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 also attended by spokespersons for and representatives of the Economic Commission for Europe, the United Nations Environmental Programme, the World Food Programme, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the UN Refugee Agency, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the World Health Organization.
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier reminded journalists that Friday, 27 November was a day off, and that the next briefing would be held on Tuesday, 1 December.
Secretary-General’s New Spokesperson
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said Michele Montas, the Secretary-General’s Spokesperson, yesterday introduced to journalists in New York her successor, Martin Nesirky, who would take over his duties as the Secretary-General’s Spokesperson on 7 December. Mr. Nesirky’s biography was available on the UN website.
Latest Report by Secretary-General on the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said available was the Secretary-General’s latest report on the African Union–United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID). The report, which covered the period between July and October this year, detailed progress on the implementation of UNAMID’s mandate as well as efforts on the political process and progress on the security and humanitarian situation. In the report, the Secretary-General noted that though UNAMID continued to focus on its critical tasks of civilian protection and facilitation of humanitarian delivery, the mission’s work had been hampered by a number of serious challenges. These included increased threats to international staff in Darfur, ongoing military activities between Chad and Sudan and within Darfur, and the absence of a comprehensive negotiated settlement to the Darfur crisis. UNAMID personnel continued to be the target of criminal activity and banditry, including harassment and violent attacks, according to the report. One extremely alarming development was the kidnapping of international staff serving in Darfur, including two UNAMID staff members who were kidnapped on 29 August and were still being held by their captors. The report further noted that the political process for Darfur had reached a critical juncture. The Secretary-General urged all parties to the Darfur conflict to use the current opportunity offered by the Doha Talks to re-engage with the peace process in good faith, so that a sustainable peace could be achieved for all Darfurians.
International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said UNOG would hold a Special Meeting to commemorate the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on Monday, 30 November. Sergei Ordzhonikidze, Under Secretary-General and Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, would open the meeting, reading out the statement of Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, on the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. The Special Meeting, held in accordance with General Assembly resolution 32/40B of 2 December 1977, would start at 4 p.m. in Conference Room XIX. A note to correspondents with more details was available.
UNOG Director-General to Meet with Foreign Minister
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said Mr. Ordzhonikidze would meet on Monday, 30 November with Gombojav Zandanshatar, the Foreign Minister of Mongolia.
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution
Jean Rodriguez of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe said he would speak to journalists today about celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of UNECE’s Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution. For the Convention, which was signed in 1979 and entered into force in 1983, the point of departure was acid rain, which was a problem in the 1960s, mostly in north Europe around lakes in the Nordic countries. A press release was available.
Martin Williams, Chairman of the Executive Body of the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution, said the Convention had for 30 years successfully controlled air pollution, solving to a large extent the acid rain problem, helping bring about some very large emissions reductions, and helping to tackle the summer smog problem. It was also looking to the future to tackle new challenges and new environmental problems as they emerged. This Convention was probably the most successful atmospheric pollution convention in the world. It was a wide-ranging convention, covering virtually the whole of the northern hemisphere in the ECE region. The Convention brought together a wide range of countries, not just the European Union but also the United States and Canada as well as Eastern Europe and the Russian Federation. The Convention now was also looking at the link between climate change and air pollution. One of the issues on the agenda for the forthcoming meeting of the parties to the Convention in December was looking at ways to make the best outcomes from climate change policies and air pollution policies, because air pollution policies could have some very significant improvements on public health.
United Nations Environmental Programme.
Isabelle Valentiny of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) said a meeting on sustainable consumption and production would be held on Monday, 30 November in Salle VII of the Palais des Nations. The objective of the meeting was to screen current regional and national policies on sustainable consumption and production. The programme was available at the back of the room with more details. Journalists were invited to attend.
Ms. Valentiny said the Geneva Environment Network would be marking its tenth anniversary on Tuesday, 1 December. The Network was set up in 1999 with the support of the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment and under the coordination of UNEP and it facilitated contact between all the organizations based in Geneva which were working in the environmental fields. Journalists were invited to a working breakfast on 1 December with Achim Steiner, the Executive Director of UNEP. On this occasion, UNEP would also sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Canton of Geneva to move towards climate neutrality for all UN offices and buildings. There were more details in the note at the back of the room.
World Food Programme and Yemen
Emilia Casella of the World Food Programme said WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran released a statement today in which she drew attention to her continued concern for the situation of internally displaced persons in Yemen. As of yesterday, WFP and its partners Islamic Relief and the Adventist Development and Relief Agency had managed to get food assistance to 118,000 people who became displaced after the fighting began in August. In addition, they had been able to open a corridor through Saudi Arabia, and so far one convoy had reached 10,000 people in that area and another convoy had just crossed over the border yesterday with food for 15,000 people and it was currently being processed through Yemeni customs. In addition, WFP was planning a blanket supplementary feeding programme for children under five beginning in December for about 30,000 children in the internally displaced population. These children had already been receiving high energy biscuits along with their regular rations. Plans were underway to broaden that out to the entire vulnerable population of under fives in Yemen, upwards of 900,000 children in the coming year.
United Nations Children’s Fund
Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said with the Copenhagen Conference coming up, UNICEF was organizing the official Children’s Climate Forum along with the city of Copenhagen. It would be held from 28 November to 4 December. The Children’s Climate Forum would group 160 children from 44 developing and industrialized countries around the world, aged from 14 to 17 years. A media advisory was available at the back of the room with more details.
Frederike Seidel of UNICEF said the twentieth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child was commemorated last Friday. Now it was again the time to try to implement the Convention every day of the year. UNICEF had developed the teaching resource “Stand up for Children’s Rights” as a tool for teachers and facilitators working with 11 to 16 year-old young people to take action, especially in industrialized countries. The resource offered guidance on how to develop young people’s awareness of their rights. There were more details in the press release.
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said inter communal tensions between the two ethnic groups of Boba and Lobala living in the Northern Province of Equateur in the Democratic Republic of the Congo exploded on 4 November. The tensions resulted in the confirmed death of around 37 persons, although it was believed that figure was closer to 100 persons, and the displacement of more than 36,000 in the neighbouring Republic of Congo. Some 14,700 internally displaced people were living in a very difficult situation with host families. People were in desperate need of food, medical care and sanitation facilities. There were more details in the briefing notes.
UN Refugee Agency and Pakistan
Andrej Mahecic of the UN Refugee Agency said as temperatures dropped in north-west Pakistan, UNHCR had begun distribution of additional relief supplies this week to internally displaced people living in camps. This aid would help the internally displaced people to cope with the hardships of winter. Some 85,000 persons (13,600 families) would benefit from this winterization programme. Each family would receive six blankets, four sleeping mats, and two plastic sheets for warmth and insulation. Standard canvas tents were also being replaced with all-weather tens or were being reinforced with extra insulation. There were currently more than 100,000 people residing in 10 camps of North West Frontier Province. Up to 900,000 people from the northern areas of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and North West Frontier Province could still be displaced and staying with host communities. Movement back and forth between displacement and return areas had made it difficult to have more precise estimates on the remaining internally displaced people.
International Organization for Migration/ Migration Profile on Côte d’Ivoire
Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said IOM would in coming weeks be issuing Migration Profiles on a number of countries, including Ghana, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Senegal among others. The latest of the Migration Profiles was released today on Côte d'Ivoire and it showed a country that was projected to see a further drop in the number of migrants by the end of 2010. The profile aimed to provide a comprehensive overview and analysis of migrations trends and patterns to, through and from Côte d'Ivoire. It showed that although immigrants represented 12.3 per cent of the population in 2005 (2.2 million people), that figure was expected to drop to 11.2 per cent this year. There were more details in the briefing notes.
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and Human Rights Day
Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said there was a media advisory at the back of the room on Human Rights Day, which took place every year on 10 December. It was the most important commemorative day in the human rights calendar and was marked by institutions and individuals all over the world. The theme this year was non-discrimination and combating all forms of discrimination, including race, nationality, gender, political beliefs and religious beliefs, among others. Discrimination of some sort or another lay at the roots of many of the world’s most pressing human rights problems, and no country was immune from it. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay would issue a printed statement in advance of Human Rights Day, as would the UN Secretary-General. There was also a video statement by the High Commissioner. For the first time, they would also be placing a statement on discrimination by the High Commissioner on You Tube. Ms. Pillay would celebrate Human Rights Day in South Africa, a particularly appropriate place for the issue of non-discrimination given its history of suffering from apartheid and then overcoming it. There were a number of special events taking place in South Africa.
Mr. Colville said Ms. Pillay, just before leaving for South Africa, would hold a press conference at the Palais des Nations on 8 December in the morning. The exact time would be sent out later.
World Health Organization
Thomas Abraham of the World Health Organization said a general update on the H1N1 pandemic would be given at a press conference on Thursday, 26 November.
Mr. Abraham said WHO was expecting to put out new guidelines for the use of anti-retrovirals for HIV, as well as for the prevention of mother to child transmission. WHO had been working on these guidelines for a while and there would be a press release issued on Monday, 30 November on the subject.
Paul Garwood of WHO said he would update journalists on two situations in Somalia and Afghanistan. A high-level WHO delegation visited Somalia over the weekend to assess the dire health situation in that country. The WHO Assistant Director-General for Health Action in Crises met with the President, Foreign Minister and Health Minister of Somaliland. They raised key issues, particularly the dire situation in regard to maternal and child health services, the increase in malnutrition, and the major funding shortfall in the country affecting the health sector.
Concerning Afghanistan, Mr. Garwood said the humanitarian crisis in the country was being compounded by an increase in influenza-like illnesses, including the presence of H1N1 in the country. WHO and its health partners were working on a campaign to respond to these cases.