REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Alessandra Vellucci, Director, United Nations Information Service, chaired the briefing attended by the spokespersons for the Office of the Special Envoy for Syria, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the World Food Programme, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the International Organization for Migration, the World Health Organization and the World Trade Organization.

Syria

Ms. Vellucci introduced Michael Contet, Acting Chief of Staff to the UN Special Envoy for Syria at the Office of the Special Envoy for Syria (OSE). Mr. Contet said that he had been asked by the Special Envoy to work with his colleagues Yara Sharif and Sasha Azmat to ensure that they could provide the press with as much information as possible in the course of the upcoming intra-Syrian negotiations. Ms. Sharif remained the spokesperson for OSE and the focal point for the press’ daily queries and interview requests. Mr. Contet would periodically come to speak to the press on the Special Envoy’s behalf.

Mr. Contet said that the Special Envoy was ready to receive and looking forward to engaging with Syrian parties arriving in Geneva this week for the intra-Syrian negotiations. The Special Envoy was putting final touches to arrangements in the course of consultations he was having with Syrian parties and international actors in the run-up to the negotiations. He had sent invitations which, along with the substantive agenda for the negotiations, were all based on the wide scope of Security Council resolutions, in particular 2254, which was the main source of guidance in this process. The second operative paragraph of 2254 requested the Special Envoy to convene formal negotiations on a political transition process. The Special Envoy was looking forward to the discussions with the participants in the negotiations to revolve around three sets of issues, specifically mandated to him by resolution 2254. Those were listed in the resolution’s fourth operative paragraph, and they were: the establishment of a credible, inclusive and non-sectarian governance; a schedule and a process for drafting a new constitution; and free and fair elections pursuant to the new constitution, to be administered under UN supervision to the satisfaction of the governance, the highest international standards of transparency and accountability with all Syrians, including members of the diaspora.

Mr. Contet also announced a press conference of the Special Envoy on 22 February at 4 p.m. in Room III, after the end of the weekly Cease-fire Task Force meeting. During the negotiations it was the intention of the Special Envoy to conduct regular stakeouts, and in between those stakeouts Mr. Contet would be asked to speak to the press to provide progress updates.

OSE was working closely with UNIS to ensure that proper access was given to the media to the public parts of the meetings as relevant, in terms of photo sprays and so on.

In response to questions regarding the logistics, Ms. Vellucci reiterated that Yara Sharif remained the first interlocutor for the press corps. However, because Mr. de Mistura would probably not be able to address the press every day, Mr. Contet would be able to inform press on a regular basis on the substance of the negotiations. Regarding the composition of the delegations, Ms. Vellucci encouraged the press to ask the question to Mr. de Mistura on 22 February. Finally, regarding access to the Palais, Ms. Vellucci said that she had discussed with security the possibility of holding Door 21 open. A confirmation on the matter was sent to the press after the briefing: Door 21 would remain open until 9 p.m. throughout the duration of the intra-Syrian negotiations.

Iraq

Matthew Saltmarsh, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that with the new military operations under way in Mosul, UNHCR was focusing efforts on camp construction to shelter many of those who could be displaced by the renewed fighting.

It was estimated that up to 250,000 people could be displaced. Almost 217,000 people had fled hostilities since 17 October, of whom around 160,000 were still displaced. Others had returned to their homes in newly-retaken areas. But the situation remained fluid and terrifying for those trapped or affected by the fighting.

The Government of Iraq had decided, initially, to transport people displaced from western Mosul to camps in the east while new capacity was being added in the south. UNHCR, which had eight camps open or completed at present, and one under construction, had been asked to support a new Government site at Hamam Al-Alil, 20 km south of Mosul. It was expected that many of those fleeing western Mosul would reach Hamam Al-Alil on foot. That site would ultimately shelter 60,000 people. One camp at the site would be built by UNHCR. Another, which had been built by the Government for 24,000 people, would be UNHCR-supported.

With the predicted exodus of up to a quarter of a million people, it would be impossible to accommodate such large numbers on existing land. UNHCR had identified other land that could be used as camps once frontlines shifted.

Meantime, conditions in the densely-populated west of the city were worsening, according to reports and testimonies, and hence concerns were mounting for the well-being of civilians. There were shortages of food, water, fuel and medicine. Half of all food shops had closed and most people could only access untreated water. Food prices were rocketing and there were reports of families burning furniture, clothing and plastic to stay warm. Conditions would deteriorate if civilians were not able to flee the fighting.

During the battle for eastern Mosul, the protection of civilians had been prioritized in military planning and activities, and UNHCR hoped that principle would continue to be upheld. However, the new battle would be different. The city’s west was densely populated, with many narrow streets, and fighting would be street by street. Armed groups had built a network of tunnels.

Insecurity and recent suicide attacks in eastern Mosul had resulted in some families – who had opted to return to their homes – coming back to the camps in search of safety.

In response to a question, Mr. Saltmarsh said that UNHCR did not have official estimates or predictions of the numbers who might be killed in the offensive, but that there was concern as the fighting promised to be extremely intense in the urban areas and there was a risk of hostages and human shields. UNHCR was working with partners on the possibility to implement some kind of cross-line support aid mechanism, to be able to get aid into areas affected by the conflict that had been recently liberated.

Bettina Luescher, for the World Food Programme (WFP) said that with the military operation to retake western Mosul, the WFP was extremely concerned about the more than 750,000 still trapped there, and asked for continued, unimpeded access to all of those in need. WFP had enough food in stock to cover the immediate needs of 770,000 people. Looking back, since the start of the Mosul offensive in October 2016, WFP had provided ready-to-eat food for over 913,000 people. That included all the families displaced in the camps and those remaining in eastern Mosul as well as the retaken areas. For the people in the camps, WFP would give them monthly food rations. All across Iraq, WFP was currently helping some 1.5 million people with monthly assistance. It could take a while for people to leave western Mosul, and it could be a week or so before an influx of people would be seen. WFP, UNHCR and partners were ready to help those escaping the situation.

In response to a question, Ms. Luescher said that the food for 770,000 people were ready-to-eat meals for the first few days, to take care of the people as soon as they came out. Later, they would get monthly rations if they were in camps. In parts of eastern Mosul it had been seen that the public distribution system had kicked in and markets had quickly recovered.

Libya

Elizabeth Throssell, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), introduced Claudio Cordone, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights' representative in Libya. Ms. Throssell said that OHCHR had just put out a press release regarding a report on the trial in Libya of former Gaddafi regime members. The trial in Libya of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and 36 other members of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s regime had represented a major effort by the Libyan judiciary to hold people to account for crimes including grave human rights violations during the 2011 Revolution but had ultimately failed to meet international fair trial standards, according to the report.

The report by UNSMIL and OHCHR analysed key aspects of the trial in light of international standards and Libyan law, and made a series of recommendations to address flaws in Libya’s criminal justice system highlighted by the trial.

The report recognized the challenge of trying former members of the regime, especially amid armed conflict and political polarization, but pointed out that the conduct of the trial raised many concerns that should be addressed by the Libyan authorities.

Among those tried, as well as Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, who had been tried in absentia, there had been the former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi and former Prime Minister Al-Baghdadi al-Mahmudi. They and six other defendants had been given the death penalty after the trial, which had run from March 2014 until the verdict in July 2015.

Speaking by phone from Doha, Mr. Cordone said that the key concerns with regards to the trial related to a number of areas. The trial had been analysed in light of international standards but also national Libyan legislation, and it had fallen short of meeting those requirements. The main areas of concern included prolonged areas of incommunicado detention of the defendants, held by armed groups and others before being brought to the prosecutors. There had been allegations of torture, including some made in court, but the court had dismissed that, saying that the defence had not produced evidence that torture had taken place, whereas the responsibility for investigating these allegations would have been with the court and the prosecution.

Another area of major concern were the rights of the defence. There had been difficulties in appointing and retaining lawyers for the defendants, especially the high-profile ones. Lawyers had complained of difficulties in meeting defendants in private in their places of detention, and in accessing key documentation. One critical issue had been the fact that the prosecution had not presented the evidence in court, except in a very summary fashion, although a lot of written material had been submitted to the court and the lawyers. There had been a Libyan Supreme Court decision issued in 2015 saying that in criminal cases there should be an oral debate of the evidence. The court had also restricted each defendant to a maximum of only two witnesses. In a trial of such complexity, dealing with serious charges throughout the period of the revolution and with such high-profile defendants, a much greater airing of the evidence and a proper debate in court could have been expected.

The trial was now before the court of cassation. In Libya there was not a proper full appeal for criminal trials of this nature, only cassation, which was a review of points of law (which was one aspect of the reform which OHCHR was calling for).

Also, OHCHR found that the way the trial had been conducted had missed the opportunity to provide historical record of the conduct of the defendants and of the regime during the revolution. Had the evidence been presented in court, and given the fact that the trial had been broadcast live, which was a welcome development, it would have given the opportunity for Libyans and everyone else to hear what exactly had happened and what those defendants had been accused of.

OHCHR was calling on the court of cassation to take into full account the due process violations which had been identified and to take remedial action. The court could either change the verdict itself or send the case back for a retrial by the same court of first instance or by another one.

OHCHR was also recommending a review of both the penal code and the code of criminal procedure, to make sure that offenses were well-defined, that safeguards during the pre-trial detention were strengthened in particular in regards to access to lawyers, and that torture allegations be investigated even at this stage. OHCHR was asking for a moratorium on the death penalty, and for all the defendants to be held in facilities under the control of the State. Currently, everyone was held under the control of an armed group, be it in Tripoli or in Zintan, where Saif al-Islam was reportedly being held. There was also a standing request by the International Criminal Court for Libya to surrender Saif al-Islam. Libya had an obligation to comply with the request.

OHCHR recognized that the situation in Libya was difficult and that there were major challenges for the judiciary, but that there were major flaws in the trial which should be regressed for the defendants themselves and as a way to prepare for a process of reform when the State institutions would be in a better state of functioning. The UN mission on the ground was ready to continue to assist in that process.

In response to questions, Mr. Cordone said that there was no time limit as far as when the court of cassation should make a decision. Usually, it took a long time. The court could change the verdict or send the case back for a retrial in front of the same court of first instance, or of a different panel of the same court. All of the defendants except Saif al-Islam were being held in Hudba al-Gassi prison in Tripoli, controlled by a specific armed group. There was confusion as to the status of Saif al-Islam. The commander of the armed group that had been holding him had announced in April 2016 that he had been released, but there was no evidence that that had taken place and as far as OHCHR was concerned, the commander had a responsibility to clarify the status of Saif al-Islam.

Mr. Cordone also said that moving the defendants to facilities under the control of the State was a major challenge and a recommendation that applied not only to those defendants. Among some of the first things that should happen was a judicial screening of all the detainees in terms of their legal situation. Gradually, detention centres under the direct control of armed groups should be passed on to the judicial police, which was the prison service.

Asked about why OHCHR was asking the authorities to surrender only Saif al-Islam to the ICC and not the others, Mr. Cordone said that the ICC had not asked for any other defendants to be surrendered to the court. He reiterated that OHCHR was asking for a fair trial for all those tried in Libya, and that no-one be sentenced to death. OHCHR believed that Libya should cooperate with the Security Council resolution and should hand Saif al-Islam over to the ICC. Having been sentenced in absentia, if he were to be captured by the Libyan authorities he would be entitled to a full retrial. With regards to a question about the money of the Gaddafi regime and what had happened to it, Mr. Cordone said that it was a complex issue. Some money was frozen but a lot of money was present in Libya and the issue was who actually controlled it, but this was not directly relevant to the legal situation under discussion.

In response to further questions, Mr. Cordone said that no-one had seen or heard from Saif al-Islam but that one could not assume that something had happened to him. OHCHR was very interested in the possibility of visiting him again, which they had requested repeatedly, or in receiving some form of proof of life. Regarding Abdullah al-Senussi, he was being held in Hudba al-Gassi prison in Tripoli. There were difficulties, particularly in the last few months, with all the detainees there in terms of access by their families as well as reports of ill-treatment. This was a prison over which the prosecution had no real control, which was a concern.

Horn of Africa drought

Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that the Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Stephen O’Brien had released USD 18.5 million from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to the response in Ethiopia. The money would go to help more than 785,000 people suffering from hunger, malnutrition and severe water shortages in Ethiopia’s Somali region, one of the worst-hit by a very severe drought. In total, more than 5.6 million people in Ethiopia alone were victims of the drought, which had hit the entire Horn of Africa. The USD 18.5 million would allow to provide aid immediately to affected people, provide them with water and health services, as well as nutritional and agricultural services. The people who were going to be helped were mainly pastoralist communities in the Somali region. Thousands of them had been forced to move with their livestock in search of water and pastures. The current drought in Ethiopia and in the wider Horn of Africa had come on the back of a devastating El Niño-induced drought in 2015 and 2016, which had left some 10 million people in need of aid. They have had nearly no time to recover from that drought.

In response to questions, Mr. Laerke said that the idea of the CERF was to distribute the money according to the life-saving criteria valid for such funding. The UN was hoping to make the CERF, which was a success story in humanitarian action, bigger, aiming for a CERF at USD 1 billion in 2018. That had been one of the outcomes of the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016. The USD 18.5 million which had been injected into the response was triggered by the very rapidly deteriorating situation in Ethiopia and in the Somali region, where the pastoralists, who were extremely vulnerable to climatic changes, were in very dire conditions. The humanitarian response plan for Ethiopia as such had requested USD 948 million for 2017 and was currently 33 per cent funded. The donor community was stepping up but the needs were rising very steeply.

Mr. Laerke also said that the humanitarian community in Somalia had just released an operational plan for famine prevention to address the deteriorating situation there, for which they were seeking USD 825 million in additional funding to prevent a famine.

In response to a question, Ms. Luescher for the World Food Programme said that in Ethiopia, the impact of the worst El Niño in 50 years was still strong and the country was still recovering. The Government and partners had helped save countless lives to avert a humanitarian catastrophe. In 2017, 5.6 million people would need food assistance there, a decrease compared to 2016. The drought had shifted to different parts of the country, especially the southern parts. Some USD 268 million was needed by WFP for the next six months for Ethiopia.

In Somalia, close to 3 million people could not meet their daily food requirements. Another 3.3 million needed livelihood support. WFP was planning to reach 4.2 million people in 2017 and was scaling up a lot of its aid operation. WFP required USD 374 million for the additional needs in Somalia.

Leo Dobbs, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that in Somalia, the drought had displaced more than 135,000 people since November 2016, when the short rainy season had begun, according to data compiled by UNHCR, the Norwegian Refugee Council and community based organizations. Swift and substantial action and adequate funding were becoming urgently needed to avoid famine and a repeat of 2011, when some 250,000 people had died, more than half of them aged under five years.

According to the authorities in Puntland, more than 20,000 families had moved to the Bari region. And 1,638 were in need of emergency assistance in the northern town of Galkayo.

People were leaving their homes because of the drought, rising food prices, dry weather forecasts, and ongoing insecurity, and were heading for urban areas, including Mogadishu and the town of Baidoa. The Government was seeking to have aid provided to people in their districts in order to avoid people making a long and dangerous trip on foot in search of help.

There had been reports of deaths and illness, although those were not widespread. On 19 February UNHCR had received reports of 38 deaths due to drought-linked reasons in the Bakool region of south-central Somalia. Medical cases included people with acute malnutrition, especially children, watery diarrhoea, and cholera. Detail was sparse, but those problems were likely to grow unless substantial aid was forthcoming. For example in Ethiopia, where 3,700 people had crossed the border since the beginning of 2017, there had been many cases of acute malnutrition, which concerned around 75 per cent of arriving child refugees. There had not been any substantial movement recorded into Kenya so far.

UNHCR had started helping the displaced in the worst affected areas – Puntland and Somaliland in the north, and the areas of Bay and Bakool. That included the provision of emergency shelter and aid items to thousands of people and a strengthened protection monitoring.

UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations were better prepared to respond to the crisis than in 2011, but funding needs were urgent. For January–June 2017, USD 825 million was needed, but USD 100 million only had been pledged.

In response to a question, Mr. Dobbs said that the Government was taking the issue very seriously. The President had been Prime Minister in 2011 when the previous disaster had occurred. Mr. Dobbs explained that the goal of asking people to remain where they were in areas where UNHCR could assist them, was to avoid having people walk for days on end and arrive in terrible physical shape. In 2011, the peak and the critical period had been in May-June. The response today was starting earlier, but there was only so much time available. The humanitarian organizations were more able now to reach greater areas of the country than in 2011 and this was positive, but one could not afford to be complacent.

Asked about the exact cause of the drought-related deaths of 38 people, Mr. Dobbs said that he did not have details on how they had died.

South Sudan

In response to a question, Ms. Luescher said that WFP was extremely concerned about the situation in South Sudan. Some 100,000 people were in the former Unity State, where aid agencies had been unable to go in and there was insecurity on the ground. Through the conflict over the last three years, the region had been repeatedly affected by dire situations where people were going hungry. The situation could spread to one million people in South Sudan, who were on the brink of famine. This was a man-made disaster, a political problem and a peace and security issue. The people in South Sudan needed a political solution, and peace and security, in order to recover. Humanitarian aid could only achieve so much when there was a lack of peace and political stability.

Some USD 205 million were needed to provide food and nutrition assistance. WFP had been deploying rapid response teams into the various parts of the country together with UNICEF, flying in helicopters whenever situations allowed this, in parts of the country that one could not drive to. WFP had also several Ilyushins doing food airdrops, and was scaling up its response. South Sudan was in the middle of a perfect storm, with three years of conflict, people on the run, weak food markets, a collapsing economy, and limited access for humanitarian and development assistance. The problem was the lack of access to the concerned the regions on a continuous basis. A non-stop, sustained, big operation of the humanitarian agencies was needed.

Some 14 of the counties had global acute malnutrition rates above 30 per cent, and there was a worry that the numbers would go up between February and April. The concern was that by the summer 5.5 million people would be food insecure and in need of humanitarian assistance. It was necessary to act now and pre-position food in areas which would become inaccessible by road during the rainy season for seven or eight months.

In response to questions, Ms. Luescher said that the USD 205 million needed until the end of July were needed to buy transport and pre-position food in areas that would become inaccessible. WFP was concerned about not getting enough funding and was talking to all the donors, who were really stretched. WFP was also supporting all of the humanitarian community and flying in all of the aid workers from other agencies and NGOs around the country where they currently couldn’t go. It was crucially important for people to understand how difficult access was, with insecurity and various factions fighting. The work was dangerous and often delayed. Ms. Luescher would get back to the press with the amount of funding that WFP had already received. She also said that some 1.3 million refugees had fled South Sudan into the neighbouring countries and that because of low funding there, WFP had to cut rations in some places by up to 50 per cent. That is why WFP with UNHCR had made an appeal on 20 February not to forget the 2 million refugees affected by this crisis.

Nigeria

Ms. Luescher also said that Nigeria was another place of concern in terms of a potential famine. She reiterated that what was needed were political solutions.

Yemen

Ms. Luescher said that the places that WFP was concerned about in terms of potential famines included Yemen, where WFP was providing food assistance to 7 million people. There was an unprecedented hunger situation there. WFP had asked for USD 950 million for Yemen for 2017 and urgently needed another USD 420 million.

Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that in a recent joint press release with UNHCR, IOM was announcing that displacement in Yemen had reached 1 million people.

Christian Lindmeier, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that on 20 February the national health authorities in Yemen had launched a nation-wide polio immunization campaign with support from WHO and UNICEF, aiming to immunize more than 5 million children under the age of five. More than 40,000 health workers were taking part in the three-day campaign, involving more than 5,000 vehicles that had to be rented. The campaign had started in all governorates except Saada, where it would take place the following week and would be combined with a measles and rubella vaccination campaign, due to the measles outbreak there. Religious and local council’s officials, as well as health educators were also mobilizing support for the campaign.
It was the first polio immunization campaign since April 2016, due to the security situation which had until now limited accessibility to many parts of the country and had left many children at risk of vaccine-preventable diseases.

Globally polio had been reduced by 99.9 per cent worldwide so far, with only three endemic countries remaining: Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan. As long as polio circulated anywhere in the world, children anywhere were vulnerable, especially those in conflict-affected areas where health systems were fragile and immunity was weak. Experience showed that campaigns such as this one could prevent further spread of polio and ultimately eradicate polio from the world.

In response to a question regarding access, Mr. Lindmeier said that WHO had been in contact with the two parallel health authorities existing at this point, and both had been involved in the campaign and were starting it at the same time, which was a very positive note.

Mr. Lindmeier also said that an oral polio vaccine was being used. He also said that just because there was not an outbreak of polio in Yemen or in the world it did not mean that one should not remain vigilant. One of the goals of the polio vaccination campaign was to look into crisis-prone countries and ensure that most children were vaccinated to avoid further infections and a new rise in polio.

H7N9

Mr. Lindmeier said that an increase in H7N9 cases had been seen since the beginning of 2017, and that there was no evidence of sustained human to human transmission to date, but that it was necessary to remain vigilant on that point.

The national authorities in China had built a strong disease surveillance system and the national focal points were actively reporting, collaborating and sharing information with WHO on a regular basis.

There had been five waves since the detection in 2013 to January 2017. To date, over 1,200 laboratory-confirmed cases had been reported. During the most recent wave, since September 2016, there had been 425 confirmed cases. Most of those cases had had known exposure to poultry or its environment.

In response to questions, Mr. Lindmeier said that no known cases of human to human transmission had been reported. He also said that H7N9 did not show symptoms in the birds affected, making it difficult to detect. Very recently, two highly pathogenic cases had been found in humans, then traced back to the birds, with a high potential of killing or infecting the birds with the symptoms. Viruses evolved all the time so those situations were being monitored very carefully. “Highly pathogenic” did not relate to humans and was a term only used for birds. Otherwise, the influenza evolved with sickness, and out of the 425 confirmed cases in the latest wave there had been 73 deaths. There could have been more cases currently still in clinics and hospitals, and others that were asymptomatic.

Mr. Lindmeier also said that among the latest wave, three clusters had been reported where limited human to human transmission could not be ruled out completely, but the most important was that there was no sustained human to human transmission. As far as the timing of the 425 confirmed cases, 304 of them had occurred between 19 January and 14 February. Mr. Lindmeier did not have the breakdown regarding the three clusters and would get back to the press on that.

Asked about a discrepancy on the number of deaths compared to numbers cited by Chinese media, Mr. Lindmeier said that WHO was using the figures officially reported by the national focal points. Sometimes individual clinics could report in different ways. What was important was the trend, and there was an uptick in the trend from previous years.

In response to a question about a decision in France to kill large numbers of ducks, Mr. Lindmeier said that it was probably related to another type of avian influenza, H5N8, which spread very quickly within poultry. Culling was one of the most efficient known method to stop the spread of the infection; and livestock farmers were usually insured for that.

Mediterranean update

Mr. Millman for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that news had been received late on 20 February that in a shipwreck off Libya, at least 80 bodies had been found. It was not clear whether they had washed up on the beach or had been found on board of the boat. An IOM staff on the beach had heard that traffickers had come and removed the engine from the boat and had left the craft adrift. It was striking and looked like the deliberate punishment or murder of migrants. For the moment the story was developing and the nationality of the victims was not known.

Geneva Events and Announcements

Mr. Lindmeier for the World Health Organization (WHO) said that leading up to World Health Day, focusing on the topic of depression, a briefing on depression and related health disorders with one of the main WHO experts on the topic would be scheduled shortly. Later on it was announced that the press briefing would be held on 23 February at 10.30 a.m. in Press Room 1..

Daniel Pruzin, for the World Trade Organization (WTO), said that the WTO would be holding a press conference on 22 February at noon at the WTO regarding the entry into force of the new trade facilitation agreement. WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo would be speaking, along with the Chairs of the General Council and Preparatory Committee on Trade Facilitation. The agreement was expected to have major economic impact. It was the only multilateral agreement to be concluded by the WTO in its 21 year history. Two more ratifications were expected to come very soon in order for the agreement to enter into force. The agreement would help reduce trade costs by an average of 14 to 15 per cent for WTO members, according to estimates by WTO economists, with greater gains for developing and least-developed countries.

In response to a question regarding the negotiations on cotton, Mr. Pruzin said that the press should contact his colleague, Ankai Xu.

In response to a question on behalf of ACANU regarding a briefing on the SHP for the media, Ms. Vellucci said that it would be on 7 March at 2.30 p.m. in Room III. The confirmation would be sent in writing shortly.

Ms. Vellucci said that the Conference on Disarmament was holding a public plenary today, starting at 10 a.m. It would be the first public plenary under the Presidency of the Russian Federation.

Ms. Vellucci also shared with the press an invitation to an event organized by the Conference on Disarmament. On 22 February, at 3 p.m., the Russian Presidency of the Conference would organize an informal plenary meeting of the Conference to celebrate the 110^th anniversary of the Second Hague Conference for Peace, which in many aspects had laid the foundations of international humanitarian law and arms control. The press was invited to attend. The programme was available on the Conference of Disarmament website.

Ms. Vellucci announced that the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), would start this morning its review of the report of Germany.

Ms. Vellucci also said that the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights had started on 20 February its sixtieth session at the Palais Wilson, by electing to its Presidency Ms. Maria Virginia Bras Gomes of Portugal. Today, the Committee would hold a day of general debate during which it would review in particular a draft General Comment on the obligations of the State in the context of the activities of companies. During the rest of the week, the Committee would meet in private, until the session’s closing public plenary on 24 February in the afternoon.

Ms. Vellucci reminded the press of a press conference on 22 February at 10 a.m. in Press Room 1, by the Human Rights Council (HRC). It would be a background briefing on the 34th regular session of the Human Rights Council, given by Rolando Gómez, Public Information Officer, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights Council Branch.

On 1 March at 2:00 p.m. in Room III, the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic would launch its report on its special inquiry into events in Aleppo based on its investigations of alleged human rights violations committed by all warring parties between 21 July 2016 and 22 December 2016. The report will be shared with media under embargo prior to the press conference. The speakers would be Paulo Pinheiro, Chairperson, Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, and Carla del Ponte, Member of the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic.

Finally, Ms. Vellucci said that today was the International Mother Language Day. There were about 7,000 languages spoken around the world, and 96 per cent of them were spoken by just 4 per cent of the world’s population. More than 50 per cent of those languages were likely to disappear within the next few generations. At the Palais, a series of activities would take place. The official launch by Director-General Michael Møller of the UNOG Centre for Learning and Multilingualism was underway, as well as a photo exhibition “Once Upon a Time, a Document”, at Door 40. From 12.30 to 3 p.m. there would be many activities in front of the cafeteria and in the library. At 4 p.m., a Library Talk about the power of languages in diplomacy would be held.

Asked about the demonstration against unpaid internships at the United Nations on 20 February, Ms. Vellucci said that the UN recognized the important contribution of interns to its work. The internship programmes at the UN were designed for the interns to benefit from a true learning experience. That experience needed to be a part of their pedagogical curriculum and was not to be seen as work provided for free, but as an additional training that was being provided by the United Nations. The UN was committed to making the interns’ experience as enriching from a learning point of view as possible. That was also why there was always a learning objective in the terms of reference for the internships, and why only candidates who were currently enrolled in an educational programme were considered for internships. Of course, the UN depended on the will of the Member States on the matter, and the Member States had decided that internships would not be remunerated. The UN was conscious of the fact that the nationals of some countries could not do internships at the UN as they were not paid. It was also important to know that the UN offered internships in all the regions of the world, so that even if not everyone could afford to do an internship in Geneva, they could perhaps afford to do it in Addis Ababa, Nairobi or Santiago for proximity reasons. In 1996, the Secretariat had asked for interns to be remunerated, but the General Assembly had decided otherwise.

Here at the UN in Geneva, efforts had been made such as a partnership with the cafeteria to lower the price of interns’ meals, and there was a discussion with Geneva University dorms to negotiate the use of rooms in the summer for UN interns. But on the question of compensation, the matter could not evolve until the Member States decided it.

The webcast for this briefing is available here: http://bit.ly/unog210217