REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which also heard from spokespersons for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Food Programme (WFP), the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
Lebanon crisis
Ms. Heuzé said that negotiations on a draft resolution on Lebanon had been continuing since the weekend on the basis of a draft proposed by France. This afternoon, the Security Council would receive a message on Lebanon presented by a delegation of two Ministers of Foreign Affairs and the President of the Arab League. Yesterday, meetings had taken place at the expert level and various proposals had been made. The President of the Security Council for the month of August, Nana Effah-Apenteng, the representative of Ghana, had underlined that the main difficulty was in determining whether the resolution would request Israel to immediately withdraw from its positions in Southern Lebanon or at the moment when an international force would be deployed. Ms. Heuzé said that for his part, the Secretary-General had held consultations with the Prime Minister of Lebanon; Fouad Siniora; Syrian President Bachar al-Assad; Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State of the United States; and Amre Moussa, President of the Arab League.
Ms. Heuzé said that the United Nations continued to be alarmed about the lack of access to affected populations in Lebanon. Yesterday, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, David Shearer, had called on Israeli military forces to cease their bombardment of civilian infrastructure and other actions hindering access for emergency relief supplies to the hundreds of thousands who have fled their homes. According to a press release issued yesterday, the number of displaced in Lebanon had exceeded 915,000 people – about one-quarter of Lebanon’s population – and the number of deaths exceeded 960 Lebanese. In Israel 95 people had been killed of which 38 civilians as a result of Hizbollah rocket attacks from Lebanon. The bombardment by IDF, which continued this morning, hindered transportation between the northern and southern parts of the country and had destroyed bridges, roads and other civilian infrastructure, precipitating a major humanitarian crisis.
Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) drew attention to the latest Situation Report on Lebanon (number 15) available at the back of the room, which gave a detailed overview of the humanitarian situation in the country. United Nations Emergency Relief Coordination, Jan Egeland, would be giving a press conference in Room III on Thursday, 10 August 2006, at 1:00 p.m., where he would address the humanitarian situation in Lebanon. He would also discuss other crises situations, including the deteriorating situation in Darfur. According to a press release issued in New York yesterday, more aid workers had been killed in Darfur in the last two weeks than in the past two years, compromising humanitarian aid operations in the region. Mr. Egeland would also address the assassination of 15 aid workers from French organization Action against Hunger in northeastern Sri Lanka, which the United Nations humanitarian agencies and their NGO partners had condemned in the strongest possible terms. Finally, Mr. Egeland would touch on the situation in the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Congo where it was estimated that an average of ten people were dying each day in refugee camps.
With regard to the status of the appeals for Lebanon, Ms. Byrs said that as of today, US$ 41 million had been contributed or committed by donors toward the Lebanon flash appeal, representing 26% of the appeal. In addition, donors had pledged another US$ 28 million for WFP. If bilateral aid was counted, a total of US$ 107 million had been made available for humanitarian aid for Lebanon. An additional US$ 227 million had been promised by United Arab Emirates, US$ 50 million by Saudi Arabia, and US$ 60 million by the Gulf Cooperation Council – all in bilateral aid.
Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization (WHO) drew attention to a press release issued yesterday on fuel shortages in Lebanon, which posed a grave threat to people’s health. WHO warned that if fuel was not delivered this week, 60% of all hospitals (12,000) in Lebanon would cease to function. Due to damage to infrastructure in conflict-affected areas in Lebanon, hospitals and other health centres were relying on fuel to run generators. Power was essential to run operating theatres, life-saving equipment like incubators for newborns, refrigeration for vaccines, etc. WHO urged all parties to ensure the safe passage of fuel, as a matter of priority.
Wivina Belmonte of the United Nations Children’s Programme (UNICEF) said that nearly one month into the conflict, there were two words that summed up the humanitarian situation: “not enough”. Not enough humanitarian goods had been received in the country. UNICEF had managed to get eleven trucks across the Al Aarida border, carrying 100 first aid kits, 1,000 baby hygiene kits and 36 metric tons of essential drugs. But still it was not enough. Nor was the funding sufficient. UNICEF had asked for close to US$ 24 million as part of the wider OCHA appeal. So far, only US$ 3 million had been received. The humanitarian clock was ticking and children were the ones paying the heaviest price.
Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme (WFP) said that the city of Tyre was now completely cut off from the rest of country due to the bombardment of supply routes to the city. WFP was examining alternative routes, most notably by sea but also by air. Due to the continuing insecurity, there would not be any convoys heading toward the southern part of the country today. It was getting increasingly difficult to find drivers willing to risk the trip. On Sunday there had been two serious security incidents that had occurred close to a WFP convoy near Tyre. Two cars had been hit by missiles, resulting in the deaths of three people.
Meanwhile, Ms. Berthiaume said that 12 trucks were on the way to Zahle, eight from WFP and four from UNRWA. Another convoy was travelling from Arida to Beirut. As a result of Israeli bombardments of supply routes, convoys now had to take a lengthy detour along the old coastal route, tripling the travel time on the heavily congested road between the Syrian border and Beirut. In addition to the convoys, the first flight rotation of a C-160 aircraft (Transal), provided by the French government, had arrived in Beirut yesterday from Larnaca, Cyprus. A French ship, carrying meals ready-to-eat, was also sailing from Marseilles to Lebanon later this week. The last of four flights from Italy to Beirut, supported by the Government of Portual, had concluded today. In addition, two other ships chartered by WFP would be bringing a variety of cargo to Beirut.
Ms. Berthiaume said that to date, WFP had delivered 404 tons of food supplies, enough to feed 105,000 people for one week. This was nowhere near enough. Hundreds of thousands of people were without shelter and required aid. A minimum of two convoys per day – and ideally six per day – were required to help the people in the southern part of the country.
Jennifer Pagonis of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that a UNHCR humanitarian relief convoy that had been supposed to arrive in Beirut from Syria on Monday was still at the Syria-Lebanon border this morning, awaiting final security clearance to proceed. This was UNHCR’s first convoy since the road from the Al Aarida border crossing to Beirut had been bombed last Thursday. It was important that the convoy made it through as UNHCR’s warehouse supplies in Beirut were dwindling to alarming levels. UNHCR was also hoping for final clearance for a relief flight from Amman, Jordan later today, followed by a second C-130 flight from Jordan, possibly tomorrow. The planes would bring in 3,600 mattresses and 9,000 blankets which were badly needed to make the lives of tens of thousands of displaced people living in communal shelters more comfortable.
Ms. Pagonis said that UNHCR's Assistant High Commissioner for Operations, Judy Cheng-Hopkins, was scheduled to arrive today in Damascus, Syria, on a three-day visit. She would meet with the senior government officials, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and UN agencies. She would make a field visit to Homs and to the border.
Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that since last Friday when IOM had had to postpone one of its convoys following the bombing of the main route from Beirut to Al Aarida border point, a dramatic increase had been observed in the number of stranded migrants in Lebanon in need of evacuation. Yesterday, in its largest convoy to date, 943 Ethiopians, Sri Lankans, Nepalese and Filipinos had been evacuated by IOM to Syria. Today, a further 775 migrants were being evacuated. By the end of Friday this week, IOM will have helped more than 8,000 migrants to escape the conflict in Lebanon. At such a rate of evacuation, IOM expected the funds it had received for this operation to run out very soon. In last month’s appeal, IOM had asked for US$12 million to evacuate 10,000 migrants from Lebanon and Syria, and had met with a very favourable response. However, that money was now running out and additional funds would be required to help the many more migrants seeking evacuation.
Praveen Randhawa of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) drew attention to the fact that the United Nations human rights experts that had been due to travel to Lebanon yesterday had had to postpone their visit due to the deteriorating security situation. The experts remained very keen to visit Lebanon and Israel as a matter of urgency later this month, as soon as security situation permitted. The press would be duly notified as soon as the dates were confirmed.
Geneva Activities
Ms. Heuzé said that it was foreseen that there would be a special session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva this week. A formal request presented by the Arab Group on behalf of a number of Member States had been received to that effect. It had not yet been decided what day the session would take place.
The Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights was continuing its fifty-eighth and final session, before submitting its final reports and transferring its ongoing studies to the new Human Rights Council. Yesterday, the Sub-Commission had issued a presidential statement on the situation in Lebanon.
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was this morning examining a report presented by Oman. This afternoon, it would continue with a report presented by Mongolia. On the agenda in coming days were reports by Denmark, Norway and Ukraine.
The Conference on Disarmament was continuing the third part of its 2006 session. This morning there had been a closed meeting in Room VII. There would be a plenary meeting on Thursday, 10 August 2006, on agenda item 6, the comprehensive programme of disarmament. A general debate would take place on Tuesday, 15 August.
Ms. Heuzé recalled that information had already been provided on the meetings of the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery and the Working Group on Minorities, which were both meeting at the Palais des Nations this week.
Gaza
Ms. Berthiaume of WFP said that due to the ongoing crisis and insecurity in the Middle East, WFP was increasing the number of people it was helping in Gaza from 160,000 to 220,000, representing 50% of the non-refugee population. Gaza was totally dependant on external aid. At the moment, only 30% of the population had any income. In describing the situation, Ms. Berthiaume noted as examples that the lack of electricity made it impossible to stock supplies for the winter; water quality had deteriorated; and fisherman had not been able to go out to see since 28 July so there was no fish available at the markets. WFP had shipped 4,000 tons of aid to Gaza in the preceding month and the equivalent of one month’s supply of food was now available for 220,000. WFP warned that the situation could deteriorate rapidly.
Sri Lanka
Ms. Pagonis of UNHCR said that since Saturday, UNHCR had been helping many of the 21,000 Sri Lankans who had fled recent fighting in the northeast of the country. The displaced people were taking shelter mainly in schools and mosques and some were with host families in the Trincomalee area. Working through local non-governmental organizations, UNHCR had distributed 1,800 plastic sheets, 2,000 jerry cans and 2,000 mats to displaced people. UNHCR had not yet had access to Muthur, where 4,000 people were said to be trapped, or to Eachchilanmpattai, where some 11,000 people were said to be in dire need of humanitarian help.
On a related matter, Ms. Pagonis said that UNHCR had joined other UN agencies and non-government organizations working in Sri Lanka in condemning in the strongest possible terms the execution-style killings of 15 workers from the French aid agency Action Contre la Faim who had been doing aid work in Muthur following the December 2004 tsunami. The killings stood as a dark page in the history of humanitarian work in Sri Lanka.
Carla Haddad of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that a press release had been issued yesterday where the ICRC joined with other organizations in condemning the killing of the 15 representatives of Action Contre le Faim. The ICRC was trying its best to negotiate with parties to the conflict access to Muthur. The situation there was urgent and a cause of concern but at the moment, the negotiations were not progressing. In response to a request from a journalist for a press conference by Jakob Kellenberger, President of the ICRC, Ms. Haddad said that Mr. Kellenberger was in Beyrouth today and that he was expected to give a press conference either in Lebanon or Geneva in the coming days.
Flooding in Asia
Anne Nelson of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) drew attention to the situation in China where, last week, the IFRC had launched an emergency appeal for almost CHF 6 million to assist the victims of severe flooding in southern China. The 2006 typhoon and flooding season was emerging as the worst in recent years and China had already been hit by several typhoons and tropical storms since May. The situation might worsen. There was currently a typhoon and a tropical storm heading to China. According to officials, more than one million homes had already been damaged by flooding in the last three months. IFRC was providing food, tents and quilts for 60,000 families (roughly 240,000 people).
In the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Ms. Nelson said that the latest information received by IFRC indicated that 151 people had died and another 29 were still missing from last month’s heavy flooding there. In terms of the local Red Cross response, around 2,300 trained volunteers had been mobilized so far and had distributed relief supply kits to 5,000 families. The DPRK Red Cross had the capacity to support up to 17,000 families. For those interested, the IFRC’s Regional Officer for East Asia was available for interviews. In addition, on IFRC’s home page, a special section had been created on the floods in Asia.
Other
Ms. Chaib drew attention to the 16th International AIDS Conference, taking place in Toronto from 13 to 18 August 2006 and organized by the International AIDS Society. A media advisory was available at the back of the room on the seven press conferences that WHO was organizing in connection with the Conference.
Ms. Chaib said that WHO would this afternoon be posting an update on avian influenza on its website. Specifically, it dealt with a case of avian flu from November 2003 in China, which at the time had not been diagnosed as H5N1. It involved a Chinese soldier who had died a short time later. The case had been the subject of considerable attention and press stories in the years that followed. Now, it had been confirmed in a WHO affiliated international lab that it had in fact been the first death from the H5N1 virus in China. Dick Thompson at WHO would be able to provide additional information (tel: 079 475 5475).
Ms. Belmonte of UNICEF drew attention to a press release being issued today on the situation in Niger and the surrounding countries. One year after the mobilization of the international community in support of Niger’s food and nutritional crisis, the situation for all the countries in the Sahel region remained of serious concern to UNICEF. Malnutrition of children under the age of five was above emergency thresholds, including in Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger and Burkina Faso. Chronic development challenges in the region included access to essential health services, water, hygiene, sanitation, and education – all inextricably linked to child survival. Additional information was provided in accompanying fact sheets.
Ms. Pagonis said that UNHCR was very concerned about the safety of humanitarian workers in eastern Chad following a deterioration in the security situation there, particularly around the town of Guereda, located about 65 kilometres from the border with Sudan. Last Friday, seven men brandishing assault rifles and wearing military uniforms had broken into the compound of a non-governmental organization in Guereda. Three aid workers had been hit in the head with rifle butts and the intruders had stolen money. This was the seventh time humanitarian workers have been targeted in the Guereda area since May. The growing insecurity was making it more difficult for humanitarian agencies to provide assistance to refugees from Darfur. UNHCR was asking for an increase in the number of gendarmes so that aid workers could operate without fear of attack.
To mark World Indigenous Day tomorrow on Wednesday, 9 August, Ms. Pagonnis said that UNHCR in Colombia would call on all armed groups in the country to keep the country's indigenous population out of the armed conflict and respect the distinction between combatants and non-combatants. UNHCR had repeatedly warned that indigenous groups in Colombia were increasingly at risk of violence and even disappearance as a result of the ongoing conflict.
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) today issued a press release announcing the release of the “Forest Products Annual Market Review, 2005-2006”, prepared jointly with the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). The study covers forest products market and policy developments in the UNECE region of Europe, North America and Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia. The UNECE region has a lead responsibility in assuring their sustainable production from forests in and outside the region because it is the main consumer, producer and exporter of forest products in the world (see graphs). This responsibility is why Governments and industry are making green purchasing policies. Among the study’s main findings is that Government procurement policies and corporate social responsibility policies are new drivers for ensuring the legality and sustainability of the source of wood and paper products in the UNECE region, often including references to certified forest products.