REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Ahmad Fawzi, Director a.i., United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by the Spokespersons for the Human Rights Council, the International Organization for Migration, the International Trade Centre, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and the World Health Organization.

Geneva Activities

Mr. Fawzi informed that the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, had called all European states to abide by their international obligations toward people seeking asylum. All persons must be received with dignity and their human rights must be respected, the Secretary-General had said. He had called all European leaders to express his concerns and to encourage them to ensure the proper treatment of refugees and migrants, specially as European Union ministers were gathering today, and a EU summit was scheduled for the following day. Mr. Ban Ki-moon had appealed to all European leaders to show leadership and compassion, and forge a common approach in line with their international obligations.

The Secretary-General looked forward to receiving European leaders at the 70^th session of the United Nations General Assembly. He had invited them to a special event on the side lines of the General Assembly to discuss the challenges of increased movement of migrants and refugees in the world.

The United Nations had prepared an infographics that mapped out the expertise on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) found across international organizations, non-governmental organizations and other institutions based in Geneva. Mr. Fawzi noted that the document shows how the 17 goals were being implemented by United Nations agencies based in Geneva.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child would review today reports submitted by Brazil. Chile’s report would be considered on Thursday 24 September and Timor-Leste’s on Friday 25 September. Next week the Committee would consider reports submitted by Madagascar (28 September) and Cuba (29 September). Reports from United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan and Poland had already been reviewed.

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights had started a new session yesterday and would be concluding today Burundi’s report review. Two other countries would be submitting reports this week: Greece on Thursday, 24 September, and Italy on Friday, 25 September. Reports on Guyana, Iraq, Morocco and Sudan would be considered next week (21 September- 9 October).

European Refugee Crisis

Melissa Fleming, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said the UNHCR had outlined proposals to manage the refugee and migration crisis in Europe ahead of the European Union Summit. Following the steps of the United Nations Secretary-General, the High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, had written a letter to the Council of Europe urging European leaders to unite behind emergency proposals to manage the refugee and migration crisis that is becoming increasingly chaotic and unpredictable. This may be the last opportunity for a coherent European response to manage a crisis featuring increased suffering and exploitation of refugees and migrants and tension between countries.

UNHCR believes it was essential that the 120,000 additional places for the refugees be approved this week for any relocation programme to be credible. It noted that the relocation programme could not be effectively implemented without creating adequate reception facilities in countries where refugees and migrants enter Europe. With an average of 6,000 persons arriving every day on European shores, this obviously requires a massive investment. For this process to work, European countries would need to take into consideration that many tens of thousands of refugees and migrants would likely require shelter and assistance at reception areas at any given time.

A relocation programme alone, at this stage in the crisis, would not be enough to stabilize the situation, Ms. Fleming stressed. Several measures were proposed to help Europe to collectively resolve the situation. The UNHCR said it believed the situation could be managed, if the following measures were put into place.

1. Immediate creation of facilities in Greece, and the expansion of existing ones in Italy, with a robust capacity to receive, assist, register and screen people who arrive by sea. UNHCR said many people are arriving with medical issues, with just some clothes, and with children.
2. Immediate start of the relocation process for 40,000 from Greece and Italy. This should be expanded to 120,000. UNHCR believes these figures are likely to require an upward revision in the future
3. Strengthening the mechanisms for the humane return of people not in need of international protection, with the support of Frontex and the International Organization of Migrants (IOM).
4. UNHRC reiterated the plea to have urgent addition humanitarian funding and structural support for countries hosting large refugee populations, and from which many refugees are now leaving because they are not able to feed their children or to survive in worsening conditions.

There had been 477,906 new sea arrivals so far this year. Ms. Fleming called attention to the continued confusion in the media about how the crisis was being depicted. She stressed the emergency situation in Europe was primarily a refugee crisis. The vast majority of those arriving in Greece and moving onwards had come from conflict zones such as Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. Only a comprehensive approach could resolve the crisis.

Asked whether the UNHCR could deal with the human rights situation of asylum seekers arriving in Europe, Ms. Fleming explained that the UNHCR’s traditional role had been to support asylum seekers and to advocate for the strong implementation of rules in countries where they arrive. She said that in countries where the human rights of asylum seekers were not being respected, the UNHCR had been ringing alarm bells. It was not a crime to ask for asylum at the border, stressed Ms. Fleming. European Union countries have the fundamental human rights enshrined in their documents. It was now a question of implementing them, she said.

The UNHCR had become increasingly operational, particularly in Greece, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, and Croatia. She acknowledged that in some places the UNHCR had not been welcome and had been told help was not needed. UNHCR could not force assistance on countries. However, in the last week it had greatly stepped up its response, providing people with aid, assistance and information. People are information hungry in this completely chaotic environment, in which countries continue to be changing their policies on a day-to-day basis. Ms. Fleming said the UNHCR was really worried about the change in weather. Many refugees and asylum seekers are arriving in Europe with only summer clothes and shoes. They now need rain jackets, tents and warm blankets to sleep.

She said the media reporting had been schizophrenic, with media outlets using interchangeably, in the same article, multiple terms (migrant, asylum seeker, refugee). This had created confusion and she urged editors to note the distinction between migrants and refugees. The relocation programme was specifically target to refugees, that is persons who need international protection.

The UNHCR data portal showed that 97% of people who had arrived in Greece were from the top 10 refugee producing countries. Ms. Fleming explained that UNHCR refers to this group as refugees and migrants, and stressed that the vast majority of them were refugees. The four million people who have left Syria were called refugees, so why are they no longer called as such when they arrive in Europe?, asked Ms. Fleming.

Asked about the paralysis in decision-making in Europe, Ms. Fleming said that High Commissioner António Guterres had been on the phone with several leaders. He had called Ministers and Prime Ministers. Some leaders had also called him to ask for advice, given the fact that UNHCR had expertise in dealing with large influxes of refugees.

This had been primarily and acutely a European crisis, but dealing with the situation had also been a universal responsibility, Ms. Fleming said. The United Nations Secretary-General had called a high-level side event during the United Nations General Assembly, on 3 October, to discuss with world leaders how to solve not only the refugee crisis, but also the conflicts that are pushing people out of their homes. Many non- European countries, such as Australia, the United States and Canada, are also pledging more investment to solve the refugee situation, said Ms. Fleming. The UNHCR welcomed these developments and said it hoped that countries would seize the momentum to significantly address the issue.

Asked if Mr. Guterres was invited to participate in the EU summit tomorrow, Ms. Fleming said she believed no international organization had been invited to attend the meeting.

Asked if European countries should follow the steps of other countries who had dealt with large numbers of refugees, Ms. Fleming reminded that countries neighbouring Syria had been dealing with large numbers of refugees for years, and were able to manage the situation. This was a manageable situation, stressed Ms. Fleming. This crisis had exposed the fragmentation of policies in the European continent with regards to persons arriving on its shores. The UNHCR said the European Union needed to urgently resolve this problem.

As for the countries who had told the UNHCR they didn’t need help to deal with the crisis, Ms. Fleming said that most transit and arrival countries, such as Greece, Croatia, Serbia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia were initially reluctant to ask for UNHCR or international help. They thought they could manage the crisis on their own until things got to a dramatic point. Now all countries were asking for UNHCR assistance, stated Ms. Fleming. The UNHCR offered assistance to Hungary, which partly accepted it. However, assistance to Hungary was no longer required because there were very few refugees and migrants in the country at this point, since Hungary was allowing them to pass the Austrian border very quickly.

Asked about Hungary’s decision to allow the police to use rubber bullets to disperse refuges and asylum seekers, Ms Fleming said that it was not a crime to ask for asylum.

As for the figures, a total of 160,000 refugees and asylum seekers needed to be relocated at this point. UNHCR had calculated that at least 200,000 would be needed, but 160,000 was an important start to help manage the crisis. UNHCR said it believed that if other measures were put in place (more aid to refugee hosting countries and more legal avenues, so that persons don’t have to risk their lives on the boats), the figures could go down. UNHCR said it expected the numbers to go down as the weather got worse.

Asked about refugees being returned to Jordan, Turkey or Lebanon, where they first had obtained asylum, the UNHCR said that returning people to Syria’s neighbouring countries would be unconscionable. There were already 4 million refugees in the neighbouring countries. Over the last 4 years, these countries had taken the burden of hosting Syrian refugees when the rest of the world had looked on and not provided support or funded the humanitarian organizations that are trying to serve them. Ms. Fleming stressed that these people had suffered a lot and were fighting for their lives . They had lost their hope because the war had not ended, so they should be considered refugees when they arrive in Europe. If they were to be returned home, their lives would be in danger.

Asked whether countries that refused to receive refugees should be sanctioned, Ms. Fleming said that mandatory relocation of refugees was the best way to deal with the crisis. However, the UNHCR was pleased to see that a growing number of European Union countries were voluntarily agreeing to participate in the relocation programme. It was not the UNHCR’s business to say how the European Council should reach consensus for relocation. Yet the UNCHR said it hoped that the European Union would reach a decision quickly, so that the relocation could start. Otherwise, Europe would lose its credibility and chaos would continue in the days, weeks and months to come. UNHCR said Italy already had a sophisticated reception centre for refugees, noting that it needed to be extended. However, a registration centre needed to be established in Greece. This would have to be funded by the European Union, and not by the UNHCR budget, that is already underfunded. Refugees and asylum seekers also needed information about asylum in different countries in Europe. It had been reassuring to them to see UNHCR teams on the ground. Until now their main source of information had been smugglers, who were not trustworthy.

Mr. Fawzi reminded that European and African leaders would discuss migration issues at a summit in Valletta, Malta, in November.

Children affected and traumatized by the refugee crisis

Echoing what UNHCR had said, Sarah Crowe, Spokesperson for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said there had been an 80% increase in the number of women and children arriving in Europe – a figure that had now reached 133,000. This was a very fast and moving situation, Ms. Crowe stated. About 10,000 women and child refugees and migrants had entered Croatia in the past week alone.

Two mobile units with child protection specialists had been set up to monitor and help women and children on the move. Many children and women had been found with blisters, bruises and were dehydrated. UNICEF said they had been living in tents and needed hot meals. Many had slept out in the rain between Slovenia and Croatia, and this had been an extremely traumatizing experience for children, UNICEF stressed.

UNICEF had distributed 7,000 child-friendly leaflets, in Arabic and in English, guiding refugees to safe and defined routes in Croatia. Many of them had been seen walking in cornfields and they needed to know where to go. Information about breastfeeding and all basic needs had also been distributed by UNICEF.

On the eve of the European Union summit, UNICEF had urged European countries to look at the situation of refugees from a child’s perspective and to remember the horrifying images of children washed up on shores. UNICEF stressed that children were at the heart of the crisis and had specific needs that should be addressed.

UNICEF said the process of receiving and registering refugees and asylum seekers also had to be accelerated. Some of the asylum requests had taken between 16 to 18 months to be processed. There had also been cases of children detained or separated from their parents. Children could not be discriminated, criminalized or detained for simply applying for refugee status. Their basic needs had to be met beyond emergency care, UNICEF said. Children who had gone through the trauma of a war must also receive psychological support and could not be kept in a legal limbo, stressed Ms. Crowe. European countries had been leading the way on the rights of the child and now UNICEF wanted to see them put these principles into practice during the summit.

UNICEF said there had been an outpouring of support from ordinary persons, such a tennis player Andy Murray, who decided to contribute 50 pounds for every he served.

Asked about the number of child refugees that were unaccompanied, Ms. Crowe said many children not accompanied by their parents did not want to register as asylum seekers. That meant that figures of children unaccompanied by their parents should be much higher. However, many of the children travelling were accompanied by adults – be it a teenage brother or a group of refugees.

As for how many were children among the total number of refugees arriving in Europe, Ms. Crowe explained that there had been an increase of 80% compared to last year – with women and children totalling 133,000. UNICEF calculated that one third of asylum seekers were children, and pointed out that 2.7 Syrian children were out of school in Syria and neighbouring countries, which showed the impact of the crisis on the education of children. Melissa Fleming, of the UNHCR, said that all numbers were detailed in the UNHCR web portal.

UNEP’s Conference on Chemicals Management

Isabelle Valentiny, for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said that next week UNEP was organizing a Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM4) in Geneva. The international Conference would be held from 28 September to 2 October. It would include a high-level segment open to media, and would be followed by a press conference in Press Room 1 at the Palais des Nations.

Jacob Duer, for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Principal Coordinator, Interim Secretariat of the Minamata Convention and SAICM Secretariat, stated that Geneva was actually the hub for the work that UNEP undertook in terms of chemicals and waste management and that this was where a number of chemicals and waste conventions were based. This conference was important in the context of the broader Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the work of UNEP was undertaking on chemical management. He also stated that according to some statistics, 100,000 chemical substances were used in everyday life.

In 2013 global sales of chemicals were more than 3 trillion euros. However, to ensure that what was produced was also disposed of properly, there were international instruments both legally binding and non-legally ones.

It was stated that were around one million workers every year whose deaths were directly caused or linked to their exposure to acids or chemicals. Therefore, chemicals had an impact on human health and the environment and all the global community had to recognize that this needed to be addressed in an strategic manner. In 2002, the direct link between sound management of chemicals and sustainable development had been found. The World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 had adopted a goal that would by 2020 minimize the adverse effects of chemicals on human health and the environment. For this purpose the international community had established the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management that were a unique approach in the intergovernmental scene. The reason why SAICM was unique was because it was composed of multiple stakeholders and multiple sectors. So, it was not an intergovernmental process per se but it was a multi-sectorial process where governments, industries, and civil society were all equal and could speak with an equal voice. SAICM would bring together a unique group of multiple stakeholders and unique group of sectors in addressing the issue of sound management of chemicals and waste.

The governing body of SAICM which was the International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM) met every three years and the fourth Conference would take place in Geneva from the 28 September to 2 October. Mr. Duer stated that they were expecting to see more than 800 participants from representing Governments, Industries, and Civil Society. There would be a high level segment at the end of the week, on 1 October in the afternoon and 2 October in the morning. A number of Ministers from around the world would be present representing different sectors, as well as heads of UN agencies, industries, CEOs and also leaders from the civil society community.

They would address the issue of sound management of chemicals and waste in the broader context of sustainable development but also look at how the chemicals community could support and take the lead in the implementation of the SDGs, particularly those that were relevant to the sound management of chemicals. UNEP also hoped to get a renewed political commitment from the established leadership among governments but also from civil society and industry in order to address the challenges of sound management of chemicals.

They would have a number of key speakers representing the sector. One of them would be the 2014 champion of the Earth under UNEP, Boyan Slat, who won one of the prizes ‘the young entrepreneur 21 years old’. He had led and established a project called the ocean cleaning where he looked at plastic in the ocean and looked at the fields of chemicals that was highly relevant.

One of the objectives of the Conferences was to outline the strategies to achieve the goal of 2020 and the implementation of the Strategic Approach. It was going to be a big conference with big objectives and strategies.

Migrants: Situation of Yemen and Iraq

Itayi Viriri spoke for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on the situation in Yemen and Iraq. In Yemen, IOM had resumed its humanitarian evacuation as of the beginning of this week. During this time, 320 Ethiopian migrants had been taken from the port and relocated. This year alone, 2,357 migrants had been evacuated from Yemen. Unfortunately due to the fluctuating situation in Yemen, IOM was forced at times to cease its efforts and wait to take advantage of a lull in the violence to resume efforts.

Regarding Iraq, IOM had been working closely with the government in Baden Württemberg to relocate vulnerable woman and children to Germany. This had involved bringing 65 women and children to the Baden Württemberg, bringing the total of vulnerable Iraqis resettled in Germany to 329. IOM expected 1,000 individuals to be relocated by the end of the year.

A question was posed if these numbers were taken from refugees already in Europe to which Mr. Viriri clarified that these vulnerable individuals had been directly relocated from Iraq. This was followed up with a question on whether IOM would ever consider a child as an economic migrant. Mr. Viriri clarified that for him personally a child would never receive this categorization.

Mr. Viriri concluded his statement by answering a question concerning the still existent discrepancy in numbers and if one could say that the migration flood was slowing down. His answer was that the current number should be taken as being accurate to date and that the number varied depending on the figures received from the Greek authorities as well as their own personal tallying of those arriving on the Greek Islands. They expected the numbers to gradually decrease from the summer peaks with the coming winter, however, the continued loss of life at high sea was still a grave concern.

Human Rights Council

Rolando Gomez for the Human Rights Council briefed on the current standing of the Human Rights Council which had a debate on item 4: country situations that required the Council’s attention. During this debate, the Council heard statements from approximately 50 States and 80 non-governmental organizations. The points discussed were long and exhaustive.

At 11:30 a.m., the Council would take up the topic of indigenous peoples. The Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous people, Victoria Tauli Corpuz, would present a global report on indigenous people and a report on her recent visit to Paraguay. The Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples would also present its report. A panel would then be held on the human rights of indigenous peoples with a focus on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This panel would focus on indigenous women globally and examine the common themes experienced across all regions. Ms. Tauli Corpuz would moderate the panel discussion.

Item 5 regarding subsidiary bodies of the Council was next on the agenda, with the presentation of reports by the Advisory Committee and the Intergovernmental Working Group on the rights of peasants, followed by a general debate.

Consideration of the outcomes of the Universal Periodic Reviews of the United States, Belarus, Malawi, Mongolia, Panama, and the Maldives would be held on Thursday. Thursday was also the deadline for draft resolutions to be considered at the end of next week.

A question was posed regarding a clarification on the story concerning Saudi Arabia leading a group that recommended candidate mandate holders to the President of the Council. Mr. Gomez said the Saudi Arabian Ambassador was one of five ambassadors who served on the UN Consultative Group made up of ambassadors coming from each of the five regional groups. He was appointed in January this year for a one-year period. The other four ambassadors come from Algeria, Chile, Greece and Lithuania. They served in a personal, not national, capacity. Their task was to recommend appointments for UN independent human rights experts. No one member of the Consultative Group could take a unilateral decision; all decisions by the Group were made by consensus. The President of the Council ultimately recommended who would serve as these experts. The Consultative Group had already submitted its three reports for 2015 and was not expected to meet again with its current composition this year. Nobody had challenged any of these public reports.

International Federation of the Red Cross to launch a report

Benoit Marsha-Carpentier spoke for the International Federation of the Red Cross (IRFC) and said there would be a press conference on Thursday which would be on the World Disaster Report. The Red Cross had just had a large meeting in Tunis last week with the UNHCR, IOM, EU, as well as non-government organizations and civil society actors. The outcome of this meeting would be made public soon.

The World Disaster Report would be launched on Thursday at 10:00 a.m., which this year focused on local actors. Mr. Marsha-Carpentier was asked if this press conference would only focus on local actors or more specifically on disasters that had occurred. He said that the press conference would provide an overview.

Benoit Matsha-Carpentier, for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), spoke on the refugee crisis. He said that the IFRC would be working mainly in countries for which it had emergency appeal, as well as in countries where the National Red Cross Societies are operating, such as Germany, Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, Finland, and Sweden.

The IFRC would share an outcome document, produced in partnership with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), the International Organization for Migrants (OIM), the European Union (EU), the National Red Cross Societies, and civil societies. A response plan would be available on the IFRC’s website.

World Health Organization (WHO)

Christian Lindmeier, for the World Health Organization (WHO), announced that the WHO Global Tuberculosis (TB) programme along with the European Respiratory Society (ERS) would be launching a new agenda for action in regards to communication and technology to end tuberculosis. He added that on Friday, Dr. Mario Raviglione, Director of the Global TB Programme at the World Health Organization, would be the guest speaker on the topic and would provide an update on the current situation. The WHO representative also highlighted that the organization was working with Saudi Arabia to ensure any health issue could be addressed in the country, as Saudi authorities expected to receive more than 2 million Muslims, from 184 countries, coming to Mecca and Medina for the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

International Trade Centre

Jarle Hetland, for the International Trade Centre (ITC), said that ITC would be presenting it’s “Blue Numbers”, which was a global registry of farmers and agriculture producers, in New York on Monday, 28 September 2015. “Blue Numbers” was an initiative in partnership with the United Nations Global Compact and GS1.
Further, Mr. Hetland announced next week’s trade for sustainable development forum, which would be held in Geneva on 1 and 2 October 2015. The events of the first day would be held at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), while the second day of the forum would be held at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The forum would highlight how ITC provided input to several of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Mr. Hetland also announced the launch of ITC’s new flagship report, the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Competitiveness Outlook on 14 October. The thematic focus of the report would be on “Connect, Compete and Change for Inclusive Growth”. The report would also take an in-depth look at the situation in 25 countries, analysing weaknesses of enterprises and the business environment. A press conference concerning the report would be held on 14 October at 10:30 a.m. and an additional debate would be taking place at 1:30 p.m. at the WTO on the same day.

The webcast for this briefing is available here: http://bit.ly/unog220915