REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for the International Telecommunication Union, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the World Food Programme, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the World Trade Organization.

Millennium Development Goals

Ms. Heuzé said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and General Assembly President Miguel D’Escoto yesterday convened a High-level Event on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in New York. Around 75 heads of State and Government took part, along with many leaders from the private sector and civil society. The purpose of the event was to review progress on the MDGs, identify gaps in that progress, and commit to concrete action to bridge those gaps. In addition to the High-level Event itself, more than 60 Side Events were taking place during this “MDG Week”. Available in the press room was a press release which was issued on the High-level Event. As there were a number of MDGs which concerned UN agencies and bodies which were based in Geneva, she would invite a number of colleagues to talk about them.

Sanjay Acharya of the International Telecommunication Union said MDG number eight on developing global partnerships for development included the target of making available benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications. ITU was about to reach a major landmark in the growth of the number of worldwide mobile cellular subscribers. ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré announced yesterday in New York that worldwide mobile cellular subscribers were likely to reach the 4 billion mark before the end of the year. He spoke at the High-level Event on the MDGs in New York. Since the turn of the century, the growth of mobile cellular subscribers had been impressive, with year-on-year growth averaging 24 per cent between 2000 and 2008. It was estimated to reach about 61 per cent by the end of 2008. ITU stressed that although in theory a 61 per cent penetration rate suggested that at least every second person could be using a mobile phone, this was not necessarily the case. The statistics reflected the number of subscriptions, not persons. Brazil, Russia, India and China were expected to account for over 1.3 billion mobile subscribers by the end of 2008.

Susan Teltscher, Head of the Market Information and Statistics Division at ITU, responding to a question, said the MDG number eight included indicators on Internet users, fixed telephone lines and mobile telephone subscribers, but they did not come with fixed targets. The World Summit of the Information Society targets specified that half the population of the world should have access to information and communication technologies by 2015.

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said yesterday in New York, UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Population Fund and the World Bank issued a joint press release concerning the MDG on maternal mortality. They jointly pledged to intensify their support to countries to achieve MDG number five to improve maternal health, which was the MDG showing the least progress. During the next five years, the four organizations would enhance their support to the countries with the highest maternal mortality. Half a million women died annually in pregnancy or childbirth. Maternal mortality was the largest health inequity in the world; 99 per cent of maternal deaths occurred in developing countries, half of them in Africa.

Human Rights

Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said he wanted to give journalists more background on the press conference which High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay would be giving at the Palais des Nations on Thursday, 2 October. The main focus of her press conference would be launching the so-called “Detention Initiative”, its full name was “Dignity and Justice for Detainees Week”. There were perhaps millions of people in the world today who found themselves in detention and should not be, either because their detention was arbitrary or illegal. Very rough estimates showed that half a million women were in detention, and maybe as many as a million children. A lot of people in detention had not committed any crime; they could be people with disabilities who were put in detention simply for being disabled, migrants, or victims of trafficking. Available at the back of the room was a series of information notes on various topics related to this initiative. This initiative would be the main focus of the High Commissioner’s press conference. There would also be a special web page on this initiative with all of the information notes.

Responding to a question, Mr. Colville said that this was the first time that an initiative was organized on this subject, and it came as part of the events marking the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Eliminating Maternal and Newborn Tetanus

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said available was a media advisory on a press conference which would be held at the Palais des Nations on 2 October at 1:30 p.m. to announce a partnership between UNICEF and Pampers aimed at eliminating tetanus by 2012. The partnership was entitled “participate, vaccinate, eliminate: together against maternal and newborn tetanus”. Every year, maternal and newborn tetanus killed approximately 140,000 newborn infants and 30,000 mothers. This partnership would be launched in Geneva in the presence of Salma Hayek, actress, producer and Pampers spokeswoman for the global Pampers/UNICEF campaign “one pack=one vaccine”. The press conference would also be linked to the live web cast.

Somalia

Ron Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency said amid reports of a fresh exodus from war-ravaged Mogadishu this week, the number of uprooted Somalis arriving this year in the sprawling Dadaab refugee camp complex in north-eastern Kenya had now surpassed 45,000. This week’s fighting in the Somali capital, described by witnesses as the worst since the beginning of the latest insurgency in February 2007, had forced at least 15,000 people from their homes. Almost half of the newly displaced civilians had moved to safer parts of Mogadishu, while most of the others fled west towards
the Somali town of Afgooye, an area already jammed with more than 300,000 internally displaced people. Meanwhile, UNHCR teams in Kenya’s remote Dadaab refugee camp, some 80 kilometres from the border with Somalia, reported the continuing arrival of thousands of Somali refugees per month. On average, some 5,000 refugees arrived from Somalia every month. Registration of new arrivals was ongoing to ensure refugees had proper access to services. UNHCR feared that the movement out of Mogadishu was likely to increase with the end of the month of Ramadan next week.

Anna Schaaf of the International Committee of the Red Cross said ICRC was very concerned about the humanitarian consequences of the fighting in Mogadishu over the past week and deplored the high number of civilian casualties. Today ICRC was urging all sides to respect international humanitarian law. The main problem was that civilians did not have easy access to medical facilities. Over the past week, there had been more than 140 wounded accepted at the two main hospitals in Mogadishu which were supported by ICRC, but it was very likely that there were many more wounded in town who could not reach the hospitals. ICRC had been able to distribute medicines and kits to treat wounds to the two hospitals this week so they did have enough supplies, but the surgeons were totally overwhelmed by new arrivals of wounded people in the hospitals and they were working 24 hours a day. ICRC also supported primary health care centers run by the Somali Red Crescent on the outskirts of Mogadishu. A news release was available at the back of the room.

Emilia Casella of the World Food Programme said she had one good piece of news about Somalia. WFP had been facing on 27 September the last day of its naval escort, a Canadian frigate which was to escort a delivery of 20,000 tons to Mogadishu. But late yesterday, Canada announced that it would extend its escort programme for one more month, until 23 October. This was a great relief to WFP, which had been in a situation where after 27 September it would not have been able to deliver food into Somalia virtually at all. Around 90 per cent of the food that WFP delivered to Somalia was by sea. WFP would continue to look for naval escorts beyond 23 October.

Haiti

Emilia Casella of the World Food Programme said the emergency in Haiti was continuing. WFP had appealed for $ 54 million and to date, it had received just under $ 1 million from the European Commission for logistical supplies. WFP’s Executive Director, Josette Sheeran was going to be in Haiti today to visit Gonaive and meet with donor representatives. She would also be holding a press conference in the capital tomorrow. So far, WFP had been able to reach 450,000 people in Haiti since the emergency began with about 2,300 metric tons of food. It was an ongoing struggle. There were still communities that were not reachable, and places which were cut off. So there were still a number of communities that urgently needed help.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the appeal for Haiti had been covered by 3.4 per cent. Outside of the emergency appeal, bilateral aid had reached $ 17 million. It was clear that the emergency appeal had not received the necessary support and it was urgent that the UN received contributions so that it could continue its humanitarian efforts. The logistical problems were still a nightmare, roads were not repaired, bridges had been swept away, and all these things were obstacles to the distribution of food to isolated communities. There were 111,000 persons in Haiti living in temporary shelters. The most affected sector was the agricultural sector as 70 per cent of the harvest had been damaged or destroyed by the floods.

Nepal

Emilia Casella of the World Food Programme said today WFP was launching an emergency programme in Nepal to assist 170,000 people who had been affected by severe flooding in the west of the country. The Government of Nepal’s initial request for assistance was for 50,000 people, but an ongoing inter-agency rapid assessment was indicating that the need was more likely to be around 170,000 people affected and displaced by the flooding. This new emergency operation had a budget of $ 2.5 million, on top of an existing programme in Nepal to assist 70,000 affected last month by flooding in the east of the country.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that as mentioned by WFP, there was flooding in the east of Nepal that was caused by the Koshi River breaching its eastern embankment. The force of the water led to 80 per cent of the river changing its course, rendering parts of the flooded areas completely inaccessible. The UN had issued a flash appeal for
$ 15.5 million to cover the needs of at least 70,000 people over the next six months. The flooding had severely impacted upon an already vulnerable population. There were 61 shelter sites, many of which were schools, and a number of families were also staying in ad hoc settlements, many of which were schools. This appeal came in addition to the general appeal for Nepal for $ 102 million
for 2008. In the west of Nepal, incessant rainfall from 19 to 21 September had resulted in flash floods and landslides in eight districts. More than 30 deaths had been confirmed. There were more than 180,000 persons affected by the flash floods alone. There was more information in the notes at the back of the room.

Other

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that the United Nations, in consultation with the Government of Tajikistan and other humanitarian partners have issued a humanitarian food security appeal for nearly $ 35 million to provide a temporary safety net for 800,000 of the most vulnerable people across the country. Recent assessments indicated that a further 1.3 million people out of the total population of 6.7 million were at risk of food shortages as a combined result of reduced agricultural output and the global food crisis. Last winter, Tajikistan experienced its most severe winter in 44 years, and it also suffered from drought and locust infestation. More information was available in the press room.

Ron Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency said Colombia was today launching a “Listen for Change” initiative for better protection and improved living conditions in some of Colombia’s most vulnerable communities. The initiative gave priority to small-scale projects that brought rapid and significant changes in the lives of displaced people, mostly through the provision of health, education and basic infrastructure like water and sanitation.

Janaina Borges of the World Trade Organization said WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy would be in Paris on 1 October to attend a hearing at the Finance Committee of the Assemblée Nationale (French Parliament). As for WTO, on 1 October, there would be a meeting of the Agricultural Negotiating Group. On 2 October, there would be a meeting of the Market Access (industrial products) Negotiating Group. On 3 October, there would be a meeting of the State Trading Enterprises Working Party.

In conclusion, Ms. Heuzé reminded journalists that the United Nations was closed on Tuesday, 30 September, so the next briefing would be at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, 3 October. She also said there would be a briefing on the melamine milk issue in China by the World Health Organization which would be held today at 11:30 a.m., right after the briefing.