REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Marie Heuzé, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which also heard from Spokespersons for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the UN Refugee Agency, the World Food Programme and the International Organization for Migration.

Activities of the Secretary-General

Ms. Heuzé said that yesterday the Secretary-General had been in Germany and had expressed his appreciation for the support provided by the European Union-led peacekeeping force (EUFOR) to the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in order to help provide secure conditions for the upcoming presidential elections, which would be held on 30 July. A summary of his statement was available in press room 1.

The appeal from the Secretary-General for urgent action to alleviate the desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza, as well as a statement by the United Nations Agencies working in the occupied Palestinian territory were also available in press room 1.

ECOSOC

Ms. Heuzé said that unfortunately the press conference with Mr. Ocampo, Under-Secretary-General, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, to introduce the World Economic Situation and Prospects as of mid-2006, scheduled for today, had had to be cancelled. However, yesterday an electronic version of the document had been distributed in English and French, as well as a press release. In the report, Mr. Ocampo said that moderation in still-strong global growth – slower than in the two previous years, and expected to continue to slacken during the second half of 2006 – reflected a number of downside factors. One was the continued overbalancing in global finances. The expected rise of the United States current account deficit to more than $900 billion in 2006 increased the chances of a sudden and sharp devaluation of an already weakened dollar and a significant slowdown of the U.S. economy, with collateral damage to the international economy. The report also found that developing countries as a whole continued to benefit from 7 per cent growth in world trade. Continued strong economic expansion in some large developing economies, particularly China, had continued to buttress demand for primary commodities.

Ms. Heuzé also wished to draw attention to the upcoming humanitarian affairs segment of the Economic and Social Council, which would be held from 14 to 19 July. In the context of that segment, UNIS would look to schedule related press encounters, including with Jan Egeland, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs.

Also in the framework of ECOSOC’s current session, as part of its debate on operational activities, tomorrow, Wednesday, 12 July, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. there would be a dialogue with executive heads of United Nations funds and programmes in which Kemal Dervis, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme,Ann Veneman, Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund, Thoraya Obaid, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund, and James Morris, Executive Director of the World Food Programme would participate. The dialogue would be held in Room XIX.

Human Rights

Ms. Heuzé recalled that the Human Rights Committee would consider the situation in the Central African Republic on Wednesday, 12 July, in the afternoon, and on Thursday, 13 July, in the morning, at the Palais Wilson.

José-Luis Diaz of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said that yesterday OHCHR had sent out a press release on the signing of an agreement between OHCHR and the Government of Togo for the opening of an Office in Lomé. The Office would be doing both human rights monitoring on the situation in that country and providing technical assistance to the authorities and civil society in Togo for the better promotion and protection of human rights.

Mr. Diaz said tomorrow OHCHR would be unveiling, with the Swatch group, a photo exhibition on human rights, illustrating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Journalists might recall that Swatch had released a special edition watch – the Number 19 – for the opening of the new Human Rights Council. The watch marked the occasion of the opening of the Council, on 19 June, as well as the 19th Article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on the freedom of expression. Nick Hayek Jr., CEO of the Swatch Group, and High Commissioner Louise Arbour would make addresses. In the back of the room were invitations for the event, to be held on 12 July at 12.30 p.m. at the Cité du Temps, Pont de la Machine 1. All were cordially invited.

Other

Damien Personnaz of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that UNICEF was launching a three-year, $150-million earthquake recovery plan in Pakistan. UNICEF would construct 500 permanent schools and around 70 permanent rural health centres in areas devastated by the October 2005 earthquake. The earthquake had destroyed 10,000 schools and the rebuilding task in that sector was enormous. UNICEF was grateful for the generosity of the donors and partners who had made the project possible, including the Netherlands, Canada, Australia, Norway and the European Union. A press release with more details was available in the back of the room.

William Spindler of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that the number of Afghans returning home from Pakistan this year had crossed the 100,000 mark. While the number of returns was less than for the same period in previous years, there had been an increase in the number of returnees with professional skills in areas such as engineering, medicine and education. Among returnees this year were 15,278 domestic workers, 1,248 carpet weavers, 357 education sector workers, 325 engineers and 115 medical workers. Others skilled workers included legal practitioners, masons, plumbers and agricultural and office workers – all much-needed expertise to rebuild Afghanistan. In all, more than 2.8 million Afghans had returned from Pakistan and more than 1.4 million from Iran since UNHCR started facilitating returns to Afghanistan in 2002. An estimated 2.6 million Afghans remain in Pakistan while more than 900,000 are believed to be still living in Iran.

Turning to the situation of refugees in Iraq, Mr. Spindler said that UNHCR was increasingly concerned about the health and well being of a group of 200 Iranian Kurds stranded on the Iraqi side of no man's land at the Iraq-Jordan border since early last year. The Kurds, demanding resettlement to a third country, had recently become more vocal, holding regular demonstrations expressing discontent with their present situation. Over the past two weeks, three refugees had started hunger strikes and their health had seriously deteriorated. While UNHCR had done all in its power to send assistance and medical care, the refugees had consistently refused any help, putting the life of the most vulnerable among them in serious danger. The refugees had also been moving towards the Jordanian part of no man's land, which has angered Jordanian border officials. Since last year, UNHCR had been offering the group relocation to Kawa settlement in northern Iraq, where some 1,300 Iranian Kurds currently received food and health care as well as education and other services from UNHCR. The group of 200 Iranian Kurds at the Iraq-Jordanian border, however, remained adamant. A press release with more details on both situations was available in English at the back of the room.

Responding to questions, Mr. Spindler said that he believed most of the Iranian Kurds wanted to go to the United States. But it was unlikely the Kurds would qualify for resettlement in a third country, as they had other options in northern Iraq. It was UNHCR’s position that the group had to be more realistic. There were only 20 countries currently that regularly received people for resettlement, but there were quotas, very strict conditions, and the number of people seeking resettlement was many, many times greater than the quotas.

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme (WFP) said that on Thursday WFP was launching the first edition of its new World Hunger Series, an annual publication that would focus on hunger and practical strategies to end it. The inaugural edition examined the relationship between hunger and learning. The publication was undertaken by WFP in cooperation with Stanford University Press. At the back of the room copies of the report as well as an overview and a press release, in English, were available. The new publication would be presented by Ms. Sheila Sisulu, Deputy Director of WFP, on Thursday, 13 July at 11.30 a.m. in Room III. All information materials provided to journalists were under embargo until the conference was over. Press releases in French and Spanish would be available at the conference.

Ms. Berthiaume said that journalists would receive a press release on the situation in Angola in the course of the day. The situation was deteriorating there owing to the steady erosion in the past year of funds from donor countries. If there were no new contributions soon, in September WFP would have to close the doors on its operation in that country. WFP was providing food aid to 711,000 persons and needed $11.6 million by the end of the year to keep going. Angola had been devastated by 30 years of war, which had destroyed its infrastructure. The Government had been working with WFP, and was contributing more and more financially to WFP programmes. They were currently working together on a school food programme to be completely underwritten by the Angolan Ministry of Education.

Finally, Ms. Berthiaume called attention to a joint fundraising event organized by WFP and the Geneva Online community, which was organizing a gala charity event on Friday, 14 July, on the United Nations Beach, from 8 p.m. till 3 a.m. Tickets were 30 CHF with all proceeds to go to WFP school feeding programmes.

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration reminded journalists of the press conference that would be held tomorrow on the two-day integration workshop. The provisional list of participants, to be confirmed later today, included the Director of Migration Policy, Research and Communications Department of IOM, the Director of Settlement Policy and Coordination at the Department of Immigration and Cultural Affairs of Australia, and the President of the Indigenous Commission, Congress of Republic of Guatemala. The press conference would be held at 2 p.m. in room III.

Ms. Heuzé noted that today in Rabat, Morocco, a cooperation meeting between the United Nations and the Organization of the Islamic Conference was being held. The Secretary-General’s message to the meeting, to be read out by the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Mehr Kahn Williams, was available in a press release, in press room 1. The text of that message was embargoed until 12 noon.