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 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children's Fund, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the International Organization for Migration and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Pakistan

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that six months after the floods hit Pakistan the water had receded, but the emergency was far from over. Millions of people were still in need of humanitarian aid, and funding remained a pressing issue. The shelter sector was only funded to 39 per cent and four million people were still living without temporary or permanent shelter. An estimated 2.2 million hectares of crops had been destroyed and half a million livestock had been lost. However, the USD 1.9 billion appeal, launched in September to assist 14 million people between September 2010 and September 2011, was only funded to 56.3 per cent (USD 1.1 billion received). The international community should mobilise to provide the remaining funds for this appeal, as reconstruction and humanitarian aid continued to be essential. A note and a fact sheet were at the back of the room.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) agreed that funding for Pakistan remained essential. He confirmed that agencies in the shelter cluster had appealed for USD 322 million but had only received USD 126 million or 39 per cent of the funds requested. With this money the shelter cluster had distributed over 1.62 million blankets as well as emergency shelter in the form of a tent or two plastic tarpaulins to some 864,400 households, among other things. The needs remained great, however, and the reconstruction process could not be initiated without receiving the funds. The future of about 500,000 families throughout the country was very compromised as they could not restart economic activities, said Mr. Chauzy. He also underlined the importance of the over 300 national non-governmental organizations that supported the recovery process.

Pascal Villeneuve, UNICEF's representative in Pakistan, joining in by teleconference, said that Pakistan had experienced the worst monsoon floods in its recorded history, inundating most the country, leaving one fifth of the total land area under water, an area the size of the United Kingdom. The lives of almost 20 million people had been affected, which was more than the combined total of the people affected by the Indian Ocean Tsunami, the earthquakes in Pakistan and Haiti and Cyclone Nargis. Realizing the magnitude and scale of the disaster, UNICEF, along with other humanitarian partners, had mounted one of the largest emergency responses to reach the affected populations, especially women and children. Six months into the floods, they continued to respond to the urgent needs of the flood-affected people, most of whom had returned to their areas of origin only to find their houses and communities in total devastation.

Looking back on what had been achieved, UNICEF realized that the emergency was far from over and that a lot more needed to done. Responding to the changing nature of the emergency and the needs of people, UNICEF and its partners continued to provide clean water to an unprecedented 3.5 million people on a daily basis throughout the country. More than 1.9 million people had been provided with sanitation facilities in camps and communities. With the support of its partners, UNICEF had immunized more than 9 million children against measles and polio while 8.5 million children had been provided with Vitamin A supplementation. A total of around 120,000 malnourished women and children had been enrolled in various feeding programmes, and temporary learning centres were benefiting around 180,000 children, many of which had been enrolled for the first time. UNICEF had also established 700 child friendly spaces serving 200,000 children and led the nutrition, water, education and child protection clusters.

Soon after the floods had started, UNICEF had set up three emergency hubs and relocated staff from the country and provincial offices to these hubs. It scaled up its operations to the most affected and vulnerable with life-saving relief supplies and recovery services. Despite the difficulties, UNICEF and its partners had managed to reach millions of affected people and continued to do so.

However, the challenges faced were great; the geographic spread, the sheer number of people and the fact that the majority had moved back to their places of origin where the infrastructure had been damaged or destroyed made the task all the more difficult. The slow pace of donations, resource constraints and the lack of reliable data were additional challenges to overcome. The issue of malnutrition in children was extremely worrying for UNICEF. It had pre-dated the floods, but had been seriously exacerbated by successive emergencies over the past five years. According to the 2002 national nutrition survey, 13.2 per cent of children aged 6-59 months in Pakistan were either moderately or severely malnourished and the situation had worsened since then. As the lead of the nutrition cluster, UNICEF had been supporting provincial the Governments of Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan in conducting flood-affected nutrition surveys. The results from the Sindh province had been announced this morning in Karachi. The Punjab data would be announced next week and that of the other provinces in the coming weeks. The data released today by the Sindh Department of Health indicated a nutrition crisis, recording a global acute malnutrition rate of 23.1 per cent in Northern Sindh and 21.2 per cent in Southern Sindh. That meant that around one in five children aged 6-59 months was malnourished. This rate was well above the WHO's 15 per cent emergency threshold level for triggering a humanitarian response. Extensive screening procedures were now in place and emergency feeding centres had been set up to ensure that malnourished children were properly treated. The results from the Northern Sindh also revealed a severe acute malnutrition rate of 6.1. The Sindh Government estimated that about 120,000 children aged 6-59 months were severely malnourished.

UNICEF was now working with the Sindh Government and other partners to implement a strategic nutrition response plan which had been launched this morning in Karachi. This plan took a holistic approach and took into account not only nutrition interventions, but also included food, water and sanitation, protection, education health and livelihood programmes that would hopefully have a valuable impact on the nutritional status of children and mothers on Pakistan.

To date, UNICEF had received USD 198 million in donations and pledges out of the USD 251 million required. As UNICEF continued relief, return and early recovery activities, a funding gap of 21 per cent or USD 52 million was still required to ensure United Nations Children's Fund could respond to ongoing needs.

Mr. Chauzy said that IOM had today launched a study investigating the impact of remittance flows from Pakistani migrant workers in Saudi Arabia on their families back home. The survey had covered 500 migrant-sending households and had been carried out from June through August 2009 in high-migration districts in Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Among key results were that young Pakistani expatriates were able to gather USD 17,000 on average during their stay in Saudi Arabia. Most of this money went back to families in Pakistan, who used it for a variety of purposes but rarely for income-generating activities and small businesses. In terms of recommendations, the study suggested that the cost of overseas migration needed to be reduced by improving the recruitment system and controlling exploitative practices by middlemen. It also suggested that Pakistan's banking sector become more efficient to induce migrants to use formal banking channels to remit their money.

Number of Ivorian refugees in Liberia tops 31,000 mark, second airlift scheduled

Andrej Mahecic of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that, according to UNHCR's latest registration figures, there were now 31,339 Ivorian refugees in eastern Liberia who had fled post election violence and tensions in Côte d'Ivoire. Most of them were being hosted in 26 villages in the Liberia’s eastern Nimba county. The vast majority of the refugees were women and children and in most cases they were finding shelter in the border villages and lived side by side with the local communities. UNHCR's field teams on the ground gathered information about new arrivals through these local communities where refugees were then assisted and registered.

The influx of Ivorian refugees to other neighbouring countries had been small and slow to date. Presently there were 623 in Guinea, 173 in Togo and 108 in Mali. Meanwhile, a second airlift of UNHCR relief supplies to Monrovia was scheduled to arrive this weekend. A UNHCR-chartered McDonnell Douglas MD11 was expected to arrive on Sunday from Liege, Belgium, with some 83 metric tones of aid and shelter materials from the agency’s emergency stockpile in Copenhagen. The items would temporarily be stored at the new UNHCR warehouse at Robertsfield International Airport, some 60 km east of the Liberian capital, and then transported by trucks to the eastern parts of Liberia.

UNHCR’s first emergency airlift to Liberia had taken place on 19 December 2010 to meet the urgent needs of the first wave of Ivorians fleeing post-election violence and tensions in their country.

Asked for an update on the refugee camp in Liberia, Mr. Mahecic said the construction works at the site had begun this week. The first facility being built was a large reception center that would consist of fourteen large shelters that could house about 500 refugees at any one time. This was a transit centre from which refugees would then be transmitted into the camp itself. The camp would be a tented camp although shelters would be constructed for the families who will be accomodated there. Construction would take a couple of weeks, and as the basic facilities were placed the camp would be able to start receiving refugees.

UNHCR welcomes new refugee law in Mexico

Mr. Mahecic said UNHCR welcomed a new law adopted by Mexico on protection of refugees and asylum seekers. The new law had been formally signed by President Felipe Calderón on Wednesday, by which the law entered into force. Entitled the “Law on Refugees and Complementary Protection”, it had been passed by the Senate and the Lower Chamber in 2010. Mexico had signed the 1951 Refugee Convention and its Protocol in 2000 and had a history of protecting asylum seekers and refugees. But, until now, Mexico had lacked a specific legal framework as previous laws had not complied with international standards.

The new law incorporated Mexico’s good practices on refugees, such as permission to work, access to health services including health insurance, access to education and revalidation of studies. Drafted in 2009 by the Mexican Refugee Commission with UNHCR's technical support, it included definitions of a refugee as per the 1951 Convention relating to the status of refugees, as well as the Cartagena Declaration. It also considered gender as a ground for persecution, said Mr. Mahecic.

Mexico would grant complementary protection for people not considered as refugees but whose life had been threatened or could be at risk of torture, ill treatment, or other forms of cruel inhuman treatment. The law conformed to international law and standards, as it included the principle of non-refoulement, non-discrimination, and no penalty for irregular entry, the family unity principle, the best interests of the child, and confidentiality, among others.

Mexico continued to receive refugees from Latin American countries (mainly from Colombia, Haiti, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala) but also extra-regional refugees (from DR Congo, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Iran, Nepal, Nigeria and Myanmar, among others). In response to a question, Mr. Mahecic said the refugee population in Mexico had been 1,408 refugees in 2010.

Southern Africa Floods

Ms. Byrs said the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs continued to be vigilant as fears seemed to be confirmed. The waters of the Zambezi River continued to rise along the Angola-Zambia border and would soon reach the critical point of 6 meters at the Katima Mulilo point in Namibia. Mozambique had declared red alert and was responding to the floods in the central and southern regions, while South Africa had also declared a situation of natural disasters. Evaluations were being conducted in Namibia, with the main concern being water purification. A note with more details was available at the back of the room.

Report on High Cholesterol Levels

Fadéla Chaib of the World Health Organization (WHO) said a multi-country study had found that 147 million people were suffering from high cholesterol levels and most of them were either unaware of suffering from this or not seeking treatment, even though efficient medication to decrease cholesterol levels was available and 17 million people throughout the world died from cardiovascular diseases every year. The study was the largest conducted on high cholesterol levels, involving the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Jordania, Mexico, Scotland, Thailand and the United States. The study was published in the WHO bulletin, WHO's flagship publication, and a press release would be issued on Tuesday. Journalists could also interview Dr. Shanti Mendez from the Department of Chronic Disease and Health Promotion and the author of the study.

Accountability Commission for Women’s and Children’s Health

In response to a question, Ms. Chaib said the Accountability Commission for Women’s and Children’s Health was not only important to accelerate the development goals related to maternal and child health, but also to hold countries responsible for the commitments made in tackling maternal and child deaths, as well as to keep track of the resources invested. Two Working Groups would take up their work this week and report back in May on the progress made by the Commission.

Prosecution over sexual orientation or identity

Asked whether the persecution of the kind seen in Uganda against the gay activist who had been beaten to death was a ground for seeking asylum, Mr. Mahecic said that UNHCR had delivered a statement some time ago on this issue and had called on States to recognize the needs of people persecuted over their sexual orientation or gender identity last October.

The existence of laws criminalizing same-sex relations in many countries (including the death penalty in seven) posed significant problems for these asylum-seekers and refugees. Such laws, whether enforced or not, impeded their ability to access state protection in their home countries. When such people fled, they were often reluctant to register for asylum. When they did register for asylum, they may be unlikely to testify truthfully at asylum hearings regarding the nature of their persecution.

UNHCR's guidelines and policies had been revised to ensure that the particular vulnerability of these groups was recognized at every stage in UNHCR's interaction with refugees. The 1951 Refugee Convention spelled out that a refugee was someone who -- owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion -- was outside the country of his nationality, and was unable to, or owing to such fear, was unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.

In 2008 UNHCR had also issued guidelines recognizing that individuals being persecuted due to sexual orientation and gender identity should be considered within the category of those “fleeing due to membership of a particular social group” as a convention ground.

Human Rights Agenda

Corinne Momal-Vanian said the Conference on Disarmament would next meet on Tuesday, after having opened its 2011 session this week with the holding of three meetings.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child, for its part, would today examine the reports of Ukraine on the Convention on the Rights of the Child and under the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict. Next Monday, the Committee would on examine the reports of Mexico under the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, as well as Mexico’s report under the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women had examined all reports scheduled for consideration during this session. The Committee would now hold closed meetings to adopt its concluding observations before closing its session next Friday. It appeared that the concluding observations may not be available until after the end of the session, as had already been the case in the past. Further information would follow.

UNCTAD Agenda

Catherine Sibut-Pinote of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) posted a reminder that the Global Commodities Forum would open on Monday 10 in Room XXVII. Participating at this unique Forum would be stakeholders in the global energy, agriculture and minerals and metals commodity markets. An updated programme of the Global Commodities Forum was at the back of the room and a press release on the opening session would be sent to journalists on Monday. Journalists were invited to participate and UNCTAD's press service could help journalists organise meetings with participants. There may also be a press conference on the Forum on Tuesday 1 February at 12 p.m. Speakers would be confirmed shortly and may include UNCTAD's Secretary-General.

Ms. Sibut-Pinote said the new Investment Monitor had been emailed to journalists. UNCTAD's mandate included monitoring the policies and measures taken to attract foreign direct investment, which was one of the factors contributing to development in developing countries.

On another note, Ms. Sibut-Pinote said that an Expert Group on public investment to foster development would meet at the end of next week. More information would be provided on Tuesday.

Other

Ms. Momal-Vanian said AP, ACANU and the Information Service would organize a ceremony to pay tribute to Sandy Higgins, to take place on Monday 31 January at 5.30 p.m. in Press Room I. Journalists were invited to participate.