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 was also attended by Spokespersons for the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Food Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development, the UN Refugee Agency, the International Committee for the Red Cross and the International Organization for Migration.

At the end of the briefing, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier reminded journalists that Friday, 12 October was a day off at the United Nations, so the next briefing would be on Tuesday, 16 October.

Darfur

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said over the weekend, a UN humanitarian assessment team went to Haskanita in North Darfur, and reported that the town, which was currently under the control of the Government, was completely burned down, except for a few buildings. The market area had been looted. Few civilians had returned in search of food and water. The civilian population had reportedly fled to neighbouring areas of Haskanita when the first attack on the African Union peacekeepers took place on 29 September. The United Nations and African Union Special Envoys for Darfur, Jan Eliasson and Salim Ahmed Salim, were finalizing preparations for the upcoming political negotiations scheduled to start in Libya later this month. Mr. Eliasson was scheduled to be in New York two weeks from now and would brief the Security Council prior to the onset of the negotiations.

The hybrid United Nations-African Union peacekeeping operation that would be deployed in Darfur had shortfalls in several key aviation and ground transport capacities, senior UN officials have said, warning that the mission’s ability to carry out its basic work would be in jeopardy unless those gaps were quickly filled. Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Affairs Jean-Marie Guéhenno said that a technical team had been sent to Khartoum to finalize the deployment plan for UNAMID, which at full capacity should have more than 19,000 troops, over 6,000 police and 5,500 civilian staff. The mission was on track to reach its benchmarks for the deployment of initial essential personnel before January, when it was scheduled to take over from the existing AU mission. But it would take most of 2008 to ensure the full deployment of the force. Mr. Guéhenno pointed to recent attacks on AU peacekeepers in Haskanita, in underscoring the need for “troops that are very mobile with a capacity to dominate any situation.”

International Court of Justice Judgement on Dispute between Nicaragua and Honduras

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the International Court of Justice had delivered its judgment in the territorial and maritime dispute between Nicaragua and Honduras in the Caribbean Sea. In the judgment, which was final, binding and without appeal, the Court found unanimously that Honduras had sovereignty over Bobel Cay, Savanna Cay, Port Royal Cay and South Cay. The Secretary-General welcomed the judgment and expressed trust that the Parties would implement it in full. He said this important judgment illustrated the essential role of the International Court of Justice in peacefully resolving international disputes. The Secretary-General’s statement was available in the press room.

Secretary-General’s Report on Abkhazia, Georgia

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the report of the Secretary-General on the situation in Abkhazia, Georgia, was out. Noting that the presence of the UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) continued to contribute to security in the conflict zone, the Secretary-General recommended that its mandate be extended for six months. The report was available in the Documentation Centre.

World Mental Health Day

The Secretary-General’s message on the occasion of World Mental Health Day, which was commemorated on 10 October, was available in the press room in all the UN languages.

International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction

Brigitte Leoni of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction said the International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction was this year being commemorated on Wednesday, 10 October. It marked the end of the 2006-2007 World Disaster Reduction Campaign, the theme of which was “Disaster Risk Reduction Begins at School”. To mark the International Day, ISDR would be organizing a round table in Salle XXI of the Palais des Nations to evaluate the campaign. It would be held from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. There were further details on the round table available. The 2007 UN Sasakawa Award Laureates would be attending the round table and would be available for interviews. Also tomorrow, ISDR would also be launching an on-line game “Stop Disaster” aimed at teaching children how to build safer villages and cities against disasters. A publication with examples of how certain countries had improved disaster risk reduction in schools was being released today. The publication and a press release were available at the back of the room.

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said UNICEF had joined the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction in June 2007 but had been taking steps in this field way before that date. In 2006, UNICEF had responded to 282 emergency situations in 89 countries, including 119 which were the result of natural disasters. The approach of UNICEF for the reduction of natural disaster included prediction, prevention and preparation. The objective was to ensure that children and the communities they lived in had enough knowledge to be able to identify signs of natural disasters, and to prepare them to deal with such disasters. UNICEF was working with governments and partners to ensure that school buildings were solid and a place where children could find shelter. UNICEF also promoted that education in the prevention of catastrophes should be integrated into the school curricula.

Human Rights

Yvon Edoumou of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said upon the invitation of the Government, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, would be visiting Sri Lanka from 10 to 13 October 2007. During the visit, Ms. Arbour would meet with His Excellency President Mahinda Rajapaksa, ministers of the Government and senior Government officials, representatives of political parties, United Nations agencies, diplomatic representatives, and civil society. The High Commissioner's visit came in the framework of her mandate to engage with the governments of Member States in the promotion and protection of human rights.

In response to a question, Mr. Edoumou said the High Commissioner would be meeting with members of the Tamil movement, including Members of Parliament representing the Tamil National Alliance, and obviously, the High Commissioner would be raising issues concerning human rights with them.

Asked another question, Mr. Edoumou said a large part of the High Commissioner’s visit would be spent in Colombo, but she would also be conducting a field visit.

A journalist said the Human Rights Council had asked the Government of Burma to allow the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Burma to visit to country, and wondered if there had been any response by the Government. Mr. Edoumou said to the best of his knowledge, the Special Rapporteur was trying to organize his visit, but no date had been set yet. He was not aware of any response by the Government but he would check and get back to the journalist



Floods in West Africa

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund had allocated $ 1 million in emergency humanitarian assistance to Mali, $ 2.5 million to Ghana and $ 225,770 to Togo as a response to floods that had stricken these three countries since August. This came to a total allocation of $ 3.7 million. The floods that had affected 800,000 persons in 14 West African countries were continuing. More details were available in the press room.

Simon Pluess of the World Food Programme said flash floods had affected localized areas in 13 countries in West Africa over the last few weeks, and some of them were in need of emergency food aid. Uganda was of particular concern for WFP as there was a cruel lack of funding to supply the needs of hundreds of thousands of Ugandans that had lost their homes, belongings, and often their crops. Some 300,000 persons were badly affected by the massive flooding in Uganda, and many of them had lost up to 90 per cent of their crops. WFP had appealed for $ 90 million to buy food for flood victims and $ 4.5 million to provide the entire humanitarian community with trucks, boats, emergency road and bridge repairs and aircrafts. Last week, WFP had already airlifted food aid to remote and cut off communities. But since the appeal had been launched, WFP had only received 10 per cent of the amount demanded. This meant that WFP was running out of food, and it would have to tap into the existing food resources destined for 1.7 million internally displaced persons and refugees in Uganda.

In Ghana, WFP had launched an emergency programme to feed 75,000 people in the most affected areas, Mr. Pluess said. In Togo, around 60,000 people were in need of emergency food aid, and distributions to 6,500 persons had already been made in September. A special operation for Ghana and Togo had been launched for logistics assistance.

Other

Teresa Buerkle of the Food and Agriculture Organization said FAO today released a new curriculum development guide addressing nutrition education in primary schools. The guide was aimed at ministry officials, teachers, nutrition experts, health professionals and others involved in the planning of nutrition education programmes for primary schools. A press release was available at the back of the room. The guide itself was available online.

Catherine Sibut Pinot of the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development said the World Investment Report 2007 would be released on 16 October. It analysed in particular the impact on the development of countries of the South of the massive implications of transnational companies on industries. The report would be presented in a press conference on Monday, 15 October at 11 a.m. in Salle III. The embargoed report was available in the press room.

Jennifer Pagonis of the United Nations Refugee Agency said UNHCR was deeply concerned about the precarious living conditions of Palestinian refugees in the Al Tanf border camp in non-man’s land between Iraq and Syria after a yet another devastating fire swept through the camp on Saturday, injuring 25 refugees and destroying 53 tents housing 11 families. This was the third time in less than a year that the camp had suffered serious fires and yet again highlighted the need for a humanitarian solution to be found for Palestinians trapped at the border after fleeing Baghdad. A UNHCR team rushed tents, mattresses and kitchen supplies to the camp, organised refilling of fire extinguishers and explored extra fire prevention measures. In a separate development, Ms. Pagonis said UNHCR in Syria yesterday started a mobile registration exercise in an effort to register Iraqi refugees in north-eastern Syria.

Ms. Pagonis said a three-year long organised repatriation of Congolese refugees from the Central African Republic to the Democratic Republic of Congo ended this weekend with a final convoy of 131 returnees leaving the Central African Republic’s capital Bangui. In total, 4,994 Congolese refugees had returned home from the Central African Republic.

Marcal Izard of the International Committee of the Red Cross said that in Mogadishu, ICRC continued to run medical facilities which continued to treat dozens of weapon-wounded people every week, with surgeons regularly performing operations day and night. In the first three weeks of September alone, the Keysaney and Medina hospitals treated 158 wounded. Since the beginning of the year, they had treated a total of 3,387 wounded. The ICRC’s priority in Mogadishu was to assist and support surgical referral facilities. Available at the back of the room was a press release listing other work by ICRC in Somalia.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization of Migration said IOM was organizing a press conference today at 2 p.m. on ways to make global labour mobility work for development. Documentation on the subject was available at the back of the room.