REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section, chaired the briefing which was attended by Spokespersons for the Economic Commission for Europe, the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development, the World Intellectual Property Organization, the World Health Organization, the International Labour Organization, the World Food Programme, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, the International Organization for Migration and the UN Refugee Agency.

Next Secretary-General of the United Nations

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Security Council yesterday recommended to the General Assembly that Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon of the Republic of Korea be appointed Secretary-General of the United Nations for a five-year term starting January 1, 2007. That recommendation was made in a resolution adopted in a private meeting by acclamation. The President of the General Assembly, Sheikha Haya Al Khalifa of Bahrain, has received a letter from the President of the Security Council for October, Japanese Ambassador Kenzo Oshima, informing her of the Council’s recommendation and will consult the Chairs of the regional groups as soon as possible to determine a date for the appointment. Under procedures for appointing the world body’s new chief, after the recommendation is transmitted from the Council to the Assembly, a draft resolution is issued for the Assembly to take action. The customary practice is that the draft is coordinated by the Chair of the regional group from which the next Secretary-General will come, in this case Japan, and co-sponsored by the Member States holding the Chairs of the other regional groups.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed the decision of the Security Council to recommend Mr. Ban to the General Assembly for appointment as the next Secretary-General of the United Nations. The Secretary-General said he has the highest respect for Mr. Ban, and hoped that the General Assembly will be able to reach a decision on this important matter in the near future, so that the incoming Secretary-General designate will have time to prepare fully for his assumption of office on 1 January. For his part, the Secretary-General will do everything possible to ensure a smooth transition.

Reported Nuclear Test by Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said there are new documents in the press room concerning the reported nuclear test by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The first is a statement by the Secretary-General in which he says he is deeply concerned by the news that the Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has conducted a nuclear test, in spite of repeated worldwide efforts to discourage it from doing so. The Secretary-General says this action violates international norms of disarmament and non-proliferation, as well as the current international moratorium on nuclear testing. It aggravates regional tensions in and around the Korean Peninsula, and jeopardizes security both in the region and beyond. Mr. Annan calls on all parties to respond to this grave challenge in a constructive manner, and calls for serious negotiations to be renewed urgently in the framework of the six-party talks. The Secretary-General says he views this test as yet another reason for the international community to renew its collective effort to bring the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty into force and to make progress towards multilateral nuclear disarmament.

The second document is a statement by Mohamed ElBaradei, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in which he says that the breaking of a de facto global moratorium on nuclear explosive testing that has been in place for nearly a decade and the addition of a new State with nuclear weapon capacity is a clear setback to international commitments to move towards nuclear disarmament. He says this reported nuclear test threatens the nuclear non-proliferation regime and creates serious security challenges not only for the East Asian region but also for the international community.

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the third document is a statement by Tibor Toth, Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization in which he says that the nuclear action goes against the letter and the spirit of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. There is also a statement by Ambassador Vlodymyr Yelchenko, Chairperson of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, in which he expresses his profound consternation at the announced nuclear test. which constitutes a threat to international peace and security and deserves universal condemnation.

Other

Jean-Michel Jakobowicz of the Economic Commission for Europe said available was a press release on the results of the policy forum of the UNECE Timber Committee, together with the FAO European Forestry Commission, which was held on 5 October to discuss “public procurement policies for wood and paper products and their impacts on sustainable forest management and timber markets. The forum concluded that Governments can fight illegal logging and promote sustainability through their purchasing and shows how a few governments have set up public procurement policies, regulations and rules to exclude illegally and or unsustainably sourced wood and paper products in national purchasing.

Later today, Mr. Jakobowicz said, a 14-page note to the press will be released on how the UNECE Timber Committee analysed the current forest products market situation in 2006 and forecast markets for 2007 in light of current policy issues. The theme of the annual Timber Committee Market Discussions was “China’s influence on forest products markets in the UNECE region.

Catherine Sibut-Pinot of the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development said UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2006 will be launched on Monday 16 October. The press kits will be put in the press room later today, and they include 10 press releases – a main one and then regional releases. The main launch will be on 16 October at 11 a.m. in Salle III. There will be 55 other press conferences to launch the report.

Samar Shamoon of the World Intellectual Property Organization said there will be a press conference at 4 p.m. on Thursday, 12 October in press room 1 by Francis Gurry, WIPO’s Deputy Director-General, on WIPO’s patent report. The report is embargoed until Monday, 16 October.

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said available is a press release on how WHO is expanding its programme to fight some of the most neglected tropical diseases thanks to a renewed collaboration with sanofi-aventis which has agreed to donate medicines and financial support worth $ 25 million over five years to WHO. This collaboration builds on a previous agreement between WHO and Aventis (now sanofi-aventis) to prevent deaths due to sleeping sickness. This work, since 2001, has saved the lives of an estimated 110,000 who would otherwise have died from sleeping sickness. Under the new agreement, sanofi-aventis will donate $ 5 million of drugs to treat sleeping sickness and a further $ 20 million in financial support for the control of neglected tropic diseases including leishmaniasis, Buruli ulcer and Chagas disease.

Ms. Chaib said World Sight Day is commemorated on 12 October and there will be a press release issued about it tomorrow. There will be also be a press conference from 2 to 3 p.m. on Thursday, 12 October on what can be done further to help eradicate polio.

Hans Von Rohland of the International Labour Organization said ILO will issue tomorrow a feature within the framework of the Secretary-General’s report on violence against children. ILO contributed a section to the report on children and adolescents in the workplace in which it analysed the impact of violence against children in the workplace – 218 million – including around 100 million – mainly adolescents - who work legally. Violence against children and adolescents includes corporal punishment, sexual harassment and other crimes. There will be no figures in the feature because the report will not be issued until November. But it does include certain categories of children who are in danger of suffering violence in the workplace, including domestic servants and those working in the informal sector. The message is that there should be zero tolerance on violence in the workplace against children, adolescents or adults. ILO issued another report on violence in the workplace this spring.

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said for the fourth consecutive month, tens of thousands of persons in Darfur, Sudan have not received food aid from WFP because of insecurity, especially in the north of Darfur. In September, WFP was not able to distribute food aid to 224,000 persons. In July, WFP was not able to distribute food to 470,000 persons, and in August, to 358,000 persons. For the people WFP has been able to reach, double portions were distributed because of the growing insecurity. This was the lean season, so it was especially difficult for those in need of aid. WFP was hoping for a good harvest, but the same insecurity which prevented distribution of food also stopped farmers from being able to work in their fields and gather the harvest. WFP’s target was to distribute food aid to 3 million persons in Darfur every month. The Sudan operation was now WFP’s largest, because it included 6 million persons. A press release on the situation in Darfur and list of donors to the Sudan operation would be issued later in the day.

Ms. Berthiaume said with regards to the world’s first humanitarian video game – Food Force – which was launched in 2005, this week, it will be available in seven languages following the launch of French, Hungarian and Chinese versions. These will join the Japanese, Italian and Polish editions already available. The games were being released in the lead up to World Food Day on 16 October. A press release was available.

In conclusion, Ms. Berthiaume said WFP welcomed a significant new donation of 5.6 million euros from Luxembourg, which will bring its total contribution to WFP this year to 9.6 million euros. James Morris, WFP’s Executive Director, will visit Luxembourg on 9 October on his first official visit.

Michael Bociurkiw of the United Nations Children’s Fund said in India, effective today, the Government is implementing a ban on children working as domestic servants or in roadside food stalls. The ban, which applies to children under 14, also bans them from working in teashops, restaurants, hotels, motels, resorts, spas or other recreational centres. According to some estimates, as many as 20 million children are engaged in child labour in India, including 1 million in the capital alone. Under the new law, violators could face a punishment of up to two years imprisonment and a fine of up to 20,000 rupees. Although this legislation was very important, it was just one of many steps that needed to be taken by India and countries like it to protect children, who grow up without parental care, from abuse and discrimination.

Mr. Bociurkiw said a terrible situation still faces children in Lebanon. As children are preparing to go back to school, scheduled for 16 October, UNICEF is very concerned about the continued threat of unexploded ordnance. The number of unexploded cluster bombs ranges from 100,000 to 1 million and it remains a primary threat to children, especially as they go back to school. UNICEF is continuing its work to make families and children aware of what an unexploded device or cluster bomb looks like.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Jan Egeland, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, will be giving two press conferences. The first will be held at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, 11 October, on Darfur and Uganda. The second will be held at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, 12 October, on the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). A media advisory on the meeting of the Advisory Group of the CERF is available at the back of the room. At the second press conference, speaking with Mr. Egeland will be Marika Fahlen, who is Chairperson of the Advisory Group.

Brigitte Leoni of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) said the International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction is this year celebrated on 11 October. A special website has been set up to commemorate the International Day this year. It is www.unisdr.org. In New York, high level representatives of OCHA, the World Meteorological Organization, the United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the ISDR secretariat and Focus Humanitarian Assistance, an affiliate of the Aga Khan Development Network, are meeting today to set up a joint action plan to better prepare communities on the impact of natural disasters. A press release was available.

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said available at the back of the room was the latest product in the Migration Research Series on the “Positive Impact of Remittances Unevenly Felt in Rural China”. It shows that while significantly improving the welfare of rural families, remittances sent home by many millions of China’s internal migrants come at a human cost to migrants and their families.

Ms. Pandya said IOM Director General Brunson McKinley will be attending a two-day regional workshop in Mauritius during an official visit to the island this week. In Serbia, a reintegration centre for victims of trafficking, the first of its kind, has recently opened in the Serbian capital, Belgrade.

Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency said UNHCR is deeply concerned over the heavy fighting that took place in Darfur last Saturday between the Sudanese Army and Sudanese rebels within a few kilometres of the Ouré Cassoni refugee camp on the Chadian side of the border. Although no one in or around the camp was harmed, refugees and humanitarian workers were certainly alarmed by the gunfire and bombardment just across the border. This incident is yet further evidence of the destabilization that is occurring in the region and which High Commissioner António Guterres has repeatedly warned about.

Concerning Somalia and Kenya, Ms. Pagonis said since last Friday more than 2,000 Somali refugees have arrived in neighbouring Kenya seeking safety as Somalia's interim government and the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) fought for control of Buur Hakaba, a strategic town between Mogadishu and Baidoa. Yesterday, more than 1,300 desperate refugees jammed temporary reception centres set up by UNHCR on Kenya's border with Somalia. Since the beginning of the year, more than 30,000 Somali refugees have sought asylum in Kenya bringing the total number of refugees hosted in the three Dadaab camps to 157,000.

Ms. Pagonis said UNHCR is very concerned about the deportation of migrants by Somali authorities in the north-eastern port city of Bosaso. UN agencies and international organisations working in Bosaso have requested the authorities to temporarily suspend the forced returns until UNHCR has a chance to check that there are no asylum seekers among those being deported -- mainly to Ethiopia. And Iran, Afghanistan and UNHCR yesterday began two days of discussions in Geneva on voluntary repatriation to Afghanistan.