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 on the Secretary-General's upcoming trip to Ethiopia and Sudan and his statement on the International Health Regulations 2005, Geneva activities, the World Health Assembly and other issues. Spokespersons for the World Health Organization, the World Trade Organization, the High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration participated in the briefing.

Shashi Tharoor, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, spoke to journalists about the Secretary-General's UN reform proposals (see seperate briefing note).


Secretary-General to Visit Ethiopia and Sudan

Mrs. Heuzé said the Secretary-General would be travelling to Africa this week, first to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and then to Sudan. In Addis Ababa, the Secretary-General would co-chair with the African Union (AU) Commission Chairman, Alpha Oumar Konaré, on Thursday, 26 May, a pledging conference aimed at increasing support to the AU Mission in Sudan. From there, the Secrety-General would travel to Khartoum, the Darfur region and then to Rumbek in southern Sudan. The Secretary-General was returning to Darfur to see first hand one of the world's worst humanitarian crises and the progress being made in meeting the people's needs on the ground. He was expected back at UN headquarters on 1 June.

Secretary-General's Statement on International Health Regulations 2005

Mrs. Heuzé said the Secretary-General has welcomed the decision of the World Health Assembly to adopt the International Health Regulations 2005, a measure that was among the recommendations in the Secretary-General's recent report, "In Larger Freedom". The Secretary-General said this decision marked a watershed for global public health and would help the World Health Organization to further advance its mandate -- the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health -- amid the challenges of the new millennium. Few challenges reflected the increasing interdependence among all States -- rich and poor, weak and strong -- so vividly as the spread of infectious disease, the Secretary-General said.

World Health Assembly

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said that the order of the day for the World Health Assembly today was available at the back of the room. There was no plenary today. Committee A would be discussing the ministerial summit on health research; scaling up treatment and care within a coordinated and comprehensive response to HIV/AIDS; social health insurance; eHealth; Antimicrobial resistance; and infant and young children nutrition. Committee B would be discussing public health problems caused by harmful use of alcohol; and achievement of health-related Millennium Development Goals.

Ms. Chaib said that on Wednesday, 25 May, at 2 p.m., there would be a press conference in Room III with WHO and UNICEF experts talking about the Global Immunization Strategy.

Available at the back of the room was a note for the press on World Blood Donor Day 2005 which would be celebrated on 14 June. The WHA agreed that World Blood Donor Day would be celebrated internationally on 14 June each year to promote voluntary blood donation globally. There were more details in the note.

The World Health Assembly would be concluding its work on Wednesday, 25 May. The exact time of closing session was not yet known. She noted that journalists were interested in a concluding briefing and it was agreed that one would be held.

Geneva Activities and Questions

Mrs. Heuzé said the World Trade Organization would be issuing new accreditation badges for journalists. WTO and the Information Service were basically using the same criteria for accreditation of journalists. However, she wanted to underline that journalists who were accredited to WTO but not to the UN could use their WTO badge to attend WTO briefings at the Palais des Nations, but not any other UN meetings or briefings.

Lucie Giraud of the World Trade Organization said that as Marie had indicated, the new WTO accreditation badges would come into effect starting tomorrow, Wednesday, 25 May. There were no major changes in the criteria for journalists. Those who already had accreditation for WTO were not affected, and those who only had UN accreditation badges could still use them to attend briefings at WTO. Those who would receive the new badges could use them to access the Palais des Nations but only to attend WTO events.

The Director said there would be a press conference at 11:30 a.m. today, right after the briefing, in Room III by the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Jan Egeland, on the humanitarian situation in a number of countries around the world.

There would be a press conference by the Director of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, Salvano Briceno, and Margaret Arnold of the Hazard Unit at the World Bank on how micro-finance could be used to reduce the impact of natural hazards on populations. It would be held at 11 a.m. on Thursday, 26 May.

Asked if there was news on when the new High Commissioner for Refugees would be named, the Director said this was imminent.

A journalist said it had been a few months that they had not spoken about the problem of spying at the Palais des Nations. What was happening with the investigation? Mrs. Heuzé said that as the investigation was still ongoing, she could not comment about it. Once it ended, its conclusions would be communicated.

Other

Lucie Giraud of the World Trade Organization said that on Thursday, 26 May, there would be a meeting of the General Council and this was when the decision to appoint Pascal Lamy as the Director-General of WTO would be confirmed. There would be a press conference at 1 p.m. by the Chairperson of the General Council at WTO. In response to a question, she said that as far as she knew, Mr. Lamy would not be giving a press conference.

Jennifer Pagonis of the High Commissioner for Refugees said that UNHCR was still concerned about the safety and well-being of a group of 540 Uzbeks, including 91 women and children, who arrived in Kyrgyzstan 10 days ago in the aftermath of the military crackdown on Andijan. The Uzbeks were in close proximity to the border which was always a concern for UNHCR, and there was no water or sanitation at the camp. UNHCR had provided them with emergency relief items and was asking the Kyrgyz authorities for permission to move them to a site further away from the border. The Government of Kyrgyzstan had given its assurances that the asylum seekers would not be forced back to Uzbekistan against their will. There were further details in the briefing notes.

Ms. Pagonis said that UNHCR had noted a marked upward trend in the weekly number of Rwandan refugees in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo wanting to return to Rwanda since the beginning of the year. The recent increase in returns coincided with an announcement on 31 March by the FDLR, a Rwandan rebel militia group that it would disarm and peacefully return to Rwanda. And on Togo, refugees were still fleeing Togo and crossing into neighbouring Benin, but in Ghana, the inflow had almost stopped.

Jean Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said that a voluntary repatriation of internally displaced persons from southern Afghanistan to northern Afghanistan had resumed. IOM planned to organize two return convoys a week from the camp to help some 2,000 families to return home this year. There were details about other items in the briefing notes.

Mrs. Heuzé said that there was a new press release available by the Economic Commission for Europe on the second meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention to be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on 25 to 27 May. The Convention concerned access to information, public participation in decision making and access to justice in environmental matters.
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