REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Rhéal LeBlanc, Chief, Press and External Relations Section, United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was attended by spokespersons for the United Nations Refugee Agency, the World Food Programme, the International Organization for Migration, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Central America caravan

Adrian Edwards, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), read the following statement:

“UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has mobilized staff and resources to southern Mexico since Thursday, following the arrival at the Mexico/Guatemala border of thousands of people as part of a ‘caravan’ of refugees and migrants travelling from Honduras.

As of yesterday, over 45 UNHCR staff are in Tapachula, Chiapas State capital and others are en route. Working in support of the Mexican authorities, our teams are providing staffing and technical help to ensure timely registration of asylum seekers, setting up identification and referral mechanisms for those with specific vulnerabilities and needs, and increasing humanitarian help and shelter capacity.

Of concern to UNHCR at present is the developing humanitarian situation among this group, with many people having food, water, health and other needs. There are also kidnapping and security risks in areas the caravan may venture into. Stabilizing the situation has become urgent. It is essential that there are proper reception and other conditions for those seeking asylum as well as for others on the move.

The ‘caravan’, which has been estimated at up to 7000 people or more in size is the second organized march in the region this year, the first having taken place in April in Mexico. In Guatemala UNHCR is monitoring the border at Tecun Uman where we are assessing needs, and with our partners organizing humanitarian help to those most in need. In Honduras UNHCR is monitoring the situation at the border with Guatemala through its partners and its San Pedro Sula Office, as well as working with the authorities to ensure safe reception for those members of the Caravan who have been returning.

UNHCR would like to remind countries along this route that this caravan is likely to include people in real danger. In any situation of “mixed migration”, it is essential that people have the chance to request asylum and have their international protection needs properly assessed, before any decision on return/deportation is made.”

Responding to questions from the press, Mr. Edwards said that, despite initial difficulties, the situation was now being dealt with by the Mexican authorities in a calm, orderly manner, which was important for the effective assistance of those travelling. All the countries along the caravan’s route had the responsibility to give people access to asylum procedures and to assess their needs. People fleeing danger and persecution in their countries of origin required international protection. Some 1,000 people in Mexico had requested asylum thus far. Those marching also had a responsibility to maintain an orderly process. While it was difficult to give hard numbers, in part because the caravan had split into several groups, NGOs in Mexico had recently estimated one of the larger groups at 3,000 people; up to 7,000 or more had been quoted elsewhere.

Asked what would happen should the caravan reach the Mexico-United States of America border, Mr. Edwards said that UNHCR efforts were currently focused on southern Mexico, where most of the people forming part of the caravan were currently stationed. Some would be going back to their countries of origin, while others might continue the journey; it was hard to know exactly how the situation would develop. While there was a large political element in the origin of the situation and how it was playing out, the focus of UNHCR and other humanitarian agencies was on the fundamental need for those who required international protection to have their needs assessed and recognized. All countries had the right to manage their own immigration and borders; the concern of UNHCR was that such management should be asylum-sensitive.

Asked whether the caravan included any Middle Eastern nationals, Mr. Edwards said that the registration process was not yet complete; such data was therefore not available.

Syria

Hervé Verhoosel, for the World Food Programme (WFP), referring to a recently published joint report by WFP and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on the situation in Syria, said that wheat production in 2018 had fallen to a 29-year low of 1.2 million tons, about two thirds of 2017 levels due to an extended period of dry weather early in the cropping season followed by heavy, out-of-season rain. Farmers had reported it as the worst agricultural season in living memory in Al-Hasakeh, the north-eastern region that typically provides almost half the country's wheat. The report also revealed that, although the number of food insecure people in Syria has dropped slightly, continued food assistance at scale was vital. Despite overall improvements in access for food, about one quarter of the households continued to rely on poor quality and quantity diets. Food security monitoring data showed that some 44 percent of households had reduced the number of meals consumed and more than 35 percent had restricted consumption of adults to prioritize children. The situation was more difficult among internally displaced persons, returnees and households headed by women.

On 23 October 2018, the WFP Executive Director, David Beasley, was visiting eastern Ghouta and Rural Damascus. Specifically, he was visiting a school meals site, where WFP was delivering date bars for schoolchildren, and a food distribution point; he was also visiting residents of Zamalka who benefitted from WFP food assistance and would assess the situation with the WFP team. On Wednesday, 24 October, Mr. Beasley would go to Lebanon, where he would visit the WFP project there and meet with the Prime Minister. There were 1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, 700,000 of whom were receiving WFP food assistance. Mr. Beasley would then visit several States members of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf.

About 963,600 internally displaced persons had returned to their places of origin, or 58 percent more people compared to 2017. A total of 23,400 refugees had also returned to Syria from neighbouring countries. Despite the increase in returns, population displacement continued to be the main driver of food insecurity in the country. There were still 13.1 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, 6.1 million of whom were food-insecure internally displaced persons. It was vital to maintain a lifeline of food assistance for vulnerable families in Syria, where unemployment was stood at 60 percent.

WFP was providing food to more than 600,000 schoolchildren, creating an incentive for parents to send their children to school. However, with the drastic rise in wheat prices, such programmes would become more expensive for WFP to run, adding to the list of difficulties faced by WFP in feeding Syrians.

Responding to questions from the press, Mr. Verhoosel said that while it was difficult to provide exact figures, it was likely that everyone in Syria would in some way be affected by the abysmal wheat crop – people would either have less wheat or pay more for it. The displacement of people and the security situation in general had an impact on food insecurity, but were not among the causes of the paltry wheat crop. WFP sought to provide incentives for people returning to Syria to go back to agricultural areas, and some had indeed done so; however, WFP was shifting from food distribution to longer term strategies. Regarding specific future actions, the results of the recently released joint report would need to be analysed and discussed with other agencies and actors to find the best strategy for filling the food gap. Bearing in mind that WFP had already had a financial gap before the recent wheat harvest, it would perhaps be necessary to reprioritize the agency’s activities.

Responding to further questions, Mr. Verhoosel said that there were 6.5 million food-insecure people in Syria; that 7 out of 10 people lived in extreme poverty; that 3 million people in Syria had received WFP food assistance in September 2018; and that WFP required a total of USD136 million in funding until March 2019.

Responding to questions about Mr. Beasley’s visit to the region, Mr. Verhoosel said that the purpose of the visit to Zamalka was to meet with local organizations that worked with WFP and to gain a better understanding of the situation on the ground, especially given the wheat crop. During his meetings later in the week with representatives of States members of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, he would be advocating for additional funding.

Responding to questions about a convoy to Rukban, near the border with Jordan, Mr. Verhoosel said that it was a crucial area that had not received a convoy in a long time; he would have more information on the involvement of WFP in the coming days.

Biometric registration of displaced population in Juba

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

“The International Organization for Migration (IOM) Displacement Tracking Matrix team in South Sudan and partners recently concluded a biometric registration exercise which resulted in a total of 32,113 displaced people living in Juba’s two protection of civilian (PoC) sites being registered.

Biometric registration is a widespread practice in South Sudan, which allows for a more accurate picture of the population living in a displacement site and enables agencies to plan assistance in a more targeted and accountable way.

IOM’s biometric registration database in South Sudan includes over 700,000 people. The organization is working jointly with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to further expand the use of biometric data to avoid duplication of assistance and to ensure that those receiving aid are indeed the intended beneficiaries.

Hundreds of thousands of people sought safety in United Nations bases after the breakout of conflict and widespread violence in South Sudan in 2013. These areas became known as protection of civilian sites. Established in early 2014, the Juba PoC sites host mainly people displaced from Juba town and locations in Unity.


IOM began the exercise in early September with a two-day temporary registration (T-REG), which enabled the organization to quickly account for the people residing in the sites. Through fingerprint registration, IOM created a database of those who could take part in the full registration exercise conducted between 14 September and 16 October 2018. The use of T-REG for the initial stage of biometric registration is a new methodology and a marked improvement over previous uses of ink and tokens.

IOM is working with partners to prepare a detailed report analysing trends in displacement at the Juba PoC sites in comparison to findings from the 2016 and 2018 registration exercises. The report will also draw on the findings of a complementary protection assessment undertaken by protection partners during the biometric registration exercise and is expected to be available before the end of the year.

IOM’s biometric activities in South Sudan are supported by Department for International Development (DFID), the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID), the Office of United States Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), the European Commission Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) and WFP.

As of July 2018, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that there were approximately 1.8 million people displaced in South Sudan. IOM continues to coordinate with relief partners to provide multi-sector humanitarian assistance to displaced and conflict-affected people across the country.”

Mediterranean migrant arrivals

Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that the arrivals from North Africa to Europe, specifically from Libya, or the central Mediterranean route, were at a low compared to previous activity. Moreover, as of 19 October, barely half of all sea arrivals in 2018 to Italy by irregular migrants, or 12,465, had originated in Libya. The route from Libya was very dangerous and also one of the most violent theatres for irregular migration movement. The profile of the route had changed considerably in 2018, with an increasing number of voyages originating in Tunisia and Algeria, as well as Turkey and Greece. Significantly, IOM Libya had reported on 21 October that the total number of vulnerable migrants going home in 2018 on Voluntary Humanitarian Return flights from Tripoli and other Libyan cities had now surpassed 13,000 – to 32 separate countries of origin – marking the first time on record that IOM had sent back from Libya more men, women and children than the total number of irregular migrants sailing to Italy from that country. That was an important milestone. IOM Libya had stated that the similarity in numbers did not indicate that every migrant traveling under the Voluntary Humanitarian Return programme was a migrant who would otherwise have sailed to Italy. IOM Libya had further noted that increased patrolling by Libyan Coast Guard units who intercepted migrants offshore and returned them to Libya had had an impact on the number of irregular voyages completed to Italy in 2018.

Responding to questions from a journalist, Mr. Millman said rather than the result of recent decisions by the Italian Government, violence between armed actors involved in human trafficking had probably most contributed to the fact that almost no rescue operations had recently been carried out in the Mediterranean. In addition, the number of people arriving across the desert into Libya had also plummeted, contributing to the lower numbers of people attempting to reach Italy. Lastly, IOM assistance and awareness-raising among those migrants brought back to shore by the Libyan Coast Guard and held in detention had likely had an impact. That being said, the Libyan route went back a very long time and was unlikely to dry up completely soon. Part of border management was helping conditions change so that migrants and Governments could better manage the situation. Individuals had different “tipping points” in terms of how much they were willing to endure before seeking to go home.

Events hosted by the World Health Organization

First Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health

Maria Neira, Director, Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health, World Health Organization (WHO), announced that the first WHO Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health would be held from Tuesday, 30 October, to Thursday, 1 November. The topic was one of serious concern, as unhealthy air was responsible for some 7 million premature deaths annually. The Conference, which was being held at WHO Headquarters in Geneva, in collaboration with other United Nations agencies, would bring together a number of government officials, policymakers, scientists and other stakeholders, with the objective of raising awareness, scaling up action and creating an alliance to tackle the problem of air pollution. In addition to the Conference, several side events were being planned, including a “Pollution Pods” exhibit on the Place des Nations and a live concert at Palais des Nations on 31 October 2018. Several press releases were being prepared, including one to announce the launch of a report on air pollution and child health.

Responding to questions from the press, Ms. Neira said that the report on air pollution and child health would be launched on 29 October; in addition to a media advisory, a virtual press conference would be held on the same day. The Director-General of WHO would open the conference, together with several other high-level representatives. Over 600 people had already registered for the Conference. While the main events would be taking place in the Executive Board Room at WHO headquarters, additional rooms had been reserved and would be equipped for real-time viewing.

Christian Lindmeier, for the World Health Organization (WHO), added that the conference would be webcast and live on Facebook, too.

Meeting of the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization

Christian Lindmeier, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that the Meeting of the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization would take place from 23 to 25 October 2018 and would focus on polio, Ebola and the human papilloma virus –(HPV). A press conference would be held on Friday, 26 October, at 2 p.m.

World Polio Day 2018

Christian Lindmeier, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that 24 October marked 2018 World Polio Day, a global day to raise awareness and resources in support of the polio eradication effort. The high-level commitment to polio eradication and to mobilizing support for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative came at a crucial time in polio programme’s history. At the time of the founding of the Initiative in 1988, polio had been endemic in more than 125 countries and had paralysed 350 000 children every year. Since then, the GPEI had overseen a 99% reduction in annual cases of polio - down to a historic low of just 22 cases in 2017. Today, only three countries remained endemic to wild poliovirus transmission, and the world was closer than ever to being polio-free. The poliovirus had taken refuge in some of the most challenging and dynamic environments in the world.

Responding to questions from a journalist, Mr. Lindmeier said that cases due to wild poliovirus had decreased from an estimated 350,000 cases in 1988 to 22 reported cases in 2017. Endemic transmission was ongoing in Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan.

Global Conference on Primary Health Care

Christian Lindmeier, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that the Global Conference on Primary Health Care would be held in Astana, on 25 and 26 October 2018, in order to renew a commitment to primary health care to achieve universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals. It would be co-hosted by the Government of Kazakhstan, WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Update on World Investment Forum

Catherine Huissoud, for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), said that Global Leaders Investment Summits were being held on 23 and 24 October; they would be live on the UNCTAD Facebook page. Sustainable Stock Exchange prizes would be awarded during the Forum. An event on “Investing in Sports for SDGs” would be held on the afternoon of 23 October. The Policy Guide on Entrepreneurship for Migrants and Refugees would also be launched that afternoon, at 3.30 p.m., in room XI.

Secretary-General’s message for United Nations Day

Rhéal LeBlanc, for the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, referring to a message from the Secretary-General for United Nations Day, said that despite the odds and the obstacles, the United Nations would never give up the fight against extreme poverty, climate change, human rights violations and conflict. The United Nations was united in reaffirming its commitment to repair broken trust, to heal the planet, to leave no one behind and to uphold dignity for one and all.

Catherine Huissoud, for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), added that UNCTAD would mark United Nations Day with a high-level discussion on investing in peace and security; the event would be held from 3 to 5.30 p.m. in room XXIII.

Announcements

Rhéal LeBlanc, for the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, said that the Human Rights Committee, as part of its 124th session being held at Palais Wilson, would hold two public meetings devoted to its draft general comment on article 6 of the Covenant (right to life): one on the morning of 30 October and another on the afternoon of 1 November. The session would end on 2 November 2018 and the Committee would issue concluding observations on the five countries whose reports it had considered during the session.

Mr. LeBlanc said that the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which had opened its seventy-first session at Palais des Nations on 22 October 2018, was considering the report of Nepal on 23 November 2018. During its session, it would consider the reports of a further seven countries, namely, the Bahamas, the Congo, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Mauritius, Samoa, Tajikistan and The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Mr. LeBlanc said that, on 23 October, the Secretary-General was travelling to Washington, D.C., to meet with government officials, including the Secretary of State.

Asked about a telephone conversation between the Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, and the United States Secretary of State on 22 October 2018, Mr. LeBlanc said they had discussed progress on convening the constitutional committee, towards which Mr. de Mistura had stated he would put all efforts before leaving at the end of November.

Press conference

Tuesday, 23 October at 3:00 p.m., Room III
Office of the President of the General Assembly
Making the UN relevant for all and strengthening multilateralism
Speaker:
• H.E. María Fernanda Espinosa, President of the UN General Assembly