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 Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the UN Refugee Agency, the United Nations Children’s Programme, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the World Trade Organization, and the International Organization for Migration.

At the end of the briefing, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said in 2008 she had introduced journalists to the UN’s first four-legged staffer, York, who had unfortunately died. She wanted to introduce to journalists “Neo” or news, his successor. Neo was able to detect explosives and arms and that was his function at the UN. He was only 15 months old, but had already finished his training and was working. Soon other puppies would join his unit to be trained to detect explosives or arms. If anyone wanted to see a demonstration of his working skills, this could be arranged.

New Statement and Messages by the Secretary-General

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday addressed the third Global Compact Leaders Summit, saying that the Global Compact had become the world's largest and most ambitious initiative of its kind during its first ten years. He said that, at the G20 Summit meeting this weekend in Toronto, they were likely to hear leaders of the world stress the need for austerity and budget consolidation at a time of crisis. But he said he would argue exactly the opposite: that they could not afford not to invest in the developing world. Global economic growth, he said, required investment in the developing world. With official development assistance under pressure, foreign direct investment was that much more important. An ethical culture must be embedded into business practices. Distinctions between right and wrong could not be ignored. Business also needed to support the Millennium Development Goals. The Secretary-General’s full statement had been sent to journalists as well as a transcript of his comments at a press conference.

The messages of the Secretary-General on the occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture and the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking were available in the press room. Both International Days were commemorated on 26 June.

Conference on Disarmament and Press Conference on Children and Armed Conflict

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said there would be a public plenary of the Conference on Disarmament at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 29 June.

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, would speak to journalists on Monday, 28 June at 1:30 p.m. about the Security Council Open Debate on Children and Armed Conflict – progress and remaining challenges of this agenda.

Kyrgyzstan

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Secretary-General had instructed the Department of Political Affairs to brief the Security Council yesterday to express the United Nations’ continuing concerns about Kyrgyzstan, and the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, provided that briefing. He noted that while the situation in Osh and Jalal-Abad cities had calmed, inter-ethnic tensions and rumours of impending violence persisted. He said that the United Nations was providing technical assistance to the Kyrgyz electoral authorities, who were committed to conducting the 27 June referendum. The United Nations was encouraging every effort to ensure both an inclusive and technically sound referendum, in which internally displaced persons would be able to vote. Mr. Fernandez-Taranco observed the need for measures by regional organizations aimed at preventing a reoccurrence of violence and fostering an environment conducive to reconciliation and rebuilding.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the situation in Kyrgyzstan was improving, even if it was still tense and humanitarian workers were working under the emergency operations code. In Osh the Government had registered a total of 2.200 tons of humanitarian relief. There were also relief items that had not been registered by the authorities. The situation in Osh had improved with many small shops and banks opening up and with traffic in circulation and farmers from neighbouring provinces bringing in products. Food, including baby food, shelter, non-food items and hygiene kits remained important needs. The authorities in Kyrgyzstan were calling for speedy efforts to restore livelihoods and rebuild schools and other infrastructure. The authorities were providing tents to persons who were returning, including for those who wished to stay at their properties even though their houses were destroyed. A high-level UN delegation visited Osh yesterday and met with the local authorities, the International Committee of the Red Cross, non-governmental organizations and UN agencies. The delegation met with the representatives of the Interim Government and heard a proposal to establish a high-level coordination committee. There were figures in the briefing notes but they were probably outdated now as developments were moving so quickly, so journalists should use the figures UNHCR provided.

Adrian Edwards of the United Nations Refugee Agency said amid the mass returns from Uzbekistan to Kyrgyzstan, UNHCR field officers had been visiting groups of returning refugees and displaced people near Osh and Jalalabad. According to the Kyrgyz authorities, 70,000 refugees had returned so far. At the same time, internally displaced persons were also returning to their places of origin. Both refugees and internally displaced persons had expressed to UNHCR mixed feelings about going back. Although they wanted to be reunited with their families, many were worried for their safety and about going back to destroyed, damaged or looted homes. UNHCR was concerned about the voluntary nature of returns in some cases. UNHCR’s view was that where people were returning, they should be able to do so on an informed basis and in conditions of safety, voluntariness and sustainability. Another concern was that refugees may be returning into situations of further displacement in light of the fact that many homes had been destroyed or badly damaged. This morning, the UNCHR team had been delivering relief supplies in Osh. They reported a general calm situation, some traffic on the streets and smaller markets open, but also significant destruction. UNHCR had four more relief flights scheduled for this weekend into Osh. Each would bring some 40 tonnes of relief materials.

Jeremy Hartley of the United Nations Children’s Fund said UNICEF had joined other UN organizations in starting preliminary assessments in the field, both in Osh and Jalalabad provinces. There were areas, primarily Uzbek towns, neighbourhoods or villages, including some of the internally displaced persons’ locations, which were still very difficult or impossible to visit due to security and other concerns. UNICEF continued to be concerned, particularly about women and children who were on the move, many of them trying to return home, even to locations where homes had been destroyed. While most intended to stay with relatives or neighbours until their homes had been rebuilt, there was now obviously significant need for temporary shelter. Two aircrafts had arrived with supplies and a third would arrive this morning. There was ongoing distribution of 75 metric tones of UNICEF supplies that had been airlifted from UNICEF’s supply hub in Copenhagen, and another 35 metric tones of health and nutrition, water and sanitation, hygiene, education and child protection supplies had arrived in Osh on 23 June. Health supplies would be sent to hospitals while other supplies would be given to the most vulnerable among internally displaced communities and children. UNICEF was opening a field office in Osh to facilitate the emergency response.

As far as Uzbekistan was concerned, Mr. Hartley said there was a humanitarian corridor between it and Kyrgyzstan. UNICEF emergency supplies would be airlifted into Andijan tomorrow and the Government of Uzbekistan agreed to facilitate trucking them to Osh as soon as possible.

Other

Catherine Sibut-Pinote of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development reminded journalists about the press conference today at 2:30 p.m. on the United Nations Cocoa Conference 2010. It would be in Salle III. The main actors in the negotiations on the new Cocoa Agreement would be briefing journalists. The final details of the new Cocoa Agreement were being cleared up this morning and it would be officially adopted this afternoon.

Janaina Borges of the World Trade Organization said the Trade and Development Committee would be meeting on 28 June. From 29 June to 2 July, there were a series of meetings on different services bodies, including the Financial Services Committee on 29 June, the Services Council on 30 June, and the Services negotiations (council special session) on 2 July. On 30 June and 1 July, the trade and environment negotiations would take place.

WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy was currently in Toronto for the G-20 Summit. On 29 June, he would speak at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva on the Millennium Development Goals. On 30 June, he would be in Brussels to participate in the Business Europe Summit and would meet with Karel De Gucht, European Union Trade Commissioner. From 2 to 4 July, he would be in Aix-en-Provence where he would attend the conference "Rencontres Economiques d'Aix-en-Provence".

Adrian Edwards of the UN Refugee Agency, responding to a question on Libyan Government authorities that had accused UNHCR representatives of exchanging refugee status for sexual favours, and of taking bribes, said UNHCR had also seen these statements by the Libyan Government. UNHCR took very seriously any accusations against any UNHCR staff member from whatever source. UNHCR had a zero tolerance policy for misconduct. UNHCR had asked the Libyan Government to substantiate these particular claims, and if and when they received these indications, UNHCR would be in a position to investigate through its normal procedures.

On another topic, Mr. Edwards said this week UNHCR had issued recommendations for Belgium’s EU presidency, which would be starting on 1 July for a six-month term. As the EU worked to establish a Common European Asylum System, UNHCR was suggesting six steps toward greater coherence in European asylum policy and practice. There were more details in the briefing notes.

Jeremy Hartley of the United Nations Children’s Fund said he was sure journalists were aware of the situation in Niger, in relation to malnutrition amongst children. Available at the back of the room was a joint press release by UNICEF and the World Food Programme. The results of the annual survey on child nutrition had been released yesterday. It was very clear that the nutritional status of children in Niger had deteriorated considerably in the last 12 months. WFP and UNICEF were urging the international community to mobilize all necessary resources in order to enable them to protect and heal children who were subject to this dreadful situation. The global acute malnutrition rate in Niger had reached nearly 17 per cent, for children aged under five, which was higher than the 15 per cent which they used as an alarm bell warning threshold. In some places in Niger, it was as high as 22 per cent. UNICEF andWFP were implementing significant preventive and curative activities for children suffering from global acute malnutrition. More than 107,000 children had been treated between January and May 2010, which was an extraordinarily high number, and a large-scale communication campaign was going to be launched in coming weeks to promote exclusive maternal breastfeeding up to six months, which was really the only protection for infants against mal-nutrition. Food insecurity in Niger currently affected over 47 per cent of the population; that was more than 7 million individuals, which gave an indication of how serious the situation was.

Mr. Hartley said available at the back of the room was a press release on an exciting new partnership with Kiwanis to fight maternal and neo-natal tetanus in women and children worldwide. The partnership was trying to eliminate the 60,000 new born deaths that were caused by neo-natal tetanus. The Eliminate Project aimed to raise $ 110 million over the next five years to provide help and immunization to women and children in countries where maternal and neo-natal tetanus was most prevalent.

Jared Bloch of the International Organization for Migration said almost six months after Haiti was devastated by the earthquake, vulnerable people were still slipping through the cracks despite a massive humanitarian aid effort that had grown in size and complexity. Now, an estimated 1.5 million Haitians were living in shelters, some of them in well organized camps, others in impromptu settlements. However not all of them had received assistance because they lived in areas which were not directly affected by the physical destruction caused by the earthquake, and therefore may not have been identified as in need. Even in disaster affected areas, some residents remained in their neighbourhoods and as a result fell through a social safety net already stretched beyond its limits.

In South Korea, Mr. Bloch said IOM was hosting today a two-day training for 15 service providers responsible for helping North Korean refugees to resettle and integrate in South Korea.