REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG), chaired the briefing, which was also addressed by Spokespersons for the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the World Food Programme, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Organization for Migration, and the World Trade Organization.
Human Rights Council
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that the 7th session of the Human Rights Council, which had been opened by the Secretary-General on 3 March, would conclude today. At this stage, it was too early to summarize the results of the session as the Council still had about 20 draft resolutions to consider. For a summary of the results of the session, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier advised journalists to consults the final press release on the session, which would be issued during the course of the day, when the Council had concluded its work.
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier recalled that on Wednesday, the 47 members of the Council had elected the 18 members of the Advisory Committee, which would hold its first session from 4 to 15 August. The Council had also designated mandate holders for 14 of its special procedures.
The 8th session of the Council would take place from 2 to 13 June, during which the Council would examine the first report of its working group on the Universal Periodic Review. The working group would hold its first two sessions on 7-18 April and 5-16 May.
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier reminded journalists that the President of the Council, Ambassador Doru Romulus Costea, would hold a press conference in Room III at 1:00 p.m. today.
Activities of the Director-General
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that next Monday, 31 March 2008, the Director-General would take part in the opening of a two-day conference entitled “Security in Space: the Next Generation”, organized by the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), at 3:00 p.m. in the Council Chamber. The conference would explore how to provide security in space, build trust among space-faring nations, and how to move forward towards a draft treaty on the prevention of the placement of weapons in outer space. It was the 7th in a series of annual UNIDIR conferences dedicated to the issue of space security. The Director-General, in his capacity as Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament and Personal Representative of the Secretary-General to the Conference, would address, among other things, the latest developments in the Conference on Disarmament on the prevention of an arms race in outer space.
Conference on Disarmament
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier recalled that the Conference on Disarmament had yesterday morning held the last plenary session of the first part of its 2008 session. The second part of the 2008 session of the Conference, which would last for seven weeks, would take place from 12 May to 27 June.
International seminar on war surgery
Dr. Giannou of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that for the last 30 years, the ICRC had been sending surgical teams to the field, to countries where there was armed conflict. These teams had treated over 100,000 war wounded. Mr. Giannou said that war surgery was very different from civilian trauma and that it was important to prepare doctors and nurses to work under the difficult conditions found in war zones. To this end, the ICRC organized every year in Geneva a seminar on the management of war wounds. This year’s was the 19th such seminar and would include 35 participants from 18 different countries. They included representatives of national red cross and red crescent societies who would be going on a first mission with the ICRC, as well as colleagues that were citizens of countries that were involved in armed conflict. It was important for these colleagues to know the principals of international humanitarian law before going to the field, as well as the importance of medical neutrality and impartiality, and the independence of any humanitarian action with respect to the different belligerents. This was part and parcel of the training session. It did not simply involve technical surgical matters. The participants had to know what their rights and obligations were as medical personnel in times of war under the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law.
Mr. Giannou said that medical workers today faced many challenges that did not exist even 10 years ago, including obtaining access to the victims of armed conflict. One of the first things to suffer during an armed conflict was the health system. It became unorganized, hospitals were destroyed, there were insufficient medical supplies and people had difficulty in accessing health facilities due to insecurity. In addition, there was the problem of insecurity for humanitarian workers, including medical workers. As a result, ICRC had had to invent new ways of reaching the victims. The ICRC now had several surgical teams, made up of four members each, present in Darfur, Chad, Yemen and the DRC that traveled around the countryside treating wounded and sick, who could not reach the hospitals.
Mr. Giannou concluded by stating that the ICRC called upon all signatories of the Geneva Conventions and all belligerents around the world to respect medical neutrality, to respect humanitarian missions, to allow medical personnel and other humanitarian workers to proceed with their work, to have access to the victims.
Iraq
Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that UNICEEF, like all the other agencies of the United Nations system and NGOs working in Iraq, were concerned by the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Basra and in Sadr City, which were paralyzed by a large-scale military operation. Some 3.2 million people lived in Sadr City and Basra, 50% of whom were children. Schools were closed and it was impossible for people to circulate or for humanitarian workers to distribute aid to those in need. The situation with regard to drinking water was particularly critical, with the population having an estimated two-days’ worth of water reserves. The inhabitants of Basra drank bottled mineral water; they did not drink tap water because of its high salt content and poor quality. There was a danger of a drastic increase in diarrhea among children. In general, the population, and particularly the children, were in a vulnerable and fragile state. For UNICEF, water was a priority. The necessary supplies had already been pre-positioned, including 39 million water purification tables and 40,000 oral re-hydration packets, but for the moment, movement and access to the population was impossible.
Carla Haddad of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that the ICRC was also very concerned with the humanitarian situation in Iraq. ICRC staff in Basra was stuck either in residences or in offices and could not move around. The main problem was not the stocks but rather distribution of stocks. ICRC had managed to distribute this week medical material and supplies for 100 people, which had reached Sadr City hospital, and was now in the process of distributing via Amman another batch of medical supplies that they were trying to get to the hospitals in Basra.
Ms. Haddad said that there had been reports that medical transports and ambulances had been targeted and attacked. The ICRC called upon all the parties involved in the fighting to protect civilians from any acts of violence and to ensure their access to essential services. ICRC also called on the parties to spare medical transports from attacks.
Ms. Haddad said that the ICRC had reports that the situation in Baghdad was also intensifying and that some hospitals were running out of food stocks and were experiencing electricity shortages and that the staff was not able to reach the hospitals.
Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that IOM's humanitarian activities in Basra, as well as in other southern governorates, had been put on hold as the violence and curfew prevented staff and partners from providing humanitarian assistance to internally displaced people (IDPs) and vulnerable populations. Staff reported that with the potable water network down in most parts of Basra, as well as electricity being shut down, priority needs of the population was water, food and medical supplies for hospitals with the situation expected to deteriorate in the coming days. The suddenness of the crackdown had meant that there had been little to no time for people to stock up on essentials. Some displacement has been reported in two areas - Al Hayaniya and Al Jameyat - although it was not possible as yet to verify or to gauge the scale. However, IOM staff reported that most people were trapped in their homes. IOM was taking stock of its emergency food and non-food relief supplies to assist affected populations and IDPs should the violence and tensions lead to a fresh surge in displacement.
Other
Catherine Sibut of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) announced that on Wednesday, 2 April, at 11:00 a.m., there would be a press briefing on the annual Economic Report on Africa 2008, prepared by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, co-published with the African Union Commission. The briefing would take place in Room III. Speakers would include Janvier Nkurunziza, UNCTAD economist, and a representative of the African Union Commission. The report was embargoed until 4:00 p.m. GMT that day.
Ms. Taveau of UNICEF drew attention to a media advisory on a telephone media briefing that UNICEF was organizing on a new report on the global response to the impact of HIV and AIDS on children, entitled ‘Children and AIDS: Second Stocktaking Report’. The briefing would take place on Thursday, 3 April 2008, at 10:00 a.m., New York time, or 4:00 p.m. Geneva time.
Ms. Taveau said that on Monday, 31 March, UNICEF’s representative in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) would be in Geneva and would be available for a press briefing at 11:00 a.m. if journalists were interested. It was so agreed.
Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme (WFP) said that following an appeal launched on 10 March, the humanitarian air service operated by WFP for the entire humanitarian community in Sudan had received contributions totaling USD 6 million, which would allow it to operate for another month. The contributions had been received from Ireland, the European Commission and common humanitarian funds of the United Nations system, as well as USD 500,000 from Not On Our Watch, an association established by Georges Clooney, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt and other well-known American personalities. The service transported an average of 8,000 people to Darfur per month, including personnel of all the United Nations agencies, as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The suspension of the service would therefore disrupt the entire humanitarian operation in the region. The service was especially important at the moment given the deteriorating security situation in the region. The roads were extremely dangerous, with three truck drivers from companies chartered by WFP having been killed this month. Ms. Berthiaume drew attention to a press release put out by 14 international aid agencies present in Darfur, highlighting the importance of the humanitarian air service.
Ron Redmond of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that UNHCR had returned more than 100,000 refugees from South Sudan since the repatriation programme began in December 2005. The 100,000 milestone had been passed this week as the pace of return convoys had picked up in order to get refugees home ahead of the rainy season in May, and for those who wanted to return for the national census 5-30 April. UNHCR was now helping some 4,500 refugees return each week to South Sudan - an increase from 3,000 a fortnight ago. The largest number of refugees was returning from Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia, through 18 land and air routes. Additional details were available in the briefing note.
In Somalia, Mr. Redmond said that rising numbers of Somali refugees were now seeking asylum in neighbouring countries to escape the increasingly volatile situation in many parts of their homeland, particularly in Mogadishu. Since the beginning of the year, some 15,000 Somalis had sought asylum in Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia and -- even further afield -- in eastern Sudan. These numbers were in addition to the tens of thousands who had fled internally. An estimated 64,000 people had fled their homes in the capital since the beginning of the year. By the end of 2007, aid agencies estimated that more than 1 million people were displaced inside Somalia - some 700,000 of them pushed out of Mogadishu over a 10-month period alone in 2007.
Finally, Mr. Redmond said that High Commissioner António Guterres was traveling to Tajikistan next week. He would be in the Arab League Leaders Summit in Damascus over the weekend.
In response to a question from a journalist on the abduction of civilians in Central African Republic (CAR), Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that OCHA was concerned with the situation in southeastern CAR and that the United Nations had sent a team to the region to investigate reports of attacks on village in the area. According to first reports, it had been confirmed that over 150 people, including 55 children, had been abducted from four villages, following a series of violent attacks perpetrated by unknown armed elements. According to eye witnesses, some 300 armed men had attacked the villages and the abducted men and women had been tied with ropes and forced to carry stolen food and supplies. The attacks had taken place between 19 February and 10 March. The United Nations and its partners were very concerned, particularly since these attacks had taken place in an area previously not affected by wide-spread insecurity and violence, unlike the north and the north-west of the country. There was particular concern about the impact that such attacks would have on the civilian population. Fear that the assailants would strike again had already forced many people in the region to sleep in the bush, rendering many basic services, such as health care, inaccessible.
Mr. Chauzy of IOM said that an IOM report concluded that measures were needed to attract foreign health care professionals to South Africa and to retain South African ones otherwise emigrating overseas in order to urgently address the country's major shortage in health workers. South Africa faced major human resource challenges, particularly in ensuring adequate staffing in the public health care sector. South African doctors and nurses represented significant numbers of foreign health care workers in western countries such as Australia and UK. Nearly 7,000 South African doctors were currently registered in the US, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia in comparison to the nearly 30,800 registered in South Africa. The loss of nurses had perhaps been more dramatic with nearly 9,300 South African nurses registering to work in the UK alone between 1998 and 2005. Latest figures on health worker shortages dating from 2003 revealed 4,000 vacancies for doctors and 32,000 vacancies for nurses in South Africa.
Mr. Chauzy drew attention to two items in the IOM press briefing note, on shelter assistance for cyclone-affected families in Mozambique and a new information campaign to help Ukrainians make informed decisions before leaving to work abroad.
Janaina Borges of the World Trade Organization (WTO) said that next week, on Wednesday, Iraq would have its second meeting on the accession process. The day before, on Tuesday, Director General Pascal Lamy would meet with the Iraqi Trade Minister. On Thursday, Mr. Lamy would be in Addis Ababa for the African Union Conference of Ministers of Trade and Finance. He would hold bilateral discussions with several of the ministers. In Geneva, the SPS Committee would meet on Wednesday and the Madagascar trade policy review would be held next week as well.