REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which heard from Prince Mired Bin Raad Al-Hussein of Jordan on the upcoming Landmine Convention meeting, to be hosted by Jordan. The briefing also provided information about other disarmament activities taking place in Geneva, the situation in Pakistan, the illegal child rescue operation in Chad, flooding in Mexico and the Dominican Republic, and the plight of those displaced by continuing violence in the Somali Capital of Mogadishu, among others. Spokespersons and representatives of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the International Organization for Migration, the World Economic Forum and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees participated in the briefing.

Situation in Pakistan

Ms. Heuzé said that, in a statement released yesterday, the Secretary-General had expressed great concern about the recent developments in Pakistan and the imposition of emergency rule. He was strongly dismayed at the detention of hundreds of human rights and opposition activists, including the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Asma Jahangir, and urged the Pakistan authorities to immediately release those detained, to lift restrictions on the media and to take early steps for a return to democratic rule. The Secretary-General also appealed to the Government of Pakistan to hold the Parliamentary elections as scheduled. The Secretary-General's statement was available in French and English. The statement by High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour on the situation in Pakistan was also available.

José-Luis Diaz of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said that, in her statement released yesterday, the High Commissioner had expressed alarm over the suspension of fundamental rights and imposition of a state of emergency in Pakistan, and her concern about reports that leading judges, lawyers and political and human rights activists had been detained or placed under house arrest, including United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief, Asma Jahangir. OHCHR was following the situation very closely.

Asked whether Asma Jahangir as well as the Representative of the Secretary-General on human rights defenders, Hina Jilani, benefited from special protection as UN human rights experts, Mr. Diaz recalled that UN Experts benefited from "special protection" [the privileges and immunities that should be extended to UN experts on mission] when carrying our their duties as experts. The High Commissioner was concerned about them, as she was about the reported large number of human rights defenders who had had restrictions placed on them, simply because they were rights holders and were entitled to protection as a matter of course. Hina Jilani was out of the country, but apparently there was an order that she be placed under restrictions if she returned. As the High Commissioner had recalled in her statement, even in a country facing the threat of terrorism or other emergency, there were a number of fundamental guarantees that could not be breached. And she had called for the release of those who had been detained just for expressing their political views peacefully, or in their quality as human rights defenders or judges or lawyers.

There had so far been no calls for a special session of the Human Rights Council on this issue, Mr. Diaz said in answer to another question.

Disarmament Activities

Ms. Heuzé said that there were many disarmament-related activities in Geneva over the coming week. On 12 November, the Landmine Monitor Report 2007 would be launched, and this week three meetings were being held at the Palais des Nations within the framework of the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects (CCW). Yesterday saw the First Conference of the High Contracting Parties to Protocol V of the CCW, on Explosive Remnants of War, presided by Ambassador Johannes Landman of the Netherlands. Today, the Ninth Annual Conference of the States Parties to the Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices (Amended Protocol II to the CCW) was meeting under the leadership of Ambassador Mousa Burayzat of Jordan. Starting tomorrow, from 7 to 13 November, the Meeting of the High Contracting Parties to the CCW would be held, presided by Ambassador Fransiscos Verros of Greece, to consider the issue of cluster munitions.

Landmines

H.R.H. Prince Mired Bin Raad Al-Hussein of Jordan, Chairperson of Jordan's National Committee for Demining and Rehabilitation and Chairperson of the Eighth Meeting of the States Parties to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, said that, rather than speaking of troubles in the Middle East region, he wanted to speak of something positive: how next week, from 18 to 22 November, the international community would be gathering at the Dead Sea in Jordan to discuss great progress that had been made in the Middle East and elsewhere in the fight against anti-personnel mines in the context of the 1997 Anti-Personnel Landmine Convention (also known as the Ottawa Convention). The Meeting of States Parties was being held in the Middle East for the first time. It was hoped that, two months following the Convention's tenth anniversary, the Meeting could both reinvigorate interest in the landmine problem globally, and could also attract further adherents in the Middle East. Indeed, he was "overjoyed" that the latest adherents – Kuwait and Iraq – had recently acceded to the Convention. Moreover, Prince Mired observed, "A Meeting of the States Parties hosted and presided over by a mine-affected State party provides the opportunity to highlight the reality of the challenges faced in implementation and create a cost-effective way to overcome these challenges".

The Eighth Meeting would feature a comprehensive analysis of progress made and challenges that remained in combating landmines, involving a review of the Dead Sea Progress Report, and would feature discussions on practical ways to overcome challenges to more rapidly releasing areas suspected of containing anti-personnel mines. Progress made in Jordan, in particular to demine the baptism site of Jesus Christ, would be highlighted through a field visit. Approximately 600 to 800 delegates, representing over a hundred States and dozens of non-governmental organizations, would participate, Prince Mired said. Available was a note to correspondents, including a bio of the Prince, advance copies of the Dead Sea Progress Report, 2006-2007, and a press brochure.

Pressed to say how many mines had been placed in the Middle East, Prince Mired could only say that it was certainly in the millions. Iraq alone faced the "humongous" problem of having millions of mines, as well as unexploded ordnance, but there were also landmines from the Second World War in Libya, Egypt and the Sudan.

Tamar Gabelnick, Director of Treaty Implementation of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, announced that the Landmine Monitor report 2007 would have its global release at a press conference hosted by the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines on Monday, 12 November 2007 at 10 a.m. in Room III. The Landmine Monitor was a research and monitoring initiative of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and the de facto monitoring regime for the Mine Ban Treaty. It monitored and reported on States parties' implementation of their obligations under the Mine Ban Treaty and assessed the international community's response to the humanitarian problem caused by landmines and other explosive remnants of war. The 2007 report, the ninth issued annually by the Landmine Monitor, contained information on 118 countries and areas with respect to landmine ban policy, use, production, transfer and stockpiling; clearance; mine-risk education; casualties and survivor assistance; and funding.

The report focused on mine-affected countries including Afghanistan, Colombia and Iraq; States parties with major outstanding Treaty obligations; and States not party to the Mine Ban Treaty, Ms. Gabelnick said. A media advisory was available at the back of the room and a media kit would be available at the press conference in Arabic, English, French, Russian and Spanish. Media materials were under embargo until 9 a.m. Geneva time on 12 November, after which they could be found on the Campaign's website (www.icbl.org). The press conference would be chaired by UNIDIR Director, Patricia Lewis, and members of the Landmine Monitor editorial team would participate.

Meeting on Peacebuilding

Also today, following the one-day event, "Our Common Peacebuilding Challenge: the contribution of International Geneva", which focused on nurturing a greater engagement between the UN Peacebuilding Commission and the key stakeholders located outside of UNHQ, a press encounter would be held with UNOG Director-General Sergei Ordzhonikidze, Fred Tanner, the Director of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, and Carolyn McAskie, the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support. The meeting would be held at 3.15 p.m. in room E.1008 (near the meeting venue, Room XXII).

Human Rights

Mr. Diaz of OHCHR said that a brief statement from the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, had been sent out indicating that he would be visiting the country from 11 to 15 November.

Mr. Diaz also drew attention to the upcoming presentation of a report by the Working Group on the use of mercenaries to the General Assembly tomorrow, which highlighted the tremendous growth in the use of private security companies and how that had led to a consequent increase in mercenary-like activities. The report pointed specifically to the problem of the use of such companies and "contractors" in Iraq and Afghanistan. A statement by the Working Group on the report would be sent out later today, and the report itself was available on the OHCHR website (www.ohchr.org/English/issues/mercenaries/index.htm).

Chad "Orphans"

Mr. Diaz said he would be sending out a statement later today from the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, Juan Miguel Petit, expressing his concern over the recent incidents in Abeché, eastern Chad, leading to the arrest on 25 October 2007 of some members of the non-governmental organization “Arche de Zoé/Child Rescue”. He called upon both Chadian and French authorities to fully investigate and shed light about the circumstances surrounding the taking of the children.

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that the Chadian Government, UNICEF and its partners were now working on ensuring that the families of the 21 girls and 82 boys were identified and that the children were reintegrated into their communities as soon as possible. Following health and nutritional examinations, it had been found that all of the children had been vaccinated against measles and polio; 7 children were undernourished; 15 children suffered from fever; 1 child had diarrhoea; 4 children had dermatosis; and there were two cases of malaria. The two malaria-affected children had been sent to the hospital for treatment.

Flooding in Mexico

Ms. Tavea said UNICEF was appealing for $3,260,000 to respond to the immediate needs for children, adolescents and women affected by flooding in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. In Mexico alone, which had experienced the worst flooding in more than 50 years, over 1 million people had been affected, some one third of whom were children. An information note was available at the back of the room.

Flooding in Dominican Republic

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) Mission in the Dominican Republic was appealing for $250,000 from the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), as part of the consolidated UN flash appeal, to provide immediate assistance to the population affected by Tropical Storm Noel, announced Jemini Pandya of IOM. Noel, which had crossed the island of Hispaniola on 28 October, had left 84 dead, and extensive flooding, landslides and destruction of bridges and roads throughout the country had meant that more than 137 communities were still inaccessible. Approximately 65,000 had been displaced from their homes with over 23,000 taking refuge in official temporary shelters. IOM's role included ensuring adequate living conditions for those in the shelters, assisting in the coordination of timely delivery of essential relief supplies, and psychosocial support to victims.

Gender Gap Report

Saadia Zahidi of the World Economic Forum spoke about the upcoming release on Thursday, 8 November, of the WEF's 2007 Gender Gap Index. The Global Gender Gap Index was trying to capture the size of the disparities between men and women and to provide a tracking tool over time, to create the opportunity for best practices exchanges between countries, and to create awareness of the issue – which was both a human rights issue and an economic one. The Index looked at four main categories: economic participation opportunity; political empowerment; educational attainment; and health and survival.

Highlighting some key findings, Ms. Zahidi noted that four Nordic countries – Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland – occupied the first four places on the index, while Denmark was ranked No. 8. The Philippines, at No. 6, was the highest ranking Asian country. And Latvia and Lithuania, Nos. 13 and 14, respectively, had seen a large jump in their rankings from the previous year, owing to changes in economic participation and political empowerment of women in those countries. A press release, under embargo until 2 p.m. GMT on Thursday, was available at the back of the room.

Somalia Displacement

A UN inter-agency team that had travelled over the weekend to the small town of Afgooye, west of Mogadishu, had found thousands of newly displaced Somalis living in extremely harsh conditions, according to William Spindler of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). During the last week, 15 new makeshift settlements had mushroomed along the road between Mogadishu and Afgooye. The evaluation mission, led by UNHCR, had found that in some places the settlement population had more than doubled, putting further strain on scant resources and facilities.

The flare-up in fighting between insurgents and Ethiopian forces in Mogadishu nearly a week ago had now displaced an estimated 90,000 people - more than half of them to Afgooye, Mr. Spindler said, and some of the basic infrastructure set up in settlements in and around Afgooye could no longer meet the needs of the new influx. According to the inter-agency team, even though water was being trucked daily to the settlements, supplies could not meet the increasing demand, and health centres needed to be strengthened, as hygiene remained poor in the crowded settlements. There were also concerns about the nutritional status of young children, as well as several reported cases of rape. Despite a lull in fighting since last week, sporadic gun battles had been reported, and small numbers of people could still be seen leaving the city daily, although the pace of departures had declined over the past few days.

Other

Mr. Spindler said that today UNHCR was releasing today a study on the implementation of the European Union's "Qualification Directive", considered one of the building blocks of the Common European Asylum System. The directive set out the criteria EU Member States used to decide whether an asylum-seeker was entitled to international protection, and whether they received refugee status or a subsidiary form of protection. The UNHCR study looked at how key provisions of that directive had been implemented in five EU member states – France, Germany, Greece, Slovakia and Sweden – which together had received nearly 50 per cent of all asylum applications in the EU last year. Concluding that, despite some improvement, much more needed to be done for the EU to achieve a common approach to asylum claims, the report made recommendations to that end. The study was available on the UNHCR website http://www.unhcr.org/protect/43672f0a2.html

UNHCR and its partners were laying the groundwork for the large-scale resettlement of Bhutanese refugees living in Nepal’s camps by kicking off a mass information campaign, Mr. Spindler said, with the first group of accepted refugees expected to leave early next year. The United States had announced that it would resettle 60,000 refugees – and even more if required – and other countries had also expressed their desire to take their share in the resettlement of refugees. The first group of refugees was expected to leave by January 2008.

Mr. Spindler announced that High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres would be in New York tomorrow, where he and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie would receive the International Rescue Committee’s annual Freedom Award for 2007. The International Rescue Committee had first bestowed the Freedom Award for extraordinary contributions to the cause of refugees and human freedom to Willy Brandt in 1957, and other winners included Winston Churchill (1958); George Soros (1993); and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (1995).

Ms. Heuzé announced that, following the briefing, at 11.45 a.m. in Room III, there would be a presentation of the new edition of the UNCTAD Trade and Development Index, chaired by Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary-General of UNCTAD.