REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which provided information about the Annual Report of the Secretary-General, the upcoming visit to China of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the increase in cases of tuberculosis in Africa, the situations in Niger, Uruguay, Chad, and Sudan, in particular with regard to refugees in camps and food aid. Speaking today were the representatives of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, UNCTAD, UNDP, WHO, OCHA, UNHCR, WFP and the IOM. The representative of the WMO was also present, but made no statement.

Secretary General

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that the Annual Report of the Secretary-General on the Activities of the United Nations Organization was available on the website of the General Assembly.

The Secretary-General had yesterday named Mr. Filippo Grandi of Italy as Deputy Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Mr. Grandi had been serving since May 2004 as the Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Representative at the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan, and would now be the deputy of Ms. Karen Abozayd, who was nominated last June as the General Commissioner of UNRWA.

Ms. Michelle Lee of China was also appointed to be the Coordinator of the United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials, effective 1 September 2005.

Activities in Geneva

Yesterday the plenary session of the Conference on Disarmament was held, and the press release was available. From Monday, 29 August to 31 December 2005, the Presidency of the Conference would be held by Peru, in the person of his Excellency Manuel Rodriguez-Cuadros. On Monday 29 August, the fifth session of the Working Group of Experts on Persons of African Descent would be held. All sessions are public and will take place in Room XXI. Information was available in the Press Room, including the programme of work, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said.

Human Rights

Jose Luis Diaz, speaking for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the High Commissioner Louise Arbour would be visiting China from 29 August to 2 September. It would be her first visit, but the eighth by a High Commissioner for Human Rights to China. Much of the focus of the visit would be on formalizing the continuation of a program of technical cooperation with China, and the focus of that technical cooperation at this stage was to help China to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and to help it implement recommendations made by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights subsequent to the presentation of China’s report to that body a few weeks ago.

During her visit, Mr. Diaz said, the High Commissioner would also take part in a commemoration of the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing ten years ago and would be opening the Thirteenth Annual Workshop on the Asia-Pacific Framework for Regional Cooperation in Human Rights. There had been an ongoing cooperation program with China which had kicked off in 1998 when High Commissioner Mary Robinson had visited China, and that agreement was then formalized in 2000, and had been renewed periodically since. This was the latest stage in that program.

Mr. Diaz also made an announcement on behalf of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, saying that 30 August would be the International Day of the Disappeared. The Group would be sending out a statement later today in which it said it was deeply concerned that the phenomenon of enforced disappearances persisted around the world. Since its inception in 1980, the Group had transmitted some 50’000 individual cases of enforced disappearances to Governments in more than 90 countries, and said that this was only the tip of the iceberg, and was concerned about the under-reporting of cases, and cited the example of Colombia.

Other

Erica Meltzer of UNCTAD said the Trade and Development Report 2005 would be launched next Friday, 2 September at 1700 GMT, until which time it was under embargo. The report examined global economic interdependence, particularly the growing role of China and India, which were becoming increasingly engines of growth for the world economy. However, there were current-account imbalances in the developed world that had to be examined, which imbalances could result in a set-back in the world economy, and this risk was even higher given the continuing instability in commodity prices.

The first press conference by Dr. Supachai, who joins UNCTAD as its Secretary-General on 1 September, will be held at 2.30 p.m. in Geneva, at which time he will also launch the report, Ms. Meltzer said. The main launch of the Report would be in Geneva, but it would be launched in many other cities also.

Jean Fabre of UNDP said the 2005 Human Development Report would be presented on Friday 2 September at 11:30 a.m. This presentation would take place under embargo. The official launch would be in New York on 7 September at 10 a.m. The theme of the report was the state of the world with regards to human development, but the analytical segment focused on international cooperation and three essential aspects: aid, trade, and security.

Christine McNab, speaking for the WHO, said a press release would shortly be available on tuberculosis, which had been declared last night an emergency in Africa where, despite stabilizing in other regions, it continued to rise. Combined with HIV/AIDS, the infection was deadly. This would generate more support for tuberculosis control in Africa, and Governments would be committed to providing more people and funding for control, and the international community would be compelled to provide more funding and support. The Stop Tuberculosis Partnership, which was housed at the WHO, was calling for 2.2 billion USD in new funding for control in Africa.

Regarding Niger, she said, there were new outbreaks of cholera over the last week in the Southern area of Niger, near the border with Nigeria, with a fairly high fatality rate. A WHO team would be going to the region on Sunday to investigate the matter further. A mass polio immunization would be taking place in Indonesia, which would seek to immunize about 24 million children under five. The campaign was critical, as several cases had been seen over the last weeks. In response to a question whether there was an integrated strategy between the approach to HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, she responded positively, saying that the co-infection issue was being addressed more and more, and it was perceived as a corner-stone of the treatment of both illnesses.

Speaking for the Office of Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs, Elizabeth Byrs said the South and Eastern parts of Uruguay had been hit yesterday by an unusual and unexpected storm with heavy rain and hurricane-force winds. There were seven dead, 12 wounded, and hundreds evacuated, but this was a provisional estimate. It had caused serious damage in those areas of the country where close to 70 per cent of the population lived. Thousands of homes had lost their roofs, and close to 1,000 families had no access to drinking water, with close to 20,000 families having neither electricity, nor water. The agricultural sector was seriously affected, although figures were not currently available. The Government had not asked for international aid, but the United Nations Resident Coordinator was in close contact with the National Emergency Committee.

Ron Redmond, for UNHCR, said it had begun moving some of the thousands of refugees newly-arrived in southern Chad from the neighbouring Central African Republic to the Amboko refugee settlement from the area where they had been staying since their arrival. This relocation was necessary in order to provide them with better assistance. The transfer was expected to take two weeks. Over the past two weeks, some 4,000 people had crossed the border into Chad, and this was the second major wave of Central African Republic refugees to south Chad this year. The high level of insecurity prevailing along the Chad/CAR border triggered re-activation last week of the joint protocol between Chad and the CAR on cross-border security. There were now more than 35,000 refugees from that country in the area, and Chad also played host to more than 200,000 Sudanese refugees from the Darfur region. High Commissioner Antonio Guterres was in the capital of Chad, N’Djamena, today, to meet the President and senior Government officials as he continued his ten-day visit to oversee UNHCR’s operations in the Sudan/Chad region.

Christiane Berthiaume, speaking for the World Food Program, said there was concern for the forgotten situation of 90,000 Eritrean and Ethiopian refugees in Sudan, who were completely dependent on food aid from the WFP. There was a need for 9.4 million USD to feed them until the end of the current operation in 2006. The total appeal had been for 17.7 million USD, and 47 per cent of this appeal for funds was still required. The levels of malnutrition among children of under five were alarming.

On the situation in Niger, there had been a logistical problem on bringing in food aid, but trucks were now coming into the country and were heading for distribution points. The Deputy Executive Director was in the country, and would be giving a press conference there today at 16:30. Regarding Tanzania, thanks to recent contributions, the WFP hoped that it would be able to give increased and improved rations to the 400,000 Burundian and Congolese refugees who were in camps in the eastern region of that country. Contributions in July and August had reached 11 million USD.

Jemini Pandya, speaking for the International Organization for Migration, said that yesterday the IOM and the American Red Cross had signed an agreement in which the latter would provide 20 million USD to the IOM to build 5,000 of its transnational shelter units in Banda, Aceh. This would provide shelter and housing for 35,000 people. It was part of an IOM shelter programme for tsunami victims. Regarding Sudan, the IOM had opened 12 info centres for IDPs in camps in Greater Khartoum who were thinking about going back to former homes. The centres would provide easily-accessible and up-to-date information on the return environment in Southern Sudan, on the availability and cost of local transportation and a variety of health issues. Next week a 2-day workshop would be held in Minsk, Belarus for CIS Member States on meeting migration challenges, in particular irregular migration issues, and this through the use of biometrics. Regarding child trafficking from Yemen to Saudi Arabia, the IOM had just finished a pilot training programme for border officials in collaboration with UNICEF.

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