REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Marie Heuzé, Director of the Information Service of the United Nations in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Food Programme, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the UN Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration.
Statement by the Secretary-General
Ms. Heuzé said United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had strongly condemned the brutal terrorist bombing of the Delhi-Lahore "Friendship Express", in which 67 people were killed and nearly 20 injured. He said this heinous crime could not be justified by any cause and its perpetrators should be brought to justice. The Secretary-General expressed his satisfaction that the leaders of India and Pakistan had reaffirmed their determination to continue on the path of dialogue.
Ms. Heuzé recalled that on Friday, 16 February, the Secretary-General had briefed the General Assembly on progress in implementing the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, which was unanimously adopted by the General Assembly last September. He also unveiled a new tool -– the Counter-Terrorism Online Handbook -- in the world body’s efforts to fight terrorism.
Geneva Activities
Ms. Heuzé said a number of meetings were taking place today and this week in Geneva. The Conference on Disarmament was holding a public plenary which started at 10 a.m. today. There were three speakers on the list, as well as the incoming President of the Conference. Copies of the statements were available in the press room.
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was discussing revised reporting guidelines this morning and this afternoon would start its review of the periodic report of Canada. Press releases would be issued accordingly.
The Governing Council of the United Nations Compensation Commission was holding its sixty-second session from 20 to 22 February 2007. A press release with information on the results of the session would be issued on 22 February 2007.
The Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment of the Committee against Torture was also meeting at the Palais Wilson from 19 to 23 February.
The Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination was meeting from 19 to 23 February at the Palais des Nations.
Questions
Asked about coverage of the work of the Conference on Disarmament, Ms. Heuzé said that usually, the Conference held public plenaries on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and journalists could attend or listen in to these meetings. Any statements made during the public plenaries were made available in the press room. However, informal plenary meetings were not open to journalists and documents released during those meetings were not made available to the press. For example there were informal plenary meetings yesterday and today which were not open to the press.
A journalist said an article in the Swiss Le Temps newspaper today claimed that the Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organization, Kamil Idris, had lied about his age of birth to become eligible for the post. The journalist said he had been unable to reach WIPO’s Spokespersons for comment, but the article had also said the United Nations was carrying out an audit about this issue. In response, Ms. Heuzé said that unfortunately she had also not been able to reach anyone at WIPO for comment, but she would make sure that the question was onpassed to WIPO for a response.
Asked if the United Nations could confirm the article in Le Temps, Ms. Heuzé said that the United Nations could not confirm it, however, she could confirm that the Joint Inspection Unit had carried out an inspection, not on this issue but on management and administration. The conclusions of the Joint Inspection Unit were available on the WIPO website.
Floods in Southern African Countries
Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said available at the back of the room was a map which highlighted the worse affected areas from the floods in Mozambique, although the figures on the map were a bit outdated. The humanitarian agencies were concerned about tropical storm Favio, which was currently at 200 kilometres south of Madagascar. It was forecast that Favio would continue to move to the west and gain intensity in the Mozambique Channel, and there was a probability that it would hit the Mozambican coast as a cyclone on 22 February. The rain fall for the past 48 hours had decreased in intensity, but was expected to increase again on 21 and 22 February. For the time being, rescue and evacuation operations had been suspended and the agencies were focusing on providing relief to the 120,000 persons who had been displaced by the floods. This morning New York time, the humanitarian agencies would present a request for funds from the Central Emergency Revolving Fund to help the persons affected by the floods.
Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said there were floods in several countries in southern Africa, which was a great concern. There were now floods in the north of Namibia, and the east and west of Zambia which WFP were watching closely. Even though the situation was better in Mozambique, WFP was still worried because of the heavy rains expected in the next few days, as well as this cyclone expected. At this point, WFP was providing food aid to 33,500 flood victims in Mozambique. It hoped for donations to be able to buy food for the whole 120,000 persons affected in Mozambique. In Madagascar, tropical storm Clovis had passed over it, causing floods in a number of regions and displacing up to 31,000 persons. WFP and its partners hoped to distribute more than 450 tonnes of food to the victims in Madagascar.
Anna Nelson of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said on 16 February, the International Federation launched an emergency appeal to support the Mozambique Red Cross in responding to the floods in Mozambique. The appeal was for 7.5 million Swiss Francs, or $ 5.6 million. The operation aimed to provide shelter to 100,000 persons in the four affected provinces as well as the distribution of other aid. The number of affected persons in Mozambique had increased to 121,000 by yesterday. The International Federation was concerned that this figure could increase to up to 200,000 if conditions continued to worsen. The International Federation was also closely monitoring the health situation and had so far noted 173 diarrhoea cases and 300 cases of malaria.
Other
Anna Nelson of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said late last week, the Ministry of Public Health of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea had confirmed that 3,000 persons in 30 counties throughout the country had been diagnosed with measles, and there had been four deaths so far. A mass vaccination campaign was underway, and the aim was to immunize 12 to 13 million persons under the age of 39. The International Federation and the Red Cross of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea would help transport the vaccines and help with the replacement of Vitamin A drops that were being distributed at the same time as the immunizations. Asked for additional details, Anna Nelson said that UNICEF was the lead agency and could provide more information.
Ms. Nelson said in Bolivia, the International Federation was seeking more than 600,000 Swiss Francs or around $ 484,000 to assist the Bolivian Red Cross in responding to floods that had caused landslides in several departments, blocked roads and cut off isolated communities. It was estimated so far that around 250,000 persons had been affected and that 22 had died as a result of the floods. The Bolivian Red Cross was working with other agencies on the ground to provide almost 36,000 persons with emergency food items.
William Spindler of the United Nations Refugee Agency said UNHCR was today issuing a $14 million appeal to fund its work in 2007 for hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the armed conflict in Colombia. The 2007 funds would cover UNHCR's protection and assistance activities for internally displaced people, which directly benefit some 350,000 people. In addition, UNHCR’s work to protect the rights of all displaced people in Colombia indirectly benefited some 3 million internally displaced persons.
Mr. Spindler said in Guinea, UNHCR was managing to carry on its humanitarian operations for thousands of refugees amid an increasingly complex and uncertain situation, including a general strike and a government-declared state of emergency. This week, UNHCR was scheduling two voluntary repatriation movements for Liberian refugees. In total, approximately 500 refugees would go back to Liberia in the two return movements.
Jean-Michel Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said on the launch of Llama y Vive Information Campaign and Hotline in Costa Rica, world renowned Puerto Rican pop singer Ricky Martin and Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sánchez were today joining IOM, the Inter American Development Bank and UNICEF in San José for the launch of this counter trafficking information campaign. The regional campaign and the telephone hotline, which would operate in all Central American countries, were designed to alert potential victims of trafficking, protect children and youth and provide information to the general public.
Mr. Chauzy said IOM and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation were launching a project in Costa Rica and Nicaragua aimed at increasing the development potential of migration. The co-development project would promote initiatives that generated increased social and economic conditions in migrant sending and receiving areas in both countries. In Thailand, experts from governments, international organizations, NGOs and academia would meet in Bangkok on 22 and 23 February to take part in an expert seminar on migration and the environment.