REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section, chaired the briefing which provided information on the launch of the Millennium Project report in New York, a special session of the General Assembly, the World Conference on Disaster Reduction, Geneva activities, tsunami relief activities, human rights and other issues. Spokespersons for the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Economic Commission for Europe, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and the International Committee of the Red Cross participated in the briefing.
Millennium Project Report
Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said that as previously announced, Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday introduced the Millennium Project report entitled, "Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals". This 3,000-page report proposed a large number of concrete measures and practical proposals for reaching the Millennium Goals by 2015. The report was the first step in 2005 which would be crucial for development. The Secretary-General would issue his own report in March on the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals. In September, a Summit would be held in New York to study the progress realized so far in the implementation of the Millennium Declaration which was adopted in 2000. And there would be a G8 meeting in the United Kingdom in July on the same subject.
Journalists interested in further information could find a series of information notes on various subjects related to the Millennium Development Goals in the Documentation Centre, as well as the statement of the Secretary-General at the launch of the report.
Special Session of General Assembly
Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Secretary-General had announced that a majority of Member States had now agreed to the request to convene, on 24 January 2005, a special session of the General Assembly to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camps. This would be an important occasion, since the United Nations was founded as the world was learning the full horror of the camps. The Secretary-General had called on all Member States to give the session their full support.
World Conference on Disaster Reduction
Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said that the World Conference on Disaster Reduction was opening today in Kobe, Japan to discuss ways and means to counter the devastation caused by natural hazards. It would conclude on 22 January. The first World Conference on Disaster Reduction was held in May 1994 in Yokohama, Japan and resulted in the "Yokohama strategy" which laid out a number of concrete guidelines for action on prevention, preparedness and mitigation of disaster risk. The leading objectives of the Kobe World Conference were to conclude and report on the review of the Yokohama strategy and its plan of action, with a view to update the guiding framework on disaster reduction for the twenty-first century. The World Conference had taken on a new importance following the earthquake and tsunami which affected countries on the Indian Ocean and there would be two additional sessions to discuss the impact of the tsunami.
Geneva Activities
Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said that in Geneva, the Staff Coordinating Council of the United Nations Office at Geneva had yesterday held a ceremony in which it handed over cheques for money donated by UNOG staff to the World Food Programme, the United Nations Children's Fund and the non-governmental organization SOS Enfants Sans Frontiers. The cheques would be used to fund projects for victims of famine in Kenya, terrorism in Beslan and the floods in Haiti. The Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Sergei Ordzhonikidze, had participated in the ceremony and his statement was available in the pres room. The Ambassadors of the three concerned countries had also attended the ceremony.
The Committee on the Rights of the Child was continuing with its thirty-eighth session. Yesterday, the Committee had considered the second periodic report of Belize and on Wednesday, 19 January, it would take up the initial report of the Bahamas.
Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Conference on Disarmament would be starting the first part of its 2005 session on 24 January. The first public plenary would be held on Thursday, 27 January under the presidency of Ambassador Chris Sanders of the Netherlands. Mr. Ordzhonikidze, the Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament, would deliver a message at the plenary from Mr. Annan. The first part of the session would conclude on 1 April. A background press release would be issued on Thursday, 20 January.
In conclusion, Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier reminded journalists that there would be no briefing on Friday, 21 January, as it was a day off for the UN in Geneva and at Headquarters to celebrate the Eid Al-Adha.
Tsunami Relief Efforts
Ron Redmond of the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees said UNHCR's relief shelter programme in the Indonesia province of Aceh was rapidly moving into top gear after Swiss Super Puma helicopters started flying tents and kitchen sets into affected areas on the west coast on Monday. UNHCR's large lightweight tents were now being set up in Banda Aceh and in Meulaboh, providing a better standard of accommodation and some privacy for the homeless, some of whom had been previously living in squalid conditions with no sanitation or water. UNHCR's policy was to get people back into their own homes or into new homes as quickly as possible and it was aiming at starting recovery and reconstruction almost simultaneously with the provision of emergency relief.
Mr. Redmond said Assistant High Commissioner Kamel Morjane had arrived in Sri Lanka this morning where he was scheduled to meet with high-level government officials and the UN country team in Colombo. He would also visit people displaced by the tsunami and the conflict. UNHCR had also dispatched a ship carrying UNHCR blankets and plastic sheeting to Somalia which was also hit be the tsunami.
Jean Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said nurses from IOM and non-governmental organizations had set up mobile vaccination clinics in crowded Aceh camps in Indonesia to immunize more than 100 children a day against measles. Meanwhile, IOM truck convoys continued to arrive almost daily from Medan carrying a broad range of relief items on behalf of a huge variety of donor countries, international agencies and non-governmental organizations as well as Indonesian national and local government organizations. In Sri Lanka, IOM was continuing registration of internally displaced persons. To date, some 6,000 families had been registered. IOM was involved in shelter activities in various districts in Sri Lanka.
Vincent Lusser of the International Committee of the Red Cross said an ICRC hospital was now functioning in Aceh. It could house some 100 beds and its staff were expatriate medical staff from Norway. Usually such hospitals functioned for three to six months, but the Indonesian Ministry of Health had requested that the hospital become the main hospital in Aceh.
Human Rights
José Luis Díaz, Spokesperson of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour would be visiting Nepal from 23 to 27 January. The aim of the visit was to allow the High Commissioner to assess the human rights situation in that country. She would meet with Government representatives, representatives of civil society, non-governmental organizations, and human rights defenders. The visit would not only allow the High Commissioner to familiarize herself with the situation in Nepal but would also, she hoped, focus attention on the situation in that country. The situation there had not received a lot of international attention although it was very serious, in large part due to the conflict between the Government and the Maoist insurgency.
Mr. Díaz recalled that on 13 December, the Office of the High Commissioner had signed with the Government of Nepal an agreement under which the Office would provide assistance to the national human rights commission of Nepal to allow it to better monitor, investigate and report on the human rights situation in the country. He also recalled that the Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary disappearances of the UN had visited Nepal in December. A lengthy note had been issued after the visit. A press release on the High Commissioner's visit to Nepal would be issued later today.
Other
Jean-Michel Jakobowicz of the Economic Commission for Europe said that
Yves Berthelot, a former Executive Secretary of the ECE, would be giving a press conference on Monday, 24 January at 11:30 a.m. at the Varembe Conference Centre. He would be speaking about a seminar entitled "From Development to International Economic Governance: the Intellectual Contributions of the United Nations". The Director-General of UNOG, Sergei Ordzhonikidze, would be opening the conference.
Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said the WHO Executive Board was continuing with its meeting which would conclude on 25 January. The Board had this morning confirmed the appointment of WHO's new Regional Director for Africa, Luis Gomes Sambo of Angola. The Board had also renewed the mandate of Marc Danzon of France for a second time as WHO's Regional Director for Europe. A press release would be issued shortly. At 12:30 today, there would be a press conference at WHO Headquarters to launch the UN Millennium Project report with a special focus on health.
Simon Pluess of the World Food Programme said that in Mauritania, WFP would assist Sahel communities where 2004's locust invasions had provoked serious food insecurity in isolated areas. One hundred per cent of Mauritania's agricultural production zone, especially the southern region, had been infested. In this region, families had virtually no access to non-agricultural incomes. WFP was appealing for immediate food aid for Mauritania for 400,000 persons at the cost of $ 30.8 million for the 2005 to 2007 period. In Mali and Niger, locust infestation had also created food shortages in some areas, but the food insecurity was very much localized. The WFP food aid response would be tailored accordingly. For Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, WFP was calling on the international donor community to reinforce its support to 1.5 million persons in need of food aid.
Ron Redmond of the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees said that up to 20,000 refugees had arrived in Uganda from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo in the past week. The refugees entered Uganda at two crossing points and seem to have fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo for unrelated reasons. One group left because of fighting between the Hema and Lendu tribes while the second group fled because of renewed fighting between RDC-Goma and the Mayi-Mayi militia. UNHCR had received reports that more refugees were on their way.
Damien Personnaz of the United Nations Children's Fund said there would be a press conference at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, 26 January to launch the UNICEF Humanitarian Action Report 2005. UNICEF had emergency projects in 33 countries. Copies of the embargoed report and a press release would be available next week.
Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said OCHA's redesigned ReliefWeb would today be officially inaugurated at the World Conference on Disaster in Kobe, Japan by Jan Egeland, the UN Emergency Coordinator, and Yvette Stevens, Deputy Emergency Coordinator. The improved site design could help the aid community improve the speed and effectiveness of relief efforts such as in the tsunami disaster and other emergencies around the world.
Ms. Byrs said also available at the back of the room was a note on the status of the pledges to the Indian Ocean earthquake-tsunami flash appeal.
Jean Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said expatriate Iraqis taking part in IOM's out-of-country voting for Iraq's Transitional National Assembly began registering to vote yesterday. The registration period would continue until 23 January. Some 75 centres in 36 cities had been established in the 14 host countries.
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