REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Corinne Momal-Vanian, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was attended by the Spokespersons for United Nations Children’s Fund, International Organization for Migration, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, World Health Organization, World Food Programme, the Human Rights Council and the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions.

Ebola

Tarik Jašareviæ, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that updated figures would likely be available today.

Dr. Sylvie Briand, Director of the Department of Pandemic and Epidemic Diseases of the WHO, said that she wanted to clarify certain aspects which had been discussed since the outbreak. It was highlighted that although the epidemic was caused by the same virus, it was not based on one, but on several outbreaks. Since those outbreaks had revealed a variation in the way of transmission in different locations, there was a need for different counter strategies.

In fact, a continuum between limited transmission and wide community transmission persisted. While the first case applied to countries like Senegal, where one actual and some suspected cases of Ebola had been reported, the latter case applied to countries where one or several cases of Ebola had been reported every day. In between those two ends of the spectrum, there were active localised transmissions in hot spots, having spread in the three most affected countries: Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

For this reason, Dr. Briand said, counter strategies had to adjust to the different types of transmission. For instance, in countries like Nigeria and Senegal, efforts aimed to stop transmission completely, whereas other locations with a wide community transmission, such as Monrovia in Liberia, required a more complex strategy. A first step aimed to reduce the transmission to a controllable extent. Building on that, the second step aimed to prevent further transmission entirely.

Furthermore, it was reported that there were two main situations of Ebola transmission. Those were the care and the burial of Ebola infected people. Regarding the care of the patients, it was important to hospitalise infected people as soon as possible, to provide care and to isolate them from the community. However, there were currently not enough beds for all patients. Although there were commitments of foreign countries, they were not implemented fast enough. Therefore, WHO would also focus on direct support for affected communities to enable them to take care of their patients safely as well as to protect community members from transmission. Dr. Briand said that, currently, there was close cooperation with partners and UN agencies to implement this approach. Apart from that, a high rate of transmission during burial ceremonies still existed. For that reason, the number of trained people which were capable of carrying out burial ceremonies safely had increased.

In order to implement those strategies effectively, a number of other services were required. For instance, access to clean water had to be guaranteed so that the indispensable level of hygiene could be maintained. For the overall provision of such basic services, operational partnership with partners and UN agencies had been forwarded.

A question was asked on how many doctors were currently working in the Ebola affected communities in Africa. Dr. Briand responded that the aim was to have 10,000 health workers engaged in the respective areas, inclusive doctors, nurses and supportive staff. However, the exact number of health workers currently available could not be provided since those numbers depended on the country, and a discrepancy between theoretically and actually available health care workers persisted.

On whether the proposed strategy had a chance of succeeding since it has been reported that the affected communities lacked the necessary knowledge and capacity for the treatment of infected people, Dr. Briand stated that it was important to take into consideration the view of the affected people who were mourning for their relatives and were afraid of getting contaminated.

Upon request of another journalist, the term “safe care” was explained in more detail. It was explained that there was a focus on efforts which aimed to reduce the risk of transmission during the treatment of a patient. The awareness of high and low risk transmission situations were imparted by supervision and guidance of trained health care workers. Also, personal protective equipment was delivered to health care workers and members of the community.

On the number of foreign medical workers deployed in the affected countries, Dr. Briand said that the WHO was deploying some staff, but others were deployed bilaterally or through non-governmental organizations. It was hoped that by strengthening the exchange of information, updated and more comprehensive figures would be available soon. Mr. Jašareviæ added that WHO was currently negotiating with a number of Member States, and announcements would be made once agreements had been reached. A team from the UK would be arriving to Sierra Leone shortly.

No more details could be provided on the second WHO medical professional recently evacuated, for reasons of confidentiality.

Regarding the WHO recommendation on the use of blood serum, Dr. Briand said that manipulating blood in areas with high prevalence of HIV, hepatitis and other diseases was risky. Therefore, it had to be ensured that the measure would heal those infected with Ebola without infecting them with other diseases.

Answering to a question on the situation in Monrovia and the prospects for medical facilities there, Mr. Jašareviæ said that efforts were underway to increase the number of beds in Liberia’s capital. There were still people sick with malaria, people in need of surgery, women giving birth, and they all had to be taken care of. In Liberia, currently there were 314 beds available, and the estimate was that 700 more were needed.

Asked about risks associated with the Muslim hajj to Saudi Arabia in a three-week time, where two million people were expected, Dr. Briand stated that Saudi Arabia had stopped issuing visas to affected countries and exit screenings were in place in the affected countries.

Iraq

Elisabeth Byrs, for the World Food Programme (WFP), stated that the humanitarian situation continued to deteriorate as fighting continued.

WFP had provided food assistance to 838,000 people across Iraq since the upsurge in violence in mid-June in spite of a very challenging security situation and the fact that many displaced people were on the move. WFP aimed to assist 1.2 million people in Iraq in coming months.

Ms. Byrs said that, in September, the WFP had regained access to al-Anbar, Iraq’s largest governorate, reaching 40,000 people in Ramadi and Heet with urgently needed food. WFP aimed to reach 35,000 more people in that governorate, including displaced groups in Haditha. Fighting had kept WFP out of al-Anbar since May.

WFP, in partnership with the International Committee of the Red Cross, was planning to send in the course of the week more than 190 metric tons of food to Amerli town in Salaheldin governorate, enough to feed about 13,250 people for one month.

In anticipation of more newly displaced people arriving in the south of the country over the coming weeks, WFP was closely working with local partners to expand assistance further south and to use new routes to send food faster.

Of the over 800,000 people assisted by the WFP since mid-June, most had received food parcels containing essential items such as rice and cooking oil. Each parcel fed a family of five for one month. Other individuals received Immediate Response Rations that included canned food, especially for groups who were still on the move who needed immediate relief but did not have access to cooking facilities. Additionally, since the beginning of August, WFP’s emergency field kitchens had supplied hot meals to many families.

Overall, WFP had provided food assistance in 11 governorates across Iraq: Erbil, Dahuk, Sulaymaniyah Nineveh, Karbala, Diyala, Babel, Kirkuk, Wassit, Najaf and al-Anbar. It had also distributed food in shelters and camps outside Mosul city in Nineveh. The agency was planning to provide assistance in the southern governorate of Muthanna in September.

Ms. Byrs explained that the WFP’s operations in Iraq had also provided support to the local economy, as WFP had so far locally procured USD 14.5 million worth of food.

Before the latest wave of displacement, starting with the violence in Mosul in June, WFP had already been assisting about 240,000 people displaced by conflict in Iraq’s al-Anbar governorate, as well as more than 180,000 refugees from the conflict in Syria, who were sheltering in Iraq.

Ms. Byrs said that the most suitable transport corridor currently in use was through Turkey and the Kurdistan Regional Government provinces of Dahuk and Erbil. WFP was looking at alternate transport corridors to facilitate easier access and shorter delivery times. WFP was also exploring an alternative supply route from Kuwait via Um Qasr port, and working to procure food locally in Basra.

Regarding funding, Ms. Byrs explained that the WFP Iraq had a shortfall of USD 35 million to be able to assist 1.2 million displaced people up to April 2015. The agency was seeking further financing to assist all those affected by the crisis.

Christiane Berthiaume, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that they had been able to reach Amerli on 7 September, and distribute items for urgent needs in a city that had been besieged for two months and where 15,000 people were living without food, water and medicines. They had distributed hygiene kits and cleaning items as well as water containers and three water filtration units for a hospital.

1.7 million displaced people had been identified in Iraq in 1,634 different places. Half of them had sought refuge in the Kurdistan region, which was more than 860,000 people.

In Dahuk, which was the governorate in which the most important number of displaced people had been recorded since August, shelter was the priority. For example, in Dohuk 600 schools were hosting displaced people which had delayed the start of the school year. Since the crisis of Sinjar and the following displacements, 20 per cent of displaced people had found refuge in religious buildings, 16 per cent in abandoned buildings, 2 per cent in collective centres and 15 per cent were hosted by families. 11 per cent of displaced people were also heading to governorates on the south of Bagdad.

Answering to a question for details about displacement of people to the South, Ms. Berthiaume said that people were going towards the Al-Muthanna governorate, and that IOM had started to deliver food for the newly displaced people there.

Gaza

Christophe Boulierac, for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), recalled that the new academic year in the Gaza Strip was about to start on 14 September. The resumption of classes had been delayed for three weeks and should have started on 24 August. Mr. Boulierac reiterated that Gaza children had suffered serious psychological trauma. At least 501 children had died in Gaza during the 50-day conflict and over 3,370 had been injured. Many of them had been secluded at home for 50 days, UNICEF staff in the field reported. Mr. Boulierac highlighted the vital importance of the resumption of classes in the healing process, in order to help children regain a sense of security, normalcy and stability in a safe and familiar environment.

UNICEF's team on the ground would be focusing on different areas: they would provide coordination to ensure that the 50,000 children displaced by the fighting, or whose school had suffered heavy damage, were able to join a school in their neighbourhood. They had also carried out immediate repairs and cleaning on schools that had been used to shelter families displaced during the conflict. About 100 UNRWA schools and one public school had been used as shelters during the bombing. UNICEF was also planning to rebuild 48 schools in 2014 and 60 schools in 2015. In total, 108 out of 132 government-run schools would be repaired, depending on the funding provided to UNICEF's Back to School campaign.

UNICEF was also planning the organization of a week of special recreational sessions for all schools, designed to allow trained staff to identify children who had been more seriously traumatized by the conflict and then refer them for specialized support. The psychological trauma the children had suffered should not be underestimated. Going back to schools was very important for them, as it helped them focus back on normalcy.

UNICEF would provide in total 130, 000 children with school bags, and 230,000 children with school stationery, teaching aids, and also school uniforms and shoes to assist priority families who were vulnerable.

That campaign was budgeted at USD 16 million for 2014.

Mr. Boulierac recalled that 30 million children were deprived of school in emergency areas around the world, due to humanitarian crises and conflicts. That number represented half of the 60 million children who could not attend schools globally.

Answering a question on the precise number of children going back to schools, Mr. Boulierac said the return to class concerned 470,000 children and 55,000 small children going to the kindergarten, which meant 525,000 children in total. UNICEF would help the local authorities in the opening of 395 schools within the coming weeks. UNICEF support would directly help 60,000 children.

Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that there were still more than 63,000 internally displaced people staying in 29 UNRWA schools in Gaza as a result of the 50-days crisis, but the numbers were fluid. An estimated 50,000 other displaced people were living with host families.

Humanitarian partners on the ground reported that in response to that displacement, more funds were urgently needed to finance a comprehensive support package which would include support to host families, rental subsidies, assistance to repair minor damages and vouchers to purchase non-food items.

90 per cent of health facilities in Gaza were operational again, although some with limited services due to damage. However, challenges remained due to shortages of electricity, essential medicines and medical supplies.

An updated Gaza Crisis Appeal, addressing the most urgent needs on the ground, was expected to be presented later today in Ramallah. The current crisis appeal requested USD 367 million and was about 50 percent funded. A press release about the revision was expected later in the day.

Central African Republic

Ms. Berthiaume briefly mentioned that the IOM was responding to the crisis in the Central African Republic by offering cash-for-work activities. Cash-for-work teams performed various types of work, including cleaning rain gutters, markets and canals, waste management, and street and bridge repairs. It allowed people to earn small wages and thus contributed to the reconciliation effort, since the teams were composed of people from diverse ethnic, religious, and professional backgrounds. IOM initiated the programme in Bangui's first district and would developed it further in third and fifth districts.

So far, cash-for-work project had helped 750 people coming from different backgrounds. Half of the participants were women. Each team worked for 10 days and each participants earned USD 50 at the end of the working period. Ms. Berthiaume reported that one of the participants had started a small business with money she had earned from the project.

It was not the first programme that the IOM had put in place in order to help people restart economic livelihood. More than 5,000 people had participated since March in the project which was financed with support from the European Union.

Human Rights Council

Rolando Gomez, for the Human Rights Council (HRC), informed that the Council had started the previous day, hearing an opening statement by the new High Commissioner for Human Rights. More than 100 delegations had taken part in the subsequent general debate. Issues raised during the day included Syria, Iraq, Gaza and Ukraine.

Today a panel discussion on history teaching and memorialization process would take place between 9 a.m. and 12 noon. It would seek to identify under which circumstances historical and memorial narratives promoted by States as well as other actors, both governmental and non-governmental, could be problematic from a human rights perspective and would explore the important role that historical and memorial narratives and cultural heritage played in fostering human rights. The discussion would be moderated by Farida Shaheed, Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, while the opening statement would be made by Flavia Pansieri, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights.

At noon, the interactive dialogue would continue with the Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons, Rosa Kornfeld-Matte, and the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, Urmila Bhoola.

From 2 p.m. until 6 p.m, a report would be presented by the Special Rapporteur on the right to safe drinking water and sanitation, Caterina de Albuquerque, including on her missions to Brazil and Jordan, and on her handbook for realising the human right to safe water and sanitation. Also scheduled was the presentation of first report by Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, Baskut Tuncak.

In response to a question, Mr. Gomez said that he would check when the new High Commissioner would be available to meet the Geneva-based press corps.

Syria

On Special Envoy de Mistura’s planned visit to the Middle East, Ms. Momal-Vanian clarified that Mr. de Mistura’s itinerary in the region had not yet been made public. It was only confirmed that he would be visiting Damascus today.

Geneva activities

Ms. Momal-Vanian reminded that the Conference on Disarmament was holding its last public session of 2014 today.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child was examining this morning the report of Singapore on children and armed conflict. In the afternoon and the following morning, it would examine reports of Hungary. At the end of the week, it would hold a debate on children rights and the media.

On 10 September at noon in Press Room 1, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) would hold a press conference on the publication of the Trade and Development Report 2014: Global Governance and Policy Space for Development. Speakers would include Mukhisa Kituy, UNCTAD Secretary-General, and Alfredo Calcagno, UNCTAD Chief of Macroeconomic and Development Policies Branch.

Catarina de Albuquerque, UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, would hold a press conference in Press Room 1 on 10 September at 2 p.m. She would address the violations she had documented during numerous country missions and launch her Handbook that offered a targeted guide for governments, civil society organisations and communities in how to realise those rights for all.

Ms. Momal-Vanian informed that the Executive Director of the International Trade Centre, Arancha Gonzales, would hold a briefing in Press Room 1 at 2 p.m. today. The topic would be the World Export Development Forum (WEDF), and Women Vendors Exhibition and Forum (WVEF) which would be held Kigali, Rwanda, on 15-17 September.

Mr. Jašareviæ informed that a WHO press conference on the humanitarian health situation in conflict-affected areas of Ukraine and the ongoing challenges, needs and actions of the World Health Organization and partners, would take place in Press Room 1 at 3 p.m. today. The speaker would be Dr. Dorit Nitzan, World Health Organization Representative and Head of Country Office in Ukraine.

Charles Avis, for the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, introduced himself as a new Public Information Officer, replacing Michael Stanley.

He informed that the following week, between 16 and 19 September, the ninth meeting of the Open Ended Working Group of the Basel Convention, with an estimated 300 participants, would take place in Geneva. The meeting was a preparation for the conference of parties in 2015, and it would discuss a wide range of issues, including hazardous waste and sustainable disposal of computing and e-waste. On 6 October, Rolph Payet, a former Minister of Environment of the Seychelles, was starting his term in office as Executive Secretary of the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions.

Representatives of the International Labour Organization, United Nations Refugee Agency, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, and the International Committee of the Red Cross also attended the briefing, but did not speak.
The webcast for this briefing is available here: http://bit.ly/1pL4B2h