POINT DE PRESSE DU SERVICE DE L'INFORMATION (en anglais)
Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the International Organization for Migration, the World Food Programme, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the UN Refugee Agency, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Geneva Activities
Ms. Heuzé said there were three important meetings taking place in Geneva today. The Economic and Social Council was continuing its humanitarian segment, under the theme of special economic, humanitarian and disaster relief assistance. Yesterday, a panel discussion was held on gender-based violence in humanitarian emergencies and today, ECOSOC was holding a panel discussion on chronically under-funded emergencies. At 1 p.m., the President of ECOSOC, Ambassador Ali Hachani of Tunisia, would be giving a press conference along with three Vice Presidents at the conclusion of the humanitarian segment.
Meanwhile, Jan Egeland, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, was launching today the Mid-Year Review of the Humanitarian Appeal 2006. He would be meeting with the donor community from 1:15 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. in Room XXVI. This side event to the humanitarian segment of ECOSOC would review humanitarian appeals that aimed to help 30 million people struck by crises in 31 countries worldwide. Journalists were invited to participate in the public part of the meeting from 2:00 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.
Also this morning, the Human Rights Committee was continuing its consideration of the combined second and third report of the United States, which started yesterday afternoon. There was a possibility that the meeting might extend to this afternoon.
Secretary-General’s Activities and Situation in the Middle East
Ms. Heuzé said Secretary-General Kofi Annan was in St Petersburg, Russia, yesterday where he attended the Group of Eight Summit. He met on the sidelines of that summit with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and a transcript of the joint press encounter with Mr. Blair was available in the press room.
Today, the Secretary-General was in Brussels, where he would co-chair a pledging conference to support the African Union Mission in Darfur, Sudan. The embargoed text of his statement to that meeting was available in English and in French.
The high-level UN delegation to the Middle East, headed by the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser, Vijay Nambiar, met yesterday with Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and with Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri. The delegation had then left for Israel, where it would convey its ideas for further discussion, along with the Lebanese comments. The team also attended the meeting held by Arab foreign ministers in Cairo on Saturday. The transcript of the delegation’s comments to the press in Lebanon was available in the press room and once the comments they might make today in Israel were available, they would be put in the press room. Journalists could also refer to the UN website at www.un.org/news where they would find information on everything the United Nations was doing to try to end this violent and tragic situation.
A journalist asked about reports that UNIFIL had at one point during the crisis refused to give refuge to 23 persons who were later killed by the Israeli bombardment. Ms. Heuzé said it was important to remember that the security of civilians was the responsibility of States. She read out a statement by the Secretary-General’s Spokesman, which said “There are allegations in the Lebanese media about the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) denying support to civilians. I would like to categorically deny that. UNIFIL continues to do everything possible to help civilians threatened by the current hostilities within its area of operations. Its capacity to do so is regrettably limited, since in present circumstances it cannot even re-supply its own personnel. Its general advice to civilians is to remain in their villages unless specifically advised to leave, and in the latter case to move northward in small groups. Experience has shown that large concentrations of people are more likely to be attacked, no matter what flag they may be carrying”.
In response to a follow-up question, Ms. Heuzé said that in a closed meeting yesterday at the Security Council, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Ibrahim Gambari, said he was sending a four-person team to Lebanon to evaluate the humanitarian needs of the civilian population following the attacks on civilian infrastructure in Lebanon. She added that the humanitarian situation in Gaza was also very serious and of concern to the United Nations as well.
Asked about the estimated number of displaced persons in Lebanon, Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that there was currently no accurate information on population movement and displacement. UNDP had some estimated figures, including 30,000 persons displaced from the south of Lebanon, and 8,000 from Beirut and 7,000 from Mount Lebanon among others. She noted that many who fled took refugee with relatives and friends, relatively close to their own homes.
Responding to a question, Ms. Heuzé said the figure on the WHO website of 1 million displaced persons so far was probably just a logical estimation, taking into account that Beirut was almost empty. It was evident that there had been a considerable displacement of persons in the first few days. She also noted that if the situation was not resolved diplomatically and no cease-fire was in sight, there would be even more displacement. [WHO later revised the figures on the number of displaced in Lebanon to 400,000].
Speaking about the evacuation of foreigners, Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said IOM had received requests from the Foreign Ministries of Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Moldova and Bangladesh about helping to evacuate their nationals who wanted to leave. There was a sizeable migrant community of about 80,000 Sri Lankans in Lebanon. The requests were mainly from countries of the south, as developed countries had already mobilized efforts to evacuate their nationals. IOM had sent a fact-finding team to Lebanon, which should be arriving shortly, if they had not already arrived. The team was mainly there to assess the numbers of the foreign nationals who wanted to be evacuated. IOM would later issue an appeal to fund this operation.
Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said WFP was watching closely how the situation was developing in Lebanon. WFP did not have any presence in Lebanon. It was sending a team, which was arriving today in Damascus, and then would make its way to Beirut to evaluate the needs of the civilian population. WFP had food stocks in the Middle East and in Italy which would be available for transport to Lebanon very quickly if necessary.
Asked about the food situation in Gaza, Ms. Berthiaume said that WFP had requested a humanitarian corridor into Gaza and this had been approved and had been opened on 12 July. Since then, WFP had transported more than 750 tons of wheat flour. It had a further 2,000 tons of wheat flour in the Israeli port of Ashdod awaiting clearance from customs, which would also be transported to Gaza. This meant that Gaza now had enough emergency stock for 20 days inside Gaza, which would be able to respond to the needs of 220,000 persons, about 50 per cent of the non-refugee population of Gaza. She recalled that UNRWA was responsible for feeding the refugees. Because of the escalation of the crisis, increasing numbers of civilian Palestinians were in need of food aid. The humanitarian corridor was a positive development, but Gaza was totally cut off and the stocks inside were very low. There were continuing electricity blackouts. It was crucial for the humanitarian corridor to remain open.
Dorothea Krimitsas of the International Committee of the Red Cross said there would be a press conference at ICRC on Wednesday, 19 July on the crisis in Lebanon. The exact time had not been decided yet but she would advise journalists shortly. [It was later announced that it would take place at the ICRC Auditorium at 2 p.m.]
Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency said UNHCR was closely monitoring and assessing the situation in Lebanon. Reports from UNHCR staff monitoring the border between Syria and Lebanon said the thousands leaving Lebanon were overwhelmingly Syrian nationals temporarily working in Lebanon. UNHCR was also trying to monitor the situation of some 20,000 Iraqi and Sudanese refugees and asylum seekers within Lebanon. Non-essential UN staff were being evacuated from Beirut. Essential UNHCR staff remained on the ground.
Tsunami in Indonesia
Anna Nelson of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said available was a press release on the Indonesia Red Cross’s response to the earthquake and tsunami which hit the southwest coast of Java yesterday. The number of people killed, injured and displaced had been climbing in recent hours as more debris was being cleared. The Indonesian Red Cross estimated that 28,000 persons had been displaced in eight districts. The Indonesian Red Cross was responding to the disaster by distributing relief goods, including 5,000 blankets, 3,000 tarpaulins and food kits for 400 families.
Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said according to the latest update from Indonesia, it was clear that the numbers of those killed was still rising. According to the Government, 35,000 persons had been displaced, 201 had died and 295 had been injured. The Government had provided food and non-food items to the internally displaced persons. There were six foreigners among the dead so far. Two inter-agency teams had travelled to central Java to assess the extent of the damage.
Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said WFP had sent two teams to the affected region. Seven of the affected departments in Java had not requested any food aid from WFP. In the eighth department, where 60 per cent of the population had been affected, the authorities had requested food and two WFP truck loads had departed, carrying 15,000 tons of food and two other trucks were on their way.
In response to a question on the early warning system which had been installed following last year’s tsunami, Ms. Byrs said that it had functioned very well. The early warning had been sent out in time. The UN still had stocks in Indonesia because of the December 2004 tsunami and the more recent earthquake.
Answering another question, Ms. Nelson said the Indonesian Red Cross had had a huge amount of lesson learning and experience gained following the first tsunami and the earthquake. The Indonesian Red Cross had sent out their field action teams, including medical teams, ambulances and assessment teams, straight into the field and they had responded immediately to the tsunami.
Human Rights: Iraq and Sudan
José Luis Díaz, Spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said he wanted to give journalists a heads up on two reports coming out. One was the periodic report from the Human Rights Office of the UN Mission in Iraq, which had been put out in Baghdad. It talked about the worsening situation since the installment of the new Government in Iraq. It recognized that the security forces were working under extremely difficult conditions, but it also noted that on occasion, the response of the security forces had been a source of human rights violations and further violence. The report talked about reports received about military operations carried out by the multinational forces in Iraq which had resulted in the loss of civilian life and property. That report was issued earlier today in Baghdad and it would be on the website shortly.
Mr. Díaz said the second was a report from the Human Rights Office of the UN Mission in Sudan. It talked about the situation since the signing of the Darfur peace agreement in May. The conclusion of the report was that since the signing of the Darfur peace agreement, there had been no improvement of the human rights situation in that western Sudanese region. Post agreement clashes between armed groups continued to target civilians and popular demonstrations continued to be violently repressed. The signing of the agreement also did not result in any decline of sexual or gender-based violence and women were more at risk than before. Although fighting between the Sudanese armed forces and the Sudan Liberation Army lessened after the signing of the agreement on 5 May, attacks by militia and rebel factions continued unabated, and they were mainly localized in south and north Darfur. The report suggested that the worsening situation following the signing of the peace agreement was due to the fact that, rather than engaging in dialogue on key provisions to gain support for the agreement, the Government had sought to repress dissent around the agreement. This had contributed to the worsening of the human rights situation. The report also talked about the role of the African Union mission in Sudan, which had been the target of attacks by internally displaced persons (IDPs), mainly because the mission was seen by the IDPs as not having done a good enough job in protecting them. As a result of these attacks, the African Union mission had withdrawn from some IDP camps and this had had a negative impact, particularly on displaced women in Darfur. For example, the mission used to run "firewood patrols" in these areas to protect women who had to go out of the camps to look for firewood. As the patrols were no longer around in some cases, they could not provide protection to the women. The report would be available shortly.
Ms. Heuzé noted that in the Secretary-General’s address to the pledging conference in Brussels today for the African Union Mission in Sudan, he said that the mission had performed valiantly, in very difficult conditions, but it must be better resourced and empowered to perform its critical work. The mission must be able to concentrate on the many complex tasks that the peace agreement required it to undertake, on protecting civilians and on responding to ceasefire violations. The UN was also expected much from the Government of Sudan and the success of the Darfur peace agreement would depend to a large extent on its actions and those of the other signatories. The Secretary-General said that he had discussed the situation with President Bashir at the African Union Summit in Banjul. President Bashir had assured his Government’s intention to implement the peace agreement and the Secretary-General said he had reiterated the UN’s commitment to do everything in its power to help bring an end to violence in Darfur and to allow peace to take root.
In conclusion, Mr. Díaz said the Chair of the Human Rights Committee, Christine Chanet, which was meeting now in Geneva, would like to speak with journalists after the Committee examined the first report by the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) which would take place on 19 July in the afternoon and 20 July in the morning. It was significant because it was the first time that the Committee took up a report by essentially the United Nations. He would arrange the briefing.
In response to a question on whether the High Commissioner had written to the Israeli and Lebanese Governments calling for restraint, Mr. Díaz said the High Commissioner had had contact with both Israeli and Lebanese authorities, although she had not written to them. Asked if the Israeli Government had responded to the request from John Dugard, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, to visit the territories as requested by the Special Session of the Human Rights Council, Mr. Díaz said that as far as he knew, Mr. Dugard had not received any response. Planning was going on to have the fact-finding mission to go to the territories. Planning for the mission understandably had been made more difficult by the situation in Lebanon. He would double check to see the status of the mission.
Other
Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency said the Spanish fishing trawler which rescued 51 persons, apparently mostly from Eritrea, in the Mediterranean on 14 July had been standing off the Maltese coast since 15 July and still had not been authorized to dock in Malta. UNHCR had been in contact with the Maltese authorities to express humanitarian concern for the group, some of whom might be refugees in need of international protection, and underlined the urgent need to disembark them as soon as possible in a place where they could receive assistance.
Ms. Pagonis said in Colombia, thousands of civilians were caught up in fighting and violence in two of Colombia’s Pacific Coast departments, Narino and Choco. While hundreds of families had left their homes, indigenous communities in both departments were trapped on their territory and unable to flee to safety. UNHCR was asking the departmental and national authorities to help with the humanitarian crisis and to guarantee the rights of the civilian population in the area.
Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said an estimated 120-150 victims of human trafficking a year would be able to seek short-term specialized medical and psychological assistance at a new rehabilitation centre in the Belarus capital, Minsk. In Pakistan, labour migration officials from 10 Asian countries were meeting in Islamabad this week for an IOM training workshop on administering overseas employment programmes. And in Indonesia, dozens of Nias children who had been schooled beneath tents since the March 2005 earthquake off the west coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra island marked the first day of classes yesterday by moving into a new school built by IOM.