REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Marie Heuzé, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the press briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the World Food Programme, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Children's Fund and the World Health Organization.

Human Rights Council Tenth Session

Rolando Gomez of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said that the Council yesterday had held interactive discussions with the mandate holders on freedom of religion, human rights defenders, torture, counter-terrorism and on enforced disappearances.

This morning the Council had listened to a presentation by the Independent Expert on minority issues and continued its interactive discussions with the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, the Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on prevention of genocide and the Representative of the Secretary-General on internally displaced persons, said Mr. Gomez.

This afternoon, the Council would be meeting in private, under its complaint procedures mechanism, said Mr. Gomez. On Monday, the Council would have a long discussion on the item covering economic, social and cultural rights and civil and political rights and would be briefed by the Special Rapporteurs on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Myanmar.

Situation in the Sudan

Ms. Heuzé said that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had said yesterday that he was deeply concerned at the recent kidnapping in Darfur of aid workers of the non-governmental organization Médecins Sans Frontières/Belgium.

Mr. Ban had also said that he was deeply concerned by this development together with, again, attacks against UN peacekeepers a few days ago. He added that the UN wanted to see the immediate, unharmed release of these abducted staff and urged all parties in Darfur, including the Government of Sudan, to fulfil their responsibility to ensure the security of UN and other aid workers, said Ms. Heuzé. Sovereign governments retained the primary responsibility about protection of their population.

Ms. Heuzé also said that the Secretary-General’s Special Representative to Sudan Ashraf Qazi had welcomed the withdrawal of the last remaining forces of two groups from the disputed town of Abyei, which lied close to the boundary between the vast African nations’ north and south. With this move, the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) had left the local Joint Integrated Units, combining forces of both parties, as the only military force in the town. This showed how much the parties could do when they worked together as partners, had said Mr. Qazi and this could serve as an example of how to solve problems in the future.

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that the UN continued to advocate for the reversal of the decision of the Government to expel 13 non-governmental organisations. The UN was now also focusing on mitigating immediate risks that could create a crisis, such as in areas of water and food. Concerning the security situation in the country, she noted that there had always been some concerns. Incidents had started to increase in 2008, when 11 humanitarian workers had been killed in Darfur. She further underscored that 95 percent of the humanitarian workers in Darfur were Sudanese nationals.

Answering to a journalist on the results of the joint UN/Sudanese Government assessment mission, Ms. Byrs said that it had begun on 11 March 2009 and would end around 18 March 2009. The mission would visit the three states of Darfur. Its first result would be made public next week.

Emilia Casella of the World Food Programme said that the planned distribution of two months rations to the 1.1 million people who were in the area that had been served by the expelled WFP partner non-governmental organizations would begin in the coming days, probably from Sunday onwards.

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children's Fund said that UNICEF remained concerned over the impact and consequences of the expulsion of the non-governmental organisation by the Sudanese government and by the impact this could have on the quality and the distribution of water. UNICEF was currently working with the Government and its other UN partners to face the immediate needs. For example in Darfur, the Government’s State Water Corporations and a number of remaining non-governmental organizations would endeavour to manage water supply in some of the main camps for internally displaced persons, directly supported with supplies and technical guidance from UNICEF.

These immediate responses were designed to ensure that the most urgent needs of the affected populations could be met, potentially, for up to three months. But three months was a short period, noted Ms. Taveau and the absence of the non-governmental organisations and the resulting loss of key capacities would continue to be felt well-beyond this point, for example in vital nutritional surveillance programmes, in ensuring sustainable water treatment and testing during the rainy season but also in the rehabilitation of schools and the training of teachers. UNICEF was currently working to identify other non-governmental and community-based organizations to implement activities in the coming month so that children could start the new school year without unnecessary interruption.

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said that WHO was also concerned over the fact that key non-governmental organizations had had to leave the country, and particularly Darfur. Many of them had been doing a key work of surveillance and detection, on a daily and weekly basis, of outbreaks of diseases, water-born and vector-born, malnutrition and reproductive health issues. The fact that they were no longer operating in this complex emergency area made it difficult to know what the diseases circulating or appearing in that region were.

WHO was currently very much concerned about the meningitis outbreak in the Kalma Camp in southern Darfur. They were aware of 54 cases, including four deaths. Ms. Chaib said that before the expulsion of the non-governmental organizations, Médecins sans Frontières was planning with WHO and other partners to start an immunization campaign targeting some 80,000 thousand people in that area. WHO was now in discussion with the Government of Sudan to find an alternative to start this immunization campaign. Meningitis was very dangerous, especially in crowded areas. If they would not immunize people rapidly, more cases would arise in this camp.


Situation in Sri Lanka

Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Navi Pillay, had expressed her growing alarm today at the increasing number of civilians that were reported killed and injured in the conflict in northern Sri Lanka, and at the apparent ruthless disregard being shown for their safety. “Certain actions being undertaken by the Sri Lankan military and by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) may constitute violations of international human rights and humanitarian law,” had said Ms. Pillay in her statement. “We need to know more about what is going on, but we know enough to be sure that the situation is absolutely desperate. The world today is ever sensitive about such acts that could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

Despite the Government’s designation of safe, or "no-fire”, zones for civilians, repeated shelling had continued inside those zones, according to information made available to OHCHR. Other areas holding civilians had also been shelled. A range of credible sources had indicated that more than 2,800 civilians might have been killed and more than 7,000 injured since 20 January, many of them inside the no-fire zones. The casualties were believed to include hundreds of children killed and more than a thousand injured. These figures were estimates, but had been checked against a range of credible sources, said Mr. Colville.

The current level of civilian casualties was truly shocking, and there were legitimate fears that the loss of life might reach catastrophic levels, if the fighting continued in this way, the High Commissioner had said. The LTTE were reported to be continuing to hold civilians as human shields, and to have shot at civilians trying to leave the area they control. They were also believed to have been forcibly recruiting civilians, including children, as soldiers, said Mr. Colville. The High Commissioner had called on both the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE to immediately suspend hostilities in order to allow the evacuation of the entire civilian population by land or sea. She had also urged the Sri Lankan Government to grant full access to United Nations and other independent agencies to allow an accurate assessment of the human rights and humanitarian conditions in the conflict zone.

William Spindler of the United Nations Refugee Agency, answering to a journalist, said that according to local Government officials, the humanitarian conditions in the Vanni area had deteriorated further, following heavy rains and strong winds on 9 and 10 March 2009. Most of the families that were still in the area were said to be living in flooded area, under damaged tents and trees. There was an urgent need for the delivery of shelter material. As regards to people leaving the area, UNHCR was still providing emergency response to those who were managing to leave and as of yesterday, some 36,700 internally displaced persons had left the Vanni region for other districts. Just last week, 1,000 civilians had crossed into the district of Jaffna alone.

UNHCR was sharing the concerns expressed by OHCHR and they were supporting the Government’s assistance mechanism with regular distribution of relief items, they were also doing protection monitoring at all the sites, accommodating new arrivals from the Vanni region. UNHCR, together with shelter agencies was also continuing with the construction of emergency shelter units as part of contingency measures in preparation of future displacement, said Mr. Spindler. UNHCR was deeply concerned about the fate of tens of thousands of civilians that were still trapped within the conflict zone and was renewing an urgent call on the LTTE to allow these people to move to areas where they would feel safe. UNHCR was also calling parties to the conflict to ensure that the safety of innocent civilians was given top priorities at all times.

Furthermore, UNHCR was also calling on the Government to renew its efforts to reunify families that had been separated during displacement and to take all necessary measures to prevent separation during transportation, from screening points to host areas and to expedite the registration process, said Mr. Spindler.

Ms. Casella, answering to another question by a journalist said that the food situation was still worsening in the Vanni and WFP was sharing the concerns of the entire humanitarian community about the conditions of the people who were in the area. Only a fraction of food requirements were currently available. However there had been some progress recently. Just this week, the first road delivery in more than two years had arrived in Jaffna. The road it had used had been closed for security reason for two years. Further, WFP had now also been able to deliver 500 tonnes by ship. The food supplies that had reached the Vanni region were enough to feed 100,000 people for a little less than two weeks.

Afghan Refugees in Pakistan

Mr. Spindler said that today UNHCR and the government of Pakistan had signed a letter of intent to allow registered Afghans refugees to extend their stay in Pakistan until the end of 2012. This letter of mutual intent built upon previous agreements within a tripartite framework between UNHCR and the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan about the temporary stay of registered Afghans in Pakistan, their gradual and voluntary repatriation, and support from the international community to Pakistan for hosting one of the largest refugee populations in the world.

The letter also stated that UNHCR would continue to support voluntary, safe, dignified and gradual repatriation of Afghans from Pakistan. UNHCR would also actively engage the international community to fund the US $140 million Refugee-Affected and Hosting Areas programme over five years. This programme will benefit Pakistanis and Afghans through development projects in rural regions most affected by the presence of Afghans and through health, education and water and sanitation, said Mr. Spindler. There were currently 1.7 million registered Afghans in Pakistan residing in refugee villages or scattered among host communities.

For use of the information media; not an official record