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 the Executive Director of the Global Compact, and spokespersons and representatives of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the International Organization for Migration, the World Trade Organization and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Secretary General
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon continued his visit to Geneva today. The Secretary-General had begun his morning with a breakfast with Chinese CEOs to discuss climate change. He had then visited the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and was at this moment paying a visit to the headquarters of the International Telecommunication Union. At 12.15 p.m. Mr. Ban would address the closing plenary of the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit.
At 2.45 p.m. the Secretary-General was scheduled to meet with World Trade Organization Director-General Pascal Lamy, and International Labour Organization Director-General Juan Somavia, at the Palais des Nations, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said. At 3.30 p.m. Mr. Ban would visit the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, before taking a tour of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum, at 4.10 p.m. The Secretary-General was leaving Geneva tomorrow.
Copies of the Secretary-General's programme for the day were available in the press room.
Also available in the press room were copies of the Secretary-General's opening address to the Global Compact Leaders Summit, made yesterday, as well as the speech made by UNOG Director-General Sergei Ordzhonikidze at the opening of that forum. A transcript of the Secretary-General's press conference yesterday, as well as copies of Mr. Ban's opening remarks on the launch of the Development Cooperation Forum – one of the principal new functions of the strengthened Economic and Social Council to enhance the implementation of development goals – were also available.
Geneva Activities
ECOSOC
As everyone knew, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), having completing its first Annual Ministerial Review, had launched its Development Cooperation Forum in the presence of the Secretary-General yesterday morning, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier recalled. This morning, the Council would hold a dialogue with the Executive Secretaries of the regional commissions on the regional aspects of the themes of this year's high-level segment (strengthening efforts to promote pro-poor sustained economic growth; and strengthening efforts to eradicate poverty and hunger).
Last night, the President of the Council had announced that the Council would make an announcement at 2.45 p.m. today concerning the results of its high-level debate, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said.
This afternoon, ECOSOC would begin its coordination segment, which, in follow-up to its 2006 session, would focus this year on the role of the United Nations system in promoting full and productive employment and decent work for all. Debate on coordination issues would continue until next Tuesday, 10 July.
Human Rights Committee 90th Session
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that on Monday the Human Rights Committee would open its three-week ninetieth session, which would run from 9 to 27 July 2007, at Palais Wilson. During the course of the session, the Committee would review reports submitted by the Governments of Zambia, Sudan, and the Czech Republic on measures taken to implement the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In addition, the Committee would review the situation in Grenada in the absence of a country report.
Global Compact Leaders Summit
Georg Kell, Executive Director of the Global Compact, noted that the Global Compact Leaders Summit was closing this afternoon, hearing an address by the Secretary-General at 12.15 p.m., before concluding at 1 p.m. In a preliminary assessment, the Compact secretariat was very optimistic about progress made on the "Caring for Climate" platform and the deepening of the commitment by corporations, in particular to disclose carbon emissions and to annually communicate their progress as part of the accountability structure of the Compact. They had also been encouraged by the very substantive meetings that were currently being held on anti-corruption, on human rights, and on responsible investment. In particular, it was encouraging that the principals for responsible investment – the financial analysts – were now converging on that agenda. Following the Secretary-General's remarks, Mark Moody-Stuart, the Vice Chair of the Board of the Global Compact, would then adopt the text of the Final Declaration of the Summit. The Final Declaration would stress the need for all participants to ensure that their subsidiaries and supply chain were brought to the same level of compliance with the Compact's principles as headquarters. Among other things, the meeting had shown that the UN could work with non-governmental entities on a very large scale and achieve pragmatic results.
Responding to a request for information on abuses by corporations worldwide, Mr. Kell said that the Global Compact had issued its first Annual Benchmark Report, which gave a fairly good overview of corporate behaviour, by region, by corporate size, and by issue area.
Human Rights
Yvon Edoumou of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) had a number of mission announcements to make. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour would visit Indonesia from 9 to 14 July 2007, where she would hold meetings with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and other senior officials. The High Commissioner would also conduct a field visit to Aceh, and would join in opening the fourteenth annual workshop of the Framework on Regional Cooperation for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in Asia and the Pacific on Tuesday, 10 July.
The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention would visit Equatorial Guinea from 8 to 13 July 2007, Mr. Edoumou said. The Group would conduct interviews with detainees in several prisons, detention facilities and police stations, and would meet with senior officials of the Executive, Judicial and Legislative branches, as well as civil society groups.
Mr. Edoumou also announced that Yakin Ertürk, the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Human Rights Council on violence against women would begin two missions tomorrow: from 7 to 13 July she would visit Ghana; and from 16 to 28 July 2007, Ms. Ertürk would visit the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to gather first-hand information on the situation of violence against women in those countries.
Finally, Mr. Edoumou announced that the Working Group on the use of mercenaries would conduct a fact-finding visit to Chile from 9 to 13 July 2007.
Asked to comment on the indictment and remand without bail in Bangladesh yesterday of Special Rapporteur on human trafficking Sigma Huda on charges of corruption, Mr. Edoumou said OHCHR had had that information confirmed by colleagues in Bangladesh, but no further information had been forthcoming. Last week there had been a meeting between OHCHR and a representative of the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh in Geneva to discuss the issue. But over the past few weeks very little information from the authorities had been forthcoming. One issue of contention was a divergent understanding of the protection afforded the Special Rapporteur under the UN Convention on Privileges and Immunities by OHCHR and the Bangladesh authorities.
Pakistan Floods
Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that it was now estimated that 1.65 million people had been affected by the floods following the cyclone that hit Pakistan's Baluchistan and Sindh provinces, with 242 deaths confirmed by the National Disaster Mangement Authority. The situation of those affected was serious, with 60 per cent of the affected areas in Baluchistan inaccessible by road. An emergency flash appeal was being finalized, pending further information from the UN assessment team in the field. An update was available at the back of the room.
Revised AIDS Estimates for India
Sophie Barton-Knott of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said that India's National AIDS Control Organization, together with UNAIDS and WHO, were announcing revised AIDS estimates for India at a press conference currently taking place in New Delhi. The new 2006 estimates indicated that national adult HIV prevalence in India was approximately 0.36 per cent, which meant that an estimated 2.5 million people in the country were HIV-positive with a range of fluctuation between 2 to 3.1 million. The revised estimates were lower than previous estimates, and had been made possible by three main factors: expanded surveillance, with the number of surveillance sites increasing from 155 in 1998 to 1,164 in 2006; a large population-based survey, conducted in 2005-2006, which for the first time included an HIV component; and a revised methodology to analyse the data obtained, more in line with UNAIDS and WHO recommendations. A press release and background materials were available at the back of the room.
Responding to a concern that the lower estimates might be owing to a lack of self-reporting on surveys undertaken, Ms. Barton-Knott acknowledged that factor, but underscored that the previous estimates for 2005 – showing 5.7 million HIV-infected in India – had had an extremely large range. With the new data and the revised methodology, UNAIDS was much more confident that the new figures gave a more representative understanding of the epidemic. As far as the role that prevention strategies may have had in lowering the estimates, it was not clear-cut, as the situation regarding HIV prevalence in India was extremely complex. A lot of work had been done on HIV prevention, and in some areas that was showing results and had been reflected in the estimates. But the estimates did not mean there had been a sharp decline in the AIDS epidemic in India.
Iraqi Refugees
Ron Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that, despite the expressions of support and concern from Governments during the UNHCR-sponsored Iraq displacement conference held in Geneva in April, the two countries caring for the biggest proportion of Iraqi refugees – Syria and Jordan – had still received next to nothing in bilateral help from the world community. Syria and Jordan, with an estimated 2 million Iraqi refugees between them, were struggling to cope. Syria continued to receive about 2,000 Iraqis a day, and about 30,000 a month ended up staying. UNHCR's $60 million programme for Iraqi refugees and displaced – soon to be raised to more than $100 million – was just a drop in the ocean compared to the huge needs in the region. While contributions to UNHCR now totalled some $70 million, with another $10 million pledged or in the pipeline, the Agency could not do it alone. Donors had to provide direct bilateral support to those host countries whose schools, hospitals, public services and infrastructure were seriously overstretched because of the influx of millions of Iraqis. A whole generation of Iraqi children was in danger of missing out on an education, and Iraqi refugees were suffering from a lack of proper health care.
Asked for an estimate of how much was needed to address the Iraqi refugee situation, Mr. Redmond said that it was difficult to say, but it was obvious that it would take hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars. Moreover, UNHCR simply did not have the capacity to handle everything that needed to be done for those refugees.
Regarding the UNHCR appeal in recent weeks for the urgent medical evacuation of a dozen Palestinian children from Iraq, there has still so far been no concrete response. If those children were not evacuated soon, some might die or be handicapped for life, Mr. Redmond stressed. UNHCR urged Governments to come forward and assist those children.
Other
Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control had just completed its two-week second session in Bangkok today. A press release would be issued later this morning by WHO's Bangkok office on the conclusion of the conference.
Catherine Sibut-Pinote of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said the text of the Report of UNCTAD Secretary-General to UNCTAD XII, on globalization for development, as well as a press release, were available on the UNCTAD web site (www.unctad.org). She also announced that, starting Monday, 9 July, it would be possible to access all press materials concerning UNCTAD's report on the least developed countries, which would be launched on Thursday, 19 July. A press conference would be held that day at 11 a.m. with UNCTAD Secretary-General, Supachai Panitchpakdi. In addition, on Thursday, 12 July, UNCTAD was launching its updated Statistics Manual. A press release would be available in the press room.
Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced IOM's first meeting of the Global Forum on Migration and Development, to be held in Brussels from 9 to 12 July next week. A main focus of that meeting would be to ensure that migration was systematically mainstreamed into poverty reduction strategies and for better support to be given to diasporas wanting to contribute to the development of their home countries. IOM also saw the Global Forum as an important way to identify good practices and concrete, practical ways forward, in follow-up to the UN General Assembly's 2006 High Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development. A press release was available.
Janaina Borges of the World Trade Organization (WTO) said that WTO head Pascal Lamy had met with UNOG Director-General Sergei Ordzhonikidze this week. Today he was scheduled to meet with Ministers from Brazil, India and Mauritania. Next week, Mr. Lamy would meet Rosalyn Higgins, President of the International Court of Justice and on Wednesday, the Minister of Agriculture of Japan. Also announced was the schedule of the Committee on Trade and Development and the Council on Trade for the coming week, which could be accessed on the WTO website (http://www.wto.org/meets_public/meets_e.pdf).
Anna Schaaf of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that ICRC was issuing a bulletin today on its activities in Sudan, which highlighted the volatility of the situation in Darfur and the comparative inaccessibility of civilians living in remote rural areas. ICRC had stepped up its field presence in the country – in particular in areas that had been the location of recent fighting north Darfur – in advance of the onset of the rainy season in July. Copies were available in the back of the room.