REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Officer-in-Charge of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by spokespersons for and representatives of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the World Health Organization, the International Labour Office, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the UN Refugee Agency, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the International Organization for Migration.

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier welcomed students and professors from the Protestant Journalism School of Berlin, Germany, who were following a three-day information programme of UN activities organized by UNIS.

Secretary-General’s Report on the UN Mission in Central African Republic and Chad

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that in the Secretary-General’s latest report on the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT) released yesterday, he said the mission was making steady but limited progress in the implementation of its mandate, to provide wide security within its area of operation. But he added that sustained engagement by the Government of Chad and its partners was essential, especially for the return of refugees and internally displaced persons. Noting that tensions between Chad and Sudan continued, the Secretary-General said that the parties, together with regional actors and the international community, must reinvigorate meaningful peace efforts. He also stressed that the long-term peace and stability of the region depended primarily on resolving the internal conflicts prevailing in both Sudan and Chad. The Secretary-General also noted that the proliferation of arms, tribal disputes and border tensions continued to plague eastern Chad and to complicate the security and social environment. He said it was essential that the Government of Chad redouble its efforts to address the sources of insecurity.

The report of the Secretary-General was available on the UN website.

Secretary-General’s Statement on Iran

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Secretary-General has strongly condemned terrorist attacks in the Sistan-Baluchistan province of Iran which resulted in the death of a large number of people and many injured. The text of the statement was available in the press room.

Goldstone Report

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said according to the Spokesperson of Ali Treki, the President of the General Assembly, concerning the report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission, also known as the Goldstone Report, Mr. Treki received on Friday an advance unedited copy of the report of the Human Rights Council on its twelfth Special Session which contained Council resolution A/HRC/S12/1 which recommended that the General Assembly consider the report of the Mission during the main part of its sixty-fourth session, or before the end of December 2009. The President of the General Assembly would conduct consultations with the concerned parties and the chairs of the regional and other groups in order to set the appropriate date for the Assembly to consider the report.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Human Rights Committee was this morning concluding its examination of the report of Ecuador. This was the last country report that the Committee would be examining this session, and it would issue its concluding observations and recommendations on all the reports it had considered this session at the end of the session on Friday, 30 October.

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities opened its second session yesterday at the Palais des Nations. Most of the session would be devoted to adopting the Committee’s Reporting Guidelines, Working Methods and Draft Rules of Procedure. On Wednesday, 21 October, the Committee would hold a day of general discussion on Article 12 of the Convention on the right to equal recognition before the law.

Economic Commission for Europe

Jean Rodriguez of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) said they would be speaking today about the United Nations’ Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS). The occupational Safety and Health Administration of the United States’ Department of Labour published on 30 September a draft rule to modify its existing Hazard Communication Standards to conform with the GHS. They would also be talking about the UNECE Timber Committee which held its annual market discussions in Geneva on 13 and 14 October. Press releases were available on both subjects.

Rosa Garcia Couto, Secretary of the Sub-Committee of Experts on the GHS at the UNECE, said the GHS addressed classification of chemicals by types of hazards and proposed harmonized hazard communication elements. It provided a basis for harmonization of rules and regulations on chemicals at national, regional and worldwide level. Legal instruments implementing the GHS had already entered into force in the Member States of the European Union, and now with the United States publishing on 30 September a draft rule to modify its existing Hazard Communications Standards to conform to the GHS, it was hoped that other countries would follow suite.

Ed Pepke, Acting Chief and Forest Products Marketing Specialist, said at the annual market discussions, the UNECE Timber Committee forecast an upturn in most wood products market sectors in 2010 since they had hit rock bottom. Paper consumption looked like it would continue to go down. Wood energy, which was buoyed by Governments’ policies for renewable energy sources for a green economy, was moving upwards. There were two other press releases, one was a solution to the mitigation of climate change that was out of last week’s workshop, and the other was about how the forest sector had a key role to play in the green economy.

World Health Organization

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said she would speak about the launch of the third edition of the State of the World’s Vaccines and Immunization report on vaccines and immunization around the world. The report would be launched in Washington on 21 October, tomorrow, in the presence of a number of speakers from WHO, UNICEF, World Bank, UNAIDS, GAVI and other partners. The report was prepared by WHO, UNICEF and the World Bank. Journalists could participate in the teleconference launching the report. Also available was a list of spokespeople available for interviews. The embargoed press release would be available later in the day.

Alison Brunier, WHO Department of vaccines and biologicals, technical officer, said this was the third edition of the State of the World’s Vaccines and Immunization report, the result of a strong collaborative effort between WHO, UNICEF, the World Bank and other partners. The report set out the main achievements in the vaccines and immunization world since the last edition, and looked at the major challenges that were still ahead in reaching the global 2015 goals. The report also focused on more than 20 vaccine preventable diseases, with more technical detail on what had happened in the development and use of these vaccines. The report would be launched tomorrow at 15:30 Geneva time in Washington.

Gregory Hartl of WHO - responding to a question on developments regarding the H1N1 vaccine, the first tests in Asia, and now that it was available in the United States and parts of Europe, was there any feedback on adverse effects - said they did not have any feedback yet from other places. The campaigns were just about to start in two or three European countries, and it had started in the United States, but they did not have any details yet. What they had heard from China earlier was that the rate of adverse events was actually lower than what had been expected.

Ms. Chaib said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan would be going to Oviedo, Spain on 22 October to attend the official ceremony to receive on behalf of WHO the 2009 Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation. The jury for the award announced its decision in Oviedo, Spain in May this year. In May Dr Chan said she was deeply honoured that the World Health Organization had received the prestigious Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation for its efforts to fight against international health threats and for its leadership in coordinating health in a rapidly changing world.

In response to a question on what WHO was doing in Gaza following the Israeli assault at the beginning of the year, in view that the Goldstone report had cited the use of weapons using heavy metals, including uranium, and now, 10 months after, there were reports of very serious congenital birth defects, Ms. Chaib said she had to check with the department which covered the Gaza situation, and would also call the WHO in Jerusalem, to see if they had information on this.

Asked if there had been any contact between the International Atomic Energy Agency and WHO after Mr. El Baradei was given instructions from Member States to look into this issue in Gaza, Ms. Chaib said again she would need to check and come back to journalists.

International Labour Office

Corinne Perthuis of the International Labour Office said at the back of the room, there was a press release on ILO Convention 181 on private employment agencies. A new report issued by the ILO said workers employed by temporary employment agencies had been among the first to lose their jobs as a result of the financial and economic crisis. The report observed that ratification of Convention 181 could help to promote decent work and ensure better functioning of labour markets. A technical meeting started this morning on this subject. It was agreed with journalists that they would organize a press briefing on this subject later in the week. The press release and some copies of the report were available at the back of the room.

Ms. Perthuis said that journalists should have received a press release on the ILO Director-General traveling to Beirut for an Arab regional meeting. Journalists interested in his visit could call her to get contact details of her colleagues in Beirut.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said OHCA was once again denouncing human rights violations by the belligerent parties in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In Bunyakiri on 5 October, five women were raped by armed men believed to be members of the national army. One of the victims was killed. Night-time attacks against civilians by unidentified armed elements and rape against women remained widespread in the Uvira territory in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo’s South Kivu province. At least 5,387 cases of rape against women were reported in the province in the first six months of 2009. Humanitarian agencies continued to advocate for these violations to stop and for their perpetrators to be brought to justice.

Ms. Byrs said over the last two months, expulsions by Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo of the other country’s nationals had intensified. An inter-agency mission had been deployed to the Bas-Congo province earlier this week, led by OCHA, to assess the situation. According to the available data, between 20,000 and 40,000 Angolans were in the areas near the Lufu and Kuzi border posts in the Bas-Congo province.

Ms. Byrs said OHCA was worried about an epidemic of food and mouth diseases which had already affected 4,000 cows in the Province Orientale in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, because this had very serious humanitarian consequences for the already vulnerable population.

Andrej Mahecic of the UN Refugee Agency said that in Angola, tens of thousands of Angolans recently expelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo were in dire need of humanitarian assistance in various sites around the town of Mbanza Congo in northern Angola. UNHCR visited Mbanza Congo over the weekend, as part of an inter-agency assessment mission to the area bordering the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the expelled were staying. According to the initial assessment, there were close to 30,000 people living in and around three overcrowded receptions centres. Their most pressing needs were shelter, food, medicine and sanitation facilities. The supply of clean water was also insufficient. UNHCR welcomed the official agreement between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola to end the cross border expulsions. However, Angolan authorities told the inter-agency mission that they expected further large scale returns of Angolans who felt they could no longer remain the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In response to questions about allegations of rape made against United Nations peacekeepers, and how there were no convictions in these cases, Ms. Byrs said the United Nations had a policy of zero tolerance against sexual assault and would get back to journalists with information that they requested.

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the United Nations treated all allegations seriously and promised to get back to journalists.

Horn of Africa, Drought and Floods

Ms. Byrs of OCHA said vulnerable communities in the Horn of Africa, in the midst of one of the worst droughts in a decade, were bracing for yet another potential huge challenge in coming months: floods triggered by the climatic phenomenon El Nino and associated mudslides, crop destruction, water-borne diseases and disrupted road networks. Countries most at risk of flash floods were Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda. Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethiopia could also be affected. In Kenya, some 750,000 persons could be affected by floods and mudslides. In Somalia, some 450,000 persons in the Juba and Shabelle river basins could be affected. Although the humanitarian community was undertaking flood contingency planning, funding and humanitarian access remained the most significant constraints. There were more details in the briefing notes.

Pakistan

Mr. Mahecic of UNHCR said in Pakistan civilians continued to flee South Waziristan following the start of military operations against insurgents over the weekend. UNHCR was supporting the registration of new arrivals in neighbouring Dera Ismail Khan and Tank districts of North West Frontier Province, where some 32,000 internally displaced people had been registered by local authorities since 13 October. They joined more than 80,000 people who had fled South Waziristan since May this year, bringing the total number of registered displaced to more than 112,000 people. UNHCR had been distributing relief items such as kitchen sets, blankets, sleeping mats and jerry cans to registered internally displaced persons. So far, the internally displaced persons had been accommodated in host families. The Government had informed UNHCR that they were considering the establishment of camps and UNHCR stood ready to assist in providing all-weather tents and site preparation if required. Humanitarian access to people in need remained the key challenge for humanitarian agencies in this operation given the volatile security environment in the displacement areas.

Paul Garwood of the World Health Organization said the current wave of people leaving South Waziristan into Di Khan and Tank was causing a major strain on health services in this area. WHO had pre-positioned supplies and had helped train Pakistani health authorities to prepare for this wave of people coming into this area, but more supplies were needed, particularly the strengthening of health facilities in areas where internally displaced people were streaming into. As yet there were no signs of disease outbreaks. WHO polio workers were also planning to position themselves along the border with Afghanistan in case internally displaced persons fled into Afghanistan. This also provided an opportunity for WHO to immunize up to 50 per cent of children in South Waziristan who had not received full vaccination coverage against polio.

Yemen

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said children who were displaced in the north of Yemen needed urgent help. That was the appeal launched today by Mahmoud Kabil, UNICEF regional goodwill ambassador for the Middle East and North Africa, at the end of a three-day visit to Yemen. During the visit, he met with children affected by the ongoing fighting in the north of Yemen, and visited Al Mazrak camp in Hajjah governorate, some 20 kilometres away from the Sa’ada governorate where the conflict was raging. Mr. Kabil said he had seen children on the brink of death due to acute malnutrition and dehydration. Insecurity and the fighting were stopping humanitarian aid from reaching many children. UNICEF had screened over 1,000 children in the camp and found that 10 per cent of them were severely malnourished and needed immediate treatment. UNICEF and other humanitarian agencies had repeatedly called for safe corridors to deliver urgently needed supplies. A conference call could be set up with Mr. Kabil this afternoon, or one-to-one interviews could also be organized.

Mr. Garwood of WHO said six joint WHO and Ministry of Health mobile medical teams had provided services to some 17,000 patients in the affected governorates of Amran, Hajjah and Al Jawf in recent weeks. Most consultations were for diarrhea and skin, respiratory and urinary infections. There were no disease outbreaks reported to date, but there remained a high risk of communicable disease outbreak due to low surveillance, inadequate health services and lack of safe drinking water.

Dorothea Krimitsas of the International Committee of the Red Cross said ICRC continued to remain very much concerned over the situation of civilians in northern Yemen as winter approached and no holding ceasefire was in sight. People continued to suffer from the consequences of the conflict. In Sa’ada city, there had been increasing numbers of people arriving there in recent days, especially at the three displaced persons camps set up and managed jointly by ICRC and the Yemeni Red Crescent. More than 18,000 persons were able to receive food and other essential aid items in the camps. In the north as well, in the Sa’ada governorate, which remained very dangerous, ICRC had a lot of security concerns, but it had been able to assist people in some areas near the border with Saudi Arabia and west of Sa’ada city. However, tens of thousands of people still remained out of reach because of the ongoing fighting.

Report on Children in Immigrant Families in Eight Affluent Countries

Ms. Taveau of UNICEF said she had put copies of an embargoed report on children in immigrant families in eight affluent countries, their family, national and international context, at the back of the room. The report was providing for the first time internationally comparable data addressing the number, share and family circumstances of immigrant children in eight industralised countries: Australia, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. One of the key findings of the study released by the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre in Florence, Italy, was that many immigrant children and youth in these eight affluent countries were at disadvantage compared with the native children and youth. Interviews with the authors of the report could be set up.

World Food Programme

Emilia Casella of the World Food Programme said Josette Sheeran, the Executive Director of the World Food Programme would be travelling to the Philippines this week. She would be arriving on 21 October. During her three-day visit, she would travel with President Gloria Arroyo to some of the worst affected areas to see how food assistance was being distributed. There would be a press briefing held on Wednesday and they would send out a media advisory on that. The following week, Ms. Sheeran would be continuing on to Australia.

World Meteorological Organization

Gaelle Sevenier of the World Meteorological Organization said two strong tropical cyclones, Typhoon Lupit in the western North Pacific and Hurricane Rick in the eastern North Pacific, which were being closely monitored. Lupit was moving to the west-northeast toward Luzon with maximum winds of 195 kilometres per hour. According to the Philippines Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, Lupit was expected to make landfall over Cagayan by Thursday afternoon or Friday. Scattered rain showers and thunderstorms were expected over Luzon, with strong to gale force winds. Meanwhile, Hurricane Rick was just 800 kilometres offshore of Mexico. It was forecast to move north and north-eastward in the next three days while gradually weakening.

Ms. Sevenier said the International Ice Charting Working Group celebrated its tenth meeting at the WMO in Geneva with a focus on Arctic shipping. It issued a statement saying that over 1,200 icebergs had drifted into the trans-Atlantic shipping lanes in 2009, making the iceberg season in the North Atlantic the eleventh most severe since the loss of the Titanic in 1912. Also, the sea ice pack in the Arctic Ocean shrank to its third-lowest extent since the beginning of quantitative satellite observances about 30 years ago. Although greater than the record lows in 2007 and 2008 , the minimum ice extent was still well below normal. There were more details about the highlights of the statement in the press release at the back of the room.

World Intellectual Property Organization

Samar Shamoon of the World Intellectual Property Organization reminded journalists there would be a meeting with the Director-General of WIPO, Francis Gurry, at WIPO on the thirteenth floor at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, 21 October.

Philippines

Mr. Garwood of the WHO said an information note on the health impacts following the typhoon tragedies in the Philippines was available at the back of the room. With regard to communicable diseases and the spread of these disease data, there were now major concerns in many parts of the Philippines, particularly around Manila. The top five diseases being reported in the 400 evacuation centres where some 190,000 were now residing were acute respiratory infections (54 per cent of people were suffering from acute respiratory infections); skin infections (nearly 20 per cent of people were suffering from skin infections); diarrhea (nearly 14 per cent of people were suffering from diarrhea); fever (eight per cent); flu and other influenza cases (five per cent); and pneumonia (.3 percent).

The particular concern now was the increasing outbreak of leptospirosis, a disease linked to the urine of rodents and people who had cuts and wounds were being infected by this bacterial disease. In one region, there were more than 1,670 new admissions, with 104 people dying from this disease. Admissions increased by more than 1,000 in a four-day period. Currently, all Ministry of Health hospitals were operating beyond full capacity due to this disease. Philippines health authorities said that up to 1.7 million people in affected areas were at high risk of exposure to leptospirosis.

International Organization for Migration

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said IOM had launched a temporary shelter programme to house 1,000 vulnerable families made homeless by the 30 September West Sumatra earthquake. The quake, which left over 1,100 people dead, severely damaged some 135,000 houses in the remote region leaving thousands of survivors lacking adequate shelter ahead of the upcoming monsoon rains. The shelter kits would comprise corrugated iron roofing sheets, a bamboo frame, woven bamboo wall matting, cement and salvaged bricks.

Mr. Chauzy said IOM and the Sri Lanka Police Department had created a UK-funded database to combat human trafficking. The database, hosted at the Police Criminal Records Division, would house relevant statistical data on trafficking and would be used to update information on trafficking cases progressively, helping to track them and identify trends and individuals concerned. In Bangladesh, IOM and UNIFEM today launched a three-day training workshop in Dhaka on current migration management and remittance issues for Bangladeshi labour attachés. The training, the second of its kind, followed a similar programme offered last year by IOM and would be attended by 14 labour attachés stationed at 12 Bangladeshi missions abroad.

Mr. Chauzy said in the Jordanian capital Amman, IOM would host a one-day training on Wednesday for UN and NGO partners on migrant health promotion and pandemic preparedness. And in Colombia, a group of persons demobilized from illegal armed groups would receive training in the art of shoemaking as part of an IOM project that supported the reintegration process through training, job creation and income generation opportunities.