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 Spokespersons for the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Food Programme, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the World Trade Organization and the International Organization for Migration.

Sixtieth Anniversary of UNECE

Ms. Heuzé said Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, yesterday addressed the opening of the high-level segment of the 60th anniversary session of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and delivered the Secretary-General’s message to the meeting. The Director-General said that through its multi-faceted efforts to facilitate economic growth, the UNECE had contributed to consolidating stability in the region. A press release on the Director-General’s statement was available in the press room.

Jean-Michel Jakobowicz of the Economic Commission for Europe said within the sixtieth anniversary events, a panel took place yesterday morning on the contribution the United Nations could make to the development of the region. It was followed by a panel on cooperation for stability and prosperity in Europe. On Thursday afternoon, a panel addressed the issue of Pan-European economic integration in a globalized world.

Mr. Jakobowicz said on Thursday evening, a Declaration for the sixtieth anniversary was adopted in which Member States acknowledged achievements by the Economic Commission for Europe over these past 60 years in fostering cooperation and integration and reaffirmed their commitment to support and strengthen the effective implementation of the organization’s mandate and to ensure its continued substantive relevance, greater visibility and improved transparency. A press release (ECE/GEN/07/P07) containing the Declaration was available in the three languages of the ECE (English, French and Russian) in the press room.

This morning, Mr. Jakobowicz said Member States would tackle the issue of sustainable energy policies: the key to energy security. This afternoon, two panels would meet simultaneously on secure transport development: a key to regional cooperation; and the economics of gender in the European economy, in particular how this had an impact on the economy’s competitiveness and growth.

Secretary-General’s Statement on Anniversary of Chemical Arms Convention

Ms. Heuzé said available in the press room was the statement of the Secretary-General on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention (29 April).


Geneva Activities

Ms. Heuzé said the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families was today concluding its weeklong fifth session. The Committee would release later this morning its concluding observations on the initial report of Egypt which was considered during the session. A roundup press release would also be available at the end of the day.

Two committees would be meeting at the Palais Wilson from 30 April to 18 May. The Committee against Torture would be reviewing measures adopted by Denmark, Luxembourg, Italy, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Japan and Poland to prevent and punish acts of torture. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights would be considering how Nepal, Hungary, the Netherlands (Antilles), Finland and Latvia complied with the standards of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Background press releases on both committees were available in the press room in English and in French.

Ms. Heuzé reminded journalists that there would be a press conference at noon today in press room 1 with the World Food Programme Representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to talk about the situation of displaced persons in the country.

Human Rights

Yvon Edoumou of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said High Commissioner Louise Arbour was currently in Tajikistan, the second leg of a four-country tour of Central Asia. The High Commissioner arrived there on 25 April and had had a series of meetings with high-level representatives of the Tajikistan Government. More meetings were planned for Ms. Arbour today and she would then leave Tajikistan for Kazakhstan. She would also visit Turkmenistan.

Mr. Edoumou said the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Jorge Bustamante, would visit the United States from 30 April to 18 May 2007 at the invitation of the Government. The purpose of his visit was to witness first hand the situation of migrants at the borders and in immigration detention facilities and discuss migrant rights related issues with United States officials, experts and advocates from the civil society. The Special Rapporteur would visit San Diego, Tucson, Austin, Fort Meyers and New York before concluding his mission in Washington DC. He would report on his findings to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Mr. Edoumou said the Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism had concluded a 10-day mission yesterday in South Africa. The aim of the visit was two-fold: to examine South Africa’s laws and practices in relation to counter-terrorism; and to examine the country’s role in Africa in the international context in terms of counter-terrorism. A press release was issued yesterday carrying the preliminary findings of his visit.

Somalia

William Spindler of the World Food Programme said in Somalia, UNHCR and its partners had completed a first round of distribution of urgently needed relief supplies in the Somali region of Afgooye, some 30 kilometers west of Mogadishu. Several tons of plastic sheeting, mattresses, jerry cans, kitchen utensils and other supplies were distributed to 35,000 people displaced by the on-going fighting in Mogadishu, who were sleeping rough under trees. They now at least have a shelter to protect them and their children from the scorching sun, the chilly nights and the soaking rains.

Another round of distribution was planned for Saturday morning. It was intended to help another 13,500 people. UNHCR Somali staff in Afgooye reported that civilians were still fleeing Mogadishu at a very high rate, with the capital slowly turning into a ghost town, with half of its neighbourhoods now deserted. Estimates compiled by UNHCR from an extensive network of humanitarian agencies now placed the total number of people who had fled Mogadishu at over 340,000, since fighting intensified at the beginning of February. This figure was expected to rise as new information became available. Meanwhile, the situation in Afgooye had grown increasingly chaotic.

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said UNICEF condemned the mortar shelling of the SOS hospital in Mogadishu and called for full access for humanitarian aid to the hundreds of thousands of civilians fleeing the fighting in Mogadishu. UNICEF urgently needed $ 11.5 million to address the nutrition, health, education and protection needs of children in Somalia. Funding was needed for an expanded programme on immunization, to establish temporary schools, to assure access to safe water for 100,000 persons who had recently fled Mogadishu, to expand child protection monitoring and support services, and for HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention. A press release was available with more details.

Other

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said a new collection of statistics, called Regional MDGInfo, created jointly by UNICEF, the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, have been published and were available in the room. The statistics spanned the years 1988 to 2005. For example, the findings suggested that people in rural areas in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, including women, children and families, had lost out on growth in those regions and were more disadvantaged. A press release and other material were available.

Ms. Taveau said UNICEF today said that one of Sri Lanka’s battling factions, the so-called Karuna faction, was not taking seriously its public assurances that it was not recruiting child soldiers. A press release was available with more details.

Anoush Der Boghossian of the World Trade Organization said there would be a briefing today at 1 p.m. at WTO by the Chair of the Negotiating Group on Services. Next week, there would be a meeting of the Working Party for the accession of Lebanon on Thursday, 3 May. On 4 May, there would be an informal session of the agricultural negotiations.

Catherine Sibut-Pinot of the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development said there would be a press conference at 2:30 p.m. today on the Global Initiative on Commodities. Speaking would be Ambassador Ali Mchumo, Managing Director of the
Common Fund for Commodities; Lakshmi Puri, Director, Division on International Trade in Goods and Services, and Commodities, UNCTAD; David Luke Coordinator Trade and Human Development Unit, UNDP; and a representative of the secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States.

Fadéla Chaib of the World Health Organization said tomorrow, 28 April, World Day for Safety and Health at Work would be commemorated. Available was a press release which stated that at least 200,000 people died from cancer related to their workplace every year. It noted that the risks for occupational cancer were preventable. A press release with more details was available.

Ms. Chaib said the sixtieth World Health Assembly would be held from 14 to 23 May at the Palais des Nations. Issues to be discussed included Avian and pandemic influenza and the application of the International Health Regulations; Smallpox eradication; Malaria, including a proposal for establishment of Malaria Day; Tuberculosis control; prevention and control of non-communicable diseases; integrating gender analysis and actions into the work of WHO; workers’ health; and progress in the rational use of medicines. The two invited speakers addressing the Assembly would be Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund, and Jens Stoltenberg, the Prime Minister of Norway. Available was a media advisory with more details.

William Spindler of the UN Refugee Agency said High Commissioner António Guterres concluded yesterday his four-day mission to Sudan. After Khartoum and Darfur earlier this week, he travelled on Thursday to Kassala State, eastern Sudan, to see for himself one of the most forgotten refugee situations in the world. Eastern Sudan hosted about 136,000 refugees from Eritrea and Ethiopia, and small numbers of Eritreans were still arriving to the camps regularly.

Jean Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said a Spanish hospital ship carrying a group of exhausted African migrants rescued from a sinking pirogue off the coast of West Africa docked in Dakar yesterday. The migrants, including four women, disembarked from the MS Esperanza del Mar and were taken care of by members of the Senegalese Red Cross. IOM staff present at the port confirmed that 13 migrants suffering from hypothermia, dehydration and broken limbs were taken to a local hospital for treatment. Working with Senegalese authorities, IOM was providing shelter, food and counselling for the remaining 76 migrants, mostly Senegalese nationals but also including English speakers from the region. More than 31,000 undocumented migrants, mostly from Africa but also increasingly from South Asia, arrived last year in the Spanish Canary Islands after making long, risky voyages in open wooden pirogues from the West African coast. In a bid to help the many migrants left stranded in desperate conditions in West Africa, IOM had been providing emergency and return assistance to numerous groups of Africans and South Asian migrants.

Mr. Chauzy said in Zimbabwe, a multi-media IOM information campaign aiming to educate young people on the dangers of irregular migration and on HIV prevention which began last year, was again hitting the road with a particular focus on youth.
In Geneva, an IOM capacity building workshop this week marked the start of an IOM project aimed at preparing mobile populations against avian flu.