REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Officer-in-Charge of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was attended by spokespersons for and representatives of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Food Programme, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the World Health Organization. A spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration was also present.

Secretary-General

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier announced that the Secretary-General’s report to the Security Council concerning the review of Council resolutions pertaining to Iraq had been issued yesterday. In it, the Secretary-General detailed a number of outstanding issues regarding Iraq, including its relations with Kuwait. He was pleased to note that the Governments of Iraq and Kuwait had been making progress towards the resolution of some key issues, despite the painful legacy of the past. The Secretary-General said that they should consider innovative steps for resolving the outstanding issues between them in a spirit of generous compromise and understanding for each other’s concerns. (For the full report go to http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=s/2009/385.)

Geneva Activities

Turning to Geneva activities, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier noted that today the Economic and Social Council was suspending its 2009 substantive session, which had opened on 6 July. This morning therefore the Council would be taking action on outstanding decisions and resolutions before it, before suspending its work. She had been careful to say suspended, as the Council had the power to reconvene at any time during the year to continue its 2009 session.

Also today, the Human Rights Committee was concluding the work of its ninety-sixth session this morning, making public its concluding observations on the reports of Tanzania, the Netherlands, Chad and Azerbaijan, which it had examined over the course of the past three weeks. At 11:30 a.m., following the UNIS briefing, there would be a press conference with the Chairperson and members of the Committee in the same room. Copies of the concluding observations would be available at the briefing.

On Monday, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination would open its three-week seventy-fifth session at Palais Wilson (3-28 August), during which it would review anti-discrimination efforts undertaken by the Governments of Peru, United Arab Emirates, Poland, China, Greece, Azerbaijan, Colombia, Chile, Chad, the Philippines and Ethiopia.

Finally, also on Monday, 3 August, the Conference on Disarmament would open the third and final part of its 2009 session, which would run until 18 September. The first public plenary of the third part of the Conference’s session would be held on Tuesday, 4 August in the Council Chamber, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said.

Human Rights Advisory Committee

Rolando Gomez of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said that next week the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee would be holding its weeklong third session at the Palais des Nations, in Room XX. The Committee, or “think tank” of the Council, was a group of 18 independent experts who provided thematic information to the Council at the Council’s request. The Committee was meeting next week to discuss four main issues: a draft set of principles and guidelines to eliminate discrimination against persons affected by leprosy; a study on best practices regarding missing persons; a draft declaration on human rights education and training; and measures to enhance the realization of the right to food. A background press release had been published yesterday and copies of the Advisory Committee’s programme of work were available at the back of the room.

Report on Civilian Deaths in Afghanistan

Rory Mungoven, Head of the Asia-Pacific Unit of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), speaking on the report of the Human Rights Unit of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), said that since 2007 the Unit had been systematically collecting data on civilian casualties in the context of the intensifying conflict in Afghanistan. The methodology was fairly painstaking: it was based on investigation; interviews; and firsthand testimony from victims and survivors wherever possible; and only in some instances via indirect methods where it was difficult to gain access to sites. It was an extremely cautious and conservative methodology. Where they had not been able to attribute responsibility for civilian casualties they had been quite clear about that and labelled them as unidentified or unattributable.

According to the report, in the first six months of 2009 there had been 1,013 civilian deaths in Afghanistan, as compared with 818 for the same period in 2008 and 684 for the same period in 2007. They were thus seeing not just an intensification of the conflict in Afghanistan, but its impact on civilians. The figures also showed that more civilians were killed by anti-Government elements than by pro-Government forces, including international military forces. During the first six months of 2009, 59 per cent of civilians killed were killed by anti-Government elements and 30.5 per cent of civilian deaths were attributable to pro-Government forces. That was a significant shift in the trend observed last year, where pro-Government forces had been responsible for 41 per cent of civilian casualties and anti-Governments elements for 46 per cent. (Unattributed deaths accounted for about 10 per cent of the total.)

Another trend was that bulk of the civilian deaths attributable to anti-Government elements came from suicide attacks and the use of improvised explosive devices. UNAMA remained concerned that anti-Government elements were basing themselves in areas were civilians were concentrated in order to deliberately blur the distinction between combatants and civilians. There also seemed to be an active policy by the insurgents of drawing a military response to areas where there was a high likelihood of civilians being killed or injured.

The other major category of civilian deaths recorded in the report came from the use of air strikes by the international military forces supporting the Government, which were responsible for the largest percentage of deaths attributed by pro-Government forces, Mr. Mungoven said. They had recorded some 40 incidents of air strikes by international forces during the six-month period, in which 200 civilians had lost their lives. The United Nations welcomed the efforts made by the International Security Assistant Force (ISAF) to minimize the number of civilian casualties through revised tactical directives, policies and procedures. The trends recorded in the report noticed some progress in that regard, as well as a greater willingness on the part of ISAF to acknowledge casualties, but there was a continuing need for more transparency and for a more consistent approach to providing compensation to those affected.

It was also important to look at the human impact of the conflict. Attacks by anti-Government elements on humanitarian workers and government employees, including medical and educational staff, was significantly impairing access by Afghans to humanitarian assistance and their basic needs such as health care, food and shelter. That had a particular impact on women and children. Large parts of the country had become “extreme risk” zones for humanitarian workers. Schools, particularly those for girls, had come under increasing attack, depriving thousands of students of the right to education. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund there had been some 16 explosions in school premises over the six-month period. A press release was available.

Responding to a question about why there had been a decrease in deaths of civilians by pro-Government forces, Mr. Mungoven clarified that actually, overall, the number of civilian deaths had increased – both those caused by pro-Government and anti-Government forces. What had changed was the proportion – now more of those deaths were caused by anti-Government forces.

Funding Crisis for UN Humanitarian Air Service to Chad and West Africa

Emilia Casella of the World Food Programme (WFP), in an update on the United Nations Humanitiarian Air Service, which provided flights to take aid workers to the field, warned that the Service was now in a critical situation for a couple of very important missions. The Air Service in Chad – which flew an average of 4,000 humanitarian passengers back and forth to eastern Chad each month – was currently facing such a shortfall that as of 15 August it would probably have to cut aircraft and flights and would eventually have to close. In addition, service to the West Africa Coastal region –Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea – was also facing an extremely serious funding crunch and would probably have to begin to reduce service at the end of August. That service actually only comprised one plane, so if the service was cancelled that would mean that those countries would cease to have any way to get humanitarian workers to very important field operations.

Ms. Casella said that since she had last addressed the briefing on this topic, the Humanitarian Air Service had been cut to Côte d’Ivoire and it would probably not be resumed. At the end of February they had also cut the service to Niger. Thanks to a recent Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) donation it was hoped that service to Niger could be restored. A briefing note was available.

Ms. Casella noted that the amounts of money involved were relatively small. The CERF donation had been for $1 million to get the Niger service back. The Humanitarian Air Service to Chad was helping about 100 organizations that flew to Chad and served the 250,000 Darfuri refugees and 180,000 internally displaced persons there. Without the Service non-governmental organizations and agencies would be unable to reach operational areas in the east and south of Chad, an area that was particularly insecure and difficult to get to.

Responding to questions about funding, in particular in light of the recent mid-year assessment which showed good donor commitment for the Consolidated Appeals, Ms. Casella noted that the Humanitarian Air Service was run by WFP for all humanitarian actors, but it was not part the regular WFP budget. It was a separate service that had to raise its own funds. It was a systemic problem that needed to be addressed.

Democratic Republic of the Congo Humanitarian Update

Andrej Mahecic of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that an estimated 56,000 Congolese had been uprooted since the onset of the latest round of violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo on 12 July. Thousands had fled their homes to escape the ongoing Government military campaign against the Hutu rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and their allies. According to reports, many villages in the Moyens Plateaux had been deserted. The displaced were concentrated in the hills west of Luvungi and Bwegera, and to the south in the towns of Lumera and Mulenge. Large numbers of internally displaced people had fled to villages along the Kamanyola-Luberizi road in the Ruzizi plain, near the border with Burundi.

An estimated 30,000 displaced persons in the Ruzizi plain were being hosted by local communities, with some families housing and feeding as many as three to four displaced families, putting considerable pressure on their meagre resources. Sporadic attacks against civilians by FDLR rebels continued, and on 29 July, the FDLR had attacked the village of Lubumba in the Moyens Plateaux, reportedly looting homes and a hospital. UNHCR and other aid organizations were planning to assist some 20,000 displaced in the Ruzizi plain. However, insecurity and poor road conditions were hampering efforts to reach many of the displaced, Mr. Mahecic said.

World Breastfeeding Week

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that next week (1 to 7 August) was World Breastfeeding Week, which was organized each year by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action. This year, the theme was “Breastfeeding – A vital emergency response – are you ready?” The objectives of this week of action were to reinforce the vital role that breastfeeding played in emergency response worldwide; to advocate for active protection and support of breastfeeding before and during emergencies; and to inform mothers, breastfeeding advocates, communities, health professionals, Governments, aid agencies, donors, and the media, about how they could actively support breastfeeding. Breastfeeding was an excellent source of nutrition for infants in emergency situations, situations in which families often found themselves without proper food, water and sanitary supplies, UNICEF Director General Ann Veneman had underscored, in a speech in Nigeria today. A press release was available in all the six official United Nations languages.

Constanza Vallenas of the World Health Organization (WHO) added that promotion of breastfeeding was very important for WHO. It saved lives. It gave the nutrients and the immune factors that were important for preventing infants against the most serious infections they could get – diarrhoea and pneumonia – as well as against malnutrition. WHO and UNICEF recommendations were that infants should be exclusively breastfed – without even being given water – until six months of age, and that they continue breastfeeding with appropriate complementary foods up to the age of two years or beyond. Globally, about 40 per cent of infants up to the age of six months were exclusively breastfed. In terms of trends, Africa, which was one of the areas that faced all of the challenges just mentioned, such as emergencies and HIV/AIDS, had been very successful in increasing rates of breastfeeding. However, there was still a way to go. If they could raise the global breastfeeding rate to 90 per cent, they would save the lives of 1.3 million children a year.

Regarding emergencies and breastfeeding, Ms. Vallenas said that WHO wanted to make sure that emergency preparedness plans included the training of health workers so that they could support mothers during emergencies and that hospitals became baby friendly. One problem was that the general public, including many health workers, thought that mothers could not breastfeed during emergencies because of stress. While stress did temporarily affect the production of milk, with counselling it was possible for mothers to resume breastfeeding immediately. Field workers and health workers should also be trained to help a mother relactate. It was even possible for adoptive mothers to breastfeed, given the use of certain techniques.