REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Marie Heuzé, the Director of the Information Service of the United Nations Office at Geneva, chaired the briefing which also heard from Spokespersons for the International Telecommunication Union, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the UN Refugee Agency and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Internet Governance Forum

Ms. Heuzé said the first-ever meeting of the Internet Governance Forum will take place in Athens, Greece, from 30 October to 2 November with the overall theme “Internet Governance for Development”. A background press release is available which provides the names of the members of the Advisory Group and the agenda of the meeting. The Forum is one of the most significant outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society which was held in two phases in Geneva in 2003 and in Tunis in 2005. The agenda of the Forum is structured along the following themes: openness -- freedom of expression, free flow of information, ideas and knowledge; security -- creating trust and confidence through collaboration; diversity -- promoting multilingualism and local content; access -- Internet connectivity, policy and cost. Capacity building will be treated as a cross-cutting priority and discussions on this theme will focus on what needs to be done to ensure meaningful participation of interested parties from developing countries in matters of public policy that may arise in the management of the Internet.

Sanjay Acharya of the International Telecommunications Union said ITU’s Secretary-General and a team of ITU experts will be attending the meeting of the Internet Governance Forum.

Mr. Acharya said ITU’s plenipotentiary conference, which is held every four years to give guidance to the Union for its work, will be held in Turkey from 6 to 24 November. The meeting is also important because the members will examine the new mandates that have been accorded to ITU. Building on the implementation programmes of the World Summit on the Information Society requires resources, and one of the key issues to be addressed will be the finances to match the strategic plan.

In conclusion, Mr. Acharya said ITU will be celebrating 100 years of ITU radio regulations at an event on 30 October at the Geneva International Conference Centre starting 9:30 a.m.

Geneva Meetings

Ms. Heuzé said the fifth session of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families will be held at the Palais Wilson in Geneva from 30 October to 3 November 2006. The Committee will consider the initial report of Mexico on 30 and 31 October. The Committee will also discuss possibilities for promoting ratification of the Convention, including follow-up to the General Assembly’s High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development, held in September 2006. To date, 34 States have ratified the treaty and only Mali, Mexico and Egypt have submitted their initial reports. The reports of 26 other States parties are now overdue. Available is a background press release.

The Human Rights Committee is continuing its work. Today, the Committee is meeting in Room XII of the Palais des Nations for the fourth meeting of the States parties. It will conclude its work on 3 November and release its observations and recommendations on the reports of Honduras, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine and the Republic of Korea which it considered during this session.

The Governing Council of the United Nations Compensation Commission will hold its sixty-first session from 31 October to 3 November 2006 under the Presidency of Ambassador Tassos Kriekoukis (Greece). A background press release is available in the press room.

In conclusion, Ms. Heuzé said two new Permanent Representatives will be presenting their credentials. Maria Nzomo, the new Permanent Representative of Kenya to the United Nations Office at Geneva, will today be presenting her credentials to Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva. And on Monday, 30 October, Giovanni Caracciolo di Vietri, the new Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations Office at Geneva, will present his credentials to Mr. Ordzhonikidze.

Human Rights

José Luis Díaz of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Martin Scheinin, was issuing a statement today in which he expressed concern about the signing in the United States on 17 October of the Military Commissions Act (MCA). He said a number of provisions of the MCA appear to contradict the universal and fundamental principles of fair trial standards and due process enshrined in Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. One of the most serious aspects of this legislation is the power of the President to declare anyone, including US citizens, without charge as an “unlawful enemy combatant” – a term unknown in international humanitarian law – resulting in these detainees being subject to the jurisdiction of a military commission composed of commissioned military officers. At the same time, the material scope of crimes to be tried by military commissions is much broader than war crimes in the meaning of the Geneva Conventions. Further, in manifest contradiction with article 9, paragraph 4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights the MCA denies non US citizens (including legal permanent residents) in US custody the right to challenge the legality of their detention by filing a writ of habeas corpus, with retroactive effect. Another concern is the denial of the right to see exculpatory evidence if it is deemed classified information which severely impedes the right to a fair trial.

Mr. Díaz said Mr. Scheinin was also indicating that in July he formally requested a country visit to the United States in order to assess counter terrorism measures taken in the country and how they related to human rights. In his statement he said he hoped that the Government would extend to him an invitation in the very near future. More details were available in the press release.

Other

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said some of the world’s most renowned medical ethicists met at WHO on 24 and 25 October to discuss the ethics of pandemic influenza and what will happen when healthcare resources are scarce and over-stretched. There will be a virtual press briefing today to discuss this meeting. The experts will finalize their recommendations in December.

Ms. Chaib said the Intergovernmental Working Group on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property will meet from 4 to 8 December at WHO. To prepare for the meeting, all parties with an interest in the topic are invited to present their views to web-based public hearings organized by WHO between 1 to 15 November.

In conclusion, Ms. Chaib recommended that journalists check regularly the WHO website concerning the candidates for the post of Director-General of WHO. For example, the list of candidates, which started out with 13 names, now had only 11 names on it.

Ms. Heuzé said a press conference by the Permanent Mission of Japan will be held on Tuesday, 31 October at 11:30 a.m. in Salle III to present the Japanese candidate for the post.

Ms. Heuzé said a press conference on the new ILO report on global employment trends for youth will be held today at 11:30 a.m. in Salle III.

Catherine Sibut-Pinot of the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development said discussions will be held at UNCTAD next week on competition law and policy. On Monday, 30 October, an Ad Hoc Expert Group will discuss the relationship between competition law and policy and subsidies. Representatives of developing and developed countries will participate in the discussion. On Tuesday, 31 October, the Seventh Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Competition Law and Policy will meet to continue the discussion with an analysis of cooperation and dispute settlement mechanisms relating to competition policy in regional free trade agreements, taking into account issues of particular concern to small and developing countries.

Brigitte Leoni of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction said the Geneva International Academic Network annually awards grants to projects which can help to create synergies among academic institutions and international organizations. This year, 11 projects have been chosen to receive grants, including an ISDR project. On this occasion, a ceremony will take place on Tuesday, 31 October, from 10:30 a.m. until noon at the Villa Rigot and journalists are invited to attend.

Michael Bociurkiw of the United Nations Children’s Fund said during the recent conflict in Lebanon, routine immunization procedures, among many other procedures, were disrupted. Starting 30 October, more than 320,000 young children in Lebanon will receive the first round of polio vaccinations in a two-phase national immunization campaign. A press release is available with more details.

Mr. Bociurkiw said in Somalia, UNICEF has just issued a donor update, appealing for $ 1.8 million to support health interventions to prevent the re-emergence of communicable diseases and replenish essential emergency supplies. If funding is not received, there is a risk that the gains made in 2006 may be set back, especially in the area of communicable diseases like polio.

Ron Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency said a UNHCR team is expected to travel this morning to Liboi, on the Kenya/Somalia border, to arrange for the transfer of an estimated 2,000 Somali refugees reported to be waiting there after a suspension in shuttling them to UNHCR’s camps at Dadaab. UNHCR hoped to resume in a few days. A more efficient system of screening and registration of newly arrived refugees was necessary because Kenyan nationals were presenting themselves as refugees and also refugees already registered were posing as new refugees with the aim of receiving more assistance. Since the beginning of the year, some 32,000 Somali refugees have arrived in Kenya, pushing the total number of refugees in the three Dadaab camps to 160,000.

Mr. Redmond said UNHCR has learned that an Uzbek national, Rustam Tulaganovich Muminov, who has been living in the Russian Federation since 2001, was forcibly returned to Uzbekistan on Tuesday, 24 October, before an appeal against a decision by a Moscow court ordering his expulsion had been heard. This follows several worrying forced returns of Uzbeks earlier this year by Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. UNHCR is seeking clarification from the Russian Federation authorities about this case and is also calling on the Uzbek authorities to adhere to their international obligations.

Mr. Redmond said UNHCR has had several calls on the reported plans by Niger to expel thousands of Mahamid Arab nomads to Chad and is sending a senior UNHCR staff member from its regional office in Benin to Niger to get more information on the reports.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said concerning the Mahamid Arab nomads in Niger, OCHA had sent two assessment teams to Diffa and Agadez, where those nomads came from. It expected the teams to arrive there within two days.