REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Alessandra Vellucci, Director, United Nations Information Service, chaired the briefing attended by the spokespersons for the Human Rights Council, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the International Organization for Migration, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the World Intellectual Property Organization.

Syria

Ms. Vellucci said the UN Secretary-General had said on 23 February that he was very encouraged that the Syrians, who had accepted the United Nations invitation to be in Geneva in the context of the resumption of the intra-Syrian talks, had sat together in the same room today. He commended the work of his Special Envoy in bringing this about and for resuming the talks. He had expressed appreciation for the presence of the members of the Security Council and the International Syria Support Group at the welcoming on 23 February. This underlined the importance of international unity behind the UN-led political process in the weeks and months ahead.

The Secretary-General urged the Syrians who have accepted the invitation to be in Geneva to engage in good faith as the Special Envoy sought to facilitate the process. While acknowledging that progress would not be easy, the Secretary-General believed strongly that only a political solution could bring peace to Syria. Syrians who had committed themselves to this goal should redouble their efforts for peace.
Ms. Vellucci added that the intra-Syrian talks today would continue on the basis of Security Council resolution 2254, with the Special Envoy for Syria holding meetings with invitees to the talks during the course of the day.

The Office of the Special Envoy for Syria was expecting to hold a stakeout this evening and the time would be confirmed.

In response to questions, Ms. Vellucci said UNIS had received ACANU’s letter on 23 February and that the Office of the Special Envoy for Syria had taken good note of it. The intra-Syrian talks process was in its very early days. The Special Envoy was seeking to facilitate the process and that required some delicate handling. On 22 February the Special Envoy had given an extensive press conference, following a request from ACANU to have a full-fledged press conference on the eve of the opening of the talks. He had spoken again to the press on 23 February. The Office of the Special Envoy for Syria would continue to provide as much basic information about the talks and about media opportunities as it could, on a regular basis, through its spokesperson and through UNIS.
The details of today’s stakeout and other information about today’s events would be communicated later in the day or at the stakeout tonight.

Ms. Vellucci also said that UNIS was planning for logistics for the weekend in the same way as on weekdays. The Palais would be open, including the Press Bar if needed.

Asked about whether the UN had a definitive list of participants, Ms. Vellucci said she would convey the question to the Office of the Special Envoy for Syria.

Human Rights Council 34^th session

Ms. Vellucci said the Secretary-General would be in Geneva on 27 February and would speak at the opening session of the Human Rights Council. This would be his first address to the Human Rights Council since taking office.

The Secretary-General would also visit the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross, where he would meet its President, Peter Maurer. The Secretary-General would be back in New York on 27 February in the evening.

Asked whether the Secretary-General would speak with Staffan de Mistura during his time in Geneva, Ms. Vellucci said the press would be informed if anything was to be announced.

Rolando Gomez, for the Human Rights Council (HRC), said that the Council’s 34^th session would open on 27 February in the morning and would run until 24 March. On 27 February, the session would start at 9 a.m. in Room XX with opening statements from the President of the Council, Ambassador Joaquin Alexander Maza Martelli of El Salvador, to be followed by a statement from the President of the General Assembly, Peter Thomson. The UN Secretary-General would speak after Mr. Thomson, followed by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, and Didier Burkhalter, Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland, the host country.

Thereafter, a long list of speakers attached to the High-Level Segment would speak starting at 10 a.m. with Mahmoud Abbas, President of the State of Palestine. Following Mr. Abbas will be the Prime Minister of Libya, Fayez Mustafa al-Sarraj, who would speak at approximately 10.10 a.m. The High-Level segment would run through 1 March, and there were some 106 speakers registered to speak, the highest number ever.

On 27 February at 3 p.m., the High-Level segment would be suspended to hold the annual High-Level panel on human rights mainstreaming. This year’s panel would be focused on the contribution of human rights to peacebuilding. It would feature remarks from the President of the General Assembly and the High Commissioner. Among the panellists would be Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator. The discussion would underscore the interdependency between human rights and peace and security. Human rights and abuses are at the very core of almost all armed conflicts around the globe. The concept paper on the panel would be shared later on.

On 28 February the Council would continue with the High-Level Segment. The updated list of speakers would be shared with the press this afternoon. All meetings through the session would run from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. uninterrupted. The meetings would be webcast live, press coverage and statements would be available on the OHCHR extranet. Care would be taken to preserve seats for the press in the press gallery, but on the busiest days, such as 27 February, it was recommended that press arrive early to secure a spot. There would also be many side-events taking place during the session. Those would be listed in the bulletin of informal meetings, which would be shared with the press the evening before each day, along with the usual media update.

In response to a question, Mr. Gomez said the appendix to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea report would be uploaded today in the afternoon. He also said that the keynote speeches would be shared with the press as early as possible. In response to a question about representation from the United States, he confirmed that in the High-Level Segment list of speakers, on 1 March at 10.50 a.m., the scheduled speaker for the United States was Erin Barclay, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State.

In response to a question regarding why Israel was not on the list of speakers at the High-Level Segment, Mr. Gomez confirmed they were not on the list but that it was possible for States not inscribed on the High-Level Segment to participate in the general segment, which was an extension of the High-Level Segment at the Ambassador level. The HRC did not have that list yet. Israel could also still join the High-Level Segment at this late stage. He also said that all States who wished to be inscribed on the list sent the HRC a note verbale and there was no proactive measure on the HRC’s part to seek out if States were participating or not.

Ms. Vellucci also said that the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, would be in Geneva to address the Human Rights Council at 5.40 p.m. on 28 February. Mr. Jagland would have two days of bilateral meetings in Geneva on 27 and 28 February, and if the press was interested in speaking to him, UNIS would make available the contact details of the person responsible for his press relations.

Israel/ Occupied Palestinian Territory

Ravina Shamdasani, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said that OHCHR was deeply disturbed at the lenient sentence given by the Tel Aviv Military Court earlier this week to an Israeli soldier convicted of unlawfully killing a wounded Palestinian in an apparent extrajudicial execution of an unarmed man who had clearly posed no imminent threat.

Sergeant Elor Azaria had been convicted of manslaughter in January 2017 for shooting dead Abdelfattah al-Sharif in Hebron in March 2016. At the time, Mr. al-Sharif had been unarmed and lying wounded on the ground after having been shot for stabbing and wounding an Israeli soldier. Although manslaughter carried a maximum punishment of 20 years, Sergeant Azaria had been sentenced only to 18 months in prison and been given a demotion.

More than 200 Palestinians had been killed by the Israeli security forces since the most recent upsurge in violence had begun in the West Bank in September 2015. Sergeant Azaria was the only member of the Israeli security forces to have been brought to trial for such a killing.

While the prosecution and conviction were very welcome steps towards accountability, the punishment - which was excessively lenient - was difficult to reconcile with the intentional killing of an unarmed and prone individual. It also stood in contrast to the sentences handed down by other Israeli courts for other less serious offences, notably the sentencing of Palestinian children to more than three years' imprisonment for throwing stones at cars. This case risked undermining confidence in the justice system and reinforcing the culture of impunity.

In response to questions, Ms. Shamdasani said this was a longstanding issue with the Israeli authorities, and that OHCHR had been in touch with them over this issue multiple times over the years. It was a chronic culture of impunity. In this case, there actually had been a prosecution and a conviction, which was more than had been seen in any of the other cases. A sentence of 18 months for such a serious human rights violation was unacceptable.

Philippines

In response to questions regarding the detention of Senator Lima, Ms. Shamdasani said that OHCHR had been following the situation in the Philippines and that it was very worrying to see that the senator had been detained, apparently following comments that she had made about President Duterte’s war on drugs. OHCHR would be following the situation closely.

Asked about whether the situation in the Philippines would be on the Council’s agenda, Mr. Gomez said the Foreign Minister of the Philippines, Perfecto Yasay, would speak at the Council on 27 February at approximately 11 a.m. The Philippines was not listed among the reports to be presented, but it was possible that States would raise the situation there during the High-level Segment or during the general debate. Mr. Gomez confirmed that speakers at the Council could say what they wished, just when speaking within agenda items they would need to be within the parameters of the agenda item. The beauty of the Council, he said, was that any global human rights concern could be raised, and that was a unique asset to the Council.

United States

In response to a question about deportations of illegal immigrants to Mexico, Ms. Shamdasani said that as the High Commissioner had said on several occasions, we were witnessing a dangerous trend in the Americas as well as globally. Migrants were increasingly being scapegoated for a host of issues. Those in an irregular situation were criminalized, detained and deported. OHCHR was concerned that the implementation of the executive orders and memos issued this week could breach the United States’ human rights obligations. While it was a legitimate function of the Government to be able to implement migration policies and border security, those must be carried out with full respect for human rights laws and standards.

Asked about the detention of migrants, Ms. Shamdasani said that migrants in an irregular situation should not be detained. Their human rights should be respected whether they were nationals or non-nationals.

Cécile Pouilly, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that UNHCR was aware of a new executive order likely to come the following week, most likely on refugee issues. UNHCR would take a close look at it. UNHCR had already issued three public statements on the border wall and on the previous executive order, which had been suspended.

Asked about the idea of deporting to Mexico migrants who were nationals of countries in Central America, Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said it was his understanding that, generally, countries that would send back rejected asylum-seekers would send them back to their homeland. IOM had an extensive assisted voluntary repatriation programme that had aided with the repatriation of some 60,000 people in 2016 from all over the world. It was a two-way street: the country had to accept the migrant, and the migrant had to wish to go there. In Libya, there had been a large number of Ethiopians who wanted to leave but did not want to go home, and in that case, IOM could not help them. In Latin America, one of the reasons that Congolese, Somali and other African migrants were allowed to continue their journey and eventually apply for asylum was that those countries sometimes did not have diplomatic relations with the African country in question, so there was no way of making contact and arranging a return. Mr. Millman also said that 143,057 people had gone home from Mexico to the three countries of the Northern Triangle (El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, the three countries currently sending the most migrants to the US-Mexico border), in formal deportation flights. He said that the idea to deport Central American nationals to Mexico was not yet policy and was just being discussed, as there was a lot of concern in all the countries in the region about this.

In response to further questions on the matter, Mr. Millman said he believed it was correct to say there had to be a bilateral arrangement between the sending country and the receiving one, and the receiving country should be the one that had jurisdiction over the citizen in question. It was not unheard of, however, for countries to negotiate the movement of people in third countries, for example thousands of Haitians poured into other islands and the US coast guard arranged to transport them back to Haiti. Bilateral negotiations would probably have to go on in this case too, but it was improbable that any Latin American Government would be inclined to cooperate. Until there was an agreement, this would remain a theoretical question.

Myanmar

In response to questions, Ms. Shamdasani said that OHCHR was aware of reports that operations in Rakhine state were officially over. OHCHR did not yet have access to those sites to verify that that was the case. OHCHR also understood that the Government had announced a number of inquiries. The High Commissioner had called for an investigation into the horrible human rights violations that had been reported. However, those were national investigations and did not meet the standards of credibility and independence that OHCHR expected in the case of such serious violations. The High Commissioner stood firm on his call for an independent investigation to be conducted by external actors.

Asked about the national investigation underway, Ms. Shamdasani said there had been already an investigation taking place even prior to the issuance of the OHCHR report, but that the methodology that was being used did not meet the strict human rights methodology that OHCHR used. For example, protections needed to be put in place to ensure that people who were being interviewed were able to speak freely and would not suffer reprisals in reaction to what they had said. The people conducting the operations should be in no way linked to the operations, to the Government, the military or the police. Among the new investigations that had begun, one of them was actually a police investigation.

Ms. Shamdasani also said that OHCHR had tried to enter the area and was always trying and still negotiating with the Government to be able to get access. The Special Rapporteur on Myanmar was currently in Bangladesh, in Cox’s Bazaar, and she was conducting interviews and trying to establish the facts of what had happened in Rakhine state.

On the interviews conducted by OHCHR staff in Cox’s Bazaar, Ms. Shamdasani said that they had had a lot of reports of people saying their men were missing. It was not clear yet what had happened to those missing persons.

Asked about contacts between the High Commissioner and Aung San Suu Kyi, Ms. Shamdasani said she understood there had been no follow up call yet with her, since the High Commissioner had last spoken to her the day the report had come out. In the conversation, she had expressed her concern about OHCHR’s findings and was shocked. The High Commissioner had called on her to use all her moral standing to bring the operation to an end. The reports that the operation had come to an end were welcome, but OHCHR needed access to be able to verify that that was indeed the case. OHCHR continued to engage with the Government on various levels.

Ms. Vellucci added that there would be a session on Myanmar at the Human Rights Council on 13 March (date to be confirmed), and the Special Rapporteur would speak to the Council on that issue.

Mediterranean update

Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that alarming incidents had occurred in Libya over the past six days. This morning, IOM was informed of another incident, the casualty profile of which was not known. Late on 23 February, IOM had heard about the 69 migrants found in a shipping container. Out of those, 13 had been discovered dead, including two teenagers. Any number of the remaining 56 people were in very serious condition in the hospital. There was also not a final number of casualties in the case of a boat that had drifted onto the beach, with 74 people found dead on that site and another six found in the water. There was a question as to whether the 21 missing were survivors that had fled inland from the coast or people whose remains were lost at sea. IOM’s chief Mediterranean spokesperson had been in Geneva on 23 February and had explained that the taking off of engines from boats was a tactic that was becoming increasingly popular. It was not clear if this was the work of a mafia cracking down on competition or whether parts in vessels were so hard to come by that the smugglers felt they need to recover the expensive components of their operation as quickly as possible. There had been over 100 deaths in the past week in three such incidents.

Looking at the total deaths in 2017 on the Mediterranean so far – 366 – and in 2016 over the same time period – 425, it was interesting to note that while the number had been higher in 2016 as the traffic to Greece had been very intense, deaths on the central Mediterranean route were 326 over the first 53 days of the year. This time in 2016 there had been 321 deaths on the eastern route, an almost identical number to the 2017 central Mediterranean deaths. What was different now was that the 326 deaths in the central Mediterranean in 2017 were based on fewer than 12,000 migrants, whereas the 321 in 2016 on the eastern route was based on almost 100,000 migrants. Those numbers showed how lethal the central Mediterranean route was.

In response to questions, Mr. Millman said IOM did work with the Libyan coast guard and over 2,265 people had been rescued by the Libyan coast guard and brought back to Libya, which IOM encouraged. IOM had had many flights in 2017 with assisted voluntary returns, and aimed to assist 6,000 to 7,000 sub-Saharan Africans in 2017 who very much wanted to return, which would be about double the number from 2016. Not everyone on the boats was a migrant intending to go to Europe, and there was a thriving kidnapping business in Libya where people were being held for ransom, then forced onto the boats.

The victims as well as the arrivals were mainly sub-Saharan Africans, but there was a spike in nationals of Bangladesh as well. Last night’s rescue had included a ship with 74 Bangladeshis on it. IOM thought they might be guest workers who had been in Libya for a long time. Generally, this was a crime against some of the poorest migrants in the world.

In response to further questions about what happened to migrants rescued by the Libyan coast guard, Mr. Millman said that generally after they were rescued, they were detained, and could often go back to their homelands with the help of IOM and their own country missions. Assisted voluntary return, repatriation and reintegration (AVRRR) was very strict, and went back to the beginnings of IOM’s tenure in 1951. IOM did not deport migrants. IOM mainly came into contact with those migrants in detention centres. The numbers of returnees were going up, especially from Nigeria, which was the biggest sending country. It was a cumbersome process and involved diplomats coming in from the sending countries to start negotiations and conduct checks. Traveling documents would then have to be provided.

Mr. Millman also said that the months of January-February 2017 were the deadliest he was aware of, but not the most lethal period ever by the sheer number of days and deaths. At least twice in the last two years, there had been months when over 1,000 migrants had died. Still, in 2016 there had been 97 deaths on the central Mediterranean during the same time period, compared to 326 in 2017, which was 300 per cent more. Migration should be safe and legal, and it should have security precautions protecting all, including the receiving countries. IOM would like Governments to search for creative ways to offer safety, and welcomed any such measures. The first component in Libya would be the ability to engage with authorities capable of performing on the ground and fulfilling what had been agreed upon. Mr. Millman also said that in the two and a half years that he had been with IOM, Libya had climbed a very significant curve.

Oslo Conference for the Lake Chad region

On behalf of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Ms. Vellucci said that today, 24 February, humanitarian leaders, including six UN principals, diplomatic representatives and political leaders from Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, would meet in Oslo to address the needs of 17 million people affected by crises in the Lake Chad region, and mobilize financial support for life-saving aid. The financial requirements for the Nigeria and Lake Chad region humanitarian crisis amounted to USD 1.5 billion. That was the funding target for the entire year, not a target of the conference, but the UN hoped to mobilize substantial pledges to continue to scale up and sustain the response. The Conference had started at 10 a.m. Geneva time and could be followed live via webcast. A press conference with the Foreign Ministers of Norway, Nigeria and Germany, and Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien, representing the UN family, would be livecast at 1 p.m. OCHA would share the links to the webcast in an email and would send out a press release.

Christian Lindmeier, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that Rick Brennan from the WHO was also taking part in the Oslo Conference and WHO could share his notes from the meeting if there was interest.

South Africa

Itayi Viriri, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that IOM had just issued a statement through its South African office, expressing its concern at the recent spate of violence targeted against migrants in parts of Johannesburg and Pretoria. IOM condemned the attacks, the looting and burning of property owned by foreign nationals, and called on citizens to refrain from engaging in criminal activities and taking the law into their own hands. IOM encouraged citizens who were aggrieved by various societal issues to raise them with the local authorities. Various research reports in South Africa had shown there was no tangible evidence that there was an increase in crime because of migrants. On the contrary, research showed that immigrants who came to South Africa did not harm the long-term employment prospects and wages of native-born workers. In fact, quite a lot of them created small businesses. Most of the immigrants targeted now were small business owners.

The IOM remained committed to supporting the South African Government in dealing with this situation. In previous spouts of this kind of violence in 2008 and 2015, IOM had assisted the authorities in helping some of the people affected by the violence to go back home to Zimbabwe, Mozambique and other countries.

In response to questions, Mr. Viriri said he did not have numbers on how many migrants were currently in South Africa and that issue was always a debatable one. The current violence was mostly targeted in the Pretoria area. Some of the migrants were, unlike last time, saying they would protect themselves, which escalated the situation. So far, no loss of life had been reported. The South African Government had gone on record on 23 February as saying that the violence had to stop and that they would make sure people and property would be protected.

Geneva Events and Announcements

Christian Lindmeier, for the World Health Organization (WHO), announced a virtual press briefing (VTC only) on 27 February at 3 p.m. Geneva time, as WHO would publish a list of bacteria for which new antibiotics were urgently needed. This would be the first-ever list of antibiotic-resistant “priority pathogens”—a catalogue of 12 families of bacteria that posed the greatest threat to human health. The list—which was divided into three categories according to urgency of the need for new antibiotics: critical, high and medium priority—had been drawn up in a bid to guide and promote research and development (R&D) of new antibiotics. The main speaker would be Dr Marie-Paule Kieny, Assistant Director-General, Health Systems & Innovation, WHO.

In response to questions, Mr. Lindmeier underscored it would be the first time ever that WHO was publishing a list of bacteria posing the greatest risk. It would offer guidance for research and development as to which areas to look into the most right now, and would also provide an idea of how big the threat for the coming years and generations would be. He also said that he would check whether background information could be provided to the press ahead of time, and that he would relay the press’ concern regarding the need to receive the information in a manner they would understand.

Mr. Lindmeier further said that in the week of 27 February would start the bi-annual WHO consultation and information meeting on the composition of the influenza virus vaccines, which would be used for the 2017/18 Northern Hemisphere influenza season. The consultations would take place from 27 February to 1 March, and on 2 March the information meeting would take place, where representatives of manufacturing bodies and national regulatory agencies would be present.

Mr. Lindmeier also announced a press conference on 2 March at 2 p.m. in Press Room 1, on two new reports on the environment sector released by the WHO: “Inheriting a sustainable world: Atlas on children’s health and the environment” and “Don’t pollute my future! The impact of the environment on children’s health.” The reports would be under embargo until 6 March at 00:01 GMT (London time) and 01:01 CET (Geneva time). The speakers would be Maria Neira, WHO Director, Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health, Annette Prüss-Ustün, Scientist, WHO Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health, and Marie-Noel Brune Drisse, Technical Officer, Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health.

Edward Harris, for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), announced an event on 28 February hosted by the Australian Permanent Mission, called “Future Dreaming”, at WIPO starting at 6.15 p.m. It would be an evening in celebration of Australian indigenous culture and innovation, to which the press was invited. The event would include a dance performance as well as a reception featuring indigenous art and video displays, as well as a menu of Australian produce. The speakers would be Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, the Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Michael Møller, UN Geneva Director-General, and WIPO Director-General Francis Gurry.

Ms. Vellucci announced a press conference by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on 28 February at 9.30 a.m. in Room III, on the launch of the Child Alert on the Central Mediterranean Migration Route, ‘A deadly route for children’ (focus on Libya, survey results and testimonies from children and young women). The speaker would be Afshan Khan, UNICEF (new) Regional Director and Special Coordinator for the Refugee and Migrant Crisis in Europe. Sarah Crowe, for UNICEF, said she had copies of the embargoed report available and that the embargo would be lifted on 28 February at 9.30 a.m.

Ms. Vellucci reminded the media of a press conference of the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic on 1 March at 2:00 p.m. in Room III, when the COI 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.

She also announced a press conference on 2 March at 10 a.m. in Press Room 1, by the Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Leilani Farha, who would discuss her report on the “financialization of housing”.

Ms. Vellucci said that it was a tradition that ministers participating in the Human Rights Council sometimes also participated in the High-Level Segment of the Conference on Disarmament. The Conference on Disarmament would hold public meetings on 27 and 28 February, and 1 March. During those meetings, 19 Ministers or Deputy Ministers would address the Conference, upon the joint invitation of the President of the Conference, H. E. Mr. Alexei Borodavkin, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation, and of the Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament and Personal Representative of the Secretary-General of the UN, Mr. Michael Møller. The list of participants of the High-Level Segment would be made available on 27 February. Ms. Vellucci would ask for the list of those already confirmed to be shared with the press before then.

In response to a question, Ms. Vellucci said that she had no information for the time being about the Secretary-General coming to the Conference on Disarmament, but would inform the press if anything came up.

Ms. Vellucci announced that the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), had started this morning its review of the report of Micronesia, the last country whose report would be reviewed during the session, which would end on 3 March.

Ms. Vellucci also said that the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights would conclude this afternoon its sixtieth session.

The webcast for this briefing is available here: http://bit.ly/unog240217