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 and representatives of the International Organization for Migration, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Children's Fund, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the World Meteorological Organization, the World Trade Organization and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the High Commissioner’s Annual post-Executive Committee briefing to journalists would be held today in Room 3 at 12.30 p.m.

She added that the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) would present the 2010 Information Economy Report today at 11.15 a.m. in Room 3. The report was embargoed until 14 October at 5 p.m. GMT.

Next week, a joint meeting between UNCTAD and the International Federation of Accountants will be held, said Ms. Momal-Vanian. The meeting is on the topic of “Corporate Governance in the Wake of the Financial Crisis: Linking governance, strategy and sustainability” and will take place on 12 October in Room XXVI. A press release will be issued on Monday.

The Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting will also meet next week, from 13 to 15 October in Room XXVI. This twenty-seventh session is expected to address a capacity-building framework for high-quality corporate reporting. In addition, it will deal with topics such as corporate governance disclosure and environmental accounting and reporting, with a specific focus on climate change-related disclosures. A media alert with the programme of this meeting will be sent out by UNCTAD.

Human Rights Committee

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the Human Rights Committee would open its hundredth session next Monday. On Monday afternoon, the Committee will begin consideration of the report of El Salvador, followed by examinations of the reports submitted by Poland, Jordan, Belgium and Hungary.

To celebrate this hundredth session of the Committee a ceremony will take place on 20 October in Room XIX. A background release was issued last night.

Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

Ms. Momal-Vanian said the Committee had this week examined the reports of Burkina Faso and Tunisia and was scheduled to consider the reports by Malta, Uganda and the Czech Republic next week. On Friday, 15 October, the Committee will hear a presentation by India on a special report on the impact of the 2002 Gujarat events on women.

Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities would today conclude the session it had opened on Monday, said Ms. Momal-Vanian. Yesterday, the Committee had held a general debate on the accessibility for persons with disabilities which constituted an essential part of its work. A roundup release will be issued shortly.

Sudanese Referendum

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that a referendum would take place on 9 January 2011in Sudan to decide on the future of Southern Sudan. The South Sudanese Referendum Commission has asked IOM to conduct the out-of-country registration and voting for this referendum. This would be taking place in Australia, Canada, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, United Kingdom and the United States of America. These countries had been identified by those who drafted the Act as areas outside Sudan with significantly large numbers of Southern Sudanese people.

Ms. Pandya underscored that Southern Sudanese in other countries who met the eligibility criteria could also register and vote in one of the named countries if they could prove their ancestral links. Registration and voting would be carried out in neutral centres in the eight capital cities and - subject to confirmation by the South Sudanese Referendum Commission - elsewhere in those countries where there were concentrations of more than 20,000 eligible voters.

Although exact numbers of eligible voters were unknown, it was clear that Kenya and Uganda hosted the largest numbers of Southern Sudanese, said Ms. Pandya. Registration will begin on 14 November and, as of yesterday, will end on 21 November. The voting for the referendum is due to begin on 9 January and last for seven days. IOM is getting its operation underway, but requires an estimated US$25 million for carrying out this Programme.

Since 1996, IOM has assisted eligible nationals in 74 countries to exercise their right to vote in their home countries. More than 1.832 million votes have been cast in IOM-organized out-of-country elections, mainly in post-conflict situations such as Bosnia Herzegovina, East Timor, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Pakistan

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that with over a million displaced persons Sindh remains one of Pakistan’s hardest hit areas. Vast areas in Dadu and Qamber in Shahdadkot district are still under water.

Huge numbers of people continue to require relief assistance from Jacobabad to Thatta, said Ms. Byrs. She added that an inter-agency assessment will leave this week for Qamber-Shahdadkot district in order to identify gaps and priorities in the area.

Access to northern districts in Khyber Phaktunkhwa continues to improve, but poor road conditions remain a challenge to providing humanitarian aid. A winter contingency planning exercise is on-going under the leadership of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority and includes participation from all Clusters, said Ms. Byrs.

The revised Floods Emergency Response Plan is currently 33 per cent funded. The shelter sector is funded to only 20 per cent, the food security sector is funded to 35 per cent, and the health sector is funded to 28 per cent.

Zimbabwe Health Investment Plan

Marixie Mercado of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said that the Government of Zimbabwe, with support from the World Bank, WHO and UNICEF, is launching a three-year US$ 700 million health investment plan to cut the child mortality rates by 38 per cent and cut maternal mortality rates by 17 per cent.

Ms. Mercado said the rationale behind the investment plan was the deterioration in child and maternal health and in the overall health system over the past decade. Around 100 Zimbabwe children die each day from mainly preventable causes and about 35 per cent of children are now stunted. Health care workers and supplies are lacking and health care is unaffordable in a country where more than 80 per cent are unemployed.

The goal is to increase investments in health from the US$ 9 a day to the US$ 44 per person that was recommended by WHO, said Ms. Mercado. She added that last week an inter-ministerial body had been set up to mobilize and manage water and sanitation issues.



Iraqi refugees

Melissa Fleming of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said a survey carried out on the Syria-Iraq border in July and August concluded that most Iraqi refugees were reluctant to return to their country on a permanent basis. Forty-six percent of interviewees said they did not wish to return due to political uncertainty, while 15 percent blamed unstable security conditions. A further 13 percent said they were holding back because of poor educational opportunities, and six percent cited housing shortages. A similar survey conducted on the Iraq-Jordan border found that none of the 364 families surveyed were intending to return to Iraq on a permanent basis.

Ms. Fleming went on to say that Syria has hosted 290,000 Iraqi refugees. Some have been officially resettled, but most remain in Syria. By the end of August, the population of Iraqi refugees registered with UNHCR stood at over 150,000. Over 70 per cent of these refugees had been in Syria for four years.

UNHCR did not consider the security situation in Iraq adequate to facilitate or promote returns. It has assisted refugees who voluntarily wished to return in coordination with the Iraqi authorities, but the numbers of these were very few.

Kyrgyzstan

Ms. Fleming said UNHCR had earlier given information about plans to provide shelter to displaced persons in Kyrgyzstan. It was making good progress in Osh, Jalalabad and nearby areas where people are affected. As reported earlier, close to 2,000 houses were damaged, over 1,700 completely destroyed, and some 400,000 people were displaced.

UNHCR has been working to construct transitional shelters ahead of the winter and to restore personal identity documents lost in the uprising. It is also working on protection and community mobilization, trying to enable people to return home or to provide them with shelter close to their homes if these had been destroyed. However, 15,000 persons remain displaced and in need of assistance, underscored Ms. Fleming.

Global Action Plan to stop Tuberculosis

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization (WHO) said the Stop Tuberculosis Partnership, which includes 1,200 organizations, among them WHO, would next week launch its global plan to stop tuberculosis in Johannesburg, Berlin and Geneva. In Geneva, journalists were offered the opportunity to interview a senior WHO epidemiologist who has contributed to this action plan on 13 October at 11 a.m. in Press Room 1.

The global action plan is notably aimed at identifying gaps in the research for a vaccination against tuberculosis and should help identify measures to allow universal access to treatment for all tuberculosis-affected persons. The action plan was made available today in Press Room 1, but is embargoed until 13 October at 1 p.m. A media alert on the topic was sent yesterday afternoon.

WHO Report on Neglected Tropical Diseases

Ms. Chaib also drew attention to the launch of the first WHO report on neglected tropical diseases. This will take place on Thursday, 14 October, from 10 a.m. onwards in the Council Room, in the presence of WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, the Director of the WHO Department of Neglected Tropical Diseases, and representatives of United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations. English versions of the report were available at the back of the room and French and English summaries will be available on or shortly before Wednesday, said Ms. Chaib. She added that a media alert will shortly be sent out.

Southern Sudan/Kkala-azar

Paul Garwood of WHO said one of the deadliest tropical diseases was Kala-azar, also known as Visceral Leishmaniasis. A very worrying situation was currently seen in Southern Sudan where since a September 2009 outbreak more than 6,000 cases had been reported in two States. Three hundred-three people had died as a result of this disease, which was about six times more than in previous years. WHO, the Ministry of Health, and their health cluster partners were seeking more resources to expand the coverage of treatment for Kala-azar. About US$ 700,000 were needed for this.

Thirty-second IPCC Plenary Session

Ms. Momal-Vanian said a media alert was sent on the thirty-second Plenary Session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that will take place next week in Busan. Journalists could receive further information on the topic from Isabel Garcia-Gill, whose number was in the media alert, or from her colleague who is in Geneva and could be reached at 079/918 05 90.

Ms. Momal-Vanian further said the second Press Conference which was mentioned on the distributed media advisory had been cancelled.

UNECE Activities

Jean Rodriguez of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) said UNECE Executive Secretary Jan Kubish will participate at a discussion on poverty and social exclusion in Prague on 11 October.

On 12 October, Mr. Kubish will participate at a hearing at the European Parliament on the situation of the Aral Sea. On Wednesday, 13 October, Mr. Kubish was scheduled to participate at bilateral meetings with Commissioners and representatives of the European Union. On 14 October the Executive Secretary will take part in a round table discussion organized by Friends of Europe.

On 12 October, at 2.15 p.m., in Press Room 1, UNECE will hold a Press Conference to present a best practice guide on the efficient capturing and use of Methane in coal mines, said Mr. Rodriguez. Several Experts will explain the issues at hand and answer questions from journalists.

Also next week, the Timber Committee will hold its annual meeting in Room 18, during the whole of next week. UNECE would also host an exhibition on the second floor of the E Building.

WMO El Nino/La Nina Press Conference

Clare Nullis of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Monday WMO will release the latest “El Nino/La Nina” update in Press Room 1 at 11 a.m., but the update was under embargo. Present at the Press Conference would be WMO El Nino Expert Rupa Kumar Kolli. Ghassem Asrar, Director of the World Climate Research Programme, had also been invited.

WTO Agenda

Janaina Borges of the World Trade Organization (WTO) said WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy was in Washington today to speak at the Global Economic Governance Conference. Over the weekend, Mr. Lamy will attend meetings at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Next Friday, the Director-General will attend a session at the French Senate to speak about "Measuring Trade and Value-Added" and met with Christine Lagarde, French Minister for the Economy, Industry and Employment.

In Geneva next week, the Market Access Committee and the Government Procurement Committee would meet. Also, an open hearing on the apple dispute between Australia and New Zealand would take place.

Ms. Borges also said that WTO Press Officers planned to hold a seminar for journalists who had recently arrived in Geneva or who had not yet been exposed to WTO issues. Interested journalists should contact Ms. Borges or other Press Officers. The idea was to offer a “WTO for beginners” course.