REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which also heard from Spokespersons for and Representatives of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Meteorological Organization, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the International Organization for Migration, the World Food Programme, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

UNODC Report on Opium Production in Afghanistan

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that opium production in southern Afghanistan had soared to frightening record levels in 2007, even as the number of opium-free provinces had continued to grow, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) 2007 Annual Opium Survey released on Monday. The amount of Afghan land used for growing opium was now larger than the combined total under coca cultivation in Latin America – Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. No other country had produced narcotics on such a deadly scale since China in the nineteenth century, the report had observed. The area under opium cultivation had risen from 165,000 hectares in 2006, to 193,000 in 2007; that meant that the total opium harvest would be 8,200 tons, up from 6,100 tons last year.

Some 80 per cent of opium production in Afghanistan was concentrated in the south, in particular in the provinces along the border with Pakistan, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier observed. According to UNODC, it appeared that poppy production was not linked to poverty, but to insecurity. UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa had called for a more determined effort by the Afghan Government and the international community to combat the twin threats of drugs and insurgency by building upon promising developments in the north and reacting to the dismal failures in the south. He had recommended higher rewards for non-opium farmers to demonstrate that there were viable alternatives to illicit crops. Mr. Costa had also urged the Government to get tough on corruption, and had suggested that a no-opium pledge be embedded in all development aid programmes.

A press release and an executive summary of the report are available in the Press Room.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that tomorrow morning UNOG Director-General Sergei Ordzhonikidze would meet with members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference at the ambassadorial level. The meeting was being held within the framework of a regular series of meetings undertaken by the Director-General. A press release containing the text of the Director-General's remarks during the encounter would be issued following the meeting tomorrow.

The Conference on Disarmament, which would be closing its 2007 session on 14 September, would be holding a plenary meeting on Thursday, 30 August, at 10 a.m. Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier recalled that, as this was the last segment of the Conference's 2007 session, the Conference was scheduled to adopt a report on its work and a draft resolution, for submission to the UN General Assembly.

Also in Geneva, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Preparatory Committee for the Durban Review Conference had yesterday began its first organizational session, which was being held from 27 to 31 August at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. As people might recall, the meeting had originally been scheduled for last June, but had been pushed back until August by the Council's decision. The weeklong organizational session would decide on the objectives of the Review Conference (to be held in 2009) and its relevant modalities, as well as the organization of the two substantive preparatory sessions. Available in the Press Room was the agenda of the Preparatory Committee's public meetings.

First International Technical Conference on Animal Genetic Resources

Ms. Teresa Buerkle of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) announced that next week FAO was organizing the first International Technical Conference on Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, which would be held from 3 to 7 September 2007, in Interlaken, Switzerland, hosted by the Swiss Government. The Interlaken Conference marked a historic opportunity for the international community to make strategic choices on the future management of animal genetic resources, and to reach agreement on how best to address priorities for the sustainable use, development and conservation of them.

The report, "The State of the World’s Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture", would be formally presented at Interlaken, Ms. Buerkle said. That was the first global inventory of livestock breeds and the capacities of countries to manage their animal genetic resources. According to the report, comprising data from 169 countries, at least one livestock breed a month had become extinct over the past seven years, and around 20 per cent of the world's breeds of cattle, goats, pigs, horses and poultry were currently at risk of extinction. At Interlaken, representatives of some 120 countries were expected to negotiate and adopt a global plan of action for animal genetic resources. On Tuesday, 4 September, an audio press conference would be held with the participation of Swiss Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard and FAO Assistant Director-General Alexander Müller at 12 p.m. in Press Room 1. A media advisory on the Conference was available at the back of the room.

First World Meteorological Organization Ozone Bulletin

Carine Richard-Van Maele of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said available was a media calendar for WMO, showing the principal meetings of the WMO and other conferences at which it played an important role. Notably, today in Geneva WMO was launching its first Ozone Bulletin 2007, and Thursday, 31 August WMO was hosting a press conference in Helsinki on climate change and desertification, in preparation for the Eighth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, which would be held from 3 to 14 September in Madrid.

A WMO Expert then presented the WMO Ozone Bulletin 2007, noting that his observations were preliminary as it was still quite early in the ozone hole season. Minimum temperatures this year so far had been pretty close to the average for the past 30 years, when monitoring of the ozone hole had first begun. In addition, the volume of the region of the atmosphere in which innocuous compounds could be converted into destructive ones for the ozone layer was also average. Those and other findings meant that this year's ozone hole was not expected to be among the largest that had been seen, and should not be larger than last year's. However, it would be a couple of weeks before a firm prediction could be made.

Earthquake in Peru

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced that the United Nations and its humanitarian partners were launching a Flash Appeal for victims of the Peru earthquake today at a donors meeting to be held at 2.30 p.m. in Geneva. OCHA was asking for $37 million, to assist more than 200,000 people needing medical assistance, water, food, tents and blankets, for a period of six months. An allocation of $9.6 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund had already been approved for immediate assistance in shelter and camp management, food supply, water and sanitation, health, education, and emergency employment. The UN Flash Appeal was based on the latest assessments from UN interagency missions deployed to the affected areas and reports from official sources, which indicated that more than 200,000 people required life-saving assistance and 56,000 families were homeless. However, it was important to remember that those were still preliminary figures, and the assessments were continuing.

Ms. Byrs noted that, according to information from UN teams on the ground, road problems caused by the earthquake had been addressed and there were no more blocked roads in the country. However, of immediate concern were low temperatures at night, which was posing a health threat to the population. A press release and a situation report on the Peru earthquake were available.

Michael Klaus of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that UNICEF now calculated that 150,000 children had been directly affected by the Peru earthquake. Of the 514 reported dead so far, 96 had been under 18. Among UNICEF concerns were damage to the water and sanitation facilities and the resulting lack of latrines and hygiene. In the Alameida camp, 10 cases of severe diarrhoea had been recorded by the end of last week. Also, the Ministry of Education had reported that some 166 schools had been damaged or completely destroyed, although UNICEF felt that the final number would be closer to 450. It would take at least another week for the children in the affected areas to return to classes, and there was a need to adjust the curriculum accordingly. Other concerns included the vulnerability of homeless children living in camps and shelters to sexual exploitation, and the fact that, as reported by UNICEF's representative in Peru, many children were already showing signs of psychological stress and emotional trauma, exhibited in sleeplessness, aggressiveness and other behaviours.

UNICEF was asking for just over $1.5 million in funds to help child victims in a number of areas, including efforts to provide clean water, sanitation, health and shelter, Mr. Klaus underscored. Already distributed had been 50,000 oral rehydration salts sachets and 26,000 flyers with information on safe hygiene practices.

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme (WFP) said that WFP would be providing assistance to 80,000 persons, including by helping to repair agricultural infrastructure. WFP assistance would focus on the rural communities touched by the quake. For its efforts, WFP had asked for $6.2 million of the total interagency appeal, of which over $2.5 million had so far been received from CERF and the Common Humanitarian Fund. WFP had begun distributing food assistance to some 25,000 victims within just 15 hours of the major earthquake.

Sudan Floods Flash Appeal

Ms. Byrs said that OCHA, the UN and its partners, were launching a Flash Appeal today for $20.2 million to support continued humanitarian aid for a period of six months to over 3 million people in the flood-stricken areas in Sudan. Total requirements were actually $34.7 million, but $14.5 million had so far been secured through the Central Emergency Response Fund and the local Common Humanitarian Fund, in addition to over $1 million from individual donor countries. Over 410,00 people had been directly affected by the flooding in Sudan, at least 200,000 of whom had been left homeless. In addition, 12,000 heads of livestock had been killed, 42,000 hectare of crops had been totally destroyed, and at least 3.5 million people were at risk of succumbing to epidemics, such as acute watery diarrhoea, which had already killed 57. A press release was available.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that, as part of the joint UN interagency Flash Appeal for Sudan, IOM was urgently seeking $422,000 to deliver much-needed relief assistance to some 33,000 particularly vulnerable flood-affected households. The funding would allow IOM to bring emergency shelter materials and non-food items such as plastic sheeting, blankets and mosquito nets to families living in often difficult-to-reach areas. The logistics of the aid operation were complex, as many of the roads had been washed away. In particular, IOM was looking to bring assistance into the remote towns of Kosti, Kassala, Port Sudan and Damazin. To do so, IOM was exploring a number of options, including using planes and barges along the Nile to reach victims in South Sudan.

Ms. Berthiaume said that, for its part, WFP was asking $1.8 million of the joint Flash Appeal funds: $500,000 to assist 200,000 victims in the north of Sudan, and $1.3 million for 100,000 victims in the South. As could be seen from the figures, it was much more difficult, and hence more expensive, to deliver aid to those in South Sudan.

Situation in Somalia

Ms. Berthiaume said that Somalia had been battered by a seemingly endless series of crises that was having a significant impact on the humanitarian situation of the population. Natural catastrophes, such as droughts, and insecurity had led to major population displacements, in particular in the region of Shabele, in the south. Because the number of those needing assistance kept climbing, WFP had had to revise its budget to match new estimates of some 1.2 million people requiring urgent assistance in Somalia. WFP needed $20.4 million to deliver 17,000 tons of food assistance to those in need starting in August. If it did not receive those funds, WFP assistance in Somalia would have to be reduced starting in October.

Mr. Chauzy of IOM noted that the situation in Somalia had also had an impact on the flow of migrants between Somalia and Yemen. Each year tens of thousands of undocumented migrants and asylum-seekers risked their lives trying to cross the Gulf of Aden on board overcrowded fishing boats. A member from an IOM assessment team who had just returned from the region had affirmed that thousands of Somalis and Ethiopians were currently in the Somali port of Bossasso waiting to get a passage to Yemen. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had estimated that some 385 people had already lost their lives trying to cross the Gulf of Aden this year, with 118 still unaccounted for. IOM was seeking $400,000 to carry out awareness raising activities on the dangers of human smuggling and trafficking along the established migration routes and in source communities in Ethiopia.

Flooding in Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Ms. Byrs of OCHA said that yesterday the UN had launched an appeal in New York for $14 million to assist almost 1 million people in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea severely affected by widespread flooding, land- and mudslides since 14 August. An estimated 960,000 people had been affected by the flooding, which had killed more than 450 and rendered 170,000 homeless, including in the capital Pyongyang. There had been major damage to 240,00 homes, basic medical services, key infrastructure, and crops. With thousands of people living in temporary shelter, ensuring potable water supplies and preventing further cases of water-borne diseases were priorities. However, the greatest need remained for food assistance, and the needs were urgent. Ms. Byrs asked for a swift response to the joint Flash Appeal.

Ms. Berthiaume noted that WFP's part of the joint Flash Appeal was for $4.7 million to provide food assistance to the 215,000 victims of the floods in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea over the course of three months. Those funds would allow for WFP to deliver 9,675 tons of food supplies to some 37 affected districts. The gravity of the situation lay in the fact that, before the flooding, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea had already been experiencing a deficit of 1 million tons of food.

Mr. Klaus said UNICEF's part of the joint appeal for flood victims was for $4.2 million, which would be used for water and sanitation activities, health and nutrition and education. An increase in diarrhoeal diseases had been seen, especially among children, and it was important to note that diarrhoea had been the leading cause of child mortality in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea for a long time now already. Child mortality was still relatively high in the country, with 55 children out of 1,000 dying before reaching the age of five. Among efforts planned, UNICEF was looking to provide water purification for 30,000 families; it was distributing 100 basic health kits, designed to assist 400,000 people for three months; and it was planning to carry out rapid scanning to assess the level of acute child malnutrition, which was estimated to be 7 per cent. If the latter figure were confirmed, UNICEF would begin nutrition rehabilitation, with the distribution of therapeutic foods and milk. In terms of education, an assessment of damages to schools was already under way and UNICEF expected to purchase basic infrastructure, including textbooks and furniture, to ensure that the school year could start.

Iraq Update

In an update on Iraq, Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said the humanitarian situation in Iraq had continued to deteriorate, with the number of displaced Iraqis, both inside and outside the country, rising. Now, an estimated 4.2 million Iraqis had been uprooted from their homes, with the monthly rate of displacement climbing to over 60,000 people compared with 50,000 previously, according to UNHCR and the Iraqi Red Crescent. Displacement was rising as Iraqis were finding it harder to get access to social services inside Iraq and many Iraqis were choosing to leave ethnically mixed areas before they were forced to do so.

More than 2 million Iraqis were displaced inside Iraq, Ms. Pagonis continued. While most of the security incidents happened in the centre and south of the country, the displaced were not confined to those regions. In the north, there were more than 780,000 displaced Iraqis, over 650,000 in the centre of the country, and 790,000 in the south. Many were barely surviving in makeshift camps, inaccessible to aid workers for security reasons. With over 300 staff working on the Iraq operation, UNHCR had now registered more than 170,000 refugees in the countries neighbouring Iraq, 15 percent of whom needed special assistance including many very traumatized people and torture victims. Since the start of this year, UNHCR have referred over 13,200 of the most vulnerable Iraqi cases to resettlement countries. Along the Iraq-Syria border, the situation remained desperate for more than 1,600 Palestinians stranded in two camp sites, and there were some 15,000 Palestinians remaining in Iraq who were being threatened, killed or kidnapped on a daily basis.

A press release was available.

Other

Catherine Sibut-Pinote of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) reminded journalists that the 2007 Report on UNCTAD assistance to the Palestinian people would be launched by Mahmoud Elkhafif, UNCTAD Officer-in-charge of Assistance to the to the Palestinian people, on Thursday, 30 August at 11 a.m. in Press Room I. There would be simultaneous launches in Cairo and Ramallah, which would also be held at 11 a.m. local time.

Ms. Sibut-Pinote said available at the back of the room were press kits on the Trade and Development Report 2007, which would be launched on Tuesday, 4 September 2007 at 11.30 in Room III, following the regular UNIS briefing. Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary-General of UNCTAD, and Heiner Flassbeck, Director of the Division on Globalization and Development Strategies, would present the report. The analysis of the world economic situation was a favourable one: this was the fifth straight year of growth. But there were risks, in particular the possibility of an important recession in the United States of America, which could jeopardise the strong rate of economic growth that had been seen recently. In the report, UNCTAD had called for regional cooperation for development, with an emphasis on South-South cooperation. The report and media materials were under embargo until 5 p.m. GMT on 5 September 2007.

Mr. Klaus of UNICEF said that, in the wake of Hurricane Dean, UNICEF was particularly concerned about the situation of children in Belize, where 10 per cent of the population, or some 30,000 people, had been affected by the Hurricane. A press release was available.

Marçal Izard of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced a press conference on the theme "Missing Persons: A Forgotten Tragedy", which focused on the plight of those missing in armed conflicts. Speaking would be ICRC Director of Operations, Pierre Krähenbühl, and three ICRC experts. The conference would be held tomorrow, Wednesday, 29 August, at 2 p.m. in the ICRC auditorium,

Mr. Izard also announced the launch of an ICRC media campaign in Bogotá, marking the fact that ICRC had assisted over 1 million displaced persons in Colombia over the past 10 years. Tragically, the numbers of displaced in Colombia had not diminished, but continued to grow.