REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Corinne Momal-Vanian, the Director of the UN Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was also attended by Spokespersons for the World Health Organization, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Food Programme, the UN Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration.

Myanmar

Jens Laerke of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that 78 people had died and 87 had been injured during the communal violence in Rakhine State at the beginning of June according to figures from Myanmar’s Ministry of Information. About 3,000 residential buildings had been destroyed and more than 52,200 people had been displaced by the violence, the Rakhine State Government had told the UN. The Government had been providing life-saving assistance since the clashes had started and UN humanitarian agencies were supporting the response.

Elisabeth Byrs of the World Food Programme (WFP) said that as of 25 June WFP had reached 92,000 people with food distributions, including displaced persons, people who had been directly affected, and host communities. WFP had sent 440 tons of food and 1,000 tons of rice to Sittwe for distribution and was increasing its logistical capacities in terms of small trucks and stocking possibilities. An inter-agency needs assessment was also currently being conducted. Ms. Byrs underlined that Switzerland had donated USD 500,000 and thus became the first donor for WFP’s response to the situation in Rakhine State.

Adrian Edwards of the UN Refugee Agency said that UNHCR had sent more staff back to Myanmar’s Rakhine State on Wednesday to help address immediate humanitarian needs there. An earlier team had returned on 20 June, joining other UNHCR staff who had never left. The organization was also participating in a joint visit by the Government, UN, NGOs and representatives from donor countries to areas affected by the violence. They would spend two or three days in Rakhine State.

As part of the overall UN humanitarian response, UNHCR staff in Sittwe had begun needs assessments in the relief camps. Approximately 30 locations hosting people displaced by the recent violence had been discovered so far, and relief items had been distributed. UNHCR staff who had visited camps for the displaced had found children, elderly people, women and men sleeping on the ground, and in need of floor mats, heavy tarpaulins, blankets and mosquito nets. UNHCR and its partners were concerned about the possibility of disease outbreaks because of poor water supplies and sanitation at a time when it was raining heavily.

According to the Myanmar authorities, more than 52,000 people had been displaced during the riots. The Myanmar authorities were currently running more than 80 temporary camps for displaced people in five townships. Considering the extent of the destruction, UNHCR estimated that many people may had to stay out of their homes and villages for three months or more.

Asked about the situation at the Myanmar-Bangladesh border, Mr. Edwards said that according to UNHCR’s information the situation had not changed. While some people were able to enter Bangladesh, UNHCR was not aware of a change in the Government’s position.

Asked for an update on the situation of detained UN staff, Mr. Edwards said that one UNHCR staff member may have been released yesterday, but this still needed to be confirmed. Ms. Byrs added that the UN Resident Coordinator had asked the Government for information about detained staff members, making reference to the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the UN. A formal reply was still being awaited.

South Sudan / Sudan

Ms. Byrs said that WFP planned to feed 2.9 million people this year through general food distributions, nutrition activities, school meals, providing food for institutions, and food-for-assets projects. In May alone, WFP had assisted more than 1.9 million people in South Sudan and continued to expand assistance to the most vulnerable.

Among these were more than 180,000 refugees, including more than 45,000 people arriving from Southern Kordofan in Unity State, and another 117,000 from Blue Nile in Upper Nile State. WFP is concerned as an increasing number of refugees continued to arrive from Sudan, said Ms. Byrs.

WFP would target 600,000 children and pregnant and nursing women with the vital nutrition they needed, deploying fortified foods like Plumpy’Sup and Super Cereal. The Food Security Monitoring System showed that global acute malnutrition rates among children under five had topped the emergency threshold in four states. South Sudan’s national cereal deficit for 2012 was estimated at more than 470,000 metric tons.

Jumbe Omari Jumbe of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that IOM had begun drilling the first of four boreholes and installing two water storage tanks, each with a capacity of 45,000 litres, to provide adequate and safe drinking water to an estimated 42,000 Sudanese refugees at Doro camp in South Sudan’s Upper Nile State. An estimated 107,000 people had entered Upper Nile State and were now living in three main refugee camps: Doro, Jamam and Yusif Batil.

Currently, each refugee received 12.4 litres of safe drinking water per day. With the installation of the two storage tanks, IOM projected that the daily supply of water would increase from 12.4 to 14 liters per person per day. IOM would continue installing the remaining seven storage tanks for a total of nine tanks, which would enable the supply to each person of 20 liters of water per day. Once the boreholes were completed, the supply would increase further.

Humanitarian agencies in South Sudan had no access to Blue Nile State, and there was little information about the number of refugees still attempting to cross into South Sudan, underlined Mr. Jumbe.

IOM continued to support UNHCR with the relocation of refugees from border areas to camps, and in transporting cargo from Juba to Upper Nile state with barge and boat movements – the only way to move assets to field operations during the rainy season.

At the onset of the refugee response, IOM had appealed for USD 10 million in order to respond to emerging needs. While refugee volumes in Upper Nile State continued to grow, IOM had to date received USD 2 million worth of contributions to its operations from the United States and EUR 1.5 million from the government of Italy.

Mr. Laerke said that Valerie Amos, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, had made available a statement today in which she expressed deep concern about “the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Sudan, especially in South Kordofan and Blue Nile States.”

Ms. Amos also noted that “Hundreds of thousands of people remain trapped in the conflict zone with little access to food, water, shelter and medical services. Thousands more are crossing into neighbouring countries each day, fleeing the fighting and in search of food and other basic supplies.”

The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs called for “unimpeded and complete access to all areas” and remained especially “concerned that there continues to be no access to areas controlled by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement–North (SPLM-N).”

Angola and Liberia

Mr. Edwards said that this weekend, two of the most protracted refugee situations in Africa would finally come to an end. On June 30, cessation clauses would enter into force for refugees from Liberia and Angola on the basis that these countries had both enjoyed many years of peace and stability after bitter civil wars.

This meant people who fled the two countries and remained abroad would no longer be regarded as refugees by UNHCR and host governments. The UN Refugee Agency was working with the Governments of origin and of asylum to find solutions for those refugees who wished either to return home or to remain in their host countries due to strong ties there. Voluntary returns would continue to be assisted while possibilities for local integration and/or an alternative legal status were also being discussed.

In Liberia, the ending of refugee status would apply to people who left the country during the two civil wars that tore apart the country between 1989 and 2003, killing more than 250,000 people and forcing some 750,000 to flee their homes and find shelter elsewhere in Liberia or abroad. Voluntary repatriation to Liberia had been launched in 2004, since when UNHCR had helped almost 135,000 people return to Liberia, including more than 8,500 this year.

In Angola, the ending of refugee status would apply to those who fled the country during the 1965-75 war of independence from Portugal and the subsequent civil war, which ended in 2002. Last year, UNHCR and the Government of Angola had launched a new organized return programme for Angolan refugees in neighbouring countries. Nearly 23,000 Angolans had returned to their country since this programme began, including more than 17,000 who had repatriated to Angola’s Uige and Zaire provinces from the west and south-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A final convoy from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, carrying more than 1,000 people, was due to reach Angola today.

Kenya

Ms. Byrs said that WFP continued to support nearly 560,000 refugees in the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps. Kakuma refugee camp had recently experienced an increase in newly arriving refugees, most of whom had come from Sudan and South Sudan.

A rapid mid-season food security assessment in June indicated that between 2.3 and 2.4 million people would face food insecurity (up from 2.2 million) due to the poor performance of the March–May long rains. The food security situation was bleak in the marginal agricultural areas in the southeast and coastal regions, Ms. Byrs underlined.

School meals remained an important safety net for many communities. WFP provided school meals to 630,000 children in the northern arid districts and in the slums of Nairobi. In refugee camps, WFP provided meals for all primary and pre-primary school children and take-home rations for girls.

Mali

Mr. Laerke said that nearly 159,000 people were now displaced by violence in Mali. However, this figure had been obtained just before the renewed fighting in and around Gao in northern Mali in recent days.

A common concern for humanitarian actors on the ground was the lack of secure access in the northern regions of Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal. An additional concern was an infestation of desert locusts in western Sahel. Locusts had now arrived in Niger (Zinder area) and were predicted to emerge in the north of Mali soon.

Asked about the proliferation of locusts in already insecure Mali, Ms. Byrs confirmed that there was a potential danger of a proliferation of migratory locusts. The reproduction had now started and rains would create favourable conditions for the larvae to develop. The monitoring and treatment measures were particularly important in northern Mali. If hindred due to the security situation, this was a major problem as estimates suggested that if the proliferation of locusts would start in the region, this could impact the food security situation in July and September. The Food and Agriculture Organization had already raised the alarm regarding this situation, which could reduce the availability of food in households.

“Urgent Appeal for the Sahel Region” conference

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the African Group of Ambassadors in Geneva and the Mission of the African Union, in association with UN agencies, had organized a conference to put the Sahel region on the international agenda and highlight the challenges the Sahel countries were facing.

The conference would start at 3 p.m. in Room XIX, featuring keynote speakers such as Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the Director-General of the UN Office at Geneva, and William Lacy Swing, Director-General of the International Organization for Migration.
Media representatives were invited to attend.



ECOSOC High-Level Segment

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the annual ECOSOC High-Level segment would be held from 2-9 July at UN Headquarters in New York. The segment would focus on unprecedented levels of global unemployment, particularly among women and youth.

The high-level segment would be opened by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Other high-profile speakers included Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, President of the General Assembly, Juan Somavia, Director-General of the International Labour Organization, and Navi Pillay, High Commissioner for Human Rights.

On Monday, at the opening of the High-Level segment, the Secretary-General would launch the 2012 MDG Report. The Report pointed out that three of the eight Millennium Development Goals had been achieved three years before the target date of 2015. Meeting the remaining goals – while challenging – remained possible, but only if Governments did not waiver from their commitments made over a decade ago. An overview of the report was available on request.

Annual meeting of the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission

Glenn Thomas of the World Health Organization said that the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission – the world’s food standards body – would hold its annual meeting at FAO Headquarters in Rome from 2-7 July. Agenda items of media interest included contamination and food hygiene, mandatory food labeling and nutrition claims, as well as growth promoters in meat production.

Peter Ben Embarek of the World Health Organization added that the meeting would adopt new guidelines or limits. Of particular interest to consumers was the adoption of new guidelines on melons, which had been increasingly associated outbreaks of food-borne diseases, along with other food items. The meeting would also hold first-ever discussions on how to minimize the risks of viruses in seafood, salads and vegetables. Participants would further discuss growth promoters in meat production, limits of cancer-causing aflatoxins found in dried figs, and Melamine in liquid infant formula.

Geneva Press Conferences

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the Global Innovation Index 2012, an annual innovation-based ranking of 141 emerging and industrialized countries, would be presented at a press conference on Tuesday, 3 July at 9.30 a.m. in Room III. The speakers included Francis Gurry, the Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organization, Soumitra Dutta, the Roland Berger Professor of Business and Technology and Academic Director of eLab, INSEAD, and Werner J. Bauer, Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer, Head of Innovation, Technology, Research and Development, Nestlé (Suisse).

On the same day, at 3 p.m. in Press Room 1, there would be a press conference by Mutuma Ruteere, the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. Mr. Ruteere would present his findings on the rise of extremist political parties, movements and groups in the context of the current economic and financial crisis.