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 spokespersons and representatives for the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the United Nations Office, Geneva, the Human Rights Council, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the International Organization for Migration and the World Trade Organization.

International Women’s Week (5-9 March) and International Women’s Day (8 March)

Martin Chungong, Secretary-General of the International Postal (IPU), said IPU tracked the representation of women in parliaments throughout the world. Unfortunately, a worrying trend had emerged in 2016 that had continued in 2017, and the progress that had been evident over previous years had largely slowed down or stagnated. Prior to 2016, the representation of women in parliaments had been growing at an average of 0.6 per cent, year upon year. In 2016, that figure had fallen to 0.1 per cent and there it had remained in 2017. The figures for 2017 stood at 23.4 per cent, as compared with 23.3 per cent in 2016. IPU believed more robust action and firmer political will were required to address that problem. It was true that fewer parliamentary elections had taken place in 2017 than in other years; but that of itself did not justify the drop.

Nonetheless, there had been some positive developments. The number of female candidates was increasing and larger numbers of them were successful. The positon in Europe was paradoxical. In some countries the proportion of women in politics was increasing, such as France, where the presence of women in parliament had jumped from 26 per cent to 38 per cent. In other States the proportion was decreasing, such as Iceland where the proportion had fallen by 9.5 per cent. At the same time, in parts of the world where women were not traditionally active in public life, such as the Pacific Region, trends seemed to be evolving positively. In Tonga, for example, the female representation in parliament had risen by 8 per cent.

States in South America also had increasing numbers of women in parliament, thanks also to the fact that many had introduced gender parity legislation. However, Latin America fared poorly in terms of women in top positions.

IPU had noticed that, in countries that had a quota system in place, the representation of women in political life was generally much higher than in other countries. Therefore, more States should introduce and apply quotas. The equal representation of women in parliaments was a major factor in the legitimacy of the decision-making process.

Another major issue was that of harassment, sexism and violence against women which, it was clear, impeded their participation in political life. In 2017, a number of scandals had erupted as a consequence of harassment towards women on the part of politicians. Parliaments around the world had reacted strongly and, in many countries, such as Canada, Sweden, Switzerland and other European States, decisive action was being taken. Also in the light of the ongoing Me Too campaign, all sides needed to be supportive of efforts to do away with sexism.

Corinne Momal-Vanian, for the United Nations Office at Geneva, said the International Gender Champions (IGC) initiative had been launched in Geneva in September 2015 by the Director-General of UN Geneva, Michael Møller, the former Permanent Representative of the United States of America, Ambassador Pamela Hamamoto, and the Executive-Director of Women@TheTable.

IGC had arisen out of a concern that women were underrepresented in Permanent Missions and international organizations in Geneva and that they were not sufficiently visible on panels of experts. For example, the representation of women in Permanent Missions had increased by only around 7 per cent in nearly 10 years. Currently, 26 per cent of Permanent Representatives in Geneva were women. In New York, the figure was 21 per cent. The concept behind the initiative was very simple: Heads of Permanent Missions and leaders of international organizations and large civil society groups had taken a public pledge that they would not participate in any single-sex panels. They had also each made two additional pledges more specific to the work of the particular organization they headed.

IGC had grown very fast and, after two-and-a-half years, its impact had far outstripped expectations. It now had 205 Champions across three hubs: Geneva, New York and Vienna. A new hub would be launched in Nairobi on 8 March 2018 and there were plans to expand to Bonn and The Hague later in the year. As a result of IGC, the climate was changing: the fact that leaders had consistently declined invitations to participate in single-sex panels had meant that fewer and fewer such panels were being convened. Forty-four per cent of 328 panels were currently gender balanced, as compared to just 18 per cent in 2016.

Apart from increased representation, a shift in substance had also been seen. Gender champions were using IGC to promote a specific agenda. For example, in December 2017, more than 100 member States and observers at the World Trade Organization’s Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires had joined the Joint Declaration on Trade and Women’s Economic Empowerment, which had been conceived in Geneva by a group of Gender Champions. New groups of Gender Champions would be formed to work, for example, on issues such as disarmament and the environment.

IGC would, of course, also address sexual harassment, and several Gender Champions had stated that their additional pledges in 2018 would be on that issue. For example, the Director-General of UN Geneva had made a pledge to combat casual sexism. That was important because casual sexism was part of a continuum and could lead to an environment in which sexual harassment and sexual violence were more prevalent.

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, said the theme of International Women’s Day 2018 was: “Time is Now: Rural and urban activists transforming women’s lives”.

In response to questions, Mr. Chungong said IPU worked on a number of different fronts to achieve the ideal of equal representation of women in political life. One vital area was awareness-raising. In his experience, parliamentarians around the world were very receptive to IPU data and league tables on female representation and were keen to show what steps they were taking to make equal participation a reality. However, awareness-raising alone was not enough, so IPU worked with national authorities, particularly in countries where women were underrepresented, to amend electoral legislation and ensure it included provisions that promoted the participation of women in the political process. Tangible results had been achieved in that regard, notably with the introduction of quota systems. IPU also promoted the creation of cross-party caucuses of female parliamentarians who could work with their male colleagues with a view to achieving equality.

Responding to a question about the representation of women in political life in the United States of America, Mr. Chungong said women made up just 19.4 per cent of members of Congress, and the United States ranked 100 out of 190 on the IPU league table of female parliamentary representation. Rwanda remained at the top of the list, with a 61 per cent representation of women in parliament. Bolivia, Cuba and Nicaragua also ranked in the top four. Nordic countries were also doing well, although not as well as they had been. Sweden, for example, had fallen to fifth place. Apart from Rwanda, other African countries with encouraging levels of female representation included South Africa (42 per cent), Senegal (41.8 per cent) and Namibia. The latter had a quota system known as the “Zebra” system in place. It was important, not only that women appear on electoral lists but that they be positioned on those list in places where they would be elected.

At the bottom end of the list, some countries in the Pacific Region, such as Micronesia, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu, women were not represented in parliament at all.

In answer to further questions, Mr. Chungong said robust action against sexual abuse in political life had taken place in countries where scandals had emerged, such as the United Kingdom, Switzerland and France. In addition, Canada had recently introduced a code of conduct for parliamentarians that included zero tolerance towards sexual harassment and violence in parliamentary processes. However, the problem was by no means limited to those States. It was very widespread and many women did not report instances of abuse.

Mr. Chungong said IPU engaged with parliament in the Syrian Arab Republic as it did with parliaments in all other member States. Clearly, the current circumstances in Syria were far from ideal. Nonetheless, IPU’s engagement was aimed towards ensuring that the Syrian parliament was truly representative of society as a whole, promoting action to resolve the country’s crisis through the political process and encouraging parliamentary involvement in national reconciliation. In general, the political representation of women was improving across the States of the Arab world. Saudi Arabia, for example, was progressing, not regressing. It currently had 22 per cent female representation in parliament whereas, when it had joined IPU some years previously, it had had no women in parliament at all.

In response to questions, Ms. Momal-Vanian said the United Nations Secretary-General had made it clear that anti-sexual harassment policies would focus on prevention, investigation and support for victims. As regarded prevention, the main focus would be to create a climate that was unfavourable to sexism, discrimination or harassment. That included training on unconscious bias. It also meant increasing the use of flexible working arrangements so as to enable people to balance work and family life without jeopardizing their careers. As regarded investigations, the role of the Office of Internal Oversight would be strengthened, and more professional investigators would be hired. In fact, one of the problems the United Nations system had faced in the past was that investigations were conducted on a voluntary basis by staff with limited training. The number of women in senior positions at UNOG had increased significantly over the previous two years.

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that, on International Women’s Day, 8 March, the Jet d’Eau in Geneva would be lit up in turquoise, which was the colour of the Gender Champions.

Responding to questions, Ms. Vellucci said the United Nations had taken robust action to combat sexual abuse and harassment of all kinds. It had set up a hotline to report abuse and was establishing a new team of special investigators. The Secretary-General himself had made clear that a culture of impunity could only be countered with a culture of transparency. The United Nations did not want victims to remain silent and, in fact, another feature of the new strategy was the protection of whistle-blowers, and the Secretary-General had stated that he would hold managers responsible for failing to report unacceptable situations and practices. The new approach to sexual harassment had been discussed in the context of the Chief Executive Board, which brought together the heads of all United Nations organizations, in order to ensure that a coherent and system-wide approach was taken. To that end, a special task force been set up, headed by Jan Beagle.

In UNOG, that there had been two alleged cases of sexual harassment over the previous five years, one in 2013 and the other in 2015. One had led to administrative measures, the other had been closed due to a lack of substantive evidence.

Update on Human Rights Council

Rolando Gomez, for the Human Rights Council, said the Human Rights Council would hold an urgent debate on the situation in East Ghouta that afternoon at 3 p.m. The meeting would take the form of a general debate. First, the High Commissioner for Human Rights would speak, followed by the party that had proposed the meeting, the United Kingdom. They would be followed by the State concerned, the Syrian Arab Republic, followed by other States and NGOs.

At the end of the meeting, the Council would take action on a draft resolution. Informal consultations on the resolution were currently taking place. Among other things, the resolution called for an urgent need for accountability for crimes committed by all parties, strongly condemned the sustained denial of humanitarian access, demanded that Syrian authorities allow free, unimpeded and sustained access for aid deliveries and medical evacuations to and from East Ghouta, and requested the Commission of Inquiry on Syria urgently to conduct a comprehensive, independent inquiry into the events in East Ghouta.

That morning, the Council had concluded its interactive discussion with the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism, and the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights. Currently, the Council was discussing a report by the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, which addressed the relationship between State and religious institutions, and reports on his missions to Albania and Uzbekistan.

Later that day, the Council would hear the presentation of a joint study by the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, and the Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide, on the contribution of transitional justice in preventing human rights violations, including genocide.

The presentation of reports by the Special Rapporteur on the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and the Special Rapporteur on the right to food had been postponed until Monday 5 March.

The start of the biometric verification exercise for refugees in Uganda

Babar Baloch, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), read out the following statement:

“UNHCR, is supporting the Government of Uganda with its launch of a countrywide biometric data verification to fix any discrepancies in refugee data.

The massive exercise started yesterday (Thursday 1 March) in the Oruchinga refugee settlement in Uganda’s South-West region, home to thousands of Congolese refugees, before being rolled out across the country. UNHCR, working with partners, will be expanding the biometric verification exercise, deploying more than 400 additional staff, to over 30 locations covering more than 800 kilometres.

The data verification exercise is scheduled to be completed by September 2018 – including introduction of biometric checks at 180 food distribution sites.

UNHCR is providing necessary technical equipment and has also made available our biometric registration software, which has already been used to register some 4.4 million refugees in 48 countries across the globe.

Uganda provides protection to more than an estimated one million refugees, and maintains an open-door policy for people fleeing conflict and persecution.

The Government in Uganda retains the responsibility for the refugee response in Uganda, including registration and documentation of new arrivals.

The verification exercise will ensure that refugees and asylum-seekers are accurately reflected in the registration system and assist Uganda to enhance the accuracy of data. This will make certain that resources and services provided by UNHCR and its partners reach the intended recipients.

Uganda’s asylum policy framework is considered to be one of the most progressive in the world, providing refugees with plots of land. Refugees in Uganda enjoy the same rights as nationals, share public services including healthcare and education, with Ugandan nationals, who have consistently welcomed refugees with generosity and hospitality.”

Responding to questions, Mr. Baloch said the new system was important because there had been indications suggesting discrepancies in the refugee registration system currently being used by Uganda. Originally, UNHCR itself had registered the refugees. Since the Ugandan authorities had taken over in 2015, both UNHCR and other partners had been conveying their concerns about the accuracy of the refugee data. Small-scale verification exercises had shown that numbers of refugees were lower than those in the government system.

At the beginning of 2018, the United Nations had produced a list of issues and concerns about the credibility of the data in the government registration system. Those concerns, as well as allegations of misconduct, fraud and corruption, had been conveyed to Ugandan officials. The highest levels of the Ugandan Government had acknowledged that a problem existed and an investigation into the allegations had been launched. The Prime Minister himself had given assurances that persons found guilty of wrongdoing would face justice and had accepted the UNHCR offer to introduce the biometric data system. The overall aim of the exercise was to acquire correct data in order to ensure that resources actually reached the many thousands of refugees who needed them. Uganda had a very progressive asylum policy framework but issues such as the present one risked tarnishing the country’s image.

Killing of IOM staff in Nigeria

Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said IOM deplored an attack the previous day at the town of Rann in Borno State, Nigeria. The incident had taken place less than 24 hours previously so details were still sketchy but, according to the information at his disposal, Boko Haram had attacked a military base in the town, where a displaced persons camp was also located. The attack had claimed the lives of four soldiers, four policemen and three humanitarian workers, two of whom were IOM staff. The dead IOM staff, both Nigerians, had been named as Ibrahim Lawan and Yawe Emmanuel.

In response to questions, Mr. Millman that the events had taken place so recently that information had not yet had time to reach him. He understood that the military installation was also used as camp for internally displaced persons and that the IOM staff had been there to help the IDPs. No IOM staff had died in the course of duty during 2017. One staff member had been kidnapped in Libya earlier in 2018 but had subsequently been released unharmed.

Migrants crossing the Mediterranean

Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said the arrival of migrants in Italy – which was the most active route for migrants moving from North Africa into Europe – were at a five-year low. In the first two months of 2014, nearly 7,700 migrants had arrived in Italy. That figure had reached more than 9,000 in the first two months of 2016 and more than 13,000 in the first two months of 2017. However, the figure for the first two months of 2018 was 5,247. That was particularly important in the light of the fact that immigration was a very sensitive political issue in Italy and that a general election was due to be held there that weekend.

One of the reasons for the fall might be the ongoing IOM programme of voluntary humanitarian returns from migrant detention centres in Libya. Two more flights had taken place the previous week to Benin, Mali and Niger. So far in 2018, 3,730 migrants had been repatriated to 26 different countries.

Next week’s WTO agenda

Dan Pruzin for the World Trade Organization (WTO), said two briefings would be held at WTO the following week. On Monday 5 March there would be an informal meeting of heads of delegation, which would be followed by a briefing for journalists at 5 p.m. On Wednesday 7 March, the meeting of the WTO General Council would also be followed by a press briefing, which was expected to take place at 1 p.m.

The WTO was also organizing two events to mark International Women’s Day. At 10 a.m. on Tuesday 6 March, an information session would be held on the next steps in relation to the Buenos Aires Declaration on Trade and Women’s Economic Empowerment. On Thursday 8 March, the WTO Director General would be speaking at a special event entitled: What Role for Trade and WTO in Women’s Economic Empowerment.

Replying to questions, Mr. Pruzin said WTO did monitor trade restrictive measures but it did not comment on them. Nor did it comment on domestic regulations of member States. Therefore, he had no comment to make on a recent decision on the part of the United States to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade did include provision for a national security exception but no dispute settlement case had ever arisen to challenge a member State’s right to invoke that provision. If one member State had concerns about the actions of another it could raise the matter within WTO mechanisms or through a dispute settlement proceedings.

Geneva events and announcements

Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, said the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women was reviewing today (morning and afternoon) the report of the Marshall Islands. These will be the last two public meetings of the Committee, until the closing of the session next Friday (9 March).

Ms. Vellucci also said the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Room XVII, Palais des Nations) was meeting in private.

Ms. Vellucci added that, as for the Conference on Disarmament (CD), its next public meeting was scheduled to take place next Tuesday, 6 March, at 10 a.m.

The CD is currently under the presidency of Ambassador Veronika Bard of Sweden. During 2018, Switzerland, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey will also hold the presidency of the CD. The three parts of the 2018 session of the Conference will take place from 22 January to 30 March; from 14 May to 29 June; and lastly from 30 July to 14 September.

Ms. Vellucci added that Saturday 3 March was World Wildlife Day.

Press conferences

Permanent Mission of the State of Qatar
Latest update on the blockade imposed on the State of Qatar
Friday, 2 March at 12:00 p.m. in Room III
http://bit.ly/2Fgy4EI

Human Rights Council / Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic
Launch of report of the Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic
Tuesday, 6 March at 1:00 p.m. in Room III
http://bit.ly/2tat3sw

ILO (under embargo until 7 March 09:00 p.m. GMT)
Launch of the study “World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends for Women 2018 – Global snapshot”
Wednesday, 7 March at 10:00 a.m. in Press Room 1
http://bit.ly/2oKaOou