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 Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the International Organization for Migration, the International Trade Centre and the World Trade Organization and UNICEF.

Nigeria
Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that areas of north-eastern Nigeria were now increasingly accessible to humanitarian partners and the UN was moving in as fast as possible, in collaboration with the relief arm of the Nigerian Government as well as other humanitarian organizations and NGO partners. A new press release from OCHA spoke about the new, recently enabled environment for humanitarian action and the situation that humanitarian actors were finding in the area after the Boko Haram insurgency. There was particular concern about severe acute malnutrition in Borno state and generalized food insecurity. More than half a million people required immediate food assistance. The call for action was for a much faster and much wider response, as the operation was very severely underfunded. The appeal for Nigeria, to deal with issues related to the Boko Haram insurgency and other humanitarian operations, had asked for USD 279 million and was about 22 per cent funded. A few days ago, the Emergency Relief Coordinator had released some USD 13 million to that particular issue, and OCHA was urging other donors to follow suit. But even with the CERF money, USD 204 million were still required.

In response to questions, Mr. Laerke said that the conflict in north-eastern Nigeria had already displaced 2.4 million people. The displacement meant that food insecurity was growing. The displaced were mainly subsistence farmers who could no longer produce food for themselves. The security situation was not ideal, but international humanitarian actors on the ground could access the areas in question. Some returns of people had been reported, but humanitarian assistance would be dispensed where human suffering was found, without waiting for people to return.

In response to a question, William Spindler, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that UNHCR echoed OCHA’s concerns regarding humanitarian access inside Nigeria and the need to fund operations inside Nigeria and also in the neighbouring countries. He would try to find out if there had been any movements towards these countries.

In response to another question, Mr. Laerke said that the capacity and capability of Boko Haram had been weakened by the Nigerian army and the regional force that had joined the Nigerian army in fighting Boko Haram over the past year or so. Areas previously under the control of Boko Haram had been regained by the authorities. That gave humanitarian actors more prospects for sustained access. The Acting Humanitarian Coordinator had said some days ago that out of the 27 local Government areas in Borno state that were affected, only four were under Boko Haram control and the rest had been regained by Government forces (although this may have changed since then). In terms of the appeal, the USD 279 million was for all humanitarian operations inside Nigeria, mainly related to the Boko Haram violence and the humanitarian consequences thereof.

In response to a question, Ms. Vellucci said that on 30 June the UN Secretary-General had condemned the terrorist attack in Cameroon and had asked for the international community to continue strengthening the support to countries threatened by Boko Haram. She added that the attack, on 29 June, was in a region that bordered with Chad to the east and Niger to the west. Mr. Laerke said that there were appeals in neighbouring countries and that the objective was in part addressing the spill-over of Boko Haram.

Greece
Mr. Spindler spoke about a large-scale exercise to pre-register asylum seekers on mainland Greece, launched on 8 June by the Greek Asylum Service with UNHCR's support. So far, more than 15,500 people residing in open temporary accommodation structures had received asylum seeker cards, valid for one year, allowing them to reside legally in Greece and to have the right to access services, pending the full lodging of their asylum application. The exercise would help to identify those eligible for family reunification or relocation to another EU country. It would also identify persons with specific needs so that they may be referred to the appropriate organizations and receive assistance and support.

The pre-registration exercise aimed to address the need to access international protection by an estimated 49,000 people currently on mainland Greece. The process was open to those who had entered Greece between 1 January 2015 and 20 March 2016. The exercise was supported financially by the European Commission (DG Home) and implemented with the help of UNHCR and the European Asylum Support Office (EASO). In addition, IOM provided information to asylum seekers about its Assisted Voluntary Return programme.

UNHCR had supported the exercise with technical guidance on the design, planning and preparation, as well as the provision of material resources. UNHCR was also supporting the identification of people with specific needs and facilitated their access to assistance. Among the 15,500 people pre-registered to date, roughly a third of the target population, some 680 unaccompanied and separated children had been identified and referred to EKKA, the specialized government entity in charge of unaccompanied and separated children.

At the end of the exercise, those pre-registered would be given an appointment with the Asylum Service to lodge their asylum claim and access family reunification and relocation. Asylum-seekers would be notified of the date of their appointment by a text message. People with specific needs, including unaccompanied and separated children were being prioritized for appointments.

Following the pre-registration, expanded capacity would be needed to fully register, process asylum claims and follow up family reunification and relocation cases. UNHCR was ready to support the Greek authorities in this regard. Faster implementation and an increased number of places for relocation were needed as more people eligible for relocation were identified. As of 29 June, only 1,970 asylum seekers had been relocated from Greece out of an agreed target of 66,400. Resettlement for those who had family links outside the EU should be also explored.
The exercise was proceeding as planned, with processing capacity now increased to about 700 people per day. The pre-registration was expected to be completed by early-mid August. Pre-registration was ongoing in the Attica and Thessaloniki regions and would move to other parts of Greece in the following weeks.

In response to a question, Mr. Spindler said that that was a special procedure. Usually, people arriving in a country requested asylum in that country and were entered into the asylum system. But in this case, people were arriving in Greece in very large numbers since last summer. Those who arrived more recently were still on the islands and those provisions did not apply to them as they fell under the EU-Turkey agreement. But for those on the mainland, whose movements had been stopped by the closing of the borders, the pre-registration exercise would offer three possibilities: to apply for asylum in Greece, apply for family reunification if they had relatives in other EU countries, or the relocation programme. Voluntary return under the IOM scheme was also possible. UNHCR, together with the Greek asylum system and all partners were trying to find a solution for those people stuck in Greece.

The total of those having arrived in Greece who were still in the country at the moment was 57,000, out of which 49,000 people were on the mainland and the rest were on the islands. Regarding relocation, the agreed goal had been 160,000 thousand places in all countries, not just Greece. The agreement had included 66,400 people to be relocated out of Greece, and 39,600 out of Italy. As of 29 June, 24 countries had made 8,090 places available for asylum seekers to be relocated under the programme. Also as of 29 June, 2,759 asylum-seekers had actually been relocated, including 789 out of Italy and 1,970 out of Greece. The scheme needed to be speeded up. It was important for the EU to support Greece at this moment.

In response to other questions, Mr. Spindler said that it was crucial that more countries came forward with relocation places. The EU’s combined population was over 500 million; it should be possible to find places for those in need, also because not all 57,000 people would apply for asylum. So far, few countries had come forward and those who had, had not offered enough places for relocation. The relocation exercise was a way to share the responsibility of assessing asylum claims, so that Greece didn’t need to deal on its own with this situation, with which it was already overburdened. He also said that it was realistic for Europe to deal with those displaced people as it had dealt with hundreds of thousands or even millions of displaced people in the past.

The asylum seekers could not choose what country to go to but any links they had with a specific country would be taken into account. Most of the asylum seekers had mobile phones and that is why this system of notification about the appointment dates was chosen.

In response to further questions, Mr. Spindler said that the 57,000 he spoke of were the people remaining in Greece, out of over one million people who had arrived in Greece during the recent crisis and had relocated by themselves. UNHCR had been advocating for an orderly relocation programme which would avoid people having to risk their lives and use smugglers. It would have been much more effective for the receiving communities and local authorities to organize the reception of people rather than being overwhelmed by hundreds of thousands of arrivals. They would have been spread all over the EU and it would have been a more regular, predictable system. That is why UNHCR had been advocating for this from the very beginning.

In regards to Brexit, as a neutral, humanitarian and non-political organization UNHCR had not taken a position on the issue during the campaign, nor on its outcome. It had noted with concern a reported increase in racist violence and community tensions since the referendum and added its voice to the UK Government’s condemnation of those acts. UNHCR opposed inciting prejudice, intolerance and xenophobia. Refugees and asylum seekers were particularly vulnerable in that regard; they were people fleeing conflicts and violence, already victims of intolerance and persecution in their home countries and their lives might be in danger. Alongside those negative developments there had also been high levels of generosity from people in the UK, many people had volunteered to help refugees and engage in the refugee cause. It was important to amplify and build on those initiatives. Mr. Spindler also clarified that the United Kingdom was not part of the relocation programme, which was a voluntary programme.

Sarah Crowe, for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said that UNICEF’s ask was that family unity be preserved and that immigration law be broadened, particularly for unaccompanied and separated children, so that if they have family ties anywhere within Europe, not just the EU, this should be taken into consideration. Children were best off in the family unit and needed to be reunified with their families wherever they were and when in children’s best interests.

In response to a question, Mr. Spindler said that countries had been coming forward regularly to offer places, but the number of places was inadequate. Leonard Doyle, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that there had been a large increase in voluntary returns, and according to the latest IOM report there had been 70,000 voluntary returns worldwide in 2015. Greece played a role in that and Mr. Doyle would get back to the press with precise numbers on returns from that country. There had been a relatively large number of assisted voluntary returns facilitated by IOM, from Greece to a variety of countries. There had been assisted voluntary returns to 156 countries of origin worldwide, from 97 different host countries.


IOM joining the UN
Mr. Doyle said that the IOM Council had decided that IOM should join the United Nations system as a related agency. The decision would be transmitted to the UN Secretary-General by letter, and should then go to the General Assembly for approval and signature. It was anticipated that it would enter into force on 19 September at the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants. This would bring IOM into the UN family as a related agency along the lines of the IAEA or the WTO. IOM was very pleased to be at the UN table. On 30 June, IOM had also welcomed among its members the People’s Republic of China, Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands, taking the organization’s membership to 165 States.

Ms. Vellucci said that on 30 June the Secretary-General had welcomed China joining the IOM, saying that the decision was particularly important at this crucial time when the issue of migrants and refugees needed more attention and action than ever before.

Answering a question on whether IOM’s entry into UN system meant that IOM would have to redefine its relationship with UNHCR, Mr. Doyle stated that the two organizations were already collaborating and interacting closely, and that no changes were expected. UNHCR had a very specific and important mandate, and IOM was dealing with a broader population of migrants. He said that migration had become part of the UN story. The issue of migration was written into the Paris Agreement in 2015, at least ten of the Sustainable Development Goals had a specific migration theme to them, and the General Assembly had decided to hold a high-level meeting on refugees and migrants in September. Migration had finally become part of the core agenda of the international system. There was currently no entity within the UN family dealing specifically with migration, but many entities had migration as part of their mandate. It had been considered important that there would be a dedicated migration agency, at this crucial time.

Geneva activities

The Conference on Disarmament had held on 30 June its last public plenary of the second part of its 2016 session. The Conference would hold the third and last part of its annual session from 2 August to 16 September 2016. The next plenary would take place on 2 August at 10 a.m.

The Committee on the Elimination of Violence against Women would open on 4 July in Room XVIII its 64 ^th session, which would end on 22 July, and during which it would review the reports submitted by eight countries under the Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women: the Philippines, Myanmar, France, Albania, Turkey, Uruguay, Mali and Trinidad and Tobago.

The Human Rights Committee which was pursuing its 117^th session at the Palais Wilson, would hold its next public plenary on 4 July at 10 a.m., to focus on the follow-up to concluding observations and to views adopted following the review of individual complaints.

Human Rights Council
Rolando Gomez, for the Human Rights Council, updated the press on the Council’s activities. He said that the Council was in the middle of a very intense voting process. On 30 June it had adopted 11 resolutions. This morning two more resolutions had been adopted so far, one to extend the mandate of the Special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons and the second one on the impact of arms transfers on human rights. The Council was in the middle of a discussion on the promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the internet. There were several amendments to that text. The Council would then move on to the remaining 22 resolutions for action today. All texts were available on the Council’s extranet.

The texts adopted on 30 June covered, among others, issues of youth and human rights, trafficking in persons, discrimination against women, and women’s equal nationality rights. The resolutions included one to create an Independent expert on the protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The post had been created on 30 June and the Expert would be appointed at the next session of the Council at the end of September. The Expert’s mandate would include assessing the implementation of existing international human rights instruments with regard to ways to overcome violence and discrimination against persons on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity; raising awareness of such acts, identifying and addressing the root causes of violence and discrimination; and engaging in dialogue and consulting with States to implement measures to better protect all persons against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

After the conclusion of the vote on all the pending resolutions, the President of the Council would announce the appointment of five mandate holders, in particular the Special rapporteurs on summary executions, on freedom of religion and belief, on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, on the right to education, and a member of the working group on business and human rights.

In response to questions, Mr. Gomez said that the DPRK vote would take place at the very end of the day on 1 July, after 6 p.m. The votes on Eritrea and Syria would take place after 4 or 5 p.m. Updates would be sent to the press throughout the day and posted on Twitter. He also said that the SOGI debate had been the longest debate so far in the Council, lasting nearly three and a half hours given the large number of amendments. For the resolution on civil society coming up later today, 14 amendments had been tabled, and the discussion could last a few hours.

In response to another question, Mr. Gomez said that the appointment of a mandate holder on the protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity was indeed historic and unique, as there was no other mandate that spoke specifically to this issue. It had not been a unanimous decision. It could be considered a milestone towards advancing those important rights.

Press conferences and other announcements

Ms. Vellucci announced a press conference on 4 July at 1.30 p.m. in Room III of Karen Koning AbuZayd, the Special Advisor for the UN Summit on Refugees and Migrants, on the preparations for the Summit (New York, 19 September 2016) and recommendations in the Secretary-General's report "In Safety and Dignity: On Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants".

Jarle Hetland, for the International Trade Centre (ITC), announced that ITC would be hosting the Women Vendors Exhibition and Forum in Istanbul on 1 and 2 September, which would be preceded by the She-Trades Trailblazer Summit on 31 August. This conference would focus on women’s economic empowerment and on making trade more inclusive for women in business. It was also a place where business was done, and the hope was to supersede what had been done in 2015 in Sao Paulo, where women entrepreneurs had made business deals of more than USD 20 million. On 6 October in Geneva would be launched the 2016 SME Competitiveness Outlook and the press would receive advanced copies. There would be a press briefing on 6 October in the morning and the press would be invited to the general debate at the WTO in the afternoon.

On 12 and 13 October ITC would be hosting its main conference of the year, the World Export Development Forum in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The theme would be “Trade for Success - Connect, Compete and Change” and would explore issues such as the impact of the mega-regional trade agreements across the world, competitiveness, non-tariff measures, standards, e-commerce and digital technologies. Mr. Hetland also spoke about the eCommerce Caravan organized in partnership with DHL and eBay in Switzerland, with an event taking place today on the Place des Nations. The event aimed to focus on challenges faced by entrepreneurs from developing countries when they tried to do business online. It was an opportunity to meet and build trust with entrepreneurs from Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal and Syria. Their goods were on sale at the Place des Nations today and they would give testimonials. Moreover, it was an opportunity to visit the artisans’ workshops and plantations thanks to 360° virtual reality headsets.

Jessica Hermosa, for the World Trade Organization (WTO) announced a workshop on e-commerce on 5 July at 10 a.m. at the WTO. It was a fairly new area for the WTO and it would be interesting to see what debates and new considerations could emerge from it with regards to digital trade and regulating data flows. The event was being organized by five delegations: Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, Turkey and Australia, and would be open to the media. WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo would deliver the opening remarks.

She also announced several meetings of WTO bodies the following week, including the Services Council, the Committee on Trade and Development and the Dispute Settlement Body, where a panel would be likely established to investigate the complaints of Japan against Korea’s treatment of imported pneumatic valves. Director-General Roberto Azevêdo would be speaking at the International Trade Center’s joint advisory group; he would be meeting with the World Spirits Alliance and would be addressing the eCommerce workshop.

Ms. Vellucci also announced that UN-Habitat was inviting the press to the Delegates Reastaurant on 5 July at 1 p.m. for the European launch of the “World Cities Report 2016 – Urbanization and Development: Emerging Futures”. The speakers would be Dr. Eduardo Moreno Lopez, Director of Research and Capacity Building, UN-Habitat, Reza Pourvaziry, President, International City Leaders, and Councillor Carl Austen-Behan, Lord Mayor of Manchester.

UN-Habitat, together with the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform and in cooperation with the UNECE, would also hold a three-day conference titled “Reviewing the State of Safety in World Cities – Safer Cities +20”. It would take place on 6 July at the Maison de la Paix (Auditorium Ivan Pictet) and 7-8 July at the Palais des Nations (Room XXIV). The conference was expected to assess the state of safety in world cities as a contribution to the HABITAT III Summit (Quito, 17 - 20 October 2016) and the New Urban Agenda. It was also a call to action to strengthen an integrated approach to urban safety, crime prevention and conflict prevention, as an integral part of city governance. There would be interview opportunities with the Mayor of Guadalajara, Enrique Alfaro, who would hold a key note address on “Towards Implementation of Safer Cities in the New Urban Agenda: The Case of the City of Guadalajara, Mexico”, at the Maison de la Paix on 6 July at 9.15 a.m. A number of cities would participate in the event: Quito, Durban, Johannesburg, Geneva, Abidjan, Kabul, Mogadishu, Medellin, Bogota, Sao Paulo, Mexico City, etc. All information was available online.

On 2 July would be celebrated the International Day of Cooperatives from the North and the South, and the Secretary-General’s message was available in the room.

The webcast for this briefing is available here: http://bit.ly/unog070116