REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which provided information about the Secretary-General's message on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, human rights meetings, upcoming press conferences, the latest developments concerning Togo, and other issues. Spokespersons for the United Nations Children's Fund, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Food Programe, the High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Health Organization, and the International Organization for Migration participated in the briefing.

Secretary-General's Message on World Press Freedom Day

Mrs. Heuzé said in the Secretary-General's message on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, he had noted that "journalists work on the front-lines of history, unravelling the tangle of events, giving them shape and giving us a narrative sense of our lives. Their tools are words and images; their credo is free expression; and their efforts empower all of us, individuals and societies alike". However, the Secretary-General continued, for doing this indispensable work, many journalists were persecuted, attacked, imprisoned and murdered. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 56 journalists were killed in the line of duty in 2004. Another 19 remain missing and were feared to be dead, and some 124 were imprisoned.

"On World Press Freedom Day, therefore, we pay tribute to those who have fallen victim to the perils of their calling. We salute the courage and dedication of journalists struggling against risk and outright brutality to exercise their right to seek and tell the truth. And we remind Governments especially that the right to 'seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media' is enshrined in article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Censorship, the suppression of information, intimidation and interference are a denial of democracy, an obstacle to development, and a threat to the security of all", the Secretary-General's message said. Copies of the message were available in the press room.

The Director said that in commemoration of World Press Freedom Day, she would be moderating a round-table at 11:30 a.m. today in Room III on freedom of the press in Africa. The speakers included the Ambassador of Senegal, Ousmane Camara; The Director of the Liaison Office of UNESCO in Geneva, Ingeborg Breines; the Secretary-General of Reporters sans Frontiers-Switzerland, George Gordon-Lennox; the Executive Director of the Swiss Press Club, Guy Mettan; and the Director of "CONTINENTPREMIER", El Hadji Gorgui Wade Ndoye. All journalists were welcome to attend.

Human Rights Meetings and Upcoming Press Conferences

Mrs. Heuzé said the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was this morning concluding its consideration of the initial report of Serbia and Montenegro. This afternoon, it would start its review of the fourth periodic report of Norway.

The Committee against Torture opened its session at the Palais Wilson yesterday, 2 May and a press release was available. This morning, the Committee was starting its consideration of the initial report of Togo. [It was later announced that the Committee postponed its review of the report of Togo to a future date after a government delegation did not show up] On Wednesday, 4 May, the Committee would start its review of the fourth and fifth periodic reports of Canada. It would also consider reports from Switzerland, Finland, Albania, Uganda and Bahrain during its session.

The Director said there were two interesting press conferences being held today. The first press conference was part of a series of events which focused on the importance of micro-credit and micro-financing in promoting development. José Antonio Ocampo, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, would be speaking at 2 p.m. in Room III on a seminar which would be held at the International Labour Organization starting Wednesday, 4 May on the Global Meeting on Building Inclusive Financial Sectors for Development.

The World Health Organization was launching its World Malaria Report 2005 and there would be a press conference on this subject at 2:30 p.m. in Room III. The report was embargoed until 6 p.m. Geneva time this afternoon.

There would also be an interesting press conference at noon on Friday, 6 May by Lakshman Kadirgamar, the Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka, who would be speaking after a meeting with international non-governmental organizations at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to thank them for their help and work after the tsunami hit Sri Lanka. He would also discuss with them plans for the recovery and reconstruction of the affected areas in Sri Lanka.

Togo

Damien Personnaz of the United Nations Children's Fund said that last Friday, he had spoken about the discovery of 60 unaccompanied children among the Togolese refugees arriving in Benin. That figure had now increased to 72. It was still unclear why they were unaccompanied, and where their families were, but the children were physically and mentally in good shape. UNICEF had provided them with hygiene kits, placed them in a camp run by the Benin Red Cross and was trying to trace down their families. UNICEF had already taken $ 40,000 from its regular budget to help these refugees. A UN Mission had asked the Togolese Government for access to two areas where there was a lot of reported violence, but it had not received a response.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said
OCHA was concerned about events in Togo and was closely monitoring the situation there. This political crisis could result in a humanitarian crisis, and the worst case scenario was having a situation similar to that in Côte d'Ivoire. With regards to the regional implications of the crisis, a protracted crisis in Togo could further weaken the fragile economic and social conditions in Burkina Fasso, Mali and Niger that had been already seriously hit by the crisis in Côte d'Ivoire. It might also constitute a new opportunity for arms traffickers and mercenaries if the situation was not addressed in the most expeditious way. OCHA hoped that the political parties would be able to reach an agreement. OCHA was making contingency plans and had created a task force to follow the situation in Togo.

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said that WFP had earmarked $ 500,000 for each of Benin and Ghana to provide food aid to Togolese refugees who were arriving in those countries.

Jennifer Pagonis of the High Commissioner for Refugees said that the outflow of refugees sparked by the ongoing political crisis in Togo was still rising, with 18,500 refugees now reported by UNHCR in neighbouring Benin and Ghana. Some 10,000 arrivals had been recorded in Benin and about 8,500 in Ghana since Togo's election results were announced a week ago.

Polio

Christine McNab of the World Health Organization said available was a note on the latest importation of the polio virus in another country. Last week, WHO had talked about the importation of the polio virus in Yemen, and as of yesterday, there was confirmation of a case in West Java in Indonesia. After looking at the genetic sequencing of this virus, WHO expected that it had somehow made its way to Indonesia through the Red Sea area where there had been cases in Saudi Arabia and Sudan. The virus looked like the other viruses from that region which could be traced back to the West African outbreak which started when there was a cessation of polio vaccination activity in Nigeria.

Ms. McNab said WHO wished to point out that importations were normal in a disease eradication programme. The key was to ensure that countries had strong surveillance systems for polio, and when they found it, they had to act quickly to vaccinate children under five to stop the outbreak. This was already happening in Indonesia which was targeting around 5 million children in the larger region. WHO and countries needed to continue to look at the reservoirs of the polio virus where it was endemic like Nigeria and India. WHO also needed to raise $ 50 million between now and the end of July in order to undertake polio campaigns which had been planned for this year to vaccinate children in the reservoir countries and also in bordering areas to minimize the risk of the polio virus. An additional $ 200 million were required for next year's activities.

Other

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said the Executive Director of the World Food Programme, James Morris, would be in Geneva on Monday, 9 May to address the World Trade Organization on the relation between food aid and world agricultural trade. The WFP position on the Doha Round was that world agricultural trade should be more fair and equal for developing countries. Mr. Morris would try to show the Doha Round negotiators how important food aid was and how important it was to protect it. Mr. Morris would be speaking at WTO at 3 p.m. on Monday, and she suggested that he meet with journalists at 2 p.m. in Room III on the same day.

Jennifer Pagonis of the High Commissioner for Refugees said that in Kenya, a young boy was killed and three of his siblings were injured when their shelter collapsed in heavy rains that pounded north-eastern Kenya's Dadaab refugee camp, leaving more than 25,000 Somali refugees homeless. A majority of the refugees' shelters collapsed or were washed away by the torrential rains. UNHCR had assessed the damage and reported that many of the affected refugees were facing serious health and shelter conditions and required immediate help. In Chad, UNHCR and its non-governmental organization partners today opened the twelfth camp in eastern Chad for refugees from Sudan's Darfur region. The new camp would ease overcrowding in some of the other camps and allow relocation of refugees still along the border with Sudan.

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said IOM had opened the first of 51 satellite health clinics that it was building at the request of Indonesian authorities to meet the health needs of tsunami-affected Acehnese living in temporary living centres or barracks. And in Ukraine, "the Seventh Kafana", a hard-hitting play describing the plight of victims of human trafficking, was currently touring the southern regions of Ukraine where trafficking was particularly acute. The play was part of an IOM-EU funded programme to combat human trafficking in Ukraine.

In conclusion, the Director said the Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Team of Specialists on Forest Products Markets and Marketing had just established a new "Current Issues" website to exchange information at: http://www.rnr.lsu.edu/lfpdc/unece/.
A press release was available with further details.

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