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 Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the International Organization for Migration and the World Health Organization.

Secretary-General’s Activities

Ms. Momal-Vanian said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will travel to Madrid to attend the first meeting of the Millennium Development Goals Advocacy Group this Friday. Ahead of the MDG Summit that he will convene in September in New York, the Secretary-General will meet with the eminent personalities who make up that Group and its two co-chairs, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero of Spain. The Secretary-General will then travel to Geneva to attend the Third World Conference of Speakers of Parliament. This global summit, from 19 to 21 July, is convened by the Inter-Parliamentary Union and will focus on democracy, the role of legislative institutions and their relationship with the United Nations.

In response to questions about the Secretary-General’s visit to Geneva, Ms. Momal-Vanian said although she could not yet give journalists the detailed schedule of the Secretary-General during his visit to Geneva, she could tell that he would be in Geneva for part of Monday, 19 July, and that there would probably be a brief press encounter towards the end of the morning on 19 July. She hoped to have more details for journalists at the Friday briefing.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Momal-Vanian said the Human Rights Committee had started its work yesterday. This morning, it would be concluding its review of the report of Estonia at the Palais Wilson, and this afternoon and tomorrow morning, it would be considering the report of Israel at the Palais des Nations. The Committee would also be reviewing the report of Colombia on 15 and 16 July, and the report of Cameroon on 19 and 20 July. The Committee would release its concluding observations and recommendations on the reports at the end of the session on 30 July.

The Conference on Disarmament was this morning holding a public plenary at 11 a.m., the first under the Presidency of Bulgaria. The Conference would hear an address by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, Nikolay Mladenov. Frank Rose, United States Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Defense Policy and Verification Operations, would also address the Conference to present the New National Space Policy of the United States.

Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, would be receiving Mr. Mladenov today.

Mr. Rose would be giving a press conference today at 12:45 p.m. on the New National Space Policy of the United States.

UNAIDS would be launching its Outlook Report 2010, ahead of the International AIDS Conference in Vienna, in a press conference today at 11:30 a.m. by Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS, and Paul De Lay, Deputy Executive Director, Programme, UNAIDS.

Also related to the International AIDS Conference in Vienna, the Global Fund and its Executive Director Michel Kazatchkine, with the support of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, were holding a special screening of two films on Friday, 16 July, from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. in Salle XVI. The films were entitled “The Lazarus Effect” and “The Global Fund: Together We Can Do Great Things”.

On Thursday, 15 July at 10:30 a.m., there would be a press conference to launch the latest report of the IPU Committee on the Human Rights of MPs. There would be a number of speakers, including Senator Rosario Green (Mexico), new President of the Committee.

Ms. Momal-Vanian said the World Meteorological Organization had asked her to announce that the Severe Weather Information Centre of the World Meteorological Organization had been enhanced with the launch of a new service known as SWIdget. With this brand new service, local and international users could now obtain severe weather warnings related to tropical cyclones that were issued by participating official weather services in near real-time. There were more details in the press release at the back of the room.

Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Italy

Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay was seriously concerned about the conduct of recent defamation proceedings against a prominent opposition politician in Cambodia. The Office of the High Commissioner believed this highly politicized case appeared to show an alarming erosion of both freedom of expression and the independence of the judiciary in Cambodia. Criminal law was still used to stifle freedom of speech in many countries. And that very much appeared to be the situation in the case of Mu Sochua in Cambodia. As well as being a member of the opposition, Mu Sochua was a serving member of the Cambodian Parliament, a former Minister of Women’s Affairs and a prominent women’s rights defender. The case against her stemmed from comments made on 4 April 2009 by Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen, which were derogatory to her as a woman – it included a reference to the unbuttoning of her blouse, and another reference of a sexual nature. These comments led to her bringing a defamation case against Hun Sen.

On 23 April 2009, Mu Sochua announced her intention to sue the Prime Minister for defamation on the basis of his remarks, and subsequently filed proceedings on 27 April 2009. The following day, Mu Sochua was herself sued by the Prime Minister on the basis that publicly announcing her intention to sue him was itself defamatory. Mu Sochua’s case against the Prime Minister was dismissed, her parliamentary immunity was then lifted, and in August 2009, she was found guilty of defamation against the Prime Minister. The court imposed a fine on Mu Sochua and awarded damages to the Prime Minister. Her conviction was subsequently upheld by the Appeal Court in October 2009, and the Supreme Court in June 2010. No evidence providing either damage to reputation or malicious intent was presented during the case against Mu Sochua. Instead the courts relied on correspondence between Mu Sochua and the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the Global Fund for Women to imply bad faith. The High Commissioner believed that it was totally unacceptable under any circumstances that a letter to IPU or any other international or inter-governmental organization should be seen as a reprehensible act and be used as evidence in court proceedings. Communicating with international organizations, including the UN Human Rights office itself, was part of the fundamental right to freedom of expression.

Mr. Colville said the Supreme Court had given Mu Sochua until 16 July to pay the fine imposed on her after her conviction, which she refused to do. Mu Sochua now stood on the verge of imprisonment for merely exercising her legal right to express her view that she was defamed and her intention to seek a legal remedy. The criminal justice system was the bedrock of human rights protection. However, in this case it had become a blunt instrument to silence freedom of expression. The case of Mu Sochua appeared to show an alarming erosion of both freedom of expression and the independence of the judiciary in Cambodia. The Office believed the use of offensive language towards women in the Prime Minister’s statement deserved a response from the courts. Imprisonment would also compromise Mu Sochua’s ability to run for the next parliamentary elections.

In response to a question about whether any thematic rapporteurs had access to the detainees in Sri Lanka since the end of the conflict last year, Mr. Colville said to his knowledge, the only Special Rapporteur who had been to Sri Lanka since the end of the war was Walter Kalin, the Representative of the Secretary-General on the human rights of internally displaced persons.

A journalist asked whether in light of the statement issued this morning by the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, Frank La Rue, urging the Italian Government to “either abolish or revise draft law 1415* on surveillance and eavesdropping for criminal investigations”, the High Commissioner was concerned about the situation of freedom of expression in Italy and had any comment about it. In response, Mr. Colville said not specifically now, although that issue did come up during her visit to Rome in January-February, not specifically on this law but on pressure on freedom of expression.

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said available at the back of the room was a kit which included embargoed advance material on the Humanitarian Appeals six months after they were launched. This material would be presented by Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes on 14 July in New York.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a new wave of displacement was registered in the Grand Nord of the North Kivu Province. Approximately 20,000 people were reported to have left their homes due to the recent military operations between the Congolese national army and the Ugandan Allied Democratic Forces/National Army for Liberation of Uganda. The territory most affected was Beni, where the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, together with the Rapid Response to Populations Movements team, reported serious humanitarian needs following an assessment mission conducted on 29 June. Sources from the civil society of Lubero reported 10,000 households displaced following the lootings and other human right abuses committed by the Forces democratiques de liberation du Rwanda. These people were reported to be in need of medicines and non-food items.

Ms. Byrs said a series of attacks affecting humanitarian actors were reported last week in the North Kivu Province. A total of 68 attacks involving humanitarian organizations and their staff were reported since the beginning of 2010.

A high number of sexual violence cases were reported in Isiro by the Provincial authorities of the Haut-Uele District of the Orientale Province between last May and June. Those responsible for these acts were believed to be civilians. According to UNFPA, 15,275 rapes, the vast majority by armed men, were reported in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2009.

Finally, Ms. Byrs said the 2010 Appeal for the Democratic Republic of the Congo was currently 41 per cent funded with $ 335 million received out of $ 827 million requested. If the current funding gap persisted, consequences would, among other things, affect key sectors like the health sector, food sector, education sector, water and sanitation sector, as well as the sector in charge of reintegration of the affected populations. There were more details in the briefing notes.

International Organization for Migration

Jared Bloch of the International Organization for Migration said IOM was currently working with the South African Government, UN agencies and local non-governmental organizations to plan for a possible exodus of vulnerable Zimbabwean migrants fleeing threats of post World Cup xenophobic violence in South Africa. The IOM reception and support centre located in the border town of Beitbridge reported increased traffic of Zimbabweans who had decided to temporarily return home because of fears of xenophobic flare-ups in South Africa.