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 a statement by the Secretary-General on Pakistan, three new reports by the Secretary-General on Somalia, Western Sahara and Sudan; UN Day commemoration events; the Asia earthquake and Geneva activities. Spokespersons for the World Health Organization, the International Organization for Migration, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Children's Fund, the World Food Programme, the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Telecommunications Union, the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development, the World Trade Organization, the International Labour Office and the World Meteorological Organization participated in the briefing.
Shashi Tharoor, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, addressed the briefing. (see separate summary).
Secretary-General's Statement on Pakistan
Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Secretary-General had urged an immediate and exceptional escalation of the global relief effort to support the work of the Government of Pakistan in dealing with the damage caused by the 8 October earthquake. An estimated three million men, women and children were homeless, many with no blankets or tents, which meant a second, massive wave of death would happen if efforts were not stepped up now, he said. The Secretary-General said that next week, on 26 October, he would attend the emergency donors’ conference in Geneva convened by the United Nations. “We expect results,” he said. “Our response will be no less than a measure of our humanity.” Copies of the remarks by the Secretary-General were available in the press room.
New Reports by the Secretary-General
Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Secretary-General had issued three new reports on Somalia, Western Sahara and Sudan. In his report on Sudan, the Secretary-General said that the resurgence of violence in Darfur was a source of serious concern and may threaten the success of peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria. He noted the Sudanese Government’s continued unwillingness or inability to restrain the armed tribal militia. Copies of the reports were available in the Documentation Centre.
UN Day Commemoration Events
Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said UN Day was commemorated on 24 October, and this year's commemoration events took a special significance as they marked the sixtieth anniversary of the UN. The messages of the Secretary-General and the President of the General Assembly on this occasion were available in the press room. On 24 October, the concert for UN Day would be held at Victoria Hall. The ceremony was open to the press and she had more information about this ceremony for journalists who were interested.
Geneva Activities
Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Human Rights Committee was continuing its work at the Palais Wilson. This morning, it would conclude its consideration of the fifth periodic report of Italy. On Wednesday, 26 October, the Committee would start its consideration of the second periodic report of Brazil.
The World Federation of United Nations Associations was today holding a one-day conference on "The United Nations and the Future" in Salle XIX. Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, had opened the conference, and Shashi Tharoor, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, was presently addressing the meeting.
Question
In response to a question about the report of Detlev Melhis into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Secretary-General had received the report yesterday and it would be sent to the Security Council today at which time it would become a public document. As soon as the report was available, copies would be put in the press room and it would be announced.
Aftermath of Earthquake in Asia
Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said that since 12 October, 10,000 persons had been treated by WHO in Muzafarabad and 3,000 surgical operations had been carried out. Vaccination campaigns against tetanus and measles had started in four locations. Shelter remained the main problem for all the agencies in the area, with shortages in tents and covers being reported. WHO and OXFAM had started an operation to clean hospitals. A note to journalists with further details would be forwarded shortly.
Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said an IOM team in the earthquake devastated northern town of Batagram in Pakistan was today taking delivery of nine tons of essential relief supplies donated by Japan, as it continued its cooperation with the Japanese Self Defense Force which had begun in earlier emergencies. The items were destined for the hard hit villages in the mountains north of Batagram and would be flown into the area by helicopters of the Japanese Self Defence Force and distributed by IOM in collaboration with various non-governmental organizations.
Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said
available at the back of the room was a note for the press on the South Asia UN flash appeal. To date, $ 57 million had been received in commitments and contributions, and there were $ 33 uncommitted pledges. This meant that the flash appeal for $ 312 million was now funded by 18 per cent. Jan Egeland, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and the Emergency Relief Coordinator, had met today in Brussels, with NATO Secretary General, Mr. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, and had addressed the NATO Council on the situation in Pakistan following the earthquake of 8 October 2005. "I had a very positive meeting with the NATO Council today. I thanked NATO and NATO members for what they have done in Pakistan, as well as for the airlift and helicopters provided for emergency operations in the country", Mr. Egeland said after the meeting. "NATO is planning to increase its operations further and will work closely with the Pakistan Government and the United Nations in this regard. Liaison officers at both the Headquarters and operational levels will be established, to ensure well coordinated activities to save as many lives as possible".
Damien Personnaz of the United Nations Children's Fund said according to the latest information, 10,000 schools had been destroyed by the earthquake, 8,000 in the North West Frontier and 2,000 in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. UNICEF had sent 200 education kits to the affected towns and cities.
Simon Pluess of the World Food Programme said WFP today urged donors to act much faster to finance with generous donations its operations in Pakistan. Given all the logistical obstacles to reach people who were desperately trying to survive, efforts could not afford to be blocked at the end by a lack of resources. The pipelines were practically empty and WFP needed cash and food to be able to buy locally and regionally. That way, it could get food quickly and cheaply. More and more people were started to flee the remote valleys and locations. At the same time, WFP and other agencies had finally succeeded in reaching more remote valleys in the earthquake-hit areas. Every day, some 50 tons of food were being shuttled into the disaster area, and tents and blankets were also being shuttled in.
Jennifer Pagonis of the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees said a massive NATO/UNHCR airlift for earthquake victims in South Asia was now in its third day and had so far delivered more than 60 tons of life-saving tents, blankets and other relief items to Pakistan. With help from the Turkish Government, the joint NATO/UNHCR airlift was rushing a total of 860 tons of UNHCR emergency materials over the next several days, using military planes from many NATO Member States. Separately, UNHCR had sent 10 additional planeloads of supplies to Pakistan from its stockpiles in Copenhagen, Dubai and Jordan. A senior team from Geneva headquarters was arriving today in Islamabad on a five-day mission to review the emergency response to date. Like other UN partners, UNHCR was in urgent need of funds for this operation. Of the $ 22 million it needed, it had so far received only $ 4 million. It had already spent some $ 6 million.
Sian Bowen of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said the Federation would be helping 500,000 persons. As the Federation had earlier predicted, over 40,000 persons were now known to have died. The Federation was concentrating on distributing relief, on health, and water and sanitation. The Pakistan Red Crescent continued to operate its relief operation. To date, it had carried 200 truckloads of materials to some of the affected areas, and it was now going from village to village to further assess needs. It had also handled 32 flights of over 800 tons of relief items, medical supplies and emergency equipment.
Other
Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said there would be a briefing at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, 26 October, on malaria. The briefing was to announce a new initiative to abolish malaria.
Dick Thompson of the World Health Organization, responding to a question on the crisis meeting on avian flu which would be held on 7 November, said this meeting was being co-sponsored by WHO, the World Bank, FAO and OIE. It would be open to the press and there would be daily press briefings. The purpose of the meeting was to review the current state of preparedness globally and to have input from the technical agencies. There had already been a series of meetings that had been held. The crisis might seem more intense now because birds in Europe had become infected, but the risk now was pretty much the same as it had been -- it was very low to humans, but they were worried about the transformation of the virus into a human pandemic strain.
Sarah Parks of the International Telecommunications Union reminded journalists that the World Summit on the Information Society would be beginning in Tunis on 16 November. There would be a resumed PrepCom 3 meeting starting 13 November, but the venue had not been set yet. For the Summit, around 11,000 delegates from Governments, UN agencies, private sector organizations, civil society and media, including more than 50 Heads of State, would be attending. In addition to the ongoing Internet governance discussions and the financing of the ITC development agenda, the launch of the $ 100 laptop which was being developed by the MIT Media Lab would be among the highlights.
Corinne Perthuis of the International Labour Office said she had already spoken to journalists about the tripartite meeting which would be held from 24 to 26 October at ILO on the consequences for employment of the end of the textile agreement. There would be a press conference on 24 October at 1 p.m. at ILO on this subject.
Catherine Sibut-Pinot of the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development said there would be a meeting of experts from 24 to 26 October on the new and dynamic sectors of international trade and how developing countries could enter these sectors. The meeting was public. There would be a press briefing on 24 October at 2 p.m. in Salle III
Josep Bosch of the World Trade Organization said the list of meetings of next week was available in the press room. They included dispute settlement negotiations on Monday, 24 October, and Saudi Arabia membership negotiations on Friday, 28 October. Concerning the avian flu, on WTO's website, there was now available a question and answer briefing on this question and what could be done in the WTO context considering the issue of patents for medicines. Director-General Pascal Lamy would meet on Monday with the Belgium Minister for Foreign Affairs. On 27 October, he would meet with Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York, and on 28 October, he would meet with the UN Chief Executives Board.
Sian Bowen of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said Hurricane Wilma was the strongest hurricane ever recorded, with winds nearing 280 kilometres an hour. At its current speed, Wilma would make landfall in Mexico at around 1 a.m. tonight Geneva time. There were seven countries on alert through the Federation's network: the United States, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica and Mexico. Thorough pre-preparedness and hopefully by evacuating the people in the line of the hurricane, many lives would be saved. There would be a press release issued later today about the Federation's pre-preparedness plan.
Simon Pluess of the World Food Programme said there would be a press release issued later today following preliminary results from the largest food security and nutritional assessment that had been carried out so far in Darfur. It showed that thanks to a massive humanitarian operation, malnutrition rates in Darfur had been cut by half since last year. These rates were now just below the emergency threshold. Global acute malnutrition among children under-five had dropped from 21. 8 per cent to 11.9 per cent. This assessment showed that humanitarian aid had been vital for the survival of millions of inhabitants in Darfur. It also showed that there was a very fragile balance and a need for continuing humanitarian support. Food, water, sanitation and health services still needed to be provided if the world did not want the situation to get worse again. The assessment had been conducted jointly by WFP, UNICEF, FAO, non-governmental organizations and the Government of Sudan.
Unfortunately, Mr. Pluess said, the increase of the violence and the insecurity in Darfur were once again threatening humanitarian work. WFP's plans now were to extend its help to rural communities and nomads who suffered from the shutting down of the local markets and economy. At the height of the lean season, during August and September, WFP had managed to feed up to 2.5 million persons each month in Darfur. The final results of the assessment would be available in one month's time.
Jennifer Pagonis said UNHCR's senior headquarters team which went to Morocco on 11 October met yesterday with Government officials who said UNHCR would have access to persons of concern there. Although this was primarily a migration issue involving many different actors, they had agreed that UNHCR had a role to play with the asylum seekers and the refugees among the larger flow of people.
Ms. Pagonis said High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres was scheduled to arrive in Japan on Monday, 24 October, for a three-day visit during which he would meet with senior Government officials, parliamentarians, non-governmental organizations and other. Japan was a key strategic partner in UNHCR's work for refugees around the world and it was also UNHCR's second largest donor, contributing
$ 93.2 million so far.
Mark Oliver of the World Meteorological Organization said there would be a press release later today from WMO on developments from the global telecommunications systems upgrade meeting which had been held earlier this week. The meeting had addressed final phases of installing the Indian Ocean's tsunami warning system. France had committed a sum of 1.5 million Euros towards the upgrade of the system in three countries out of the 13 countries in the Indian Ocean as part of the WMO action plan - Kenya, Madagascar and Tanzania. The United States had stated its intention to provide funding for upgrades, but there were no details on that yet.
Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said UNESCO was launching a report on illiteracy in London on 9 October and asked if there was interest in having a briefing in Geneva with the two authors of the report. It was agreed that interested journalists could obtain from her contact numbers for the authors.