POINT DE PRESSE DU SERVICE DE L'INFORMATION (en anglais)
Corinne Momal-Vanian, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Meteorological Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Health Organization, the International Organization for Migration, the International Telecommunication Union and the United Nations Refugee Agency.
Secretary-General
Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the Secretary-General would brief the General Assembly tomorrow to report on his visit to Chile in the aftermath of the resent earthquake there. He would see how the United Nations Member States could help the Chilean Government and how Member States could do their part.
Conference on Disarmament
Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the Conference on Disarmament was holding this morning a plenary meeting, at which it would hear from a representative of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom to mark the International Women’s Day, which was celebrated yesterday, 8 March.
Human Rights Council
Claire Kaplun of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said that the Human Rights Council was holding this morning an interactive dialogue with the Chairperson-Rapporteurs of the Working Group on arbitrary detention and the Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances and the Representative of the Secretary-General on the human rights of internally displaced persons. This afternoon, the Council would hold a panel discussion on the right to truth.
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination would close its seventy-sixth session on Friday, 12 March, when it would make public its concluding observations on the reports it considered at the current session, namely: Argentina, Cambodia, Cameroon, Guatemala, Iceland, Japan, Kazakhstan, Monaco, the Netherlands, Panama and Slovakia.
Fortieth Anniversary of Non-Proliferation Treaty
Ms. Momal-Vanian said that tomorrow, 10 March, the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research would hold an event in the Council Chamber, at 1 p.m., to commemorate the fortiethanniversary of the entry into force of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
Last Friday, the Secretary-General had also issued a statement on the fortiethanniversary of the entry into force of the Treaty, in which he had highlighted the fact that in less than two months, the parties to the NPT would gather to review the operation of the Treaty and to consider how to promote its full implementation, as well as its universality, said Ms. Momal Vanian.
In his statement, the Secretary-General had further underscored the importance of a successful Review Conference and stated that he would continue his efforts, including through his five-point proposal and Action Plan for Nuclear Disarmament and Non-proliferation, to achieve the long-held and widely shared goal of a world free of nuclear weapons, said Ms. Momal Vanian.
Haiti
Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that the registration of Haiti's displaced was gathering momentum, particularly in and around Port-au-Prince. Data from the first of the mass registration exercise at the Champ de Mars was now fully processed, providing detailed information on 5,000 families. This exercise had also allowed identifying return areas for these persons.
Several partners were providing help to IOM in this exercise, said Mr. Chauzy. The Catholic Relief Services last week had registered 8,000 families at Petionville. IOM also had completed registration last week of almost 10,000 families in Port-au-Prince's old military airfield.
These operations would continue throughout the next days, said Mr. Chauzy. Their aim was to identify the primary needs of the displaced families and to check whether their homes could be restored or whether these families could be resettled to new sites.
Ms. Momal-Vanian said that a ceremony in memory of the United Nations System staff members that were killed in the Haiti earthquake would be held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York this afternoon. The ceremony would be broadcast live at 4 p.m. in the Assembly Hall at the Palais des Nations.
Republic of Congo
Melissa Fleming of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that UNHCR was particularly concerned about the situation for refugees in the Republic of Congo and would today be appealing for some US$20 million in funding to help it meet the needs of tens of thousands of refugees in Republic of Congo who had recently fled ethnic conflict in Democratic Republic of Congo’s Equateur Province. UNHCR’s request was part of a broader appeal by UN agencies, who had so far received only US$17.3 million of the nearly US$59 million required this year for this crisis.
So far UNHCR had been able to cover just 30 per cent of the needs of this huge population for food, sanitation, shelter, healthcare and primary education, said Ms. Fleming. The refugees had fled from Equateur province after fighting started in late October last year. Many of them had fled for the second time.
The refugees were dispersed in 100 sites in an area extending 600 km along the Oubangui River, further compounding the difficulties for humanitarian agencies in reaching them, said Ms. Fleming. Low river levels were preventing movement of heavy cargoes by boat and requiring UNHCR to ferry supplies in limited quantities or to fly them in. The vast majority of the refugees, 82 percent were women and children.
Ms. Momal Vanian said that today at 12:30 p.m. a press conference by Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs would take place in Press Room 1 for the Launch of the Republic of Congo Appeal 2010.
Sudan
Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that the latest IOM and Southern Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission Tracking Report had been published today. It showed that since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in January 2005, more than two million internally displaced persons had returned to Southern Kordofan in Southern Sudan.
Mr. Chauzy said that the figures showed that in 2006, more than 740,000 internally displaced persons had returned to Southern Sudan, around 730,00 in 2007 and that this figure had dropped in 2008 and 2009, with around 161,000 returns that year. However, there had been a significant upswing in numbers of returns towards the end of 2009 and with the elections and referendum approaching, far greater numbers could return in 2010.
The Northern Bahr el Ghazal and Southern Kordofan states had received the largest numbers of overall returnees, said Mr. Chauzy. The report also revealed that 60 per cent of returning families were headed by single women. Such figures were helping to better identify the needs of the returnees.
Sri Lanka
Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that an IOM pilot project aimed at the reintegration of up to 1,000 former Tamil Tiger Combatants had been launched this morning in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka. The pilot programme, funded by USAID, would form the basis for future reintegration activities.
Trends in Telecommunication Reform Report
Sanjay Acharya of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) said that ITU was launching today its Trends in Telecommunication Reform 2010 Report, which was ITU’s flagship annual report on the state of information and communication technologies (ICT) regulation worldwide.
The report made the case that enlightened ICT regulation could effectively play the role of a stimulus plan, driving network investment, growth and development. The report also looked at some of the challenges the world was facing in a increasingly converged world of technologies, as new broadband services allowed Voice over IP, cable modem and wireless services providers to compete directly with one another, said Mr. Acharya.
Nancy Sundberg, Regulatory Officer, International Telecommunications Union, said what they had tried to highlight in this report was that despite the global economic downturn, ICT markets had continued to grow in all segments over the past year, from mobile phone subscriptions to fixed and mobile broadband subscriptions and from TV to computer hardware. This trend illustrated the essential role ICTs played in people’s everyday life.
The number of regulatory authorities regulating this market was also growing, and so were their powers and their roles, said Ms. Sundberg. Traditionally, regulators had been in charge of regulating access to the telecommunications markets through licensing, assigning spectrum and other scarce resources, dealing with interconnection issues and contributing to the universal access support programmes. Today, however, regulators faced increasing expectations and, recently, the focus had shifted towards creating an enabling environment for investment, fostering market growth and insuring effective digital inclusion for all.
Regulators increasingly needed not only to understand engineering and to carry out complex economic and legal analysis, they also needed to have the foresight to quickly recognize and adapt to the shifting technology paradigms, said Ms. Sundberg. They needed to be ready to question previous approaches in a fast evolving market, while nevertheless applying consistent regulatory principles.
Other
Ms. Momal Vanian said that the Annual Sergio Vieira de Mello Memorial Lecture, organized by the Sergio Vieira de Mello Foundation, would be held on Thursday, 11 March, at 5:15 p.m. at the Centre international de conférences de Genève (CICG). Mr. Bernard Kouchner, French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs would deliver this year’s Lecture.
Gaëlle Sevenier of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said that, as each year, World Meteorological Day would be celebrated on 23 March. This year’s theme was: “60 years of service for your safety and well-being” as it coincided with the sixtieth anniversary of the World Meteorological Organization.
Ms. Sevenier also announced that for the first time ever, African Ministers responsible for meteorology would meet to address ways of strengthening weather, climate and water information for decision-making. This first African Ministerial Conference, organized by WMO in partnership with the African Union and the Kenyan Government would be held in Nairobi from 12 to 16 April 2010. A press conference would be held next Wednesday, 17 March in Press Room III to announce this conference, with the participation of Michel Jarraud, WMO Secretary-General, Khadija Rachida Masri, Permanent Observer of the African Union and Philip Richard Owade, Permanent Representative of Kenya.
Marc Vergara of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that Lionel Messi, Argentinean Soccer Player and Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Player of the Year 2009, would be appointed as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador this Thursday, 11 March at the FC Barcelona Stadium in Barcelona.
Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that a press conference would take place today at 11:30 a.m. for the launch of the new WHO malaria treatment and procurement guidelines. Present at the conference would be Robert Newman, WHO Director of the Global Malaria Programme, Peter Olumese, Medical Officer, WHO Global Malaria Programme and Andrea Bosman, Coordinator, WHO Global Malaria programme.
Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that IOM’s International Dialogue on Migration had started this morning an intersessional workshop on “Migration and Transnationalism: Opportunities and Challenges" at the at the Centre international de conférences de Genève (CICG). The session would conclude tomorrow evening.
Sanjay Acharya of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) said that ITU would host this week the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs’ Inter-Agency Meeting on Outer Space Activities 2010. The meeting, which looked at the peaceful uses of outer space, would start tomorrow. A session on “Space Technology for Emergency Communications”, open to the press, would be held at ITU on Friday, 12 March.