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 United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization, the Global Fund, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the United Nations Refugee Agency.

Secretary-General

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, was in Madrid today to attend the first meeting of the Millennium Development Goals Advocacy Group.

The Secretary-General would be in Geneva on Monday morning to address the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s third World Conference of Speakers of Parliament. The Secretary-General full schedule would be sent out to the press early Monday morning. A media stakeout would take place in Hall XIV around 12:30 p.m.

Ms. Momal-Vanian also noted that the Secretary-General’s message for Nelson Mandela Day, to be celebrated on 18 July, was available at the back of the room.

Human Rights Committee

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the Human Rights Committee was concluding today its consideration of the report of Colombia. During this first week of its current session, the Committee had already considered the reports of Estonia, Israel and Colombia.

Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning, the Committee would consider the report of Cameroon, which would be the fourth and last country report on the Committee’s programme for the current session, said Ms. Momal-Vanian.

Conference on Disarmament

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the Conference on Disarmament had held yesterday its last meeting before the three-week suspension of its 2010 Session, which would resume on 9 August.

At the meeting yesterday, several delegations took the floor to speak on the draft programme of work that had been tabled by Brazil, which had presided over the Conference until last week. The Conference was now being presided by Bulgaria since this week and until the end of August, said Ms. Momal-Vanian.

Healthcare Situation in the DPRK

A journalist noted that Amnesty International had recently published a report on the situation of healthcare in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and that when reading this report one was getting the impression that Margaret Chan [Director-General of the World Health Organization] had not been speaking about the same country [when she came back from he visit to the country last April]. In the light of Amnesty International’s report, was the World Health Organization maintaining its laudatory remarks about the situation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea’s healthcare system, he wondered.

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization (WHO), answering the question, said that Ms. Chan had visited the country last April and that she had said that the situation was slowly improving but that challenges remained in order to improve the healthcare system. She had noted that immunization levels and the level of coverage of treatments against tuberculosis were quite good but that much remained to be done with regard to the situation of women and women morbidity, that the training of healthcare professionals needed to be improved and that the country had to increase the domestic resources of healthcare services.

Paul Garwood of the World Health Organization said that to him there was no apparent contradiction between Ms. Chan’s remarks and Amnesty International’s remarks. Challenges had been identified by both sides. Ms. Chan’s recent visit to the country post-dated the many accounts that had been used in Amnesty International’s report, some of which dated back almost a decade.

Ms. Chan had highlighted several challenges at her return from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, said Mr. Garwood. In her statement she had highlighted the key areas that were in need of attention, such as the need to further strengthen and sustain universal coverage; to improve the quality of health services in the country; to increase domestic funding for health programmes; and that more investment was needed to upgrade infrastructure and equipment, amongst others.

Amnesty’s report failed to mention some of the ongoing activities said Mr. Garwood. Maybe because it predated the commencement of some of those projects, such as the improvement of women and children’s health project, which had begun in 2007 and which was being funded by the Republic of Korea. Also not mentioned in the report were efforts to re-equip and refurbish health facilities in half of the country’s 210 counties. 6,000 health workers had also been recently trained and the Global Fund was funding tuberculosis and malaria programmes; in essence, this was a sign that things were improving. Further, the Global Fund, as a rule, provided grants only if there was transparency in the monitoring and reporting of the results of projects.

One journalist wondered whether there was a possibility that Democratic People's Republic of Korea’s authorities had hidden some data during Ms. Chan’s visit.

Mr. Garwood said that in 2009 alone, some 500 field visits to different parts in the country had taken place to assess the situation on the ground. These had been conducted by various international agencies. Ms. Chan was not the only person visiting the country and assessing the situation there. Around 90 per cent of the country was open to international workers. They could visit facilities and meet with health practitioners. Nobody was saying that the situation in the country was perfect; there were challenges, but at the same time efforts were being undertaken to move forward and the Government recognized that it needed help.

Answering to a series of other questions on the issue, Mr. Garwood noted that there were 47,000 trained doctors in the country and that immunization coverage was quite strong; these were signs and indicators that there were positive aspects to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea’s health system. Also, when Ms. Chan had come back from he visit, she had highlighted, at her press conference, at least seven areas which needed further work; these not only included putting greater emphasis on nutrition, lifestyle-related diseases - like cancers and heart diseases - but also addressing the correct skill-mix of the healthcare workforce; the need to ensure the adequate supply of medicines and other commodities for the health sector; the need for more investments to upgrade the health infrastructure and equipment of the country; the need for an increase in the allocation of the domestic spending for health programmes.

Answering to a question on WHO’s relationship with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Ms. Chaib said that it was one of WHO's 193 Member States and that its mandate was to work with all of them on global public health and to help the country to improve its health system, to save lives, improve the health status of persons and especially that of the most vulnerable: mothers, children and the elderly. WHO was doing its best to fulfil this mission and it respected the sovereignty of all it members States.

2010 AIDS Conference

Veronique Taveau of the Global Fund said that in advance of the 2010 AIDS Conference that would open on Monday in Vienna, the Global Fund had partnered with the United Nations Information Service and (RED) to screen three movies on ARV treatments today at 12:30 p.m. in Room XVI. The Global Fund would also be present in Vienna and its Experts were available for interviews.

Jeremy Hartley of the United Nations Children's Fund said that they would also participate in the eighteenth International AIDS Conference in Vienna, where the United Nations Children's Fund would be launching a report entitled “Blame and Banishment – The underground HIV epidemic affecting children in Eastern Europe and Central Asia”. The report, press releases and a summary, all under embargo, were available at the back of the room. The report was addressing rarely-raised issues, namely: the increase in the HIV/AIDS epidemic in that part of the world, the fact that children living with HIV and adolescents engaged in risky behaviours; pregnant women using drugs and the more than 1 million children and young people living and working on the streets in that region.

Uganda/Forced Returns

Melissa Fleming of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that UNHCR deplored this week's forced returns of Rwandans from Uganda. On Wednesday 14 July, Ugandan police had mounted an operation to round up and deport some 1,700 people from two refugee settlements in southwestern Uganda.

In one of those settlements, Rwandese asylum-seekers had been assembled on the pretext that they were to be informed of the results of their asylum claims, said Ms. Fleming. Panic had spread among the group when police had intervened, firing shots. Force had then been used to push people onto trucks. They had then been driven across the border to Rwanda where they arrived the following morning at 2:00 a.m.

In the Kyaka settlement, food distribution at a World Food Programme warehouse had been used as the pretext for the round-up, said Ms. Fleming. Once in the building, the group had been surrounded by armed men and police. Those who had not managed to escape had been forced onto waiting trucks. Many had not been permitted to take their personal belongings with them.

The operations had resulted in the deaths of two men who had jumped off the trucks en route to Rwanda. Children had been separated from their parents. Twenty-five people who had not been among the deported had been injured, some from police beatings, said Ms. Fleming. Among the injured had been six pregnant women. UNHCR was interviewing the injured and trying to trace those separated from their families in the deportation.

UNHCR had been broadly aware of an agreement between the two countries to return failed asylum seekers. However, UNHCR had not been informed about the timing and the specific brutal nature of this operation. At the outset, UNHCR staff who had been present in the settlements had been asked to leave the scene, before the operation, said Ms. Fleming.

UNHCR remained concerned about further deportations amid reports from refugees that police had been threatening to return to both settlements and to deport all those who had managed to escape, said Ms. Fleming. UNHCR was calling on the Ugandan Government not to conduct any such furhter operation, said Ms. Fleming.

In Rwanda meanwhile, UNHCR had received confirmation that the deported people had been taken to Rukomo transit center. The transit center, which had not been used for a year had capacity for a maximum of 500 persons and lacked water and adequate sleeping space. As a result, the deportees had reportedly slept out in the open without food or clean water. Ms. Fleming said UNHCR currently had no acces to the center and was seeking access to it.

Kyrgyzstan/Displaced

Melissa Fleming of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that one month since the crisis in southern Kyrgyzstan, UNHCR estimated that some 75,000 people there were still displaced and that thousands continued to be affected by uncertain security, problems arising from the wide loss of personal documents, and a shortage of shelter.

In Osh and Jalalabad the situation was calm, but there were nonetheless scores of police check-points and night-time curfews. This in turn was presenting difficulties for people without personal papers, and there were frequent allegations of police harassment, said Ms. Fleming.

Over the past weeks, UNHCR and its partners had been carrying out monitoring and shelter surveys, interviewing thousands of people, said Ms. Fleming. UNHCR had also agreed with the authorities to immediately start rehabilitation and reconstruction of some 550 houses. Further, UNHCR and its NGO partners were visiting communities to counsel people on their rights and on procedures for restoring documentation.

Answering to a journalist’s question, Ms. Fleming said that, as far as UNHCR knew, no Kyrgyz refugees remained in Uzbekistan.

Symposium on Access to Medicines

Janina Borges of the World Trade Organization said that a joint technical symposium on access to medicines, pricing and procurement practices was taking place today. It was being held by the World Health Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization and the World Trade Organization.

Fadela Chaib of the World Trade Organization said that the opening statement by World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan at the symposium would be sent out in the morning.

H1N1

Gregory Hartl of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that, as usual, a weekly update on the H1N1 situation had been put on the web today. Also there was a question on whether or not there would be an Emergency Committee meeting today; it was decided that there would not be one. It was the behaviour of the virus which dictated whether there would be an Emergency Committee meeting and a decision to alter the phase or the status of the pandemic or not. WHO was constantly monitoring the situation in the Southern Hemisphere. No date had been set yet for the next Emergency Committee meeting.

WTO Agenda

Janina Borges of the World Trade Organization said that the World Trade Report 2010 would be launched on 23 July 2010. The theme of this year’s report was “Trade in Natural Resources”. Two events would take place for the launch: one in Geneva with Alejandro Jara, World Trade Organization Deputy Director-General and Michele Ruta, of the World Trade Organization Economic Research and Statistics Division at 9 a.m. at the World Trade Organization. A separate event would take place on the same day in Shanghai with World Trade Organization Director-General Pascal Lamy.

While in China, World Trade Organization Director-General would also go to Beijing to meet with China Vice-Premier Wang Qishan and Chen Deming, China’s Minister of Commerce. He would also attend the celebration of the World Trade Organization’s Honor Day at the Expo 2010 in Shanghai on 22 July, said Ms. Borges.

Among the meetings taking place next week was the Dispute Settlement Body on Tuesday at 10 a.m. and three meeting of the Trade and Development Committee from Monday to Wednesday, said Ms. Borges.

UNECE Agenda

Jean Rodriguez of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) said that UNECE Executive Secretary Jan Kubis was in Almaty, Kazakhstan today and tomorrow to meet with the members of the Executive Committee of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea. At the meeting, he would reiterate UNCECE willingness and readiness to participate in and support the activities of the Fund.

In Almaty, Mr. Kubis would also represent the United Nations Secretary-General at an informal meeting of Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Foreign Ministers, which would discuss the future of security in Europe, the help that needs to be provided to Kyrgyzstan and whether to included Afghanistan in some of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s discussions, said Mr. Rodriguez

On 29 July, Mr. Kubis would be in Ashkhabad, Turkmenistan would attend the Central Asia Water Resources dialogue Meeting, said Mr. Rodriguez.