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 UN statements condemning the terrorist bombings in Jordan and the latest suicide bombing in Iraq; the upcoming visit to Geneva by the President of the General Assembly, Geneva meetings, humanitarian aid to victims of the South Asia Earthquake, polio in West and Central Africa, and other issues. Spokespersons for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Organization for Migration, the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Health Organization, the International Labour Office, the World Food Programme and UNAIDS participated in the briefing.

UN Statements Condemn Bombings in Jordan and Iraq

Mrs. Heuzé said Secretary-General Kofi Annan, had condemned the bombing in Amman, Jordan, and had sent his condolences to the families of the bereaved and to the people and government of Jordan. The Secretary-General had arrived this morning in Amman. He was scheduled to meet with the Foreign Minister of Jordan and then hold a press conference, to be followed by an audience with King Abdullah. The Secretary-General would also meet with members of the UN team in Amman later in the day. The Secretary-General, who had postponed his trip to Jordan in the aftermath of the bombings for a day, would express his support and solidarity to the people of Jordan.

The Secretary-General had also strongly condemned the latest suicide bombing that took place yesterday in the centre of Baghdad, in which more than 30 people were killed and many more wounded.

The Security Council had adopted a Presidential statement condemning in the strongest terms the terrorist bombings that took place in Amman, Jordan.

Jan Eliasson, President of the sixtieth session of the General Assembly, had also paid tribute to all those affected by the abhorrent terrorist attacks on three hotels in Amman, and had offered on behalf of the General Assembly deepest sympathy to the people and Government of Jordan.

President of the General Assembly to Visit Geneva

Mrs. Heuzé said the President of the General Assembly would visit Geneva from 21 to 23 November to hold consultations on the reform of the United Nations, and in particular the Human Rights Council. This was an important visit as the President of the General Assembly rarely came to Geneva for consultations. Mr. Eliasson would be holding consultations with Member States, representatives of the United Nations system, non-governmental organizations and inter-governmental organizations. She would have further details about his visit next week and a note to correspondents with his programme would be issued.

Mr. Eliasson would hold a press conference at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, 23 November in Room III after he concluded his consultations and shortly before he flew back to New York.

David Chikvaidze, Media Liaison for the Commission on Human Rights and the Treaty Bodies, said the Expanded Bureau of the sixty-first session of the Commission on Human Rights held its ninth pre-sessional meeting on 1 November and the main issue on the agenda was the informal consultations to be held in Geneva on the establishment of the Human Rights Council and transitional arrangements.

The consultations would be held on Tuesday, 22 November in conference room XVII from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Mr. Chikvaidze said. The consultations were public and journalists could attend the meeting. Pursuant to the practice of previous informal consultations which were held on 20 June 2005, all participants of the Commission on Human Rights would be able to attend and participate in the informal consultations - this included Member States and all observers without distinction. Speaking time limits would not be imposed, but speakers would be encouraged to be as brief as possible in order to allow as many participants to speak as possible and to keep the interactive part of the dialogue.

According to the programme of work, as proposed by the President of the General Assembly and the two co-Chairs, the Ambassadors of South Africa and Panama, the meeting would consist of a briefing by them on the ongoing process of negotiations in New York regarding the modalities of the establishment of the Human Rights Council, and in particular on the transitional arrangements. An inter-active discussion would follow, with the possibility for the participants to make comments, put forward proposals and pose questions to the President and the co-Chairs. No distribution of documents was envisaged unless the President decided to do so. There was also no formal outcome of the meeting envisaged. However, the Secretariat would prepare an informal summary of the consultations just for the record.

Mr. Chikvaidze said that in the afternoon of 22 November, there would be two meetings between the President of the General Assembly and non-governmental organizations. The first meeting would be behind closed doors, and the following one would be open to the public. On Monday, 21 November, the two co-Chairs would hold closed consultations with various regional groups.

Geneva Meetings

Mrs. Heuzé said the Information Service was producing in English and in French press releases on the meetings of the two ongoing human rights committees, the Committee against Torture and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Today, the Committee against Torture was starting its review of the report of Ecuador and concluding its consideration of the report of Sri Lanka. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was starting its consideration of the report of Uzbekistan.

She reminded journalists that available in the press room was a list of all the UN meetings being held in Geneva and elsewhere until the end of the year.

Humanitarian Aid to Victims of South Asia Earthquake

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said an IOM team airlifted by helicopter into the southern Neelum valley on Tuesday had distributed three and a half tons of building materials to construct 350 improvised shelters in seven villages. The operation, known as "Winter Race", was part of a broader plan to airlift IOM, Islamic Relief and IFRC teams into isolated villages to assess earthquake damage and deliver 10,000 shelter repair kits to earthquake victims during November.

Ron Redmond of the Office of the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees said freezing rains in northern Pakistan were speeding up the race against winter and disease outbreaks, especially in the many relief camps that had sprung up in earthquake-hit areas. Temperatures dipped overnight because of the rain, which turned some quake-hit areas into fields of mud. The need to improve water and sanitation had never been more urgent, with 300 cases of acute watery diarrhea reported by WHO in a crowded spontaneous camp in Muzaffarabad. Currently, there were 21 organized camps for more than 32,000 people set up by the Pakistan Government with technical support from UNHCR and its partners, as well as hundreds of spontaneous settlements. Meanwhile, winter supplies continued to arrive in Pakistan from UNHCR's stocks worldwide.

In response to a question about the health situation of the victims of the earthquake who lived in camps, Ian Simpson of the World Health Organization said that until the results of the tests were available, what was causing the outbreak of diarrhea would not be known. It was possible that it was cholera, but there was no point in speculating until the results of the tests were available. There had also been vaccination campaigns against measles, but the main measures being taken against diarheal disease were to try to improve the water supply and sanitation.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said 300,000 children had been vaccinated against measles by UNICEF and its partner agencies. Concerning the water and sanitation situation, in Muzaffarabad, the water and sanitation system had been 90 per cent restored with the help of UNICEF, and there were also mobile units available.

Polio in West and Central Africa

Ian Simpson of the World Health Organization said WHO had issued a statement yesterday concerning polio in West and Central Africa, and the excellent news that transmission had stopped in 10 countries in that area which previously had been polio-free and where polio had been re-introduced. That work was ongoing and there was a huge vaccination campaign across 28 African countries beginning today, particularly focused on Nigeria and the countries around it.

Mr. Simpson said available shortly would be a statement relating to the safety of immunization delivery. Progress was being made in countries in some areas in particular, related to auto-destruct or to destabilize syringes, the immunization-related waste and improvement in getting rid of the waste which could produce serious injury, and monitoring of adverse events and problems relating to immunization.

WHO would also be putting out a statement later in the day related to World Diabetes Day on Monday, 14 November, Mr. Simpson said.

Human Rights

José Luis Díaz, Spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, said that in a statement to be issued shortly, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Belarus, Adrian Severin, would urge the Government of Belarus to take all necessary measures in order to clarify the murder of two journalists in Minsk over the past year. One of them had been killed in October last year and the second was killed in October this year, and no light had been shed on the events that led to their deaths. Mr. Severin was appealing for an investigation, and urged the Government of Belarus to put an end to what he called the systematic harassment and persecution of non-State media, and to take all necessary steps to secure the right to freedom of opinion and expression in Belarus. The full statement would be sent out shortly.

Other

Corinne Perthuis of the International Labour Office said ILO's Administrative Council for November would conclude on Thursday, 17 November, and it was on that day that the Council would take up the situation in Myanmar in relation to the ILO convention on forced labour. The meeting was public and journalists were welcome to attend. There would also be a roundtable on the spiritual and philosophical dimension of decent work. Three panellists representing Christianity, Hinduism and Islam would speak on this issue on Wednesday, 14 November at ILO at 6:30 p.m. A note with further details was available.

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said Myanmar was listed as the world's second largest producer of opium after Afghanistan, and 80 per cent of the production of opium in Myanmar was carried out in the State of Chan, otherwise known as the golden triangle. The population in this mountain region was dependent on the harvesting of poppies for its livelihood. So when the Government and the local authorities decided to enforce their ban of planting poppies, this had created problems for the population and a situation of food insecurity for 80,000 families or around two million persons. Parents could also no longer afford to send their children to school. The international community had to help this population find other alternatives, but the resources available were not adequate. For now, WFP was providing food aid to some 347,000 vulnerable persons in the affected area. WFP had appealed for $ 8 million for its operation in Myanmar, but had only received $ 3 million.

Ron Redmond of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said some 155,000 Congolese refugees in camps in Tanzania would now have the opportunity to go home after UNHCR had officially launched this week a new reparation operation in Africa. A group of refugees carrying the flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo had boarded the ferry for the overnight journey. The reparations would continue with a maximum of 500 refugees sailing every Wednesday.

Mr. Redmond said the organized repatriation of the first of hundreds of thousands of southern Sudanese refugees from neighbouring countries were expected to start before the end of November. UNHCR was strengthening its presence in the region and had organized the first "go and see" visit this week for journalists who had been staying in the Central African Republic. UNHCR's operation in South Sudan still remained substantially under-funded, with only $ 39 million out of the $ 76.3 million needed.

Dominique de Santis of UNAIDS said the new joint UNAIDS/WHO report "AIDS Epidemic Update 2005" would be launched on Monday, 21 November. The main press launch would take place in New Delhi this year, and there would be side launches in 19 cities worldwide, including in Geneva. There would be a press conference at 10:30 a.m. Geneva time on 21 November in Salle III of the Palais des Nations. The report featured updated global and regional estimates on HIV and AIDS and new trends in the epidemic's evolution. There was also a special section on HIV prevention. The report would be available under embargo on Friday, 18 November. The press kits would be available on the day of the launch.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said the IOM office in Chisinuau had launched an 18-month project to help the Moldovan Government develop policies to better manage labour migration and combat trafficking in human beings. In Serbia and Montenegro, the IOM office in Belgrade was launching a new one-year programme to provide voluntary return assistance to irregular migrations who found themselves stranded and in distress whilst trying to reach Western Europe.

On behalf of Jean-Michel Jakobowicz of UNECE, Marie Heuzé said that on 14 November a joint press release would be issued simultaneously by UNECE and FAO on the “Global Forest Resources Assessment” with a particular focus on forests in Europe.