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 Population Fund, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization, the UN Refugee Agency, the World Trade Organization and the International Organization for Migration.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Heuzé announced launches of three major reports that would be held in Geneva in the coming week. Today, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was launching its Sudan Post-Conflict Environmental Assessment report, which looked at the impact of climate change and conflict on the environment in the Sudan. Among the report's main findings was that environmental degradation was triggering tensions and conflict in Sudan and that a lasting peace was unlikely unless widespread and rapidly accelerating environmental degradation was urgently addressed. UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner would present the report at 12 noon today in Room III.

On Tuesday, 26 June, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) was holding the principal launch of its 2007 World Drug Report here in Geneva. The report found that there have been significant and positive changes in world drugs markets and, as the UNODC Executive Director has put it, the "run-away train of drug addiction has slowed down". The report also urged countries to provide greater health care to drug addicts. The main author of the report would be present to present the report and answer questions. Press releases were available in all official languages, and an executive summary had been made available in English. Copies of the report would be distributed at the press conference. All materials were under embargo until 26 June at 0 hour. A press conference would be held on Tuesday in Room III, at a time to be confirmed later, Ms. Heuzé said. [An advance briefing was subsequently scheduled for Monday, 25 June at 2 p.m.]

On Wednesday, 27 June at 11 a.m., a launch would be held for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report “The State of World Population 2007”, Ms. Heuzé said. Copies of the report, embargoed until 27 June at 2 p.m. Geneva time, were available now in Arabic, English, French, Portuguese and Spanish, and would soon be available in Chinese. Ms. Leyla Alyanak of UNFPA said the report warned of unprecedented urban growth in developing world, and would recommend ways of dealing with the doubling of urban populations in Africa and Asia within a few decades. A media advisory had been sent to journalists, with instructions on how to access all materials on the UNFPA website. Speakers would be Jean-Noel Wetterwald, Chief of the UNFPA Resource Mobilization Branch, Serge Chappatte, Deputy Director General of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, and Jean-Claude Bolay, Director for International Cooperation, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. The launch would be held in press room 1.

Global Compact Leaders Summit

Ms. Heuzé announced that on Friday, 29 June, at 11:30 a.m., Georg Kell, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact, would convene a press briefing to provide an update on the Global Compact Leaders Summit, to be held on 5 and 6 July in Geneva, and to present a preview of the Global Compact’s first Annual Review as well as a new study on corporate responsibility trends by McKinsey & Company. Joining Mr. Kell would be Anthony Ling, Managing Director of Goldman Sachs International, to discuss a groundbreaking new report to be launched at the Leaders Summit.

Human Rights Council

Ms. Heuzé said that this morning the Human Rights Council was continuing its organizational meeting, at which the Council would consider scheduling of its programme of work for the coming year. It was also expected to adopt a decision to defer the meeting of the Council as the Preparatory Committee of the Durban Review Conference, previously scheduled to take place next week, as the agenda was not ready. The PrepCom would probably be held at the end of July, at a date to be confirmed.

José-Luis Diaz of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) noted that OHCHR should have the dates for when the Prepcom would be held by the middle of next week.

Human Rights

Mr. Diaz recalled that the Special Court in Sierra Leone had handed down its first verdicts, convicting three individuals of war crimes and crimes against humanity last Wednesday. Te High Commissioner appealed to the international community to continue supporting the Special Court for Sierra Leone, which, at the rate it was going now, would run out of funds by November. The Special Court, as the latest verdicts had shown, was contributing to putting an end to impunity in Africa and, through its example, around the world.

Occupied Palestinian Territories

Matthias Burchard of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) said that the crossing points into Gaza remained largely closed. The Rafah crossing had been closed for 12 days now; Karni – the major commercial crossing –for 10; the Erez checkpoint had been closed to traders for 9 days; and the only opening, Kerem Shalom, had only a marginal capacity to handle goods. UNRWA had 104 containers of food waiting to go to Gaza in Ashdod port. Reopening of the Karni Crossing was crucial to prevent a general food shortage in two weeks' time. The refugee poverty rate had now risen to 88 per cent, and UNRWA was providing food aid to 860,000 refugees in Gaza alone. All UNWRA infrastructure and building projects – worth some US$ 75 million – had stopped or would soon come to a halt due to the lack of building supplies. Those projects provided thousands with much-needed income.

On a brighter note, Mr. Burchard announced that tomorrow UNRWA was inaugurating the first "Summer Games" in Gaza, in which 192,000 children and youth had enrolled. That programme was aimed at preventing a further brutalization of Gaza's youth, some 50 per cent of the population in the Strip. The activity was being launched throughout the Gaza Strip for the duration of the summer holiday and would give young people the space to express themselves in a positive and productive manner. In addition, during the 10-week games, remedial education classes for math and Arabic would be offered to 50,000 pupils. UNRWA called on the international donor community to step up now and fund the whole of its 2007 emergency appeal for the refugees. As of today, only 44 per cent of the total appeal for $246 million was funded. A media note on the Summer Games was available.

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that UNICEF was gravely concerned about the humanitarian situation in Gaza. The closing of the crossing points had rendered the delivery of humanitarian aid almost impossible. Stocks of essential medicines were at critical levels, health facilities were struggling to address the needs of the exhausted and traumatized population and UNICEF was working to treat children suffering from shock and extreme stress. Food prices were rising, worsening the situation for the population, two thirds of whom were already living below the poverty line. UNICEF was delivering emergency medical supplies and vaccines to help prevent outbreaks of disease among children in Gaza and was also supplying 50,000 litres of fuel to run water and sanitation systems for up to 3000,000 people. A press release was available.

Simon Pluess of the World Food Programme (WFP) said that today WFP had transported some 400 tons of food aid to Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing. WFP had been granted a daily time slot for its trucks to enter Gaza with humanitarian assistance. Yesterday, WFP had distributed some 370 tons of food supplies to some 3,500 of the most vulnerable in Gaza, as well as distributing some 260 parcels of bread to 10 hospitals. However, the needs were growing as food supplies continued to dwindle with commercial stocks running really low. Therefore food and other humanitarian supplies had to continue to enter Gaza if a major humanitarian crisis was to be averted. It was unlikely the Karni crossing would open any time soon, as it had been structurally damaged. WFP was therefore reinforcing its programme at Kerem Shalom.

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization (WHO), responding to a question, confirmed that a brief opening at the Erez crossing had been allowed so that urgent medical cases from Gaza could be transferred to Israeli hospitals for care. She could also confirm that, despite shortages of everything from fuel to medicines, the hospitals inside Gaza itself were staying open.

Iraq Orphans

The discovery and broadcast of images of children in a Baghdad orphanage suffering horrific neglect and abuse was evidence that the welfare of Iraq's orphaned and vulnerable children were seriously under threat, UNICEF concluded. Those images were not only shocking, they were totally unacceptable, Ms. Taveau of UNICEF said. UNICEF welcomed the Iraqi Prime Minister's call for a national enquiry into the conditions of children in orphanages, and urged the Government to enable a rapid assessment of all Iraqi orphanages and juvenile centres as soon as possible. Since 2003, and the onset of the conflict in Iraq, the situation of Iraq's children had been in a severe downward spiral. Since then, 15 per cent had of Iraqis had fled their homes, half of those, children. A concurrent decline in the number of qualified childcare workers made it harder to provide institutionalised children with the necessary quality of support. Meanwhile, every day, children lost either one or both of their parents to the violence. UNICEF demanded that an open monitoring system for the management of children's institutions be put in place on an urgent basis.

Ms. Taveau, responding to questions, said she did not believe it was possible the images were faked. She was sure they reflected the reality on the ground. The images had been recorded some 10 days ago, and UNICEF had only become aware of them when they were televised by CBS. The Spokesperson for the United States Army had not alerted UNICEF to the situation before that. UNICEF had put its services at the disposition of the Iraqi Government to undertake the assessment of the situation in orphanages and juvenile centres there.

Timor-Leste

WFP and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization issued a report today on Timor-Leste, which painted a very bleak picture of the situation of food security there, Mr. Pluess of WFP said. The report suggested that this year's harvest was as much as 30 per cent smaller than normal. That meant that one fifth of the population – or some 215,000 people – would be in need of more than 15,000 tons of emergency food assistance during the six months of the rainy season, from October 2007 to March 2008. The poor harvest was mainly due to a recurring drought, especially on the north coast, as well as locust infestations in the western regions of Timor-Leste. A press release was available.

Other

Ms. Chaib of WHO said that the WHO-based Tropical Diseases Research Programme had adopted a new 10-year strategy focusing on diseases of poverty. The new plan addressed some of the emerging disease challenges facing developing countries, such as tuberculosis-HIV co-infection. The Programme would focus on addressing key bottlenecks in getting health care treatment to poor and remote populations, and fostering research and policy leadership in countries where those diseases posed significant health problems. A press release was available.

Ms. Chaib also announced a press conference would be held on Thursday, 28 June at 10 a.m. in Room III, to present the results of WHO research into global hazards of travel, with a focus on air travel.

William Spindler of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) announced the imminent signature of a cooperation agreement (accord de siège) between UNHCR and the Government of Morocco, which would upgrade the status of the UNHCR office in Rabat to full-fledged representation. UNHCR staff in Morocco would benefit from open channels of communication with all relevant government departments, central and local authorities and partner agreements.

Jana Borges of the World Trade Organization (WTO) drew attention to a number of press conferences taking place at WTO today and through next week. A couple of the ambassadors who had been in Potsdam to try and break the Doha Round deadlock, were now in Geneva. Ambassador Celso Amorim of Brazil was holding a press conference at 12 p.m. today in Room E, and at 3.30 p.m. United States Trade Representative Susan Schwab and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns would speak to the press (room E or D, to be announced). Then, at 4.30 p.m., the Trade Negotiations Committee would convene in informal session to consider the state of play of the negotiations. A briefing would also be held following that meeting.

Next week, on Monday, 25 June, in the morning, meetings would be held on agriculture negotiations, which would be followed by a briefing at 1.15 p.m, Ms. Borges said. Monday afternoon the negotiating group on market access for non-agricultural products would meet. An information sheet was available setting out the schedule of WTO meetings for the rest of the week.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced the start of an IOM operation to assist an initial group of 2,400 internally displaced in Sudan to return south via the Nile River. With the onset of the rainy season, which would last until October, all land routes for the return of the displaced were impassable. This week 451 displaced persons from camps in Khartoum had boarded an IOM-chartered barge in Kosti for a two-week journey to their homes in Southern Sudan. The operation was undertaken jointly with the Government of National Unity, the Government of South Sudan, and UN partners. Each family received a three-month food rations from WFP in addition to the non-food items such a plastic sheets, sleeping mats and mosquito nets, donated by UNICEF and the UN Joint Logistics Centre.

In a brief update on the programme for the repatriation of Congolese refugees, Mr. Chauzy noted that a third and fourth group of 119 Congolese refugees had been airlifted yesterday out of the northern Mozambican town of Nampula, as part of a joint IOM-UNHCR effort to provide voluntary repatriation assistance to a group for some 3,500 Congolese refugees who had lived in Maratane camp for the past six years.