REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also addressed by Spokespersons for the International Telecommunication Union, the International Organization for Migration, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Food Programme, the International Labour Office and the World Health Organization.

New Secretary-General-Designate Sworn in

Ms. Heuzé said Ban Ki-moon was sworn in yesterday to serve as the next Secretary-General, effective on 1 January. Also yesterday, the General Assembly paid tribute to the departing Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, adopting a resolution honouring his accomplishments during his ten years in office and giving him a standing ovation. Available in the press room were copies of the new Secretary-General’s biography in the six languages of the United Nations, as well as a transcript of the press conference he gave after the swearing in ceremony. The transcript of Mr. Annan’s remarks in response to the tribute paid to him at the General Assembly was also available.

New Secretary-General for International Telecommunication Union

Sanjay Acharya of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) said Hamadoun Toure, who was elected as the new Secretary-General of ITU at the Plenipotentiary Conference which was held in Antalya, Turkey last month, will be taking up his post on 1 January. Houlin Zhao was elected as Deputy Secretary-General. A press conference would be arranged for the press to meet with the new Secretary-General after the holidays, around 10 January.

Mr. Acharya said the ITU Telecom World 2006 was held from 4 to 8 December in Hong Kong. It was a very successful event with 62,000 participants and 695 exhibitors from 37 countries.

Finally, ITU along with partners International Standards Organization and International Electrotechnical Commission would review and examine the implications of the latest developments in the fast-moving market for information and communication technologies in motor vehicles at the next Geneva Motor Show to be held from 2 to 12 March 2007. The Fully Networked Car: Information and Communication Technologies in Motor Vehicles would comprise of an exhibition which would run the length of the Geneva Motor Show as well as a workshop that would take place from 7 to 9 March.

Great Lakes Region

Ms. Heuzé said in a message to the second summit of the International Conference for the Great Lakes Region which started yesterday in Nairobi, Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed a major new treaty that seeks to bring peace to Africa’s troubled Great Lakes region, which he said has witnessed some of the world’s bloodiest wars. Mr. Annan called on the country’s leaders to focus not only on ending conflict but also on democracy, economic development, regional integration and humanitarian issues. “Ownership of the process by the core countries themselves remains the key factor. It is you who have defined priorities… I also urge you to give equal importance to all four themes of the International Conference. Peace and security will not be consolidated unless we also address the other three major areas identified by the core countries: democracy and good governance, economic development and regional integration, and humanitarian and social issues,” Mr. Annan said. The conference is being held under the auspices of the United Nations and the African Union.

Philippines

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said an IOM team in the typhoon-hit Bicol region of the central Philippines has started to deliver emergency shelter and non-food items to an estimated 5,000 households in the hardest hit provinces. The logistics operation, funded with $ 250,000 from the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund, complements the Philippine Government’s efforts to bring relief to the region struck by Typhoon Reming on 30 November. IOM was also planning to appeal to international donors for an additional $ 6 million to provide emergency relief for another 95,000 internally displaced persons in the Bicol region.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the United Nations was today appealing for $ 46 million to meet the urgent needs of the most vulnerable persons affected by the four typhoons in the Philippines over the next 12 months. The immediate emergency relief needs and other life-saving activities had been programmed under the Central Emergency Response Fund worth $ 2.6 million. The Relief and Early Recovery appeal would address the remaining caseloads of emergency relief requirements and early recovery needs for a period of 12 months. With more than seven million persons affected by the last four typhoons since September, casualty figures for the typhoons have continued to rise as communication lines are restored in remote areas. Total and partially damaged houses are 332,638 and 711,382 respectively. Infrastructure, agricultural crops and fishing farms were wiped out with losses amounting to $ 246 million. A press release with more details was available.

Michael Bociurkiw of the United Nations Children’s Fund said over half a million students had been affected by the typhoons in the Philippines. Albay province in the Bicol region had been the worst hit. Local officials there reported that 30 per cent of the affected 600,000 persons there were children. Also, nine out of 10 schools were completely destroyed in Albay and as a result, all classes had been suspended and would only be resumed in January. UNICEF was providing a lot of supplies and personnel to the Philippines Government to help the school system recover from this.

Simon Pluess of the World Food Programme said WFP estimated that around 100,000 persons needed food aid after the typhoons. WFP would be catering for the needs of some 50,000 persons affected by the disaster, and the Philippines Government would be feeding the other 50,000. However, assessments of the damage done were still ongoing and it was likely that these figures would increase.

United Nations Integrated Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Standards

Donato Kiniger-Passigli of the International Labour Office said the United Nations Integrated Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Standards and the United Nations Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Resource Centre will be launched on 18 December 2006 at 4 p.m. at the Palais des Nations (Room XII, 3rd floor). There will be a simultaneous launch in New York. The Integrated Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Standards represent the new United Nations policy and procedure for undertaking Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration programmes. They were jointly developed by the 15 United Nations and non-United Nations agencies that constitute the Inter-Agency Working Group on Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration.
The event will include an address by Mark Malloch Brown, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, by videoconference and a panel discussion on Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration with Kari Tapiola, ILO Executive Director, and Pierrette Vu Thi, UNICEF Deputy Director of Emergencies. Sergei Ordzhonikidze, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, will chair the launch.

Mr. Kiniger-Passigli said the standards were considered as a textbook, but also a process by practitioners and for practitioners to be used in each and every United Nations intervention or field mission dealing with disarmament, demobilization and reintegration. The launch marked the start of a new process for the United Nations in terms of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration. From now on, all UN bodies will work on these issues with one single approach. From the first programmes for disarmament, demobilization and reintegration which started in Central America at the end of the 1980s, 15 countries had experienced to date programmes on these issues within peacekeeping operations. There were currently such operations in Haiti, Liberia, Sudan, Côte d’Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These programmes were a key element to all post-conflict situations and would become an essential tool for negotiators and peace brokers.

Other

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the United Nations on Monday, 18 December will launch a Transition Appeal for Haiti at 12:30 p.m. in Room III.

Michael Bociurkiw of the United Nations Children’s Fund said UNICEF has issued its quarterly donor update on UNICEF’s humanitarian action in the Occupied Palestinian Territory on the terrible impact of the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory on children. UNICEF was appealing for $ 7 million. The update said 2006 had been one of the worst years for children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The conflicts, the closures, the withholding of resources as well as the strike by public sector workers had collectively blocked the fulfilment of children’s rights, whether it concerned healthcare, education, protection from violence and abuse, or opportunities to play without fear. The rights of Palestinian children had been violated on an unprecedented scale. The killing of three young brothers in Gaza a few days ago and the injuring of another four young bystanders had shocked the Palestinian community and highlighted the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the territories with often tragic consequences for civilians, including children. Copies of the quarterly donor update were available at the back of the room.

Mr. Bociurkiw said also available was a press release about UNICEF’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Omar Abdi, ending a week-long visit to Sudan and saying he was deeply disturbed by the impact of the conflict in Darfur on children and women.

Simon Pluess of the World Food Programme said heavy rains were continuing to fall on Kenya, and heavy floods continued to be reported. In the coming days, WFP would commence airdrops onto the affected areas in northeastern and eastern Kenya with Antinov 12 aircrafts. The roads to the Dadaab camps remained closed since 11 November. Despite WFP using MI8 helicopters to bring food and non-food to this area, the needs were too big and that was why an airdrop was needed. WFP would also be airdropping food to the flood affected areas in Somalia.

William Spindler of the UN Refugee Agency said the perilous journey across the Gulf of Aden was claiming more lives. On Tuesday and Wednesday, during the crossing from the Somali port of Bosaso to Yemen, five Somalis and Ethiopians were savagely beaten to death and thrown overboard by Somali smugglers. Those killed were travelling with a group of 205 others in two boats. The remaining passengers landed and were immediately picked up by the Yemeni authorities and detained. After interventions by UNHCR, they were later released. In southern Chad, UNHCR had started transferring some 6,000 refugees from the Central African Republic to a new site at Dosseye.

Mr. Spindler said as Germany would be taking over the Presidency of the European Union on 1 January, UNHCR had presented the German Government with a public document in which it made a series of recommendations on key refugee protection issues. UNHCR encouraged the presidency to lead a wide-ranging discussion on the steps needed to complete the establishment of a Common European Asylum System by 2010.

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said a press briefing would be held on Wednesday, 20 December on the developments during 2006 concerning Avian Influenza.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said IOM, with funding from the Government of Japan, has launched the first phase of a six-month project that would deliver individually tailored livelihood support services and small business training to thousands of former combatants, including 1,000 women, in Indonesia’s Aceh province. In Sudan, Mr. Chauzy said IOM and the United Nations Refugee Agency this week signed a cooperation agreement to help Sudanese refugees in neighbouring countries and internally displaced persons return to their homes by air, road and river barge. In Lebanon, IOM had launched a relief operation to help vulnerable internally displaced people in Lebanon’s Bekaa valley. In conclusion, Mr. Chauzy said IOM Director General Brunson McKinley would be attending a one-day conference on assisted voluntary returns in Valletta on Monday.