REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Corinne Momal-Vanian, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was also attended by Spokespersons for the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the World Food Organization, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the World Health Organization and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Global Humanitarian Aviation Conference and Exhibition

Elizabeth Byrs of the World Food Programme (WFP) said the sixth Global Humanitarian Aviation Conference and Exhibition was opening today at the International Geneva Conference Centre. The conference this year gained special significance, especially in light of the Ebola crisis. The conference opened today at 9 a.m. and would continue until 9 October. It would be covering areas like the importance of humanitarian air operations, aviation safety and the unique difficulties faced in transporting aid personnel and materials to humanitarian disaster and crisis sites that were often barely accessible due to destroyed infrastructure and impassable roads. She was tentatively preparing a press conference at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, with the Deputy Aviation Chief at WFP. In addition to WFP, people participating in the conference included aviation personnel and experts who worked with humanitarian organizations. This conference was first held in 2009.

World Mental Health Day

Mr. Lindmeier introduced Mohammad Taghi Yasamy, Senior Medical Officer at the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, to speak about World Mental Health Day 2014.

Mohammad Taghi Yasamy, Senior Medical Officer at the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, said World Mental Health Day was observed on 10 October. This year, the theme was “Living a healthy life with schizophrenia”. WHO wanted to focus on this issue, and expand its advocacy for all severe mental disorders. It had been noted that generally people with schizophrenia lived much shorter lives than the general population. The life expectancy of people with schizophrenia and other severe mental disorders was 10 to 25 years shorter than the general population. There were many reasons for that, including poor life style, being overweight, smoking which was much more common among people with schizophrenia, and lack of physical activity. So patients developed diabetes; diabetes among them was two to three times more common than the general population. They also developed hyperlipidaemia, where the blood fat increased and patients developed cardiovascular diseases. Infections were also more common among schizophrenia patients, in addition to the side effects of medicines they might be taking. So they died from these causes, as well as the poor quality of the services that they received. With regular monitoring of physical health, and to regulate the side effects of medicines, persons with schizophrenia could have a more normal life. Also, five per cent of schizophrenia patients died of suicide.

Mr. Yasamy’s said WHO’s approach was evidence based. It had a guidance tool called the Mental Action Programme, which was launched in 2008; the intervention guide was launched in 2010; a revision was ongoing this year and would be published next year. If a medicine was harmful, WHO did not recommend it. Also, treatment should not be limited to medicines. There were psycho-social interventions. WHO’s message was that there needed to be a shift from institutions to community services, because the poor quality of services in institutions in many parts of the world actually aggravated the situation. They should pay more attention to the physical health of mental patients. Governments and social services should also take measures to support the provision of equal opportunities for education, housing and employment for people with mental illness.

In response to a question, Mr. Yasamy said the situation for people suffering from schizophrenia in Africa was generally worse in terms of services. About 80 per cent of people with mental illness did not receive any services in Africa for mental disorders. The main issue for the region was lack of services and there was a need also to improve the quality of services, even in high income countries. The WHO strategy was not just to train specialists, but also to train general practitioners and nurses and health workers and provide guidance, tools and technical assistance.

Answering another question, Mr. Yasamy said it was estimated that today there were 21 million persons suffering from schizophrenia worldwide, 12 million males and 9 million females; around 50 per cent were receiving services, but in low and middle income countries, the service gap was higher. Schizophrenia and most mental illnesses were present worldwide.

In response to a question about how many patients with schizophrenia were in mental facilities, Mr. Yasamy said it depended if the case of schizophrenia had become longstanding and chronic, and if there was a culture of institutionalization in the country. In some medium and high income countries, they had started to shift the services from institutions to community services, and WHO was encouraging them to accelerate the process. The Global Action Plan, which was endorsed by WHO Member States in 2013, explicitly referred to this issue.

Syria/ISIL

Speaking on the situation in Kobane (or Ayn al Arab), Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said that up until three or four days ago, OHCHR believed there were around 10,000 civilians who were still in the border area and had not yet crossed into Turkey. However, OHCHR believed that most of them had now entered Turkey. They were not sure how many remained, maybe around 200 or fewer. On 5 and 6 September, ISIL continued its advance towards Kobane, particularly from the east and south, and took control of a number of buildings as well as a strategic hill in the southeast of the city. Yesterday, apparently ISIL units managed to get past the defensive trenches dug by the Kurdish forces trying to defend the city. There had been street to street fighting in parts of the city. There had been what appeared to be indiscriminate mortar fire and shell fire into the city by ISIL and that obviously was a matter of concern. They understood that the Kurdish troops in control of Kobane had ordered civilians to cross into Turkey, and it seemed most of them had now done so. OHCHR also understood that some of the civilian administrators who were staying in the town had now left. OHCHR was still concerned obviously for the safety of any civilians who remained on the Syrian side of the border. OHCHR was also very concerned about what would happen to any persons who were captured by ISIL, given their atrocious record both in Iraq and in Syria with regard to captured fighters, despite the Geneva Conventions which applied to them.

Ms. Momal-Vanian said in a statement issued late last night in New York, the Secretary-General said he was following with grave concern the ongoing offensive by ISIL on the northern Syrian town of Ayn al-Arab, which had already resulted in massive displacement of civilians, including into Turkey, and numerous deaths and injuries. In light of the gross and extensive violations of human rights and international humanitarian law the terrorist group had committed in areas that had fallen under its control in Syria and Iraq during its barbarous campaign, he urgently called on all those with the means to do so to take immediate action to protect the beleaguered civilian population of Ayn al-Arab.

Asked if OHCHR considered that the bombardment of ISIL troops was working, Mr. Colville said that was impossible to say with any certainty.

In response to a question on where the Syrian army was, Mr. Colville said he was not sure where the Syrian army’s nearest point was, but certainly the immediate surroundings of Kobane were controlled by ISIL.

Asked how OHCHR monitored the situation in Kobane and how they could tell if the bombardment came from ISIL forces or from the coalition, Mr. Colville said he wished they could monitor the situation more fully. OHCHR had staff on the border, a roving team in the area, and they were there last week just across the border in Turkey. They were able to talk to people who had left recently. There was also some direct contact with officials from the town, who had still been in town in the last day or two. As far as today, he could not say if the team had any remaining contacts inside Kobane. The town was so close to the border, they could hear the firing and bombardment across the border.

A journalist said there were reports that ISIL was now controlling half of Kobane and asked if there were stories coming out with those exiting the town about atrocities being committed by ISIL? Mr. Colville said not that they were aware of in the last few days. He referred to the briefing of 23 September when OHCHR was reporting on quite a number of people being summarily executed, including women in children, wide spread looting and destruction. There was obviously a huge risk if ISIL captured any area.

Asked if the ISIL attacks could extend beyond the border, Mr. Colville said that he was sure Turkey would react if anything went beyond the border. At least one mortar shell had gone over the border and hit a house and injured some people.

Asked how many people had left Kobane and how many had died there, Mr. Colville said he did not have a figure for how many people had died. They believed that those who remained inside were not very many, but he could not be more specific. 10,000 people had stayed and did not want to cross when the huge exodus took place a few weeks ago, but it was believed that the great majority of those had now crossed in the last few days. UNHCR was likely to have a better figure on the total number of persons displaced.

Adrian Edwards of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said the number of refugees reported to have come across the border into Turkey was 172,000 as of last night. The source for this was the Turkish authorities.

Asked about the cooperation of the Turkish authorities in response to this big influx, Mr. Edwards said the Turkish authorities were doing a great deal. There was already a very substantial refugee population, numbering 172,000 according to the Turkish authorities, and they were still trying to develop camps where people might stay. For now, people were living in the community in schools, parks and markets.

A journalist asked whether WFP had sent food to the people in the Syrian town of Kobane, which was under attack by ISIL. Ms. Byrs said because of the security situation and the fighting, it was not possible to deliver assistance inside Kobane. WFP was planning other food distributions, despite the security challenges, but she was still waiting for more details and confirmation.

A journalist said there had been fighting on the Syrian-Lebanese border for the past few days and asked if that had affected the distribution of food to the Syrian refugees in Al Bekaa. Ms. Byrs said that where there was fighting, WFP could not work safely, but she would ask for more details on the border situation.

Adrian Edwards of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said he did not have much more to add on the situation on the Syrian-Lebanese border. Clearly refugees were affected, as were others by insecurity. Lebanon was hosting 1.2 million refugees at the moment, more than any other country in the region, certainly in relation to the size of its population. There had been management of the border on the Lebanese side, people were still getting through, but clearly priority was to ensure safe haven if people were in need of it. UNHCR was watching that situation.

Afghanistan

Mr. Colville said OHCHR had just learned this morning that the Attorney-General's office in Afghanistan had announced that five men convicted of armed robbery and gang rape in Paghman, near Kabul earlier this year would be executed on Wednesday, 8 October. OHCHR made a statement on 26 September urging the former President Hamid Karzai to review those convictions. On 29 September, the High Commissioner wrote to ask the new President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani, and copying in the Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdulla, making the same point and requesting a judicial review and reconsideration of these cases to ensure that the right to fair trial of the accused individuals was upheld. The High Commissioner, while recognizing that the authorities acted quickly to arrest individuals suspected of such horrendous crimes, expressed great concerns that the legal process that led to these convictions failed to comply with national and international fair trial standards. OHCHR had received credible allegations that the convicted men were ill-treated while in pre-trial detention, were denied adequate legal representation, and during the legal proceedings – a mere two short trial hearings, followed by the Supreme Court review of the appeal case – the legal basis for the prosecution was unclear. The High Commissioner drew attention to the fact that Afghanistan was a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Article 6 of the Covenant provided that in countries which have not abolished the death penalty, the death sentence may be imposed only for the most serious crimes and not contrary to the provisions of the Covenant. In cases of trials leading to the imposition of the death penalty, scrupulous respect of the guarantees of fair trial was important. In particular, those accused of capital offences must be effectively assisted by a lawyer at all stages of the proceedings. The High Commissioner called on President Ghani not to implement the penalty in these cases and to refer them back to the courts, given the very serious due process concerns. He also urged the President to consider exercising his constitutional power to commute the death sentences to a suitable term of imprisonment.

Haiti

Mr. Colville said OHCHR would like to stress the importance of pursuing accountability in Haiti following the death of former President Jean-Claude Duvalier on Saturday. The return of Jean Claude Duvalier to Haiti in 2011 spurred victims and civil society organizations to seek justice and accountability for human rights violations and crimes committed during his 15 years in office, from 1971 to 1986. In January 2014 an appeals panel overturned a previous lower court ruling and affirmed that crimes against humanity were part of Haitian law, and not subject to a statute of limitations, ordering additional investigations, which were currently ongoing.

It was believed that thousands of Haitians were tortured, imprisoned and killed during Mr. Duvalier's presidency. Obviously, these crimes were not all committed by Mr. Duvalier himself. Legal proceedings and investigations were still ongoing in respect to other individuals accused of responsibility for serious crimes and human rights violations during the Duvalier regime – and it was essential they continued. It was the right of the Haitian people to obtain accountability for past violations of their human rights and the duty of mankind to remember, establish the truth and ensure justice for the victims. Although Jean Claude Duvalier was never brought to trial, on 28 February 2013 he did at least face some of his accusers, when the appeals court ordered him to appear in person at a hearing.

Ebola

Fadéla Chaib of the World Health Organization (WHO) said a press release from the WHO European office in Denmark about the first case of Ebola in Europe would be issued later today. The Spanish authorities had notified the WHO about this first case last night. They were currently carrying out a medical investigation and analysis in order to know more about this case. The Chief of Communications for the WHO office in Denmark was Ms. Ina Parvanova, +(45)45336805, but information would also be communicated out of Geneva.

A journalist asked why the WHO regional office was going to put out a statement when WHO Headquarters was coordinating the global response? Ms. Chaib said this was because Spain was in Europe, and WHO had a regional office in Europe, responsible for European countries. In response to another question, Ms. Chaib said international health regulations were very clear about each country’s focal point, informing the region and WHO Headquarters at the same time. Responding to further queries, Ms. Chaib said the regional office had told her of the date of notification, the fact that Spain was now investigating the case to understand how it happened and how the contamination happened. For the Ebola case in the United States, it was being handled by the Centre of Disease Control, which was carrying out all the correct measures and tracing all the contacts, taking care of the patient, and giving daily releases.

Asked if this was the first direct Ebola contamination outside of Africa, and if WHO planned to send staff or experts to Spain to help understand what happened, Ms. Chaib said they would know in the coming hours or days what were Spain’s needs and would respond accordingly. If Spain deemed it necessary to have WHO expertise, of course WHO would provide such expertise, but for the time being, she was not aware of any kind of demand from Spain. This was only a few hours after the first case of Ebola reported outside of Africa, other than the imported case in the United States.

Asked about contingency planning for Europe, Ms. Chaib said she would let her colleague in the WHO Copenhagen regional office respond. This was not a pandemic yet, as a pandemic in public health had a very distinct meaning. For Ebola, it remained an outbreak or an epidemic, it was a pandemic if cases were widely spread in different regions and countries and communities; this was not the case for the time being. What they had now was a localized outbreak or epidemic in three main countries or imported cases in two other cases, Nigeria and Senegal, and there was a different outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and one case in the United States and one case in Spain.

Asked about the number of deaths of Ebola victims so far, Ms. Chaib said they had regular updates on the victims every Wednesday and Friday evening. As of 3 October, there were 1,199 cases in Guinea, including 739 deaths; in Liberia there were 3,834 cases, including 2,069 deaths; in Sierra Leone, there were 2,437 cases, including 623 deaths. So in those three countries, there was a total of 7,470 cases, including 3,431 deaths. For Senegal, there was one case; one case in the United States; 20 cases in Nigeria, including eight deaths. All this information had been sent out to journalists last Friday. For Senegal and Nigeria, the incubation period would soon end, and there might be a press release at the end of this week in this regard.

In response to further questions, Ms. Chaib said she would give journalists the contact number of two communication officers in Sierra Leone who could explain the situation in that country. WHO was watching eight African countries very closely, because they were near the infected countries, and WHO was helping them with contingency planning and preparations, including if cases appeared in them, which hospitals should they be sent to, which laboratories should be equipped, how many health workers should be trained on protection and control etc.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Momal-Vanian said on Wednesday, 8 October at noon in Room III, OHCHR would launch the sixth report of the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine. Gianni Magazzeni, the Chief of OHCHR’s Americas, Europe and Central Asia Branch, would hold the briefing.

Ms. Momal-Vanian said on Thursday, 9 October at 2 p.m. in press room 1, the Permanent Mission of Italy would hold a press conference to speak about a concert that would be held on the occasion of the 2014 Italian presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Catherine Sibut of the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said at 3 p.m. this afternoon, there would be a press conference on the World Investment Forum 2014: Building Bridges with the Private Sector, which would be starting on Monday, 13 October at 6 p.m. in the Assembly Hall. UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi, and the Director of the Division on Investment and Enterprise, James Zhan, would brief journalists about the programme. More than 400 events would be held during the Forum. Ms. Sibut would be happy to organize any interviews for journalists. The list of participants was available online on the World Investment Forum webpage. A press release would be available this afternoon. In response to questions, Ms. Sibut said that new figures probably would be announced during the Forum, and that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon would not be able to present at the opening, but that a recorded video message would be shown.

Ms. Momal-Vanian said the Human Rights Committee was today opening its four-week one hundred and twelfth session, during which it would review the reports of Burundi, Haiti, Israel, Malta, Montenegro and Sri Lanka.

On Sunday, 12 October, for the first time, the United Nations Office at Geneva would welcome the first training session for the Escalade race at the Palais des Nations. Participants would meet in the Place des Nations on Sunday starting 9:45 a.m. Ms. Momal-Vanian said the Escalade race was held on the first Saturday of December annually and took place in the streets of the old town in Geneva. Training sessions were held during the run-up to the race, and the United Nations Office at Geneva had decided to open up its Ariana Park for the training session to show once again its recognition and appreciation for the support that the United Nations received from the local Geneva authorities and people.

Christian Lindmeier of the World Health Organization (WHO) said there would be a briefing this afternoon at 2:15 p.m. in press room 1 on the Conference of the Parties of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which would be held from 13 to 18 October in Moscow.

Mr. Lindmeier said there would also be a press conference in Room III at 4:15 p.m. on Ebola. Professor Peter Piot of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine would be speaking.

The representatives of the International Labour Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the International Organization of Migration also attended the briefing but did not speak.
The webcast for this briefing is available here: http://bit.ly/1uwt3uT