REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Michele Zaccheo, for the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was attended by spokespersons for the United Nations Refugee Agency, the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the World Health Organization.

Internally Displaced Persons in Libya

William Spindler, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), made the following statement:

“UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is concerned about the forced eviction by militias of 1,900 internally displaced persons from Triq Al Matar settlement in Tripoli, Libya. Triq Al Matar was the largest IDP settlement in Tripoli, hosting 370 families originally from the city of Tawergha who had been living in the settlement since it was established in 2011.

According to residents, a local militia forced the entire population of Triq Al Matar to flee their homes last week, following three nights of indiscriminate raiding and the arbitrary arrest of 94 residents, 12 of whom remain detained by the militia in dismal conditions. Some women and girls were threatened with rape and the IDPs had to flee their homes at short notice, taking only a few belongings with them.

The IDPs are now dispersed, living in various areas in which they have relatives or acquaintances, including other IDP settlements. Some families who owned cars are now sleeping in them.

UNHCR is concerned that IDPs moving to other settlements in Tripoli are at risk of further eviction. Some families from Tawergha living in other settlements in Tripoli have already fled their homes for fear of being attacked. UNHCR calls for the respect of human rights, the protection of civilians and for the right of displaced persons to decide about their own future. UNHCR is closely following-up on the situation and liaising with all parties to ensure that the main needs of IDPs are met and any future evictions are prevented.

The people of Tawergha are an ethnic minority - approximately 40,000 people - who were forced to flee their homes in 2011. The majority of them sought refuge in informal settlements around Tripoli or Benghazi. They have now been internally displaced for seven years and are waiting to return home following a recent agreement by the parties involved.

In Libya, some 192,000 displaced people have been living in dire conditions for years. UNHCR calls for urgent solutions to end their suffering and return home in a voluntary, safe and dignified manner.”

In response to questions from journalists, Mr. Spindler said that the people of Tawergha were an ethnic minority comprising approximately 40,000 people. While he did not wish to reinforce such beliefs, they had been perceived as supporters of the Ghaddafi regime. They were subjected to persecution and discrimination – in a manner not seen with regard to other Libyans of African descent – and were being prevented from returning to their city of origin. The fact that the Government struggled to impose its authority throughout the country, largely owing to the presence of competing authorities and militias with different allegiances, greatly complicated the protection of IDPs. There was concern that the IDPs might face similar attacks if moved to different settlements. UNHCR was following the situation closely and conducted regular visits to the settlements amid a very challenging security situation.

Voluntary returns from Libya

Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that the IOM voluntary humanitarian return programme from Libya had reached 30,000 beneficiaries that week. The figure represented the number of returns since 1 January 2017 and included the ramp-up period that had begun in November 2017 following the European Union and African Union summit in Côte d'Ivoire. In addition, IOM had begun to operate charter flights out of Zintan as well, providing assistance to some 171 stranded migrants who had been heading home to Nigeria. The programme also included visits to detention centres outside Tripoli and its coverage was expanding. Since 2017, returns had been carried out to 31 countries.

Mediterranean arrivals via Spain

Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that statistics for the past 20 years revealed that nearly 47,000 of the 95,317 migrants who had arrived via Spain had done so over the last two years alone. The figures were in stark contrast to the marked drop in arrivals to Italy.

Replying to questions from journalists, Mr. Millman said that he did not wish to speculate about the reasons for the dramatic increase of arrivals to Spain because IOM had yet to conduct comprehensive surveys of migrants as it had in Italy and Greece. Nevertheless, the nationalities of the migrants arriving in Spain matched the nationalities of those that used to travel through Libya. In other words, West African migrants appeared to have realized that the expense and danger of the route into Tripoli, combined with what happened to them once in Libya, made that route less attractive. While 25,000 arrivals to Spain thus far in 2018 might indicate a considerable shift, it was worth bearing in mind that that used to be the number of arrivals to Italy in a single month. It was not for him to characterize the work of a Member State; however, the extremely low fatality rate on the Spain route would point to the sound management of incoming boats.

Statelessness law in Paraguay

William Spindler, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), made the following statement:

“UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, welcomes the adoption by Paraguay of a new law that helps to identify, protect and solve the situation of stateless people (persons who are not considered as nationals by any State).

Last Thursday (9 August), Paraguay’s bicameral Congress approved a bill presented in May 2017, which protects the rights of stateless people, as well as applicants for the recognition of such status, and a facilitated path to naturalization.

The new law assigns the National Commission for Refugees (CONARE) the responsibility for the determination of statelessness and helps ensure that the children of Paraguayan nationals born in a foreign country, who would otherwise be stateless, acquire Paraguayan nationality without having to settle in the country.

In 2012, Paraguay acceded to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and in 2014 to the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. With the adoption of this law, Paraguay establishes a procedure for the determination of statelessness and a regulatory framework for protection; the law also provides pathways for naturalization.

This law constitutes an important milestone for the region, which is working to eradicate statelessness within ten years as part of the commitments by the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean to the 2014 Brazil Plan of Action.”

Replying to questions by journalists, Mr. Spindler said that, given the nature of statelessness, there were no official statistics. However, UNHCR estimated that approximately 100 persons found themselves in the situation in Paraguay and a few thousand in South America. The low numbers notwithstanding, the law was nonetheless an important step. He recalled that UNHCR had launched a campaign to eradicate statelessness worldwide.

Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Christophe Boulierac, for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said that UNICEF was in the process of shipping 90 tonnes of medical, water and sanitation supplies from its global warehouse in Copenhagen, in addition to the 14 tonnes that had already been delivered to affected areas. Thanks to an in-kind contribution from shipping company UPS, the supplies were being shipped by air and road via Goma and Kigali. They included 10 million water purification tablets, 1 tonne of chlorine, 40 water tanks, 2,000 family hygiene kits and 10,000 buckets and diarrhoea kits. The supplies would boost UNICEF’s capacity to inform and protect local communities, promote appropriate hygiene practices and access to clean drinking water and sanitation, and provide psychosocial support to children and families. Since the outbreak had been declared on 1 August, UNICEF had installed 35 chlorination points and handwashing units in 45 public places and health facilities in Beni and Mangina, North Kivu. Furthermore, through its awareness-raising efforts, it had reached over 30,000 people in the affected areas. Educating the public about how to protect oneself from the illness was key.

Replying to journalists, Mr. Boulierac said that UNICEF’s response centred around three pillars, namely awareness-raising, access to clean drinking water and sanitation, and psychosocial support for children. Nevertheless, he could confirm that there were children in the Ebola treatment centres. Children were either ill themselves or were left alone at home because several members of their family were in treatment centres. While UNICEF staff had been able to operate adequately thus far, security constraints were foremost on everyone’s mind. It was vital for aid workers to be able to travel freely and for patients to be able to reach treatment centres.

Fadela Chaib, for the World Health Organization (WHO), added that a treatment centre with a capacity of 15 was being built in Beni. In addition, Médecins sans frontiers was completing a 50-bed health centre. If more spaces proved necessary, further steps would obviously be taken. As at 13 August, there had been a total of 57 cases, of which 30 were confirmed and 27 were probable; 41 people had died. The distinction between confirmed and probable applied to cases, not deaths.

World Humanitarian Day

Michele Zaccheo, for the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, said that 19 August was World Humanitarian Day (A/RES/63/139). That year’s commemoration was particularly important as 2018 marked the 15th anniversary of the Bagdad bombing in which 22 colleagues had died and the 11th anniversary of the attack in Algiers that had killed 17 colleagues. The main events would be held in Geneva on 16 August. An invitation, including a list of speakers, had been sent the previous day. The commemoration could also be followed on UN Web TV.

Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), added that, in 2017, 313 aid workers had been victims of violence in 158 separate attacks across 22 countries; 139 had been killed, compared to 107 in 2016. Two thirds of the attacks had taken place in only five countries, namely South Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic, Afghanistan, the Central African Republic and Nigeria.

Announcements

Michele Zaccheo, for the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, said that the Secretary-General’s annual report to the General Assembly would be released that day.

Press Conferences

Tuesday, 14 August at 2:00 p.m. in Press Room 1
Permanent Mission of the Republic of Yemen
Subject: Latest developments in Yemen
Speaker: H.E. Dr. Ali MAJAWAR, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Yemen

Tuesday, 14 August at 3:00 p.m. in Room III
World Health Organization
Subject: Update on WHO Ebola operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
Speaker: Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General