REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

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

Thailand

Rupert Colville, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said OHCHR was very concerned by the rise in the number of lèse-majesté prosecutions in Thailand since 2014 and the severity of the sentencing, including a 35-year jail term handed down on 9 June against one individual. A Thai military court had found Wichai Thepwong guilty of posting 10 photos, videos and comments on Facebook deemed defamatory of the royal family. He had been sentenced to 70 years in jail, but the sentence had been reduced to 35 years after he had confessed to the charges.

That was the heaviest sentence ever handed down under Article 112 of the Criminal Code, which was also known as the lèse-majesté law. The previous heaviest sentences had been handed down in 2015, when three people had been jailed for between 25 and 30 years by military courts on the same charges. The offence carried a penalty of three to 15 years in jail for each charge of insulting the monarchy.

Between 2011 and 2013, 119 people had been investigated for insulting the monarchy. Over the past three years, between 2014 and 2016, that figure had more than doubled to at least 285.

Statistics provided by Thai authorities showed there had been a sharp fall in the number of people who had been able to successfully defend themselves against lèse-majesté charges. From 2011-13, around 24 per cent of people charged with the offence had walked free, but over the following three years, that number had fallen to about 10 per cent. In 2016, that figure had been only 4 per cent.

While OHCHR appreciated the complexity and sensitivity of the issue surrounding lèse-majesté in Thailand, it was deeply troubled by the high rate of prosecutions and the courts’ persistence in handing down disproportionate sentences for the offence. All people had the right to freedom of expression, including when it came to criticizing public figures. Imprisonment of individuals solely for exercising the right to freedom of expression constituted a violation of Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Thailand had acceded to in 1996. In March 2017, the UN Human Rights Committee, which reviewed implementation of the ICCPR, had concluded that Thailand should review Article 112 of the Criminal Code to bring it into line with Article 19 of the Covenant.

OHCHR also had concerns about the conduct of the trials since the military coup of 2014. Most of the lèse-majesté cases had been tried before a military court, and the hearings had been closed to the public. Most of the accused had been denied bail and some held for long periods in pre-trial detention. While OHCHR welcomed the Government’s decision in September 2016 to cease hearing future lèse-majesté cases in military courts, OHCHR reiterated its call to authorities to apply this is to all pending cases, retroactively.

OHCHR called on the Thai Government to immediately amend the lèse-majesté law to bring it in line with international human rights standards and to review all cases brought under Article 112 of the Criminal code.

In response to questions, Mr. Colville said that OHCHR statistics run only went up until October 2016; the Office did not have the most recent statistics at its disposal to comment on the situation since the change of monarch. The numbers seemed to have risen significantly since the military coup in 2014. Government statistics showed some 290 cases had been brought forth since 2014, only one person had been found not guilty, and 27 people had had charges against them dropped. More than 110 cases were still being investigated.

Mr. Colville also said that he would check whether OHCHR could interact with the monarchy directly in any way – it seemed that their counterpart was more likely the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Russia

Asked about any reaction from OHCHR regarding the recent arrest of Alexey Navalny, Rupert Colville, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said that OHCHR was paying close attention to the issue and to what the charges were. In Russia, as everywhere else, under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly were fundamental human rights. How the authorities’ reaction related to those freedoms merited looking into. He would check whether OHCHR had been or intended to be in touch with Russian authorities on the matter.

Syria

Asked about the use of white phosphorus by US-led coalition forces in Raqqa, Rupert Colville, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said that it was hard to pin down the use of a particular munition or substance to one air force, when there were many different planes in the skies above Raqqa. He would check on that and would get back to the press.

Andrej Mahecic, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said amid ongoing fierce fighting in and around Raqqa city, UNHCR was calling for greater and sustained access so that it could reach tens of thousands of civilians who were in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.

Over 430,000 people were estimated to be in need across Ar-Raqqa governorate. In May alone, over 100,000 people had been displaced. UNHCR’s response on the ground was being closely coordinated with sister UN agencies and other humanitarian partners. But with needs growing and displacement rising, access on the ground was challenging. Relief items were being airlifted from Damascus to Qamishli – a costly and complex undertaking. Until now, there had been no viable land routes available to move supplies. With partners, UNHCR continued to explore all possible supply routes and was working with the authorities to secure greater access to those in need.

Those fleeing the fighting were taking shelter in numerous locations. Many had been displaced more than once. Tens of thousands were passing through camps or transit sites and quickly moving on to other areas or returning to their places of origin. Levels of humanitarian access varied for security and logistical reasons. In Mabrouka camp in Hassakeh, where approximately 1,700 people had taken shelter, regular access by UNHCR and other humanitarian agencies had been possible. There, UNHCR was distributing relief items, erecting tents and continuing work to improve the living conditions and facilities.

In Ein Issa camp - located to the north of Raqqa city and housing approximately 9,000 people in or around the immediate vicinity of the camp – conditions were more difficult. Turnover here was high – approximately 1,000 people arrived and left the camp every day. Nearly 20,000 people had arrived at the camp in one week alone in late May – the majority quickly moving on. Humanitarian agencies including UNHCR had had sporadic access to this area. Ein Issa was over five hours by road from UNHCR’s office in Qamishli where its Raqqa response was coordinated from. Together with its partners UNHCR was distributing relief items and improving infrastructure at the camp to improve conditions and boost capacity to meet the needs of expected new arrivals. Tens of thousands of emergency relief items had already been delivered to both camps.

Needs in other areas housing significant numbers of people fleeing the fighting were being assessed. In Al-Iskandariyeh near Tabqa, an estimated 25,000 people had arrived in May, most had now moved on to other locations. In Al-Hamrat near Karama, an estimated 11,000 had sought shelter in a makeshift camp. And an estimated 40,000 people remained displaced in various settlements in Karama.

In the coming days and weeks, UNHCR along with its partners would continue to provide help for those in need and to step up its response where access and security conditions allowed. Relief items for 50,000 people were available. Additional tents and emergency shelter kits were being moved into the area. Capacity at camps was being boosted. Humanitarian agencies were working to find the most effective ways to get assistance to those in need in what remained a conflict zone where mines and unexploded ordnance were common.

Amid credible reports of civilian deaths, UNHCR reminded all parties of their obligations to abide by international humanitarian law – civilians should be protected and never become targets.

Resources were also badly-needed. Funding was not keeping up with needs on the ground. UNHCR in Syria urgently needed USD 37 million to continue responding to fresh displacement, including the setting up of camps for 45,000 newly-displaced persons. The inter-agency Raqqa response plan which included UNHCR and other UN agencies, had received just USD 29 million of the USD 153 million needed. It was vital to have access, resources and security to continue responding to this latest wave of displacement and suffering to hit already beleaguered and terrified civilians.

In response to questions, Mr. Mahecic said that UNHCR was appealing for better access to parties to the conflict. UNHCR had had no access to the area since 2014. UNHCR was part of the overall response inside Syria led by the UN and its priority was to assist people who had been displaced by the fighting taking place in a civilian urban area, with a heavy civilian death toll and people exposed to extreme violence. Asked about the use of white phosphorus in Raqqa, Mr. Mahecic said he had no information on that.

Asked about the possibility to deliver by land from across the Turkish border rather than doing airlifts, Mr. Mahecic said all of the humanitarian agencies were constantly advocating to reach and assist displaced people by all possible routes and crossings. There were currently exploratory missions looking at the land routes in Syria itself.

Bettina Luescher, for the World Food Programme (WFP), said WFP had been able to reach Raqqa governorate in March 2017, for the first time since July 2015. Parts of the governorate had been fully taken by ISIS in 2014. Since March, the WFP had provided emergency food assistance to more than 170,000 displaced people in Raqqa and for people who had fled Raqqa and were displaced in Deir ez-Zor governorate and Al-Hasakeh governorate. In June 2017, WFP had delivered monthly food rations sufficient to feed nearly 55,000 people in those areas. Those deliveries were not emergency food assistance but part of WFP’s regular food deliveries to reach a total of 185,500 people who had now settled in those areas which were considered as hard to reach by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. In Qamishli, WFP had so far done more than 500 airlifts. It was expensive but so far, it was the only way to intervene there. WFP was sharing UNHCR’s plea for increased funding of those operations.

Iraq

Andrej Mahecic, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that there had been a massive poisoning in one of the camps outside Mosul. Around 800 individuals had been affected by the food poisoning outbreak at Hasansham U2 camp, which housed approximately 6,300 Iraqis displaced from Mosul. Around 200 of this population had been hospitalized. At least one person, a child, had died as a result of the food poisoning. Police were currently carrying out an investigation. UNHCR was extremely concerned with this events in the camp. It was tragic that this had happened to people who had gone through so much suffering already. Staff had been working overnight to coordinate the response with other agencies and authorities in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and Baghdad, to ensure that those who had fallen ill were able to receive swift medical treatment, and that the seriously sick had been provided with transport to nearby hospitals. More water had been provided at the camp, and additional health agencies had been brought in to help with the response. The results of the police investigation were being awaited to understand clearly the chain of events and to draw the lessons from this tragic incidents, which had to reinforce the public health protocols for all agencies to prevent such situations occurring again in the future.

Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said IOM had also heard from its staff in Erbil today that 752 displaced persons had gotten food poisoning, 312 were hospitalized and one child and one adult woman had died as a result. Apparently a contractor had brought food into the camp around 4 p.m. to break the Ramadan fast, to be served at 7.30 p.m. The authorities were indeed investigating where the contamination had come from and whether it had happened as a result of the hours between the arrival of the food and its serving, or something else. There would be more information available during the day. Apparently an NGO based in Qatar had contracted with a local restaurant to provide food for the Iftar that evening.

Food insecurity in developed countries

Asked about whether WFP had any statistics on food insecurity in the United States and developed countries in general, Bettina Luescher, for the World Food Programme (WFP), said WFP did not operate in the United States, and that FAO might have some global studies with numbers on that, as well as US agencies dealing with that topic.

Mediterranean arrivals and deaths

Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said IOM staff in Rome, Italy, and in Libya were reporting two recent incidents having resulted in multiple deaths since the weekend. It was certain that nine bodies from one incident over the weekend had been brought to Italy and 61 persons were believed to be missing. There had also been reports of eight bodies recovered in a dinghy on the Libyan coast, and two more bodies had been found in fishermen’s nets. It was feared that another 100 could be missing from that incident.

Mr. Millman also said that the latest breakdown of nationalities crossing from North Africa to Europe and especially to Italy was available today, and that as it had been the case over the past two years, Nigeria was the first country of origin with 9,286 arrivals so far in 2017. In second positon came Bangladesh, with 7,106 arrivals, against only 20 at this time in 2016. This was a very recent development and came as a surprise. Either Bangladeshi citizens who had been in Libya for a long time were beginning to leave now in greater numbers, or new migrants working with smugglers from South Asia were coming directly to Tripoli and going from there to Europe.

There had also been an incident on the water close to Az Zawiya over the weekend between the Libyan coast guard and armed smugglers. Gunshots had been exchanged and according to IOM reports, a single Bangladeshi male adult had been killed in that exchange, and two other migrants had been injured.

IOM was also reporting today that a total of 246 bodies had been recovered on the Libyan coast in 2017 so far, which was more than one a day. Those statistics were available as IOM had now a better access to the coast guard; it was not known how long this had been going on at the current rate.

As of today, the total number of fatalities in the Mediterranean in 2017 was of 1,808, but there was a possibility of another 100 that were still unaccounted for. Still, those numbers were almost 1,000 below the numbers at the same time in 2016, which was good news. IOM had enabled over 4,000 people to return from Libya to their homes in 2017, and this was not unrelated with the drop in fatalities. Repatriation flights were increasing frequency, which had an impact on the saving of lives.

Geneva Events and Announcements

Paul Conneally, for the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), presented the World Summit for the Information Society (WSIS), which was currently underway since 12 June. The WSIS Forum, in its 12^th year now, was the first and largest multi-stakeholder event of its type, looking at how information and communication technologies could drive development. The entire programme was crowdsourced from a grass-roots level. There were over 200 specialized workshops, for instance today, there would be a unique event on the innovation divide, and another on virtual reality for development. There was an app available on the iTunes and Android store called “ICT4SDG”, where one could find the whole agenda.

WSIS was divided amongst many different action lines, and while ITU was the secretariat, some 16 different UN agencies were working on it jointly. On 15 June at 9.15 a.m. in the CICG, a special three-hour session on SDG 9 organized together with UNIDO would look at innovative investment models to build infrastructure, particularly broadband infrastructure in developing and least-developed countries, to drive industrialization and innovation.

In response to questions, Mr. Conneally said that over 151 countries were represented at the conference and over 2,000 participants were present. He would check if representatives from Taiwan were present.

Rolando Gomez, for the Human Rights Council, said the Council was holding today 13 June, a panel discussion on the human rights of women. It would be a two-part panel, taking place this morning and this afternoon. This morning, the panel would look at efforts to engage men and boys in preventing and responding to violence against women and girls. A concept paper had been shared with the press. There had been an opening statement this morning by Kate Gilmore, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights. The keynote speaker was Karen Ellemann, Minister for Equal Opportunities and Nordic Cooperation in Denmark. One-third of women and girls would experience violence in their lifetime, the Deputy High Commissioner had noted in her remarks. She had also said that one key form of prevention was to change harmful social norms and stereotypes which taught notions of masculinity and femininity leading to a justification of such violence, and dismissing sexual assault as normal. That panel would conclude at 12 p.m. The continuation of the interactive discussion with the Special rapporteur on the freedom of expression and opinion, David Kaye, would then take place. Mr. Kaye had presented his report on 12 June, including from his missions to Japan, Tajikistan and Turkey.

At approximately 1.30 p.m. the Council would hold its general debate on item 3. At 2.45 p.m. the Council would suspend the debate to hear an address from Ildefonso Castro, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of Spain. At 3 p.m. the second part of the panel on the human rights of women would take place, addressing the 2030 Agenda, in particular on health and gender equality. There would be another statement from the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, and among the panellists would be Tarja Halonen, former President of Finland, currently co-chair of the High-Level Working Group on the Human Rights of Women, Children and Adolescents in Finland.

On 14 June, at 9 a.m. the general debate on item 3 would continue. At approximately 12 p.m., there would be an oral update from the Commission of Inquiry on Syria, covering the human rights situation in the country over the past four months. The three Commissioners, Paulo Pinheiro, Carla del Ponte and Karen Abuzayd, would be present and would also hold a stakeout behind Room XX at 3.30 p.m. that same day.

Afterwards, the Council would hear from the rapporteurs on Belarus and on Eritrea, who would be presenting their written reports.

Mr. Gomez also announced a side event under the title “Fake News”, organized today at 2 p.m. in Room XXI by the Permanent Mission of Austria and the NGO Article 19.

Mr. Gomez finally noted that the deadline for the submission of draft resolutions to the Council was 15 June.

Fadela Chaib, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that 14 June was World Blood Donor Day. The purpose of this annual event was to discuss the importance of donating blood to save lives and to thank regular blood donors. This year’s campaign would focus on the necessity of blood donations in emergency situations, following natural or man-made disasters, in war and conflict. In such cases, it was very important to have significant stocks of blood or blood supply chains. Over the past decade, disasters had caused about a million deaths, and every year, more than 250 million people were exposed to emergencies of all kinds (earthquakes, floods and other natural catastrophes). It was thus crucial to have blood stocks readily available.

Today, there were about 112 million blood donations which had been collected around the world, half of them in developed countries, which accounted for only 19 per cent of the world population. For every 1,000 individuals, there were 32 per cent donations in developed countries against 14 per cent in low- and middle-income countries, hence the importance for developing countries to increase their blood donations. More information on this was available on the WHO website, including a factsheet and infographics.

Edward Harris, for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), announced the launch of the Global Innovation Index (GII) on 15 June at 10 a.m. in Room III. The Index was co-published by WIPO, Cornell University and INSEAD, and provided an annual ranking of the innovation capabilities and performance of economies around the world. In its tenth edition, the GII had established itself as a leading reference on innovation and a valuable bench-marking tool for decision-makers around the world.

Innovation played a key role as a driver of economic growth and prosperity. The GII sought to improve the way innovation was understood and measured. It recognized the need for a broad vision of innovation, applicable to developed and emerging economies alike, and includes indicators that went beyond traditional measures of innovation, such as the level of research and development. The speakers would be Francis Gurry, WIPO Director General, Soumitra Doutta, Dean, Cornell College of Business, and Bruno Lanvin, INSEAD Executive Director for Global Indices.

Bettina Luescher, for the World Food Programme (WFP), announced a press conference by WFP’s Somalia country director, Mr. Laurent Bukera, on 15 June at 14.15 p.m., on the fight against famine in Somalia.

Ms. Vellucci said that on 14 June at 10 a.m. in Room III, the International Labour Organization (ILO) would be launching the report “World Employment and Social Outlook (WESO) – Trends for Women 2017”, under embargo until 14 June at 20:00 GMT (22:00 Geneva time). The speaker would be Deborah Greenfield, ILO Deputy-Director General for Policy.

Ms. Vellucci said the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) would continue today its review of the initial report of Pakistan, which it had started on 12 June and would complete this afternoon. It would be the last report the Committee would review in its 61^st session, and starting on 14 June the Committee would meet in private until the end of the session.

The Conference on Disarmament (CD) was holding this morning a public plenary at 10 a.m., under the presidency of Slovakia (who would ensure the presidency until 25 June).

The webcast for this briefing is available here: http://bit.ly/unog130617