REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was also attended by Spokespersons for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Food Programme, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Labour Organization, the World Trade Organization and the International Organization for Migration.

Statements and Appointment by the Secretary-General

Ms. Heuzé said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the announcement, in Mecca, of an agreement on a Palestinian national unity government, and commended the initiative of His Majesty King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to help bring about this very important step forward. He hoped that this agreement would curb the violence, creating a better future for the Palestinian people. In his statement, the Secretary-General looked forward to discussing the way ahead with the parties and regional and Quartet partners.

The Secretary-General also expressed deep concern after Lebanon’s armed forces and Israeli troops exchanged fire across the Blue Line that separates the two countries, and called for maximum restraint, warning that such actions violated last year’s Security Council resolution that ended the month of fighting in the region.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) had deployed to the area immediately after hostilities began and was in contact with both sides urging them to cease. A statement from UNIFIL was expected on what exactly had happened.

Ms. Heuzé said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has decided to appoint Ian Martin (United Kingdom) as his Special Representative in Nepal and Head of the United Nations Political Mission in Nepal (UNMIN). Mr. Martin has been serving as the Secretary-General’s Personal Representative in Nepal since August 2006 and Representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal since May 2005.

Ms. Heuzé said there would be a number of appointments of UN officials announced today in New York and they would be distributed as soon as they were received.

The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the status process of Kosovo, Marti Ahtisaari, yesterday told journalists that the aim of the Comprehensive Proposal for the Kosovo Status Settlement was to lay the foundation for a future Kosovo where members of all communities –- Albanians, Serbs and other communities -– could live a dignified, safe and economically sustainable life. The transcript of his press conference was available in the Documentation Centre in English and in French.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Heuzé said there were four interesting press conferences taking place today in Geneva. The first would be at 11:45 a.m. with Jody Williams, leader of the Human Rights Council’s Mission to Darfur;1997 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, and
Co-founder of the Nobel Women's Initiative.

Another briefing at 2.30 p.m. would also be on the Human Rights Council Mission to Darfur, and would be given by Ibrahim Mirghani Ibrahim Mohamed Kheir, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sudan. [It was later announced that the press conference had been cancelled.]

At 2 p.m., Peter Ungphakorn of the World Trade Organization would brief journalists about the agriculture negotiations.

At 3 p.m., Mark Dybul, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, and William Steiger of the U.S. Department Human Health and Human Services would speak about U.S. Efforts in the Global Fight against AIDS.

Floods in Indonesia

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said according to official figures, the floods in Indonesia had caused 25 confirmed deaths and displaced 287,498 persons. Though the Government had issued no formal request for international assistance, a wide range of countries and international non-governmental organizations were now providing assistance or were standing ready to assist Indonesia, including Saudi Arabia, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Italy and the United Kingdom. The update was available at the back of the room.

Damien Personnaz of the United Nations Children’s Fund said of the 287,498 displaced persons in Indonesia, some 30,000 were children under five years old. Emergency supplies worth more than $ 150,000 from UNICEF were arriving today in Jakarta to assist the flood victims. The first equipment would be aimed at establishing safe water supplies throughout the flood affected parts of the north of the city by placing 20 4,000 litre collapsible water bladders at strategic locations. This would be enough to supply 240,000 people with their daily water requirements. UNICEF would also distribute jerry cans and bottles of water purification liquid and tablets.

Mr. Personnaz said a statement issued yesterday by the Indonesia Ministry of Health and UNICEF warned against the potential harm of donating infant formula and milk powder to flood victims, as there was a lack of access to clean water and sanitation facilities were out of order. More details were available in the press release.

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said in Indonesia, WFP had distributed more than 7,000 boxes of enriched noodles and high-energy biscuits to the affected persons situated in the north and east of Jakarta. There was still an ongoing assessment of how many people were in need of food aid.

Human Rights

Yvon Edoumou of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said High Commissioner Louise Arbour yesterday filed a legal brief with the Iraqi High Tribunal, asserting that international law prohibited the imposition of the death penalty in the case of Taha Yassin Ramadan. The High Commissioner's intervention was submitted in connection with the Court's reconsideration of the sentence of Ramadan, a co-defendant alongside Saddam Hussein, Awad Bandar and Barzan Hassan in proceedings concerning events at Dujail. Mr. Ramadan had earlier been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Tribunal but the Appeal Chamber had resubmitted the case for reconsideration. In the brief, the High Commissioner argued that the trial had been unfair and that the Appeal failed adequately to resolve due process issues. She also argued, among other things, that Court's imposition of the death sentence on Taha Yassin Ramadan would violate Iraq's obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Covenant allows capital punishment in narrow circumstances, but those restrictions have not been complied to in this case.

Other

Hans Von Rohland of the International Labour Organization said a press release would be issued later today after the signing of an agreement between ILO and the United Nations Development Programme to intensify their cooperation to reduce poverty and create more decent employment in the world.

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said in the southern part of Africa, tens of thousands of persons were threatened by flooding and loss of their harvests. The worst floods were in Mozambique, and there were also problems with floods in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. There had been heavy rains for three weeks in the southern part of Africa, causing rivers to overflow their banks. WFP was using food stocks already in the region to help the affected people in Mozambique. The Government of Mozambique was utilizing the army to help with evacuations. WFP had already distributed 300 tons of food aid to 2,000 persons. Since December, the rains and floods had destroyed 4,600 houses and displaced more than 46,000 persons. There were 29 confirmed deaths. An appeal would be launched by WFP early next week, estimating that 280,000 persons needed food aid in Mozambique.

In Nepal, Ms. Berthiaume said WFP would double the number of people it provided food aid to.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said
in Bolivia, floods continued, particularly in the Bolivian lowlands. Authorities reported that 35,000 families (some 175,000 persons) were now affected. Twenty-six people had died. Santa Cruz was the most affected department, with 14,000 affected families and over 50,000 hectares of crops lost, as the nearby Pirai River dramatically increased its flow. On 8 February, the Government gathered donors and the UN system in La Paz. President Evo Morales called upon the international community and requested the UN to coordinate assistance. Some countries immediately announced donations.

In Peru, Ms. Byrs said the National Civil Defense Institute had registered some 33,862 people affected by floods in the country, of which 4,529 were in dire need. Floods had damaged 5,595 houses and destroyed 1,233 while some 60 kms of road infrastructure was heavily damaged. Some 3,670 hectares of crop had been washed away and 3,036 hectares had been damaged.

Anousche Der Boghossian of the World Trade Organization said there would be a trade policy review for Argentina on 12 and 14 February. The Director-General of WTO would meet next week with the UNDP Administrator.

Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency said High Commissioner Antonio Guterres was in Syria today where he was on the final leg of a weeklong mission to the Middle East region which had focused on the plight of Iraqis displaced by the conflict in their homeland. Last month, UNHCR had issued a $ 60 million appeal for its protection and assistance programmes for refugees and internally displaced people affected by the conflict in Iraq.

In Chad, Ms. Pagonis said a fresh wave of refugees from the Central African Republic had crossed over the border into southern Chad in the last month, fleeing a string of attacks on villages in the northern part of the country.

Ms. Pagonis said UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Operations, Judy Cheng-Hopkins, was finishing tomorrow a five-day visit to West and South Darfur where she had been reviewing UNHCR’s operations and considering further efforts to help internally displaced people in the region.

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said an IOM and Mauritanian Red Crescent team which yesterday reached a stranded vessel in international waters carrying hundreds of migrants on board and which successfully delivered five tons of food and water were able to speak to one of the Asian migrants for the first time by radio. The journey to the boat, stranded in high seas, had highlighted the need for the vessel to be brought to shore in order to be able to provide assistance to those on board. An Ivorian on board the ship told IOM by radio that there were 372 migrants on board, the majority of them from South Asia.

In Indonesia, Ms. Pandya said IOM this week delivered 81 inflatable rescue boats to Indonesian emergency services coping with some of the worst flooding ever experienced in the Indonesian capital. In the Philippines, a group of 33 private international recruitment agencies and national associations from nine labour sending countries in Asia (Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Vietnam) had agreed to form an association of Asian international recruitment agencies. And an IOM survey of 17 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean on the link between diasporas and development revealed that most countries (94 per cent) need to increase their capacity to create programmes aimed at involving the diaspora.

For use of information media; not an official record