REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Marie Heuzé, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which also heard from Spokespersons for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Food Programme, the International Telecommunication Union, and the International Organization for Migration.
Human Rights
Ms. Heuzé said that this morning, 29 September, the Human Rights Council would be hearing reports from Charlotte Abaka, independent expert on the situation of human rights in Liberia, and Radhika Coomaraswamy UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict. This afternoon, the Council would hear the report of John Dugard, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Palestinians Territories Occupied since 1967.
Ms. Heuzé recalled that today was the last day of the current session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and that the Committee’s conclusions on the reports submitted before it would be available today.
Ms. Heuzé and José Diaz of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) drew attention to the agenda of the Human Rights Council next week and in particular of the morning of Wednesday, 4 October, which included consideration of a Joint Report on Lebanon and Israel. The four mandate holders involved in the joint mission to Lebanon and Israel and the preparation of the report would be holding a press conference at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday in Room VIII. They included: Miloon Kothari, Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living; Philip Alston, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary execution; Paul Hunt, Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; and Walter Kalin, Representative of the Secretary-General on the human rights of internally displaced persons.
Ms. Heuzé explained that for planning purposes, correspondents should be aware that next week would be very busy. Among the events on the agenda were a tripartite summit between the Presidents of Equatorial Guinea and Gabon and the Secretary-General; a visit of President Kagamé of Rwanda to UNCTAD; and a briefing by Prof. Paulo Sergio Pinheiro on a new study on violence against children.
Geneva activities
A summit meeting between the Presidents of Equatorial Guinea and Gabon to discuss the territorial dispute between the two countries was currently scheduled to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday, 3-4 October 2006. The summit meeting would be preceded by technical meetings between representatives of the two countries. Ms. Heuzé recalled that a previous summit meeting between the two countries had taken place at the Palais des Nations in February 2006.
President Kagamé of Rwanda would be participating in a high-level policy dialogue organized by UNCTAD in Geneva from 3 to 10 October entitled “UNCTAD, Development and the Way Forward”. He would be welcomed by Sergei Ordzhonikidze, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, on Tuesday, 3 October. President Kagamé would hold a press conference on Wednesday, 4 October, in Room XXV at 12 noon. All radio and press facilities would be provided by UNIS. Interpretation would also be provided in English and French.
Study on violence against children
A third important event would be taking place on Wednesday, 4 October: a working breakfast for journalists on the global study on violence against children prepared by Prof. Paulo Sergio Pinheiro at the request of the Secretary-General. The study, which had been prepared jointly with UNICEF, WHO and OHCHR, had been two years in preparation and constituted the most comprehensive examination ever undertaken of violence against children in all its forms. The report would be presented to the General Assembly on 11 October 2006. Prof. Pinheiro would participate in the breakfast meeting, along with representatives of the three United Nations organizations: Marta Santos Pais, Director of the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre in Florence; Catherine Le Galès-Camus, Assistant Director-General for Non Communicable Diseases and Mental Health, WHO; and Jane Connors, a senior officer of the OHCHR. Journalists were requested to register by 3 October.
World Habitat Day, 2 October 2006
Abdalla Abbas, Acting Director of the UN-HABITAT Geneva Office, recalled that World Habitat Day, observed on the first Monday in October, provided an opportunity to reflect on the state of the world’s growing cities and its rapid and irreversible urbanisation. The theme of this year’s observance was “Cities, magnets of hope”. The global celebrations of the Day would take place in Naples, Italy, on 2 October, and in Kazan, the Russian Federation, on 4 October. As part of this year’s celebrations, Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UN-HABITAT, would present the 2006 Scroll of Honour Award, the most prestigious award given by the United Nations in recognition of work carried out in the field of human settlements development. Mr. Abbas noted that the year 2007 would mark the moment when the world entered a new urban millennium, with the majority of people living in towns and cities for the first time in history. A press kit containing further information was available at the back of the room, along with t-shirts and posters to mark the occasion.
Somalian refugees in Kenya
Jennifer Pagonis of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that in Kenya, UNHCR was still seeing a steady stream of between 200-300 Somali refugees fleeing daily to north-eastern Kenya to escape fighting in south and central Somalia. The total number of new Somali refugees who had arrived in Kenya since the beginning of the year stood at over 25,000. The refugees were fleeing Mogadishu and the Kismayo area following repeated clashes between the Islamic Courts Union and warlord militia. On Wednesday, UNHCR had received approval from provincial authorities to set up a reception centre at Liboi, where most of the refugees crossing the border were screened. UNHCR had also received additional stocks of supplies sufficient for up to 25,000 new arrivals. Further details were provided in the briefing note at the back of the room.
Simon Pluess of the World Food Programme (WFP) said that the escalation of the conflict in Somalia was a source of great concern. The arrival of more Somali refugees in neighbouring Kenya could exhaust WFP’s exising food stocks in the camps within weeks. The number of newcomers could reach 50,000 by the end of the year. If WFP did not resolve its pipeline problems and receive immediate additional funding, food rations would have to be cut by 12% in November and even more in December. WFP was therefore calling for USD 8.1 million over the next six months to face this new situation.
Mr. Pluess said that a recent FAO study showed that there were high chronic food shortages in the coastal region of Pundland in north-east Somalia and WFP was preparing for immediate distribution of 700 tons of food to some 22,000 vulnerable people in the region. WFP also had plans to resume general food distribution across Somalia, particularly in the south and central regions where the situation had been particularly tense. Mr. Puless recalled that United Nations staff in south and central Somalia and from Pundland had been relocated to Nairobi and Somali Land on 20 September 2006 following direct threats against international staff. WFP’s capable national staff had enabled the organization to continue to operate there.
Environment
Michael Williams of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) recalled that the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) was taking the lead on the emergency response to the environmental emergency in Abidjan following the dumping of toxic chemical waste. The Basel Convention on Trade and Hazardous Waste was addressing the legal aspects of the situation. Mr. Williams said that it was clear that the emergency was the result of a crime having been committed, but although a scenario was starting to emerge, UNEP was not yet ready to state who was responsible and what crime they could be charged with.
Mr. Williams said that the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) would be meeting in Geneva next week at the GICC. A media advisory had been sent out via e-mail this morning. The meeting would be discussing the possible authorization of sales of 60 tons of elephant ivory from Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. This would be only the second time that sales could be made since the 1989 ban on ivory trade was established. The meeting was likely to take place on 4 October (to be confirmed at the next briefing).
Mr. Williams drew attention to the 9-13 October third major annual conference of the Rotterdam Convention on the prior informed consent procedure for certain hazardous chemicals and pesticides in international trade which would take place from 9 to 13 October 2006. The purpose of the Convention was to establish a watch list of dangerous chemicals to help developing countries avoid unwanted imports of chemicals. The main issue of interest of the conference would be whether to list chrysotile asbestos. Further information on the subject would be provided in a press briefing by the secretariat on Friday, 6 October, at 11:30 a.m.
Other
In Sudan, Mr. Pluess said that WFP welcomed a very substantial donation of EUR 26 million from the European Union, which would help WFP to keep its pipeline and food distribution going until the end of the year. Nevertheless, there was concern that stocks would completely run out in January. WFP was therefore calling for USD 350 million, which would not only help to feed people until the end of the year but also to preposition food ahead of the next rainy season in May 2007. It sometimes took up to six months from the moment the funds were received to get the food to the camps. Mr. Pluess added that the security situation in Sudan was deteriorating day by day. Twelve humanitarian workers had been killed in Darfur since May. Due to the difficult security situation WFP had not been able to reach some 350,000 people in northern Darfur, who had gone hungry for three months as a result. Hunger was adding fuel to the fire in the conflict. Food aid was therefore vital to the stability in Darfur.
Ms. Pagonis of UNHCR said that the Government of the Central African Republic (CAR) had recently given its agreement for UNHCR to use an air charter company to resume its voluntary repatriation operation to South Sudan. The operation, which had been launched in February 2006, had to be suspended in April due to the official closure of the border between CAR and Sudan following unrest in the region.
After an 18-year presence in Kissidougou, Guinea, UNHCR was closing its office there tomorrow, 30 September, as a result of a successful repatriation of Liberian refugees, said Ms. Pagonis. Between March 2005 and September 2006, UNHCR had repatriated 16,000 out of the total 18,000 Liberian refugees in Kissidougou region. The remaining 2,000 Liberian refugees, who had been either unable or unwilling to return, had been transferred this month to Kouankan, near the town of Nzérékoré in south-eastern Guinea.
Ms. Pagonis drew attention to the five-day annual meeting of UNHCR’s governing body, the Executive Committee, which would begin on Monday, 2 October, and was open to the media. The first day's session would begin at 10:00 a.m. in the Assembly Hall, where High Commissioner António Guterres would deliver his opening address shortly thereafter. A press release and copies of his opening address would be issued on Monday morning. Throughout the week, updated information and documents would be posted daily on UNHCR’s website.
Ms. Pagonis said that the opening session on Monday would also introduce UNHCR’s 2006 Nansen Refugee Award winner, Dr. Akio Kanai, a Japanese optometrist who over more than two decades had tested the eyes of more than 100,000 uprooted people and provided them with spectacles. Media were invited to attend a formal award ceremony for Dr. Kanai that would be held at 6:30 p.m. at UNHCR. Interested journalists were requested to contact Ms. Pagonis or her colleagues.
Sanjay Acharya of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) announced the issuance of a press release on the Caribbean Forum for Using ICT for Effective Disaster Management, which had closed the previous evening (28 September) in Jamaica. The forum had adopted a road map for the use of state-of-the-art information and communication technologies (ICT) aimed at improved disaster preparedness and mitigation. This was in light of the experience of the 2005 hurricane season, which had been the worst in recorded history. Access to information was of paramount importance in the immediate aftermath of a disaster for relief agencies to coordinate search-and-rescue, medical intervention and rehabilitation efforts.
Mr. Acharya also drew attention to an information note on the ITU’s 17th Plenipotentiary Conference, which would be held in Antalya, Turkey, from 6 to 24 November 2006. The future strategy of ITU would be set out at the Conference, taking into account the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which had laid out a roadmap for the use of ICT in development. The Conference would also elect the new leadership of the ITU, who would head the Union until the end of the decade. Asked who the candidates were for the post of Secretary-General, Mr. Acharya said that there were six official candidates: two from Western Europe – Mr. M. Furrer of Switzerland and Mr. M. Kurth of Germany; one from the Americas – Mr. R. Blois of Brazil (currently Deputy Secretary-General at ITU); two from Africa – Mr. M. Ouaili of Tunisia and Mr. H. Touré of Mali; and one from Asia and Australasia – Ms. M. Nijem of Jordan.
Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) drew attention to the situation of migrants, primarily from Sub-Saharan Africa, who had found themselves stranded in north and west Africa en route to Spain and other European destinations. Between November 2005 and July 2006, IOM had been able to provide voluntary return assistance to nearly 500 migrants stranded in Morocco, Mauritania and other countries and territories in Northern Africa through a short term emergency programme supported by Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK, which had now ended. However, IOM continued to receive daily requests for voluntary return assistance for those stranded in difficult conditions. A recent example was a group of 17 Guinean migrants intercepted by the Moroccan navy as they attempted to reach the Canary Islands in small open boats, who had been helped to return home voluntarily by IOM. The plight of these and many others showed that irregular migration flows to Europe continue apace as migrants from as far afield as South Asia were taking desperate measures to reach Europe in search of a better life and opportunities for work.
Ms. Chauzy also drew attention to a week-long training session in counter-trafficking that the IOM Regional Office in Rome would conduct in Sao Paulo, Brazil, for 30 Catholic nuns from all over the country. The session, which would begin on Monday, 2 October, would strengthen the participants’ skills and provide them with the tools and information necessary to provide assistance to victims and potential victims.
Ms. Heuzé announced, on behalf of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), that the WIPO Assemblies were continuing through Tuesday, 3 October. Samar Shamoon of WIPO would be on site to facilitate coverage for those interested and to respond to questions.