REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Office at Geneva, chaired the briefing which also heard from Spokespersons for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, the World Meteorological Organization, the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, the International Organization for Migration, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, UNAIDS, the United Nations Development Programme and the International Labour Organization.
Secretary-General’s Statements to Non-Aligned Movement and on Lebanon
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said available in the press room was the statement of the Secretary-General which was delivered on his behalf yesterday to the Non-Aligned Movement Coordinating Bureau Ministerial Meeting in Putra Jaya, Malaysia. In the message, the Secretary-General said that the United Nations worked to realize the World Summit's commitments, and he counted on the support of non-aligned countries in attaining these goals, including changes in the working practices in the Secretariat.
Also available was the Secretary-General’s statement on Lebanon in which he expressed concern at the serious clashes across the Blue Line on Sunday, which the United Nations was continuing to investigate. The Secretary-General called on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and respect fully the Blue Line. He particularly urged the Government of Lebanon to make every effort to exercise its control over the use of force from its territory.
Director-General of UNOG in Brussels
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, was in Brussels today where he would deliver a statement to the annual Security Conference of the Security and Defence Agenda on the theme of "Protecting Europe - Policies for Enhancing Security in the EU". In his statement, the Director-General noted that globalization brings with it new threats as well as benefits, which affected everyone. The United Nations and regional organizations were closely cooperating to address these common security challenges. He said the European Union had become an important partner for the United Nations, not only in Europe, but also in other parts of the world.
The Director-General’s statement was available in the press room but was under embargo until 4 p.m. Geneva time.
Geneva Activities
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said open-ended information consultations on preparations for the first session of the Human Rights Council were being held today in Room XVIII from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The consultations were open. The first session of the Council would open on 19 June.
The Conference on Disarmament would meet at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 1 June under the Presidency of Ambassador Valery Loshchinin of the Russian Federation. The Conference would be starting its thematic debate on the issue of the prevention of an arms race in outer space.
The Committee on the Rights of the Child was meeting in private this week at the Palais Wilson. The Committee would meet in public on Friday, 2 June to issue its observations and recommendations on the reports which it has considered this session and to close the session. The Information Service would make available these comments as soon as they were released.
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that this year’s International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers would be commemorated on Thursday, 1 June. At 3 p.m., the Director-General, Mr. Ordzhonikidze, would participate in a wreath laying and flag raising ceremony at the UN Memorial in the Ariana Park at 3 p.m. He would then open a round-table discussion in Room III. The International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers was proclaimed by the General Assembly in 2002 to pay tribute to all men and women who had served and continued to serve in United Nations peacekeeping operations for their high level of professionalism, dedication and courage, and to honour the memory of those who had lost their lives in the cause of peace.
The latest peacekeeper casualty, a Nepalese soldier, died on 28 May in fighting with armed militias in Tsupu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, bringing to 33 the number of peacekeepers who had lost their lives in 2006. Last year, 126 peacekeepers had lost their lives, the bloodiest year ever for peacekeepers. Available was the message of the Secretary-General on the Day, an advisory on the commemoration, and a press release from the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the death of the peacekeeper.
Earthquake in Indonesia
Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said a meeting of the UN and its humanitarian partners was held in Geneva yesterday to discuss coordination of the response to the earthquake in Indonesia which so far had been good and efficient in reaching the victims, contrary to some criticism. Most of the humanitarian actors had already been on the ground as a part of other humanitarian projects in the country. Personnel, equipment and stocks had been diverted to the earthquake hit area. It had also been stressed at this meeting that these stocks had to be replenished quickly. The priority at this point was drinking water and shelter, followed by food. The Government had called for assistance in money and in kind. A second meeting had followed with representatives of the Permanent Missions of the donor countries in Geneva. Around 22 countries had responded favourably to the idea of donating money to the victims of the earthquake. Towards the end of the week, an appeal would be launched, after the main assessment for needs would be completed. The Emergency Response Action Plan was now being prepared. An internal OCHA task force would be meeting daily in Geneva and it was so far satisfied with the quick response. The latest situation report on the earthquake was available as was a press release.
Ms. Byrs said an air bridge had been opened from the airport in Jakarta to the airport in Yogyakarta to transport assistance in Hercules C130 aircrafts. Flights were also flying to Solo airport which was the closest to the affected areas. Yesterday, OCHA had appealed for three field hospitals and it had had responses for four field hospitals from Qatar, Singapore, the United States and China.
In response to a question on whether things were under control, Ms. Byrs said the response had been efficient and rapid because most of the actors were already on the ground for other in-country operations. The situation was under control. The Indonesian Government and Army had done a lot since the earthquake struck, and cooperation between them and the humanitarian community was very good and efficient. The problems now included communications, storage and congestion of airports, the usual logistics problems.
Damien Personnaz of the United Nations Children’s Fund said UNICEF already had supplies in Medan, Jakarta and Yogyakarta and had been able to respond quickly to transport emergency aid to the affected areas. Two press releases had already been issued. UNICEF had already distributed aid worth $1.5 million. Around 40 per cent of the affected population were under 18 years. The main priority for UNICEF was clean water and sanitation facilities and it was distributing drinking water and health kits among other things. Child centre tents had also been set up. In Bantul, 40 primary schools, 3 secondary schools and 50 kindergartens had been damaged.
Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said a press release had been issued late yesterday on the health situation in the earthquake affected areas. At least one in every 6 hospitals in the affected areas had been destroyed, and the remaining hospitals were inundated with casualties. WHO had sent personnel to the affected area and others were in Jakarta on their way. WHO had sent vehicles loaded with medicines and communication equipment as well as emergency health kits. In these kind of emergencies, fears always rose concerning diarrhoeal diseases and WHO had put in place a monitoring system to detect any such cases.
Simon Pluess of the World Food Programme said after rapid mobilization of WFP’s teams, food aid was being distributed in the villages affected by the earthquake. By yesterday evening, three days after the earthquake had struck, some 70 tons of high energy biscuits and 75 tons of noodles had been moved to the affected areas. The coordination was always difficult at the beginning of a crisis and more needed to be done. At this point, WFP needed more non-governmental organizations on the ground to help with the distribution. WFP’s assessment teams on the ground figured that around 100,000 persons had been directly affected by the earthquake and may require food aid for the next two to three months. The markets in Bantul and Klaten were still closed. Lack of storage space was a serious problem and WFP was today flying in 10 mobile warehouses.
Mark Oliver of the World Meteorological Organization said there had been a considerable amount of rain over the past few days throughout the earthquake region. WMO had been working with the Indonesian meteorological service to provide a seven-day forecast for the earthquake zone.
Brigitte Leoni for the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) said this latest natural disaster had shown once again that children were the most vulnerable in such a disaster and that the number of deaths and casualties could be reduced if the Government increased preparedness in areas prone to natural disasters. Some 80 percent of the houses in the affected areas had been destroyed and ISDR’s experience in Nepal, Algeria and Iran showed that fortifying only 10 per cent of a building against earthquakes could prevent its collapse and save many lives. This was a priority for all countries which were vulnerable to natural disasters.
Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said IOM had loaded a dozen trucks in Surakatra, Indonesia with relief supplies provided by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies for earthquake survivors in locations around Central Java Province and Yogyakarta. Transportation and logistics operations would also be bolstered by the arrival of additional IOM staff. IOM’s medical team reported that 12 of 26 district health centres in Bantul were severely damaged and the remaining health facilities were struggling to cope with patients.
Anna Nelson of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said a press release had been issued this morning which said that since the earthquake had struck, the Indonesian Red Cross and the International Federation had been providing humanitarian assistance to survivors and medical aid to the injured. The Indonesian Red Cross had treated more than 4,000 patients. A field hospital was now operational in Bantul. A water and sanitation unit was on its way and should arrive within the next two days. Some 2,000 tents had arrived in the earthquake zone and another 10,000 were on their way. On Saturday, the International Federation had launched a preliminary appeal for 12 million Swiss francs and this was expected to be revised towards the end of this week.
John English of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said at the moment, the International Federation had three types of these emergency response units on their way to Indonesia. An emergency response unit was a pre-defined package of people and equipment that did a certain job. These units could deal with health, basic healthcare units, logistics, relief, telecommunication and various types of situations to deal with water issues. Their main job was to provide immediate capacity to the national Red Cross or Red Crescent society. A telecommunications unit was on its way to Indonesia from Denmark. A logistics unit and a unit which would assist with the distribution of tents were already on the ground.
Other
Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization reminded journalists there would be a press conference at 11:30 a.m. today in Room III on World No Tobacco Day which was commemorated on 31 May. The theme of the Day this year was “Tobacco, deadly in any form or disguise”. A press kit would be released. There was another press conference at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 1 June, on a WHO study on the health risks of female genital mutilation.
Concerning the acceleration of the procedure to elect the next Director-General of the World Health Organization, Ms. Chaib said if WHO went by the book, it would take up to one year to elect a new Director-General of WHO. WHO was considering accelerating the procedure, and a note by the Secretariat was available which explained what had to be done. The 34 Member States of the Executive Board of WHO spent most of yesterday discussing this issue. The draft resolution which still had to be approved by the Executive Board sometime today could mean that a new Director-General could be elected by 9 November. [It was later announced that WHO’s Executive Board had decided on a November timetable for electing a new Director-General for the Organization. Specifically, the Board had decided by resolution that the Board would nominate a new Director-General in a meeting from 6-8 November. This meeting would be followed by a one-day special session of the World Health Assembly on 9 November, which would vote to appoint the new Director-General.]
Maria Cheng of the World Health Organization, responding to a question on avian flu in Indonesia, said none of the new cases in Indonesia which were confirmed yesterday were connected to the cluster in northern Sumatra. They were all in different regions and they appeared to be isolated sporadic cases of human H5N1. None of these cases showed that the virus had changed in any way.
Dominique de Santis of UNAIDS said copies of the Global AIDS report and other related documents were available in the press room under embargo until 3 p.m. GMT. The report was being launched in New York today on the eve of the high-level meeting on AIDS at the General Assembly which would be held from 31 May to 2 June.
Ms. de Santis said the twenty-fifth anniversary of AIDS would be commemorated on 5 June and available was a fact sheet which marked the key milestones over the past 25 years.
Claire Blenkinsop of the United Nations Development Programme said on 7 June, the Government of Switzerland and UNDP would be hosting a ministerial summit on armed violence and development. There would be a briefing on Wednesday, 31 May, in Room III to talk about the summit.
Hans Von Rohland of the International Labour Organization reminded journalists that the ninety-fifth International Labour Conference would be opening on Tuesday, 31 May, at the Palais des Nations. Available was a press release on the issues which would be before the Conference which ranged from changing patterns in the world of work to child labour, occupational safety and health, the employment relationship, labour inspection and the labour situation in Myanmar and other countries. The two eminent guest speakers were the President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who would speak on 7 June, and the President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias Sanchez, who would address the Conference on 8 June.
Ron Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency said UNHCR was extremely concerned about the security situation in the Colombian department of Narino, which had seen a marked increase in violence in the past two weeks. By Saturday, 15 bodies had arrived in Policarpa from surrounding villages. Five of them were civilians killed during fighting between irregular armed groups in the neighbouring village of Madrigal. The other 10 had been murdered in a manner consistent with murders committed by irregular armed groups. In this extremely tense environment, UNHCR had reluctantly agreed to accompany the return to the Policarpa region on Friday of more than 2,200 displaced people who insisted that they wanted to go home despite UNHCR urging them not to do so. UNHCR remained extremely concerned about the medium and long term protection of those who had returned to northern Narino. UNHCR was also worried about amendments to the Kyrgyz refugee law.
Simon Pluess of the World Food Programme said in Timor-Leste, WFP planned to provide rice and high-energy biscuits to some 100,000 persons who had been displaced by the current fighting in Dili, but the situation was very fluid on the ground and the needs could change rapidly. WFP’s operations were currently suspended due to the fighting. WFP only had food stocks enough for 13 days. It was planning an airlift in the coming days if donors responded to an appeal. After a Government warehouse was looted on 28 May, WFP’s main warehouse had been looted last night in the capital. An estimated 18 tons of food out of 2,000 tons of food had been looted and WFP hoped it would be able to contain the situation.