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 addressed by Spokespersons for the World Meteorological Organization, the UN Refugee Agency, the World Food Programme. and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Spokespersons for the United Nations Children’s Fund and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights attended the briefing.

Secretary-General in Africa

Ms. Heuzé said the Secretary-General was continuing with his tour in a number of African countries, speaking to the press and delivering speeches. Copies of all of them were available in the press room in English and in French. Speaking before the National Assembly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ban Ki-Moon pledged to do everything possible to ensure continuity and support for the country in this critical post-electoral period. Addressing the African Unity Summit in Addis Ababa, the Secretary-General said the time has come for the rest of the world to assist African countries in adapting to the effects of a warming planet, while strengthening efforts to mitigate climate change. After meeting with the Sudanese President, the Secretary-General said he urged President Al-Bashir, and all parties, to cease hostilities, as an essential foundation for a successful peace process, and humanitarian access in Darfur. He also stressed the urgency of a re-energized political process in Darfur.

In a statement, the Secretary-General condemned in the strongest possible terms a suicide bombing at a bakery in Eilat, Israel, which killed three people and wounded another.

International Day of Commemoration

Ms. Heuzé said the United Nations had commemorated the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust – 27 January – in a number of ceremonies around the world. In Geneva, a ceremony was held yesterday afternoon which heard statements by, among others, Sergei Ordzhonikidze, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva; Ambassador Levanon of the Permanent Mission of Israel; a Holocaust survivor and youngsters from the International Auschwitz Committee who spoke of their experiences as guides at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum. Professor Irwin Cotler delivered the keynote address.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Heuzé said the Conference on Disarmament was meeting in public plenary this morning. To date, it had two speakers on its list, Cuba and Turkey. A press release would be available shortly.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child was meeting in private until the end of the week, when it would release its concluding observations on Friday, 2 February, on the reports which it had considered this session. Yesterday, the Committee reviewed the initial reports of Kyrgyzstan to the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on children and armed conflict, and on sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. On Thursday, 1 February, at 3 p.m., the Committee would be holding an informal meeting with States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In conclusion, Ms. Heuzé said the Spokesperson for the World Intellectual Property Organization wanted to remind journalists that the third global congress on combating counterfeiting and piracy was opening today at the International Geneva Conference Centre and there would be a press conference there at 1 p.m.

In response to a question about the newly-appointed High-Level Mission for Darfur, Ms. Heuzé said she would ask if its members would be available to speak to the press before they left for Sudan.

WMO

Carine Richard Van Maele of the World Meteorological Organization said a new website in French, which provided information on weather conditions in more than 2,000 cities around the world, has been jointly set up by WMO and Meteo France, in cooperation with the Hong Kong Observatory. A press release with more information would be available shortly.

Ms. Richard Van Maele said articles continued to appear in the media regarding a fraud case at WMO. A former internal auditor at WMO continued to make serious allegations in the articles. A response had been put on the website of WMO on Sunday, 28 January. This former employee in a statement to the Swiss authorities had said that “I am trying to speed up this investigation. However, I am having problems in lifting the immunity of a number of people in the WMO for criminal prosecution. I cannot do much about this problem as the Secretary-General has the power to waive immunity, and he will not waive the immunity in relation to a number of people that I have requested that it be waived, apart from Mr. H. I am having problems with this investigation because the Secretary-General will only raise the immunity in relation to the investigation power, not the power to prosecute”. WMO’s response quoted the Swiss authorities as stating in writing that all requests for waiving of immunity had been granted and that the persons concerned had been heard as witnesses either by the police or by the judge. The Swiss authorities added that “therefore, it is false to state that requests for lifting immunity were refused and that this would have been an obstacle to gather testimony or to indictment”.

UN Refugee Agency

Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency said UNHCR was extremely alarmed to hear that 153 Lao Hmong recognised refugees, including a newborn baby, were in the process of being deported from a detention centre in Thailand back to Laos today. But after a tense standoff between a group of 54 male refugees who had been strongly resisting the deportation and had barricaded themselves into the detention centre, the deportation seemed to have been called off for today, although it was not certain it was completely called off. If this deportation did still go ahead, it would be the first time to UNHCR’s knowledge that Thailand would have refouled refugees individually recognised under UNHCR’s mandate.

In Darfur, UNHCR was launching a $ 19.7 million appeal to fund its protection and assistance activities in 2007 for tens of thousands of internally displaced Sudanese as well as Chadian refugees in West Darfur. The appeal noted that despite the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement and the UN Security Council resolution 1706, the security situation in the region remained extremely volatile. Despite these extremely precarious security conditions in Darfur, UNHCR remained committed to assisting the displaced and refugees in the region.

Other

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said available in the press room was a press release on a contribution by Credit Suisse Bank to WFP’s school meals programme in Sri Lanka. Credit Suisse Bank was one of the main private contributors for WFP’s development programmes in Asia.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Friday, 2 February, the Resident Humanitarian Coordinator for the Central African Republic would speak to journalists at 12:30 p.m. about why he thinks the situation in that country is deteriorating.