REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which also heard from the Spokespersons for the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Health Organization, the UN Refugee Agency, the International Organization for Migration, the World Trade Organization, the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the World Food Programme.

Secretary-General’s Statement Concerning the Security Council’s Presidential Statement on Iran

Ms. Heuzé said the Secretary-General had yesterday welcomed the spirit of consensus that was demonstrated by the members of the Security Council in the Presidential Statement on non-proliferation. He hoped that Iran would heed the international community's concerns, as reflected in the Council statement, regarding Iran's nuclear programme and that it would cooperate fully with its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and successive International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) resolutions.

The Director recalled that journalists had had a chance to hear Iran’s point of view directly yesterday from Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki who gave a press conference at the Palais des Nations after addressing the Conference on Disarmament. A press release was available on the meeting of the Conference which was the last plenary of the first part of the 2006 session of the Conference. There would be an intersessional period between 3 April and 14 May and the first plenary of the second part of the session would start at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 16 May under the Presidency of Ambassador Doru Romulus Costea of Romania.

Secretary-General’s Report on a Review of UN Mandates

Ms. Heuzé said the Secretary-General had yesterday presented his report on a review of the UN mandates to the General Assembly for the consideration of Member States. The report was an examination of existing UN mandates, in response to the request from the Member States to provide an update on those mandates. The report highlighted areas for further examination and made some suggestions for consolidating and streamlining some of the UN’s work. The decision to conduct the review, which was taken by national leaders attending the 2005 World Summit at the UN, “was one of the most meaningful and potentially historic” of the session, Mr. Annan said, while cautioning that the process posed a “daunting challenge.”

More information on the mandates and on the proposals made by the Secretary-General in his report could be found on www.un.org/mandatereview.

First International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action

Ms. Heuzé said the Secretary-General’s message on the occasion of the first International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, which will be commemorated on 4 April, was available in the press room.

Damien Personnaz of the United Nations Children’s Fund said UNICEF would issue a press release on Monday, 3 April related to the first International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.

Sudan

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said WHO was worried about the adverse consequences for the health of millions of people throughout Sudan unless funds for humanitarian interventions are secured immediately. As part of the United Nations Work Plan for Sudan, WHO had developed 20 health projects for the enhancement of the health of the population of Sudan. WHO and it partners needed sustained financial support in order to continue to reduce suffering and save lives in Sudan. A significant increase in disease incidence and in preventable deaths was expected unless the shortfall of $ 24 million in funds for health was provided immediately. Sudan had experienced major outbreaks of epidemic diseases such as acute watery diarrhoea and cholera, dengue, yellow fever, monkey pox and meningitis, placing additional strains on already stretched health care services.

For 2006, Sudan had only received $ 3 million and it was missing $ 24 million for these urgent health care projects, Ms. Chaib said.

Damien Personnaz of the United Nations Children’s Fund said hundreds of thousands of children would be going to school for the first time in southern Sudan this year. A UNICEF-backed “Go to School” campaign was being launched on Saturday, 1 April in Juba, the capital of southern Sudan. An embargoed press release with more information was available at the back of the room.

Ron Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency said UNHCR strongly condemned the forced recruitment of Sudanese refugees from Darfur by various armed groups in some of the agency’s camps in eastern Chad, breaching the civilian character of asylum and of the camps. UNHCR called upon all parties involved to put an end to these activities in its camps. Although UNHCR was unable to give precise figures, initial assessments indicated that several hundred men were recruited in three camps in March. Refugees said recruiters mainly targeted boys and men ranging in age from 15 to 35. Some were recruited by force, but some joined voluntarily. UNHCR would not speculate on who was responsible at this early stage, but some of the refugees who were recruited and had since returned to the camps had said that they had been taken to training bases across the border in Darfur. This activity was further evidence of the growing insecurity that had now spread to both sides of the Chad-Sudan border.

Mr. Redmond said some 500 Sudanese refugees had left the western Ethiopian camp of Bonga early this morning in the first repatriation convoy to south Sudan from Ethiopia. Three more convoys were scheduled for April. Some 79,000 south Sudanese refugees lived in camps in western Ethiopian after fleeing the civil war in southern Sudan. UNHCR, Ethiopia and Sudan signed a tripartite agreement on 27 February to pave the way for their repatriation in south Sudan.

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said an IOM operation to provide return assistance to a group of some 4,200 vulnerable displaced Dinkas was set to resume on 2 April after a six week interruption due to an outbreak of cholera and acute watery diarrhoea in Sudan's southern Bar El Ghazal and Jonglei provinces. The group consisting of some 370 elderly, disabled, expectant mothers and women with young children was the third to receive IOM return assistance since the operation was launched on 4 February 2006. They were part of a group of some 12,000 Dinkas who fled Bor for Maridi in Western Equatoria some 14 years ago to escape fighting between Sudanese government forces and the Sudan's People Liberation Army. Following the signing of a peace agreement in January 2005 and the subsequent handover of Bor to the government of Southern Sudan, the group decided to return on foot to their former homes via Juba, with up to half a million cattle, their prized possessions.

Other

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said there would be a press conference on Monday, 3 April at 10 a.m. on the presentation of the final report of the Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation and Public Health Commission. Lee Jong-wook, WHO Director-General, and Ruth Dreifuss, Chair of the Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation and Public Health and former President of the Swiss Confederation, would speak at the press conference. This was an independent Commission which WHO set up in February 2002.

Ms. Chaib said concerning avian influenza in Gaza, WHO had yesterday sent a five-person team to the region. The team arrived in Jerusalem and would be in Gaza on Sunday to help the local authorities and the WHO office set up public health measures. Avian influenza had hit the poultry in Gaza but there were no confirmed human cases.

Damien Personnaz of the United Nations Children’s Fund said Ethiopia was one of a number of African countries suffering from drought for two years. Children from the southern Oromia region were now facing an outbreak of lethal diseases, from diarrhea to malaria, after short rain showers hit the region. The showers were not enough to undo the damage of two failed rainy seasons, but they formed shallow pools near villages that were potential breeding grounds for malaria. Rain water also washed through the piles of dead animals that were forming outside most communities and flowed on to pollute the few remaining water sources. An information note was available at the back of the room with more information.

Aurelia Blin of the World Trade Organization said WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy would be in India from 4 to 6 April on an official visit. He would be in Madrid, Spain on 7 April to participate in a meeting of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board.

Ms. Blin said that there would be meetings of the trade facilitation negotiations group from 5 to 7 April, and there would be a briefing on Friday, 7 April. There were also meetings of the services negotiations and trade and development negotiations on 7 April.

Ron Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency said the King and Queen of Norway were scheduled to make an official visit to UNHCR’s headquarters in Geneva on 4 April to be briefed on current humanitarian challenges by UNHCR, OCHA and ICRC. Norway was a strong supporter of the UN Refugee Agency, both in terms of its consistently generous funding and as a resettlement country accepting refugees.

Catherine Sibut Pinote of the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development said there would be a press conference at 2:15 p.m. today to launch the UNCTAD report on trade and the environment.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said there would be a press conference at noon today on the humanitarian situation in Somalia. Philippe Lazzarini, the Head of OCHA in Somalia, would be speaking, along with representatives of UNDP, UNICEF and the FAO. They would specifically be talking about the situation of internal migration in Somalia.

Ms. Byrs said on 7 April, there would be the launch of the regional appeal for the Horn of Africa simultaneously in Geneva and in Nairobi. The launch would take place at 3:30 p.m. More details would be available closer to the date.

Simon Pluess of the World Food Programme said WFP’s Director of Operations would speak to journalists on Monday, 3 April at 11:30 a.m. He would speak about the situation in Katanga region in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including the massive displacement and lack of access to vulnerable populations; the growing violence on the Sudanese-Chadian border; the food crisis in Kenya; and the urgent situations in south Somalia and in Niger.

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said thousands of Iraqis displaced by on-going conflict in the country were in need of greater and long-term assistance, according to IOM. According to the Organization and the Iraqi Ministry of Displacement and Migration, there had been a significant rise in population displacement recently with between 30,000 to 36,000 people fleeing their homes in the past few weeks alone. More than one million people were now displaced in the country as a result of three decades of conflict and the on-going violence. IOM was seeking $ 10 million for a 12-month emergency programme to help displaced people who were either living with family or friends or who were squatting in public or abandoned buildings and vulnerable populations in need of similar assistance as well as for other community assistance work.

Ms. Pandya said an awareness-raising campaign to alert Pakistanis to human trafficking and the vulnerability of people, particularly women and children affected by the October 2005 earthquake, was launched yesterday. In Cambodia, immigration officials from all 16 of the country’s international border checkpoints this week took part in an intensive five-day IOM training programme designed to improve their ability to detect counterfeit travel documents.

Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which also heard from the Spokespersons for the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Health Organization, the UN Refugee Agency, the International Organization for Migration, the World Trade Organization, the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the World Food Programme.

Secretary-General’s Statement Concerning the Security Council’s Presidential Statement on Iran

Ms. Heuzé said the Secretary-General had yesterday welcomed the spirit of consensus that was demonstrated by the members of the Security Council in the Presidential Statement on non-proliferation. He hoped that Iran would heed the international community's concerns, as reflected in the Council statement, regarding Iran's nuclear programme and that it would cooperate fully with its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and successive International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) resolutions.

The Director recalled that journalists had had a chance to hear Iran’s point of view directly yesterday from Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki who gave a press conference at the Palais des Nations after addressing the Conference on Disarmament. A press release was available on the meeting of the Conference which was the last plenary of the first part of the 2006 session of the Conference. There would be an intersessional period between 3 April and 14 May and the first plenary of the second part of the session would start at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 16 May under the Presidency of Ambassador Doru Romulus Costea of Romania.

Secretary-General’s Report on a Review of UN Mandates

Ms. Heuzé said the Secretary-General had yesterday presented his report on a review of the UN mandates to the General Assembly for the consideration of Member States. The report was an examination of existing UN mandates, in response to the request from the Member States to provide an update on those mandates. The report highlighted areas for further examination and made some suggestions for consolidating and streamlining some of the UN’s work. The decision to conduct the review, which was taken by national leaders attending the 2005 World Summit at the UN, “was one of the most meaningful and potentially historic” of the session, Mr. Annan said, while cautioning that the process posed a “daunting challenge.”

More information on the mandates and on the proposals made by the Secretary-General in his report could be found on www.un.org/mandatereview.

First International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action

Ms. Heuzé said the Secretary-General’s message on the occasion of the first International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, which will be commemorated on 4 April, was available in the press room.

Damien Personnaz of the United Nations Children’s Fund said UNICEF would issue a press release on Monday, 3 April related to the first International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.

Sudan

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said WHO was worried about the adverse consequences for the health of millions of people throughout Sudan unless funds for humanitarian interventions are secured immediately. As part of the United Nations Work Plan for Sudan, WHO had developed 20 health projects for the enhancement of the health of the population of Sudan. WHO and it partners needed sustained financial support in order to continue to reduce suffering and save lives in Sudan. A significant increase in disease incidence and in preventable deaths was expected unless the shortfall of $ 24 million in funds for health was provided immediately. Sudan had experienced major outbreaks of epidemic diseases such as acute watery diarrhoea and cholera, dengue, yellow fever, monkey pox and meningitis, placing additional strains on already stretched health care services.

For 2006, Sudan had only received $ 3 million and it was missing $ 24 million for these urgent health care projects, Ms. Chaib said.

Damien Personnaz of the United Nations Children’s Fund said hundreds of thousands of children would be going to school for the first time in southern Sudan this year. A UNICEF-backed “Go to School” campaign was being launched on Saturday, 1 April in Juba, the capital of southern Sudan. An embargoed press release with more information was available at the back of the room.

Ron Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency said UNHCR strongly condemned the forced recruitment of Sudanese refugees from Darfur by various armed groups in some of the agency’s camps in eastern Chad, breaching the civilian character of asylum and of the camps. UNHCR called upon all parties involved to put an end to these activities in its camps. Although UNHCR was unable to give precise figures, initial assessments indicated that several hundred men were recruited in three camps in March. Refugees said recruiters mainly targeted boys and men ranging in age from 15 to 35. Some were recruited by force, but some joined voluntarily. UNHCR would not speculate on who was responsible at this early stage, but some of the refugees who were recruited and had since returned to the camps had said that they had been taken to training bases across the border in Darfur. This activity was further evidence of the growing insecurity that had now spread to both sides of the Chad-Sudan border.

Mr. Redmond said some 500 Sudanese refugees had left the western Ethiopian camp of Bonga early this morning in the first repatriation convoy to south Sudan from Ethiopia. Three more convoys were scheduled for April. Some 79,000 south Sudanese refugees lived in camps in western Ethiopian after fleeing the civil war in southern Sudan. UNHCR, Ethiopia and Sudan signed a tripartite agreement on 27 February to pave the way for their repatriation in south Sudan.

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said an IOM operation to provide return assistance to a group of some 4,200 vulnerable displaced Dinkas was set to resume on 2 April after a six week interruption due to an outbreak of cholera and acute watery diarrhoea in Sudan's southern Bar El Ghazal and Jonglei provinces. The group consisting of some 370 elderly, disabled, expectant mothers and women with young children was the third to receive IOM return assistance since the operation was launched on 4 February 2006. They were part of a group of some 12,000 Dinkas who fled Bor for Maridi in Western Equatoria some 14 years ago to escape fighting between Sudanese government forces and the Sudan's People Liberation Army. Following the signing of a peace agreement in January 2005 and the subsequent handover of Bor to the government of Southern Sudan, the group decided to return on foot to their former homes via Juba, with up to half a million cattle, their prized possessions.

Other

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said there would be a press conference on Monday, 3 April at 10 a.m. on the presentation of the final report of the Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation and Public Health Commission. Lee Jong-wook, WHO Director-General, and Ruth Dreifuss, Chair of the Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation and Public Health and former President of the Swiss Confederation, would speak at the press conference. This was an independent Commission which WHO set up in February 2002.

Ms. Chaib said concerning avian influenza in Gaza, WHO had yesterday sent a five-person team to the region. The team arrived in Jerusalem and would be in Gaza on Sunday to help the local authorities and the WHO office set up public health measures. Avian influenza had hit the poultry in Gaza but there were no confirmed human cases.

Damien Personnaz of the United Nations Children’s Fund said Ethiopia was one of a number of African countries suffering from drought for two years. Children from the southern Oromia region were now facing an outbreak of lethal diseases, from diarrhea to malaria, after short rain showers hit the region. The showers were not enough to undo the damage of two failed rainy seasons, but they formed shallow pools near villages that were potential breeding grounds for malaria. Rain water also washed through the piles of dead animals that were forming outside most communities and flowed on to pollute the few remaining water sources. An information note was available at the back of the room with more information.

Aurelia Blin of the World Trade Organization said WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy would be in India from 4 to 6 April on an official visit. He would be in Madrid, Spain on 7 April to participate in a meeting of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board.

Ms. Blin said that there would be meetings of the trade facilitation negotiations group from 5 to 7 April, and there would be a briefing on Friday, 7 April. There were also meetings of the services negotiations and trade and development negotiations on 7 April.

Ron Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency said the King and Queen of Norway were scheduled to make an official visit to UNHCR’s headquarters in Geneva on 4 April to be briefed on current humanitarian challenges by UNHCR, OCHA and ICRC. Norway was a strong supporter of the UN Refugee Agency, both in terms of its consistently generous funding and as a resettlement country accepting refugees.

Catherine Sibut Pinote of the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development said there would be a press conference at 2:15 p.m. today to launch the UNCTAD report on trade and the environment.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said there would be a press conference at noon today on the humanitarian situation in Somalia. Philippe Lazzarini, the Head of OCHA in Somalia, would be speaking, along with representatives of UNDP, UNICEF and the FAO. They would specifically be talking about the situation of internal migration in Somalia.

Ms. Byrs said on 7 April, there would be the launch of the regional appeal for the Horn of Africa simultaneously in Geneva and in Nairobi. The launch would take place at 3:30 p.m. More details would be available closer to the date.

Simon Pluess of the World Food Programme said WFP’s Director of Operations would speak to journalists on Monday, 3 April at 11:30 a.m. He would speak about the situation in Katanga region in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including the massive displacement and lack of access to vulnerable populations; the growing violence on the Sudanese-Chadian border; the food crisis in Kenya; and the urgent situations in south Somalia and in Niger.

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said thousands of Iraqis displaced by on-going conflict in the country were in need of greater and long-term assistance, according to IOM. According to the Organization and the Iraqi Ministry of Displacement and Migration, there had been a significant rise in population displacement recently with between 30,000 to 36,000 people fleeing their homes in the past few weeks alone. More than one million people were now displaced in the country as a result of three decades of conflict and the on-going violence. IOM was seeking $ 10 million for a 12-month emergency programme to help displaced people who were either living with family or friends or who were squatting in public or abandoned buildings and vulnerable populations in need of similar assistance as well as for other community assistance work.

Ms. Pandya said an awareness-raising campaign to alert Pakistanis to human trafficking and the vulnerability of people, particularly women and children affected by the October 2005 earthquake, was launched yesterday. In Cambodia, immigration officials from all 16 of the country’s international border checkpoints this week took part in an intensive five-day IOM training programme designed to improve their ability to detect counterfeit travel documents.