REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Corinne Momal-Vanian, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was attended by the Spokespersons for the International Organization for Migration, United Nations Refugee Agency, World Food Programme, International Labour Organization, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, World Trade Organization, Inter-Parliamentary Union, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and World Health Organization.

Ebola/Marburg

Fadela Chaib, for the World Health Organization (WHO), informed that the 8^th edition of situation report would be issued between 6 and 8 p.m. today.

During the day, information would also be sent on the 1^st case of Marburg hemorrhagic fever (Marburg HF) in Uganda. On 5 October, the Health Ministry of Uganda had notified the first case to WHO in Kampala. A heath worker had shown symptoms while working at a hospital in Kampala. He had been admitted to the hospital on 18 September and passed away on 28 September. Tests done at the Kampala Institute of Neurological Research showed that it was the Marburg HF. Ms. Chaib revealed that a total of 109 persons had been in contact with the infected health worker, and had been evaluated and analyzed on a daily basis.

Health Ministry of Uganda had activated its National Task Force and had been holding regular meetings in order to follow up the situation.

Ms. Chaib also remarked that WHO, Médecins Sans Frontières and the Center for Disease Control were currently helping the Ugandan authorities with investigation and response processes.

Marburg HF was a hemorrhagic fever really close to Ebola virus, a severe disease, and that was not the first case for Uganda, which had experienced 20 cases of Marburg HF in 2012, which had resulted in nine deaths.

Answering to a question on the press release on the Spanish case of Ebola, Ms. Chaib underlined the fact that the WHO Europe Regional Office in Copenhagen, as well as the Communicable Diseases Division Director, had communicated on this case, and that there was no exclusivity to any news agency on the subject. Ms. Chaib also said that efforts were being made to improve the coordination between the WHO communication departments, forwarding every document from regional offices to facilitate the work of journalists.

Regarding data on Liberia, Ms. Chaib stressed that gathering information from villages and hospitals in order to spread it from a central office was a long, harsh and complex process. Ms. Chaib noticed that the WHO had sent several experts so the information could be the most correct and underlined that the situation was improving.

Ms. Chaib acknowledged that the Communication Department had needed a few hours to correct a wrong figure in the roadmap, as underlined by a journalist.

Ms. Chaib reported that increases in demand for Ebola treatments center beds and referral units places were still outstripping the WHO work in Guiney, Liberia and Sierra Leone. New medical facilities were being built. In Guinea, current Ebola treatments centers capacity stood at 180 beds. In Liberia, there were 315 existing beds, while 1,500 additional were still lacking. The Island Clinic in Monrovia had opened on 21 September with a capacity of 120 beds. In Sierra Leone, 320 beds had been already set up, and 297 were to be set up by WHO partners,

US military and the Liberian Army were building a new Ebola treatment units using WHO guidelines for 100 beds units, which would open in Monrovia in two to three weeks..

On the question of the dog owned by the nurse in Spain, which had been put down, Ms. Chaib advised to check the information of the International Animal Health Organization in Paris, which had a fact sheet about pets, as well as information about the Ebola animal interface. There was currently no strong medical evidence that dogs could carry the Ebola virus.

Elisaeth Byrs, for the World Food Programme (WFP), said that the Ebola outbreak was an unprecedented crisis and the WFP was calling on everyone – international organizations, local authorities, donor governments, and all members of society – to work collectively to stop the spread of Ebola and its humanitarian, economic and social consequences.

In response to the continuing spread of the disease, WFP was launching a new Common Logistics Services Special Operation, which consolidated the WFP common services being provided by the WFP to the humanitarian community. It would aim to create the necessary logistics platform to scale-up operational capabilities.

The main priorities of WFP’s new Special Operation in the three affected countries included the procurement of equipment to set up Ebola Treatment Units and Ebola Care Units; the establishment of 12 Forward Logistics Bases to prioritize, consolidate and dispatch equipment; the augmentation of transport capacity; and the mobilization of an additional 100 staff across the region (e.g. logisticians, engineers, operations support officers and telecommunications specialists).

In Guinea and Liberia, WFP had been asked to help in setting up Ebola Treatment Units. Four sites were currently under construction in Monrovia. In Guinea, WFP had been requested to construct up to 13 Ebola Treatment Centres across the country. WFP was providing support for an MSF transit centre in Macenta, due to be upgraded to an Ebola Treatment Unit. A vessel with more than 1,900 metric tons of food for WFP’s Ebola response in Guinea and Sierra Leone, Mobile Storage Units and generators had arrived in Conakry from Las Palmas on 5 October.

As of 6 October, WFP had distributed 7,100 metric tons of food to 458,000 people in response to the Ebola outbreak in the three countries.

Ms. Byrs stated that between 16 August and 5 October, the UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) managed by WFP, had transported 655 passengers and around 9.2 metric tons of light cargo for 30 organizations, including NGOs, UN agencies, donors, the diplomatic community, government partners and media.

WFP’s new Common Logistics Services Special Operation had a total budget requirement of USD 87 million. The operation was currently 10% funded, with USD 6.1 million received. The UN Humanitarian Air Service operation managed by WFP with a requirement of USD 22.5 million was 27 per cent funded.

Asked about the shortage of funds, Ms. Byrs said that the donors were overstretched, with the unprecedented five high-level emergencies happening at the same time. The donors were doing their best to contribute, but money was not coming in fast enough. WFP was thus using its internal loan system, but the situation was indeed very challenging.

A question was also asked about who manages the treatments centres that the WFP was building. Ms. Byrs reminded that they were working very closely with the humanitarian community in order to stop the Ebola outbreak and underlined that those treatments centers were built and managed for other UN agencies or NGOs, such as Médecins Sans Frontières.

Syria

Adrian Edwards, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), stated that, with more than 172,000 Syrian Kurds having fled into Turkey from fighting around Kobane, UNHCR was seeing growing numbers choosing to continue their journey, either by heading to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq or else crossing back into Syria several hundred kilometres to the east.

In Iraq’s Kurdistan Region more than 1,600 people had sought refuge at the remote Gawilan refugee camp, some 145 km from Dohuk, over the previous fortnight. Between 150 and 200 Syrians had been arriving daily this week, and the trend was expected to continue in the coming days.

Mr. Edwards said that most arrivals reported having spent 10 to 14 days in Turkey in the area around ªanilurfa before deciding to move eastwards from there. Conditions in the area had been difficult. People had contended with living in crowded mosques or in some cases on the streets without food or money. Many of the refugees had been required to leave cars or livestock at the border when they had entered Turkey, and decided to move to northern Iraq because they had relatives or friends there.

The refugees at Gawilan camp were telling UNHCR of the dangers they had endured in the initial part of their journey from Syria to safety in Turkey, with several accounts of people being killed or maimed by land mines. To enter the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, people waded across rivers. Others were paying USD 250 to smugglers to get through the informal border crossing at Silopi, near Zakho.

They also reported executions and other atrocities by ISIS fighters. One man said that he had fled his village because people taken captive were being beheaded. Another said that he had been held prisoner after being sentenced to death in a makeshift court set up in a school in the town of Manbij, about 66 km southwest of Kobane. He told UNHCR that some 400 prisoners were held in this former school, or 100 people per classroom. They were beaten with leather belts five times daily. He witnessed seven men who had been sentenced the same day beheaded in front of him, and was due to be executed on 28 September. He and others had managed to escape before then when the school had been hit by bombs, and had been horrified to see human heads mounted on the fence of the main park for others in the town to see. That man still feared for the safety of his wife and children whose whereabouts were unknown to him.

The Syrians arriving in northern Iraq were being brought by Kurdish security forces to the Gawilan camp – which had been set up a year earlier to house former waves of Syrian refugees mainly from Aleppo and Qamishli. The camp was run by the Kurdistan Regional Government and had been hosting about 2,500 people before the latest influx. New arrivals received shelter, food, and relief items. Once registered, many were leaving to join relatives in Erbil or to search for work. Those without family links were staying at the camp. The vast majority of the new arrivals were women and children, as many men had stayed behind to protect properties and defend their land. UNHCR was boosting its programmes to assist women and offer more psycho-social counselling, which was currently available only once a week.

Mr. Edwards added that other people who had fled the Kobane area had in some cases been crossing back into north eastern Syria near the town of Al Qamishli. Some 1,750 people were now staying with relatives and friends in several towns in the area in the Al Hassekah province. UNHCR was working with teams of outreach volunteers to identify the newly arrived displaced people and provide aid. About 40-50 people had sought shelter at the Newroz camp, which had been originally set up to help Syrians affected by earlier waves of displacement and was now also hosting 3,800 Iraqi Yazidi people who had fled Sinjar and surrounds in August.

In Turkey, Government officials said that more than 172,500 Syrians fleeing Kobane and surrounds had entered the country over the previous few weeks. While the vast majority of those had fled in the first few days of the influx, a steady stream continues with average daily arrivals about 570 people over the previous few days through the Yumurtalik border crossing.

Many of the refugees were staying with host communities and the Government and aid agencies were working with the Mukhtars – or village leaders – to distribute aid to refugees and host families. Other refugees were staying in various collective shelters managed by Turkish authorities, such as schools, markets, sports centres, wedding halls, mosques and various other transit shelters.

In response to a question about the location of landmines near the Turkish border in Syria, and who might be responsible for planting them, Mr. Edwards stated that the only information UNHCR had was that the landmines were inside Syria. It was not clear who might have planted the landmines.

Discussing the number of Kurds who had returned to Syria after fleeing to Turkey, Mr. Edwards specified that approximately 1,600 had gone back to the Al Qamishli area of Syria, but at present there was no available figure for how many had returned to the Kobane area.

Libya

Mr. Edwards stated that, with fighting among rival armed groups intensifying in a number of areas of Libya, UNHCR was seeing growing displacement – now estimated at 287,000 people in 29 cities and towns countrywide. The need for healthcare, food, and other basic commodities - plus for shelter ahead of winter - had become critical. UNHCR and its partners were responding to some of those needs. But UNHCR was facing major constraints in funding for the internally displaced, while the security situation over recent months had posed challenges in reaching those in need.

The main area of recent displacement has been around Warshefana on the outskirts of Tripoli, where fighting had caused some 100,000 people to flee in the previous three weeks. That, along with the Benina area outside Benghazi, was among the worst affected areas. Some 15,000 people were estimated to be displaced around Benghazi.

Most displaced people were living with local families who in some cases had opened their homes to several families at a time to meet the growing need for shelter. People unable to stay with relatives or host families slept in schools, parks or non-residential buildings converted into emergency shelters. The growing number of displaced people was outstripping the capacities of local communities, from whom UNHCR was hearing increasing concern about the ability to cope.

Mr. Edwards said that an example of the increasing humanitarian needs and shrinking humanitarian space was the situation in the small town of Ajaylat, some 80 kilometres west of Tripoli. Ajaylat, a town normally of about 100,000, was currently hosting some 16,000 displaced people. With displaced people now making up over 10 per cent of the local population, health facilities were struggling to cope.

The main hospital there reported a 30 per cent increase in cases and was lacking essential medical supplies and medicines for chronic illnesses such as hypertension and diabetes. Other towns across western Libya and in Benghazi were facing similar strain.

Efforts to assist the displaced were hampered by limited access for humanitarians to towns affected by fighting between rival armed groups. When security permitted, cross-border aid convoys were the only way to get supplies to people in need, as access to warehouses inside the country was often impossible.

UNHCR and its partner International Medical Corps had dispatched the first relief convoy for 12,000 displaced people in western Libya in August. In partnership with the WFP, which provided food items, UNHCR and IMC had also distributed additional non-food aid to 6,700 people in recent weeks. But additional help was needed, and for that better access was required. The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) had called for an immediate ceasefire and access to carry out further assessment missions and distribution of humanitarian aid.

The UN had issued a humanitarian appeal for Libya requesting additional funding to continue helping hundreds of thousands of people affected by the ongoing crisis in the country.

Mr. Edwards stated that, in addition to the impact on the local population, the fighting was also affecting refugees, asylum-seekers, and migrants in Libya - many of them from Middle Eastern countries and Sub-Saharan Africa. The lawlessness and a recent doubling of food prices had made many desperate to leave. Libya’s policy of detaining refugees and migrants had pushed many to put their lives in the hands of smugglers to try to get to Europe – joining the tens of thousands of people who in recent months had transited through Libya and made the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean. Of the more than 165,000 who had arrived on Europe’s shores thus far in 2014, the majority had departed from Libya – of whom 48 per cent were Syrians and Eritreans.

Many had not made it far from the Libyan coast. The latest tragedy among many others off the coast of Zuwara, near Tripoli, on 2 October where over 100 people, mostly Syrian nationals, had died or were missing highlighted the need for alternative and safer legal channels for refugee and asylum-seekers.

Responding to a question on who was responsible for the detainment of refugees in Libya, Mr. Edwards said that there had for some time been a policy in Libya of detaining asylum seekers, and that problem had become worse in the current environment of lawlessness which the country was currently experiencing. He specified that the detainments were not cases of kidnappings and ransoms, but simply mistreatment.

Responding to an inquiry about the current status of the 100,000 people fleeing the area around Tripoli, Mr. Edwards stated that access to Libya was extremely constrained for humanitarians and for the UN, so at this time the UNHCR did not have detailed information. The displacement had occurred over the last three weeks and had been quite rapid, although it was unclear whether it would become log-term displacement or not.

Addressing to a question about who the UNHCR had been coordinating with in the different regions in Libya, specifically those under the control of militia fighters, Mr. Edwards stated that the UNHCR had about 36 staff members working in Libya at the moment. Their main partner was the international medical corps, but it was an extremely difficult environment to function in as there was no organized system for distributing aid throughout the country.

Mediterranean Crossings

Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), passed on new data of arrivals of regular migrants by sea into Italy. The day before, the IOM had received figures which confirmed that in 2014, with total of 32,681 migrants and thereof almost 9,000 just in September, Syrians had overtaken Eritreans as the largest single group to come to Italy by sea.

It was also noted that in September, the Italian authorities had received around 2,000 Palestinians not only from Gaza, but also from Egypt or other regions. That number approved the recent increase of Palestinian migrants, which carried on despite the tragedy of Malta in early September which had caused around 500 dead migrants of whom most were Palestinians.

Generally, the IOM was continuing on the analysis of data which were received from law enforcement authorities, family members and press requests.

Geneva activities

Ms. Momal-Vanian reminded that a press conference by the Special Joint Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, would take place in Press Room III at 11:30 today.

Jonathan Lynn, for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), briefed about the arrangements to register for attending to the release of the Synthesis Report of the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernemental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the final and most important part of the report.

Mr. Lyn underlined that the interviews were expected to take place from 1 p.m. onwards Copenhagen time, and that interviews with authors in Copenhagen could be conducted at the conference center where the press conference would take place, or by phone or through a broadcast facility for those not attending the press conference in person. Interviews could also be arranged with the Synthesis Report authors who would not be in Copenhagen.

Ms. Momal-Vanian informed that the Human Rights Committee was completing its consideration of Haiti this morning, while reports of Malta and Montenegro would be considered the following week, and that of Israel the week after.

Denis McClean, for the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), informed that on 13 October, on the occasion of the International Day for Disaster Reduction, UNISDR and HelpAge International would issue a joint call for greater involvement of older persons in disaster management efforts worldwide in order to bring down death tolls among those over 60. The press release was under embargo until 13 October.

Mr. McClean explained that the international survey on this matter would keep running until the end of 2014, as the response was enormous. A copy of the interim survey results could be shared with journalists in the meantime. The survey demonstrated that older persons were often excluded or marginalized when disaster management plans were being drawn up at community level. Copies of the report would be available for download at: www.helpage.org.

Ms. Momal-Vanian added that the Secretary-General’s message on the International Day for Disaster Reduction was also available.

Fernando Puchol, for the International Parliamentary Union (IPU), reminded that the following week, members of parliament (MPs) from all over the world would meet in Geneva for the 131^st Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. By now, 750 MPs from 141 countries were registered. That number included 104 speakers and deputy speakers of parliament, which represented an all-time record of participation. From 12 until 16 October, MPs would address current issues of the international agenda, such as the fight against terrorism and extremism, the protection of rights of the Palestinian people, crisis in relation to suffer and dead and human trafficking. The main focus of the Assembly would be how MPs could address violence against women and girls, inclusive sexual targeting of women in conflict situations. In that regard, the Assembly would host the ‘2014 World Future Policy Award’ which would feature the reward of some of the most effective policy responses to violence against women.

On the last day of the assembly, 16 October, a new President of the IPU would be elected and take over from the current president, Abdelwahad Radi from Morocco. Currently, there were four candidates from Australia, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Maldives. Apart from that, around 150 parliamentarians were taking part in the first IPU Global Conference of Youth and Peace which aimed to mobilise youth participation in politics and was taking place this and the following day. The conference would be informed by a new benchmark in terms of an IPU analysis on youth representation in parliament. The respective survey showed that despite some encouraging trends, low youth representation in parliament remained a global challenge. The analysis was based on data of nearly 100 parliamentary chambers and revealed among other things that MPs under 30 accounted for only 1.75 per cent of parliaments in nearly 80 countries.

Hans von Rohland, for the International Labour Organization (ILO), informed about the 47^th session of the Geneva International Meetings on the topic “Future of Work”, organized by the ILO in cooperation with the Canton and City of Geneva, University of Geneva, and Le Temps newspaper. Since 1946, those meetings had been bringing together thinkers and practitioners from different fields to discuss the pressing issues of our times. The 47^th session would take place every evening between 13 and 16 October, at Auditorium Jean Piaget, Uni Dufour, and would include debates and exhibitions.

Catherine Sibut, for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), announced that the World Investment Forum (WIF) would be taking place at the Palais des Nations from 13 to 16 October. She presented some of women finalists for Empretec Women in Business Award 2014, and showed a short video featuring them. EMPRETEC Programme had begun in 1988, and covered 36 developing countries and countries in economic transition. Names of all ten finalists can be found at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B31z6O0eNqMZWjJiZVdjTVo3dEE/view?usp=sharing (English),https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B31z6O0eNqMZU0Z1ZXhqUTJsME0/view?usp=sharing (French), and https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B31z6O0eNqMZSmhueHE4dzBtNVk/view?usp=sharing (Spanish). The videos can be seen at: http://youtu.be/MOzHMZ4PbcY and http://youtu.be/T1C5UxPhCs8

Melissa Begag, for the World Trade Organization (WTO), informed that on 13 October, the Director-General would meet Bhutan's Minister for Economic Affairs Lyonpo Norbu Wangchuk and Costa Rica's Minister for Foreign Trade Alexander Mora at the WTO. On 14 October, DG Azevêdo would meet Oman's Minister of Commerce and Industry Ali bin Masoud Al Sunaidy, Lesotho's Minister of Trade and Industry, Cooperatives and Marketing Sekh'ulumi Paul Ntsoaole at the WTO. The same day he would also meet with the Secretary General John Danilovich and the Chairman Harold McGraw III of the International Chamber of Commerce. On 15 October, the Director-General would meet the United Arab Emirates' Minister of Economy Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri and Brazil's Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade Fernando Pimentel at the WTO. He would also attend UNCTAD's 2014 World Investment Forum at the United Nations office at Geneva.

Ms. Begag also informed that on 15 October, the Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures would hold a meeting, while a briefing would take place on 17 October, at 2:30 p.m. in Press Room I. On 16 October, there would be a meeting of the Trade Negotiations Committee, while on 17 October, the Working Party on the Accession of Seychelles would hold a meeting.

The webcast for this briefing is available here: http://bit.ly/1uQ5wFn