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 the World Health Organization, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Food Programme and the United Nations Refugee Agency.

Ebola

Tarik Jasarevic, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that later today the WHO would issue a statement welcoming the approval by the Swiss Medic, Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products, of the trial of the experimental vaccine at the University Hospital of Vaud in Lausanne. Another vaccine was expected to be approved for trial at the University of Geneva. Some 120 individuals would be tested as volunteers in Lausanne.

The University Hospital of Vaud would hold a press conference on that subject in Lausanne at 1:30 p.m. today.

Mr. Jasarevic specified that the vaccine had still not been proven safe and would be tested in healthy volunteers; subsequently, it would be given as a priority to those who would be deployed. For more details on the trial, Mr. Jasarevic suggested that the media contact the hospital directly. First results of the trial should be available in December.

On the recruitment of the volunteers for the trial, Mr. Jasarevic said that staff from the WHO were also volunteering, including himself. Hospital could provide further details on the procedures.

Asked about the politicians in Australia and the US calling for restrictions on people returning from affected countries, Mr. Jasarevic restated WHO recommendations, which were clear. Mandatory quarantine was not recommended, as people were not contagious until they were showing symptoms. It was important to balance any measures perceived as protecting population and stigmatization. Health workers were the key to the joint response, so they should not be stigmatized when they returned home.

Ms. Momal-Vanian referred to the statement by the Secretary-General from the previous day that returning health workers should be supported, not stigmatized and that the best way for any country to protect itself from ebola was to stop the outbreak at its source in West Africa.

Answering another question, Mr. Jasarevic said that there were no guarantees for the success of the vaccine, which had thus far been tested in animals. That was why it was now being tested on a limited number of human volunteers.

On how many doctors and health workers were there on the ground, Mr. Jasarevic said that the WHO had 176 persons on the ground, while 700 had been deployed and rotated since the beginning of the outbreak. At any given time, there were about 200 people on the ground. When it came to other organizations, Mr. Jasarevic said that exact numbers should be checked with them directly. He added that the Cuban medical team had arrived and the Chinese medics were also on the ground. In Liberia, at the moment, there were two foreign medical teams working; in Sierra Leone there were five foreign medical teams; while in Guinea, the Doctors without Borders was currently staffing two Ebola treatment centres.

Mr. Jasarevic specified that those deployed needed to be registered with necessary local Ministries and they were matched against treatment centres being built. For the time being, some 20 planned treatment centres were not matched with any foreign medical teams.

Asked whether there was any evidence that the newly-imposed quarantines were discouraging health workers from going to Africa, Mr. Jasarevic said that it was too soon to tell whether it would have an effect on those willing to go. He praised the courage of those going to the field, and added that it would be unfair to expose them to an unnecessary quarantine upon their return.

Responding to a question, Mr. Jasarevic specified that for a 35-bed unit, 24 health personnel were needed for an 8-hour shift, or some 72 staff per day. WHO did not want to differentiate between various professions in high-risk areas, whether they were doctors, nurses, sprayers or cleaners. They were all exposed to risk and all were indispensable for making the fight against Ebola successful.

Answering to a question on whether there was any evidence on transmission rates decreasing, and whether the WHO still believed that the “70-70-60” targets were achievable, Mr. Jasarevic responded that 1 December was the end of the three-month period when the WHO would be able to say where it stood. Things might indeed get worse before they got better, as had been said before.

Mr. Jasarevic stated that 230 more burial teams were needed, to ensure 70 percent of safe burials. Eight to ten people were needed for one burial team.

Asked whether there was an appeal for help to Mali and what the results of the mission to that country were, Mr. Jasarevic said that the preparedness team had remained in Mali, and another two staff had gone there over the weekend. Mali was being taken seriously, as the example of Senegal had shown that a timely intervention would prevent a further spread. Trainings in Kayes and Bamako had already started.

On whether Switzerland and France had teams on the ground yet, as they had promised to send some, Mr. Jasarevic stated that the WHO was indeed holding discussions with many partners. Some foreign medical teams arrived directly at the affected countries’ request. France, for example, was expected to send teams to Mali and Guinea. Mr. Jasarevic stressed that the WHO was not responsible for announcements made by individual countries.

Elisabeth Byrs, for the World Food Programme (WFP), briefed about WFP logistic response to Ebola. On 24October, the UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) had flown one metric ton of critical medical supplies support to Mali on behalf of the World Health Organization, after the first case of Ebola had been identified in the country. The flight which had landed in Bamako included personal protection, equipment kit, gloves, face shields and buckets. Two of the four Ebola treatment units which the WFP was building in Monrovia had now been completed. One of the units was expected to be handed over to the WHO this week. In response to a government request, the WFP would also build three units in Guinea.

Ms. Byrs underlined the unprecedented engineering support that the WFP logistics had given to the WHO in building four new Ebola treatment units in Monrovia, 400 beds, and two units completed and expected to open within days.

So far, the UN Humanitarian Response Depots, managed by the WFP in Dubai, Accra, and Las Palmas, had dispatched USD 5.6 million value of items and 608 metric tons of items such as protective gear, emergency health kit generators, tents, on behalf of the WFP, WHO, Irish Aid, Japan International Cooperation Agency and UNHCR.

The top ten donors to WFP’s response to Ebola were: the World Bank (USD 22.2 million), Canada (USD 18.18 million); the United States (USD 12.67 million); the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (USD 9.43 million); Japan (USD 6.7 million); China (USD 6 million); Switzerland (USD 3.2 million); Sweden (USD 2.76 million); European Commission (USD 1.27 million), and private donors (USD 350,000).

Asked whether the WFP was concerned about food shortages, Ms. Byrs noted that the spread of Ebola was disrupting food trade and markets in the three affected countries. In Sierra Leone, local weekly markets were banned. In Monrovia, the price of cassava flour had more than doubled after the closure of the border with Sierra Leon. The impact on food prices had been mixed so far. In Liberia, prices for imported rice had continued to increase beyond the summer pattern. In some areas, food prices dropped, which was a problem for producers, who were, as a consequence, losing income. Should the Ebola epidemic last another four to five months when farmers would begin to prepare their lands, there would be a real concern that planting for the 2015 harvest could be affected. The Ebola impact was likely to limit food access in affected communities for months to come.

Iraq

Ms. Byrs stated that the WFP had deployed a ten-person emergency team of telecommunications and logistics experts in Iraq to ensure humanitarian partners were equipped with the means to provide rapid delivery of aid to people in need.

The Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC) and the Logistics Cluster, which fell under the leadership of WFP, had helped the entire humanitarian community in its operations that aim to assist over 1.8 million displaced people, by setting up reliable internet and radio services in the field and securing the necessary warehousing for aid.

A contribution from the Kuwaiti Government of USD 2 million had helped the cluster groups carry out their work.

Ms. Byrs explained that the Logistics Cluster provided coordination and storage services to the aid community. The ETC, a global network of organizations, provided common communications services in humanitarian emergencies. The ETC was establishing radio networks in the three key operational areas of Erbil, Sulaymaniya and Dohuk, and had installed wireless connectivity for the humanitarian community working in camps for internally displaced people and refugees outside of Dohuk and Sulaymaniya, allowing staff to communicate efficiently with partners in the field

Ms. Byrs reminded that the WFP had assisted more than one million displaced people since the outbreak of the Iraq crisis that had begun in Mosul in June. Prior to that, WFP had already been assisting about 240,000 people displaced by the conflict in Iraq’s al-Anbar governorate, as well as more than 215,000 refugees from the conflict in Syria who were sheltering in Iraq.

Iran

Rupert Colville, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said that the OHCHR was shocked and saddened by the execution on 25 October of Ms. Reyhaneh Jabbari, who had been sentenced to death for the alleged murder of Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, a former employee of the Iranian Intelligence Ministry. The execution of Ms. Jabbari had been carried out on 25 October despite repeated calls on the authorities by various United Nations human rights mechanisms not to execute her.

Serious concerns had been raised about due process in connection with Ms. Jabbari’s case, in particular the allegation that her conviction had been based on confessions made under duress. The court had also apparently failed to take all relevant circumstantial evidence into account.

On 7 July 2007, Ms. Jabbari had reportedly stabbed Mr. Sarbandi in the shoulder after he had offered to hire her to redesign his office and then taken her to a residence, where, according to her, he had attempted to sexually assault her. Ms. Jabbari maintained that her actions had been taken in self-defence, in order to prevent a serious assault on her person.

The Iranian authorities had apparently made attempts to prevent the execution, which had been stayed at least twice, in April and September, in order to enable the two families to reach a settlement. However, it was the Government’s responsibility to prevent execution, especially when there was so much uncertainty about the events surrounding the killing, and concerns over due process.

Mr. Colville said that the OHCHR was very concerned about the increased use of the death penalty in Iran, as highlighted in the report of the Special Rapporteur on Iran which is being presented to the General Assembly later today. Iran was scheduled to appear before the Human Rights Council under the Universal Periodic Review on 31 October, and the OHCHR called on the Iranian authorities to make an explicit commitment to immediately institute a moratorium on the death penalty, particularly in light of the high number of executions and the continuing serious concerns about fair trial and due process.

Answering a question, Mr. Colville specified that in 2014 there had been 411 executions in Iran until June, and that the number of executions had risen steadily over the previous 10 years. He referred the journalists to the Special Rapporteur’s report for further details.

Spain

William Spindler, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), stated that the UNHCR was concerned over a proposal by Spain to legalize automatic returns of people trying to cross border fences into its enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla located in North Africa. Under that initiative, a person trying to access Ceuta and Melilla irregularly without the required documentation, would be automatically rejected and would not be entitled to the legal guarantees foreseen in national and EU law relating to the right of an individual to seek asylum.

The two Spanish cities were the only land borders between the European Union and Africa. Since 2013 there had been an increase in the number of people arriving irregularly through that route. There had also been an increase in the proportion of those coming from countries torn by war, violence and persecution, including Syria, Central Africa Republic, and Mali. In 2013, around 4,200 people had entered the enclaves irregularly, by land and sea. So far in 2014, over 5,000 people had arrived, including 2,000 people fleeing the conflict in Syria, of whom 70 percent were women and children.

As a response to the influx, the Spanish Government had proposed an amendment to current law to be applied exclusively at the Ceuta and Melilla borders. The proposal introduced the concept of “rejection at the border”, and aimed at legalizing the current practice of push-backs. That practice would not provide any opportunity for those fleeing persecution and conflict to request asylum.

Mr. Spindler said that, in that context, UNHCR stressed the importance of permitting access to territory to seek international protection. UNHCR understood the complexity of border management in Ceuta and Melilla. However, the Government should ensure that any legal initiative complies with its international obligations, particularly the 1951 Refugee Convention, to which Spain was party.

UNHCR also continued to express concerns over the growing use of violence at the border to deter migrants and asylum-seekers from entering. In 2014 there had been several violent incidents documented and increased reports of push-backs from the enclaves. Most recently, on 15 October, at the Melilla fence during an entry attempt of around 200 persons, images showed border authorities using violence. UNHCR called upon the Spanish authorities to ensure that no violence was exercised at the Spanish borders and that they were managed with full respect for human rights and refugee law. Mr. Spindler stressed that the UNHCR stood ready to support the Spanish authorities.

In response to a question on what was considered as a violation of the Convention, Mr. Spindler emphasized the principle that people had the right to seek asylum. The majority of those people who had arrived were coming from conflicts. That meant that many would qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention.

Addressing a question on the origins of the migrants, Mr. Spindler stated that about half of the people who had arrived in Spain were coming from countries such as Syria, Central African Republic and Mali. Sixty percent of arrivals were from countries experiencing violence and human rights violations.

Tuberculosis treatment

Christian Lindmeier, for the World Health Organization (WHO), in a follow-up to the WHO press conference on tuberculosis the previous week, said that a new drug - Delamanid was now available for adults with Multidrug-Resistant Pulmonary Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) which occurred if a form of tuberculosis was resistant to at least the main first drug.

Although information about the new drug remained limited, since it had only been through phase 2b, trial and studies for safety and efficacy, it had already been granted conditional approval by the European Medicine Agency in April 2014. Thereupon, WHO had issued an interim policy guidance which stated five conditions to be in place if Delamanid was to be used to treat adults with MDR-TB. The policy included proper patient inclusion, the adherence of the WHO recommendations when designing MDR-TB treatment, effective treatment monitoring, pharmaco-vigilance, including management of worst events, and informed consent.

By now, Mr. Lindmeier explained, the WHO strongly recommended the acceleration of phase 3 trials to generate more comprehensive evidence as a base to inform future policy on Delamanid. Therefore, the WHO would review, revise or update the interim guidance as of additional information on efficacy and safety would be available. WHO had also developed an operational document to facilitate Delamanid implementation and was working with partners to help ensure a safe and effective application of Delamanid. The whole guidance would come be presented on the web this afternoon and would include links to various reference documents and further details on this follow-up.

Geneva activities

Ms. Momal-Vanian informed that the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women was examining the report of Belgium today. Reports of Brunei Darussalam, Guinea and the Solomon Islands would be examined in the following days.

The Human Rights Committee was continuing its session in private until the public closing on 31 October. On 30 October, at Press Room III at 1:30 p.m, the Committee would present concluding observations on the six countries examined in the current session: Sri Lanka, Burundi, Haiti, Malta, Montenegro and Israel.

The Committee against Torture would start its four-week long session on 3 November. During the session, the Committee would consider reports of Australia, Burundi, Croatia, United States, Kazakhstan, Sweden, Ukraine and Venezuela. A background press release would be sent out on 30 October.

On behalf of the Human Rights Council, Ms. Momal-Vanian informed that the previous day, Italy and El Salvador had been reviewed under the Universal Periodic Review procedures and, as scheduled, the following reviews would be those of Gambia, Bolivia, Fiji, San Marino, Kazakhstan, Angola, Iran, Madagascar, Iraq, Slovenia, Egypt, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The reviews to take place today were those of Gambia (9 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.) and Bolivia (2:30 p.m. – 6 p.m.) in Room XX.

The media contact for further information from the Human Rights Council was Rolando Gomez.

Ms. Momal-Vanian informed that the ILO would hold a press conference on the occasion of the launch of new publication "Skills mismatch in Europe". The speaker would be Theo Sparreboom, ILO Senior Economist. The conference would take place in Press Room 1 on 29 October at 1 p.m.

Mr. Lindmeier said that 8 November would mark the first anniversary of Philippine typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda. The WHO would be able to link the WHO representative in the Philippines, Julie Hall, either into the press briefing on 4 November by telephone or into a stand-alone event, depending on the preferences of the journalists.

Mr. Lindmeier informed that that everyone was warmly invited to the memorial service for Glenn Thomas who had been a media officer for the WHO and died in the plane crash of MH17 in Ukraine. The memorial would take place at the Auditoire de Calvin which was next to St Pierre’s Cathedral, on 29 October at 6 p.m.

The departure of the journalist Mohammed Charif was announced, as well as the changing of jobs of Jonathan Fowler, who would join UNISDR. They were both thanked by ACANU colleagues and Ms. Momal-Vanian.

Spokespersons for the International Labour Organization, International Organization for Migration, United Nations Children’s Fund, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs were also present, but did not brief.
The webcast for this briefing is available here: http://bit.ly/1tf6jzt