. Moreover, the amount of time devoted to the general debate on item 7 had decreased from 15 per cent over the first five years of the Council to 8 per cent over the following five years.
Asked about whether the United States would withdraw from the Council, Mr. Gomez said that it was the prerogative of any State to engage or disengage. The Council had not seen anything official. The US had been an active and constructive partner for many years at the Council, spearheading many initiatives. The Council would benefit from that continuous engagement.
Asked about the report on Ukraine, Mr. Gomez said that it was an oral update based on a report produced by the OHCHR and issued some two weeks previous. The report itself would be presented by Andrew Gilmour, the Assistant Secretary-General for the Office and an interactive discussion with Ukraine would ensue, with other concerned countries having the opportunity to speak during that discussion.
State of the climate 2016
Clare Nullis, for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said that today WMO was releasing its annual report on the state of the global climate in 2016. In terms of the climate, 2016 had seen record temperatures, exceptionally low sea ice, unabated sea level rise which had peaked because of El Niño, and very high ocean heat.
These extreme conditions were continuing in the first months of 2017. There was not an El Niño event, which had contributed to the high temperatures in 2016, but there were still very warm temperatures, a lot of extreme events and very low sea ice in the Arctic and more unusually, in the Antarctic. One of the extreme events currently seen was very heavy rainfall in Peru, which had caused many casualties. There had been media reports that that was due to El Niño; those were slightly inaccurate, as we were not yet in a phase with El Niño at a global level, although it could well develop later in 2017, and WMO would issue an update on that in the coming weeks. The Peruvian Meteorological Service had referred to it as a coastal El Niño event, very localized, with impacts confined to Peru and Ecuador, characterized by very warm temperatures off the coast of Peru. A press release on the topic had been sent under embargo on 20 March.
Ms. Nullis also said that 23 March was World Meteorological Day, and the theme for 2017 was “Understanding Clouds”, to mark the release of a new International Cloud Atlas by the WMO. The Atlas was the authoritative single source to observe and identify clouds which drive our weather, climate and water patterns. It had first been published in the last 19th century and had last been updated in 1987, before the internet era. It would be reissued as a web portal. A new type of cloud called Asperitas would be recognized as a new classification, among others. A World Meteorological Day ceremony would be held on 23 March. Interviews on the topic with the speakers at the ceremony, who were Bertrand Calpini, from the Swiss Meteorological Service (MétéoSuisse), Head of the technical commission responsible for updating the Atlas, and Gavin Pretor-Pinney, Head of the United Kingdom’s Cloud Appreciation Society, could be organized on 23 March. A press release would be sent later today. The new International Cloud Atlas was still under embargo and finishing touches were being put to it. It would hopefully go live on 22 March in the evening.
In response to questions, Ms. Nullis said that the past three years had all been the hottest on record. El Niño had certainly played a role in 2015 and 2016. For 2017, the current models were not projecting as strong an El Niño as in 2015 and 2016. The projections were currently showing that 2017 would be one of the hottest years on record because of long-term climate change, but probably not the hottest. The Arctic had been hit by three successive years of heat waves and had not refrozen. The fact that it had not had the chance to refreeze properly meant that very low levels of sea ice would be seen in the summer.
Afghanistan
Jean Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that OCHA in Afghanistan had just published a report on the results of the humanitarian community’s collective efforts to support the most vulnerable people in the country in 2016. That year, humanitarian organizations had reached a total of 3.6 million Afghans in need – more than 1 in 10 of the total population – with life-saving and life-sustaining medical care, emergency medical supplies, and also food, water and shelter assistance. The UN and its humanitarian partners had responded to one million internally displaced people, and 600,000 people who had come from Pakistan as returnees, in an influx which had begun around July 2016 and had been unanticipated. The response had been supported by international donors who had provided almost half a billion US dollars to humanitarian programming, including USD 356 million to the UN-coordinated response plan. The humanitarian response plan in Afghanistan in 2016 had been 73 per cent funded, which placed the Afghanistan appeal among the best funded globally in percentage terms for the second year in a row. On average, the 2016 appeals had been 60 per cent funded.
However, the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan today was deteriorating, and OCHA colleagues in Afghanistan were warning of another challenging year. The UN expected very high levels of conflict-induced displacement. Already in 2017, over 38,000 people had bene newly displaced. Additionally, the UN expected more returns of vulnerable families from Pakistan, who would not return to their homestead but would continue to be displaced inside Afghanistan. Those families returned typically with very few or no assets at all, and needed support. There was also a high likelihood that more life-saving interventions would be needed to address acute health and nutrition emergencies in Afghanistan in 2017.
The 2017 plan covered 30 per cent more people in need compared to the 2016 plan. The UN estimated that in total there were 9.3 million people in need of aid in the country in 2017. The UN-coordinated response plan targeted 5.7 million of those people.
The UN had put out a funding appeal and was requesting USD 550 million. As of this morning the appeal was a little more than 15 per cent funded. The top five donors were the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark and Australia.
Christophe Boulierac, for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said that 4.5 million people in Afghanistan were living in districts affected by ongoing violence, where access to health services was limited and children’s education was under siege.
Afghanistan remained one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a baby, child or mother, and access to a hospital or health facility was beyond the reach of most children and women. The country had one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world, and thousands of Afghan women died every year from pregnancy related causes, a majority of which were easily preventable.
In 2015, more than one in every 18 Afghan children had died before their first birthday.
That was a significant drop from more than twice that in 1990, but too many families were still unnecessarily losing their children, especially during the neonatal period.
Malnutrition in Afghanistan was a silent emergency and a shocking violation of child rights. It undermined virtually every aspect of UNICEF’s work for the survival, protection and full development of the country’s children. Afghanistan had one of the most world’s highest rates of stunting in children under five years of age: 41 per cent. Stunting was a sign of chronic undernutrition during the most critical periods of growth and development in early life. Children who suffered from stunting were more likely to contract diseases, less likely to access basic health care, and did not perform well in school. The rate of wasting in Afghanistan (9.5 per cent) was also extremely high. Wasting was the result of acute malnutrition and posed an immediate threat to a child’s survival.
Despite impressive improvements in the population’s health over the past decade, Afghanistan’s health system faced a number of challenges in breaking the cycle of malnutrition.
Afghanistan’s education system had been devastated by more than three decades of sustained conflict. For many of the country’s children, completing primary school remained a distant dream, especially in rural areas and for girls, despite recent progress in raising enrolment.
In the poorest and remote areas of the country, enrolment levels varied extensively and girls still lacked equal access. An estimated 3.5 million children were still out of school in Afghanistan, out of which an estimated 75 per cent are girls.
In response to questions, Mr. Boulierac said that tremendous progress had been made as far as school enrolment of children in general was concerned, since the first back to school campaign in 2002. In 2003, less than 900,000 had attended school – almost all boys – whereas in 2015, 8.5 million children attended school. Girls were 39 per cent of them. However, insecurity was one of the most significant obstacles to girls’ education in Afghanistan, combined with the social perception of the importance of girls’ education, economic hardship which prevents families sending their children to school (especially girls), the status of women in society, gender-based violence, the social norm of early or forced marriage.
Iraq
Tarik Jasarevic, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that today, WHO would open a second emergency field hospital at around 20 minutes’ drive away from Mosul, with 68 beds and three operating theatres. It was self-supporting, with a laboratory, x-ray, sterilization and blood bank services. It was a joint initiative with UNFPA, at the request of the Ministry of Health in light of heavy trauma caseloads coming out of Mosul. WHO had equipped the hospital and had provided essential life-saving medical supplies, including trauma and surgical kits, anaesthetics, antibiotics, blood and all consumables required to conduct surgical interventions and manage trauma cases. WHO’s implementing partner, Aspen Medical, was deploying qualified expatriate health staff to complement Iraqi health workers.
Since the beginning of the Mosul operation, more than 5,000 people had been treated for trauma injuries at referral hospitals in the neighbouring governorates. The first field hospital had been opened in January 2017, and had treated more than 1,000 trauma cases since its opening. In had been established with the support of funds from the US Government.
In parallel, on 20 March, WHO had shipped 15 fully-equipped ambulances to the Iraqi health authorities, in order to strengthen the response to the increasing trauma and medical-related emergencies in west Mosul. The vehicles, brought with support from the World Food Programme, would strengthen trauma care at the frontlines of west Mosul. They were appropriately designed, equipped and staffed with paramedics to offer care to patients while being transported to trauma stabilization points and field hospitals. An additional 15 ambulances were scheduled to arrive in the week of 27 March, bringing the total of ambulances to 30. Through funds from UN CERF and jointly with UNFPA, WHO was planning to open two more field hospitals, one in Hammam al-Alil, and a fourth one in a location to be determined, west of Mosul. WHO was also supporting a number of trauma stabilization points on the frontlines. According to IOM, from October 2016 to 9 March 2017, there had been more than 250,000 people displaced from Mosul, and more than 137,000 of them had been displaced since 18 February. Most of the displaced were seeking shelter currently in Hammam al-Alil. WHO and other partners continued supporting the delivery of primary health services in the camps by establishing health care clinics and field hospitals, and providing medicines and medical supplies.
In response to questions, Mr. Jasarevic said that the majority of trauma cases were being treated for conflict-related injuries. Out of those more than 5,000 cases, 56 per cent were civilians, 26 per cent were under the age of 15, and 23 per cent were women.
Cameroon
Babar Baloch, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that UNHCR was concerned by continuing forced return of hundreds of refugees from Cameroon’s far north region to north-eastern Nigeria despite the recent signing of the tripartite agreement aimed at, among other things, ensuring the voluntary nature of returns.
So far in 2017, Cameroon had forcefully returned over 2,600 refugees back to Nigerian border villages against their will. UNHCR was particularly concerned as those forced returns had continued unabated after the Governments of Nigeria and Cameroon had signed a tripartite agreement with UNHCR in Yaounde on 2 March to facilitate the voluntary return of Nigerian refugees when conditions were conducive.
Inside Nigeria, UNHCR teams had heard and documented accounts about Cameroonian troops returning refugees against their will - without allowing them time to collect their belongings. In one incident on 4 March, some 26 men, and 27 women and children, had been sent back from the Cameroonian border town of Amtide, in Kolofata district, where they had sought refuge, according to UNHCR monitoring teams in the border regions.
In Nigeria’s Borno State some refugees had been rounded up during a military offensive against Boko Haram insurgents in the Mandara Mountains on the Cameroonian side of the border and had been taken in trucks to a camp for displaced people in Banki. Those returned had included a one-year-old child and a nine-month pregnant woman, who had given birth the day after her arrival in Banki.
During the chaos families had been separated and some women had been forced to leave their young children behind in Cameroon, including a child less than three years old. Returnees had been given food and water by aid agencies and were now settled in the Banki camp for internally displaced people. UNHCR staff also had recorded about 17 people who claimed to be Cameroonian nationals, and also reported that they had been deported by mistake to Banki. It was common in this region to find people who lacked documentary proof of their nationality.
While acknowledging the generosity of the Government of Cameroon and local communities who hosted over 85,000 Nigerian refugees, UNHCR called on the Government of Cameroon to honour to its obligations under international and regional refugee protection instruments, as well as Cameroonian law. The forced return of asylum seekers and refugees was refoulement, or forced return, and constituted a serious violation of the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1969 OAU Convention, both of which Cameroon had ratified.
In 2016, other groups of Nigerian refugees had been deported to north-eastern Nigeria. On 14 June 2016 for instance, 338 Nigerian asylum-seekers, mainly women and children, had been returned by the Cameroonian authorities of the Far North region from Kolofata back to Nigeria. The incident had occurred just days after Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria had adopted the Abuja Action Statement on protection in the Lake Chad Basin crisis, and had reaffirmed among others, the importance of the principle of non-refoulement (non-return).
While recognizing the legitimate national security concerns of the Cameroon Government, UNHCR reminded authorities that refugees were themselves fleeing violence and attacks from Boko Haram and that their access to asylum and protection must be ensured. In recent talks with the Cameroonian government, UNHCR had expressed its deep concern over the forced returns and had sought reassurances from the Government about its commitment to the tripartite agreement. UNHCR also hoped Cameroonian authorities would take the necessary steps to comply with international standards on the right to asylum and protection from refoulement.
Insecurity persisted in parts of north-eastern Nigeria, and access to basic services remained limited. Most returning refugees found themselves in situations of internal displacement upon return and were unable to return to their places of origin. The crisis in the Lake Chad Basin had displaced over 2.7 million people - including some 200,000 refugees into the neighbouring countries.
UNHCR called upon Nigeria’s neighbours to continue keeping their borders open so as to allow access to territory and asylum procedures to persons fleeing the crisis in search of safety. UNHCR also continued to monitor the situation of refugees and returnees on both sides of the border.
In response to questions, Mr. Baloch said that those forced returns were being carried out by the Cameroonian military, and security was among the reasons cited. Those targeted by the forced returns were refugees fleeing Boko Haram inside Nigeria. The forced returns had continued in 2016 and in 2017, from 3 February till at least 17 March. UNHCR’s call to Cameroonian authorities was to allow people safety on Cameroonian territory, and for the Cameroonian authorities to live up to their commitments. UNHCR had raised the issue at the highest level. The High Commissioner for Refugees had raised it himself in 2016. The cornerstone of the tripartite agreement signed on 2 March was that refugees who were fleeing war and persecution and who had reservations about returning, should be allowed to stay in the country.
Mediterranean update
Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that this morning IOM had learned of at least 22 other deaths on the Mediterranean. Arrivals in Italy in 2017 had already passed 20,000, which was twice the 2015 rate and considerably ahead of 2016 for the first three months of the year. The pace of arrivals had exceeded anything seen before in the Mediterranean, as it was not typical to see those numbers so early. According to the report, there were 481 confirmed drowned or missing migrants just on the central Mediterranean route so far in 2017, not including the latest 22 casualties. Over 3,000 people had been rescued on 19 March in the Mediterranean, and another 2,327 had been rescued on 20 March, which brought the total to over 5,000 in two days. One body had been found this morning in a single dinghy and there had been eight other deaths from 19 March in addition to that. Also, IOM had heard late on 20 March that the Libyan coastguard had reported to IOM Libya that 758 migrants had been rescued off the coast of Libya since 17 March. In that group there had been two cases of fatalities, one including three burned victims on a boat, and another including ten bodies of migrants found on the beach near Az-Zawiya on 20 March.
Yemen
Mr. Millman also clarified, regarding the incident which had happened in Yemen on 17 March, that the fatality count was now of 42, and that some 20 people were unaccounted for. There were 104 survivors who had been brought to hospitals or to a detention centre, and IOM Yemen was reporting that the search for survivors or remains of victims continued. There had been conflicting information as to whether there had been a helicopter attack in addition to some other shelling on the boat.
United States
In response to a question about the number of migrants from Mexico and Latin America who had been deported from the United States since January, Mr. Millman said that his understanding was that those numbers had not been released. He said that it was known that the numbers of apprehensions were down and that many more deportations were now taking place from Mexico itself. Numbers with a breakdown by nationality tended to be released quarterly and at the end of the year by border posts. He was not surprised that the number was not widely available by now. The border patrol mainly gave out end-of-fiscal year numbers. Sometimes NGOs had those numbers by conducting their own count. IOM did not have a border office in the US or Mexico. Asked whether IOM would contemplate opening such a border office, Mr. Millman said that it would contemplate it if its Member States had requested it, but that he did not believe that it had come up.
World Water Day
Daniella Bostrom Couffe, for UN-WATER, said that the annual World Water Development Report would be published on 22 March, on World Water Day. The focus in 2017 was wastewater. The report argued that we could stop looking at wastewater as something that should just be discarded, but rather as a valuable reserve. Today globally, 80 per cent of our wastewater was released into the environment untreated, with major implications for the environment and for health. In Lagos, Nigeria, 1.5 million cubic meters of wastewater were produced per day and released mainly into the Lagos lagoon, where there were children bathing and even drinking the water. Some 1,000 children died every day due to unsafe water and sanitation, causing diarrhoeal diseases. Wastewater was also characterized by the presence of pollutants, such as steroids, hormones, and antibiotics, which could have implications for health. This discharge could also stimulate the presence of toxic algae, and a disruption in biodiversity. But a lot could be done: industries could reuse wastewater for heating, cooling or cleaning, municipalities could reuse it for cleaning cities, and it could even be used for recharging drinking water supplies as it had been successfully done in Namibia and Singapore. Individual actions could also be taken. The World Water Day campaign in 2017 was focused on actionable behaviour and changing habits for the better. The wastewater theme would also be the focus for World Toilet Day on 19 November 2017.
In response to questions, Ms. Bostrom Couffe said that the report was being launched around the world. There would be one launch in South Africa but also regional launches. That reflected the way that UN-WATER was set up. Ms. Bostrom Couffe also noted the point regarding presenting reports a week in advance the launch rather than just a day earlier.
Asked about what UN-WATER had done regarding access to safe water in Haiti, Ms. Bostrom Couffe clarified that UN-WATER was not an implementing agency but it represented the different UN agencies, funds and programmes which had water and sanitation programmes. UN-WATER itself did not work on the ground, but Ms. Bostrom Couffe could put the press in touch with those that did. There would be discussions in New York today and on World Water Day during which the topic would be brought up. Asked about the industries which produced the most wastewater, Ms. Bostrom Couffe said that there was a Swedish Textile Initiative looking at reducing the amount of wastewater produced by the textile industry, one of the main industries which produced wastewater. She would also follow up with the press on this topic.
Ms. Vellucci added that on World Water Day, UNOG Director-General Michael Møller would be attending the launch of an exhibition of contemporary art on water issues, titled AQUA, at 11 a.m. on the Ile Rousseau. The inauguration would continue with other artists in the afternoon that day at the Château des Penthes in the presence of Guy Ryder, President of UN-WATER and Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO).
Geneva Events and Announcements
Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that on 25 March a concert in Victoria Hall would raise funds for refugees and migrants in the Greek islands.
Ms. Vellucci said that on 24 March, UNOG Director-General Michael Møller, would receive the 2017 award of the Fondation pour Genève during a ceremony at Victoria Hall, in presence of the Geneva authorities. The ceremony would also celebrate the work being done in International Geneva. The press was invited to the ceremony. The laudatio would be pronounced by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Ms. Vellucci said that the Conference on Disarmament was holding this morning a public plenary, starting at 10 a.m.
The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which had opened on 20 March in the afternoon its 17th session (running until 12 April in Room XVII of the Palais des Nations) by electing to its presidency Theresia Degener of Germany, in replacement of Ms. Cisternas Reyes, would start this afternoon its review of the report of the Republic of Moldova, which it would complete on 22 March in the morning.
Ms. Vellucci also announced a press conference on 21 March at 4 p.m. in Press Room 1, by the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine. The speakers would be Rana Arrabi, Third Secretary at the Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine, and Issa Amro, Human Rights Defender and activist based in Hebron.
Mr. Jasarevic announced a press conference of the World Health Organization (WHO) on 23 March at 11 a.m. in Press Room 1, on World Tuberculosis Day. 2017 was the second year of a two-year "Unite to End TB" campaign for World TB Day, and WHO would be placing a special focus on uniting efforts to "Leave No One Behind" in access to TB care, including actions to overcome the barriers of stigma, discrimination and marginalization. New guidance would be released on this occasion, to ensure that the implementation of the End TB Strategy was in line with sound ethical standards, and protected the rights of those affected, especially the most vulnerable and marginalized. The moderator would be Dr. Ren Minghui, Assistant Director-General HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases, WHO, and the speakers would be Dr. Mario Raviglione, Director, Global TB Programme, WHO, Dr. Ernesto Jaramillo, Medical Officer, Global TB Programme, WHO, Dr. Andreas Reis, Technical Officer, Global Health Ethics, WHO. The press conference would not be under embargo.
Mr. Jasarevic also announced a joint WHO/UNICEF press conference on 24 March in Room III at 10 a.m. WHO and UNICEF would brief on synchronized polio vaccination campaigns in 13 African countries starting on 25 March to put an end to polio on the continent. The speakers would be Michel Zaffran, Director, Polio Eradication, WHO, and Sahar Hegazi, Communications for Development Specialist, UNICEF. In response to concerns from the press that the timing would collide with media opportunity for the Syria talks, Mr. Jasarevic said that the challenge was that the schedule of the talks could change a lot. He would try to accommodate the various needs as much as possible.
The webcast for this briefing is available here: http://bit.ly/unog210317