REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was attended by the spokespersons for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and the World Health Organization.

Global refugee resettlement

Shabia Mantoo, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), read the following statement:

“New data released by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, shows that despite record levels of worldwide forced displacement, just 4.7 per cent of global refugee resettlement needs were met in 2018.

This is according to data released this month on UNHCR-facilitated resettlement departures which shows that of the estimated 1.2 million refugees in need of resettlement in 2018, only 55,692 were actually resettled.

The largest number of UNHCR-facilitated resettlement departures were from major refugee-hosting countries, including Lebanon (9,800), followed by Turkey (9,000), Jordan (5,100), and Uganda (4,000).

Out of a total of 81,310 referrals, the largest number of referred refugees are from the Syrian Arab Republic (28,200), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (21,800), Eritrea (4,300) and Afghanistan (4,000).

Sixty-eight per cent of submissions last year were for survivors of violence and torture, those with legal and physical protection needs, and women and girls at risk. More than half, 52 per cent, of all resettlement submissions in 2018 were for children.

Resettlement, which involves the relocation of refugees from a country of asylum to a country that has agreed to admit them and grant them permanent settlement, is available only to a fraction of the world’s refugees. Typically, less than one per cent of the 19.9 million refugees worldwide under UNHCR’s mandate are ever resettled.

Resettlement remains a life-saving tool to ensure the protection of those most at risk. It is an instrument of protection, and a tangible mechanism for governments and communities across the world to share responsibility for responding to forced displacement crises. Resettlement and other complementary pathways for admission, is a key objective of the Global Compact on Refugees, to help reduce the impact of large refugee situations on host countries.

In 2019, it is estimated that 1.4 million refugees who are currently residing in 65 refugee-hosting countries worldwide, will need resettlement.

Major resettlement needs this year include those for Syrian refugees currently hosted in countries across the Middle East and Turkey (43 per cent) and for refugees in countries of asylum and transit along the Central Mediterranean Route (22 per cent), where movements towards Europe continue to take a devastating toll on human life.

The Global Compact on Refugees calls for States to offer more resettlement places, through expanding existing programmes or establishing new ones.

UNHCR is currently working with States and partners, to develop a three year strategy on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways to help increase the pool of resettlement places, encourage more countries to participate in global resettlement efforts, and increase access to complementary pathways for refugees.

More information on UNHCR’s resettlement data for 2018 is available here: https://www.unhcr.org/5c594ddf4 and UNHCR’S Global Resettlement Data Portal with statistics since 2003 can be accessed here: https://rsq.unhcr.org/”.

Asked to compare the latest resettlement statistics to the figures from earlier years, Ms. Mantoo said that the data at https://rsq.unhcr.org/ covered the period of 2013 onwards. With the increasing global displacement, the needs had also increased, stressed Ms. Mantoo. The goal was for countries to primarily help those most vulnerable. In a follow-up question on the resettlement in the United States, Ms. Mantoo said she would not comment on individual countries and referred the journalists to the data portal.

Responding to further questions on which countries were failing to resettle refugees, Ms. Mantoo stated that the Syrian refugees remained a priority for resettlement. It was up to individual countries to arrange for their own national resettlement programmes. There was definitely a need for more solidarity and burden-sharing. UNHCR was working to get new countries on board to start or to expand resettlement programmes.

Answering a question about referral numbers, Ms. Mantoo explained that they were numbers put forward by the UNHCR, based on the available quotas. The referrals were submitted on a yearly basis. Last year, the UNHCR had submitted 81,000 names for resettlement but the 55,000 departures may have come from submissions in that year or previous years owing to the varying length of resettlement processes. The precise information per country was available on the data portal. The primary concern for the UNHCR was the gap between the needs and the available places.

Syria: alarm at increased violence in Idlib

Rupert Colville, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), read the following statement:

“The intensified ground-based bombardment of Idlib and surrounding areas by government forces and their allies in recent weeks, coupled with a series of attacks by non-State actors, has led to numerous civilian casualties and left some one million people, including hundreds of thousands of displaced people, in an extremely vulnerable situation, the UN Human Rights Chief said on Tuesday.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called on all parties involved, as well as external governments with influence, to ensure that the protection of civilians is held paramount in the planning and execution of all military operations in accordance with international law.

The bombardment of the "demilitarized buffer zone" that includes Idlib and areas of northern Hama and western Aleppo Governorates started to escalate in December 2018 and has further intensified in recent days. At the same time, there has been an increase of infighting amongst non-State actors and in the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in areas they control, including by the extremist group, Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS).

While a comprehensive count of civilian casualties has not been possible, credible reports of specific incidents that led to civilian casualties include the following:

· 29 January: 11 civilians, including a woman and a boy, killed and nine others injured in ground-based bombardment that hit residential neighborhoods and a local market.in Ma’arrat An Numan, in southern Idlib Governorate
· 11 February: a girl killed in the city of al-Dana in northern Idlib Governorate, reportedly in crossfire between ISIL and HTS fighters.
· 12 February: 11 civilians, including a boy, killed by shelling in different areas of Ma’arrat An Numan district in southeastern Idlib.
· 15 February: at least four civilians including two women were killed and nine civilians including four women and five children (three boys and two girls) injured as a result of bombardment of Khan Shaykun.
· 16 February: five civilians, including two women and two boys, reportedly killed by ground-based strikes that hit Khan Shaykun in southern Idlib.
· Yesterday, 18 February: 16 civilians – including women and children – were reported killed, and more than 70 injured, in the Qusour neighbourhood of Idlib, by two explosive devices, the second of which appears to have been designed to kill and maim people, including medical workers, trying to aid the victims of the first bomb.

"Large numbers of civilians, including hundreds of thousands of displaced people, in Idlib and northern Aleppo are living an intolerable existence," said Bachelet. "They are trapped between the escalation of hostilities and bombardment on the one hand, and, on the other, are forced to live under the extremist rule of Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham and other extremist fighters who regularly carry out targeted killings, abductions and arbitrary detention."

"I urge all the parties involved to, first and foremost, ensure that civilians themselves, and civilian infrastructure, are protected as required by international humanitarian and international human rights law," the High Commissioner said. "The principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution must be fully respected, and military objects must not be placed in the vicinity of civilians."

Bachelet also expressed concern about the wellbeing of some 20,000 people who fled ISIL controlled areas in eastern Deir-ez-Zor Governorate in recent weeks and are now being held in makeshift IDPs camps run by Kurdish armed groups including the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who are reported to be preventing IDPs from leaving the camps in what appears to amount to deprivation of liberty.

The High Commissioner said she remains particularly concerned about the situation of some 200 families, including many women and children, who are reportedly trapped in the tiny area still under the control of ISIL. Many of them are apparently being actively prevented from leaving by ISIL and continue to be subjected to intensified air and ground-based strikes by the US led Coalition forces and their SDF allies on the ground.

"Civilians continue to be used as pawns by the various parties," Bachelet said. "I call on them to provide safe passage to those who wish to flee, while those wish to remain must also be protected as much as possible. They should not be sacrificed to ideology on the one hand, or military expediency on the other. If protecting civilian lives means taking a few more days to capture the last fraction of land controlled by ISIL, then so be it.”

Asked about the people who had fled the ISIL-controlled areas, Mr. Colville explained that it was a mix of people, consisting mostly of women and children. Particular care should be taken of such civilians, who should not be held in detention unless they were suspected of committing crimes.

Another question referred to a potential humanitarian catastrophe which had been predicted earlier. Mr. Colville said that some 200 families were believed to be still trapped in the areas controlled by ISIL. ISIL was potentially committing war crimes by not allowing them to leave. Mr. Colville stressed that ISIL thankfully no longer controlled millions of civilians, as had been the case in previous years.

On countries taking back foreign fighters and their families, Mr. Colville said that it was a very mixed group of people. In any case international law ought to apply. OHCHR did not have a specific comment to make on that point at the moment. The International Committee of the Red Cross was very much involved in the issue of foreign fighters. It was still too early to make predictions about people who might potentially end up being stateless.

Asked about the number of people trapped, Mr. Colville reiterated that it was around 200 families, but could not specify how many individuals in total there were.

On a question of the Syrian Government opening a humanitarian corridor from Rukban, Jens Laerke for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that the UN was not involved in the opening of humanitarian corridors from Rukban, which had apparently commenced this morning. All relocation and return movement needed to be voluntary, safe and signified, in line with the minimum protection standards. As the UN was not involved, the UN would not be able to monitor the process. Ms. Vellucci added that the Special Envoy for Syria was following the situation closely and consulting with relevant stakeholders, including ISSG co-chairs and Jordan.

Kashmir: increase of violence

Rupert Colville, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), read the following statement:

“The High Commissioner strongly condemns the suicide bomb attack against Indian security forces in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on 14 February and calls on authorities to bring those responsible to justice.

We are also saddened by the further loss of life reported from subsequent gun battles in Pulwama yesterday, 18 February, which is reported to have claimed 9 more lives.

We hope escalating tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours will not add further to the insecurity in the region.

The High Commissioner is also concerned by reports from India that some elements are using the Pulwama attack as justification for threats and potential acts of violence targeting Kashmiri and Muslim communities living in different parts of India. We acknowledge actions taken by the Indian authorities to tackle these incidents and we hope that the Government will continue to take steps to protect people from all forms of harm that may be directed at them on account of their ethnicity or identity.”

Venezuela

Responding to a question on the fifth anniversary of the imprisonment of the Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, Mr. Colville said that the OHCHR’s position had not changed on Mr. Lopez and other people kept in prison for reasons not internationally considered as crimes.

Asked about the conditions of hospitals in Venezuela, spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO) Tarik Jašareviæ said that the WHO and the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) were working together on providing medicine and procuring necessary equipment, including vaccines. The health system in Venezuela was clearly under stress now due to a combination of factors, including health work force migration and shortage of medical supplies. PAHO was supporting the maintenance of services in 23 high complexity priority hospitals, which included training health personnel and preventing infectious diseases. Through its mechanism, PAHO had been helping Venezuela throughout the ongoing crisis. Mr. Jašareviæ could not provide the percentage to which the Health Ministry depends on the help of the WHO.

On whether the immunizations of children had gone down, and how malnutrition of children was affected, Mr. Jašareviæ said that in the current situation there were obviously issues with the health workforce migration, shortages of medicine, including vaccines, which had led to the resurgence of measles and diphtheria. Since the first reported case of measles in July 2017, there had been 6,395 confirmed cases of measles, including 76 deaths as of December 2018. As for diphtheria, since the beginning of the outbreak until January 2019, 2,512 confirmed cases and 270 deaths had occurred. Malaria cases had also increased significantly over the recent years, which was primarily connected to the migration of persons from the affected areas to other areas of the country. That was why there had indeed been a push for vaccination, and between April and December 2018, more than eight million children had been vaccinated against measles, and 4.8 million children had been vaccinated against diphtheria. Referring to a joint FAO, PAHO, UNICEF and WFP report from October 2018, Mr. Jašareviæ confirmed that Venezuela had indeed experienced an increase in the number of undernourished persons.

Mr. Jašareviæ confirmed that the WHO was present inside Venezuela, in accordance with the earlier-established modalities, and it was strengthening its response in cooperation with the national health authorities.

Responding to another question, Ms. Vellucci reiterated that the UN System was supporting Venezuela according to the existing Development Assistance Framework. A question was asked about the situation in the field, given that the UN was present there. Quoting the Deputy Spokesperson of the Secretary-General, Ms. Vellucci stated that all aid deliveries needed to be based on the needs, which was a UN principle in all countries, and the UN System was coordinating with the authorities on the ground to ensure safe deliveries.

Mexico: national guard

Asked if the High Commissioner had a comment on the new law on the national guard in Mexico, which was expected to be adopted today, Mr. Colville said that the High Commissioner did not have a specific comment today, but she might come out with a public comment soon.

Geneva announcements

Tarik Jašareviæ, for the World Health Organization (WHO), informed that on Wednesday, 20 February at 3:00 p.m. in Press Room 1, the WHO would launch a report on global health expenditures. The report would provide figures on trends in global health financing, government’s spending on health and the role of external aid. The speaker would be Dr Agnes Soucat, Director of Health Systems Governance and Financing at the WHO. The full report was already available on the WHO website; the upcoming press release would provide analysis of key figures from the report.

Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, informed that on Wednesday, 20 February at 10:30 a.m. in Press Room 1, the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan would launch its report on the situation of human rights in the country. The report would be shared with the journalists under embargo. The speaker would be Prof. Andrew Clapham, Member of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan.

Ms. Vellucci also informed that the journalists would be allowed to enter the Human Rights Council room through the back door on Monday, 25 February, from 8 to 9 a.m. only. UN Information Service representatives would be in the press gallery to assist the journalists as needed. Ms. Vellucci confirmed that the upcoming session would be webcast, as per usual practice.

Ms. Vellucci informed that 21 February would be the International Mother Language Day, the topic of which focused on indigenous languages. A number of activities were planned and included a panel discussion at the UN Library at 12:30 and a language café at Bar Serpent in the morning.

The webcast for this briefing is available here: http://bit.ly/unog190219