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 was also attended by spokespersons for the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Meteorological Organization, the United Nations Environment Programme, the UN Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration.

Secretary-General and Copenhagen Conference

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon gave a press conference at Headquarters yesterday before flying to Copenhagen to participate in the UN climate change conference. At the start of the most critical week in global efforts to forge a new deal to curb climate change, Secretary-General Ban warned that the world stood at the crossroads between a sustainable future and a path to catastrophe. “Now is the moment to act,” he said. “I call on the world’s leaders to lead. Time is running out. There is no time left for posturing or blaming. Every country must do its part to seal a deal in Copenhagen.” He acknowledged that the negotiations were difficult and complex – “among the most ambitious ever to be undertaken by the world community” – and noted the strong passions and hard bargaining under way. “But we also see tangible progress on core issues of technology cooperation and financing. We have reached substantial agreement on ‘fast track’ funding for mitigation and adaptation,” he said, adding that governments were moving toward the common goal of laying a foundation in Copenhagen for a robust, fair and comprehensive agreement that could be turned into a legally binding climate treaty as early as possible in 2010. “Looking ahead, we need greater clarity on a robust finance package for the middle and longer-term. It is essential that we leave Copenhagen with a clear understanding of how we will meet the financing challenge through 2020.”

Mr. Ban also announced that he would appoint Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai as a Messenger for Peace on climate change, calling her “an excellent choice” in light of her long record of achievement in environmental conservation and sustainable development.

A transcript of Secretary-General Ban’s press conference was available in the press room.

Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information Co-Chairs Second Global Seminar on Linguistic Diversity, Globalisation and Development

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, Kiyotaka Akasaka, co-chaired the second Global Seminar on Linguistic Diversity, Globalisation and Development, which was held in Sao Paulo, Brazil on 13 and 14 December. Speaking to the seminar yesterday, he said multilingualism must be fostered on the Internet to help bridge the digital divide and the United Nations stood in the forefront of those seeking to promote linguistic diversity in the interests of greater political, economic and cultural access for all. “Creating content in local languages is, and will be, as important as enabling connectivity in order to be able to reach and engage peoples worldwide, whether on economic, political, or scientific initiatives,” said Mr. Akasaka, who is also Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Coordinator for Multilingualism in the UN Secretariat. Mr. Akasaka cited statistics showing that 96 per cent of the world’s nearly 7,000 languages were spoken by a mere 4 per cent of the world’s population, with “a staggering 50 per cent” expected to die out within a few generations because they are not represented in government, education and the media.

Director-General of UNOG Co-Chairs Seminar on Security Sector Reform in Africa: the Role and Contribution of the United Nations

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said Sergei A. Ordzhonikidze, Under-Secretary-General and Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, and Theodor Winkler, the Director of the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces, yesterday co-chaired a seminar entitled “Security Sector Reform in Africa: the role and contribution of the United Nations”. The event, part of UNOG’s ongoing efforts to establish partnerships in support of the work of the United Nations, brought together representatives of Governments, the United Nations family, think tanks and academia. Noting that half of the United Nations current peacekeeping operations and three quarters of its military, police and civilian personnel were deployed in Africa, the Director-General underscored the importance of undertaking security sector reform as an integral part of wider policies aimed at preventing the eruption or recurrence of conflicts. One of the major challenges would include striking the right balance between national ownership and United Nations support.

A press release with more details was available in the press room.

Afghanistan

Carla Haddad of the International Committee of the Red Cross said ICRC had held its first visit to detainees in Taliban custody. This visit was a major breakthrough. ICRC had been visiting detainees held by the international forces, and those held by the Afghan security forces, but this was the first time that ICRC had been able to visit detainees in Taliban custody. ICRC had visited three members of the Afghan security forces detained by the Taliban. This visit would allow ICRC to assess the conditions of detention and treatment and it would be able to make recommendations to the detaining party. The objective was to repeat such visits, and also to conduct such visits in other regions in Afghanistan.

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said available at the back of the room was a joint press release on Afghanistan being the first country in the world to use a new vaccine against polio. This sub-national immunization campaign from 15 to 17 December would deliver the bivalent oral polio vaccine to 2.8 million children under five in the southern, south-eastern and eastern regions of Afghanistan.

Rod Curtis of the World Health Organization said today WHO was announcing what it expected to be a critical new tool in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, with the launch of the bivalent oral polio vaccine in Afghanistan. They would be immunizing 2.8 million children over the next three days, starting today. There were three types of polio. Type 2 was eradicated in 1999. In 2005, they developed two monovalent vaccines, monovalent type one and type three. These vaccines were very good in tackling one type of polio, but what they had developed with this new bivalent vaccine the ability to go into a country and to tackle both types of circulating polio virus at once. There were four endemic countries where wild polioviruses had never been interrupted: Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nigeria. The vaccination campaign in Afghanistan was financed mainly by the Government of Canada.

Other

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said UNICEF’s representative in Somalia would speak to journalists at 3 p.m. in press room 1 tomorrow. Half of the population of Somalia, 3.6 million persons, half of whom were children, were receiving emergency humanitarian aid and they needed it urgently. There was a critical need of funds. That was why UNICEF would be speaking to donor countries tomorrow because it needed $ 12 million.

Gaelle Sevenier of the World Meteorological Organization said WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud was right now giving a press conference on universal drought. A press release was available on the subject. Drought was a protracted period of deficient precipitation with high impacts on agriculture and water resources. With climate change, the frequency and magnitude of droughts were very likely to increase. In the “Lincoln Declaration on Drought Indices”, 54 experts from all regions agreed in Copenhagen on the use of a universal meteorological drought index for more effective drought monitoring and climate risk management.

Isabelle Valentiny of the United Nations Environment Programme said this evening in Copenhagen, the United Nations would announce its first ever climate footprint through a new report to be launched at the Copenhagen conference. The report provided the first greenhouse gas inventory of the entire UN system, and it would be launched by UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner, who was also the Chair of the UN Environment Management Group. According to the report, the UN system was emitting the equivalent of 1.7 million tones of carbon dioxide annually, of which approximately 1 million tones came from peacekeeping operations. This figure equaled 3.3 per cent of emissions produced by New York. The next step was to develop a common strategy to reduce the emissions. Available was a press release with more details, as well as copies of the report.

Andrej Mahecic of the UN Refugee Agency said more and more Congolese civilians were fleeing from the troubled Equteur province in the north west Democratic Republic of the Congo. Fearing the spread of violence, they continued to cross into the neighbouring Republic of Congo. According to government estimates, some 84,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo had arrived since early November when inter-ethnic violence between Enyele and Munzaya tribes erupted over farming and fishing rights. UNHCR and its partners were trying to cope with the influx but aid reserves were running low as the number of refugees mushroomed and current needs overcame the actual resources.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said relief agencies yesterday appealed for over $ 177 million to meet the acute and chronic humanitarian needs of some 1.6 million vulnerable people in Yemen through the Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan. The situation in Yemen was becoming increasingly complex as the country faced a series of compounded emergencies. This humanitarian response plan would enable some 1.3 million food-insecure people, including an estimated 200,000 displaced from the Sa’ada conflict as well as over 162,000 refugees, to meet their critical needs. There were more details in the briefing notes.

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said IOM was urgently seeking $ 2.5 million to help up to 700 destitute migrants, some of whom had been trafficked to Iraq for labour exploitation, to return home in the next two years. Over the past six years, IOM had helped more than 7,000 migrants of nearly 40 different nationalities with return assistance. However, now funding had dried up and the number of stranded migrants needing assistance had increased, although the true scale of the problem was unknown.

Ms. Pandya said a joint press conference between IOM and the Ville de Geneva would be held today at 2 p.m. on IOM’s “buy responsibly campaign”. The campaign was trying to get consumers engaged in the battle to end human trafficking for labour exploitation.

Ms. Pandya said tomorrow, there would be a press release issued on International Migrants Day, which was commemorated on 18 December.

Gregory Hartl of the World Health Organization said there would be a virtual press briefing on Thursday, 17 December at 1 p.m. on H1N1.

Ms. Chaib of the World Health Organization reminded journalists that there would be a press conference on the launch of the global report on malaria at 11:30 a.m., right after the briefing.