REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Corinne Momal-Vanian, Director of the UN Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was attended by the Spokespersons for the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Food Programme, the World Meteorological Organization, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the Human Rights Council, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the Economic Commission for Europe, the United Nations Development Programme, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the International Organization for Migration and the International Labour Organization.

Vanuatu

Elisabeth Byrs, for the World Food Programme (WFP), stated that the WFP had people on the ground within 48 hours of the cyclone, working with the Government to figure out what kind of assistance was needed in terms of logistics, communications and food, which were its areas of mandate. WFP was now responding to the Government’s request for emergency food assistance and would support their plans to reach 162,650 people with food rations. WFP would add rice and biscuits to the Government’s family packs that will contain rice, canned protein and biscuits for two weeks.

Going forward, Ms. Byrs said, the number of people requiring assistance was likely to decline as commercial supply routes reopened and people started rebuilding their lives. WFP expected that a much smaller number of people would continue to require assistance for several months; a team of food security experts was on the ground as of today to build a detailed picture of the needs.

A plane had left the WFP-managed UN Humanitarian Response Depot in Dubai the previous morning carrying supplies for the WFP and other relief agencies. It was stopping at another depot in Malaysia this morning to pick up more equipment, and would then travel on to Australia. The relief items were due to arrive in Port Vila on 21 March.

As more relief cargo came into the country, the Government was expressing concern about congestions at the airport and other logistical bottlenecks. As leader on logistics for the humanitarian community, the WFP was working with the Government to ensure that relief items were delivered to those in need as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Ms. Byrs explained that the WFP was bringing in additional logisticians and equipment to help the Government with the management of the large volume of relief cargo arriving in-country.

WFP had a total funding requirement of USD 3.6 million for its operations in Vanuatu.

Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that a flash appeal for Vanuatu would be issued the following week.

Matthew McKinnon, for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), stated that the UNDP had a mandate to support South-South cooperation and one of the initiatives it was supporting was the Climate Vulnerable Forum.

The Forum had been launched ahead of the Copenhagen summit in 2009 by the Maldives and currently involved 20 Governments from different regions – Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific – and was chaired by the Philippines since January. The focus was climate change policy.

This Forum had just met about a fortnight before Cyclone Pam in the Pacific to review in detail how to better respond to climate change. It had agreed a seven-point plan that identified a range of areas of improvement in global, regional and national policies and approaches, including as relates to extreme storms like Pam.

The resilience of affected communities in Vanuatu following Pam was definitely evident in relatively low mortality compared with damages.

A question had to be asked whether a two degree Celsius target really provided a safeguard against future catastrophes.

The Forum had a unique perspective because countries much more exposed to changed weather tended to see the obligation of the burden of proof inversely: that we were looking at climate change unless proven otherwise. The standard line was to say that single weather events could not be linked to climate change with confidence. The Forum had brought a new perspective.

Arnel Talisayon, from the Permanent Mission of the Philippines to the United Nations, said that the Philippines, as Climate Vulnerable Forum Chair, called for solidarity with Vanuatu as it was grappling with nation-wide suffering and devastation.

Cyclone Pam was a consequence of climate change since all weather was affected by the planet’s now considerably warmer climate. The spate of extreme storms over the past decade, of which Pam was the latest, was entirely consistent in science with the hottest ever decade on record. Recurring storms of that magnitude were the new norm and reflected today’s reality of a hotter planet that could no longer be ignored.

In light of the extent of the material damage caused by Pam, it was extraordinary that greater loss of life had been averted, highlighting Vanuatu’s success in building resilience. But no matter how much was done to increase the resilience of communities of any country on any continent, nobody was safe anymore from climate change. There would be damages, including irreplaceable loss of life, which could not possibly be tolerated.

That was why the Climate Vulnerable Forum was calling for a strengthening of the international goal to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the most stringent of the scientifically feasible objectives for managing climate change.

Mr. Talisayon stressed that Pam should awaken the world to the fact that human interference with the climate had reached dangerous proportions. The current international climate goal of two degrees, which was double today’s warming, would fall far short of a safeguard.

1.5 degrees was achievable through urgent and scaled-up efforts of nations to lessen warming pressures on the climate in particular through deeper cuts of greenhouse gas emissions.

On the road to a new international climate change agreement that would culminate in Paris in December, the Philippines was looking forward as Chair of the Forum to work with Governments, institutions and civil groups around the world to rise to the global challenge of climate change.

South Sudan

Jonathan Veitch, for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), stated that it had been 15 months since the eruption of the conflict in South Sudan. The humanitarian situation remained stable but highly fragile. More than 800,000 children were still displaced from their homes within South Sudan and another 344,000 were living outside the country. With fighting flaring in different parts of the conflict areas, there was little hope that the situation would change for the better.

The plight of those children remained of deep concern. UNICEF saw major issues affecting the entire wellbeing of South Sudan’s children, with soaring malnutrition, deteriorating access to water and sanitation, education and health. The lives of those children were on hold and in many instances threatened with their very survival.

The issue that was particularly disturbing, Mr. Veitch said, was that of child soldiers. More than 12,000 children had been recruited by all sides to the conflict, and it would require sustained international pressure to bring that endemic practice to an end.

The situation had become increasingly desperate for boy children in many areas of the conflict zone: they were being targeted; they were being rounded up and sent to the front line. UNICEF teams on the ground and their partners were reporting a strong upsurge in recruitment at the moment.

UNICEF had received credible and in some instances verifiable information that forces aligned with the Government and Opposition had abducted or coerced hundreds of children into their ranks in the previous month alone. The situation was particularly acute in the conflict states of Upper Nile and Unity. Hundreds of children had been taken from the village of Wau Shilluk in Upper Nile. Despite advocacy and appeals to the Government and the Johnson Oloni militia, no child had been unconditionally released.

UNICEF had observed that some of the seized children had been allowed to go home during the day but needed to return to training camps in the evening. UNICEF also had credible reports that an unknown number of the children had been sent to the frontline at Kaka.

Mr. Veitch said that the recruitments were ongoing. Two methods of recruitment were reported and involve both adult males and boys. Clan chiefs were contributing children through ‘clan contributions’, but soldiers were also rounding up children and male adults in their houses, at markets and other social places.

Verifying numbers and what had happened to the children was difficult due to intimidation and threats against individuals and organizations trying to monitor the situation.

UNICEF reminded the Government and the Opposition that the recruitment of children for fighting was a grave violation of child rights. The 3 March Security Council Resolution on applying sanctions on South Sudan specifically listed the recruitment of children as soldiers as one of the criteria for imposing sanctions. Both the Government and the Opposition leaders had signed commitments to end the use of children in armed forces and armed groups.

UNICEF stood ready to provide the necessary support for children to be reintegrated when they were released. UNICEF was currently undertaking a massive demobilization and reintegration of child soldiers in another part of South Sudan - Jonglei State, where up to 3000 children might be released. Mr. Veitch specified that to date approximately 660 children had been released and were in the care of UNICEF and partners.

The morale of the children released remained good despite the tough situation on the ground. UNICEF was providing them with immediate interim care – food, shelter, clothing and basic health care plus counseling and psychosocial support. UNICEF was also tracing the families of these children so that they could be assisted to return to their families and communities. UNICEF believed that most would be able to find their way back to their communities. Already 200 children had been reunited or were about to be reunited with their families.

Nonetheless, the most critical phase in their reintegration had yet to begin. Education and skills training programmes needed to be set up long term to help with the integration of the children.

In the areas affected by conflict, 70 per cent of the 1,200 schools were not functioning, due to destruction or the schools being occupied by armed groups. It was of deep concern that an already fragile system was paralyzed and damaged by the crisis. Hundreds of thousands of children were receiving no education at all.

UNICEF was currently undertaking a massive effort to return 400,000 children back to education this year. The children were out of school and 200,000 were in the conflict zone. The campaign was called ‘Back to Learning’. UNICEF had developed a range of interventions to support.

The nutrition situation for children in South Sudan also remained dire, with more than 229,000 children estimated to be suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition. UNICEF and partners had treated over 94,260 children under five in 2014 and 13,047 so far in 2015. The overall nutrition situation in most parts of the country remained above emergency levels, but any significant increase in violence could cut off supply routes, further disrupt markets and hinder access to services. The situation would then become quickly catastrophic for acutely malnourished children.

Asked whether recruitment of children would qualify as a war crime, Mr. Veitch said that recruitment of children under the age of 15 was deemed as war crime. Mr. Veitch said that the Government and the Opposition leaders had both signed commitments with the UNSG Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict. Since the restart of the war in 2013, however, there had been a huge upsurge in the use of child soldiers. Many sources were used for collecting information, including the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan and local NGOs.

Large numbers of children had been displaced and killed in the conflict. Exact numbers were being verified at the moment.

Elisabeth Byrs, for the World Food Programme (WFP), informed that the WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin, accompanied by the United States Ambassador to the UN Agencies in Rome, David Lane, would make a three-day trip to South Sudan from today.

Ms. Cousin was visiting South Sudan to get an update on the troubling food security situation and to raise awareness of the plight of civilians affected by conflict there. An estimated 2.5 million people were facing acute hunger, unsure of where their next meal is coming from.

Ms. Byrs reminded that the conflict had erupted in South Sudan in late 2013 and had so far displaced two million people, disrupted livelihoods and sharply worsened levels of hunger and malnutrition. WFP feared that food insecurity would only get worse as the lean season started without an end to the conflict in sight.

Over the following three days, the WFP Executive Director and the US Ambassador would meet national and local officials, and families directly affected by the conflict.

Ms. Byrs specified that the WFP aimed to assist 3 million people in South Sudan in 2015, including life-saving emergency assistance for the conflict-affected, nutrition support for mothers and children, food assistance for refugees, school meals, and asset-creation initiatives aimed at helping communities improve their food security and resilience.

Philippines

Babar Baloch, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), stated that in central Mindanao, in southern Philippines, more than 120,000 people had been displaced since fighting had broken out between Government troops and armed groups in late January. UNHCR was concerned about the safety of civilians as the conflict spread into local villages.

UNHCR and its partners estimated that 13 municipalities in Maguindanao and North Cotabato had been affected in eight weeks of clashes between the military and police on one side, and the non-state armed group, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, on the other.

The 120,000 estimate did not include people hosted by relatives and friends, and the numbers were expected to grow as the fighting extended to the local communities that were already hosting many of the displaced. UNHCR was particularly concerned about the safety of civilians, who were caught up in the conflict areas. It was unclear how long of widely the ongoing law and order operation would extend and that was hindering the safe and signified return of the displaced people.

Mr. Baloch stressed that women and children could potentially be exposed to exploitation and abuse, given their lack of income and community protection. UNHCR appealed to all parties of the conflict to ensure the safety of civilians while the law and order operation was underway.

Asked how many armed groups were involved in the fighting, Mr. Baloch said that that region had seen a conflict since the 1970s, with the involvement of different groups. Ups and downs in the conflict had been seen, with various waves of displacement. Peace agreement had been signed, but the effects of it were not being seen. As the fighting spread, more people were being affected. Mr. Baloch clarified that there were no reports of civilians themselves being attacked, but rather affected by fighting.

On whether there was a peace agreement between the Government and separatists in Maguindanao, Mr. Baloch said that there indeed was an agreement, but it needed constitutional backing. Regrettably, no progress had been noted at that issue.

Libya

Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that the IOM had reported the completion of their evacuation in the morning of 401 Senegalese nationals that had been stranded in Libya. There had been a small problem with taking some of the evacuees out, however majority of the migrants had been transported to Tunisia the previous day. In addition, the IOM had noted that the evacuation had been difficult with the recent terrorist attack in Tunisia, while the IOM Tunisia had also been occupied with the rescue at sea of 84 migrants who had left Libya roughly around the same time that the evacuees had been leaving on buses. There had also been a rescue of 130 Senegalese the previous day, which had brought the total to 401. Both events had shared the commonality with the ongoing crisis in Libya.

The human smuggling season had begun in earnest, having had already recorded 600 deaths on the Mediterranean this year, compared to 100 deaths during this time the previous year.

Nigeria

Mr. Laerke announced that the previous day, USD 28 million had been allocated from the Central Emergency Response Found (CERF) to Nigeria and neighbouring countries to deal with the humanitarian impact of Boko Haram’s related violence. It would go to help more than 1.2 million people who had been displaced inside Nigeria and into neighbouring countries, and for the host communities who were taking care of them, which were the poorest and the most vulnerable in the world. Those USD 28 million would be divided to agencies operating in Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad, receiving USD 10 million, USD 7 million, USD 7 million and USD 4 million, respectively. The aid that would be provided would include food, clean water, shelter, medicine protection and security, particularly for women and children who had been exposed or had experienced the extreme violence.

Ukraine

Mr. Laerke said that the mission to Ukraine had highlighted the urgent need for medical facilities and medicines because more than 100 medical facilities had been damaged or destroyed during the fighting in Donetsk an Luhansk alone. All parties to the conflict were urged to protect civilians and ensure that they had access to the finances, supplies and services which they needed to survive the crisis. More information was available in the press release.

World Water Day

Christophe Boulierac, for UNICEF, stated that access to drinking water had been one of the biggest successes of the Millennium Development Goals. For 748 million people around the world, just obtaining that essential service remained a challenge.

Some 2.3 billion people had gained access to improved sources of drinking water since 1990. As a result, the Millennium Development Goal target of halving the percentage of the global population without access at that date had been reached five years ahead of the 2015 deadline. There were now only three countries, where more than half the population did not have improved water: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique and Papua New Guinea, where more than half the population did not have improved drinking water.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, cholera remained an important and neglected disease. In 2014, 20,000 cases and 260 deaths had been reported, while for 2015, the number of cases already stood at 3,060 and there were 22 deaths. UNICEF was supporting the Government to develop healthy village and healthy school models. Any village or any school which agreed to comply with certain norms regarding water and sanitation, would get support. After a year of compliance, they would receive a certificate; the idea was to make such changes durable and sustainable. Those programmes had already reached 3.3 million people in the DRC, around 4,000 villages.At the same time, 229 schools had been equipped with water, sanitation and hygiene facilities.

For children, Mr. Boulierac stressed, the lack of access to safe water could be tragic. On average, nearly 1,000 of them died every day from diarrhoeal diseases linked to unsafe drinking water, poor sanitation, or poor hygiene. For women and girls, collecting water cut into time they could spend caring for families and studying. In insecure areas, it also put them at risk of violence and attack. UNICEF estimated that in Africa alone, people spent 40 billion hours every year just walking to collect water.

Sub-Saharan Africa, the region with the lowest coverage in 1990, had been gaining access to drinking water at the rate of 50,000 people per day since the year 2000. Nevertheless, the region still accounted for more than two out of five of those without access globally, or 325 million people. Most countries in the region were not on track to meet the MDG target. Another region of concern was Oceania, which had made only limited progress since 1990. Large numbers of people without access also lived in China and India.

Mr. Boulierac said that UNICEF, working with Governments and partners, was pushing for innovative and cost effective methods to make progress. In Bangladesh, for example, UNICEF had used an exciting new approach to collect rainwater and then pump it into shallow aquifers, achieving water security for approximately one million people whose groundwater had become salinized.

Building on a successful roll-out last year, UNICEF and partners were again this year engaging the public in a social media campaign with the hashtag #wateris, to help raise awareness of the issue and highlight the plight of those who were still without drinking water.

Human Rights Council

Rolando Gomez, for the Human Rights Council (HRC), said that the Human Rights Council had reviewed two more reports from the Universal Periodic Review Working Group from Egypt and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Thirteen of those reviews had been considered and there would be one more, from Gambia, remaining for the following week. The Council was currently engaged in a general debate on item 5 - subsidiary bodies and then onto item 6 - Universal Periodic Review.

From 3 to 6 p.m. in the afternoon, there would be a debate on the state of racial discrimination worldwide with the theme: “Learning from Historical Tragedies to Combat Racial Discrimination Today.” The debate would take place in observance of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which was on 21 March. The debate would feature keynote speeches by Mr. Doudou Diène, the former Special Rapporteur on racism and racial discrimination, and Ms. Christiane Taubira, Minister of Justice of France. Ms. Taubira herself had been a victim of racist attacks.

Prior to the debate in Room XX, there would be a related side event in Room XXI from 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m, including Ms. Taubira and other participants in the debate. It would also feature opening remarks by the President of the Council, while a series of short films on the theme of racial discrimination would be screened.

On 23 March, the Council would hear an oral update by the Commission of Inquiry of Gaza that would have a short procedural statement delivered by the Chair of the Commission, Ms. Mary McGowan-Davis at 9 a.m. The Commission’s written report would only be presented at the Council’s June session. After the report there would be a presentation by the Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Mr. Makarim Wibisono, and an interactive discussion with States and NGOs.

Mr. Gomez had also highlighted HRC’s had received 27 draft resolutions the previous day. All drafts had been available on the HRC extranet and would be considered on the last two days of the Human Rights Council session, on 26 and 27 March.

Regional consultation “Financing for Development”

Jean Rodriguez, for the Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), stated that implementing the Sustainable Development Goals would demand substantial resources and a strengthened global partnership for sustainable development. Estimates of annual investment requirements for infrastructure alone amounted to USD 5-7 trillion globally. The means to address those vast financing needs were available, but what was required was the creation of suitable frameworks and effective instruments for the mobilisation of resources - international and domestic, public and private.

UNECE and the Regional UN Development Group for Europe and Central Asia would hold a regional preparatory consultation in Geneva on 23 March, focussing on strategies and instruments the UNECE region had to offer to promote resource mobilization for sustainable development and the implementation of the post-2015 development agenda. The summary of the discussions would serve as regional input to the debates at the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa from 13-16 July, where ambitious agreements and commitments had to be made.

Mr. Rodriguez explained that the meeting would be chaired by Ambassador Michael Gerber, Special Envoy for Global Sustainable Development of Switzerland. Other confirmed high-level participants included Amina J. Mohammed, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Post-2015 Development Planning, and Wu Hongbo, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.

The topics to be considered were very broad and went beyond the traditional relation between donors and recipients of official aid, which was in line with the universal character of the post-2015 development agenda and the emphasis on sustainability (not just traditional development financing). The development finance landscape was also changing and new actors were emerging, including new donors, philanthropic organisations and investors which also pursued non-financial objectives.

The question was how to mobilize resources (domestic and international, public and private) to implement the post-2015 development agenda. Taking into account environmental, social and governance factors when making investment decisions would be an important element in the mobilization of resources. Around USD 45 trillion assets were already managed worldwide according to Principles for Responsible Investment, a UN-supported initiative.

Mr. Rodriguez said that the regional consultation would cover two key questions: how to mobilise private resources for sustainable development, with the emphasis on the use of public resources as a catalyst for private financing, and international cooperation on frameworks that influenced the availability of resources for sustainable development.

Geneva was a key location for microfinance institutions. Together with Zurich, it accounted for around one third of global assets regarding micro-financing, including industry leader BlueOrchard, which had provided more than USD 2 billion in loans to microfinance institutions since 2001. Symbiotics had USD 450 million assets under management related to microfinance and SME impact investment funds.

Geneva activities

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the Conference on Disarmament would hold its next public meeting on 24 March. Also the following week, the Conference would conclude the first part of its 2015 session.

The Human Rights Committee was examining the report of Cyprus this morning, while the following week it would look into the reports of Croatia and Monaco.

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities would start its session on 25 March. During the session, which would continue until 17 April, it would examine the reports of Germany, the Cook Islands, Croatia, Mongolia, Dominican Republic, Czech Republic and Turkmenistan. Background release would be sent out in the afternoon.

Ms. Momal-Vanian informed that the Minister of Justice of France, Christiane Taubira, would hold a press conference at the stakeout area next to Room XX at 2:45 p.m. today. Ms. Taubira was visiting UN Geneva on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Catherine Huissoud, for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), said that the publication of the 2015 Information Economy Report - Unlocking the Potential of E-commerce for Developing Countries would be presented at a press conference in Press Room I on 23 March at 2:30 p.m. Speakers would be Mukhisa Kituyi, UNCTAD Secretary-General, and Torbjörn Fredriksson, Chief, ICT Analysis Section, Division on Technology and Logistics, also at UNCTAD. The publication was under embargo until 24 March at 6 p.m.

Hans von Rohland, for the International Labour Organization (ILO), informed journalists that on 24 March, the ILO regional office in Beirut would publish a report on disemployment caused by the conflict in Gaza in July and August 2014. Disemployment referred to the surplus of unemployment compared to previous employment situations. The report showed the impact of the military operations on the private sector throughout the destruction of fields, infrastructure, goods, equipment and further unemployment. The report was the ILO’s contribution to the detailed listing of needs as demanded by the Palestinian Authority from the United Nations, the European Union and the World Bank.

Clare Nullis, for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), announced that 23 March would be World Meteorological Day and its theme was “Climate Knowledge for Climate Action”. The reason why that them had been chosen was because 2015 was a decisive year in terms of climate action that could be taken to limit climate change, with the negotiations at the Climate Conference in Paris on December. The theme also highlighted the recent advances in climate knowledge to mitigate climate change and cope with season variations in the climate.

Ms. Nullis explained that media was invited to the ceremony at the WMO, which would start at 2:30 p.m. on 23 March. That would be preceded by a private sector forum focused on climate information needs of the energy sector which would start at 9:30 a.m.

The WMO would also be releasing the final WMO’ statement on the state of the climate in 2014, which had been the hottest on record.

Mr. Rodriguez reminded of the launch of UNECE/FAO study “Forests in the UNECE Region: Trends and Challenges in Achieving the Global Objectives on Forests” and presentation of the main issues related to forests and food on the occasion of the International Day of Forests. The presentation would take place in Press Room III, at 11:45 a.m. today. Speakers would include Dr. Guy Robertson, National Sustainability Programme Leader, United States Forest Service, co-author of the study; Roman Michalak, Forestry Officer, UNECE/FAO Forestry and Timber Section, Project manager of the study; Paola Deda, Director a.i. Forests, Land and Housing Division, UNECE; Charo Val, Chef, La Alacena del Gourmet, Hotel Pachá, Ibiza, author of the PEFC Recipe Book "Cuisine from the Forests"; and Josh Evans, Lead Researcher, Nordic Food Lab, Copenhagen.

Mr. Rodriguez informed that the 56 countries of the UNECE region hosted 41.4 per cent of the world’s forests, and produced some 58 per cent of the world’s industrial round wood.

Spokesperson for the World Health Organization was also present, but did not brief.
The webcast for this briefing is available here: http://bit.ly/unog200315