REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Yvette Morris, Chief, TV and Radio Section at the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was also attended by the spokespersons for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Labour Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the United Nations Refugee Agency and the World Health Organization.
YEMEN
Rupert Colville, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said the deepening insecurity and violence in Yemen were wreaking a terrible toll on civilians, and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein was deeply concerned. The High Commissioner was calling for more international attention to be focused on the plight of Yemenis.
The past few weeks had seen dozens of people killed in a succession of bomb attacks in Yemen, but relatively little attention had been paid to them. The recent bombings included suicide attacks in Radaa in central Yemen on 16 December that left more than 20 dead, many of them schoolchildren. On 31 December, a suicide bombing claimed by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) killed at least 24 people, while on 4 January six people were killed when members of Al Houthi movement tried to defuse an explosive device planted near a girls school in Dhamar. AQAP claimed responsibility for placing the explosive device. On 7 January, at least 37 people were killed when a car bomb was detonated outside a police college in the capital, Sanaa.
In the south of Yemen, security forces were reported to have used disproportionate force, including firing live ammunition, to break up demonstrations in the second half of December, said Mr. Colville. There had also been reports of several civilian deaths, including an incident in Al-Sabbar village where security forces allegedly killed three people.
Notwithstanding the difficult situation they face, it was essential that Government security personnel halt the use of excessive force, resulting in civilian deaths, and that both government and armed groups cease carrying out arbitrary detention, said Mr. Colville. A press release with more details would be published today.
South Sudan
Rupert Colville, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said this morning, the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) issued a detailed report compiled by its Human Rights Division on the mass killings last April in the towns of Bentiu and Bor.
According to the report, at least 353 civilians were killed, and another 250 were wounded, in the two attacks which took place just days apart. The victims were, the report says, deliberately targeted on the basis of their ethnicity, nationality or perceived support for one or other of the parties to the conflict.
On 15 April, at least 287 civilians were killed at a mosque in the Kalibalek area of Bentiu by opposition forces after they regained control of the Unity State capital. Many of the victims were Sudanese traders and their families who were targeted on the basis of their Darfuri origin. On the same day, at least 19 civilians were killed at the Bentiu Civil Hospital.
Two days later, on the morning of 17 April, a large group of men arrived at the UNMISS compound outside Bor, in Jonglei State, to demand the expulsion of youths of Nuer ethnicity from the Mission’s protection-of-civilians site. The mob then forced its way into the protection site and went on a rampage of killing, looting and abductions of internally displaced people (IDPs) sheltering there. At least 47 IDPs died in the attack, and the report states there are reasonable grounds to believe that the attack was planned in advance.
Since then, fighting had persisted, particularly in Unity and the northern part of Jonglei -- the two states where the incidents described in the report took place – albeit not on the same scale of the April attacks in Bor and Bentiu – with accompanying gross violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, by both sides, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and sexual violence.
The fighting continued to take a terrible toll on civilians, particularly women and children, who have borne the brunt of the violence. Over 1.9 million people remained displaced, with other States in the region hosting nearly 500,000 South Sudanese.
Accountability was a big issue, said Mr. Colville, as there had been no accountability for the mass atrocities, human rights violations and abuses that had caused the death of tens of thousands of people in South Sudan. For example, nearly nine months after the attacks in Bentiu and Bor took place, no perpetrator had been held accountable by either the Government of South Sudan or the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army In Opposition for the two large-scale killings described in the report.
The Human Rights Office was also concerned at the lack of progress in the peace process, and there was a real risk the fighting would continue. There was an urgent need to conclude a peace deal, respect the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, and ensure no amnesties are granted for serious violations. Without peace, famine still remained a possibility in 2015.
The UNMISS report, which was 33 pages long, was available on the OHCHR website.
A journalist asked whether there were fears of a famine developing. Mr. Colville said indeed, former High Commissioner Navi Pillay and all of the humanitarian agencies voiced those fears last year, and it could happen again this year unless there was a shift in the dynamic.
Release of political prisoners in Cuba
Rupert Colville, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), was asked about the release of political prisoners in Cuba.
Mr. Colville replied that OHCHR understood from media reports yesterday and overnight that at least nine political prisoners had been released by the Cuban authorities, reportedly as part of the recent United States-Cuba agreement. OHCHR understood that at least some of them may have been released conditionally, which meant that they had to report to the authorities regularly. OHCHR did not know what other conditions may have been imposed for their release. As far as it was aware, the Cuban authorities had not made any statements with regard to those releases, so the details were not yet clear.
OHCHR welcomed those releases and hoped that they would pave the way for an environment where freedom of expression and association may flourish, said Mr. Colville.
One issue OHCHR had been particularly concerned about over recent years, and which had come very much back into focus in the past few weeks, highlighted Mr. Colville, was the short-term detention of political opponents, human rights activists and members of civil society organisations.
Over the past four years, OHCHR had received numerous reports of such detentions, without warrants, especially in advance of certain meetings and events, apparently in order to prevent specific people from participating. Those detentions could last a few hours, a few days and sometimes longer, and then people were usually released without charges. A number of United Nations Special Procedures had engaged with the Cuban authorities on this issue. Sources in Cuba had put the number of these detentions to well over 8,000 in 2014 alone, although OHCHR had not been able to verify the number independently.
The latest such detentions occurred on 30 December 2014 when, according to media reports, dozens of people were arrested before they could participate in a performance at the Plaza de la Revolución in Havana by Tania Bruguera, a well-known Cuban artist.
The protest had not been authorised by the authorities. Ms. Bruguera and others were subsequently released, but she was detained on two further occasions over the following days and finally released last Friday. OHCHR urged the authorities to stop the practice which clearly impinged on individuals’ human rights, and appeared to be little more than a form of intimidation or harassment.
NIGERIAN REFUGEES IN CHAD
Adrian Edwards, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said in western Chad, some 7,300 Nigerian refugees had arrived in the past 10 days, fleeing attacks by insurgents on Baga town and surrounding villages in northeast Nigeria. UNHCR teams in Chad were at the border and seeking more information on the new arrivals and their needs. The attack on Baga left hundreds of people dead according to media reports and forced most of its inhabitants to flee, said Mr. Edwards.
In Chad, refugees were staying with local communities in villages around 450 kilometres north-west of the capital, N’Djamena. The Chadian government had requested the assistance of aid agencies to help the refugees and distribution of relief items has already started. UNHCR was assessing the protection situation and coordinating aid delivery. It was already providing plastic sheets, jerry cans, mats, blankets and kitchen tools. Other humanitarian organizations were distributing aid too, said Mr. Edwards.
Chadian authorities visited the area on Thursday and requested UNHCR to help with the relocation of over 1,000 refugees who were reportedly stranded on the island of Kangala on Lake Chad. The group recently arrived there, fleeing the general insecurity in north-east Nigeria. With the recent influxes, Chad was now hosting over 10,000 refugees, reported Mr. Edwards.
Meanwhile in Niger, UNHCR had started to relocate refugees from Gagamari at the border further inland to Sayam Forage camp in Diffa region. So far, 336 refugees had been moved in three convoys since December 30. More convoys were planned in the next days. The refugees were among the thousands of people who fled to the Gagamari area in the past weeks following November’s attack on the Nigerian town of Damassak.
A second camp was scheduled to open in the next days in Kablewa, in the Lake Chad area of Niger, where thousands of people have found refuge in the past months, said Mr. Edwards.
On arrival in Sayam Forage camp, refugees were being registered by UNHCR and the National Eligibility Commission of Niger. They received identity documents and plastic sheets, kitchen kits, blankets, mats, and soap. Drinking water was being delivered by trucks and emergency latrines have been built. Not all refugees were choosing to be relocated away from the border. Despite the proximity of the conflict in Nigeria, many were hoping to return to their home villages when the situation calmed.
Mr. Edwards informed journalists that in December, the first results of a still ongoing governmental census, organized with UNHCR technical support, revealed that at least 90,000 persons, including Niger nationals previously living in Nigeria, have found refuge in Niger’s Diffa region since May 2013.
In all, the conflict in north-east Nigeria had led to the exodus of 135,000 people - around 35,000 Nigerians to Cameroon and 10,000 to Chad and the displacement of at least 850,000 people within Nigeria’s Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states, concluded Mr. Edwards.
Answering questions from the press, Mr. Edwards responded to one journalist who asked whether the increase in attacks by Boko Haram on Cameroon had affected the exodus of refugees from northern Nigeria to Cameroon. Mr. Edwards said that he had not seen any indication of the trends changed there, but what they clearly were seeing was that people were being displaced and were moving across borders into neighbouring countries. In response to another question, he said he did not have updated figures on Cameroon, but the trend had not changed.
In response to a question about any increase in internally displaced persons, Mr. Edwards said he wasn’t aware of an increase but journalists would have seen that the total IDP population in north-eastern Nigeria was substantial. There had been reports of at least 850,000 IDPs, and there had been previous reports of at least one million in that region of Nigeria.
WINTER UPDATE ON SYRIA SITUATION
Adrian Edwards, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) briefed journalists on the winter storms situation in the Syria region. UNHCR staff had been working around the clock this week to help the millions of refugees and internally displaced people endure the severe winter storm that had been sweeping across much of the Middle East over the last few days. Forecasts said that cold weather was set to continue over the next few days with heavy snowfall at higher elevations and continuing gale force winds.
Despite the severity of the storm, UNCHR’s offices around the region had so far reported relatively little damage in most refugee communities. Nonetheless, the storms were continuing to blow through; the longer the low temperatures continued, the more difficult life became for everyone, said Mr. Edwards. Flooding was already a problem in some low lying areas. Also, they were worried about the possibility of flooding at higher elevations after the snow melted.
UNHCR teams and partners had worked as fast as they could over the past few days to replace damaged tents, provide repair kits, deliver emergency supplies and offer alternative shelters to those who had been forced to abandon their homes.
UNHCR offices had run winter operations in this region for the past four winters now, planning and implementation began well ahead of this time of the year and included cash vouchers to help the most vulnerable refugees and to purchase needed items.
Despite the best efforts of governments, local authorities, UNHCR and its many partners, the situation across the region did remain precarious for most refugees, particularly given the poor conditions in which many people already lived and the scattered nature of the population.
UNHCR was especially concerned about the situation in Lebanon. As journalists might recall, refugees were spread out in about 1,700 different locations across the country. There had been reports of more than 100 shelters and tents being damaged; flooding and standing water was a problem in many of the places hit by heavy rains and high winds. In coastal areas in the south, high waves had flooded some settlements. Additional weather proofing kits were being distributed.
UNHCR was also replacing blankets, mattresses and other items that had been destroyed. In the Bekaa Valley, UNHCR was concerned about flooding in the aftermath of the storm, especially with the snow melt; as most informal tented sites were built on private property, efforts to provide proper drainage required the cooperation and approval of landlords and municipalities and this was not always forthcoming.
Mr. Edwards noted that there was much more detail in the written briefing note which might be useful to journalists following the story.
A journalist asked if UNHCR had enough money to take care of these excessive problems that were propping up because of the winter storms. Mr. Edwards said funding remained extremely difficult. The needs continued to escalate faster than money came in and there had been a crunch this winter.
Asked if there was concern that people could die because of the cold and because they simply didn’t have the aid they needed to survive, Mr. Edwards replied that there absolutely was concern about the risks. There were very hard to reach areas, including inside Syria itself and some parts of Iraq, where temperatures were extremely cold. UNHCR had no confirmed deaths at this time but nonetheless it was concerned to prevent any such deaths.
Tarik Jasarevic, for the World Health Organization (WHO), answered a question from a journalist about reports of an increase in infectious diseases in Aleppo, Syria. Mr. Jasarevic replied that WHO was concerned about getting aid into Aleppo and other places. WHO had managed to bring medicines to Aleppo and they were now in warehouses and were waiting to be distributed to hard-to-reach areas. There were enough medicines for 240,000 people.
WHO was also running a subnational immunization campaign in various areas. It had managed to bring vaccines to all the hard to reach areas, including Aleppo governorate. WHO also hoped to continue to provide aid in opposition controlled areas through 56 non-governmental organizations that they worked with.
In response to another question, Mr. Jasarevic said it was a routine immunization so they included immunization against measles, rubella, mumps and polio. The medicine for 240,000 persons included medication for chronic diseases and antibiotics for infections.
A journalist asked when the medicines reached Aleppo and did WHO have a sense of how many WHO convoys had made it across the border to Aleppo in the last year. Mr. Jasarevic said WHO was working with all partners, including the Government to try to secure delivery to these hard to reach areas. On many occasions they had managed to do it and the latest focus was on rural Aleppo and other areas. WHO had managed to get the aid into the warehouses and they hoped that next medicines could leave the warehouses and be distributed to people who needed them.
Measles vaccination campaign in Ebola-affected countries
Christophe Boulierac, for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said UNICEF was helping governments and communities restart stalled immunizations amid a surge in measles cases in Ebola-affected countries, where health systems were overwhelmed and tens of thousands of children were left vulnerable to deadly diseases. Measles was a major killer of children that could easily be stopped through a safe and effective vaccine, but immunization rates had dropped significantly, further threatening children’s lives, explained Mr. Boulierac.
The increase in cases of measles – a highly contagious disease - was of particular concern as a drop in immunization coverage rates had left children vulnerable at a time when measles transmission traditionally peaked in West Africa, between December and March, said Mr. Boulierac.
In Guinea, where a measles outbreak was declared in early 2014 - prior to the Ebola outbreak - the number of confirmed measles cases increased almost fourfold, from 59 between January and December 2013 to 215 for the same period in 2014, according to WHO. In Sierra Leone, the figure tripled from 13 to 39 over the same period.
In Liberia, which had reported no measles cases in 2013, four cases had been confirmed in Lofa County, one of the areas hardest hit by Ebola. Government data showed that monthly targets for measles immunization coverage dropped from 71 per cent in May 2014, to 55 per cent in October, with only about 50 per cent of health facilities reporting.
Health systems were overstretched by efforts to manage the Ebola crisis, and people were avoiding health facilities for fear of contracting Ebola. As a result, preliminary figures clearly showed that vaccine coverage rates had fallen sharply this year.
While vaccination campaigns that involved large crowds had been put on hold, UNICEF and partners were intensifying carefully guided routine immunizations to rapidly reduce the number of unimmunized children.
In Guinea, UNICEF was supporting activities to step up routine vaccinations, whose initial phase, in late November and early December 2014, covered communities that had not had any Ebola cases for 42 days.
In response to the cases in Liberia, UNICEF, the Ministry of Health and other partners, including WHO, were conducting periodic intensification of routine immunization to vaccinate children under the age of 5 and provide them with vitamin A supplements. This was completed in eight counties, is under way in four, and is set to begin in the other three.
Vaccinators were also helping with the control of the Ebola outbreak, said Mr. Boulierac. In compliance with infection prevention and control procedures and WHO guidelines on immunization in the context of an Ebola outbreak, UNICEF was providing not only vaccines, but also kits that included gloves and infrared thermometers for vaccinators. Vaccinators were also being trained on infection prevention, supervision during immunization activities, and on how to conduct outreach sessions in areas which had not reported an Ebola case for 42 days.
Breaking the cycle of Ebola transmission and improving health services, including vaccinations, must go hand in hand in order to defeat the virus and to prevent large-scale child deaths, he concluded.
Children in Haiti – five years after the earthquake
Christophe Boulierac, for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), reminded the press that Monday 12 January will mark the fifth anniversary of the tragic earthquake in Haiti of 12 January 2010. He briefed journalists on the situation of children in Haiti, using a demographic survey commissioned by the Haitian Ministry of Public Health and Population which provided updated estimates on key demographic and health indicators in Haiti. The last study was carried out in 2012, after the earthquake, which allowed comparison with 2006 data.
Mr. Boulierac emphasized the courage, coping skills and resilience of the Haitian population. He said the study, and data from 2012, clearly showed that Haiti was a better place for children today than before the earthquake, although significant challenges remained.
On education, Mr. Boulierac said 77 per cent of children aged six to 11 years were in primary school in 2012, compared to just under 50 per cent in 2005 to 2006. On health, he said the mortality rate of under-fives and infant mortality rates had both shown a steady decline over the last 15 years, despite the high mortality rate caused by the earthquake in 2010. Acute malnutrition among children under five years was reduced by half, from 10 to 5 per cent, and chronic malnutrition fell from 29 to 22 per cent during the same period, he noted.
Speaking about developments in child protection, Mr. Boulierac said the legal framework for child protection has been strengthened through the enactment of laws and ratification of conventions.
Challenges included the area of water and sanitation, as 51 per cent of households in rural areas had no access to clean water and over 80 per cent of rural households still lack access to improved sanitation. 12 per cent of children aged six to 12 years did not attend school – approximately 200,000 children, and there was a high dropout rate. Furthermore, the quality of education was very low. Although there had been a continuous reduction of suspected cholera cases, the disease was not yet defeated.
Mr. Boulierac also spoke about the estimated 80,000 internally displaced peoples still living in camps.
For 2015 and subsequent years, the challenge for UNICEF and its partners would be to maintain and reinforce the positive results for children, and to reach those who have not yet benefitted from this progress, particularly in remote areas of Haiti.
UNICEF was committed to working alongside its partners in Haiti to help overcome the challenges that remained and to build resilience for the future. The people of Haiti had shown great courage, and they deserved the continued support of the global community as they work to build a brighter future, concluded Mr. Boulierac.
Geneva Activities
Yvette Morris, Chief, TV and Radio Section at the United Nations Information Service Geneva, announced that the Committee on the Rights of the Child would start a three week session on Monday 12 January during which it would consider 12 country reports. A background release was issued on Thursday. The session would take place in dual chambers (two groups of Experts reviewing countries concurrently). Countries due for review next week are: Cambodia, the Dominican Republic, Turkmenistan, Sweden, Mauritius, Gambia and Tanzania. The reports of Colombia, Iraq, Jamaica, Switzerland, Tanzania and Uruguay would be reviewed the following week.
Tarik Jasarevic, for the World Health Organization (WHO), announced that a virtual press conference would take place at 12.30 p.m. on Friday, 9 January at the Library Room of WHO, following the second high-level meeting on Ebola vaccines, access and financing. Journalists would be updated on the early results of the Phase 1 trials and how to move forward with the two vaccines in the pipeline. Professor Helena Rees, Chairperson of the meeting and WHO Assistant Director-General Marie-Paule Kieny would be speaking.
Tarik Jasarevic, for the World Health Organization (WHO), announced that a press conference to give an update on health situation in Ukraine and on WHO activities would take place at 10 a.m. on Friday, 16 January in Press Room III. Dr. Dorit Nitzan, WHO Representative & Head of Country Office in Ukraine, would be speaking.
Tarik Jasarevic, for the World Health Organization (WHO), announced that a background briefing would take place at 2 p.m. on Friday 16 January in Press Room 1, on the launch of the Global Status Report for noncommunicable diseases 2014. The report essentially gave evidence that most premature deaths caused by noncommunicable diseases were preventable. Media would receive details on how to access the report in advance, next week. Speaking at the press conference would be Dr. Oleg Chestnov, WHO Assistant Director-General Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health; Dr Douglas Bettcher, WHO Director, Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases and Dr Shanthi Mendis, WHO Coordinator for Chronic Diseases Prevention & Management, lead author of the report.
Tarik Jasarevic, for the World Health Organization (WHO) gave journalists a heads-up on the upcoming WHO Executive Board meeting, from 26 January to 3 February. A media advisory would be issued with the details and information about any press briefing, but he noted that Sunday 26 January would be devoted to the Ebola Response.
Catherine Huissoud, for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), announced the appointment of Mr. Joakim Reiter of Sweden as Deputy Secretary-General of UNCTAD replacing Mr. Petko Draganov.
Carla Drysdale, for the International Labour Organization (ILO) announced that embargoed copies of a report entitled "Women in Business and Management: Gaining Momentum", a study by the Employers' Branch of the ILO, were available at the back of the room. Journalists had received information on how to download the full report and related information. The report would be released on Monday 12 January at 11 a.m. GMT (12 p.m. CET).
The webcast for this briefing is available here: http://bit.ly/unog090115