REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Office at Geneva, chaired the briefing which provided information on the United Nations follow-up to the Algiers bombing; the first Forum of the Alliance of Civilizations, to take place in Madrid in January; the situation of children in Iraq; and the recent influx of asylum-seekers to Poland, which joined the Schengen zone today. A spokesperson for the United Nations Children’s Fund and a representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees made statements. Representatives from the World Health Organization, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Meteorological Organization and the International Organization for Migration were also present.

Algiers Bombing

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that, following his trip to Algeria, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had participated in a ceremony in honour of the memory of the victims of the Algiers bombing in New York. In a statement made at that ceremony, the Secretary-General had said "During my visit to Algiers, I was shocked and overwhelmed by what I saw there. The bomb explosion which ripped through the United Nations compound in Algiers [on 11 December] had a devastating impact. One part of the UNDP building is completely flattened. Rubble is strewn far and wide."

The Secretary-General told how he had met with survivors and families of the victims, many of them children, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier continued. "It was profoundly emotional and heartbreaking," the Secretary-General had confessed, overcome. "It redoubled my resolve to push for implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, adopted by all 192 UN Member States last year," he had stressed. Mr. Ban had said he would soon present a proposal for a review of United Nations security worldwide. He would also ask Governments to act on their obligations under General Assembly resolution 59/276, which spelled out that the primary responsibility for ensuring the safety and security of United Nations staff and premises rested with the host country. Copies of the Secretary-General's statement were available in the press room.

Alliance of Civilizations Meeting in Madrid

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier announced that the first Alliance of Civilizations Forum would be held in Madrid, on 15 and 16 January 2008. Hosted by the Government of Spain, the Alliance of Civilizations Forum would convene political leaders, media heads, grassroots and civil society leaders, corporate and film industry executives, and religious figures. The Forum would be opened by Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero of Spain, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan of Turkey, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and President Jorge Sampaio, High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations. The Forum would focus on finding new ways to bridge the growing divide between nations and cultures worldwide and establishing new partnerships to promote global understanding. A press release on the Forum was available in the press room.

Situation of Children in Iraq

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said available in the back of the room was an information note containing an overview of the situation of children in Iraq today, taking stock of the impact of events over the past year. The picture was a bleak one. To give some figures: only 40 per cent of children across Iraq had access to clean drinking water; thousands of families had been obliged to leave their homes owing to the violence or because of threats; hundreds of children had lost their lives owing to the same violence; and only 28 per cent of children under 17 had been able to pass their school leaving examinations. And conditions continued to deteriorate, with many mothers preventing their children from attending school for fear they would be attacked.

Despite that situation, UNICEF and its partners continued to work in Iraq, Ms. Taveau underscored. Notably, UNICEF had led a vaccination campaign which had allowed 4 million children to be immunized against polio and 3 million to be vaccinated against measles. In 2007, UNICEF provided the equivalent of $60 million in humanitarian assistance to Iraqis. While UNICEF had asked for $144 million in assistance from donors, it had only received 32 per cent of that figure ($45 million), and had made been forced to use additional funds from its own coffers to cover its costs.

Influx of Asylum-Seekers as Poland Joins Schengen Zone

William Spindler of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that, since July, Poland had seen a steep rise in the number of asylum-seekers, particularly Chechen and Ingush persons from the Russian Federation. In the first 11 months of 2007, there had been 4,931 new applications for asylum in Poland, of which 3,555, or roughly 70 per cent, had been lodged after June. While the monthly average of new applications during the first half of this year had been 250, figures had increased to 335 in July, reaching 1,148 in November.

The most likely reason for the increase in new arrivals was Poland's accession to the Schengen Zone today, 21 December, and fears that that would lead to stricter border controls, Mr. Spindler observed. There were reports that smugglers had been intentionally spreading rumours among potential asylum-seekers that their access to Polish territory would be hampered after 21 December. Also, some asylum-seekers erroneously hoped that, once in Poland, they would be able to move freely throughout the Schengen Zone. The increase had led to an overcrowding of reception facilities in Poland. There were currently over 5,300 people staying in 20 separate reception facilities, as compared to 3,550 people in 17 reception facilities a year ago.

In response to a question, Mr. Spindler confirmed that the situation in Ingushetia had deteriorated. While UNHCR maintained a presence there, its office had closed temporarily in May, following an attack. In neighbouring Chechnya, the situation had become more stable, and the majority of ethnic Chechens that had been displaced had returned. There were still considerable problems with security, with access to property and unresolved human rights issues, but, overall, UNHCR had seen a good deal of reconstruction in Chechnya.

Other

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier announced that the main United Nations radio studios located on the ground floor of Building C would be closed starting on 7 January for a period of two to three months. During that time, the Information Service would make available studios located on the ground floor of Building E, near the television studios. The telephone numbers for the radio studios would remain unchanged. An information note on the subject had been placed in the press room.

As this was the last press briefing of the year, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier, on behalf of Marie Heuzé, colleagues in the Information Service, and on her own behalf, wished everyone and their families a happy holiday season and a happy New Year. They would all meet again next year, for the first briefing, on Tuesday, 8 January 2008.