REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Marie Heuzé, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the UN Refugee Agency, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Economic Commission for Europe, the International Federation of the Red Cross and the International Organization for Migration.

New Statements by the Secretary-General

Ms. Heuzé said there were a number of new comments and statements by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon which had been made over the weekend or on 12 May, as Headquarters, unlike UNOG and most of Western Europe, was open yesterday.

On the earthquake in China, the Secretary-General said he was deeply saddened by the loss of life and destruction of property suffered by the people of Sichuan Province in China in the devastating earthquake. He said the United Nations stood ready to support the Government of China in its efforts to respond to the humanitarian needs caused by the disaster.

With regards to the situation in Myanmar, the Secretary-General registered his deep concern—and immense frustration—at the unacceptably slow response to this grave humanitarian crisis. They were at a critical point, and unless more aid got into the country—very quickly—they faced an outbreak of infectious diseases that could dwarf today’s crisis. He called, in the most strenuous terms, on the Government of Myanmar to put its people’s lives first. It must do all that it could to prevent this disaster from becoming even more serious. The United Nations and its agencies were well-positioned to help with everything from emergency food, fresh water and medical supplies to repairing critical national infrastructure—transport, communications and community distribution networks. The UN had many staff on the ground. Yet they were grievously over-stretched and the Government continued to deny visas to most foreign aid workers. As a result, the United Nations had been able to reach fewer than a third of the total number of people at risk—some 270,000 people. Secretary-General ban said there had been some encouraging signs. Many airlifts of aid arrived over the weekend and on 12 May. The Government had made some initial moves to ease access restrictions. However, much more was needed.

Concerning the situation in Lebanon, the Secretary-General strongly condemned those responsible for the violence in Lebanon over the last week and urged calm and restraint and an immediate stop to the violence. He called on all parties to resume the national dialogue. Lebanon needed a political process which would result in the election of a President and a solution to the prolonged political crisis. The Secretary-General called for the upholding of the independence, sovereignty and integrity of Lebanon and the implementation of all relevant Security Council resolutions pertaining to Lebanon.

With regards to the fighting around Khartoum, Sudan, the Secretary-General expressed his grave concern at the outbreak of fighting on the outskirts of Khartoum as a result of the reported attacks by Justice and Equality Movement forces against the capital. He strongly condemned the use of armed force and military means by the Movement for the achievement of political ends and called for an immediate cessation of fighting and a renewed commitment to a peaceful resolution of outstanding issues.

On the global food crisis, the Secretary-General yesterday chaired the first meeting of the newly established High Level Task Force on the Global Food Crisis. The Task Force is coordinated by Under-Secretary-General John Holmes, supported by Assistant Secretary General David Nabarro as his Deputy Coordinator, and brings together heads of many of the United Nations specialized agencies, Funds and Programmes, Bretton Woods Institutions and relevant parts of the UN Secretariat. The primary aim of the Task Force is to promote a comprehensive and unified response to the global food price challenge in support of governments and affected populations. The focus of the meeting was the development of a comprehensive framework for tackling the challenges posed by the food price crisis. This strategy is expected to outline short and longer-term actions, such as food aid, social protection initiatives and agricultural boosts, which will help counter the negative consequences of the food crisis for the most affected. The High Level Task Force agreed to present the elements of such a strategy at the High Level Conference on World Food Security in Rome on 3-5 June. Meanwhile, members of the Task Force appealed to countries around the world to ensure that their policies, for example regarding exports of food, do not exacerbate the current structural rise in food prices and its consequences.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Heuzé said in Geneva, the Conference on Disarmament was today starting the second part of its 2008 session. The first plenary will be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 15 May.

The Committee against Torture and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights were both meeting in private this week at the Palais Wilson. They would both be concluding their work on Friday, 16 May and would be releasing their concluding observations and recommendations on the reports which they considered this session before closing their work.

The Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review was continuing its work at the Palais des Nations and would conclude on Monday, 19 May.

Ms. Heuzé said the Committee on the Rights of the Child will hold its forty-eighth session from 19 May to 6 June at the Palais Wilson. The Committee will consider reports from Georgia, Bulgaria, the United States, Republic of Korea, Serbia, Sierra Leone, the Philippines and Eritrea.

Myanmar

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said 12 days after Cyclone Nargis hit, the United Nations remained very worried about the situation on the ground. As the Secretary-General had noted, the United Nations was immensely frustrated at not being able to bring in more aid to help the victims of the cyclone. Unless more access was granted to Myanmar and more aid got into the country very quickly, a second catastrophe could develop and the situation could become even more dramatic. There had been some progress, but much more was needed to help the 1.5 million persons affected by the cyclone. For now, the UN and its partners had been able to reach around 270,000 people of the total number of people at risk. Assessment teams continued to report major damage in affected areas. However, assessments were complicated by the fact that the worst affected populations in the delta were moving to other areas where they could receive humanitarian aid. Also heavy rain had been forecast which would exacerbate relief efforts.

Ms. Byrs said the World Food Programme had dispatched a total of 361 metric tonnes of food assistance to affected areas and 175 tonnes of that had been distributed. In order to feed 750,000 persons for three months, 55,000 metric tones of rice would be required, of which only 50 per cent could be procured in country. This foray into the Delta underscored the logistical problems being faced as relief was channeled to the areas with greatest needs.

In response to a question, Ms. Byrs said that they had seen some encouraging signs, and the Government of Myanmar had made some initial moves to ease access and restrictions. Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes said yesterday that 34 new visas had been granted to UN staff. But this was nothing compared to the scale of the disaster and much more was needed. Another encouraging sign was that 27 flights carrying relief items had either been successfully discharged or were planned to be discharged. But much more was needed.

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said WHO has dispatched eight International Emergency Health Kits, each of which could cover the health needs of 10,000 persons for three months. They had arrived in Rangoon and were being dispatched to the affected areas. There had been cases of diarrhea and dysentery reported, but for now, there were no confirmed cases of cholera. Immediate efforts were to provide the wounded victims with medical care and to prevent communicable diseases such as diarrhea, acute respiratory diseases, measles and dengue. WHO had 160 national staff in Myanmar, including 11 international staffers. Dengue and measles were expected to become worrisome in coming weeks. WHO had also dispatched 30,000 surgical masks and 30,000 gloves for those dealing with the dead bodies. It was also buying bed nets.

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said UNICEF was continuing to distribute humanitarian aid which had been brought in on a number of air planes. UNICEF, along with the Red Cross of Myanmar and other partners, continued to distribute first aid kits, treated mosquito nets, water purification tablets, water, and provide access to proper food and water. Special areas within camps had been set up for children. This was important, especially for unaccompanied children. To date, 24 unaccompanied children have been identified. A large number of “schools in a backpack” would soon be distributed. For UNICEF, the priority now was to try to bring some sort of normalcy to the children in Myanmar whose lives had been affected.

Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency said over 40 tonnes of UNHCR shelter supplies had reached Myanmar’s main city of Yangon in the last 24 hours. An airlift from Dubai landed this morning, while two of UNHCR’s aid trucks from the Thai border arrived yesterday afternoon. Some 10,000 people were expected to benefit from these shelter supplies. Another batch of supplies was being rushed to the outskirts of Yangon and to Bogale and Laputto in the Irrawaddy delta. And another flight was expected to arrive from Dubai by mid-week with 40 tonnes of shelter supplies. UNHCR was planning a fourth airlift as soon as possible and was actively looking in the region for available supplies to procure and rapidly dispatch to Yangon.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said IOM emergency coordinators would today start work in Yangon and Bangkok as energy giant Chevron Corporation pledged $ 400,000 in support of IOM’s relief efforts to help victims of Cyclone Nargis. IOM was appealing for $ 8 million through the UN Flash Appeal launched last Friday. This includes $ 5 million for the delivery and provision of emergency shelter including plastic sheets and tents and $ 3 million for direct medical aid and support to local health authorities. IOM had also asked the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund for $ 1.45 million for the delivery of emergency shelter and for ten emergency primary health care clinics in the worst-affected areas. An IOM Myanmar medical assessment team is scheduled to leave Yangon for the delta region today, and based on their feedback, a further four teams led by eight doctors would likely be deployed in the next week.

Mr. Chauzy said IOM logisticians and procurement specialists were working to increase the flow of relief goods into Myanmar. While international relief efforts were currently focused on flights in and out of Yangon, IOM was hoping that Myanmar and Thailand would soon agree to open a land corridor from the Thai border town of Mae Sot to Mawlamyine in Myanmar’s Mon State.

In response to a question about the sinking of a boat carrying aid by the International Federation of the Red Cross over the weekend, Mathieu Cochrane said the head of the IFRC delegation had returned today to Yangon after a visit to Laputto in the delta. She confirmed that the first shipment of IFRC tarpaulin had reached the town of Myaungmya and would be used to cover the roof of the town hospital that was completely torn off by the cyclone. In terms of boats, IFRC would continue to use boats. He had not been able to confirm how difficult it would be to find more boats, but boats would continue to be used as they were one of the best ways to reach the affected areas. The lesson from the sinking of the boat was that even when aid was getting out of the city, it was very difficult, challenging and even dangerous to get it to the affected communities.

Answering another question, Mr. Cochrane said that the head of the IFRC delegation had been to Laputto before, and she said it was now unrecognizable. To a large part, the town was no longer there. There were massive crowds of displaced people. The most urgent needs in the region were shelter, clean water and first aid.

China

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said OCHA had sent out a UN Disaster, Assessment and Coordination Team alert yesterday, so that if the Government of China was in need of additional assistance, it would know that the UN stood ready to help. OCHA had also sent out a letter to the Chinese authorities that the United Nations had emergency expert teams who dealt with environmental catastrophes ready if need be. According to media reports, two Chinese factories had been affected and damaged by the earthquake.

Pierre Kremer of the International Federation of the Red Cross said an assessment team was on the ground in China since this morning and cooperating with the local authorities. The Chinese Red Cross was very strong with millions of volunteers and 1,650 branches. The volunteers had been helping since the first hours. Now, they were trying to assess the extent of the damage.

Human Rights

Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, responding to a question on
the fact that it was strange that the Human Rights Council would be holding a Special Session on the global food crisis, but not on the current situation in Myanmar, said he did not speak for the Council, but the Special Session on the right to food was taking place because there had not been much in the way of thematic special sessions on big issues, and the right to food was a very big issue. There had been discussion to some extent on the possibility of talking about Myanmar, but the Council had a very full programme, including the Universal Periodic Review, so it was a pretty packed schedule at the moment and it would be difficult to fit it in.

Other

Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency said High Commissioner Antonio Guterres will leave for Yemen on Wednesday, 14 May for a five-day visit which will include a first-hand look at UNHCR’s efforts there on behalf of refugees and internally displaced people and the opening of a regional conference on refugee protection and migration in the Gulf of Aden which will be held on 19 and 20 May. Prior to the conference, Mr. Guterres is scheduled to visit UNCHR’s offices in Sana’a and Aden, as well as the Kharaz refugee camp.

Jean Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said in response to a question on the alleged Moroccan army’s killing of migrants, that he had seen the reported event in the press, but IOM had not received any independent confirmation. There had recently been a case of the Egyptian border police shooting at West African migrants.

Responding to the same question, Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said he had seen some discussion of that incident, and as far as he knew, it had not been fully verified yet. OHCHR did not have a presence in Morocco.

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said there will a briefing at 9:45 a.m. on Wednesday, 14 May on the World Health Assembly, which will be held from 19 to 24 May at the Palais des Nations.

Charlotte Griffiths of the UN Economic Commission for Europe said there will be a briefing at 10:45 a.m. on Wednesday, 14 May on how generations and gender shape demographic change: towards policies based on better knowledge. UNECE was organizing a conference on this issue from 4 to 16 May.

Ms. Heuzé said there will be a press conference at 2:30 p.m. today by the International Federation of the Red Cross on the global health and care forum 2008 and another by the United Nations Development Fund on Thursday, 15 May on low skilled workers and bilateral, regional and unilateral initiatives: lessons for the GATS mode 4 negotiations and other agreements.