REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Corinne Momal-Vanian, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was also attended by spokespersons of the World Health Organization, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations Children's Fund, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Meteorological Organization and the World Intellectual Property Organization.

Côte d’Ivoire

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that the humanitarian appeal for Liberia had been revised and the funding requirements almost tripled to USD 146.5 million to assist about 150,000 refugees, with USD 35 million received so far. The USD 32.7 million appeal for Côte d’Ivoire had received USD 14.8 million and was 45 per cent funded, but it would shortly be revised upwards. Although the funding situation has slightly improved, more was needed to tackle this worsening crisis in Côte d’Ivoire, Ms. Byrs said, underscoring that African crises were generally underfunded. In fact, the 2011 Zimbabwe appeal was only 11 per cent funded, that for West Africa 15 per cent and the appeal for Nigeria 20 per cent.

Melissa Fleming of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said that UNHCR continued to be extremely concerned by the spiraling violence in Côte d’Ivoire. While Abidjan had been relatively calm over the past few days, new clashes had been reported in the West and other parts of the country. These clashes had probably resulted in about 100,000 people being displaced in the West, a significant increase from the 40,000 people UNHCR had recently registered. The clashes in the West were reported in the town of Duékoué following attacks by the Republican Forces of Côte d’Ivoire. Duékoué had experienced several episodes of violence since December. For the first time hostilities had also spread to the town of Daloa, some 100 kilometres east of Duékoué, and to Bondoukou near the Ghanaian border.

Ms. Fleming said that with each new clash in western Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia was in turn seeing new arrivals of refugees. For a week now, eastern Liberia’s Grand Gedeh county had been receiving the largest influx due to fierce fighting in the Ivorian town of Blolequin. Since last Tuesday UNHCR was working with the local authorities and had registered over 10,000 new arrivals. In Liberia alone there was a total of 112,000 refugees. Several people said they had left family members behind in their panic, including children. To reach Liberia, they had crossed the Cavally River with very few possessions and usually no money. Some could only carry bundles on their heads. UNHCR was bracing for significant arrivals in Ghana should the situation in Abidjan get worse. There had been an increase as over 3,000 refugees had come into Ghana so far and UNHCR was also preparing in countries such as Togo and Burkina Faso. Providing information just received from UNHCR’s Security Officer in Abidjan, Ms. Fleming said that there was evidence that fighting was still raging in the towns of Duékué, Daloa and Bonduku.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said that a major military offensive launched in Western Côte d’Ivoire by forces loyal to president elect Alassane Ouattara had effectively sealed off tens of thousands of vulnerable displaced persons, preventing them from receiving adequate humanitarian assistance and protection. In the Western town of Duékoué, fighting between pro-Ouatarra and pro-Gbagbo forces had led to the displacement of some 20,000 Ivoirians and West Africans migrants who had found refuge in an overcrowded Catholic mission with little or no access to shelter, food, water and health facilities. Conditions at the Catholic mission are fast becoming unbearable as terrified displaced persons had been streaming in, some with gun shot wounds as they could not receive emergency treatment from the local hospital. All were seeking protection from the fighting. UNHCR called upon belligerents to ensure the mission remains a safe haven for the displaced.

Mr. Chauzy said that with pro-Ouattara forces reportedly moving southwards to surround the town of Guiglo, access to some 4,000 stranded displaced individuals and families remained impossible. The displaced Ivoirians, Burkinabés, Malians and Guineans had been living at the open site without shelter, food, water or access to health facilities for more than a week. A further 2,500 displaced persons were currently sheltering in and around the local Nazareth church and in the town hall. Tension as well as violence also continued to grow in the country's main city, Abidjan. Despite the situation greatly hindering efforts to gauge the true extent of internal displacement in the city, IOM continued to evacuate Mauritanian migrants. A second convoy of 659 Mauritanians had arrived safely yesterday in the Malian capital Bamako and was now on its way to Mauritania. IOM was planning to organize a third convoy for some 400 Mauritanians who remained stranded in and around their embassy in Abidjan. Meanwhile, growing numbers of Ivoirians and migrants are now also fleeing into Ghana. Many reported they had suffered serious abuses, including house burning and beatings in Côte d’Ivoire.

Marixie Mercado of the United Nations Children's Fund said that UNICEF was now working within a worst case scenario context in Côte d’Ivoire. Over the coming months, UNICEF would focus on three tasks: getting 800,000 children in the CNO zone back in school, making sure mothers and children had basic health care, even if all systems break down, and making sure 1.5 million people in the north and west had reliable access to electricity and water. On schools, Ms. Mercado said that the vast majority of schools in the CNO zone had re-opened yesterday for the first time in almost four months. In Bouake and Man, an estimated 80 per cent of teachers were back at their posts. The challenge now was to make sure that schools stayed open and that students could make up for the time lost. Regarding health care, Ms. Mercado said that across the country 206 clinics had been designated centres of last resort for people requiring HIV/AIDS treatment. UNICEF would work through these 206 centres – that was two centres per each of Côte d’Ivoire’s 103 districts - to make sure that children and mothers could access basic maternal and child care.

Ms. Mercado said that UNICEF was working to ensure that 1.5 million people in the CNO zone had reliable access to electricity, even if supply was cut off, as it had been. It could do this by bringing in generators and fuel to 62 urbanised areas in the north and west that were supplied through the national grid and vulnerable to power cuts. This would also keep water running, which was a lifeline against epidemic outbreaks and malnutrition. All of this would require funding and right now under 20 per cent of UNICEF's USD 33 million funding appeal had been met. The extent to which these goals were met would depend on the amount of funding received. Regarding Liberia, Ms. Mercado said that far more refugees had streamed in over the past month than in the three months preceding. The Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF was in Nimba County today, would visit Grand Gedeh tomorrow and would be in Liberia through Friday.

Fadéla Chaib of the World Health Organization said that a vaccination campaign against yellow fever had been launched on 25 March and would continue until 1 April, targeting some 2 million people in south-eastern Côte d’Ivoire. During the vaccination campaign, 700,000 children between 9 and 59 months would also be administrated vitamin A and receive medication against intestinal parasites. Yellow fever was endemic in Côte d’Ivoire and the country regularly faced epidemic outbreaks. WHO therefore conducted prevention campaigns on a regular basis, but had been unable to do so in November 2010 due to the prevailing insecurity. A press release in French was at the back of the room.

Japan

Gregory Härtl said available at the back of the room was documentation on the criteria to use for preparedness and response to a nuclear or radiological emergency, including the dose rates used to undertake or guide possible actions. WHO would also publish an update on potassium iodide on its website today.

Responding to a question, Mr. Härtl said that WHO's responsibility was to conduct public health risk assessments and provide risk guidance to the international community. What had happened on Sunday in terms of measurement and levels of radiation inside the reactor did not change WHO's assessment that there was very little public health risk outside the 30 kilometer zone.

Clare Nullis of the World Meteorological Organization said that on WMO's website one could find a link to the Austrian Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics, which provided very detailed updates on a daily basis. One update about data from the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization had been translated over the weekend, saying that 24 CTBTO stations had detected airborne radioactivity from the Fukushima nuclear plant. New detections had been reported from places such as Stockholm as well as from stations in the European part of the Russian Federation, showing that the extremely diluted cloud had crossed already much of the Northern Hemisphere.

Libya

Corinne Momal-Vanian said that the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, would be in London today to participate in the international conference on Libya as part of his diplomatic efforts to achieve a ceasefire and a political solution. Mr. Ban would be joined by Abdel Ilah Khatib, his Special Envoy to Libya, who would shortly travel to Libya again, as Mr. Ban had yesterday indicated to the General Assembly.

In response to a question, Ms. Mercado said that UNICEF already had supplies at both the Egyptian and Tunisian borders and was now procuring supplies for 30,000 people in addition to the 145,000 metric tons already delivered. UNICEF also had a team ready to enter Libya the minute access was granted.

Ms. Fleming said UNHCR had managed to get some supplies into Libya with the help of the Libyan Red Cross, but these reached only some parts of the country and not the cities under siege or under Muammar Gaddafi’s control.

Italy, Malta receive first boats from Libya, stretching asylum capacity

Ms. Fleming said that in the last four days, UNHCR had seen the first boat arrivals into Europe directly from Libya since the outbreak of conflict there. Over 2,000 non-Libyans had fled Tripoli by boat to Italy and Malta, stretching reception capacities for people possibly in need of protection.

Five boats had arrived in Italy since Saturday evening carrying 1,484 people. Two boats had arrived in Malta yesterday with 535 passengers. Most of them were Eritreans and Somalis, with many women and children among them, but there were also Ethiopians, Sudanese and a number of other nationalities. To date Libyans did not appear to be among those arriving in either country, said Ms. Fleming.

Passengers from the first boat had disembarked on the tiny island of Linosa, some 50 km north-east of Lampedusa. Two other boats had arrived in Italy on Sunday and had also disembarked on Linosa before being transferred by ferry to Sicily. Two further boats had arrived early this morning, one in Sicily and the other in Lampedusa.

Ms. Fleming said that a woman had given birth at sea while awaiting rescue, while two others had suffered miscarriages during the ordeal at sea or after landing in Linosa. Most of the new arrivals had slept outside over the weekend before being transferred to reception facilities in Sicily.

UNHCR was discussing contingency planning with the Italian and Maltese authorities and Red Cross, as there were indications that more arrivals from Libya could be expected. As of this morning there were unconfirmed reports of a number of boats in distress on the Mediterranean carrying more people fleeing from Libya.

The ongoing flow of Tunisians, most of whom were not seeking international protection, put a particular strain on Italy's ability to respond to the arrival of asylum seekers and refugees fleeing the violence in Libya. UNHCR appealed to the European Union institutions and Member States to support Italy to deal with these new challenges, said Ms. Fleming.

UNHCR was grateful to Italy and Malta for their reception of the new arrivals from Libya and urged other European Union countries to demonstrate solidarity with these front line countries.

Agenda

Corinne Momal-Vanian said that the Conference on Disarmament had held a short meeting this morning, approving the schedule proposed by the President, which included plans for several informal meetings. The next public meeting of the Conference would be tomorrow afternoon and the first part of the 2011 session would end this week. The second part would start in the week commencing 16 May 2011.

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Mr. Sergei Ordzhonikidze, would deliver opening remarks at the 64th session of the Economic Commission for Europe today and would meet with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan tomorrow.

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that a press release on the report of a group of eminent persons on the least developed countries was available, embargoed until 6 p.m. Geneva time today. The report was available from the Information Service.

Ms. Chaib said that the first meeting of the Consultative Expert Working Group on Research and Development Financing and Coordination would take place at WHO Headquarters from 5-7 April 2011. In 2003, WHO had established a Commission tasked with the identification of alternative to sources of funding to work on diseases affecting developing countries and poor countries around the world. That Commission had evolved and last year the Consultative Expert Working Group had been established. To explain the background of the forthcoming conference, a press conference would be held from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. on 1 April in Room I. Speaking would be Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO Assistant Director General, Innovation, Information, Evidence and Research, and Zafar Mirza, Coordinator of WHO’s Department of Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property,

Ms. Chaib said that the theme for the World Health Day 2011 (7 April) was “antimicrobial resistance”. A press conference on this subject would be held at 2 p.m. on 5 April in Room III during which three high-level experts from different WHO departments would brief journalists. A policy brief and a statement from WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, along with other documents, would shortly be provided. More information could also be received from Glenn Thomas.

Samar Shamoon of the World Intellectual Property Organization said WIPO would host the annual press conference of the Salon des Inventions de Genève tomorrow at 11.30 a.m. Journalists were welcome to attend.

Ms. Shamoon said that WIPO Director General Francis Gurry would give a press conference on Thursday on the International Trademark System in 2010, International Design System in 2010 and Domain Names Cybersquatting Trends in 2010.