REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Corinne Momal-Vanian, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Development Programme, the International Organization for Migration , the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Food Programme, the International Telecommunication Union, the World health Organization, the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development and the World Trade Organization.

At the end of the briefing, Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said after three years of work at UNICEF in Geneva, she would be leaving UNICEF and today was her last briefing. Mark Vergara, who was with UNICEF in Cambodia, would be replacing her, at least for the next month. She would be joining the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Momal-Vanian said the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities would hold its third session next week. This new Committee, which came into existence last year, would be discussing ways and means of expediting the Committee’s work, and the adoption of the Committee’s Draft Rules of Procedure. The Committee was expected to receive the first reports from States parties this year. The background press release was issued yesterday.

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was concluding its first week of work today, during which it had examined the reports of Monaco, Slovakia and Argentina. The Committee this morning would conclude its review of the report of Cambodia, and this afternoon, it would start its consideration of the report of Guatemala. Next week, the Committee would conclude its review of the report of Guatemala and examine the situation in Cameroon, the Netherlands, Japan, Iceland and Kazakhstan. The report of Panama would be reviewed during the third week, and the Committee would issue its concluding observations and recommendations on the country reports which it had examined on the last day of its session on Friday, 12 March.

The Fourth World Congress against the Death Penalty would be held in Geneva from 24 to 26 February. The World Congress was being organized by the French non-governmental organization Ensemble contre la peine de mort, in partnership with the World Coalition against the Death Penalty and under the patronage of the Swiss Confederation. The Fourth World Congress would be inaugurated at the Palais des Nations in Salle XX from 9:30 a.m. until noon on 24 February and UNOG Director-General Sergei Ordzhonikidze would address the opening meeting. There would be a press conference in Salle XXV following the inauguration. Starting 2 p.m. on 24 February, the meetings of the World Congress would be held at the International Conference Center in Geneva. A press kit was available at the back of the room.

Ms. Momal-Vanian said the International Narcotics Control Board would be releasing its 2009 report at 11 a.m. central European time on 24 February. Copies of the embargoed report were available in all the UN languages. International drug control treaties required the Board to prepare an annual report on its work. The annual report contained an analysis of the drug control situation worldwide so that Governments were kept aware of existing and potential situations that may endanger the objectives of the international drug control treaties. The 2009 report said society had to give urgent attention to preventing drug abuse, and there was a need for more actions and commitment. Measures to prevent and reduce drug abuse by people who were either not using or not seriously involved with drugs—so-called primary prevention—were the focus of the first chapter. The report also highlighted several good reasons for society to give concerted attention to preventing drug abuse. The link where the report could be found electronically was sent to journalists this morning and paper copies of the report were also available at the back of the room, again embargoed until 24 February.


Statements by the Secretary-General

Ms. Momal-Vanian said there were two new statements attributable to the Spokesperson of the Secretary-General. On the situation in Niger, the Secretary-General was closely following developments there and was receiving regular updates from his Special Representative for West Africa, Said Djinnit. The Secretary-General had called on the stakeholders in Niger to swiftly revert to constitutional order in the settlement of the political crisis that developed in that country last year. On the resignation of Yvo de Boer as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Secretary-General had taken note of the announcement. Mr. de Boer had spoken to the Secretary-General in advance of his decision. The Secretary-General regretted the decision but he would respect it. The Secretary-General had expressed his appreciation to Mr. de Boer for his strong commitment and professional support to the UNFCCC negotiations.

Haiti

Ms. Momal-Vanian said yesterday, the UN’s top military official in Haiti, Major General Floriano Peixoto Vieira Neto, told reporters that despite losing 24 members of the UN Stabilization Force in the country (MINUSTAH), “the military component was not affected by the earthquake,” playing a crucial role in the hours immediately after the disaster. With its 8,500 troops from 18 countries, MINUSTAH’s military component was assisting with humanitarian aid while continuing to provide security country-wide. It was ensuring stability at 16 aid distribution points in Port-au-Prince, along with those in other places around the country. It was also providing security along the transport corridor from the Dominican Republic to Haiti. He said since the Security Council had adopted resolution 1908 of 19 January authorizing the increase of MINUSTAH’s soldiers and police, new detachments from Brazil, Japan and Korea had arrived. With 380 additional troops expected soon, MINUSTAH would reach by the middle of March the full deployment authorized by the Security Council after the disaster.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said just over one month after the Haiti earthquake, the aid community had launched a revised Humanitarian Appeal for $1.44 billion for some 3 million people badly affected by the disaster for 12 months. This of course included the original appeal, which was already funded by 107 per cent. This meant that for the new revised Appeal, they were still missing $ 768 million, and it was currently 47 per cent covered. The main priorities were food, early recovery, health and shelter and there were more details in the notes. She recalled that previously, the largest natural disaster appeal was issued in 2005 for the Indian Ocean earthquake tsunami which sought $ 1.41 billion. The number of people who had left Port-au-Prince for outlying departments had increased to 511,405 people. Provision of shelter and camp coordination continued to be challenging, including the need for debris removal and the identification of land for settlements.

Adam Rogers of the United Nations Development Programme said he had just returned from Haiti. UNDP’s main intervention in Haiti was the cash-for-work programme. This week, they had reached 66,000 workers, working through municipal and local authorities in the various regions affected by the earthquake. In the flash appeal, UNDP had originally asked for $ 36 million, and in the revised appeal, they were now asking for $ 80 million so that the programme could continue.

Mr. Rogers said the seventh edition of the World Alliance of Cities against Poverty would be taking place in Rotterdam, bringing mayors from developing and developed countries together to share experiences. There would be four mayors coming from the Port-au-Prince region.

Christopher Lom of the International Organization for Migration said IOM was appealing for $ 123 million in the revised flash appeal, and of that they had already received $ 30 million as part of the first appeal. More than $ 100 million would go towards camp coordination and management and shelter. On the camp coordination/camp management cluster, there was detailed information on it via the link at the bottom of the press note. That cluster was focusing on 332 spontaneous settlement sites in and around Port-au-Prince hosting more than 104,000 families (more than 500,000 persons). One of the major challenges facing the cluster was finding the land. The Government had taken the lead in identifying land for rubble disposal and the resettlement of people now living in congested sites. A minimum of 450 hectares of flat, non-flood plain land was needed to settle up to 100,000 displaced people. To date, only 19 hectares had been identified and made available.

Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said OHCHR was heading the protection cluster. UNICEF and UNIFEM were also very much involved in the protection cluster. In response to a question on rapes, he said there did seem to be an increasing number of cases of rapes being reported by non-governmental organizations and others, particularly in camps for internally displaced people. These seemed to be related to the prison inmates who escaped from the national penitentiary during the earthquake. So far, around 100 of those escaped inmates had been recaptured by police. A number of activities were underway to try to increase protection for women.

Veronique Taveau of the UN Children’s Fund said UNICEF was asking for $ 172 million in the revised flash appeal, mainly for protection, education and for water and sanitation. The situation concerning water and sanitation was still a major concern. This was because adequate water and sanitation was a problem even before the earthquake as only 17 per cent of the population of Haiti had had access to basic sanitation facilities. Some 2,600 latrines had been built in Port-au-Prince. UNICEF was accelerating its work. Some 21,000 latrines still needed to be built. Around 89,000 hygiene kits had been distributed to some 500,000 persons. Also 390 school-in-a-box kits had been distributed as well as 400 recreational kits. Finally, Ms. Taveau said UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador the Berliner Philharmoniker, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, was dedicating a concert on 20 February to the victims of the earthquake. All proceeds from the concert and the Digital Concert Hall webcast would be donated to UNICEF’s emergency assistance for children in Haiti. The concern would be webcast live online.

Paul Garwood of the World Health Organization said the health sector was seeking $ 134 million as part of the Flash Appeal, of which WHO was seeking $ 53 million for projects in various key areas to strengthen outbreak surveillance and control and to ensure adequate water supply and environmental health, and to reactive basic healthcare services, among others. This week, medicines which could treat 450,000 persons for the next month arrived in Port-au-Prince. WHO had also established ten new mobile field hospitals in and around Port-au-Prince.

Emilia Casella of the World Food Programme said next week, WFP would be beginning a programme to provide cooked meals for school children in Port-au-Prince. They would start on 22 February with 19 schools, and would then be scaling up to reach children at 70 schools, namely 50,000 children. As of yesterday, the total number of people to have received rice rations was 2.7 million people in Port-au-Prince. In addition, 500,000 had received food assistance in the surrounding area, including more than 30,000 people in Jackmel who received a daily hot meal. WFP was scaling up rice distribution for a further week, and now it would be scaling up to provide a fuller food basket, including rice, beans, cooking oil and corn soy blend to 1.5 million in Port-au-Prince starting in early March.

Universal Periodic Review and Human Rights Council

Claire Kaplun of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review Working Group was concluding this afternoon its seventh session after adopting its final four reports of the session on Iraq, Slovenia, Egypt and Bosnia and Herzegovina. With this adoption, 112 countries would have been reviewed by the Council.

On Tuesday, 23 February at 9:30 a.m., Ambassador Alex van Meeuwen, the President of the Human Rights Council, would speak to journalists about the thirteenth regular session of the Council, which would be held from 1 to 26 March.

Other

Sanjay Acharya of the International Telecommunication Union said ITU’s 2010 ICT Development Index: Measuring the Information Society, would be launched next week. As promised, the executive summary of the report was available under embargo until 23 February, 3 p.m. central European time. A press conference would be held at the Palais in Salle III at 2:30 p.m. on 23 February by Sami Al Basher, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau. The report indicated that while global access to ICT’s was increasing, overall prices were falling.

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which was negotiated under the auspices of WHO, would celebrate its fifth anniversary this year. There would be a formal commemoration ceremony on Friday, 26 February in the morning. Representatives of diplomatic missions, non-governmental organizations and others would be attending and journalists were invited too. WHO Director-General Margaret Chan would open the ceremony. There would be a press conference in the afternoon at WHO Headquarters. There would be a media alert sent out with all the details.

Ms. Chaib said the Global Forum of the Noncommunicable Disease Network (NCDnet) was launched in July 2009. The first meeting of the NCDnet would be held on Wednesday, 24 February at WHO. Over 100 people representing all stakeholders groups and geographic regions would be gathering to formally launch the NCDnet. Noncommunicable diseases accounted for 60 per cent of all global deaths. There would be a press conference at 3:15 p.m. this afternoon in press room 1 to speak about NCDnet.

Gregory Hartl, also of the World Health Organization, said there would be an epi-update coming out later this afternoon on H1N1. There would be an emergency committee meeting on Tuesday, 23 February. The meeting would start at 2:15 p.m. and it had three issues on the agenda, the primary one would be to advise on whether or not WHO should go to the post-peak phase or not. Mr. Hartl explained that post-peak phase was not going down a phase, it was going forward a phase. There would be a virtual press briefing on 24 February at 11 a.m.

Janaina Borges of the World Trade Organization said WTO’s first General Council of the year would be held on 22 and 23 February. There would be a briefing, probably around 5 p.m. at WTO. Director-General Pascal Lamy would be in Brussels on 23 and 24 February where he would give a presentation to the Committee on International Trade at the European Parliament, meet members of the European Commission, and meet with the President of the European Commission and the European Trade Commissioner. On 25 February, Mr. Lamy would be in Paris where he would speak at the French Senate’s Finance Commission and would meet with OECD Agriculture Ministers.

Catherine Sibut-Pinote of the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development said journalists had received a summary yesterday of the debate of the Ad Hoc Expert Group which was preparing a report for the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC IV) which would be held in Turkey next year. The Expert Group would conclude its work today.

Next week, from 22 to 24 February, Ms. Sibut-Pinote said experts would discuss how aid, debt and investment could bolster developing country economies. The UNCTAD Secretary-General would be inaugurating the meeting. An information note on the meeting was available at the back of the room.