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 was attended by Spokespersons for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the UN Refugee Agency, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization, the World Trade Organization and the International Organization for Migration.

Human Rights Commission/Human Rights Council

Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said Jan Eliasson, the President of the General Assembly, had yesterday sent a letter to the Permanent Representatives and Observers to the United Nations in New York in which he outlined the latest developments concerning the draft resolution on the Human Rights Council. The letter had been sent to journalists by email and was also available in the press room. The Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights, Ambassador Manuel Rodriguez Cuadros of Peru, would give a press conference at noon on Monday, 13 March in Room III.

José Luis Díaz, Spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said he had been hoping to come with more clarity on what would happen next week at the opening of the Commission on Human Rights. But given what had happened last night in New York, and the postponement of the consideration of the draft on the Human Rights Council, that had thrown a little bit more uncertainty on the situation in Geneva. There was a meeting of the Expanded Bureau of the Commission, its steering committee, so to speak, in Geneva on Thursday in which they discussed various options on how the opening of the session would go. That meeting was held before the decision was taken in New York to postpone consideration of the draft on the Council. There would be another meeting of the Bureau of the Commission (its Chairperson, the Vice Chairpersons and the representatives of the regional groups) today at 4:30 p.m. to discuss their options at that point. Journalists had heard some reports about what was being envisaged for the opening of the session, and the option of the suspension of the session was still in the cards. But more would be known later this afternoon and as soon as he had more information, he would pass it on to journalists.

Asked if such a suspension had ever happened before, Mr. Díaz said that as far as he knew, this had not taken place before.

In response to another question, Mr. Díaz said that if there was to be a decision to suspend the meeting, the Chairperson would put it to the Commission and a decision would be made by the Commission. For the Commission to take a decision, it would have to open the session. So it would have to meet on Monday, even if it was to say that it was closing.

Secretary-General to Start Two-Week African Visit

Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said Secretary-General Kofi Annan would be travelling to Africa for a two-week visit. His first stop was Cape Town, South Africa, where he was scheduled to meet with President Thabo Mbeki and address a joint session of Parliament. While in South Africa, he was also expected to visit Johannesburg. The Secretary-General would then travel to Madagascar for an official visit, where he planned to hold meetings with President Marc Ravalomanana and other officials and receive an honorary doctorate from the National Academy of Arts, Letters and Sciences. An official visit to the Republic of Congo would follow. In Brazzaville, he was expected to meet with President Denis Sassou-Nguesso, who was also the current African Union President. The final scheduled leg of the Secretary-General’s trip was the Democratic Republic of the Congo. While in Kinshasa, he planned to meet with President Joseph Kabila and address the Congolese people. While in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Secretary-General was expected to travel outside the capital to Kisangani. He planned to depart this weekend and return two weeks later to New York.

Central Emergency Response Fund Launched in New York

Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Secretary-General yesterday officially launched the Central Emergency Response Fund. He was joined by the President of the General Assembly, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and a number of Ministers and other senior officials from Member States. The Secretary-General said that the Fund was not just about money, but actually made the statement that in a world of plenty, unnecessary and avoidable suffering was inexcusable. So far, 36 donors have pledged $ 256 million to the Central Emergency Response Fund, a key reform sought by the Secretary-General to ensure swifter responses to humanitarian emergencies, with adequate funds made available within three to four days as opposed to up to four months or more under current arrangements. The goal was to have £ 500 million. Because the Fund was entirely dependent on voluntary contributions, the UN Office for the Coordination Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) was urging more governments, the private sector and individuals to donate to eliminate delays in funding. The existing mechanism, the Central Emergency Revolving Fund, only had $50 million in resources. OCHA said that up to two thirds of the Fund could be allocated to rapid response with the other one third devoted to addressing under-funded emergencies.

The statements of the Secretary-General and the President of the General Assembly are available in the press room as well as the transcript of the stakeout of the Secretary-General on the subject.

Elizabeth Byrs of OCHA said the official launch of the Fund was very welcome and would help OCHA in Geneva which was mainly in charge of dealing with humanitarian aid for victims of natural disasters. This was a big step in the ongoing humanitarian reforms. OCHA hoped that the Fund of $ 500 million would enable it to respond within 72 hours of notification of a disaster. Usually, there was a gap between the launch of an appeal, the pledges by Governments and actually receiving the money.

New Documents and Geneva Activities

Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said available in the press room was the latest report of the Secretary-General on the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea in which he urged the parties to seize the unique opportunity and extend the necessary cooperation to the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission so that the expeditious demarcation of the common border could take place. There was also another new UN report available which said that the world had plenty of water, but mismanagement, limited resources and environmental changes meant that almost one-fifth of the planet’s population still lacked access to safe drinking water and 40 per cent did not have basic sanitation.

The next plenary of the Conference on Disarmament would be at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 14 March.

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination would today be
concluding its three-week session. A round-up press release would be issued later in English and in French, and the copies of the complete concluding observations and recommendations would also be made available.

A note to correspondents was available in the press room on the commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in Geneva next week.

Sudan and Chad

Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency said UNHCR would be relocating more than 16,000 Sudanese refugees from Am Nabak site in eastern Chad to a refugee camp further away from the border. This relocation would take place because of lack of water, proximity to the Sudanese border and a deteriorating security situation. Am Nabak was spontaneously established in June 2004 when thousands of Sudanese fleeing the violence in Darfur crossed the border seeking safety. In a separate development, UNHCR and the Chadian Government had signed an agreement to increase the security presence in and around all 12 camps in eastern Chad with the aim of improving security for refugees, local populations, humanitarian personnel and humanitarian good.

In response to a question on Darfur, Ms. Pagonis said the budget for Darfur had been cut by 44 per cent, but provisions had been made to ensure that if the situation changed, UNHCR would immediately be able to revise its appeal. There was a deteriorating security situation. Much of Darfur was now a phase four zone which limited the way the UN could work in that area. There was still essential staff in some parts to carry on operations. All UN staff from other agencies were working under the same security restrictions and this left a huge protection gap for the displaced of Darfur.

Asked about how the security situation was affecting the work of human rights officers in Darfur, José Luis Díaz, Spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the human rights officers, although they reported to the Office, were working under aegis of the UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan. Security restrictions on UN personnel applied to them as well.

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said that as a result of the shortage of funds for its Sudan appeal, WFP had been obliged to cut down its rations of vegetables, sugar and salt to 3.5 million persons in Darfur and the south of Sudan. The pulses rations would remain unchanged, but rations for vegetables, sugar and salt would be halved to ensure food aid would be received for a longer period. Vegetables were an important source of protein, and sugar was an important source of calories. The stock of these three items would be kept for vulnerable persons including children suffering from nutrition and pregnant or lactating women. At the end of February, WFP had only received 4 per cent of the $ 746 million appeal which it launched to feed 6 million persons in Sudan. After some recent contributions, WFP had received a total of $ 115 million, but a lot of money remained missing. The operations in Sudan involved reaching people in the most difficult to reach places in the world and it took between four and five months for a money contribution in hand to be translated into food in the hand of the needy people in Sudan. Also, the rainy season would be starting in May, which made roads impassable, so food stocks had to be prepositioned.

Asked how the insecurity in Darfur was affecting the distribution of food, Ms. Berthiaume said the insecurity was mostly in west Darfur, near El Geneina and the border with Chad where it was phase four security, and not in all parts. Even so, WFP had been allowed to continue its mission by the UN security office to distribute food to the population in need. Security was obviously a big problem. The situation in the parts of west Darfur which were under phase three was still very volatile. Fighting in some areas had caused a heavy influx of displaced persons. WFP had had trouble in recent weeks with trucks being looted and there were still 10 vehicles unaccounted for. So the situation was still very precarious.

Other

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said available was an information note on the Standing Committee on Nutrition which would meeting in Geneva from 13 to 17 March. Speaking on Monday, 13 March, would be Catherine Bertini, the Chair of the Committee, and Lee Jong-Wook, the Director-General of WHO and a number of other senior officials. The proceedings of the Committee were open to the press.

Ms. Chaib reminded journalists that there would be a briefing on avian influenza at 11 a.m.

Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency said in Pakistan, where winter was drawing to an end in the earthquake zone, the Pakistani authorities had announced that they would start closing relief camps. UNHCR had stressed to the authorities that returns must be informed and voluntary and that provisions had to be made for vulnerable people who could not return for the time being. Ms. Pagonis said that UNHCR deplored the forced return by the authorities of Kazakhstan of an asylum seeker from Kyrgyzstan.

Aurelia Blin of the World Trade Organization said there would be meetings of the Dispute Settlement Body on 14 and 17 March and briefings would follow each meeting. There would also be a meeting of the Intellectual Property Council on 14 March and Intellectual Property negotiations on 16 March.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said IOM had begun to help return dozens of female trafficking victims who sought refuge in Indonesia’s consulate in Penang, Malaysia and who wanted to go home. Last week, an IOM assessment completed in cooperation with Indonesian consular officials in Penang revealed that 47 women who had been working as domestic helpers in Malaysia were victims of trafficking under current internationally regarded standards. IOM had also begun assessing the cases of a further 20 Indonesian women who arrived at the consulate in the past few days. In Colombia, IOM Colombia and the Ricky Martin Foundation, with funding from the Dutch Embassy in Bogotá, had launched a counter trafficking information campaign to warn potential Colombian migrants to be on the lookout for unscrupulous traffickers whose earnings thrived on broken dreams.

Mr. Chauzy said in Ecuador, cooperation agreements have been signed recently between IOM and the Ecuadorian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Institute of the Child and the Family and the National Police and the Specialized Department for Children and Adolescents, to work together in the fight against human trafficking. The agreements were endorsed by the First Lady, who participated as a "witness of honour" in the signing of the documents. And in Belgium, a two-day conference to promote better cooperation and synergies between migration and development actors would take place on 15-16 March in Brussels.