REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Alessandra Vellucci, Director, United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing attended by spokespersons of the Human Rights Council, the World Health Organization, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Food Programme, the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations Refugee Agency and the International Telecommunications Union.

Codex Alimentarius Commission
Fadela Chaib, for the World Health Organization (WHO), announced the upcoming 39^th session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission in Rome, from 27 June to 1 July. Ms. Chaib introduced Dr Angelika Tritscher, Coordinator, Risk Assessment and Management, Department of Food Safety and Zoonoses. Dr Tritscher said that at this annual meeting 188 Member States would be represented, to discuss several aspects in relation to food safety and quality as well as nutrition and other important issues such as antimicrobial resistance. The Codex Alimentarius Commission was the heart of the FAO/WHO food standards programme. It was the international standard-setting body for food safety and quality.

Among issues up for decision this year would be guidelines for the control of salmonella in beef and pork, a frequent cause for outbreaks around the world, which was why it was important to provide guidelines to Member States on how to control the microbiological safety of meat better. On the agenda there would also be guidelines on food hygiene, to control food-borne parasites, and with respect to chemical food safety there would be a large number of standards for adoption in relation to the safe use of food additives, maximum residue limits for pesticide residues in food and certain environmental contaminants, in particular a discussion on the discussion on the limit for arsenic in rice. There would be general principles on food hygiene to improve the safety of food globally. With respect to nutrition, there would be discussion on specific nutrient reference values for nutrition labelling on foods. Another important element was antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and there would be discussions on future work by Codex on AMR, to update existing guidelines for Member States for the prudent use of antimicrobials in animal production.

In response to a question, Dr Tritscher said that there were guidelines regarding salmonella in place and they would be updated, giving more advice and tools for countries to better control salmonella in beef and pork.

Syria
Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that on 23 June an inter-agency convoy had delivered life-saving assistance to Jirud in rural Damascus, a hard-to-reach town. The convoy had contained food, health, nutrition and non-food items for 40,000 people in need.

Another convoy, also on 23 June, had gone to the Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhood of Aleppo, delivering health and other assistance including non-food items to 22,500 people. This eastern neighbourhood of Aleppo city was also a hard-to-reach area.

In total, since the beginning of 2016, 906,825 people in hard-to-reach areas, including 334,150 people in besieged locations, had received multi-sectoral assistance including food for at least one month, through the UN’s inter-agency operations. It was a significant increase over the month of March, when the number of beneficiaries had stood at 240,000.

Mr. Laerke also drew the press’ attention to the statement of the Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Stephen O’Brien, to the Security Council on 23 June. The statement was available online. Stephen O’Brien had spoken about the situation in Syria and had mentioned that the July access plan had been submitted to the Syrian authorities on 19 June. In the plan, the UN was requesting access to reach more than 1.2 million beneficiaries in 35 besieged, hard-to-reach and cross-line priority locations. The UN was advocating for the plan to be approved in full without preconditions.

Bettina Luescher, for the World Food Programme (WFP), spoke about the planned air bridge from Damascus to Qamishli in north-eastern Syria. Participation would be open to all of the humanitarian organizations working in Syria. In the beginning, 70 per cent of the aid that would be flown in would be food, the other 30 per cent would be non-food items. Food would be brought in for 150,000 people. The initial focus on food would be necessary as the food situation on the ground had been very dire. WFP did not only food assistance on behalf of the international community and the UN, but also logistics and humanitarian air services. The initial plan was to do the air bridge for a month and carry out 25 rotations, going in and out, for a combined cargo of 1,000 metric tons. The plane would be an Ilyushin 76 and would be positioned at Damascus International Airport. Every single outgoing flight would carry 40 tons of cargo, and the first seven flights would carry only food. So far, various agencies had expressed interest in sending supplies to Qamishli, including WHO, UNHCR, IOM and ICRC.

Hasakeh Governorate, where Qamishli was located, had not been reached by land from within the country since early 2014, because of ISIS control in both the Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor Governorates. More updates would be made public after the operation.

So far overall in Syria, WFP had given out food rations for 3.56 million people in 12 of the 14 Governorates. The goal next week was to reach the full 4 million that WFP regularly helped inside Syria.

In response to questions, Ms. Luescher said that WFP was working with the Syrian Government and the aviation authorities on the ground regarding the necessary permissions, paperwork and approval. The airspace was controlled by the Syrian Government. As everywhere, WHP would rather deliver aid by land, but that was impossible because of ISIS control in the neighbouring Governorates. Last week, WFP was handing out the last ready-to-eat rations for over 5,300 people in Qamishli. Ready-to-eat parcels were out of stock; stocks for general food rations had already run out in March as it had been impossible to get access to Hasakeh Governorate. Air lifts were the necessary choice. All humanitarian agencies could join in. Ms. Luescher would get back to the press shortly regarding who was controlling Qamishli itself.

Mediterranean arrivals
Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that even though the flow of migrants had been almost identical from Libya to Italy as it had been at this time in 2015, the past 24 hours had been very busy. Some 5000 people had been rescued in 40 different incidents between Libya and the straits of Sicily. IOM had heard of at least two deaths, but those numbers had not been confirmed. One week shy of the mid-year point, some 60,000 arrivals had been registered in Italy, on track to be on par with 2015. Moreover, Mr. Millman said that the IOM Chief of Mission in Libya, Othman Belbeisei, had reported the rescue off the coast near Zawiya, by the Libyan coastguard, of five boats with over 1,000 migrants on board. Between 22 and 28 May alone, over 3,600 migrants had been taken back to Libya by the Libyan coast guard. That was quite a new development: Libya was now doing in its waters what European vessels had been doing previously.

Arrivals in Greece were now averaging 50 people a day for the month of June, down from 1,800 a day all through 2015 and at the beginning of 2016, up until the EU-Turkey agreement.

Ethiopian migrant deaths
Mr. Millman shared IOM’s recent information about the deaths of 19 Ethiopians found suffocated in a container truck in Zambia earlier this week. IOM’s mission there had had the opportunity to go to the crime scene and talk to some of the survivors. There had been 76 survivors. Ethiopian migrants had been trying to get to South Africa through Zambia, and IOM had made a number of efforts in this context, including the rescue of 40 Ethiopian children imprisoned in Zambia for having violated immigration law. IOM managed to obtain a pardon for them earlier in June and they were on their way back home.

In response to questions, Mr. Millman said that on this route, migrants came mainly from Ethiopia, with other countries of nationality including Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zimbabwe. It was not clear whether those casualties were typical or extraordinary, as there was a lack of reliable data, since Governments did not report on it and the media landscape was less robust than elsewhere. This was the biggest case that IOM knew of but there had been some other horrifying incidents on that route in the past. In the current case, the story had been widely reported in the Zambian media. There had been almost 100 people in the container, and they had been discovered at a checkpoint after pounding had been heard from inside the container. The survivors were currently staying in shelters run by IOM and the Organization was working on helping them return voluntarily to their country.

Mr. Millman said that people from the Horn of Africa, and not only, had been heading to South Africa for a long time as the economy there was much more vibrant. However, there had been terrible violence against foreigners in South Africa. IOM was in favor of a Schengen-type agreement in Africa. This would allow many more migrants to stay on the continent, if they could move from job to job in nearby countries, and many deaths could be averted.

In response to another question, Mr. Millman confirmed that South African documents made it easier to travel visa-free to many countries in Latin America, making the South Africa to Latin America trail a common one for the wealthier migrants. However, he did not think that that was the case of the individuals involved in the current incident in Zambia, as they had been very badly treated and had been paying very little. They were probably not in the “market segment” of the people buying South African papers. Mr. Millman also said that the information on the incident had come from the IOM Chief of Mission this morning. He would check on the exact location of the incident and would confirm whether the individuals were only of Ethiopian nationality.

Brexit
In response to a question about any official reactions from UN officials in regards to the outcome of the referendum in the United Kingdom, Ms. Vellucci said that a reaction from the Secretary-General should come very soon. (Later on, the statement was distributed to all accredited journalists.)

In response to questions, Adrian Edwards, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that the United Kingdom remained bound by its obligations under domestic and international refugee law. At this point, the outcome of the referendum did not affect that but UNHCR would continue to monitor that and see how the situation would develop. It was a sovereign decision by the United Kingdom and as a humanitarian, neutral, non-political organization UNHCR was not taking a position regarding the campaign nor its outcome. The 1951 refugee convention still applied and the outcome of the referendum had no bearing on that. UNHCR had strong opinions on populism, xenophobia, but did not have a comment on the outcome of the UK referendum.

Mr. Sapey said that he would forward the request for a reaction to his colleagues at the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights.

Mr. Millman read a statement from IOM on Brexit, saying that the referendum results were a process that was started and not concluded. As of now, discussions and negotiations would start on how the relationship between the UK and the EU would look on all policy areas. IOM respected the sovereign issues of the British electorate, while reminding all that managed migration and migration governance was a process of ensuring and improving safe, legal and secure migration for all.

Geneva activities

Human Rights Council and related press conferences
Cedric Sapey, for the Human Rights Council, updated the press on the Council’s activities. The Council was considering today the outcome reports of the Universal Periodic Reviews of Demark, Palau, Somalia, the Seychelles, the Solomon Islands, Latvia, Sierra Leone and Singapore. It would then return to the continuation of the general debate on the Council’s subsidiary bodies.

On 27 June in the morning, the Council would hold a general debate on its Universal Periodic Review, followed by a general debate on the occupied Palestinian territories, and a general debate on the Vienna declaration and programme of action.

In the afternoon of 27 June, the Council would hold an interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Mutuma Ruteere, who would present his latest report on combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other such practices. He would also present reports on xenophobia and migration, and on his mission to Greece. After that, on 27 June in the evening the Council would turn to its interactive dialogue on racism.

On 28 June, there would be interactive dialogues with two independent experts on the situations of the Central African Republic and of Côte d’Ivoire.

In the afternoon of 28 June would take place a panel discussion on using sport and the Olympic ideal to promote human rights (from 3 to 6 p.m.). The speakers would include several former Olympic and Paralympic athletes. The concept note was available online and would be sent to the press the day before.

A list of the draft resolutions that had been received by the Council would be shared with the press next week. The Council would turn to the adoption of resolutions and decisions on 30 June and 1 July.

In response to questions, Mr. Sapey said that the statement of the Special rapporteur on racism would be shared with the press and that his presentation would probably take place at 2 or 3 p.m. on 27 June.

The Special rapporteur would also hold a press conference on 28 June at 12.30 p.m. in Press Room 1.

In response to another question, Mr. Sapey said that the panel on sport would focus on the role of sport in promoting human rights, how sport could further non-discrimination in society, how major sport events could be used to promote awareness and understanding of the application of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and giving practical examples of how to combine sport and human rights. He also said that the panel discussion was based on an initiative by Greece and a group of other countries. The Human Rights Council President would preside over the meeting and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights would deliver the opening statement. A full list of former athletes who would be part of the panel would be shared and some of the speakers would be available for one to one interviews.

In response to other questions, Mr. Sapey said, regarding the general debate on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, that there would be no presentation of a report but a general debate. The latter was held during each of the Council’s sessions on the situation of human rights in the region.

United Nations International Conference in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace
Ms. Vellucci clarified that there were two event related to Palestine on the agenda: the general debate at the Human Rights Council, as well as the United Nations International Conference in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace on 29 and 30 June, held at the Palais. This two-day conference would bring together international delegations including a Palestinian delegation, which would hold a press conference on 29 June at 1.30 p.m. in Room III. The speakers would be Ambassador Fodé Seck, Chair of the UN Palestinian Rights Committee, Ambassador Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to UN in New York, Mohammed Shtayyeh, Senior Advisor to President Abbas on negotiations, and Nabil Shaath, former Palestinian chief negotiator, member of Fatah Central Committee.

Committees
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights would end its 58th session today around noon. During the session, the Committee had reviewed the reports of seven countries, i.e France, Sweden, Honduras, Burkina Faso, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Angola and the United Kingdom. The concluding observations on the reports of the seven countries reviewed during this session would be made public on 27 June at 6 p.m. and would be available on OHCHR’s webpage dedicated to this session.

The Human Rights Committee, which had opened this week its 117^th session at the Palais Wilson, would review today the report of Ghana. During the current session, the Committee would also review the reports of Ecuador, Burkina Faso and Argentina on how they had been implementing the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Conference on Disarment
The Conference on Disarmament, under the Presidency of Peru until 26 June, would hold its next public plenary on 28 June at 10 a.m., under the Presidency of Poland. Next week would be the last of the second part of the CD’s 2016 session, which would come to an end on 1 July.

Other announcements
Sanjay Acharya, for the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), announced that he was leaving his functions.

Ms. Vellucci announced that 25 June was the International Day of the Seafarer, and the 26 June was the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Also, for the first time, on 26 June the international community would observe the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. The Secretary-General’s messages on these days were available in the room.