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 and Representatives of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, the World Food Programme, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Health Organization, the UN Refugee Agency, the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development and the International Organization for Migration.

CCW Review Conference and Cluster Munitions

Ms. Heuzé said the Secretary-General had sent a message to the Third Review Conference of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons which opened its meeting today at the Palais des Nations in Geneva (7-17 November 2006). In his message, the Secretary-General called on the Review Conference to freeze the use of cluster munitions against military assets located in or near populated areas. He also reminded that placing military assets in such areas was illegal under international humanitarian law. The Secretary-General’s message was delivered on his behalf by Tim Caughley, Director of the Conference on Disarmament Secretariat and Conference Support Branch and Deputy Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that in a statement issued today, Jan Egeland, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said that he called on all States to implement an immediate freeze on the use of cluster munitions. He said this freeze was essential until the international community put in place effective legal instruments to address urgent humanitarian concerns about their use. The full text of both the Secretary-General’s and Mr. Egeland’s statement were available in the press room.

Michael Bociurkiw of the United Nations Children’s Fund said UNICEF hoped that these and other forums would raise world wide awareness of an issue which was quite literally a ticking time bomb for children. UNICEF was still present on the ground in Lebanon and it realized the importance of its child protection work post-conflict in order to help save children from cluster bombs. UNICEF was particularly concerned because now was the harvest season and families were going to the fields to harvest their olives and other agricultural produce. So cluster munitions were a very real physical threat to children. So far, five children have been killed by unexploded ordnance in Lebanon since the war; and another 47 children under 18 have been injured, three more since the end of October.

UN Conference on Climate Change

Ms. Heuzé said Kenya was hosting the twelfth session of the Conference of the Parties to the Climate Change Convention in Nairobi from 6 to 17 November 2006 in conjunction with the second meeting of the 166 Parties to the Kyoto Protocol. In an Op-Ed article to be published in the coming days, the Secretary-General said this was a major UN climate change conference and the stakes were high indeed. He said climate change had profound implications for virtually all aspects of human well-being, from jobs and health to food security and peace within and among nations. Yet too often, climate change was seen as an environmental problem when it should be part of the broader development and economic agenda. He warned that until the world acknowledged the all-encompassing nature of the threat, its response would fall short.

Fiftieth Anniversary of Peacekeeping Operations

Over the weekend, the creation of the first U.N. peacekeeping operation 50 years ago had been commemorated by the Secretary-General. In his message, he said that half a century after launching the first peacekeeping mission, U.N. peacekeeping again faced another enormous challenge. With 18 current operations, a historic high of 93,000 personnel in the field, and a total that mighty reach 140,000 in 2007, UN peacekeeping was stretched as never before. The Secretary-General said the United Nations would confront that challenge with informed optimism. “The task ahead will be demanding, but we will fulfil it,” he asserted. The text of the Secretary-General’s message and background documents on the UN’s peacekeeping operations were available in the press room.

Elections in Democratic Republic of the Congo

Ms. Heuzé said preliminary election results released over the weekend in the strife-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) aimed to stem the flow of rumours that final results were already in, the United Nations reported yesterday. The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) released results from 12 of 169 constituencies that voted in the recent presidential run-off, and stressed that final results were only expected by 19 November, the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo MONUC said in a statement, calling the situation in the country “tense but calm.” Those early results, showing President Joseph Kabila leading over his Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba, were released to reinforce the IEC’s goal of quelling fraudulent reports, including one posted on the Internet last week that claimed to contain official final figures.

Secretary-General’s Message to China-Africa Summit

Ms. Heuzé said the Secretary-General had sent his warm congratulations to all participants in the Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation over the weekend. He particularly welcomed the announcement by the Government of China to double its aid to Africa by 2009. His statement was available in the press room.

Other Geneva Activities

The Committee against Torture and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights both opened their thirty-seventh sessions at the Palais Wilson on 6 November, Ms. Heuzé added. The Committee against Torture was this morning starting its consideration of the initial report of Tajikistan, which it would continue on Wednesday, 8 November in the afternoon. On Wednesday morning, it would start its review of the fourth periodic report of Mexico. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights would be reviewing the third periodic report of the Netherlands all day today and Wednesday morning. The Information Service provided coverage of the meetings of the two Committees and the press releases were put in the press room. The background press releases with the list of countries each Committee would be taking up this session were also available in the press room.

Ms. Heuzé said Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, was today travelling to Warsaw in Poland where he would be attending a conference on good governance and anti-corruption on 8 and 9 November. The conference was being organized by the United Nations Development Programme, the Government of Poland and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Occupied Palestinian Territories

Matthias Burchard of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East said Israel withdrew this morning from the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, but parts of the troops were still stationed at the entrance of the town and in the vicinity. A military campaign was presently unfolding in Jabaliya, near Beit Hanoun. In general, the Israeli military was presently in several other parts of Gaza as well. The sustained military activity, now in its fourth month, was ongoing relentlessly on the ground, by air and from the sea. There were no fronts, all of Gaza was a battle zone. And there were no safe havens. The international community was called upon to end this bloodshed immediately. Lebanon could serve as an example. In Beit Hanoun, the world had witnessed again the use of disproportionate force, resulting in the death of 53 persons since the beginning of November. In addition, since 1 November, 14 other persons had died in other parts of the Gaza strip due to military confrontations. Civilians, and in particular children, were paying the price. For example, on 4 November, two children were shot carrying food parcels on their way home which they had just picked up from an UNRWA relief convoy. UNRWA condemned this act and called on Israel to ensure the safety of children in accordance to the Geneva Convention and the special care that children are afforded therein. A background press release with more details was available in the press room.

Michael Bociurkiw of the United Nations Children’s Fund said children had been terrified in Beit Hanoun over the course of the past few days. Of the more than 50 people killed in Beit Hanoun, eight were children, and of the estimated 350 wounded, 40 were children. This brought the total this year to 107 children killed, 92 in Gaza and 15 in the West Bank. Today, the teachers’ strike that had kept schools closed in the West Bank had ended and public schools would resume work today or tomorrow.

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said at the request of the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian Authority, WFP had provided 5,000 loaves of bread and 300 tins of canned meat for the 300 displaced persons in a hospital in Gaza. The economic situation in the Gaza strip was continuing to deteriorate. The Palestinian Authority was unable to pay salaries of its employees.

Human Rights

José Luis Díaz of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement issued yesterday evening, High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour welcomed the Sri Lankan President’s establishment of a Commission of Inquiry into extrajudicial killings and disappearances, expressing hope that it would see the perpetrators of serious human rights violations brought to justice. The High Commissioner underlined the significance of this initiative in addressing impunity for human rights violations related to the on-going conflict in Sri Lanka. The High Commissioner thanked the Government for inviting her to provide advice on the terms of reference for the Commission of Inquiry and the observer group in line with international standards. Her Office had submitted a list of names of suitable candidates who could potentially serve as observers to the inquiry. These persons, if selected, would serve in their personal capacities and would not represent the High Commissioner or OHCHR. The High Commissioner also noted that any commission of inquiry could only investigate a selection of cases, and that a broader international mechanism was still needed to monitor, ultimately prevent, human rights violations in the longer term. The full text of the High Commissioner’s statement was available in the press room.

Mr. Díaz said he had also sent journalists yesterday a statement by Leandro Despouy, the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers of the Human Rights Council, on the Iraqi High Tribunal’s verdict on former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The Special Rapporteur reiterated his strong objections regarding the conduct of the trial and expressed his concern about the consequences this judgment may have over the situation in Iraq and in the region.

Elections for New WHO Director-General

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said WHO’s 34-member Executive Board was today interviewing the five short-listed candidates for the post of WHO Director-General. They were Dr. Kazem Behbehani of Kuwait, Dr. Margaret Chan of China, Dr. Julio Frenk of Mexico, Dr. Shigeru Omi of Japan, and Ms. Elena Salgado Mendez of Spain. All this would take place behind closed doors today and tomorrow morning when the Executive Board would vote on the candidate to be nominated to the World Health Assembly for consideration. The meeting would become public at around 1 p.m. on Wednesday to announce the nomination. A note with practical information for journalists about this process was available at the back of the room. All the meetings today and tomorrow were at WHO Headquarters, but they would move to the Palais des Nations on Thursday, 9 November for the World Health Assembly. A press conference to introduce the new Director-General would take place immediately after the WHA in the afternoon.

Expected Nomination of New Executive Director for WFP

In response to questions, Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said WFP was expecting news of the nomination of a new Executive Director any time soon. This decision came from the UN Secretary-General, and from the Secretary-General to the WFP Secretariat. Ms. Heuzé confirmed that the decision would be announced either today or tomorrow in New York.

Elections for New ITU Secretary-General

Ms. Heuzé said the International Telecommunication Union would be electing the new ITU Secretary-General on 9 November in Turkey where around 155 Member States were attending the Plenipotentiary Conference (6-24 November 2006). The new Secretary-General would be elected by a simple majority. The future Secretary-General would be decided from among six candidates. Details were available on the ITU website www.itu.int and journalists would be provided with the contact numbers for the ITU Spokespersons in Turkey.

Other

Agnes Leotsakos of the World Health Organization announced that on Friday, 10 November, a meeting would take place at the Palais des Nations on a WHO initiative about clean care and the problem of nosocomial infections in hospitals and health care centres. This initiative was also a programme of the World Alliance for Patient Safety which was set up by WHO. There would be a press conference on Friday at 12:45 p.m. in Room III with five Ministers of Health speaking on their commitment and plans to address health care-associated infections in their countries.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said there were 67 reported deaths and 200,000 people affected by the flooding in the Somali region of Ethiopia. Mustahil and Kelafo were the areas most severely affected by the flooding and were inaccessible by road. The Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia and the Somali Regional President had requested urgent interventions and assistance from all humanitarian organizations working in the region. UNICEF had transported relief non-food items by plane, and rescue efforts continued in the worst affected areas using boats. A regional flood taskforce meeting held on 6 November in Gode had identified gaps and coordinated relief efforts on the ground. A note with further details was available at the back of the room.

Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Relief Agency said extremely heavy rains and massive landslides late last week in the South Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, had forced UNHCR to put on hold plans to restart repatriation activities from Tanzania, initially suspended ahead of the second round of the country's first election in decades on 29 October. The repatriation operation, which ferried returnees from Tanzania across Lake Tanganyika by UNHCR-chartered boat to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was due to start again today, Tuesday, after being suspended since 21 October. However, the fall of huge rocks from the mountains, some reportedly the size of trucks, had cut the main road between Uvira and the port of Baraka where returning refugees disembarked. UNHCR hoped to start the repatriation movements again as soon as possible.

Catherine Sibut-Pinot of the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development said UNCTAD’s Information Economy Report 2006 was available on the UNCTAD website but it was embargoed until 5 p.m. GMT on 16 November. There would be an embargoed press conference at 11 a.m. on 16 November in Room III. A press kit was also available on the UNCTAD website.

Jean Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said a new report launched by IOM's Regional Office for Southern Africa had found that trafficked women in Eastern and Southern Africa did not receive the sexual, reproductive and mental health care they desperately needed. The report “Breaking the Cycle of Vulnerability - responding to the health needs of trafficked women in East and Southern Africa", said that there were not enough trained counsellors to provide adequate health care and support to victims and that organizations active in the field of counter trafficking needed to better address their health and mental needs. The report recommended training health service providers in the region to identify and refer trafficked women to better respond to their health needs. It also suggested that health was mainstreamed into more traditional counter-trafficking responses in the region, and that regional referral and information networks were developed.