REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was attended by the spokespersons for the United Nations Refugee Agency, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Health Organization and the International Organization for Migration.

Syria

Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, on behalf of the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria, said that Special Envoy de Mistura had invited Egypt, France, Germany, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and the United States for joint consultations at the United Nations Office at Geneva on 14 September 2018. The Special Envoy would take that opportunity to follow-up on the meeting held on 25 June 2018 and to discuss with senior representatives of those countries the way ahead on the political process pursuant to Security Council resolution 2254 (2015), including the United Nations effort to facilitate the establishment of a constitutional committee, and the broader dimensions of that effort.

Yemen

William Spindler, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), made the following statement:

“UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is ramping up its response to meet the most urgent protection needs of thousands of families displaced by the fighting in Al Hudaydah, the strategic port city through which 80 percent of all food and aid arrives into Yemen. The offensive to capture the city began in June and has resulted in the displacement of over 50,800 families (roughly 300,000 people) according to OCHA. UNHCR is calling on all parties to ensure the physical safety of civilians and their freedom of movement and to guarantee safe routes for civilians to leave conflict areas.

The conflict has escalated significantly over the past 3 months, in particular in Al Hudaydah governorate. According to the Civil Impact Monitoring Report, over 450 civilians have lost their lives in Yemen in the first nine days of August alone, making it one of the deadliest periods since the start of the conflict in March 2015. Since then, a total of 6,600 civilians have been killed in Yemen and over 10,000 have been injured, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

During focus group discussions with displaced persons from Al Hudaydah conducted in June and July, UNHCR identified a series of protection needs requiring urgent attention. Most prominent among them are the specific needs of children who may be separated from their families, and women, who may be at high risk of sexual harassment and violence either during flight or when living in overcrowded settings. Another common concern is the loss of livelihoods, exacerbated by a decline in purchasing power due to increasing food prices and the decline in value of the Yemeni currency, the riyal.

UNHCR, in coordination with partners, is carrying out in-depth protection monitoring assessments for displaced families in order to identify the most vulnerable and ensure access to protection and referral to specialized services. Over 11,500 displaced families (over 70,000 people) have been assessed country-wide, leading to the provision of a wide range of assistance, including multipurpose cash, rental subsidies and referrals to specialised services.

Vulnerable cases have been referred to UNHCR’s Community Centres in Al Hudaydah, Ibb and Sana’a, where UNHCR and partners provide many services, including psychosocial counselling and support, and legal assistance, including help to obtain national IDs which are crucial for accessing services.

The conflict in Yemen is also affecting refugees and asylum-seekers. UNHCR and partners face significant challenges in ensuring a safe environment, adequate protection, humanitarian assistance and access to essential, life-saving services for refugees who may be vulnerable to serious protection concerns such as early marriage, child labour, increased detention and dangerous onward movement, as the crisis has impacted on their resilience and livelihoods.”

Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, added that at the press conference held by the Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen on 28 August, the Group referred to 6,660 civilians’ having been killed in Yemen. William Spindler (UNHCR) agreed on this figure.

Responding to questions from the press, Mr. Spindler said that there were some 270,000 refugees in Yemen, the vast majority of them from Somalia. Most of the refugees lived in major urban centres with the local population and were thus subjected to the same conditions and had similar vulnerabilities as local Yemenis. There was one small refugee camp – Kharaz. People were still fleeing Al-Hudaydah, where there continued to be heavy clashes, although the front line shifted often.

Ebola

Christophe Boulierac, for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said that, with regard to education, the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) had decided to proceed with the start of the school year on 3 September in the Ebola-affected regions in eastern DRC, in line with the rest of the country. Measures had now to be taken to ensure a smooth and safe start of the new school year. With its partners, UNICEF had drawn up a list of 250 schools in the Ebola-affected health zones, for a total of 82,500 pupils. The measures to be taken included training of school principals and of more than 1,750 teachers in the affected health zones about Ebola and about protective measures against the virus; preparing teachers to sensitize all children at the beginning of the school year on good hygiene practices to contain the spread of the virus; setting up procedures for early detection, isolation and referral to health services of children with Ebola-like symptoms; distributing 500 laser thermometers – 2 in each school - to monitor the health situation of children; installing 1,500 hand washing units – 6 in each school – to promote handwashing and hygiene; distributing 250 megaphones; and providing prevention posters to every school.

With its partners, UNICEF had reached more than 2,000,000 people with Ebola prevention messages since the start of the outbreak in eastern DRC. Ebola awareness and prevention efforts had been rolled out in eight health zones, in close collaboration with the local communities, including 1,089 local community workers. An increasing number of communities were now aware about Ebola and knew how to prevent its transmission. The active involvement of concerned communities was key to stopping the spread of the disease. UNICEF was working closely with those communities to promote handwashing and good hygiene practices, and to identify and assist people who might be infected with the virus. Two health-care workers from Mangina who had survived Ebola had joined the communication teams.

Children represented an unusually high proportion of people affected by the ongoing Ebola outbreak in eastern DRC, with 24 per cent of confirmed cases under 24 years old. Furthermore, some 60 per cent of confirmed cases were women and girls. While there had been no clear analysis of the data thus far, the relatively large number of children in Ebola treatment centres was likely directly linked to the similarly large number of women who had been admitted . Women being the primary caregivers in the home, if they were infected with the disease, there was a greater risk that they would pass it on to their children.

With its partners, UNICEF had also trained over 150 psychosocial workers to assist and comfort children in health centres and to support children who had been discharged as free of Ebola but who might still be at risk of stigmatization upon returning to their communities.

Christian Lindmeier, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that as of Sunday, 26 August, 4,130 contacts and contacts of contacts had consented to being vaccinated against Ebola virus. Of those, 726 were health-care or front-line workers and 901 were children. WHO continued to rapidly scale up its response, including in Oicha, where epi-links to the Mangina epicentre had now been established, so that it was ready for any eventuality.

Responding to questions from the press, Mr. Lindmeier (WHO) said that there were over 100 armed groups operating in the Ebola-affected areas; however, with the help of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), WHO had been able to reach all the regions it needed to access thus far. As of 26 August, there was a total of 111 cases (83 confirmed and 28 probable), including 75 deaths (47 confirmed and 28 probable). More than 2,450 contacts in North Kivu and Ituri provinces were being actively followed up with. It was critical to get information from all areas potentially affected, as quickly as possible, in order to prevent further spread of the virus, including to areas that were impossible to access. There was always a risk that not all the available information was being provided, for a variety of reasons, including cultural factors and difficulty of access to conflict zones. That was why operations were being carried out with partners to get to all parts of the country and to set up any necessary installations.

Asked questions specifically about therapeutics, Mr. Lindmeier (WHO) said that for the first time, there had been regulatory and ethical approval of the provision of five investigational Ebola therapeutics for people infected with Ebola, two of which were already in use - mAB114 and remdisivir. To date, 13 patients had been treated with mAB114, and 4 with remdisivir. There were reports that two of the patients treated with mAB114 had been released, but no further details were currently available.

Asked questions regarding vaccinations, Mr. Lindmeier (WHO) said that as of 26 August, 26 vaccination rings had been defined and 4 additional rings were being defined. Vaccination teams had been vaccinating those rings which included the contacts and the contacts of contacts of 44 recently confirmed cases over the past 21 days. He added that Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, would be briefing the Security Council on 28 August on the topic.

Responding to further questions, Mr. Boulierac (UNICEF) said that it was important to ensure that false perceptions of the activities of UNICEF did not spread within local communities, especially the more remote ones, and thus hinder humanitarian help.

and Maria Luisa Silva, Director of the UNDP Office in Geneva, United Nations Development Programme. The launch event would also be available to view via WebEx.

Mediterranean arrivals statistics (IOM)

Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that by Saturday, 25 August, all 190 migrants on the Italian Coast Guard ship Diciotti – most of them Eritrean or Somalian – had been allowed to disembark into Italy. According to testimonies gathered by IOM staff from the minors who had disembarked on Thursday, 23 August, the migrants – all malnourished and exhausted – reported having been arbitrarily detained for up to two years in Libya, where many of them had been beaten and tortured by smugglers and traffickers seeking ransom money from their families in their countries of origin. Moreover, Italian doctors who had attended the women on the Diciotti reported that many of them had been raped while in Libya. Mr. Millman had recently spoken to the Chief of Mission in Libya, who had stated that IOM still did not have an estimate of the number migrants in unofficial detention. He had also explained that moving migrants around the country had become more difficult recently because of violence in western Libya, and that the drop in the value of the dinar had had an impact on sub-Saharan Africans, who now struggled more than previously to earn sufficient money in Libya to fund a voyage to Europe; smugglers were therefore relying on other nationalities that were likely to have greater resources.

IOM Spain had reported that total arrivals at sea in 2018 had reached 27,994 men, women and children, who had been rescued in Western Mediterranean waters through Sunday, 26 August. Starting on 26 August, a new, temporary, Motril-based reception centre for foreigners had become operational. The centre could accommodate a total of 250 migrants. A similar reception centre – the first of its type – had also become operational at the Port of Crinavis in San Roque on 2 August. Currently, the centre in San Roque remained the largest centre of its type in Spain, with a total capacity of 450 people.

Given the increase in arrivals, the Spanish authorities had decided to activate such centres in order to speed up the identification process of the newly arrived migrants. The maximum duration of stay in those centres was limited to 72 hours, after which the migrants were transferred to various humanitarian assistance reception centres. The newly opened centres were only for the identification process upon arrival. The humanitarian centres were financed by the Ministry of Labour, Migrations and Social Security and all of them were managed by NGOs.

Responding to questions from the press, Mr. Millman recalled that the ship had first been ordered to wait at anchor off the coast of Lampedusa, which although it was in Italian territory, was closer to Tripoli than it was to Sicily. That ship’s crew had then received authorization to move their vessel to the port of Catania, where the migrants had then remained on board five additional days.

Responding to further questions, Mr. Millman said that the number of smuggler boats using the Central Mediterranean Route had been steadily decreasing. A number of migrants were leaving directly from Tunisia, rather than going through Libya. The fact that with the depreciation of the dinar many fewer West and sub-Saharan Africans were able to afford passage had resulted in a drop in the volume of traffic into Libya and beyond, which would partially explain why traffic to Spain had picked up so sharply.

Initiative in Haiti to Chile migration (IOM)

Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), made the following statement:

“At the request of the Government of Chile, IOM, the UN Migration Agency has opened the first Visa Service Centre for Chile (CAVC) in Haiti, to help Haitian migrants find legal pathways to the South American country. The CAVC opened its doors in the IOM mission compound in Port-au-Prince on Monday, 20 August 2018.

As a result of increased immigration which reached nearly one million foreigners, for a total population of 18 million, in 2017, the Chilean government instituted new migratory policies in 2018. Through the establishment of new visa categories which include Family Reunification Visas, Haitians can now travel safely and legally to Chile.

Earlier this month, IOM signed an agreement with the Government of Chile to provide administrative support services to assist Haitians wishing to join their families in Chile through the Family Reunification Visa. The CAVC opening is the direct result of this agreement.

The Family Reunification Visa was announced in April and became effective this month. The Chilean Chancellor Roberto Ampuero confirmed that as of 2 July 2018, Haitians in Chile with legal status can apply for a 12-month visa for family reunification with IOM’s support.

The importance of this document is to allow children to not be separated from their families, as well as to give them protection, dignity and well-being," said Ampuero, in quotes carried by El Mercurio newspaper.

These changes in Chilean migratory policy were devised to find a solution to the wave of undocumented foreigners arriving in Chile over the last five years. Chile’s steady economic growth, political stability and relatively open job market has made it one of the more attractive destinations for regional immigrants in recent years. It’s evidenced by an influx of migrants, many from crisis-hit Venezuela, the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

The community of Haitian citizens numbers around 120,000 and we believe that for practical purposes we have to help their children and spouses to come quickly and without obstacles to this country,” said Chilean Undersecretary of the Interior, Rodrigo Ubilla in quotes published by Inter Press Service News Agency.”

Mr. Millman added that the initiative was a remarkable accomplishment. Recalling past reports by IOM on the risks that Haitians had faced in South America, including to Brazil and Chile and from Brazil to other destinations including Chile, he said the initiative was also a great example of managing migration, despite the rancour in Chile vis-à-vis Haitian migrants.

In response to a query, Mr. Millman said it was not clear whether the recent rapprochement between Eritrea and Ethiopia had had an impact on migration flows from those countries. Eritreans had accounted for a large share of the migrants from the Horn of Africa starting in 2015, even if their numbers had decreased a lot. Eritrea had contributed the second highest number of migrants to Italy, behind Tunisia.

SDG Symposium at the World Health Organization

Christian Lindmeier, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of World Health Organization would launch a theme issue of the Bulletin of the World Health Organization on health and the sustainable development goals on Friday 31 August 2018 from 11 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. in the Executive Board room at WHO headquarters. The Bulletin was a monthly peer-review journal of public health with a special focus on developing countries. The theme issue comprised a collection of papers to inform policymakers about the strategies, policies, legislation, regulations and standards that would move us all closer to a fairer, safer and healthier world for all. The launch event on 31 August 2018 will include a panel discussion followed by a question and answer session. The panellists would include Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General; Ilona Kickbusch, Director of the Global Health Centre; Jos Verbeek, Special Representative of the World Bank to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland; Maria Nazareth Farani Azevêdo, Permanent Representative of Brazil to the UN and other International Organizations in Geneva;

Other Geneva events and announcements

Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, said that the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), whose session had been opened on Monday, 27 August, would begin its review of the report of South Africa in the afternoon of 28 August.

The International Day against Nuclear Tests was observed every year on 29 August. In 2018, the Director-General would be marking the occasion by delivering a speech at the screening of the film Where the Wind Blew at the Palais des Nations on 28 August at 5 p.m., an event co-organized by the Permanent Mission of Kazakhstan and the Office of Disarmament Affairs.

Press Conferences

Thursday, 30 August at 10:00 a.m. in Room III
International Campaign to Ban Landmines, UNIDIR
Cluster Munition Monitor 2018 Report Launch
Speakers:
Welcome and Introduction: Dr Renata Dwan, Director, UNIDIR
Overview of Report Findings:
Ms. Mary Wareham, Advocacy Director, Arms Division, Human Rights Watch and ban policy editor for Cluster Munition Monitor 2018
Ms. Amelie Chayer, ICBL-CMC, government liaison and policy manager
Mr. Loren Persi, ICBL-CMC, casualties and victim assistance editor for Cluster Munition Monitor 2018
Mr. Jeff Abramson, Final Editor and Program Manager, Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor


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The webcast for this briefing is available here: http://bit.ly/unog280818