REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was attended by the spokespersons for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Health Organization, the World Meteorological Organization, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and the International Labour Organization.

Yemen

Rupert Colville, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said that OHCHR was very disturbed that civilians, including children, continued to be killed in attacks carried out by both the Popular Committees affiliated with the Houthis and army units loyal to the former President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, as well as by the Saudi-led coalition.

Just over the past five days, OHCHR had confirmed that three children had died and seven others had been injured in attacks by Houthi/Saleh forces in the Salah district of the city of Taizz, and that a coalition airstrike in Marib had killed a further five children and seven adults.

The deaths in Taizz had occurred on 15 September when two mortar shells had been fired at civilian areas, apparently in indiscriminate attacks by Houthi/Saleh forces, at around 5 p.m. local time. The first mortar shell had hit a house in the Shab al Dhuba area, killing two children and injuring two others as they played in the street.

Fifteen minutes later, a second shell had hit a road in Al-Sameil Market neighbourhood in the Hawdh Al-Ashraf area, about 400 metres away. One child had been killed as he was returning home with groceries and five others had been injured.

OHCHR field monitors had verified that the three children who had been killed had been 6, 8 and 12 years old, and the seven who had been injured were between 8 and 13 years old; two adults had also been injured during those attacks.

In both cases witnesses believed that the mortar shells had been fired from positions controlled by Houthi/Saleh forces. Witnesses also stated that there were no military objectives or armed groups in the areas. The nearest military site appeared to have been an administration office approximately 300-400 metres away from the place where one of the shells had exploded.

The coalition airstrike which had also left children dead had taken place the following day, on 16 September, in Harib Al Qaramish district in Marib. Five children, four women and three men from the same extended family had been killed when their pick-up vehicle had been hit by an airstrike on a mountain trail at around 4:50 p.m. local time. All the occupants of the vehicle had been civilians, travelling back to their homes in Sarawah District in Marib Governorate. They had spent almost a month in Sanaa where they had been seeking medical treatment. There had been no survivors.

The aforementioned events all demonstrated the horrific impact on children and families, and all civilians, of the ongoing brutal war. Once again, OHCHR urged all sides to exercise restraint and to cease all indiscriminate attacks and take all possible precautions to properly distinguish military objectives from civilian objects and to ensure that their attacks were never directed either at civilians or civilian objects.

The total number of civilians casualties that OHCHR had verified since March 2015 stood at 13,920, including 5,159 people killed and 8,761 injured. The actual numbers were likely to be far higher. And, as the High Commissioner had noted in his speech to the Human Rights Council the previous week, coalition airstrikes continued to be the leading cause of civilian casualties, including of children.

William Spindler, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that in the first UNHCR-assisted spontaneous return movement for Somali refugees from Yemen, 133 refugees had departed on 18 September 2017 for Somalia. Given the current life-threatening conditions in Yemen for many civilians, including refugees, UNHCR was supporting the voluntary returns of Somali refugees who constituted 91 per cent of the over 280,000 refugees and asylum seekers, or some 256,000 individuals, in Yemen.

Returning refugees were being assisted by UNHCR and partners with documentation, transportation and financial support in Yemen to facilitate the journey, as well as return and reintegration assistance upon arrival in Somalia. The first group of UNHCR-assisted returnees had left the Port of Aden late on 18 September 2017 aboard a vessel chartered by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which was working in partnership with UNHCR for those returns.

The sea journey took approximately 16 to 18 hours from the time of departure; the vessel expected to arrive in Somalia’s Port of Berbera.

UNHCR had also been working in close partnership with relevant national authorities in both Somalia and Yemen to facilitate the returns, including with the issuance of relevant documentation and the coordination of assistance.

Those returning were residing in either the Kharaz refugee camp in Lahj Governorate or the Basateen District in Aden. Returnees or those intending to return had informed UNHCR staff that the prevailing situation in Yemen and fears for their safety and personal security were driving their return.

Though most Somali refugees who were registered in Yemen originated from the Banadir, Lower Shabelle, Bay, Middle Shabelle and Woqooyi Galbeed regions in Somalia, most refugees opted to return to Mogadishu in the anticipation that assistance and services would be more accessible and available.

In Yemen, UNHCR had been providing protection and services for refugees and asylum seekers including by providing legal assistance, supporting education and livelihoods programs, and providing access to health and psychosocial services and a cash programme for people with specific needs amongst others.

UNHCR’s humanitarian operations in Yemen would continue to provide support to refugees who remain there.

Olivia Headon, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that the returning Somali refugees being transported from Aden, Yemen to the Bay of Berbera as part of the first joint IOM/UNHCHR movement were expected to arrive on the evening of 19 September at around 7 p.m. but would not be able to dock in the country until the following morning. IOM had helped with medical screenings and provided a medical escort on the ship, ensuring that all passengers were fit to travel. There were 14 medical cases on board but none of those were injuries, but rather chronic ailments. IOM had also provided food and water for the journey. IOM had conducted 12 movements since November 2016, thus helping some 1,300 people return home. The current movement had been funded by the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration of the United States State Department.

In response to a question regarding whether the Saudi-led coalition would be included in the annex to the forthcoming Secretary-General’s report on children and armed conflict, Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, said that she did not wish to speculate on the content of the Secretary-General’s report or its annexes before they were issued. The Secretary-General had stated that he would review the report and its annexes before taking any final decisions about its content. Mr. Colville, for OHCHR, added that irrespective of the findings of the Secretary-General’s report, the High Commissioner had for the third time called for the establishment of an international, independent body to carry out comprehensive investigations into violations in Yemen. There was long and still-growing list of attacks by both sides of the conflict that had resulted in large numbers of civilian casualties, including children.

Bangladesh

Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that the latest estimates indicated that some 421,000 people had fled from Rakhine State, Myanmar, into Bangladesh, with some 20,000 new arrivals daily. IOM expected to double its appeal to USD 77 million, which was considerably higher than the amount pledged so far. Bangladesh was already free of polio and almost free of measles and rubella. The Government, the World Health Organization and humanitarian partners had launched an urgent immunization programme on 17 September 2017 to vaccinate 150,000 newly arrived children. IOM teams had been providing emergency and primary health-care services, assisting in 64 child deliveries just in the previous three weeks. In addition, over 14,000 pregnant women were among the recent wave of arrivals.

Marixie Mercado, for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said that over a quarter of a million children had fled Myanmar for Bangladesh in the previous 25 days. They faced real risks. In recent days, over 23,000 children below five years old had been screened for malnutrition in a number of different sites in Cox’s Bazar. About 13 per cent had been reported acutely malnourished. Acute malnutrition was generally due either to limited food intake or a recent illness, or both. It could affect anyone, but among children below five years old, if it went untreated, the risk of death could be high. Children who suffered the most severe kind of malnutrition were up to nine times more likely to die of diseases such as cholera, malaria or measles, than a well-nourished child. Even children who suffered from moderate malnutrition were three times more likely to die.

The conditions that underlay or aggravated malnutrition were poor childcare or feeding practices, and lack of safe water, sanitation and health care. In Cox’s Bazar, people were living in extremely close quarters; there was an acute shortage of safe water; and it was raining again. There was anecdotal evidence that mothers were breastfeeding less. And almost 20,000 latrines were needed just to provide basic emergency sanitation. The priority now was to prevent a humanitarian crisis from turning into a humanitarian disaster.

UNICEF continued to ramp up screening and was bringing in supplies, with specialized therapeutic food and other supplies leaving Copenhagen that evening. It was establishing implementing partners and scaling up support to government health centres to treat cases with complications. Since the beginning of the immunization campaign, over 26,380 children had been vaccinated against measles and rubella; 14,780 children had been vaccinated against polio; and 17,274 vitamin A supplements had been distributed.

Aslam Khan, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that UNHCR had continued to ramp up operations in south-east Bangladesh in light of further arrivals of Rohingya refugees and the Agency’s very grave concern at the still difficult conditions for the many thousands of people who had fled Rakhine State, Myanmar, since 25 August 2017.

A major focus of the Agency’s work over the previous three days had been at a new Extension Site next to the Kutupalong camp near Cox’s Bazar where on 17 and 19 September it had begun moving recent arrivals into family tents and temporary communal shelters.

The Government had allocated some 2,000 acres for the refugees. UNHCR site planners estimated that that would be sufficient to house 150,000 or more of the 421,000 refugees who had arrived since 25 August.

Four communal tents had been erected, sheltering some 400 people. As of the afternoon of 18 September, refugee volunteers had erected 70 large family tents, each accommodating two or three families of up to 21 people.

Refugees had told UNHCR staff that they suffered from cold and rain during their treks from Myanmar. Many had fallen ill, particularly small children. There was an urgent need for more latrines to reduce risks of spread of disease with so many people living in close quarters. Many had also complained of hunger and said that they had eaten little on their journeys, which had taken up to 10 days on foot.

UNHCR and the authorities were working with partners to ensure that all newly arrived refugees including those moved to the emergency shelter had food. The humanitarian challenges had become immense. Remarkable generosity by many individual Bangladeshis continued to be observed, with people trucking food and clothes to the refugees in the camps and others camping along the single main road. However, the Government needed more support. UNHCR would be issuing an appeal during the current week for the emergency humanitarian response in Bangladesh until the end of year.

Bangladesh authorities had already begun biometric registration of new arrivals, registering some 1,000 people a day just in Kutupalong. That was a vital protection activity for allowing all agencies to target assistance to the most vulnerable, with better knowledge of how many elderly, children, and other categories were in the camps.

Bangladesh had been home to two official camps since 1991, Kutupalong and Nayapara. With the arrival of such vast numbers over the last weeks, UNHCR had agreed to a Government request to expand services to refugees outside the two camps.

A third airlift carrying supplies like plastic sheets, sleeping mats, mosquito nets and kitchen sets, to be distributed by UNHCR partners, was scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on 20 September.

Fadela Chaib, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that WHO had released a first tranche of USD 175,000 emergency funding from the South-East Asia Regional Health Emergency Fund to mobilize essential medicines and support 20 mobile medical teams providing life-saving health care to vulnerable populations for at least two months in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar area. The grant was also being used to procure essential medicines and medical supplies to be distributed to pre-existing health facilities in the Cox’s Bazar area.

Poor nutrition, disease, injuries and mental well-being were some of the concerns WHO was seeking to address together with its partners in the region. In recent days, it had supported the Ministry of Health in launching a mass measles, rubella and polio immunization campaign to protect around 150 000 children aged 6 months to 15 years old. Mass immunization was one of the most powerful ways to keep vulnerable communities safe from communicable diseases, especially when overcrowding and inadequate access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene were present.

The South-East Asia Regional Health Emergency Fund had been created by WHO South-East Asia member countries in 2008 to enhance emergency response across the region. It had so far provided over USD 5 million for 34 different events in nine member countries.

WHO and partners were already making a difference by alerting people of the risks of cholera, supporting the early detection of cases, treating cases and taking other steps to end the outbreak.

Nigeria

Fadela Chaib, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that a major vaccination campaign had been launched on 18 September 2017 to halt the spread of cholera in Borno State, Nigeria. WHO, GAVI The Vaccine Alliance and other partners, working together with the Government of Nigeria, had delivered over 915,000 doses of oral cholera vaccine to the country over the past week. The campaign provided for the vaccination of everyone over the age of one year – over 915,000 individuals –in Borno State in the following days.

Following heavy rainfall and lack of access to safe water, more than 2,600 suspected cholera cases had been reported in Borno State as of 16 September, with more than 40 deaths since the first case had been confirmed in mid-August. The decision to send cholera vaccines from the global stockpile had been taken on 7 September by the International Coordinating Group for Vaccine Provision.

Lack of new antibiotics for tuberculosis

Fadela Chaib, for the World Health Organization (WHO), announced that at 6 p.m., New York time, on 19 September, WHO would host a side event at the UN Headquarters about the lack of new antibiotics to combat TB, especially antibiotic-resistant forms of the disease.

Hurricanes

Clare Nullis, for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said that Hurricane Maria was causing devastation the Caribbean. It was the seventh hurricane of the season and the fourth major hurricane (above category 3) following Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Jose.

Hurricane Maria had intensified rapidly on 18 September from a category 1 to a category 5 hurricane. The first category 5 hurricane to have ever hit the island of Dominica, Hurricane Maria had arrived overnight with maximum winds of 160 miles per hour; the entire island had come under the eye of the hurricane. The Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, had been very active on social media, on which he had stated that there were initial reports of widespread devastation and fears of serious physical injury and possible deaths as a result of likely landslides triggered by persistent rains. Dominica was a small island with a population of around 60,000.

The threat of Hurricane Maria continued, now heading towards the Leeward Islands, which had already been hit by Hurricane Irma. On the forecast track, the eye of Maria would next approach the Virgin Islands, which had also been hit by Hurricane Irma, and Puerto Rico on 20 September. It was predicted to remain a category 4 or 5 hurricane while it approached the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico and currently the capital of Puerto Rico looked to be under very significant threat.

As with any hurricane of such size, flash flooding and 2 to 2.7 metre storm surges were expected on some of the islands.

Hurricane Jose, while currently well off the east coast of the United States, was still active and therefore being monitored.

Denis McClean, for the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), recalled the Secretary-General’s recent comments that it would be very difficult for many small island developing States and other States to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals if they were constantly having to rebuild following damage from extreme weather events. The year 2017 was indeed proving to be one of historical significance in the struggle against climate change and all the other risks that put human life in danger and threatened exposed and vulnerable communities around the world who found themselves in harm’s way from extreme weather events. Such events now accounted for 90 per cent of disasters caused by natural hazards and had doubled over the past 40 years.

It was worth recalling that in September 2015, tropical storm Erica had hit Dominica with winds of just 85 km/h, resulting in some 200 landslides, 31 deaths and economic losses of USD 500 million, equivalent to almost 100 per cent of the island’s GDP. It was possible to imagine how much worse the devastation and possible of life would be in the wake of Hurricane Maria.

For the first time in 300 years, there was no one left living in Barbuda, which had been badly affected by Hurricane Irma during the previous week. In the past two years, over 40 million people had been displaced temporarily or permanently by floods, storms or other natural hazards. That trend was a huge challenge to all those United Nations Member States who had agreed, under the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, to substantially reduce the numbers of people affected by disasters.

On 13 October 2017, marking the International Disaster Reduction Day, UNISDR would be releasing a new report on homelessness caused by disasters.

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, recalled that the Secretary-General and the Deputy Secretary-General had spoken extensively not only on hurricanes but also on climate change. Climate Week NYC 2017 had been opened on 18 September 2017. A high-level meeting on Hurricane Irma and a high-level stakeholder dialogue on climate change had been held in New York, during which the strong concerns of the United Nations had been expressed about hurricanes, the populations affected by them, and climate change. The Secretary-General had stated that he intended to hold a climate summit in 2019 to support the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

ILO conference on youth employment in North Africa

Hans Von Rohland, for the International Labour Organization (ILO), announced that on 26 and 27 September 2017, in Geneva, ILO would be holding the first Youth and Employment in North Africa Conference. North Africa was hard-hit by high levels of youth unemployment, low female labour force participation, compromised job quality, increasing informality, slow productivity and underemployment. The Conference would bring together representatives from seven North African countries with a view to agreeing on a new road map for youth employment in North Africa for the following five years.

Human Rights Council update

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, said that on the morning of 19 September 2017, the Human Rights Council was holding a discussion with the International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, to be followed at around 11.30 a.m. by a presentation of the report of the Commission of Inquiry on Burundi.

Both groups would brief the media at the press stakeout behind Room XX following the discussions – the International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar at 12 p.m. and the Commission of Inquiry on Burundi at 3 p.m.

In the afternoon of 19 September, the Council would begin its general debate on country situations.

Geneva Events and Announcements

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, said that the high-level general debate of the General Assembly’s seventy-second session was scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., New York time, on 19 September 2017.

Recalling that the first Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury would be held in Geneva from 24 to 29 September 2017, Ms. Vellucci said that mercury was a metal that posed one of the most serious threats to human health and the environment. The Conference of the Parties would bring together more than 130 member States with some of the world’s leading experts on chemicals and health, as well as civil society and international organizations, to address a range of issues including trade in mercury compounds, storage of mercury, management of contaminated sites, and artisanal and small-scale gold mining. A number of sessions would be held, including on mercury on land, in the air and in water. Meeting highlights would include a “mercury bubble” at the Place des Nations, a “Moment to Minamata”, the high-level opening with the President of Switzerland and an event on “Uniting for Minamata” with the President of Guyana and heads of United Nation agencies and the Global Environment Facility. There would be two press conferences, a curtain-raiser on Friday, 22 September at 9:30 a.m. and a closing press briefing on Friday, 29 September at 1:15 p.m.

At 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 19 September, the United Nations Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism, Ikponwosa Ero, would hold a press conference in Room III.

At 11.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 20 September in Press Room 1, members of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan would discuss the Commission’s mandate and its findings following their recent visit to South Sudan and Ethiopia.

The webcast for this briefing is available here: http://bit.ly/unog190917