REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Yvette Morris, the Chief of the Radio and Television Section of the Information Service, chaired the briefing which was also attended by spokespersons and representatives of Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Children's Fund, the World Food Programme, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Health Organization, the World Meteorological Organization and the International Organization for Migration.

Haiti

Yvette Morris said that the Secretary-General had appointed an independent panel of experts to seek to determine the source of the cholera outbreak in Haiti. The panel would review all of the information and data available to date and travel to Haiti to conduct investigations on the ground. The panel would operate completely independently from the United Nations and would have access to all UN records, reports, facilities, and staff members as required. It would present a written report of its findings to the Secretary-General and to the government of Haiti.

The panel would be chaired by Dr. Alejandro Cravioto (Mexico) of the International Center for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh. The other three members are Dr. Claudio Lanata (Peru) of the Instituto de Investigacion Nutritional in Peru, Dr. Daniele Lantagne (USA) of Harvard University in the United States, and Dr. Balakrish Nair (India) of the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases in India. The members of the panel had been selected on the basis of their global stature, expertise and extensive experience working with cholera in all its aspects, said Ms. Morris.

Ms. Morris said there would be an in-depth briefing on Haiti on the eve of the earthquake commemoration, on Tuesday 11 January.

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Nigel Fisher, the United Nations’ Humanitarian Coordinator, would present a United Nations report on 11 January in Port-au-Prince at 11 a.m. local time, along with the Haitian authorities. A fact sheet and English and French versions of the report would be provided to the Geneva press corps as soon as possible, embargoed until 11 January at 11 a.m, Haitian time.

The following day, on 12 January, various commemorative ceremonies such as the unveiling of a statue would be held in Port-au-Prince in memory of the Haitians and the United Nations staff who had perished in the earthquake.

Marixie Mercado of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said Haiti had already had the highest rates of infant, under-five and maternal mortality in the Western hemisphere prior to the earthquake. Twenty-nine per cent of Haiti’s children had been affected by stunting or chronic malnutrition, only about half of primary school aged children had been going to school and just one in five attended secondary school, with less than two percent finishing secondary school. Only 63 per cent had had access to safe water, with less than one in five having access to safe sanitation. Haiti was among the few countries in the world where access to basic sanitation had declined, Ms. Mercado underscored.

Haiti was the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, Ms. Mercado went on to say. One in five children aged between 5 and 14 were working and more than half the population lived on less than $1.25 dollars a day. Income inequality was among the highest in the world -- with the poorest 40 per cent accounting for just 8 per cent of national income.

The 12 January earthquake had affected 1.5 million children and 63,000 pregnant women. As of 29 December, 3,481 people had died of cholera -- including 210 children below the age of five -- and over 157,000 cases of cholera had been reported, according to statistics from the Ministry of Health.

UNICEF's Haiti country office would host a press briefing at 3 p.m., Geneva time, and release a progress report on UNICEF`s work in the year since the earthquake. Also, UNICEF's Representative in Haiti, Françoise Gruloos-Ackermans, would phone induring next Tuesday’s briefing to update journalists in person.

Emilia Casella of the World Food Programme (WFP) said WFP was currently reaching close to 2 million people with various food assistance programmes, including providing just over a million children with hot meals in school every day, and cash-for-work programmes and nutrition. More information was available from the fact sheets at the back of the room, which provided data on the various areas WFP was working on in Haiti. The fact sheets would also be circulated in an electronic version later, including in French.

Paul Conneally of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said the IFRC had just released its progress report on Haiti. The comprehensive report documented for the first time all the activities of the national societies in a consolidated fashion, including how much money had been raised and how it had been spent. With 186 national Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies around the world, many of which reported in different ways, it was a challenge to gather this data in a comprehensive manner. This milestone report was available at the back of the room and on the IFRC website.

Under-Secretary General Matthias Schmale would represent the IFRC at the briefing next Tuesday, Mr. Conneally said. He also invited journalists to participate in a teleconference with the IFRC Head of Operations and other operational key people in Haiti, to take place in the afternoon of 11 January.

Asked what had actually been achieved on the ground in Haiti, Ms. Mercado said the cholera case fatality rates in the camps were lower than they were elsewhere, highlighting the better access to sanitation, safe water and health services.

Ms. Casella added that a nutritional crisis had been avoided through WFP’s blanket supplementary feeding, as a May 2010 survey in earthquake-affected areas had shown. The WFP, in collaboration with UNICEF and other partners, had also provided blanket supplementary feeding to moderately and acutely malnourished children under the age of five who lived in earthquake-affected areas, as well as breastfeding mothers and pregnant women. 541,000 people had been reached over the past year, Ms. Casella underlined.

Mr. Conneally said nobody could pretend that Haiti had been a hugely successful humanitarian response. If anything, it demonstrated the limitations of humanitarian action. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, for example, was finding itself playing metropolitan roles, which it was not set up for, in terms of provision of water and sanitation to the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince. Nonetheless, 680 million liters of clean water had been delivered, 180,000 households had received shelter materials and 3,000 transitional shelters had been built.

In response to a question about funding, Ms. Byrs said the USD 1.5 billion appeal launched in 2010 had been funded to 72 per cent at the end of 2010. The USD 174 million cholera emergency appeal which had been launched in late 2010, for its part, was only funded to 25 per cent. It was vital to obtain a level of funding above 25 per cent in 2011, Ms. Byrs underscored, saying United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations needed to proceed to urgent purchases of materials, among other things. The cholera appeal was now part of the USD 906 million 2011 general appeal for Haiti.

In response to a question on adoption, Ms. Mercado said UNICEF had been working very hard to strengthen the police and social workers at the borders and at the airports so that they improved their control of the children passing through. UNICEF had reunited over 1,250 of the almost 5,000 children it had registered as separated from their families, and it had done much to strengthen community-based child protection systems.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said IOM would be issuing the coordinated data from the displacement tracking matrix on Tuesday. Information would also be given on an initiative entitled “The voice of the voiceless” which was part of IOM's communication efforts in Haiti.

Côte d'Ivoire

Ms. Morris said the Secretary-General would send a request to the Security Council next week for 1,000 to 2,000 additional troops to reinforce the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire. The new troops would fill the gap currently bridged by temporary peacekeepers from the United Nations Mission in neighbouring Liberia, who had been deployed on a temporary basis for the elections.

Ms. Mercado said there were copies of UNICEF's USD 20.1 million funding appeal for Côte d’Ivoire and five neighbouring countries over the next three months at the back of the room. UNICEF's priority was to avoid harm to children due to a lack of access to clean drinking water, adequate nutrition, healthcare services and a loss of schooling.

Ms. Mercado said the situation was dynamic and UNICEF was actively involved with UN agencies to coordinate responses and funding appeals. Its main concerns included not only maintaining the ability to respond to disease outbreaks through vaccination campaigns, as there are measles, meningitis and yellow fever epidemics in the region, but it was also concerned that there should be access to clean drinking water and proper sanitation facilities, and that adequate nutrition is available for communities faced with food price hikes and shortages. It was also important that hospitals, clinics and medical treatment were available, that children were protected and not involved in disturbances, and that education was not interrupted.

UNICEF was working with other agencies to provide education, household items and water and sanitation for those who had crossed the border into Liberia, and it was prepared to do the same should people cross the border into other neighbouring countries, Ms. Mercado said.

Melissa Fleming of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said the bulk of the refugees were crossing the border into Liberia and almost none were moving into other countries. In Liberia, people were still coming at about 500 a day, while the current number of refugees stood at 23,000. The refugees continued to be accommodated in the villages, but this was becoming very difficult, prompting UNHCR to establish a refugee camp. While the site has been identified and the infrastructural items were in place, final approval for the camp was still pending. Nutrition was also becoming an issue, but UNHCR expected a food delivery for next Tuesday, although road conditions were very difficult. Contingencies were in place for 30,000 refugees, said Ms. Fleming.

In response to a question, Ms. Fleming said the refugees were mostly Ivoirians and not Liberian people who had fled the civil war there previously. Many Liberian refugees wished to leave Côte d'Ivoire but not to go back to Liberia.

Ms. Casella said the WFP had airlifted five metric tonnes of high energy biscuits into Liberia for distribution in the border area. That would provide food for 7,000 refugees over three days. Subsequently, an emergency operation would be set up in collaboration with UNHCR to assist 18,000 internally displaced persons in Côte d’Ivoire and 15,000 refugees in Liberia for a period of 45 days. The operation was underway and WFP was in the process of moving food to that area, in spite of logistical and security challenges.

Melissa Fleming said the bulk of the refugees were crossing the border into Liberia and almost none were moving into the other countries. In Liberia, people were still coming at about 500 a day while the current number of refugees stood at 23,000. The refugees continued to be accommodated in the villages, but this was becoming very difficult, prompting UNHCR to establish a refugee camp. While the site has been identified and the infrastructural items were in place, final approval of the camp was still pending. Nutrition was also becoming an issue, but UNHCR expected a food delivery for next Tuesday, although roads conditions were very difficult. Contingencies were in place for 30,000 refugees, said Ms. Fleming.

In response to a question, Ms. Fleming said the refugees were mostly Ivoirians and not Liberian people who had fled the civil war there previously. Many Liberian refugees wished to leave Côte d'Ivoire but not to go back to Liberia.

Ms. Casella said the WFP had airlifted five metric tonnes of high energy biscuits into Liberia for distribution in the border area. That would provide food for 7,000 refugees over three days. Subsequently, an emergency operation would be set up in collaboration with UNHCR to assist 18,000 internally displaced persons in Côte d’Ivoire and 15,000 refugees in Liberia for a period of 45 days. The operation was underway and WFP was in the process of moving food to that area, in spite of logistical and security challenges.

Sudan

Ms. Morris said the United Nations Security Council had issued a statement yesterday welcoming the Sudanese parties’ reaffirmation of their commitment to the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, including their commitment to respect the outcome of the referendum on the future of Southern Sudan. The referendum was due to begin on Sunday and continue until 15 January.

The Secretary-General had appointed a panel to monitor the upcoming referendum. The three-member panel would be travelling around the country this month as it monitored the polling, counting and aggregation of the results phases of the referendum, said Ms. Morris.

Ms. Fleming said that the number of southerners who were leaving the North ahead of this week’s landmark Sudan referendum to return to their ancestral homes in the South had doubled since mid-December and now stood at around 120,000. This was an average of 2,000 people crossing into the South each day. UNHCR anticipated that many more would return in the coming months following the referendum. Many of the returnees who had lived in the North for years said they had left for fear of the unknown and the opportunity to start afresh in their native South.

Following the referendum it would be essential that the status of those southern Sudanese who would prefer to remain in the North was established. UNHCR was concerned about the spectre of a significant number of southerners in the North having uncertain citizen status, possibly becoming stateless. UNHCR was actively supporting negotiations with officials to address this issue, which, if left unresolved, could result in an even larger movement south. There were an estimated 1.5 to 2 million southerners who lived in the North, Ms. Fleming underscored.

Approximately 30 per cent of returnees to date have gone to urban centres, while the remainder were going to rural areas. Most the returnees originated from the Khartoum area where some have been living for two generations. As a result they did not necessarily have a home village to return to, but having lived in an urban environment they were settling in South Sudan’s urban centres.

One of the regions that had received high number of returnees from the North is the Upper Nile. Every day, buses and barges with returnees arrive in the state capital, Malakal. They had come with everything they own. The buses and barges were packed with beds, sofa seats, chairs, tables, cooking pans and utensils, corrugated iron sheets, radio sets, and some had even come with TV sets, fridges and small generators.

UNHCR's community services and protection specialists in the region were monitoring and following up on cases of unaccompanied and separated
children, survivors of gender based violence, elderly and disabled people who needed support.

Somalia Drought

Ms. Byrs said the Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Mr. Mark Bowden, called for better access for humanitarian actors to all regions so that they could better assist the victims of the increasingly serious drought hitting Somalia. Mr. Bowden’s press release was also available at the back of the room and would further be distributed in Nairobi.

Nigeria lead poisoning

Ms. Byrs said a press release on a joint UNEP-OCHA report on lead poisoning in Nigeria was available at the back of the room and would also be distributed in Nairobi and New York.

Flights to resume for family visits between refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria and Western Sahara Territory

Ms. Fleming announced that UNHCR's Confidence Building Measures programme to facilitate family visits between refugees living in camps near Tindouf, Algeria, and their families in the Western Sahara Territory had resumed today. The Confidence Building Measures was a strictly humanitarian and non-political programme in support of Sahrawi families that have been separated for more than 34 years. UNHCR thanked the Government of Morocco and the POLISARIO Front for supporting the resumption of this important humanitarian programme.

As states increase border controls, UNHCR calls for sensitivity for those fleeing persecution

Ms. Fleming said that UNHCR was concerned whenever States proposed measures that aimed at preventing irregular migrants from entering their territory without
simultaneously putting concrete guarantees in place for those seeking international protection. While every State had the right to control its borders, it was clear that among the many people crossing Turkey toward the European Union, there was a significant number who were fleeing violence and persecution.
Establishing border control mechanisms which are sensitive to the needs
of people seeking protection was therefore vital.

Building fences rarely solved the underlying problem of migratory pressures, including those of persons seeking protection. As with other measures which indiscriminately blocked arrivals, there was risk that those seeking asylum would resort to even riskier routes to safety – a reason why large numbers of asylum-seekers today find themselves in the hands of people-smuggling rings.

The problem in Greece was compounded by the fact that the asylum system was still not functioning - despite ongoing reform efforts. UNHCR was working with government partners to establish a fair process for assessing the claims of asylum seekers. At present, many thousands of asylum-seekers were living in limbo in Greece.

In Turkey, the Government continued to implement a geographic limitation to the 1951 Convention, thereby taking responsibility for granting asylum only to refugees who come from European countries.

IOM stands ready to assist Zimbabweans returned from South Africa

Mr. Chauzy said that IOM and partners had begun to implement a contingency plan to provide humanitarian assistance to Zimbabwean migrants who may be forcibly returned from South Africa this year following the end of a regularization campaign on 31 December 2010.

Hundreds of thousands of irregular Zimbabwean migrants could face deportation from South Africa as only about a sixth of the estimated Zimbabwean irregular migrant population had applied for legal status.

Nearly 276,000 Zimbabweans in the end registered for regularization through the campaign that had begun last September. However, there were an estimated 1.5 million Zimbabweans living in South Africa, many of whom had migrated as a result of the social and economic unrest in Zimbabwe in recent years.

Rise in food prices

Reacting to the high food prices report launched this week by the Food and Agriculture Organization, Ms. Casella said that more than half of WFP’s food was purchased with cash donations, and higher prices could thus mean less food being available for the hungry. WFP has been monitoring the steady rise of international food prices and was ready to step up its food assistance, especially to countries that were vulnerable to high food prices, while focusing on the risks to children.

So far, however, the commodities consumed by the hungry and the poor, including cereals and rice, have been fairly insulated from the steep rise in food prices. This was not least thanks to the fairly good 2009 harvest in a number of African countries and reserves that were significantly higher than in 2008.

Ms. Casella said the commodity prices that have peaked most recently were sugar and oil, while the prices of wheat, corn and rice were not as high as at the peak in 2008. While WFP was monitoring the developments with concern, it also saw some helpful mitigating factors.

Launch of the Global Plan for Artemisinin Resistance Containment

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization (WHO) said WHO and the Roll Back Malaria Partnership would launch a Global Plan for Artemisinin Resistance Containment next Wednesday, 12 January. WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, experts and diplomats would be present at the public ceremony to be held from 10 to 12 a.m. in Room C at the fifth floor at WHO's premises. A press release and copies of the plan could be made available to journalists. The launch was followed by a press conference with World Health Organization experts, taking place at WHO's Library Room from 12 to 12.30 p.m.

Charles Penn, a medical expert of WHO's Global Influenza Programme, said a number of cases were now occurring in the usual influenza season. In some cases, notably in the United Kingdom and Ireland, the dominant virus within that seasonal period was the H1N1 virus from 2009. Where that was prevalent, an incidence of infections was being seen, particularly in younger people. The overall pattern of infection and severe illness was similar to that seen during the last year.

WMO

Clare Nullis of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said WMO had been getting questions about when it would give its definitive statement on whether 2010 was the hottest year on record. WMO was collecting data at the moment and hoped to issue a press release by the end of the month.

WMO had also been getting questions about whether the floods in Australia were linked to La Niña. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology said that they were and issued a statement about the floods this morning on its website. WMO was currently working on the latest La Niña Update and hoped to issue this in the next couple of weeks, Ms. Nullis said.