REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Alessandra Vellucci, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section in the United Nations Information Service in Geneva chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization and the International Organization for Migration, as well as by a representative of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Philippines

Ms. Vellucci said that the latest figures from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs showed 957 people had died during Tropical Storm Washi in the Philippines and 338,000 people had been affected. The priorities identified by the joint national and UN multi-sectoral rapid needs assessment team included non-food items, water sanitation and hygiene, food and shelter, she said.

Marixie Mercado for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) added that UNICEF had launched an appeal for US$4.2 million to assist families affected by the storm in the next three to six months. She said that an estimated 200,000 children were affected by the floods, with 8,000 families currently in evacuation centres.

The majority of the funds were to support water and sanitation needs, she said, as around 80 per cent of the water systems of the two main areas affected, Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities, had been totally destroyed and would take weeks or months to repair. Basic hygiene items such as soap were also lacking and waste collection disposal systems were poor.

The additional needs revealed by the rapid assessment were temporary shelter, non-food items such as blankets and mats for sleeping, and child registration and counselling services. The UNICEF response would also cover child protection, education, health and nutrition, she said.

Vanessa Huguenin for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that the Filipino Government had now accepted the offer of assistance from the international humanitarian community that the UN had put forward in the aftermath of the tropical storm Washi. She also announced that OCHA is revising the humanitarian action plan for Mindanao (which was included in the recently launched 2012 humanitarian appeal) to include the needs related to the post-storm emergency.

Gaelle Sevenier for the World Food Programme (WFP) said that the national government had requested that the WFP provide food assistance and other support to the 235,000 worst-affected people (though this figure could be revised), many of whom have no access to food and clean drinking water. She added that according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council of the Philippines out of 285,000 persons displaced by the floods, some 43,000 were sheltering at 62 evacuation centres. The WFP was most concerned about those who still remain inaccessible and was working hard to reach them.

The immediate response included the rapid delivery of high-energy biscuits to feed more than 7,800 people in evacuation centres in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, she explained, and additional high-energy biscuits for 65,000 people were currently being prepared. Meanwhile, nutritious and ready-to-use supplementary food targeted at 15,000 children less than 5 years of age was also being given out. Logistical support to the government's relief effort from the WFP included the deployment of a mobile storage tent and delivery of water tanks, blankets and tents for people who have been displaced by the storm waters, she added.

Tarik Jasarevic for the World Health Organization (WHO) said the preliminary report showed that 12 health centres in Cagayan de Oro, and 10 community health facilities in Iligan were out of action. However, major hospitals were still functioning and there were no major public health threats, except a risk of communicable diseases due to poor water and sanitation. Malaria and dengue fever were endemic in the area, he added. The WHO was going to send mosquito nets to evacuation centres.

The WHO was also working fast to put in place a disease surveillance system for communicable and non-communicable diseases (which was planned for the area anyway), as well as intensive training for local health workers. The health cluster was asking for $1.6 million to make sure the affected population had access to essential public health services and continue this disease surveillance, he said.

Jemini Pandya for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that $50,000 in emergency funds had been released by the organization to support the Government of the Philippines’ efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to 1,530 families currently displaced in evacuation centres or returning to flood-affected communities. This would take the form of non-food relief items, including plastic sheeting for emergency shelter, sleeping mats, jerry cans and other essentials. This would be just the start of much bigger operations, she explained, and teams had been deployed to assess needs in evacuation centres.

China and Russia

Rupert Colville for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said his office was very disturbed by reports in China's state-run media about the decision of a Beijing court to replace human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng's extensive period of probation with a full three-year prison sentence just a few days before the five-year probation period expired. Gao must now serve his full, suspended sentence for violating the probation rules, with no credit for the time he had already spent under the control of the authorities, he said.

For the past 20 months, Gao had been subject to strict monitoring measures by the Public Security Bureau in what appears to be a form of house arrest in an unknown location. This case, he explained, was illustrative of a trend of secret detention and disappearances of human rights defenders which the High Commissioner for Human Rights and other UN human rights bodies have already criticized on several occasions in recent years.

In relation to the case of Gao Zhisheng, one provision included under proposed amendments to China's Criminal Law Procedure, which were currently being considered by the National People's Congress, raised further concerns, as it would permit the legalization of secret detention. He said the OHCHR was of the view that this would represent a major setback, running counter to a number of important efforts made over the past decade by the Government of China towards the ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

He responded to a question on this topic saying that there had been a dialogue with China on the issue, with two letters asking about the cases of Gao and other human rights activists being sent to the Chinese authorities by the High Commissioner, though only one of those had been answered. He added that as far as he was aware, despite a range of communication between China and various international bodies, it had never been previously mentioned that Gao had violated his probation rules.

On the use of the term secret detention he also said that the revisions to the Criminal Law Procedure appeared to legalize secret detention; the UN working group on enforced or involuntary disappearances had released a statement on this issue in April 2011.

Mr. Colville continued saying there were also deep concerns about the murder of Russian journalist Khadzhimurad Kamalov in Dagestan last week. The fatal shooting of this prominent journalist, who was the founder and editor of the independent weekly newspaper Chernovik, was the latest in a series of attacks against journalists, human rights defenders and lawyers in Russia. Kamalov had reported extensively on alleged abuses by the police and other human rights violations in Dagestan and his murder sent a chilling message to journalists seeking to cover such issues.

OHCHR called on the Russian authorities to conduct a thorough, transparent and independent investigation into Kamalov's killing and to bring the perpetrators to justice promptly, Mr. Colville said.

Answering another question he also said that there had been concerns over similar cases of murder of journalists in the past and the High Commissioner had taken up issues around the controversial and untransparent nature of the investigations into these events. The High Commissioner had also made comments on these cases during her visit to Russia last year, when she called on authorities to improve their accountability.

South Sudan

Adrian Edwards for the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said the United Nations refugee agency had started a major airlift from Kenya to South Sudan to bring urgently-needed aid to around 50,000 Sudanese refugees. The first of 18 flights using C-130 Hercules aircraft had left Nairobi this morning.

The remaining 17 flights would deliver an additional 272 metric tons of relief from UNHCR's global stockpiles in Nairobi, he said. At Malakal, the items would be taken by road either to Maban County in Upper Nile state or westward to Unity state.

In addition to these flights he expected the arrival of 10,000 tents in South Sudan from the UNHCR warehouse in Dubai in the coming weeks.

Giving an update on the situation he said that in recent months, Upper Nile and Unity states in South Sudan had been generously receiving refugees from fighting in Sudan's Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan states. Many families had left with few belongings and walked for weeks.

At least 40,000 refugees had arrived in Upper Nile state since September; UNHCR was aware of 25,000 refugees at the Doro camp and an estimated 15,000 in the Elfoj border area. There were also reports of 27,000 refugees scattered across the Guffa border area further north.

In Unity state, some 22,000 refugees from the Nuba mountains of Southern Kordofan state had fled to Yida settlement since August. The makeshift site was located near the border and had come under attack in the past, most recently in mid-November. UNHCR and partners had been providing emergency assistance while trying to persuade the refugees to move to safer sites away from the border, he said.


Migrants in Yemen

Jemini Pandya for the International Organization for Migration said there was growing concern over the many thousands of Ethiopian migrants stranded for several months in northern Yemen in desperate conditions, as IOM funding to return them home was running out. An appeal had therefore been launched by the Organization for $2.6 million to assist in the return of 6,000 Ethiopian migrants, many of them unaccompanied minors and women in a highly vulnerable situation.

In total, nearly 18,300 Ethiopian migrants have been registered in the northern town of Haradh on the border with Saudi Arabia in the past 12 months, she said. This was part of a bigger picture of a dramatic increase in the number of Ethiopians arriving in Yemen from the Horn of Africa, up from 34,422 in 2010 to more than 65,000 so far this year.

In Haradh, the vast majority of the migrants were living in open, unprotected spaces in the urban centre without access to food, water, sanitation, shelter or means to earn money, she explained. An IOM departure centre for migrants with a maximum capacity of 150 was now hosting 350 migrants, the majority of them unaccompanied minors and medical cases.

She reported that IOM staff in Yemen said at least 1,000 migrants had been ready to travel immediately for some time and at least another 3,000 were gathering in front of the IOM centre in Haradh asking for help, but the lack of funds had left the Organization hamstrung.

Answering questions, she said there was an information campaign mounted in Ethiopia to raise awareness of the difficulties and dangers for migrants making the trip to Yemen. And there were also moves to work with partners to create a more multi-faceted response in tackling the issue, which was essentially an outcome of poverty. Funds for IOM operations in 2011 had mostly been provided by the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund, she said, though a more concerted response was needed in the future.

Geneva activities

The Seventh Review Conference of the Convention on Biological Weapons completed its work on Thursday afternoon, 22 December, said Ms. Vellucci. A public meeting was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon to present the final document of the session, but this meeting was not yet confirmed.

She also explained that today the United Nations celebrated the International Human Solidarity Day; the message of the Secretary-General was available at the back of the room. Answering a question she said that the day was launched at the behest of a General Assembly resolution and was intended to highlight solidarity as a key factor to tackle issues such as disease, poverty and inequalities. This year’s concerns included environmental considerations, ahead of the Rio+20 conference, she said. Commemorative days did not always have quantifiable outcomes, she added, but were important in focusing the attention of people worldwide on a particular subject.

Ms. Vellucci also said the Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization would hold a press conference at 11:30 today, 20 December, in Press Room 1 to mark the launch of the WIPO’s 2011 World Intellectual Property Indicators (WIPI) report.

Ms Vellucci wished the permanent correspondents all the best for the seasons’ holidays on behalf of the Information Service, and said that the press briefings would resume on Friday, 6 January 2012.