REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Ahmad Fawzi, Director a.i. of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing attended by spokespersons for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, World Health Organization, International Organization for Migration, International Committee of the Red Cross, World Trade Organization, and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.

UN Secretary-General

Mr. Fawzi informed that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had been in Davos, Switzerland, to attend the annual World Economic Forum. The Secretary-General had met with the Greek Cypriot leader, Nicos Anastasiades, the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mustafa Akıncı and his Special Adviser, Espen Barth Eide, in his first meeting with both leaders together. He had said afterwards that he had encouraged the leaders to continue working tirelessly towards finding a comprehensive solution to the Cyprus issue as soon as possible, for the benefit of all Cypriots. He had also called on all interested parties to do their utmost to facilitate and support the leaders in their quest for overcoming the division of Cyprus.

In another meeting on 21 January, the Secretary-General announced the establishment of a High-Level Panel for Women’s Economic Empowerment, which would be co-chaired by President Luis Guillermo Solís of Costa Rica and by Simona Scarpaleggia, CEO of IKEA Switzerland. The Panel would make action-oriented recommendations on how to improve economic outcomes for women in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals, promote women’s leadership in driving economic growth, and galvanize political will.

At the same time, the Secretary-General had announced the establishment of the Every Woman Every Child High-Level Advisory Group, which was designed to place the Every Woman Every Child initiative into the new context of the 2030 Agenda. Its members were leaders from governments, the business community, philanthropy and civil society. President Michelle Bachelet of Chile and Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn of Ethiopia would serve as co-chairs.

In a different event, the Secretary-General and the President of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, had jointly announced their intention to form a new panel to mobilize urgent action towards the Sustainable Development Goal for water and sanitation and related targets. The panel would be co-chaired by the Presidents of Mauritius and Mexico. The Secretary-General had also spoken at an event preparatory to the World Humanitarian Summit.

Answering a question, Mr. Fawzi stressed that, while Davos was admittedly perceived as a place where the rich and the famous convened, the United Nations believed that it was also a place to promote the world as a better place for all, which was why it was important for the leadership of the United Nations to be there. Not unlike the United Naitons General Assembly every September, the World Economic Forum provided a great opportunity to meet and discuss issues with the leadership of the planet.

Mr. Fawzi informed that the Secretary-General was on his way to Zurich, where he would talk to the Zurich Development Conference. His remarks from Zurich would be posted, as would his joint press encounter with Federal Councillor Didier Burkhalter.

Talks on Syria

Asked about the supposed start of talks on Syria, Mr. Fawzi said that it was likely that the date might slip slightly for practical reasons, but the United Nations was ready that the talks start on 25 January, as planned. The Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura would assess the progress over the weekend and he would talk to the press on 25 January, probably in the afternoon. More details would be shared in due course. He subsequently announced that Mr. de Mistura would hold a press conference at 3 pm Monday in Salle III. The talks would be intra-Syrian, between the Government and the opposition and others. The International Syria Support Group would be present at the sidelines. Mr. Fawzi could not comment on the format of the talks.

A journalist asked that the Special Envoy’s statements be passed on to journalists in Geneva. Another journalist demanded that a full list of participants, once finalized, be shared with the journalists.

Answering another question, Mr. Fawzi confirmed that the Syrian talks would take place at the Palais des Nations. All logistics was in place. Those who wished to film the conference rooms where the talks would take place could do so today.

Asked if the invitations for the talks had been sent, Mr. Fawzi responded that invitations had not been issued yet as there was still no definite clarity on who the representatives of the opposition would be.

Geneva Activities

Mr. Fawzi informed that the International Conference Centre yesterday hosted a meeting of international organizations and sports organizations conferring on modes to cooperate better. Wilfried Lemke, UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace, opened the meeting, saying that sport could be “a powerful enabler of our common aspirations”.

On 25 January at 3 p.m. in Room I, the World Health Organization would have a press conference on issuing of the Report of the Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity (ECHO). Childhood obesity had reached alarming proportions in many countries and posed an urgent and serious challenge. The Commission which had been set up in 2014 would present its report and a package of recommendations to address childhood obesity.
Speakers at the press conference would be Peter Gluckman, Commission co-chair and Chief Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of New Zealand, and Dr Sania Nishtar, Commission co-chair and founder and President of Heartfile.

On 26 January at 11.30 a.m. in Room III, the United Nations Children’s Fund
Would launch its global appeal for children in emergencies - Humanitarian Action for Children. UNICEF’s Humanitarian Action for Children highlighted the situation of children living in the most challenging circumstances, who might be facing severe food shortages, violence, disease, abuse and threats to their education. The appeal outlined the support required to help them survive and thrive, and showed the results UNICEF and its partners had achieved and were working towards. The speaker would be Afshan Khan, UNICEF Director of Emergency Programmes.

Mr. Fawzi stated that the Conference on Disarmament would start its 2016 session on 25 January and would hold its first public meeting on 26 January at 10 a.m. in the Council Chamber of the Palais des Nations. The opening public meeting of the session would hear the Acting High Representative for Disarmament Affairs – Mr Kim Won-soo – reading out a declaration by the UN Secretary General.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child was reviewing today the report from Zambia (Room XXIV), which would be the last report to be reviewed by the Committee in its 71^st session. Concluding observations on the 14 countries reviewed during the session would be issued the following week. Mr. Fawzi said that he would convey a suggestion by a journalist that the Committee representatives hold a press conference at the end of the session. Rupert Colville, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), informed that the person to contact in that regard was Liz Russell. Committees were independent and it would be up to them to decide when to address the media.

Brigitte Leoni, for the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), said that 1,200 scientists, policymakers, business people and practitioners were coming to Geneva the following week from 27 to 29 January to agree on concrete ways that science and technology could contribute to managing disaster risk and reducing disaster losses. It would be the first gathering of such kind, and it would take place at the International Conference Centre. There would be experts from Cuba, Kenya, China, Japan, Colombia and a number of other countries. Dr Robert Glasser, new Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, would hold a press briefing on 28 January, the details of which would be subsequently confirmed.

Ms. Leoni reminded that the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction had been adopted in March, 2015, in Sendai, Japan, and was the global agreement for reducing disaster risks, and achieving substantial reductions in disaster losses over the next 15 years.

Jessica Hermosa, for the World Trade Organization (WTO), informed that on 25 January,
Director-General Roberto Azevêdo would meet Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan, Minister for Commerce of Pakistan, at the WTO. The same day, the Dispute Settlement Body would meet at 10 a.m.

On 28 January, DG Azevêdo would meet Dr. Xiaogang Zhang, President of the International Standards Organization, at the WTO. On 29 January, he would meet
Mr. Børge Brende, Norway's Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Human Rights Council

On behalf of the Human Rights Council, Mr. Fawzi informed that the Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review Working Group was reviewing the human rights situation in Somalia this morning.

In the afternoon, the Working Group was scheduled to adopt its reports for Namibia, Niger, Mozambique, Estonia, Paraguay and Belgium, whose reviews had been held earlier this week. Those reports would be shared with journalists beforehand.

On 25 January, the UPR Working Group would review Seychelles and Solomon Islands.

ICRC priorities in 2016

Dominik Stillhart, for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), briefed the press on trends in conflict observed by the ICRC, as well as the Committee’s operational priorities and key challenges for 2016. He made three key points regarding trends in conflict:
§ Related to the changing nature of conflict: conflicts today were increasingly multi-layered, and hijacked by transnational, radical agendas. The ICRC also observed that conflicts were more and more fragmented, and protracted.
§ Related to the “increasing erosion of respect for international humanitarian law”, the ICRC observed constant attacks against health-care facilities and workers, in Syria (where 60 percent of hospitals had been damaged or destroyed), Yemen and South Sudan. The use of explosive weapons in densely-populated areas was destroying vital public infrastructure, and the medieval tactic of sieges was depriving populations from access to food and essential services.
§ All those factors were leading to growing humanitarian needs, with a record-high number of internal displacements since the Second World War.
Regarding the 2016 budget and priorities, the spokesperson said that, following a sharp increase of the ICRC’s operational budget over the past three years, from 1 billion CHF in 2012 to 1.5 billion CHF in 2015, the total budget for 2016 would be 1.7 billion (with the field budget at 1.526 billion CHF). A key priority area for the ICRC was the Middle East, with Syria at the heart of the crisis in the region, and at the origin of a huge migration stream.

Syria had seen further escalation of the conflict in 2015, with an additional one million people displaced in 2015 alone, more than 250,000 people killed, over one million wounded, 12 million people uprooted (eight million of them internally displaced, some multiple times), and over four million refugees. In Madaya, Foah and Kefraya, what the ICRC had seen over the previous two weeks was “simply unimaginable.” Up to 400,000 people in Syria had been cut off from any humanitarian aid because of the sieges, the lifting of which was being called for by the ICRC.

In response to questions from journalists, Mr. Stillhart stated that the ICRC had not had regular enough access as to be able to say how many had died in Madaya as a consequence of starvation, but that the medical situation was serious, with people showing signs of malnutrition. About 450 people had been evacuated by the ICRC from Foah, Kefraya and Zabadani just before the end of 2015, and less than five within the past 10 or 12 days, medical evacuations being extremely difficult to negotiate. He also mentioned that three ICRC operations had taken place since the beginning of the previous week, the last one on 18 January, and that the Committee was expecting that access would continue. For the past five years the ICRC had consistently asked for access to all of the affected areas. However, the ICRC’s first opportunity to assess the situation first-hand had been on 11 January. The spokesperson promised to share with the press a list of besieged cities, beyond the four which were usually mentioned.

Other priority areas for the ICRC in 2016 were situated in Africa (with the continent accounting for 40 percent of the Committee’s budget): the Lake Chad region, South Sudan (the largest operation run by the ICRC in Africa), as well as Burundi and Libya, which the ICRC was monitoring closely.

Malawi

Mr. Colville said that the OHCHR was concerned by recent developments in Malawi, where the spokesperson of one of the country’s main political parties had recently described gay and lesbian people as “worse than dogs” and had called for them to be killed.

The statements had been made, earlier this month, by People’s Party spokesperson Kenneth Msonda on his personal Facebook page and repeated in media interviews. Mr. Msonda had been subsequently charged under section 124(1)(b) of the Penal Code, which made it a criminal offence to incite others to break the law. He was due to appear before the Blantyre Magistrate Court today, 22 January, after a criminal case had been initiated by two civil society organizations.

Regrettably, on 21 January, the Director of Public Prosecutions had filed a notice before the Chief Magistrate’s Court to discontinue the case, underlining that the State would not prosecute Mr. Msonda.

OHCHR was concerned that the failure to prosecute that case sent a dangerous message that inciting others to kill gay people was legitimate and would be tolerated by the authorities – in effect encouraging violent threats and attacks on the gay and lesbian community in Malawi.

Mr. Colville reminded that in May 2015, Malawi had accepted a recommendation under the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review, here in Geneva, to “take effective measures to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons from violence, and prosecute the perpetrators of violent attacks.”

The Government of Malawi had a responsibility, enshrined in international human rights law, to protect all individuals from hatred and violence based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, and to hold to account anyone who either engages in such violence or incites others to do so. OHCHR thus urged the Government to meet its responsibilities.

Asked whether Malawi had any laws on the books criminalizing homosexual relationships, Mr. Colville confirmed that homosexuality was indeed criminalized, but there had been effectively a moratorium in place on those provisions since 2012. It was still on the books, but it had not been practiced. The current case involved incitement to killing.

Burundi

Answering a question by a journalist, Mr. Colville said that large but peaceful protests supporting the President were taking place. The previous night, there had been heavy shooting in a number of neighbourhoods, and reports had been received of search operations, arrests and ill-treatments of civilians, which had not been confirmed yet.

Zika virus

Christian Lindmeier, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that 20 countries in the Americas had reported Zika cases, and about 10 in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. Most of them were reporting sporadic cases, with larger outbreaks in Brazil and Colombia, among others.

Suspected microcephaly cases which had recently occurred in Brazil numbered over 3,800 and had led to some 49 deaths. It was very important that the link between Zika and microcephaly was still being investigated and had to be further looked into. Teams were working with Brazil to investigate it. French Polynesia, which had had a larger outbreak of Zika virus in 2013 and 2014, had experienced cases of attacks on the nervous system in several patients. Links between the two were being looked at.

Zika came from the same mosquito which transmitted dengue, yellow fever, and chikungunya. The best prevention measures included long sleeves and trousers, insect repellents and sleeping under mosquito nets. Countries were doing their best to eliminate the breeding grounds for mosquitos. At this point, no specific travel advisory had been issued by the WHO. National centres could issue their travel advice to their own nationals, based on the evidence that they had. Pregnant women should naturally consult with their doctors.

Asked if all microcephaly deaths had occurred in 2015, Mr. Lindmeier responded that 46 cases had been reported in 2015, and the number now stood at 49. The disease could have different origins, including toxins, drugs, and the Down syndrome. The strongest reason for the outbreak of microcephaly was indeed Zika. Zika was still very much unknown as it was mostly a very mild disease which could be treated easily. If there was a link to microcephaly, it would be a whole different story. A briefing by an expert was planned the following week and the details would be communicated.

The conference on obesity on 25 January might be held at another time, based on when the Special Envoy for Syria would address the media.

On the meeting of the Executive Board on 25 January, Mr. Lindmeier said the issues discussed would include the reform of the WHO and Ebola. Journalists could look at the schedule online. The subject of the Zika virus could be raised by Member States.

Mediterranean migrants
Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), briefed on the migrant arrival situation in Europe. Mr. Millman declared that around 37,000 migrants had reached Europe since the beginning of the year. He added that IOM Athens reported two shipwrecks in the Aegean late the previous day, in which at least 15 people had lost their lives. The nationalities of dead people remained unknown. This new tragedy brought to 120 the number of deaths in January. More info could be found in the IOM press briefing note.
Responding to questions on the arrival area of those migrants, Mr. Millman confirmed the biggest part of them were arriving to Greek islands through Eastern Mediterranean waters. About 1,000 migrants had come through Central Mediterranean waters.
Mr. Millman added that in January 2014 and 2015, only 6,000 migrants had arrived in Europe.

Migration, asylum and refugees in Germany
Mr. Millman spoke about the migrants’ situation in Germany. According to the Head of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) Frank Jurgen Weise, Germany was expecting the arrival of approximately 500,000 refugees in 2016. During 2015, one million had registered their intention to seek asylum in Germany. More info could be found in the IOM press briefing note.

Ebola cases in Sierra Leone
Following the confirmation of a new Ebola case in Sierra Leone on January 12, and confirmation of another case on January 20, Mr. Millman said that the IOM and its partners were reactivating cross-border health screening at Guinea’s borders with Sierra Leone and reinforcing their surveillance capacity in the border area closest to the outbreak.

The webcast for this briefing is available here: http://bit.ly/unog220116

The podcast for this briefing is available here:
ftp://MWE-BPAG:Vq26parG@unis-ftp.unog.ch/BRIEFINGGVA20160122.mp3