REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing attended by the spokespersons for the World Meteorological Organization, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Health Organization, the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations Refugee Agency, and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Cyprus

Alessandra Vellucci said that in spite of the efforts that went on until 3 a.m. this morning, unfortunately, the conference on Cyprus had closed on a failure. It had not been possible to find an agreement among the parties, as explained by the Secretary-General in a press conference early this morning. Everything that could be done was done, but unfortunately, the Conference had not been able to conclude on a positive note.

Asked whether the negotiations were “dead, period -- buried” Ms Vellucci said the Secretary-General had indicated yesterday to the press that the Conference was over without an agreement. That didn’t mean that other ways of negotiating could not be found in the future, and the UN would be there to support them. There would continue to be discussions, there would be further consultations, and there could be other forms of negotiations.

Asked whether the UN would maintain the Office of the Special Envoy, Ms Vellucci said that Espen Barth Eide, Special Adviser of the UN Secretary-General on Cyprus, would pursue his efforts. The next step for him was to brief the Security Council on the Conference.

Syria

Ms. Vellucci reminded correspondents that next week would see a new round of talks on Syria, and she informed journalists on the media arrangements. In particular, she indicated that the Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura would be giving a curtain raiser press conference on Monday, 10 July (time to be announced as soon as possible). She also indicated that correspondents would need an “overbadge”, available upon request, in addition to their UNOG badges, for access to media events in venues outside the Palais des Nations.

Climate

Clare Nullis, for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said WMO was today issuing its latest El Niño update, indicating that most models and opinions now considered that there was a 50 to 60% chance of the continuation of “neutral conditions” for the rest of this year. This meant that the chance of an El Niño phenomenon this year was down from earlier predictions. Answering a question, she specified that even without El Niño, the weather is becoming more extreme. Asked about the situation in Africa, she mentioned in particular that there had been a hail storm in Kenya a few days ago.

Ms. Nullis said June 2017 had been the second hottest month of June on record. In addition to the heat, the planet had also experienced very heavy precipitation. Large parts of China had seen very heavy rainfall this monsoon season. Bangladesh was also hit by monsoon related rainfall causing mudslides and authorities had said that about 900,000 people had been affected by floods. Japan had been hit earlier this week by a tropical storm, with extremely heavy rainfall (80mm). On the other hand, Australia had had the driest month of June on record.

WMO had kicked off “Summer in the city”, a new series of videos by weather forecast presenters – starting with Madrid and Barcelona, yesterday Montreal, and today Frankfurt – producing forecasts of what temperatures might be like in 2100. For example, today’s edition would say that by then, the weather in Frankfurt would be similar to that of Barcelona today.

Answering a question on whether WMO would be attending the G20 summit in Hamburg, Ms. Nullis said it would not, but she indicated there had been a briefing yesterday by a group of weather scientists on the reality and the risks of climate change.

Ms. Nullis said a conference on sea level rise and coastal impacts would be held next week in New York and she introduced Dr. Michael Sparrow, a scientist with the World Climate Research Programme, which was one of the organisers.

Dr. Sparrow explained that sea level rise didn’t occur equally around the globe and that the upcoming conference in New York would focus on regional changes. It was about understanding better the uncertainties around sea level rise and improving the coordination between engineers, coastal planners and policy-makers to adapt to this issue.

In response to a question on climate change, Dr. Sparrow stressed that around 90% of the heat released in the atmosphere because of greenhouse gas ended up in the oceans. During an El Niño year, heat went from the oceans to the atmosphere, explaining why it usually was warmer in case of such event. This also explained more extreme weather events and conditions.

Turkey

Elizabeth Throssell, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said OHCHR had received reports that eight human rights defenders and two international experts had been detained on Büyükada island, near Istanbul, on Wednesday 5July, while taking part in a training workshop on digital security and protection for human rights defenders. OHCHR feared that they were at significant risk of torture and other cruel inhuman or degrading treatment. Their detention period had been extended to seven days and they had reportedly been interrogated on allegation of membership in an armed terrorist organisation. This underscored OHCHR’s concern that anti-terror legislation was being abused to oppress individuals trying to exercise peacefully their civil and political rights. Among the detainees was the Director of Amnesty International-Turkey Idil Eser. One Swedish and one German nationals who facilitated the training were also detained along with the owner of the hotel where the workshop had been taking place.

This new wave of detentions was deeply worrying as it came a month after the detention of the Chairman of Amnesty International-Turkey, Tamer Kiliç.

OHCHR was also worried about two other detained human rights defenders -- Ms. Nuriye Gülmen and Mr. Semih Özakça -- on a hunger strike since March 2017 in the context of last year’s arrests. OHCHR called upon the Turkish Government to release and reinstate them in their jobs without delay and to ensure adequate compensation for their unlawful arrest and dismissal.

OHCHR was gravely concerned about all arbitrary arrests and detentions of human rights defenders in Tukey. In the context of the state of emergency, the Government seemed to have criminalized the legitimate exercise of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, and freedom of opinion and expression, using emergency decrees that failed to meet international human rights standards. OHCHR urged the Turkish Government to ensure that rights defenders can carry out their legitimate work in a safe and enabling environment without fear.

Asked why OHCHR believed the recently arrested human rights defenders were at risk of being tortured, Ms. Throssell said these arrests came in a pattern of arrests of human rights defenders and OHCHR feared that there was a risk. She also pointed to the report by the Special Rapporteur on torture on his visit to the country last December.

China

Ms. Throssell, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said OHCHR was very concerned at reports that Liu Xiaobo’s health had seriously deteriorated over the past 24 hours. OHCHR had been engaging with the Chinese authorities about the situation of Liu Xiaobo and his wife, Liu Xia, but had received no further information from the Chinese Government for more than 24 hours. The request for medical support for Liu Xiaobo should be responded to urgently, and amid these latest reports of the deterioration of his health, the UN should be granted access to both Liu Xiaobo and Liu Xia.

The High Commissioner, given the urgency and seriousness of the situation, will continue to follow developments regarding Liu Xiaobo and Liu Xia closely.

Cambodia

Ms. Throssell, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said OHCHR welcomed the release on bail of five Cambodian human rights defenders, who had been in pre-trial detention since April 2016. OHCHR equally welcomed the dropping of all legal proceedings against a member of OHCHR staff, Mr. Soen Sally, who had been charged in the same case.

However, these positive developments came at a time when the environment for human rights defenders and civil society organizations in Cambodia is still giving rise to considerable concern. And OHCHR remained concerned that the trials against those released on bail were proceeding despite the lack of evidence and legal reasoning to justify the charges. OHCHR would continue to monitor closely the proceedings until the case was completely closed.

Yemen

Tarik Jasarevic, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said the cholera situation in Yemen continued to be alarming and people continued to be infected. The latest figures showed that, until 2 July, 275,987 suspected cholera cases, and 1634 deaths had been reported in 287 districts out of 333 and in 21 out of 23 governorates. The overall fatality ratio is 0.6 %. This meant that, thanks in part to successful treatment, 99.4% of people that were infected had survived and were recovering. However, Mr Jasarevic recalled that more than half of all health facilities in Yemen had closed or were only partially functioning. That left more than 14 million Yemenis without access to basic healthcare.

WHO, UNICEF and other partners were supporting health authorities across the country to deal with this cholera outbreak. WHO had directly supported the establishment or renewal of 45 diarrhoea treatment centres and 236 oral rehydration therapy corners across the country. Mr. Jasarevic also mentioned the delivery of 400 tons of equipment and supplies, 20 ambulances and almost 200 tons of medicines and hospital equipment.

Since the beginning of this second wave of cholera which had started at the end of April 2017, WHO had provided more than 700,000 bags of intravenous fluid needed for severe cases, more than 500 bags with cleaning supplies and more than 110 kits containing supplies for treatment of cholera.

But medical supplies had been entering the country at a third of the rate they were before March 2015. In addition, health and sanitation workers had not received salaries in more than 8 months.

WHO had revised its cholera response budget to reflect the needs and was requesting 64 million dollars for these activities until the end of this year. So far, 18.2 million had been provided, and WHO encouraged donors who had pledged for the funding to turn their pledges into contributions in order to save lives.

In response to questions, Mr. Jasarevic said that even as numbers were going down in some areas, there were still thousands of people being infected every day, so the situation continued to be very alarming. WHO needed more capacity to reach people everywhere in the country.

Ms. Vellucci said Jamie McGoldrick, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, would brief correspondents at the end of the next press briefing on Tuesday 11 July.

Tabacco epidemic

Mr. Jasarevic, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said WHO would launch a global report on the tabacco epidemic in New York on 19 July, and a press briefing would be held on that issue in Geneva next Friday at 2 p.m.

Iraq

Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that IOM had temporarily suspended its activities in Qayarah and Haj Ali camps outside Mosul, handling up to 79 000 displaced Iraqis since 2016. Because of violence in the district, the military force in the district had imposed a curfew that had made movements in and out of the camp very difficult. Water tank trucks had been unable to come into the camp because of some of the checkpoints and the curfew. It was a great concern because of the high summer temperatures in Iraq.

In addition, in the case of Haj Ali camp, 13 buses of newly displaced people from Mosul were expected to arrive. IOM did not think that the situation was going to deteriorate further and a review would take place on 9 July to discuss lifting the ban on people coming in and out of the camp to work. But it was a disappointment because the offensive to retake Mosul, that had been described as almost finished, was still continuing.

Refugees

Ariane Rummery, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that UNHCR was leading a process to develop a Global Compact on Refugees, as called for in last year’s New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants. A series of thematic discussions to inform about developments of the global compact would be held this year, bringing together some 300 participants from governments, international organizations, NGOs and academia.

The first such meeting would be taking place on Monday 10 July 2017 in the Palais des Nations in Geneva (room XVII) to explore what can be learned from past and current examples of sharing responsibility for large movements of refugees. It would examine elements of past and present examples which have been most effective in protecting refugees and sharing responsibilities more equitably among States.

Monday’s thematic discussions would also examine current arrangements to share responsibility for large movements of refugees. This included the Syria refugee response, which since 2015 has been led through a combined “refugee and resilience” plan jointly coordinated by UNHCR and UNDP. Increasing development support for host countries and communities had been a key component, as well as expanding opportunities for resettlement and other pathways for admission to third countries.

Other current arrangements to be discussed at the meeting included the response frameworks for the Afghan and Somali refugee situations, and commitments by Latin America countries to improve protection and prospects of solutions for refugees, displaced and stateless people in the region.

UNHCR hoped that the thematic discussions would draw out a set of actions, good practices and lessons for States and others to inform about the development of the programme of action, which the High Commissioner would propose as part of the Global Compact on Refugees.

The Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Mr. Volker Türk, would be making opening remarks at 10 a.m. on Monday and would sum up the meeting between 5 and 6 p.m.

Ms. Vellucci added that UNHCR, UNICEF and IRC would hold a press conference at 11 a.m. on Monday 10 July, to issue a Roadmap that paves the way for better treatment of refugee and migrant children arriving in Europe without their parents or care givers.

Geneva Announcements and Activities

Alessandra Vellucci for the United Nations Information Service, said the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had left Crans-Montana early this morning to travel to Hamburg for the G20 Summit. He would participate today and tomorrow (7-8 July) in sessions on various topics including sustainable development, climate change, Africa, migration, health, and women’s empowerment. The Secretary-General was also expected to hold a number of bilateral meetings which would be announced later.

On the evening of Saturday 8 July, the Secretary-General would travel to Kiev, Ukraine, and on Sunday 9 July, he would meet with President Petro Porochenko and other senior Government officials. Mr. Guterres was expected to return to New York in the afternoon of Monday, 10 July.

Catherine Huissoud, for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), announced that Mukhisa Kituyi of Kenya had been confirmed as UNCTAD Secretary-General for a further four years (until 31 August 2021). Ms. Huissoud reminded correspondents that Isabelle Durand of Belgium had also been appointed last week as Assistant Secretary-General of UNCTAD.

Ms. Huissoud then briefed the press on the launch by UNCTAD of a world consumer protection map, an online tool on consumer protection practices in the world. Expert meetings on this issue were being concluded today.

Ms. Huissoud announced the presentation of a “tool box” for implementation of policies for gender equality. It would serve to evaluate the impact of the implementation of the said policies on the condition of women. This initiative, financed by Sweden, would be presented on Tuesday afternoon in the context of the week on the Aid for Trade Global Review.

Also taking place Tuesday would be a meeting between the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on the Great Lakes region and the UNCTAD Secretary-General on cooperation between humanitarian workers and UNCTAD.

Ms. Vellucci said the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination, which was meeting this week at the Palais des Nations, would today be reviewing the periodic report of Costa Rica.

The Human Rights Committee, meeting at the Palais Wilson, was scheduled to conclude its consideration of the report of Mongolia this morning. This afternoon, it would start it consideration of Swaziland in the absence of a report. The consideration of Swaziland would continue on Monday morning.

Ms. Vellucci announced a joint press conference by the World Health Organization and UNICEF on the release of a global assessment on water, sanitation and hygiene on Tuesday 11 July at 2 p.m. in room III. Among the speakers would be Maria Neira, WHO Director, Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health.