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 International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the UN Refugee Agency, the International Organization for Migration, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Population Fund and the United Nations Children’s Fund.

New Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva

Ms. Momal-Vanian said she had the pleasure to introduce Mr. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the new Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva who had taken up office yesterday.

Mr. Tokayev said that he was very happy to meet with the press this morning and speak to them for the first time. He was honoured by the decision of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to appoint him as Director-General of the European Office of the United Nations. They were meeting, as Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday, at a watershed moment in the common global fight against terrorism. Reacting to the news of the death of Osama Bin Laden, the Secretary-General said that Bin Laden’s death brought him relief that justice had been done. The Secretary-General said he was determined to continue to work together with Member States to completely eradicate global terrorism. The Security Council had also welcomed the news that Bin Laden would never again be able to perpetrate such acts of terrorism. The Security Council stressed that terrorism would not be defeated by military force and intelligence operations alone and that all Member States must cooperate and address the conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism. This underscored once again the links existing between the three pillars of the work of the United Nations, the three pillars in which international Geneva was fully engaged: peace and security, development and human rights. Indeed, the last few months had shown once again the specific importance of Geneva as a hub for multilateral diplomacy with three Special Sessions of the Human Rights Council in less than five months and a flurry of activities linked in particular to humanitarian assistance to the victims of crises in Côte d’Ivoire or North Africa.

The next few weeks would be busy, starting with the third session of the Global Platform for Disaster Reduction, which the Secretary-General would open next week. Over 2,000 policy makers and practitioners were expected to take part at this week-long session and take important decisions. In multiple disasters, which they had covered from Geneva over the past few months, starting with the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, the floods in Pakistan and Australia, to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, had shown the urgent need to make genuine progress in the field of disaster risk reduction and raise awareness of these issues. He was particularly pleased therefore about the good relations that existed between the journalists present at the Palais and the United Nations Secretariat, and attached great importance to maintaining a vibrant press corps in Geneva. As a man who had written quite a number of articles and given many interviews in many capacities, he fully understood and supported the important work of the press and pledged to be transparent and accessible to the media. Journalists could count on him to ensure that their work was facilitated to the largest extent possible and that they could fulfil their role in informing a wide public on the issues that they tackled at the United Nations.

Mr. Tokayev urged journalists not to hesitate to contact him through the United Nations Information Service if they had any concerns. He would try to meet with them for more in-depth discussions once he had truly settled in. As today was the World Press Freedom Day, he would like to take this opportunity to express his congratulations to all journalists and wished them every success.

A journalist asked, in relation with the death of Osama Bin Laden, what the Director-General could tell them on the impact this would have on the security of United Nations staff and facilities around the world?

Mr. Tokayev said this was his second day in office as Director-General but he could tell them that he had been briefed by the appropriate staff here with regard to safety and security and he was ensured that all the appropriate measures with regard to the security of the United Nations staff and journalists had been taken.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that as mentioned by the Director-General, today was International World Press Freedom Day. A commemorative event was organized with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, in Salle XII at 1 p.m., at which the High Commissioner would speak about the question of press freedom. This would be followed by a round table discussion.

The Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Committee opened its session yesterday. This morning, it would start consideration of the periodic report of Turkey, which would be concluded around 1 p.m. on Wednesday, 4 May. The reports of the Republic of Moldova and Germany would also be considered this week. Next week, the Committee would take up the reports of Yemen and the Russian Federation. The Committee would conclude its session on 20 May.

There were a number of press conferences organized this week. A press conference by the International Organization for Migration on Côte d’Ivoire would be held at 2 p.m. this afternoon in Salle III. A press conference by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development on the study on the economic situation in 2011 of the economic and social situation in the Asia-Pacific region would be held on Wednesday, 4 May at 2:30 p.m. in Salle III. And another UNCTAD press conference attended by the UNCTAD Secretary-General would be held on Thursday, 5 May at 9:30 a.m. in press room one. It would focus on the Fourth United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries, which would be held in Istanbul next week.

Secretary-General’s Upcoming Trip to Switzerland and Other Countries

Ms. Momal-Vanian said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon would travel to Bulgaria for an official visit on Wednesday, 4 May, and then to Turkey. He would then come to Switzerland where he would, as mentioned by the Director-General, open the Third Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction and launch the 2011 Global Assessment Report. The Secretary-General would also attend the opening session of the second International Forum on Sport for Peace and Development while in Geneva. He would probably give a press conference on Wednesday, 11 May in the morning in Salle III, but the exact hour would be confirmed later.

Brigitte Leoni of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction said as journalists knew, the Third Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction would be held from Tuesday, 10 May to Friday, 13 May at the International Geneva Conference Centre. This was a unique opportunity for all those involved in disaster reduction. For the first time, UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki-moon would open the meeting and it would then be presided over by UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro. Also for the first time, they would host another forum, the world conference for reconstruction, organized by the World Bank. Next Wednesday, the Secretary-General would launch the 2011 Global Assessment Report on disaster risk reduction. There would be a briefing held in Salle III on Friday, 6 May at noon and interested journalists could pick up the embargoed report at that point. The programme for the Third Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction was available online. There was useful documentation available at the back of the room.

Syria

Hisham Hassan of the International Committee of the Red Cross said that their latest news release on Syria had just come out and there were copies at the back of the room. There were three main messages in the release. The first was the request for immediate access to all those affected by the events around Syria. The second was the request to ensure the protection of medical assistance actors involved in life saving actions. The third was the offer to visit all detention centres around the country. In response to a question, Mr. Hassan said that ICRC was working very much in cooperation with the Syrian Red Crescent, so when they asked for access, it meant access for the Red Cross and the Red Crescent and any person working under medical services items. So far, they had had restricted access to certain areas and they needed larger access now.

Libya

Stephen Andersen of the International Committee of the Red Cross said ICRC was continuing its work out of Benghazi and Tripoli. They were hoping to have access to Misrata later this week, especially to follow up on findings of the recent visit which they carried out on 21 April and which looked at issues such as access to water, issues related to electricity and the shortage of medicines. They would also try to get access over land to Misrata, hopefully later this week. In past weeks, ICRC had evacuated 2,300 civilians, mostly stranded foreigners from the city of Misrata. An operational update would be issued tomorrow with the latest information on distributions carried out to help displaced persons in the east of the country, and activities to tackle the issue of weapon contamination, which was a very serious issue.

Adrian Edwards of the UN Refugee Agency said the exodus from Libya’s Western Mountains region into Tunisia had resumed after a brief interruption last week caused by skirmishes between the Libyan Government and opposition forces. This past weekend, more than 8,000 people, most of them ethnic Berbers, arrived in Dehiba in southern Tunisia. Most were women and children. Their situation was being made worse by a violent stand storm that had battered the area. The storm had destroyed hundreds of tents and two huge portable warehouses. Meanwhile, more people had been fleeing Libya by sea to Italy after a ten-day break due to bad weather. Some 3,200 people had arrived on Lampedusa over the past five days, most of them originating from sub-Saharan Africa. This brought to over 8,100 the total number of arrivals in Italy from Libya since March 26. Another 1,132 people had arrived in Malta on boats from Libya in North Africa.

Jumbe Omari Jumbe of the International Organization for Migration said that IOM was urgently appealing to all parties involved in the conflict in Libya to allow its chartered Red Star One boat to dock at Misrata port in order to rescue about 1,000 stranded migrants and many badly wounded civilians.

Côte d’Ivoire

Adrian Edwards of the UN Refugee Agency said the humanitarian situation in Côte d’Ivoire remained alarming for tens of thousands of civilians despite improved security across the country. As their teams reach more displaced people, they were seeing substantial needs. In and around Abidjan, UNHCR staff had regained access to internally displaced people they had been supporting before fighting disrupted their operations. Living conditions were extremely precarious as people had gone for weeks without adequate food. In north-west and central west Côte d’Ivoire, their colleagues had reached thousands of people who were forced out of their homes between the end of March and early April. Virtually all displaced persons were living with host families who were themselves running out of resources and living on a single meal per day. Many people wanted to return to their places of origin. However, in many cases homes and villages had either been either partially or totally destroyed and people were traumatized. In Duekoue, humanitarian conditions were slowly improving with the return of aid agencies. However the Catholic Church compound remained overcrowded with some 27,000 internally displaced persons.

UNHCR had resumed work on a campsite at Nihably village, which they hoped to complete within two weeks to decongest the church. UNHCR welcomed the improved security throughout Côte d’Ivoire which was allowing them to move around freely and reach the displaced. But they were concerned about the large number of armed checkpoints.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that concerning the overcrowding at the Catholic Mission in Duekoue, presently home to around 27,000 internally displaced persons, on a four-hectare piece of land, which gave about 1.5 square metres per person, work on improved living conditions would commence within two or three days. A recent report issued by the International Rescue Committee decried the alarming increase in the number of women and girls being sexually assaulted, beaten and harassed by armed men either in their homes or as they fled to safety. This emphasised the need to enhance the protection of the civilian population. With the advent of the rainy season, most families were in dire need of seeds to enable them to cultivate their lands and looked forward to an eventual harvest. The Emergency Humanitarian Action Plan for Côte d’Ivoire and neighbouring countries affected by the crisis was funded at 20 per cent, with $ 32 million received out of the $ 160 million requested.

Jumbe Omari Jumbe of the International Organization for Migration said that IOM was resuming its work to assist returning internally displaced persons in two camps in western Côte d’Ivoire. They believed that there were 45,000 internally displaced persons in 16 camps and they planned to start the voluntary return of 1,000 internally displaced persons in two days from now. The exception was in Doekoue where the internally displaced persons in the Catholic mission refused to return to their villages in fear for their lives.

Tarik Jasarevic of the World Health Organization said that WHO had conducted an assessment mission in western Côte d’Ivoire and according to its final report, in certain regions, 55 out of 106 health centres were not operational, as well as five out of eight hospitals. This was due to the lack of personnel, looting of drugs and medical equipment, and partial or total destruction of the heath infrastructures. Some 60 per cent of health workers were absent and those who had stayed had not received salaries for three months. Disease surveillance had been interrupted as well. Since February, WHO had provided more than 10 tonnes of medical supplies in western Côte d’Ivoire. But the priority now was to keep the crowded facilities operational and to re-open those that were closed. WHO would sign a three month agreement with non-governmental organizations operating in health facilities in Western Côte d’Ivoire.

In the overcrowded Catholic Church compound in Doekoue, where there was a risk of an outbreak of an epidemic such as measles or cholera, Mr. Jasarevic said that WHO was sending two epidemiologists to Doekoue to assist. In Abidjan, in most medical facilities, key medical personnel remained present and departments were functioning again. However, despite improvements in the security situation, access to health services remained difficult with shortages of medical supplies.

Stephen Andersen of the International Committee of the Red Cross said that ICRC’s message in its latest bulletin on the situation in Côte d’Ivoire was that insecurity was stopping the return of internally displaced persons to their homes, and the situation was especially precarious in the west of the country. In that area, ICRC and the Ivorian Red Cross were the only organizations able to function regularly without an army escort. There were needs in the area of access to drinking water.

Other

Anne Wittenberg of the United Nations Population Fund said the International Day of the Midwife would be commemorated around the world on Thursday, 5 May. Every day, around 1,000 women died while giving birth, most of them in developing countries. Most complications and deaths could be easily prevented by midwives with the right skills, equipment and support. There was a shortage of some 350,000 professional midwives. This year, UNFPA was highlighting the crucial role of midwives in saving lives and strengthening national health systems and would be releasing its first ever State of the World’s Midwifery report on 20 June in Durban, South Africa. Available at the back of the room were copies of the UNFPA’s Executive Director’s statement on the occasion of the International Day of the Midwife, as well as a press release about the upcoming report. She would also set up interviews for interested journalists.

Ms. Wittenberg invited journalists to the opening of a photo exhibition on 5 May at 6:15 p.m. at the Palais des Nations at the Salle des pas perdus. The exhibition was on Afghan women and was organized by the Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to the United Nations in Geneva and the World Health Organization, and it was supported by UNFPA.

Chris Tidey of the United Nations Children’s Fund said the UN Global Compact, UNICEF and Save the Children were inviting businesses to take an active role in developing a global standard of business principles pertaining to children’s rights. Through an online consultation process, which was being launched today, representatives of the private sector could help shape the Children’s Rights and Business Principles, which aimed to set the standard for child-friendly business everywhere. The Children’s Rights and Business Principles would be the first comprehensive set of principles to guide companies on the full range of actions they make take in the workplace, market place and community to respect and support children’s rights. He would be happy to set up interviews for journalists who needed more information.

Paul Garwood of the World Health Organization said that the first global report on headaches, migraines and related disorders, was being launched today in Brussels at the European Parliament. This report was known as the 2011 Atlas on headache disorders and resources in the World. It was being produced by WHO and its partner group Lifting the Burden- the Global Campaign against Headache.

Dr. Shekhar Saxena of the World Health Organization said that this topic concerned more than 50 per cent of the world’s population, but still headaches were under-recognized, under-diagnosed and under-treated all over the world. Figures suggested that 50 per cent of the population within any year would have a headache disorder, as opposed to just a headache as a symptom. Headaches were more common among women than among men and affected the young and middle aged population rather than children and the old age population. Headaches had a large health, social and economic impact. The world needed to pay more attention to headaches and health care systems needed to pay more attention to headaches too.

Mr. Garwood said that on 5 May at 11 a.m., WHO was having a press briefing in press room one concerning the launch of the Decade of Action on Road Safety. The launch would be on 10 May.