REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which also heard from Spokespersons for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Food Programme, the UN Refugee Agency, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the World Trade Organization and the International Organization for Migration.

International Compact with Iraq

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday co-chaired the launch of the International Compact with Iraq in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt. He told the delegates gathered for the launch that the Compact represented a road map for the next five years, aimed at helping Iraq achieve economic prosperity, political stability and lasting security. The Secretary-General emphasized that, under the Compact, the Government of Iraq had committed itself to pursuing a number of important initiatives to promote dialogue and reconciliation and to adhere to a legislative timetable designed to strengthen Iraq’s unity. The Compact meeting adopted by acclamation a resolution reaffirming the shared commitment of the 74 delegations to strengthen their partnership for a secure and stable Iraq. The Government of Iraq and the international community stressed the need for the Iraqi Government to pursue fundamental reforms in governance, and strengthen anti-corruption measures, equal protection for all Iraqis and an institutional framework based on the rule of law.

The resolution adopted at Sharm el-Sheik also pledged substantive international engagement and investments to bridge the gap between Iraq’s needs and its capabilities in the medium term, with a special emphasis on the granting of debt relief to Iraq. In a press conference, the Secretary-General said he was pleased that a number of countries had made concrete commitments under the Compact. He said that specific financial commitments made by particular countries were estimated to be over $30 billion, including some commitments of debt relief on the Paris Club terms.

Copies of the statement to the meeting by the Secretary-General were available in the press room in English and French, as were copies of the transcript of the press conference.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Committee against Torture was this morning reviewing the fourth periodic report of Italy, and this afternoon, it would conclude its consideration of the fifth periodic report of Luxembourg which started on Thursday, 3 May in the morning. On Thursday afternoon, the Committee concluded its consideration of the fifth periodic report of Denmark.

As for the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, this morning it was starting its consideration of the third periodic report of the Netherlands (Antilles), which would conclude on Monday, 7 May in the morning. Yesterday, the Committee concluded its review of the third periodic report of Hungary.

Press releases in English and French on the meetings of the two committees were available in the press room. The Committees were both meeting at the Palais Wilson.

Human Rights

José Luis Díaz of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said High Commissioner Louise Arbour would today be wrapping up her four-country mission to Central Asia. She would be speaking to journalists at 2 p.m. on Monday, 7 May in room IX about her trip, which took her to Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

The High Commissioner would be travelling to the Great Lakes Region in Africa from 13 to 25 May during which she would be visiting the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi and Rwanda. The High Commissioner would be looking at how those three countries were dealing with their very recent history of gross human rights abuses, and in the case of Rwanda, genocide; how they were coming to terms with that history; issues of transitional justice and how to deal with violations of the past; and the future of consolidated peace in that region. More details on her trip would be available next week.

In response to a question on the candidacy of Belarus to the Human Rights Council, Mr. Díaz said that in the run-up to the creation of the Council, the High Commissioner had emphasized how important it was for the credibility and legitimacy of the Council that potential members demonstrated, through their pledges and commitments, what they were doing in their countries to respect human rights. As for the actual election for members, that was something for member States to decide. It was not the role of the Office to assess or make judgments on the actual States seeking election to the Council.

Somalia

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said available was a donor update on the situation in Somalia. UNICEF needed $ 13.5 million to address the immediate needs of children in Somalia in the areas of nutrition, health, education and protection. The update noted that there were urgent funding gaps for the response to 365,000 people displaced by the conflict in Mogadishu, and that insecurity was preventing access to vulnerable children in many parts of central and southern Somalia.

Simon Pluess of the World Food Programme said a few days of relative calm in and around Mogadishu had allowed WFP to step up its operation to reach displaced people by the worst fighting in 16 years. The plan was to bring food to almost 100,000 persons out of an estimated 365,000 persons driven from their homes, but the number of people who were in need of food assistance could rise to 150,000 persons. Food distribution was now underway in three out of seven sites in the port city of Merka. It was aimed at 42,000 displaced persons there who fled the fighting in Mogadishu. WFP also planned to distribute food to around 16,000 displaced persons in Mogadishu itself within a few days.

Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency said UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Operations, Judy Cheng-Hopkins, who had just finished a four-day trip to Baidoa and Galkayo, in south-central Somalia, said she was shocked by the living conditions of people who had been displaced after fleeing recent heavy fighting in Mogadishu. In Baidoa, some 230 kilometres north-west of Mogadishu, where nearly 17,000 newly displaced people had arrived, Cheng-Hopkins visited several settlements of displaced people which had swollen with the new influx of arrivals. The new arrivals lived in flimsy shelters made of fabric wrapped around sticks. Some families had not been able to find enough material to cover the entire shelter, and the lack of plastic sheeting was leaving them exposed to heavy rain at night. UNHCR was negotiating with the Transitional Federal Government to make sure these people were relocated on land within Mogadishu which was economically viable and with enough utilities and infrastructure.

Other

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said available was a media advisory on how the Prince of Orange, Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, Chairperson for the United Nations Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation, would chair the first preparatory meeting on the International Year of Sanitation 2008 on Monday, 7 May in New York.

Simon Pluess of the World Food Programme said WFP welcomed a very generous donation by the European Commission of 30 million Euros to its Darfur operation. This significant donation in cash would help WFP purchase food in ways to benefit local markets and farmers in Sudan.

Anna Nelson, speaking on behalf of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross, said World Red Cross Red Crescent Day was commemorated on 8 May. Available was a media advisory which listed activities which would be taking place in Geneva this weekend as well as a press release on the theme of this year’s events which was “Together for Humanity”.

Carine Richard Van Maele of the World Meteorological Organization said the fifteenth Congress of WMO would be held from 7 to 25 May at the Geneva International Conference Centre. The Congress was held every four years to establish the agency’s future direction. It was WMO’s supreme body and brought together the representatives of the organization’s 188 members, to appoint the Secretary-General, elect senior officials and to decide on budgetary and other programme matters. Available was a press release with more details, including highlights of the main issues which the Congress would discuss. The Secretary-General of WMO would be appointed on 16 May, and elections for WMO’s President and three Vice-Presidents would be held on 17 May.

Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency said UNHCR yesterday launched a three-year voluntary repatriation programme to help Congolese refugees in Zambia return home to the Democratic Republic of Congo. UNHCR planned for up to 20,000 of the 61,000 Congolese in Zambia to return in 2007. The repatriation was being organised with the governments and the International Organisation for Migration. While the decision to repatriate was voluntary, UNHCR considered that conditions in many areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo were now suitable for the return of refugees.

Anoush Der Boghossian of the World Trade Organization said meetings for the trade policy review for Costa Rica would be held on 7 May and 9 May. Also on 9 May, WTO’s General Council would be meeting and there would be a briefing on that day in the afternoon at WTO. The dispute settlement body was meeting on 11 May.
As for the Director-General, today, he was in Paris where he was taking place in a WTO-OECD joint meeting. On Sunday, he would meet with the G-8 trade unions and Labour Ministers in Dresden. He would be back in Geneva next week for the General Council. The complete list for the meetings of next week and the schedule of the Director-General were available in the press room.

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said the last group of Sudanese refugees arrived in Kumruk in South Sudan yesterday as early rains forced IOM and UNHCR to temporarily halt an operation for the voluntary return thousands of refugees to Sudan from Ethiopia. About 20,000 Sudanese refugees had now been assisted home with another 33,000 refugees in Bonga, Fugnido and Pagak camps waiting to go home. The operation to help return them would resume at the end of the rainy season. Also in Sudan, some 50 internally displaced (IDP) teachers and 200 of their dependents had been assisted home by IOM to South Sudan from Khartoum since November 2006 as part of an effort to attract professionals who could help in the rebuilding of the south.

In Ecuador, Ms. Pandya said two young Ecuadorian men have received stiff jail sentences for human trafficking in the capital, Quito, with the case representing only the second successful prosecution of traffickers in the country. Working with the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Child Welfare Police and the International Labour Organization (ILO), IOM provided protection and assistance to the victims and their families through its Global Emergency Fund. In Libya, IOM, in partnership with the Libyan Ministry of Interior, the Waatasimu Charity Association and the US Embassy in Tripoli, was organizing two three-day trafficking awareness workshops for fifty law enforcement officials and members of charity associations.