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 the Human Rights Council, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the World Food Programme, the United Nations Children's Fund, the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration, the World Health Organization, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the World Trade Organization.

Libya

Melissa Fleming of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said that escalated fighting at the Dehiba border crossing between Libya and Tunisia had stopped the outflow of refugees from Libya’s Western Mountains. UNHCR was very concerned that people fleeing Libya could be caught in the cross-fire as government and opposition forces battled for control in the border area. Before the fighting had intensified on Thursday, there had been long lines of vehicles packed with families queuing up at the border to cross into southern Tunisia. There had been a renewed exodus of Libyans crossing from the impoverished Western Mountains region in the past three days; over 3,100 people had crossed the border on Wednesday alone. The large number of recent arrivals was straining UNHCR's resources at the Dehiba border region of south-eastern Tunisia. The majority of new arrivals were women, children and families, said Ms. Fleming.

In the Choucha camp, near the Ras Adjir border crossing to Libya, there were third country nationals who were unable to return to their countries. In their frustration 20 Somalis had returned to Libya, from where they had reportedly bordered an Italy-bound boat carrying some 280 Africans. UNHCR was looking to confirm reports that that boat had capsized in high seas, said Ms. Fleming.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said evacuations out of Misrata continued with a sixth IOM mission with about 180 tons of humanitarian aid leaving from Benghazi now and scheduled to arrive in Misrata tomorrow. Reportedly, more migrant workers, third country nationals and wounded Libyans were converging in the harbour area, and IOM had evidence that people hoping to be evacuated regularly returned to the harbour area, about 13 kilometers east of Misrata. So far IOM had evacuated about 5,500 people from Misrata, but security conditions continued to be difficult, with pro-government forces apparently attempting to retake control of the harbour area, and rebel forces trying to get hold of the airport.

Mr. Chauzy said while large numbers of people continued to arrive in Niger and Chad, the regional migration overspill of the Libya crisis had not really been looked into. Yesterday alone about 2,500 people had arrived in Dirkou, Northern Niger, and IOM was doing its best to evacuate them to Niamey by road. All in all about 59,000 people had arrived in Niger, the vast majority of them Nigeriens returning home. Chad was also experiencing a massive return with about 18,000 returnees since the beginning of Libyan crisis. The reception capacity of the Faya-Largeau centre was vastly overwhelmed and IOM was organizing flights from there to N’Djamena for those unfit for the truck or bus trip. Overall about 637,500 people had fled Libya since the crisis began in mid-February, crossing into Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Niger, Sudan and Tunisia. More details were available from the press note and from Mr. Chauzy, who was on call over the weekend.

Tarik Jasarevic of the World Health Organization said a Misrata assessment coordination meeting was held on 24 April in Benghazi with the participation of international agencies and Doctors without Borders and International Medical Corps, who were operating inside Misrata. These two organizations had reported a shortage of nurses, doctors and surgeons and that no post-operational care was in place. They also reported that patients were usually sent home due to a lack of capacity and that only small health facilities were operating as hospitals. Medical stores could not be held at a central location since central warehouses were being targeted and the relief/medical committee had therefore spread the stocks in different locations. There was a need to help in stock identification and warehouse management for medical stocks and for a warehouse near the port, where most of the people were right now.

Based on this information, the WHO-led health cluster was to prepare a response plan based on the needs and gaps identified by the assessment team. WHO and partners were working to ensure the evacuation of injured people from Misrata and possessed information that about 500 people should be evacuated from Misrata to Benghazi. Also, International Medical Corps would send teams of nurses to support the hospitals in Misrata and was looking for suitable space to establish the hospital after installing the field hospitals. Doctors without Borders had reported that it would increase the capacity to set up a maternal and child care unit in the clinic in the Qasr Ahmed area, where 75 per cent of the population was concentrated. WHO, for its part, had sent supplies to Ajdabiya from Tubruq by road to cover the needs of 7,000 people for three months.

Côte d’Ivoire

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the situation and the humanitarian needs in Côte d’Ivoire remained immense. Among the priority areas for humanitarians was the Zouan Hounien-Toulépleu-Bloléquin triangle, where most towns and villages had been deserted, where people had fled into the bush or into Liberia, and where water, food and health services were urgently needed. The militia still in the area continued to perpetrate acts of violence and terrorise the people. A mobile health clinic programme had been launched to provide help the people on the ground, but much remained to be done in the Zouan Hounien-Toulépleu-Bloléquin triangle, warned Ms. Byrs.

Humanitarians could only access the Toulépleu-Bloléquin-Guiglo region with armed escorts and, although the UN Mission in Côte d’Ivoire was working on this, there were still non-explosed remnants of war. The UNDAC team deployed to the East during three weeks had made recommendations and identified health, water and sanitation and shelter as priority areas there.

The security situation in Abidjan remained wanting, Ms. Byrs warned, underlining that acts of violence and shooting continued in several neighbourhoods. However, pharmacies had been able to beef up their stocks thanks to donations.

Ms. Byrs highlighted that 80 per cent of the requested $ 160 million were still lacking. Funds were urgently needed to continue to assist people in Côte d’Ivoire.

Mr. Chauzy said he could set up a press briefing with IOM's Chief of Mission in Côte d’Ivoire for Tuesday or Wednesday.

Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Emilia Casella of the World Food Programme said WFP was launching an emergency operation to assist about 3.5 million people identified in a multi-agency food security survey completed in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea last month. A bitter winter, crop loss, and a lack of resources to secure cereal supplies from outside the country had left the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea highly vulnerable to food shortages, leading to widespread chronic malnutrition and poor diet. The reason why WFP had launched its operation was that government rations were currently providing only about half of people’s daily food needs.

Ms. Casella said the assessment had found that the severe winter had damaged a large proportion of the seed potato stocks needed to plant the next crop. There was only enough for about 60 per cent of the area planned for cultivation, meaning that the crop would expectedly only reach about half of normal levels in the coming harvest. There had also been a substantial reduction in the late 2010 vegetable harvest, about 44 per cent down on what it should have been. The WFP team had been in the country for about three weeks together with colleagues from other agencies and had analysed the data for another two weeks. As part of the survey, it had been noted that over 70 per cent of households had poor food consumption and that about 20 per cent were border-line, with only 5 per cent of surveyed households showing good food consumption.





Marixie Mercado of the United Nations Children's Fund said UNICEF had launched a $ 20.4 million appeal to prevent a nutrition crisis in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, based on the food and nutrition assessment conducted in February together with WFP and FAO. The appeal sought to prevent a context of chronic malnutrition from developing into one of acute malnutrition, which significantly increased the risk of death and disease for children. According to the multiple indicator cluster survey conducted in 2009, 32 per cent of children in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea were stunted, and the proportion rose to 45 per cent in some rural areas. Over a quarter of women between 15 and 49 years were also under-nourished, which greatly increased the chances that they would deliver low birth-weight babies. During the assessment mission, the team was consistently confronted by evidence that children had suffered chronic nutritional deficiencies over a long period of time, and that they were extremely vulnerable to food shortages. Assistance was needed now, at the beginning of the “lean” season, when food stocks were historically low and reductions in the public distribution system ration were scheduled to go into effect.

UNICEF would focus assistance on the five most food insecure provinces with the highest rates of malnutrition and food deficient counties in a number of other provinces. UNICEF assistance would address nutritional needs, but would also address behavioural and structural determinants of chronic malnutrition such as infant feeding practices, water, sanitation and hygiene. Overall, UNICEF was specifically targeting over 400,000 young children and nearly 165,000 pregnant and lactating women, who were especially vulnerable. A particular focus would be on almost 90,000 children who were already estimated to be suffering from mild to moderate malnutrition. Another focus would be on children living permanently in institutions, as they could rely even less on the coping strategies of extended families. UNICEF interventions would be coordinated with and complement those of WFP and other food distribution actors, targeting the same provinces, counties and institutions. In terms of funding, UNICEF had received $ 2.7 million of its $ 20.4 million appeal.

Number of Somali refugees grows sharply in 2011

Ms. Fleming said that UNHCR was alarmed by the continuing deterioration of the situation in Somalia, forcing an increasing number of Somalis into displacement. The number of Somali refugees arriving to neighbouring countries during the first quarter of this year had more than doubled in comparison to the same period in 2010.

Between January and March this year, 50,000 new Somali refugees had been registered in the neighbouring Kenya, Ethiopia and Yemen. By comparison, some 23,000 had fled during the same quarter last year. Kenya had again received most of the new arrivals - more than 31,400, almost all of them registered and housed in the Dadaab refugee camp complex.

The majority of these refugees came from the Bay and Bakol regions of southern and central Somalia - two of the major conflict zones in the country. They all spoke of a grim situation inside the country, marked by relentless violence and human rights abuses. Somali refugees told UNHCR teams about forced conscription by some of the warring parties and crippling drought.

Despite the risks involved and the popular unrest and the deterioration of the situation in Yemen, more than 22,000 refugees and migrants from the Horn of Africa had arrived on Yemeni shores during the first three months of 2011.

Some of the new arrivals told UNHCR that they were unaware of the political and social upheaval in Yemen, but many coming from Somalia said they had no other option but to flee. For these Somali refugees the situation in Yemen was still, by comparison, much safer than the one back home, said Ms. Fleming.

IOM Rescues 20 Ghanaian Children from Trafficking for Last Time as Programme Runs Out of Funds

Mr. Chauzy said that IOM had for several years been running a programme to assist Ghanaian child victims of exploitation, notably those exploited by the Lake Volta fishing industry. The programme had been working very well and helped about 730 children exploited by fishing communities, but the funding for the programme ran out in the year.

Twenty Ghanaian child victims of trafficking had been rescued by IOM from exploitative labour in what looks like to be the last such rescue mission. They had been reunited with their families and were receiving psychosocial support.

The programme has been mostly funded by the US government. The needs have continued to grow, but the funding had dropped. IOM hoped to receive further financing for this programme, as many children continued to be trafficked, notably to be exploited by the fishing industry in the Lake Volta region.

Fifth meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the Stockholm Convention

Michael Stanley Jones of the United Nations Environment Programme said the fifth meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants had convened for its fifth and final day of deliberations in Geneva today. The Conference had made swift progress on a heavy agenda and was considering the adoption of at least 17 separate decisions, including decisions on the addition of endosulfan to Annex A of the Stockholm Convention and on a work programme on endosulfan. These decisions had been hard-debated and were expected to be taken this evening. The secretariat would report on the final outcomes of the meeting at the biweekly press briefing on Tuesday.

Human Rights Council

Cédric Sapey of the Human Rights Council said he expected the special session of the Human Rights Council to start at 11 am with a statement by the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Kyung-wha Kang, to be followed by a message from special procedure mandate holders. While a draft resolution existed, it was expected that several changes may be made to it during the day.

Mr. Sapey said the 11th session of the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review would start on Monday, 2 May. During the session the human rights records of Belgium, Denmark, Palau, Somalia, the Seychelles, the Solomon Islands, Latvia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Suriname, Greece, Samoa, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sudan, Hungary and Papua New Guinea would be considered. Copies of the programme were available at the back of the room.

Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Corinne Momal-Vanian said that the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights would open a three-week session at the Palais Wilson on Monday, 2 May to examine the reports submitted by Germany, Russia, Moldova, Turkey and Yemen. A background release had been distributed yesterday.

UNCTAD Agenda

Catherine Sibut-Pinote of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2011 would be presented at a UNESCAP (UNCTAD) press conference on Wednesday, 4 May at 2.30 pm in Room III. Speaking would be Alfredo Calcagno, a Senior Economist at UNCTAD's Division on Globalization and Development Strategies.

Ms. Sibut-Pinote said UNCTAD Secretary-General Supachai Panitchpakdi would brief journalists on UNCTAD's expectations for the Fourth UN Conference on Least Developed Countries, to be held from 9 to 13 May 2011 in Istanbul, at 9.30 am on Thursday, 5 May in Room III. Journalists had received the programme yesterday and could access more information both online and from the UNCTAD press team.

The Investment, Enterprise and Development Commission would start a three-day session on Monday, 2 May. On Monday morning it would review the investment policies of Guatemala, in the presence of the Minister for Energy and Mines, before discussing the investment policy reviews of Ethiopia and Tanzania in the afternoon. More details were available on the UNCTAD website.



ECE Agenda

Jean Rodriguez of the Economic Commission for Europe said ECE Executive Secretary Jan Kubis would be in Astana, Kazakhstan, from 2 to 4 May to participate in the fourth Astana Economic Forum. Mr. Kubis, together with the President of Kazakhstan and Nobel Prize Winners Robert Mandel and John Nash, would notably participate in the opening discussion on Monday, 2 May. He would then participate in the Environment and Health Ministerial Board meeting in Paris on Thursday, 5 May.

ECE and several partners, including UNCTAD and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, had jointly organized a conference on investment and foreign trade perspectives in the Mediterranean region. The conference would be held on Wednesday 4 and Thursday 5 May at the Palais des Nations in Room XII with speakers from several organizations. The opening of the session on Wednesday 4 May notably saw the participation of the President of the Serbian Parliament and the Secretary-General of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean. The detailed programme would be distributed shortly.

WTO Agenda

Ankai Xu of the World Trade Organization said that an Informal Trade Negotiations Committee meeting would start today at 11 am and that Keith Rockwell would be giving a press briefing at 1 pm in Room X at WTO’s premises.

On Monday, 2 May there would be the Re-convened Working Party on the Accession of Vanuatu, the last Working Party meeting before Vanuatu became a WTO member. There would be a photo opportunity with the Deputy Prime Minister of Vanuatu and WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy at 1 pm in WTO’s Salle des Pas Perdus.

On Tuesday, 3 May there would be a General Council Meeting, to be followed by a briefing (time and place to be announced).