REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Ahmad Fawzi, Director a.i. of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was also attended by spokespersons for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Children Fund, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and
International Organization for Migration.
United Nations
The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was attending COP 21, the Paris Climate Change Conference, in and was due back to New York on the afternoon of 1 December.
Mr. Fawzi briefed the media on new United Nations appointments, saying that Edmund Mulet of Guatemala had been appointed Chef de Cabinet and Patrick Carey of Ireland as Deputy Chef de Cabinet. Catherine Pollard of Guyana had been appointed Under-Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management, succeeding Mr. Tegegnework Gettu of Ethiopia.
The Secretary-General also appointed Robert Glaser of Australia as his Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction. Mr. Glaser would succeed Ms. Margareta Wahlström of Sweden. Rashid Kalikov of Russia, formerly Director of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva, had been appointed Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Partnerships with the Middle East and Central Asia. He would be working out of Geneva.
Today, 1 December was World AIDS Day. The Secretary-General in his message warned that the window of opportunity was closing and called for a “Fast-Track approach to front-load investments and closing the gap between needs and services.” The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé was in South Africa. Further information about commemorations of this Day is available here.
Geneva Activities
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was today considering a report by Egypt, while Slovenia would present its report this afternoon. Mongolia and Turkey were the last countries scheduled for this session, which would conclude on 11 December. The Committee had already considered the reports by the Holy See and Lithuania.
The Committee against Torture was holding a closing meeting on 9 December. During the session, the Committee had considered reports by Liechtenstein, Azerbaijan, Austria, Denmark, China, and Jordan.
Mr. Fawzi drew the media’s attention to press conferences scheduled for this week:
On Wednesday, 2 December the World Health Organization (WHO) would hold a press conference at 10.30 a.m. in Press Room 1, to release the most comprehensive report to date estimating the global burden of foodborne diseases. The report would help address the lack of data on a leading cause of preventable illness and death worldwide.
On Thursday, 3 December at 10 a.m. in Press Room 1, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) would launch its State of World Population Report 2015. Speaker: Alanna Armitage, Director, UNFPA Geneva Office.
On Friday, 4 December at 9 a.m. in Press Room 1, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, would present its Childhood immunisation update and new strategies to tackle vaccine preventable diseases, such as measles, in the world’s poorest countries. The CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Dr Seth Berkley, would speak.
Jens Laerke, for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), announced the launch of the Global Humanitarian Appeal for 2016 on Monday, 7 December. A press conference was scheduled at 1.45 p.m. in Press Room III, in the presence of Stephen O'Brien, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief, Antonio Gutteres, High Commissioner for Refugees, Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General, and Dr Ahmad Faizal Perdaus, Chair of International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA) and President of MERCY Malaysia. The Global Humanitarian Overview was the culmination of a process in which hundreds of United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations had come together to develop a strategy to respond to humanitarian crises around the world and estimate the cost, said Mr. Laerke.
United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation
Mr. Fawzi introduced Jorge Chediek, Director of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), who previously served as the UN Resident Coordinator in Brazil, Peru and Nicaragua, and as Deputy Resident Representative in the UNDP offices in Uruguay and Cuba. Mr. Chediek was participating in the WHO Global Coordination Mechanism on Non-communicable Diseases, where he was discussing how to use South-South Cooperation in those important areas.
Mr. Chediek briefed on the work of the Office and the important role that South-South cooperation had in UN efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Office for South-South Cooperation had been created in 1974 by a UN General Assembly Resolution to promote cooperation between developing countries. South-South Cooperation would become a central element in the implementation of the post-2015 agenda, he said, with many countries in the South committing significant resources to collaboration and becoming very successful in their own development processes. Those countries also played an increasingly significant role in the construction of the global agenda. The Office would engage more strategically in helping those countries fulfil their potential, in promoting the UN system as a vehicle for that collaboration, and in promoting more joint initiatives within the system. The UNOSSC was based in New York, with presence in all the regions of the South; it planned to expand its partnerships and increase its institutional presence within the UN system and at a geographical level. The office in Geneva had been opened a year ago, and was hosted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) which provided administrative functions.
Migration of Children to Europe in 2015: a joint UNICEF/IOM data brief
Sarah Crowe, for United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), presented the joint UNICEF / International Organization for Migration (IOM) data brief on migration of children to Europe in 2015. Roughly one-third of those who had died at Aegean sea in 2015 were children, while the number of children applying for asylum in the European Union doubled compared to 2014, she said.
Leonard Doyle, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that since the death of Aylan Kurdi earlier this year, which had galvanized the public opinion, the issue of children and unaccompanied minors had received increased attention. The data brief was issued by IOM’s new Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC) based in Berlin, Germany.
Ms. Crowe said that unpredictable border crossings in the Balkans, the procedures taking place at those borders and the harsh winter had compounded challenges facing children on the move. Over the past month, 52 per cent of those crossing the borders in the Balkans were women and children, up from 27 per cent this summer. This crisis now became a crisis for children and their mothers, said Ms. Crowe. UNICEF was planning contingency routes, looking at other crossings such as Albania or Kosovo, in case southern borders closed. So far, the winter had been mild, but this was changing, and the response now was not only about warm clothes, baby socks and blankets, but about providing children with a sense of stability and protection after what they had been through.
Chris Tidey, for UNICEF, on the phone from Serbia, confirmed that the majority of refugees and migrants in the Balkans were now women and children – 52 per cent - and expressed concern about the impact of harsh weather, particularly on small children who were vulnerable to respiratory infections. Children on the move were spending far too much time in the open, without enough rest, while the state of children stuck on the border with Greece and The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia was of particular concern. Many families were prevented from continuing their journey, and their numbers continue to grow, including hundreds of children living in extremely poor condition and inadequate shelter, with 30 to 40 persons cramming into a single tent. The number of children with disabilities coming to Europe was on the rise as well, and for them the journey was particularly difficult. A paralyzed child from Syria said that the sea crossing was particularly rough and that smugglers had threatened to leave his wheelchair behind.
Asked about most recent figures on arrivals to Greece from Turkey, Ms. Crowe said that some 876,000 people had arrived via the Mediterranean up to November this year. The proportion of women and children continued to climb and UNICEF says this is likely to be a result of a rising sense of desperation and an indication of the permanence of their move. Taking a whole family on such a journey is an indication that they have closed the door behind them, their children were not in schools, families did not have a proper shelter, and there was no sense of what lies ahead.
Mr. Tidey said that the people stuck on the border arrived from Iran, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and they were adamant in that they were not going back, so it was not clear how long they would stay there. New families continued to arrive daily, he said.
William Spindler, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that, after a slump in figures, the number of refugees and migrants arriving to Greece had increased again, reaching 2,500 on Monday, 30 November. Estimated 220,000 refugees and migrants crossed the Mediterranean in October, and 140,000 in November 2015. The slowdown was due to weather and a crackdown on smuggling by Turkish authorities, he said.
Asked to comment on the deal between the European Union and Turkey on refugees, Mr. Doyle said that IOM was first and foremost interested in the protection and safety of refugees and migrants and in that sense this agreement was to be praised. IOM was very interested in the voluntary relocation agreement that had come out late on Sunday, 29 November. Although IOM would prefer mandatory quotas, it was important to appreciate the sharing of responsibility among European countries. Mr. Spindler said that UNHCR took note of the commitment by the European Union to provide increased support for Syrian refugees in Turkey and confirmed that UNHCR stand ready to support measures to protect and assist refugees. UNHCR welcomed the commitment to structured and more frequent dialogue between the European Union and Turkey and continued to call for increased legal options for refugees to reach safety in Europe, including through family reunification, private sponsorship, etc.
Responding to questions related to the increase in the number of women and children arriving to Europe this year, Mr. Doyle confirmed that the numbers and proportion of children and their mothers had been growing, particularly in the eastern Balkans, and that half of all refugees and migrants now were children and mothers. This was double compared to last year, said Ms. Crowe. The number of sea crossings increased four-fold compared to last year, said Mr. Spindler.
IOM starts processing 25,000 Syrian refugees for humanitarian resettlement to Canada
Craig Murphy, for IOM, briefing by phone from Amman, Jordan, said that on Sunday,
29 November, IOM had started processing a large number of Syrian refugees slated for humanitarian resettlement to Canada, in close cooperation with the Canadian Government, the Jordanian authorities, UNHCR and the Danish Refugee Council. It was expected that a large proportion of the 25,000 would be resettled before the end of this year, with the rest to follow by the end of spring 2016. A processing centre was opened in Beirut and another one would soon be opened in Turkey. Ninety individuals had been processed on Sunday and additional 180 on Monday, 30 November. It was expected that the full capacity of 500 persons per day would be reached on 5 December. Jordan was hosting 800,000 Syrian refugees, over a million were in Lebanon, and at least two million were registered in Turkey, while millions were displaced inside Syria.
The Operation Centre in Amman was located in a former military hangar on the outskirts of the town and IOM enjoyed full cooperation from the authorities. A large team from Canada was in the field, conducting interviews. Although the process involved inquiry into the military service of male applicants, it was not a disqualifier. It was expected that the first flights to Canada would depart from Jordan in mid-December.
Further information in IOM press release.
Responding to questions relating to methods of selection and whether single men with no children would not be accepted for resettlement in Canada, Mr. Murphy confirmed that nuclear and large families were targeted and the bulk of the people screened so far were exactly those. Single men were not excluded from the process. The criteria for selection had been negotiated between the United Nations Refugee Agency and the Canadian government, and they included vulnerabilities and specific medical needs that could be provided in Canada and keeping family together.
Mr. Spindler confirmed that UNHCR selection criteria for resettlement were based on vulnerability and needs.
More than 18,000 stateless persons granted nationality in Thailand
William Spindler, for UNHCR, said that 18,000 people had been granted nationality in Thailand in the last three years, reminding the media that 443,862 persons were stateless today. They had limited access to information about their rights and their nationality procedures, and were unable to fully enjoy their human rights, to move freely and to own property, all of which limited their job prospects. Thailand had established a legal framework for access to nationality in 2005 and 2008, especially for school-aged children and vulnerable people.
Additional information in UNHCR briefing notes.