REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Corinne Momal-Vanian, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for and representatives of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Labour Organization, the United Nations Children's Fund, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Meteorological Organization, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the International Organization for Migration and the World Health Organization.
Secretary-General
Ms. Momal-Vanian said United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had just released a statement on the violence in Southern Kyrgyzstan. In it, the Secretary-General said that he was deeply concerned about reports of renewed violence and several deaths in Osh, Kyrgyzstan. He called for calm to be restored and urged all the involved to show the utmost restraint to prevent further losses of life.
The Secretary-General reiterated the need to respect the rule of law and to resolve issues peacefully through dialogue, said Ms. Momal-Vanian. He urged the Interim Government to pay particular attention to inter-ethnic relations in the country and to take measures to ensure the peaceful coexistence of all citizens in Kyrgyzstan.
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Mr. Miroslav Jenca, has been in Osh last Sunday and would continue his efforts to ensure the peace and stability of Kyrgyzstan, said Ms. Momal-Vanian.
Tripartite Meeting
Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the annual high-level Tripartite meeting between the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), would be held in Vienna on Monday, 14 June. Sergei Ordzhonikidze, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva would participate in the meeting, along with the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe and the Secretary-General of the OSCE, as well as representatives of several United Nations System organizations and others.
The meeting would be held under the theme of “Gender and Comprehensive Security”, as the meeting was taking place in the context of the tenth anniversary of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, said Ms. Momal-Vanian.
Committee on the Rights of the Child
Ms. Momal-Vanian said that Committee on the Rights of the Child would hold later today a short meeting to close a three-week-long session during which it had considered nine country reports. The Committee’s concluding observations and recommendations should be available next Tuesday.
Conference on Disarmament
Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the Conference on Disarmament was meeting this morning to listen to the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Kostyantyn Gryshchenko.
Human Rights Council
Claire Kaplun of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said that the Council would consider today the outcomes of the Universal Periodic Review of Iraq, Gambia, Egypt and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Today was also the deadline for the submission of resolutions.
On Monday the Council would start its meeting at 9 a.m., when Richard Falk, Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, would present his report to the Council, said Ms. Kaplun. Mr. Falk would also give a press conference at 3 p.m. that day. On Monday afternoon the Council would hold a panel discussion on maternal mortality.
International Labour Conference
Corinne Perthuis of the International Labour Organization said that tomorrow would be World Day Against Child Labour and the International Labour Conference was thus holding a plenary today to discuss the latest Global Report on Child Labour. In Geneva, the local community organization “Le Respect” would mark the day with a gathering at 2 p.m. of school children, local community leaders and tripartite partners at the Place des Nations.
On Monday, the Conference would discuss the follow-up to last year’s Summit on the Global Jobs Crisis, starting at 2.30 p.m., with a panel discussion on how countries had implemented the Global Jobs Pact. Several ministers would participate in this panel discussion. A second panel discussion with several high-level speakers would be held in parallel to the first one on the role of productive employment and social protection in realizing internationally agreed development goals and the Millennium Development Goals said Ms. Perthuis.
World Day Against Child Labour
Christiane Berthiaume of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that three press releases were available in the press room: one on World Day Against Child Labour, one on the tenth anniversary of the partnership between UNCEF and Ikea in the fight against child labour and one on UNICEF making the FIFA 2010 World Cup a win for children.
Joanne Dunn, Senior Protection Adviser on Child Labour, United Nations Children’s Fund, said that six years remained to reach the goal of eradicating the worst forms of child labour in 2016. The reality was that the world would not meet the Millennium Development Goals, unless child labour was systematically addressed. Progress in the areas of education, poverty, gender and HIV/AIDS has been systematically undermined by child labour.
The phenomenon of child labour was a very complex one and a singe policy alone could not unilaterally address this issue. It required a mix of decent work initiatives, social protection initiatives - which needed to be child-friendly – and access to basic services for the most vulnerable, said Ms. Dunn.
While the latest figures given out showed that there had been an overall reduction in child labour, the situation in Africa had gotten worse. Further, Ms. Dunn said UNICEF believed that these latest figures were massive underestimates as these were based on household surveys and thus missed migrant children, orphans, girls and children involved in invisible labour – including domestic labour and sexual exploitation.
At the Hague Global Child Labour Conference last month, UNICEF had committed to develop new data methodologies to ensure girls became much more visible in the statistics. Currently, domestic labour and household chores rendered girls invisible in household surveys and Government statistics. Focusing on girls would also help to target future generations, said Ms. Dunn. UNICEF also called upon Governments and donors to focus on child labour, recognize its complexity and called its private sector partners to utilize its capacity to become an agent for social change within supply chains.
WMO Executive Council
Gaelle Sevenier of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said that the WMO Executive Council was ongoing today in Geneva. A side event on the development of a space-based architecture for climate monitoring would take place this afternoon at the WMO Press Room at 1 p.m. Several representatives of climate monitoring space agencies would participate in the event.
Situation in the DRC
Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that two problems were affecting the Democratic Republic of the Congo: persistent insecurity and the under-funding of the Appeal.
In the Oriental Province, persistent insecurity remained the main obstacle for humanitarian action. Since September 2008, the Lord’s Resistance’s Army (LRA) had been terrorizing the population; it had routinely attacked, looted and burnt villages and abducted civilians, including children, said Ms. Byrs. These attacks had caused widespread panic, leading to a huge number of preventive displacements.
According to available information, the LRA has killed, since December 2007, 1,796 civilians and abducted 2,377 persons, including 807 children. In addition, a significant but unknown number of civilians had been mutilated, especially as regards their ears and lips, said Ms. Byrs. Between December 2009 and March 2010 alone the LRA had killed 407 civilians and abducted 302 persons, including 125 children – a highly worrisome increasing trend, which averaged 102 killed per month, as compared to 64 per month in December 2007.
The Kivus and Maniema Provinces were also affected by insecurity and human rights violations. Sexual and gender based violence was one of the greatest concerns there, said Ms. Byrs. In 2009 alone over 8,000 cases of rape had been reported, of which a majority have been committed by armed groups. An estimated 160 women were raped per week in the Kivu provinces, mainly by armed men. Humanitarian operations were severely restricted by the armed fighting and rampant banditry. Humanitarians were also frequently the victims of armed robbery, looting and other incidents.
In Equateur Province, persistent insecurity and limited access was also an obstacle for humanitarian action, said Ms. Byrs. Cases of sexual violence had also been reported around the Dongo area. In that province, the main concerns were for the health, nutrition and water and sanitation sectors.
Ms. Byrs noted that the Appeal for the Democratic Republic of the Congo was only funded by 30 per cent.
Answering a journalist’s question on the effect on this situation of the announced withdrawal of United Nations troops from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the Security Council had recently taken up the issue of the future of the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) and had adopted a new mandate for the Mission, which was now bearing a new name: the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO).
Ms. Momal-Vanian added that although the resolution authorised the withdrawal of 2,000 troop, this would be from areas where security had improved enough to allow their removal. Further, the Secretary-General would travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the coming weeks.
Somali Refugees
Melissa Fleming of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that UNHCR was saddened this week to learn of the deaths of nine Somali asylum-seekers off the coast of Mozambique on May 30th. They had been part of a larger group of 77 Somali nationals trying to reach Mozambique by boat, and 41 of whom had been forced into the water. Among those on board
had been two women and a 14-year-old boy. Their husband and father had been among the dead.
The incident had occurred in northeastern Mozambique. Some people had been rescued by fishermen while 36 others who had refused to leave the boat had been eventually taken to Palma. UNHCR commended the actions of the fishermen and local authorities in saving lives, said Ms. Fleming.
UNHCR had sent a team there to seek further information but had not yet been able to find and interview the survivors, said Ms. Fleming.
Since January of this year, close to 2,000 Somali men had arrived by boat in northeastern Mozambique. This was a new trend that had started this year, said Ms. Fleming. Before January, asylum-seekers were usually following a cumbersome route by road through Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and into South Africa. It was possible that due to crackdowns in Malawi, the smugglers had decided to choose a new route, said Ms. Fleming
Most Somalis only stayed a few days in Mozambique before attempting to reach South Africa, where they believed they would have better opportunities, said Ms. Fleming.
UNHCR had been working with government officials in Mozambique to deal with the new arrivals of Somalis by sea and to help relocating asylum-seekers to Maratane camp, said Ms. Fleming.
Meanwhile, in Somalia the clashes between the Transitional Federal Government troops supported by the African Union Peacekeeping force and armed opposition groups continued to displace thousands of people from their homes in Mogadishu and to kill innocent civilians, said Ms. Fleming. Since the beginning of May 2010, 30,400 people had been forced to leave their homes in Mogadishu and an estimated 200,000 Somalis had been displaced within the country since the beginning of the year.
Ms. Fleming said the overall humanitarian situation in Somalia was deteriorating. More than 3 million people were in urgent need of life saving humanitarian assistance. Unfortunately, access of humanitarian agencies to the population in need was becoming increasingly difficult and challenging.
Libya/UNHCR
Answering questions by journalists on the request by Libya for UNHCR to cease its operations in that country, Melissa Fleming of the United Nations Refugee Agency said that they did not consider having done anything improper. They were currently in negotiations with the Government. International UNHCR staff was still present in the country but non-operative.
Guatemala Flash Appeal
Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that a Flash Appeal for Guatemala would be issued later today. Guatemala had been recently affected by Tropical Storm Agatha and by a volcano spewing its ashes, as well as the ongoing food insecurity.
Mozambique
Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that they were launching today an information campaign in Mozambique, together with the non-governmental organisation Save the Children and the local authorities and the media. Called “Open Your Eyes” it was aimed at reminding Mozambican families and children that travelling without proper documentation and a safe, genuine guardian could lead to trafficking for various forms of abuse, including sexual exploitation and forced labour.
Although there was no hard evidence, IOM believed the perception of increased employment opportunities in South Africa's informal sector during the World Cup might result in more irregular migration and human trafficking, noted Mr. Chauzy.
World Blood Donor Day
Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said that 14 June would be World Blood Donor Day.
Neelam Dhingra-Kumar, Coordinator, Blood Transfusion Safety, World Health Organization, said that World Blood Donor Day was the opportunity to thank all those who donated blood voluntarily and to encourage them to donate blood regularly.
Voluntarily unpaid blood donors were the foundation of safe and sufficient blood supply in any country in the world. The theme for this year was focusing on the young blood donors. In several countries around, young blood donors were significantly contributing to the safe and sufficient blood supply, said Ms. Dhingra-Kumar. They hoped to raise the awareness among the younger generation to develop a culture of voluntarily blood donations so that they committed towards donating blood throughout their lifetime.
World Cup/Health Guidelines
Gregory Hartl of the World Health Organization said that they were issuing today health advice guidelines for persons travelling to South Africa for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. This document had been drafted with the help of the Department of Health of the Republic of South Africa.
International Polar Year
Gaelle Sevenier of the World Meteorological Organization said that the International Polar Year 2007-2008 would come to a close tomorrow. The closing ceremony would take place in Oslo, Norway. Given the importance of polar research and the role of Polar Regions on the climate, a follow-up to the International Polar Year would be announced tomorrow.
Press Conferences Agenda
Catherine Sibut-Pinote of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said that later today there would be a press conference on the latest joint report by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the World Trade Organization on G20 trade and investment measures.
Tuesday, 15 June there would be a press conference at 11.30 a.m. for the launch of the Economic Development in Africa Report 2010, said Ms. Sibut-Pinote. UNCTAD’s Secretary-General, Supachai Panitchpakdi and Charles Gore, Special Coordinator for Cross-sectoral issues, Division for Africa, Least Developed Countries and Special Programmes, UNCTAD would be present.
Lastly, on Monday 21 June, there would be a press conference on the upoming Cybercriminality conference that would take place in Kigali, Rwanda, said Ms. Sibut-Pinote.
Christiane Berthiaume of the United Nations Children's Fund noted that there would be a press conference on Monday, 14 June in Press Room I with United Nations Children's Fund’s representative in Sudan, Nils Kastberg, on the impact of the current situation in the country on the children there and the skyrocketing figures on nutrition, health and maternity deaths.
Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that a press breakfast would be organized on 23 June at 9.30 a.m. to meet with the new Director of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Director in Geneva, Rashid Kahlikov. Also, on 22 June at noon the Resident Humanitarian Coordinator for Myanmar, Bishow Parajuli, would hold a press conference in Press Room III.
Melissa Fleming of the United Nations Refugee Agency said that they would hold an embargoed press briefing on the 2009 Global Trends report on Monday, 14 June, at 10 a.m. in Press Room 1.