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 for the Human Rights Council, the International Labour Organization, the World Meteorological Organization, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Children's Fund, the International Organization for Migration and the World Health Organization.

Sudan

Ms. Byrs said that while the situation in Abyei had been reported to be tense and unpredictable with reports of sporadic gunfire, some displaced persons were returning to Agok and the humanitarian actors were trying to ensure that all returns were voluntary. IOM had counted a total of 96,000 displaced people and had registered 66,200 of these. The international community continued to distribute life-saving assistance and pre-position essential supplies before rains cut off overland access to affected areas. Food distributions were ongoing and had so far reached more than 80,000 people.

Adrian Edwards of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said that UNCHR was noting a rise in the number of civilians displaced in the area around Sudan’s Abyei. UNHCR staff monitoring the situation said that many people were still on the move or hiding in the bush amid heavy military activity in the region. Gunfire could still be heard in Abyei late last Thursday and Antonov’s had been seen flying above Bantan Bridge, creating panic among internally displaced persons who feared being bombed. Bantan Bridge over the Kiir River was one of the main routes linking Abyei to South Sudan.

From accounts of people in the area immediately south of the bridge UNCHR had heard of night time looting, shooting, and other harassment by armed men coming from Abyei. UNHCR was concerned by the continued heavy presence of soldiers in areas where humanitarian operations were taking place. It was calling on both sides to refrain from acts of violence against civilians, or violence that would prompt more displacement.

Marixie Mercado of the UN Children's Fund said UNICEF was ramping up humanitarian assistance in southern Sudan for 100,000 civilians, around half of whom were estimated to be children displaced by the violence in Abyei. Nearly two-thirds of the population was thought to have moved to four southern states, the majority in Warrap, Northern and Western Bahr-e-Ghazal and Unity, which were places with very few resources to draw from to begin with. UNICEF and partners were focusing efforts on disease prevention through immunisation, basic shelter supplies, which were particularly important due to the rainy season, repairing water points and constructing latrines, and indentifying and reuniting separated children with their families. UNICEF had prepositioned supplies for 59,000 people in the area.

Libya

Mr. Edwards said that UNHCR visiting conflict zones south and east of the Libyan capital Tripoli last week had found significant displacement, widespread violence and an urgent need to support Libyan organisations in providing basic supplies and services.

UNHCR had participated in two inter-agency missions. The first mission was to Tripoli and displacement sites in Government controlled areas near the Misrata frontline (Zlitan and Al Khums) and the Nafusa Mountain front-line area of Gharian, and the second mission was to the opposition-controlled city of Misrata. The teams saw both sides of the battle lines, as well as efforts to maintain support for those affected by the conflict. The mission had also heard reports of partiality in the delivery of assistance. UNHCR could not verify these reports.


Displaced people that UNHCR had met seemed to be coping, albeit under difficult circumstances. Most were housed in hotels, dormitories and seaside homes. They were being provided with assistance by the Government and some private charities. However, an aid crisis could be looming. Despite the fact that warehouses were currently well stocked with basic food items it was apparent that the combined impact of protracted conflict and sanctions were eroding the Government’s ability to effectively deliver assistance. The view of the inter-agency mission was that if this situation continued, international aid was likely to be needed in a matter of weeks.

On the other side of the battle lines and in Misrata, the inter-agency mission met members of the Misrata Transitional Council. UNHCR had been told that there were around 25,000 displaced people in the city, representing approximately 5,000 families. Most were staying with host families and relatives, while others were staying in schools and unoccupied new buildings. In many cases Libyans were hosting up to seven or eight displaced families in their homes. People had not received salaries since January and banks were not operational, said Mr. Edwards.

While in Misrata, UNHCR staff spoke to several people who reported kidnappings in the city and its surroundings. Local relief agencies and human rights groups in Misrata estimated that at least 1,000 people, mainly men, had been kidnapped or have disappeared since the conflict started in February. A woman told UNHCR that her three brothers-in-law had been abducted. The two, who were later freed, said they had been taken to a Government camp in Zlitan where they had to pledge allegiance before being trained and forced to fight on the Government side.

Mr. Edwards said that life was slowly picking up in Misrata, with youth cleaning up the streets, and shops re-opening. But according to the Misrata Transitional Council, the city was facing food and medicine shortages. Since the beginning of the war, 630 people had been registered dead in the five hospitals of the city, while 6,000 people had been injured, including by unexploded ordinance.

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said that the on-going conflict and political stalemate in Libya had left migrants in a situation of continued vulnerability, with large groups stranded across the country. During an assessment of the humanitarian needs in various parts of Libya, IOM had staff reported on the plight of a large community of mostly African and Filipino migrant workers sheltering in two sites in the capital, Tripoli.

Staff said some of the migrants had been without jobs since the beginning of the crisis as their employers had left the country. Feeling they had nothing to return to, they stayed on in Libya in the vain hope of receiving back pay from their employers or find another job. Others had been left to take care of employers' properties but had not been paid since February. The majority were from Sub-Saharan countries and were unskilled and undocumented workers.

Like the others, they were dependent on whatever food and shelter people of goodwill from within and outside their community could provide, with some basic food prices having increased by up to three times since the start of the crisis. Although the numbers of migrants managing to flee Libya on a daily basis had slowed down in recent weeks, migrants continued to be stranded in towns and cities around the country.

The Malian Ambassador to Tripoli estimated between 8,000 to 10,000 of his compatriots remained in western Libya, mostly in Sabha, Gadames, Ubari and Murzuk, while the vulnerability of Sub-Saharan Africans in the eastern part of the country had led to Malians there fleeing into Egypt. Thousands of Egyptian migrants were also believed to be still in the country, according to the Egyptian Ambassador to Tripoli. While most were thought to be in the south in cities such as Gatroun and Sabha, others were in places like Sirt and in need of evacuation.

As these reports emerged, IOM was continuing its efforts to access Gatroun where many Chadians were reported to be stranded. IOM interviews with Chadians who were returning home by truck revealed that many migrants had stayed as long as they could in Libya in the hope of being given months of unpaid wages. Lack of food and water was forcing them to finally leave. Meanwhile, an eighth IOM mission to evacuate another group of migrants by sea from the port city of Misrata concluded late last week.

Yemen

Tariq Jasarevic of the World Health Organization said that a total of 29 deaths and 113 injured were reported by the Ministry of Public Health during the fighting that erupted in Sana'a on Friday and continued on Saturday, bringing the total number of deaths since the beginning of the civil unrest in Yemen to 262 with 3,287 injured persons.

Ambulances had managed to reach all locations where fighting was taking place and to transport the injured to the nearest health facility. These ambulances were supported by WHO in terms of paramedic staff incentives, maintenance and fuel.

In addition, 20 tons of medicines and supplies from Dubai had reached Sana’a on Friday, 3 June. This shipment included antibiotics, intravenous fluids, trauma management medicines and dressing material. These supplies had been stored at the new warehouse of WHO and the Ministry of Public Health. Two hundred 200 tons of emergency stocks had also been transferred to this warehouse from a warehouse in a fighting area.

A total of 6,159 internally displaced persons from Abyan had been registered in Aden by an initial joint UN assessment team, of which WHO had been part. One WHO mobile team comprising of one doctor and one nurse was functional since 30 May to deliver primary health services to internally displaced persons in this area.

Mr. Jasarevic said that WHO’s technical support needed to be continued. The large quantity of emergency medicines and supplies needed appropriate management, distribution and monitoring. The ongoing technical support for training health workers in mass causality management must be continued and strengthened. In order to respond to the unpredictable security situation, WHO would maintain four international staff in Yemen to implement WHO programmes. One international staff would be evacuated and 16 national staff would not have to report to work for 2 weeks.

The funding for the Health Cluster for Yemen for 2011 was at 21 per cent, with US$ 2.9 million received from the US$ 13.7 million requested. Additional funding was needed to strengthen advance health posts and field hospitals in terms of equipment, trauma care management and ensuring the appropriate number and gender representation within the health workforce. The capacity of the emergency department, operation theatres and intensive care units of the referral hospital should also be enhanced.

Haiti

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said there had been an increase in cholera cases in Haiti’s South-East, Grande Anse, South and West departments, and in the capital Port-au-Prince. Several donors have indicated the availability of new funds to respond to further cholera outbreaks.

An OCHA evaluation mission which had taken place from 6 to 12 May had highlighted high levels of vulnerability in flood-prone areas, notably in the Palmes region and the Nippes department. The mission, organised at the request of Haiti’s Department of Civilian Protection, had identified the most dangerous places for the population, finding that 75 localities or areas such as Gresier, Leogane, Miragoane and Petite Rivière were at risk.

Bahrain

Mr. Colville said that the High Commissioner would like to make clear that a meeting she had last Friday with Bahrain’s Minister of Social Development and acting Health Minister, Dr. Fatima bint Mohammed Al Balooshi and three other Bahrain government officials, had been grossly misrepresented in a report by the Bahrain News Agency. That article was subsequently picked up by a number of newspapers in the region, including the Khaleej Times and the Gulf Daily News, and even by some Sri Lankan government officials and media for their own purposes.


The Bahrain News Agency, which was not present at the meeting, stated that the High Commissioner had “recognized misinformation” about the Kingdom of Bahrain, and quoted her as saying that “Certain information which we received about the developments in Bahrain are untrue.”

The High Commissioner would like to stress that she had made no such statement and was disturbed by this blatant distortion of her words. Ms. Pillay will formally request the Government officials who attended the meeting to issue a correction.

The discussions at the meeting with the Bahraini Government delegation focused mainly on the proposed OHCHR mission to Bahrain, as well as a number of other issues relating to the recent protests, including the need for transparent independent investigations into the human rights violations that have taken place there. The mission had been accepted in principle by the Bahraini government but no dates have yet been set.

Panama becomes newest state to accede to statelessness conventions

Mr. Edwards said that UNHCR applauded the decision of Panama to accede on 3 June to the two major international conventions on statelessness, namely the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. Achieving an increased number of states parties to the UN Statelessness Conventions was key to addressing statelessness, a problem which affected up to 12 million people around the world.

The 1954 convention, which now had 66 parties, established minimum standards of treatment for stateless persons and was designed to ensure that they were not left in legal limbo. The 1961 convention, which now had 38 state parties, was designed to prevent statelessness from occurring and thereby reduced it over time, mainly by requiring that states put in place safeguards in nationality laws such by requiring that people could not renounce their nationality without first having acquired another.

Panama was the first state to accede since UNHCR had launched a drive for this year’s 50th anniversary of the 1961 Convention to have more states become parties. It was UNHCR’s our hope that this accession would encourage more states to follow suit over the coming months.

38.000 internally displaced head home from Pakistan’s Jalozai camp

In Pakistan, the latest phase in a return operation for people displaced by fighting in the tribal areas was completed on Sunday, 5 June. Over the past two months 38,000 people had been assisted in leaving the Jalozai camp, the largest of the area’s four camps for internally displaced. Most had been returned to homes in Bajaur Agency, while a smaller number have gone to neighbouring Mohmand Agency. Both agencies were in the northern part of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas, bordering Afghanistan.

The Government of Pakistan, which organised the voluntary return operation, had declared all of Bajaur, with the exception of Loi Sam, to be safe. It was currently working to identify an alternative site inside Bajaur Agency for the approximately 3,000 families who were living in Loi Sam and whose homes had been damaged by fighting. Areas declared safe in Mohmand included Lower Mohmand and parts of Upper Mohmand. Displacement from Pakistan's tribal areas began in 2008 in the wake of a government crackdown on insurgents.

At the peak of the displacement crisis in 2009, more than 21,000 families (around 147,000 people) had been registered in Jalozai. However the vast majority of the displaced - around 90 per cent - lived outside camps, with friends, relatives and in rented accommodation. An estimated 5,000 families (26,000 individuals) remained in Jalozai, most of them residents of areas still considered unsafe for returns.


UN Global Compact

Ms. Momal-Vanian said a fact sheet and a press release on the Global Survey (embargoed until 7 June at 2 p.m. Geneva time, 8 a.m. New York time) were at the back of the room. The report could be sent to journalists upon request.

World Oceans Day

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the message of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on World Oceans Day, to be commemorated tomorrow with the theme “Our oceans: greening our future”, was at the back of the room. In the message, Mr. Ban underlined that this was a time to recognise the many severe challenges related to oceans, including depleted fishery resources and the deterioration of the marine environment.

Human Rights Council

Cédric Sapey of the Human Rights Council said the interactive debate on Libya was scheduled for tomorrow from noon to 3 p.m. The interactive debate was composed of two parts. The first part, a debate with the International Commission of Inquiry to investigate alleged violations of international human rights law in Libya, would be followed by an interactive debate organised by the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Participating in that second part would be Yacoub El Hillo, the Director of the Regional Bureau for North Africa and the Middle East at UNHCR, as well as Rashid Khalikov, the Director of OCHA and former humanitarian coordinator for Libya.

On Friday, the Council would hold its annual discussion on women’s human rights, in which would notably participate the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women and the UN Women’s Executive Director, Michelle Bachelet.

International Labour Conference

Corinne Perthuis of the International Labour Organization said she had brought journalists an executive summary of a book to be discussed at the International Labour Conference on Thursday, 9 June from 1.15 p.m. to 2.30 p.m. Interviews with the authors of the book could be arranged upon request.

On Friday afternoon, the International Labour Conference would hold its first high-level debate, discussing youth, including youth in the Arab countries.

Press Conferences

Gregory Härtl said a press conference on enhancing infection prevention and control practices as a tool in promoting safer care and containing infectious disease outbreaks and antimicrobial resistance would be held today at 1 p.m. in Press Room I.

Ms. Momal-Vanian said the three Co-Chairs of the Geneva International Discussions would give a press conference following the 16th round of discussions today. Their press conference was scheduled for 5 p.m. in Room III and would be followed by a press conference by the Russian Federation and one by Georgia.

Ms. Perthuis said ILO would give a press conference on the discussion of the strategic objective of social protection. The conference, at which would be speaking Michael Cichon, the Director of the ILO Social Security Department, would be held tomorrow at 2 p.m. in Press Room I.

Mr. Sapey said the President of the Human Rights Council would briefly address the press at 3 p.m. in front of Room XX tomorrow and the International Commission of Inquiry would present its report at a press conference at 3.45 p.m. in Room III.

Ms. Perthuis said ILO would give a press conference on Friday, 10 June at noon in Room III to issue a new report on children in hazardous work. A press release was at the back of the room.


Other

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the General Assembly High-level Meeting on AIDS would start in New York on 8 June.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child would conclude its review of the three reports presented by Egypt under the Convention and its two Optional Protocols this morning. Tomorrow, the Committee would examine the report of Cuba, before examining those by Finland and Costa Rica on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the Conference on Disarmament would reconvene in public on Thursday, 9 June at 10 a.m.