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 of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Refugee Agency, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the World Food Programme, the United Nations Environment Programme, the World Trade Organization and the International Organization for Migration.

Conference on Disarmament

Ms. Momal-Vanian said the President of the Conference on Disarmament, Ambassador Luiz Filipe De Macedo Soares of Brazil, yesterday tabled a proposal on the establishment of a programme of work for the 2010 Session of the Conference. The next plenary meeting of the Conference will take place on Tuesday, 13 July at 11 a.m. It will be the first meeting under the presidency of Bulgaria. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, Nikolay Mladenov, will address the Conference at that meeting.

Human Rights Committee

Ms. Momal-Vanian said the Human Rights Committee will hold its ninety-ninth session from 12 to 30 July at the Palais Wilson, during which it will examine reports submitted by the Governments of Estonia, Israel, Colombia and Cameroon on measures taken to implement the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This Committee considered each report over two meetings, the first during the afternoon and the second during the following morning. The third periodic report of Estonia will be considered on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning, 12 and 13 July; and the third periodic report of Israel on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, 13 and 14 July. The Committee will adopt and make public its concluding observations on the implementation of the Covenant by these countries at the end of its three-week session on 30 July.

Statement and Reports by the Secretary-General

Ms. Momal-Vanian said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement yesterday in which he said that he found it unacceptable that the Sri Lankan authorities had failed to prevent the disruption of the normal functioning of the United Nations offices in Colombo as a result of unruly protests organized and led by a cabinet minister of the Government. In light of the evolving situation, the Secretary-General said he was recalling the United Nations Resident Coordinator, Neil Buhne, to New York for consultations. He had also decided that the UNDP Regional Centre in Colombo would be closed. The Secretary-General called upon the Government of Sri Lanka to live up to its responsibilities towards the United Nations as host country so as to ensure continuation of the vital work of the Organization to assist the people of Sri Lanka without any further hindrance.

Two reports by the Secretary-General were now available concerning Guinea-Bissau and the work of the UN Office for West Africa (UNOWA). On Guinea-Bissau, the Secretary-General said he was deeply concerned that the influence of transnational crime in some sections of the military and the State apparatus threatened to further destabilize the country. He noted that April's political crisis, which saw both the prime minister and the chief of general staff briefly detained by army troops, had been linked to drug trafficking. Security sector reform, he said, was therefore a crucial condition for stabilization of the country. He called for a stronger effort to restructure that sector. On West Africa, the Secretary-General called on regional leaders to reinforce national policies to combat cross-border criminal activities and terrorist threats, particularly in the Sahel Band. He also noted that while an increasing number of countries in the sub-region are holding regular elections, there was still room for improving the frameworks in which these elections were held.

Upcoming Press Conferences

Ms. Momal-Vanian said right after the briefing in Room III at 11:30 a.m., there would be a World Health Organization press conference on health worker retention in rural areas: new global guidelines. At 11:30 a.m. on Monday 12 July, there would be another press conference by the World Health Organization, in press room one, on an update on HIV treatment coverage progress: launch of 2010 WHO HIV guidelines.

There would be a number of other press conferences on Monday, 12 July. They included a joint press briefing at 12:30 p.m. on Haiti, six months after the earthquake, by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the International Organization for Migration, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Refugee Agency and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that OCHA would be making short introductory remarks at the beginning of the press conference, and then would give the floor to the various Spokespersons and other Representatives. It would be possible to hold one-to-one press interviews with some of the experts who had spent time in Haiti following the press conference. Also on 12 July, John Holmes, the Emergency Relief Coordinator, would be in Haiti to mark the six-month anniversary. A Representative of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies would also be present at the joint press conference on Haiti.

Emilia Casella of the World Food Programme said she would be at the joint press conference on Monday, but she just wanted to say that yesterday, WFP had released a press release on its achievements in Haiti up to the six-month anniversary. She had left some fact sheets at the back of the room. In addition, WFP had released a video news release which went out last night.

Ms. Momal-Vanian said there would also be a press conference on Monday at 3 p.m. by the International Labour Office on the presentation of the book: off shoring and working conditions in remote work (including case studies: Brazil, Argentina, India and the Philippines).

Cuba

Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said the UN High Commissioner Navi Pillay welcomed the announcement that Cuba planned to release 52 political detainees, and it would be particularly good news when the phased release of those 52 had actually been completed. Ms. Pillay hoped that this would be the start of a series of significant steps to advance the protection of human rights in Cuba. Ms. Pillay also welcomed with some relief the fact that human rights defender Mr. Guillermo Farinas had announced the stopping, at least for the time being, of his hunger strike in response to this positive development.

Nansen Refugee Award

Melissa Fleming of the UN Refugee Agency said that there was a decision on the winner of the annual Nansen Refugee Award. It would be going to British photo-journalist Alixandra Fazzina. She was chosen for her tireless dedication to uncovering and portraying the overlooked human consequences of war.

Over the last ten years, Ms. Fazzina had tirelessly documented the plight of the uprooted through distinctive and moving photo reportages. Her work had taken her to Eastern Europe, Africa, particularly Somalia, the Middle East and Asia to cover human tragedies often neglected by mainstream media. Ms. Fazzina spent two years in Somalia chronicling the exodus of migrants and refugees from Somalia to the Arabian Peninsula and the smuggling business in the Gulf of Aden. This work resulted in a book ,“A Million Shillings, Escape from Somalia”, which would be published in September 2010. The Nansen Refugee Award was created in 1954 in honour of Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian explorer, scientist and the first U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. It was given annually to an individual or organization for outstanding work on behalf of refugees.

West and Central Africa

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the rainy season had started since the month of May in a number of countries in West Africa, including Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Niger and Togo. During June heavy rains had caused devastating flooding which had caused considerable loss of life. However no funds were coming in to help people in these countries. The regional appeal for West Africa was only financed by 31 per cent, and it was now six months since the appeal had been launched. It was urgent that further funds be made available.

Ms. Byrs said in response to the funding situation, the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund had allocated over $ 19.8 million during the last three months for humanitarian activities in Niger, Central African Republic and Chad. Niger had been the main beneficiary, having received $ 14 million. Since January 2010, the Fund had allocated over $ 40.3 million to Guinea, Mali, Niger, Central African Republic, Chad and Senegal. In Niger, there were 7.1 million food insecure people. Niger was experiencing a serious food, nutrition and pastoral crisis. There were more details in the briefing notes.

Marçal Izard of the International Committee on the Red Cross said in relation to the huge food crisis in Niger and Mali, ICRC had issued a press release today, which said that there was a need to triple the beneficiaries who received food aid in north Niger and north Mali. Two months ago he had told journalists there was a need to reach 100,000 people in both countries in the dry Sahel region where both herders and farmers lived. Now, the assessment was they would have to triple that figure of beneficiaries to almost 300,000 people who had started to receive food aid since May. This was an ongoing operation. ICRC was helping herders by buying their weakest heads of cattle at the pre-crisis prices, so that herders could thus have some money in their pockets to save the rest of their herd. The bought cattle were slaughtered, dried and given to the people as food aid. ICRC was also now providing food and seeds in northern Niger to 120,000 people to be ready for the sowing season now that the first rains had started. However, it was not known if the rains would continue. For the cattle herders, the rain was very useful because it meant that now the pastures would soon be available for the animals to feed on.

Central America and the Caribbean

Emilia Casella of the World Food Programme said WFP had released a study today on nutrition in Central America and the Dominican Republic. There were copies at the back of the room. The study would be presented later today at a meeting in Cali, Colombia of the Second Meeting of Ministers and High Authorities of Social Development of the Organization of American States. So in fact the study they were receiving here was an advance of the summary of the findings before its actual presentation later in the day in Colombia. The study covered Belize, Costa Rica El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and the Dominican Republic. It analyzed 110 programmes for the poor. It made a number of recommendations for the Governments. The study praised the social commitment of the Governments to bring on policies of social safety nets for the poor, while calling for more coherence and coordination of those programmes.

Other

Janaina Borges of the World Trade Organization said on Monday 12 July, the Trade Facilitation Negotiating Group would be meeting. The Market Access (industrial products) Negotiating Group would be meeting on Monday and on Thursday 15 July. On Tuesday 13 July, the Rules negotiating group would be meeting. On Friday 16 July, there would be a WTO – WIPO – WHO Technical Symposium on Access to Medicines: Pricing and Procurement Practices. Director-General Pascal Lamy would be participating, along with Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General, and Francis Gurry, WIPO Director-General. On Tuesday 13 July, Mr. Lamy would meet with Silvia Iranzo, Spain's Secretary of State for Trade, and on
Thursday 15 July, he would be meeting with American business executives with the US Chamber of Commerce.

Isabelle Valentiny of the United Nations Environment Programme said on Tuesday, 13 July, UNEP would be launching a new report entitled the economics of ecosystems and biodiversity for business. The report would be targeting the business sector, giving them practical guidance on how to include in business practices biodiversity-related considerations. The report would be launched, under strict embargo, from London on Monday, 12 July. A short briefing will be held on Monday at 2 p.m. in press room 1.

Ms. Valentiny said there would be a high-level event on biodiversity at the UN General Assembly on 22 September. To prepare this global discussion on biodiversity, each region would be preparing its input. The Pan European region had prepared its input this week in Azerbaijan, signing the Gabala Declaration. A press release on that declaration was available at the back of the room.

Jared Bloch of the International Organization for Migration said the 2010 hurricane season was predicted to be one of the wettest on record and IOM was working with the Government of Haiti and the international community on disaster preparedness for hurricane prone areas of the country.

Mr. Bloch said three studies covering issues such as remittances and investment, the role and expectations of the Egyptian diaspora and of Egyptian entrepreneurs in Italy, have been launched by the IOM office in Egypt. The reports highlighted the positive economic impact on the country of the almost 2.7 million Egyptian migrants abroad, 70 per cent of which reside in Arab countries and 30 per cent in Europe and North America. Egypt was now the biggest recipient of remittances in the Middle East with an estimated US$ 7.8 billion sent in 2009 (representing approximately 5 per cent of the national GDP).