REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which also heard from Spokespersons for and Representatives of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration.

Security Council

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that yesterday the Security Council had unanimously adopted resolution 1772, authorizing the African Union to maintain its operation in Somalia for a further six months, which had been mandated to take all necessary measures to support dialogue and reconciliation and to contribute to the creation of the necessary security conditions for the provision of humanitarian assistance. The resolution also requested the Secretary-General to continue to develop the existing contingency planning for the possible deployment of a United Nations Peacekeeping Operation replacing the African Union Mission to Somalia. Available was a press release.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that this morning the Conference on Disarmament was holding a plenary meeting under the Presidency of Syria, and in the presence of the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Sergio Duarte. A press release would be issued following that meeting.

Yesterday evening, UNOG Director-General and Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament, Sergei Ordzhonikidze, had given an opening address on the occasion of the launch of the Biological Weapons Convention Implementation Support Unit. The Director-General had said that the establishment of the Unit in Geneva was an innovative solution to the long-acknowledged need to provide an institutional focus for the Convention, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said. The text of the Director-General's statement was available in the Press Room.

Hurricane Dean

In a statement issued yesterday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had expressed his sadness at the losses caused by Hurricane Dean, and had said that the United Nations stood ready to support relief efforts, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said. The full text of the Secretary-General's statement was available in the Press Room.

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that Hurricane Dean, the first Hurricane of the season, had now attained category 5, the highest level for hurricanes. OCHA had sent United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) Teams to the area. A team had been deployed to Jamaica, where a state of emergency had been declared on the south of the island. Some 6,500 people there were living in 268 shelters. In Belize, a five-member UNDAC team had been deployed. In Haiti, no UNDAC team had been sent, but 5,000 people were living in shelters, with 406 families affected, 244 homes destroyed and 111 houses damaged. Following an assessment, The Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) would designate funds for the relief effort.

In Cuba 350,000 people living near the coast had had to be evacuated by civil protection services and in Mexico, 13,400 oil workers had had to be evacuated from oil platforms, creating both economic and security concerns, Ms. Byrs continued. The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency was monitoring the impact and threat levels of the Hurricane. A press note was available.

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that she had spoken with UNICEF representatives in Jamaica and Mexico this morning. Hurricane Dean was now approaching the Yucatan Peninsula, heading towards Belize and Mexico, where a state of emergency had been declared in the states of Quintana Roo, Yucatan and Campeche. UNICEF had pre-positioned medicines, food, water and blankets. Some 80,000 tourists had already been evacuated and 1,200 shelters had been set up capable of accommodating 70,000. In Jamaica, which the Hurricane had hit last weekend, the UNICEF representative estimated that 90,000 children had been directly or indirectly affected. Distribution of hygiene kits, water purification tablets and water containers had been undertaken earlier in anticipation of the hurricane's destruction.

Earthquake in Peru

Ms. Byrs said that OCHA was finalizing the preparation of a Flash Appeal and a CERF request, which would be announced this week in Geneva and Peru. A seven-member UNDAC Team had been deployed, with coordination offices in Lima, Pisco and Pisco airport. There were major logistical problems in getting the aid to those that needed it. The main road between Lima and Pisco had been cut off, as a bridge had been destroyed, and a maritime route also took over 10 hours. A press note was available.

Fadéla Chaib of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that available was a press release in English and Spanish from WHO's regional bureau, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), on the WHO/PAHO response to the Peru earthquake. WHO had immediately deployed a team of experts to the most affected areas of Pisco and Ica, following the quake. The assessment team had already identified basic emergency health needs of the affected population, where national health authorities were responding. There had been a good local response to the disaster, and there were enough Peruvian doctors on hand to handle the situation. Major concerns involved the destruction of four health facilities, and a lack of drinking water because of damage to pipes and electricity cuts.

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme (WFP) said that, to date, WFP had distributed 500 tons of food, including some 9 tons of energy biscuits, to quake victims, which it had airlifted in from its centre in Ecuador. An additional 100 tons of biscuits would be shipped to the area, along with other food items. WFP stood ready to assist the Government in any way possible, including purchasing food. WFP had already helped the Government buy $3 million in food.

The situation remained alarming as the aftershocks continued, Ms. Berthiaume said. There had been 300 such aftershocks since the devastating major quake, leaving 16,700 families homeless. In particular there had been two strong following aftershocks that had caused a number of already damaged structures to fall. Those most gravely affected had been the poorest families, whose houses were constructed of a mixture of earth and straw. Major logistical problems involved damaged roads, huge traffic jams and the fact that people would not leave the rubble of their homes for fear of pillaging.

Responding to a suggestion that the aid was not getting to those affected, Ms. Berthiaume said that, while getting the aid in was difficult, all the necessary efforts were being made and assistance, though slowly, was getting in.

Flooding in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Ms. Taveau of UNICEF said that, while sporadic rains continued, the water level had dropped yesterday, enabling a UNICEF team to visit the Singye region in North Hwangae province, where 13 had died, including 2 children, following a dam break. Some areas were still isolated because roads were cut off. UNICEF had provided 130 health kits for distribution, each of which would cover the needs of 4,000 people – or 520,000 in total.

Ms. Berthiaume said that the Korean Government had now officially requested WFP assistance to help some 215,000 victims of the flooding in 37 counties. The cost of covering those needs for a three-month period was $5 million, representing some 9,700 tons of food. WFP was continuing its assessment missions in the country, which were evaluating the situation in 11 counties at the moment. The Government had also indicated that there would be a need to assess agricultural losses in the next few weeks in order to be able to properly estimate the amount of food aid needed. According to WFP's preliminary estimates so far, some 150 to 250 million tons of the harvest had been lost. Following the Government's request for assistance, WFP had begun distributing its pre-positioned aid.

Ms. Byrs said, following the official request of the Government for OCHA's coordination assistance, an OCHA specialist would be deployed in the coming days to facilitate the coordination of aid assistance. A flash appeal was being prepared.

Ms. Chaib said that, according to the WHO office in Pyongyang, many of the medical warehouses in the area had been submerged or ravaged, resulting in the loss and damage of drugs, and the essential medicines that were regularly distributed by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Red Cross Society had been nearly depleted. There was an urgent need for 20 emergency health kits (each covering 10,000 people for one month), anti-cholera kits (each sufficient for treating 100 severely ill patients) and other basic medical supplies. The Government had requested WHO to organize the provision of medical supplies to the affected areas.

Responding to a question, Ms. Chaib noted that there had been no updates so far on the number of victims.

Sudan Flood Update

Ms. Byrs said that the United Nations had so far allocated $13.5 million in funds from the Central Emergency Response Fund and the Common Humanitarian Fund. At least 365,000 people had already been directly affected by the floods, either through the loss of their homes, the loss of essential household items or destruction or loss of foodstuffs. It was now estimated that 150,000 had been left homeless and 30,000 houses had been destroyed. The UN and its partners were now preparing to react to new flooding in the coming weeks, which could affect up to an additional 265,000 persons. A Flash Appeal would be issued in the coming days.

OHCHR Report on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Darfur

Yvon Edoumou of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said that today OHCHR had called on the Government of Sudan to protect women and children from sexual and gender-based violence in a new report detailing cases of abduction, rape and other cases of sexual violence in South Darfur. The report, which was a follow-up to an earlier report issued in April 2007, contained testimonies from victims and eyewitnesses describing how women had been abducted, kept as sex slaves or subjected to other human rights violations in Deribat and surrounding towns by the Sudanese Armed Forces and affiliated groups. Those and other violations had occurred in late December 2006 during air and ground attacks by the Sudanese Army and its allied groups on civilians in the area. The report stressed that the Government held the responsibility for the actions of its Armed Forces and other informal allied groups, notably the Popular Defence Forces and the Southern Liberation Army/Abu Gasim faction. The report also deplored the fact that no investigation had been carried out by the Sudanese Authorities into these violations, although some of the acts committed might constitute war crimes.

Among its recommendations, the report urged the Government to cease all attacks against civilians, especially women and children; to establish an independent body to investigate abduction, rape and sexual slavery committed in the region; and that those suspected of being responsible should be brought to justice in trials that met international standards of fairness. The report also called on the Government to review its legislation, so that women were not deterred from reporting rape. This was the eighth periodic report by the High Commissioner and was issued in cooperation with the United Nations Mission in Sudan.

Other

Ms. Chaib said that copies of the World Health Report 2007: "A Safer Future" were now available in the Press Room, in French, English and Spanish. The report was under embargo until 22 August, at 00.01 GMT. A press conference for the exclusive Geneva launch of the report would be held in Room III, on 23 August at 1.30 p.m. Speaking would be WHO Director-General Margareth Chan; Mike Ryan, Director of WHO's Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response; and Guenael Rodier, Director of the International Health Regulations Coordination programme.

Catherine Sibut-Pinote of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said available at the back of the room were press kits for the 2007 Report on United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) assistance to the Palestinian people. The report would be launched by Mahmoud Elkhafif, UNCTAD Officer-in-charge of Assistance to the to the Palestinian people, on Thursday, 30 August at 11 a.m. in Room I. There would be simultaneous launches in Cairo and Ramallah. The report focused particularly on the long-term crisis facing the Palestinian people, including the urgent needs of the population. The report underscored the lack of attention and support for the economy on the part of businesses and households and provided a series of recommendations for improving the economy, in particular the maintenance of a humanitarian corridor. The information kits were under embargo before the launch.

Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that last weekend thousands of young Iraqis had started enrolling in schools in Jordan after the Government had decided to let all Iraqi refugee children in the country attend public schools regardless of whether their parents had residency permits or not. UNHCR warmly welcomed that generous decision and the positive impact it would have on the lives of thousands of refugee children. UNHCR also hoped to see strong support from the international community for the joint UNHCR-UNICEF education appeal for $129 million dollars which had been launched in late July aimed at getting an additional 155,000 uprooted Iraqi children in the region back to school. So far, funding had been slow to come in although there are good indications that money would be forthcoming.

In Jordan, where the school registration process had begun last Sunday, the Ministry of Education had said that at least 50,000 Iraqi students were expected to enrol in schools across the country, Ms. Pagonis said. Iraqi children would follow the same curricula as Jordanian students and would have access to the same school facilities. Depending on needs, the programme would include primary, secondary and vocational training as well as non-formal education, where applicable. Jordan hosted an estimated 750,000 Iraqi refugees, about half of whom were believed to be children. Until now, those children had not been able to gain access to education in Jordan unless their parents had a residency permit or paid fees.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced the launch of the a new report providing valuable insights into the protection and reintegration needs of some 69,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) who had spontaneously returned to South Sudan over the first six months of 2007. The report showed that 26 per cent of the returning families were headed by single women, and that 55 per cent of those who had spontaneously returned to South Sudan were children and young people. Tracking spontaneous returns provided important information on the reintegration needs of returning groups. The report, "Tracking of Spontaneous Returnees in Sudan January - June 2007" was available on the IOM website at www.iom.int.

In Moldova, a statistical profile of trafficking victims revealed new trends, Mr. Chauzy said. An increasing percentage of trafficking victims in Moldova being married women was thought to be linked to a corresponding rise in family members and friends becoming part of the trafficking process. The profiling had, nevertheless, revealed that in some aspects, human trafficking in Moldova had not changed: poorly educated women from rural areas were still the most vulnerable to human trafficking.

Mr. Chauzy drew attention to a third recently released IOM report, on trafficking in the Greater Mekong Subregion, which showed that assistance offered to victims of human trafficking identified and formally returned between countries in that region had improved due to greater commitment on the part of the Governments and cooperation with international organizations and non-governmental organizations. (See "The Long Road Home - An Analysis of Regional and National Processes for the Return and Reintegration of Victims of Trafficking in the GMS" on the web at: www.iom-seasia.org.)