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 Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the World Trade Organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the International Organization for Migration, and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.
International Day Against Poverty
Today was the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, Ms. Heuzé said. It would be marked this afternoon in Geneva, as it would be around the world, by a certain number of events at the Palais, led by UNOG Director-General Sergei Ordzhonikidze, starting at 3 p.m. A note to correspondents on the events scheduled was available in the Press Room.
Human Rights
Turning to human rights subjects, Ms. Heuzé noted that, today in Geneva, the Human Rights Committee was considering the report of Nicaragua at Palais Wilson. A press release on that meeting would be issued at the end of the afternoon. Monday and Tuesday morning the report of Spain would be reviewed. The Committee’s session would run until 31 October. Starting next week, the Committee would meet mostly in private. A background press release was available with the full schedule of country presentations. The Committee’s concluding observations on the reports considered at this session would be made public at the end of the session.
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women would open its three-week session on Monday, 20 October, Ms. Heuzé said. The Committee would be meeting in two chambers; in other words, in most cases the Committee would be considering two reports simultaneously. At this session, the Committee would examine the reports of Bahrain, Belgium, Cameroon, Canada, Ecuador, El Salvador, Kyrgyzstan, Madagascar, Mongolia, Myanmar, Portugal, Slovenia and Uruguay. A background release was available setting out the schedule for the consideration of those reports. The first two countries to be reviewed would be Belgium and Cameroon, whose reports the Committee would take up on Tuesday, in tandem.
Global Compact “Caring for Climate” Meetings
Also next week, on 20 and 21 October, the first meeting of the signatories of the Caring for Climate Business Leadership Platform would be held at the Palais des Nations. Ms. Heuzé said many would recall that it was in Geneva that heads of business had undertaken a number of commitments related to protecting the environment, and in particular to those linked with climate change, within the framework of the UN Global Compact. The meeting would bring together more than 200 business executives with government and UN officials and climate experts involved in designing the post-Kyoto climate framework. The meetings would be held in Room XVII and were open to the public. A press conference would also be held on 21 October at 11.30 a.m. in Room III to brief journalists on the challenges and key issues to be addressed.
Convention on Conventional Weapons Meetings
Ms. Heuzé drew attention to a number of meetings related to questions of conventional weapons, and specifically to the 1980 Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects (the CCW, also known as the Convention on Conventional Weapons), would be held at the Palais des Nations next month. First, from 3 to 7 November, there would be a meeting of the Group of Governmental Experts charged with negotiating a draft optional protocol to the CCW on cluster munitions. If they reached an agreement on a draft, that proposal would then be submitted to the next meeting of States parties to the Convention, being held on 13 and 14 November, that same month.
Next, on 10 and 11 November, there would be a Second Conference of the High Contracting Parties of CCW Protocol V on explosive remnants of war. Then, on 12 November, the Tenth Annual Conference of the High Contracting Parties to Amended Protocol II, on mines, booby traps and other devices would be held. And, finally, as already mentioned, on 13 and 14 November the Meeting of the High Contracting Parties to the Convention would be held.
Secretary-General’s Travels
Ms. Heuzé said that, later this month, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was embarking on an Asia trip, making official visits to the Philippines – where he would attend the Second Global Forum on Migration and Development, taking place in Manila – as well as to India, Nepal and Bangladesh. More information on the Secretary-General’s trip was available in the press room.
High Commissioner for Human Rights
Rupert Colville of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said that the High Commissioner Navi Pillay would undertake her first review of two very different UN human rights field operations in 10 days’ time, going to Colombia from 27 October to 1 November, and Haiti from 2 to 5 November.
The Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kyung-wha Kang would visit Kenya next week, from 21 to 24 October. The visit would have three main components: Ms. Kang would discuss the human rights situation in Kenya with the Kenyan Government, including Prime Minister Raila Odinga; she would open a major conference of national human rights institutions from all over the world in Nairobi; and she would also visit Dadaab refugee camp in northern Kenya and meet with Somali refugees. There was a separate media advisory on the Nairobi conference, as well as a briefing note on the High Commissioner’s and the Deputy High Commissioner’s travels, at the back of the room.
Mr. Colville also highlighted that today OHCHR was holding a press briefing at 2:30 p.m. in Press Room 1 to provide and update on the state of play of the Durban Review Conference.
Situation of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons
Ron Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) presented highlights from the UNHCR mid-year asylum report released today, containing statistics on over 40 industrialized countries. Notably, despite a drop in their numbers, Iraqis remained by far the top nationality seeking asylum in industrialized countries. UNHCR’s report on the first six months of 2008 also showed that the number of asylum claims made by Iraqis (19,500), was higher than the combined number of asylum claims submitted by citizens of the Russian Federation (9,400) and China (8,700), the second and third most important source countries. Sixty per cent of all Iraqis claimed asylum in only four countries: Sweden (20 per cent); Germany (18 per cent); Turkey (14 per cent); and the Netherlands (12 per cent). Overall, an estimated 165,100 asylum claims had been submitted by all nationalities in the industrialised countries during the first half of 2008. The United States remained the largest single recipient of new claims by asylum seekers of all nationalities. Assuming that current patterns remain unchanged during the next six months, UNHCR expects the number of asylum claims lodged during the whole of 2008 to reach up to 360,000, or 10 per cent higher than last year.
Asked why more Iraqis were not claiming asylum in the United States, given the strong connection between the United States and Iraq, Mr. Redmond underscored the logistics of the case. “We’re talking about spontaneous arrivals on the borders of countries”, Mr. Redmond said. “The United States is the number one resettlement country for Iraqis, but most asylum-seekers would be going into Jordan or Syria for initial protection with others going on by land to Europe; proximity does make a difference”, he stressed.
Turning to the situation of Christians in Iraq, Mr. Redmond underscored UNHCR concerns about the displacement of Christian Iraqis from Mosul which had started last week. UNHCR had received information from the Ministry of Displacement and Migration in Mosul that approximately 1,560 families, or some 9,360 people, had been displaced so far, although UNHCR could not confirm that number. If true, the displaced population would represent about half of the Christians in the Mosul area. In recent days, UNHCR had sent at least 10 field assessment missions to areas surrounding Mosul and also had teams in areas of Dahuk and Erbil, where Christians had sought refuge. According to initial reports, most Christian Iraqis had decided to leave Mosul following direct as well as indirect threats and intimidation. One Christian interviewed had witnessed the killing of another Christian Iraqi on the street, while several of the displaced told UNHCR that they had received printed threats.
In response to questions on the status of the displaced and what UNHCR was doing to help them, Mr. Redmond said most were staying with their extended families, but they did have quite a few needs. Just this past week, UNHCR along with the International Medical Corps had distributed non-food items to 802 families, or about 4,800 people, and UNHCR expected to reach over 1,500 families by the end of next week. Food, kerosene and additional assistance had been distributed by other agencies. There was a long list of needs, including food, medical supplies, hygiene kits, and educational supplies. As for who was issuing the threats, Mr. Redmond said that neither UNHCR nor the Christians they had spoken with themselves had any firm indication as yet who was behind them.
Regarding threats to civilians in Iraq, Ms. Heuzé recalled that, since March 2003, 135 journalists had been killed in Iraq, the latest having been killed on 10 October in Kirkuk. The Director-General of UNESCO had issued a statement condemning “the frequency of such crimes in Iraq” which was “unacceptable”. “It is essential that the Iraqi authorities do all they can to bring the culprits of this crime to justice and do all in their power to improve the safety of journalists in the country”, the Director-General had concluded. For her part, she had met with the President of the Iraqi Journalists’ Association, who had noted that all journalists were targets in Iraq but women journalists were more at risk.
In Georgia, Mr. Redmond said that over the past week UNHCR had witnessed a massive return of Georgian internally displaced people to their villages in the buffer zone around the Georgian breakaway province of South Ossetia. UNHCR teams reported that more than 20,000 people had headed back since the withdrawal of the Russian troops from the buffer zone on 8 October. Earlier this week, UNHCR began dismantling its tent camp in the Georgian town of Gori, just south of the buffer zone. Some of those people had gone home and others had been relocated to collective centres. Out of 133,000 internally displaced people registered by Georgian authorities in August, UNHCR had estimated that more than 78,000 had returned to their homes across Georgia. Currently, UNHCR was carrying on a winterization programme for the 35,000 who were unable to go home and who were still living in the various collective centres around the country.
Caribbean Hurricane Season / Hurricane Omar
Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that they were just arriving at the height of the hurricane season, with the transformation and upgrading of the fifteenth tropical depression of the year into Hurricane Omar. Hurricane Omar, a category 3 Hurricane, had hit Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis and Saint Martin. Assessments were still under way in all of those islands. Electricity had been cut, but now all airports were open.
Haiti had not been directly hit by Hurricane Omar, which had only caused rains there, Ms. Byrs added. However, she underscored here that the humanitarian appeal for Haiti remained only 33.5 per cent funded, which was a very serious problem given the scope of the problems they faced following the series of hurricanes that had laid waste to much of that island. Materials for shelters, beds and blankets were urgently needed, among others.
In an update on Cuba, Ms. Byrs said the Cuban Government was announcing losses of $5 billion, with 444,000 homes damaged, many having lost their roofs, and others totally destroyed.
Other
Paul Conneally of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said that the IFRC Pan African Conference would be taking place in Johannesburg next week, from 19 to 22 October. The Conference would put together all the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies on the African continent, as well as government representatives and key donors from the international community, to focus on the key humanitarian challenges and priorities for the next four years, particularly the humanitarian consequences of climate change, the food crisis in the Horn of Africa, and the impact that the current financial crisis has on the most vulnerable in Africa.
In the context of the Conference, IFRC would also be launching its “Believe in Africa” initiative on Monday in Johannesburg, Mr. Conneally said. The initiative was a response to the negative portrayal of issues in Africa that were constantly making the headlines, whereas IFRC was very aware of success stories and achievements being made on a daily basis there. IFRC had commissioned an independent study at the beginning of this year to monitor perceptions of Africa. The results of that survey would be released on Monday. Among findings were that some 75 per cent of news stories dealing with the African Continent were portrayed in a negative light, whereas many success stories, such as the battle against measles, which had met with a 91 per cent success rate after just four years of massive mobilization by the IFRC and others, went untold. Also as part of the initiative, IFRC was launching an African journalists’ competition. A press pack was available at the back of the room, with information and a press release under embargo until Monday, 20 October at 9 a.m. Geneva time. More information would be available on the IFRC website on Monday.
Janaina Borges of the World Trade Organization (WTO) announced the schedules for the WTO and the Director-General for the following week, among others trade policy reviews for Norway on Wednesday and Friday mornings and a membership negotiations meeting on Friday morning for Yemen. WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy would be travelling to Peking on Sunday, where he would meet with a number of Ministers as well as the Deputy Prime Minister on Monday. On Thursday and Friday Mr. Lamy would be in New York for the meeting of the UN Chief Executives Board at United Nations Headquarters. Copies of the WTO schedules were available in the Press Room.
Rita Mazzanti of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Liaison Office in Geneva, announced that an exhibition showcasing the IAEA’s contributing to development through its technical cooperation activities would open on 22 October on the third floor of the E Building at the Palais des Nations. The exhibition provided information on technical cooperation projects focusing on agriculture, health, the environment, water resource management, radiation technology and energy. The exhibition would stay up until 12 November. A press briefing would be held in Room VIII at 5 p.m. on 22 October.
Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced that IOM had signed an agreement with UNDP to provide sustainable socio-economic reinsertion assistance to former combatants and ex-members of self-defence groups in Côte d’Ivoire. The $1.4 million, six-month programme, funded by the UN Peacebuilding Fund, aimed to provide vocational training and in-kind assistance to set up the first 250 of 1,000 micro projects that would benefit 1,300 individuals currently demobilized in the Central and Western departments of Séguéla, Duekué and Guiglo.
In Liberia, 200 former combatants would take part in a new IOM programme funded by the German government which would help municipal authorities restart and manage a comprehensive waste management system in Monrovia. The ex combatants would thus be given an opportunity to not only earn a living and complete their reintegration into society, but also to make a difference in reducing pollution and improving the health and living conditions of the most vulnerable communities in the capital, Monrovia, Mr. Chauzy said.
Finally, Mr. Chauzy drew attention to IOM's seventh annual survey on migrant remittances to Guatemala, released this week in Guatemala City, which predicted that remittances to the country could reach $4.4 billion this year. Among others, the survey, with a sample of some 3,000 households living in all 22 Departments of the country, reported that more than 30 per cent of the population benefited from remittances, with 66.5 per cent of remittances managed by women. The report was available on line on the IOM website (www.iom.int).
Charlotte Griffiths of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe drew attention to European Forest Week, which was being celebrated next week (20 to 24 October), with events in Brussels, Rome and all other countries of the ECE region. The aim of the week was to draw attention to the role of European forests in mitigating climate change, providing wood and renewable energy, to securing the supply of fresh water, and to protecting Europe’s environment. A press release was available.
Ms. Griffiths also announced the holding of a major economic forum in Moscow on Monday aimed at improving Central Asia’s investment climate, jointly organized by the Russian Federation’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the United Nations. The 2008 SPECA Economic Forum fell with the framework o the UN Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA). An embargoed press release was available.
Ms. Heuzé concluded by noting that, following the regular UNIS briefing, there would be a press briefing in the same room at 11.30 a.m. on the 2008 Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian prize, which was being given to the a Bangladeshi non-governmental organization, BRAC, which had worked in particular to ensure microcredit for women in a number of countries.