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 statements from spokespersons and representatives of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the World Health Organization, The United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Food Programme, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Trade Organization and the International Organization for Migration.
Myanmar
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, had yesterday evening been dispatched to the region in response to the deteriorating situation in the country. Mr. Gambari would begin his visit on 29 September. The Secretary-General was pleased that the Government of Myanmar had agreed to the visit and he called on the authorities to engage in a constructive dialogue with his Special Envoy and to commit to a path of peaceful and inclusive national reconciliation, according to a statement available in English and French in the Press Room.
In response to a question on Myanmar, Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that UNICEF was extremely concerned about the situation in the country and especially the effects of the violence on children and women. Some 40% of the population was under the age of 18. Much of the population of Myanmar was already struggling to survive with significant number of children malnourished. The current violence could only lead to a further deterioration and restrictions on UNICEF’s ability to reach the most vulnerable.
Secretary-General's statements
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that copies of the Secretary-General’s remarks yesterday at three events were available in the Press Room: the annual Ministerial Meeting of the Group of 77 developing countries and China; the High-Level Meeting to Commemorate the Tenth Anniversary of the Chemical Weapons Convention; and the launch of the Foreign Policy and Global Health Initiative.
The Secretary-General’s message on the occasion of the International Day of Older Persons, observed on 1 October of each year since 1991, was also available.
Geneva activities
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that the Human Rights Council would today proceed to the adoption of several draft resolutions and decisions. She reminded journalists that all draft resolutions and decisions before the Council tabled at the current session could be located on the Council’s extranet web page.
At Palais Wilson, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that the Committee on the Rights of the Child was in session until next Friday, 5 October. This week, the Committee had examined the initial reports of Bulgaria and France on two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Today, the Committee would examine the second periodic report presented by Venezuela on the implementation of the Convention itself. On Monday, the Committee would examine the initial reports of Spain on the two Optional Protocols and the initial report of Syria on the Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict.
Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that the 2nd International Conference on Climate Change and Tourism would take place in Davos from 1 to 3 October. The Conference would bring together international organizations, governments, public and private sector stakeholders in tourism and the academic community in order to review international processes and to discuss adaptation and mitigation needs and policy options. The event would examine the linkages between climate factors and tourism operations in their complexity, to draw conclusions and propose recommendations to all stakeholders involved. The United Nations Information Service would be represented at the Conference by Jon Herbertsson, who would be at the journalists’ disposal and be available to provide information on the event. He could be contacted at: 079 509 0570. A note to correspondents on the Conference had been issued.
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) / Ebola outbreak
Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme (WFP) said that WFP was taking advantage of an improvement in security conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to provide aid to displaced persons who it had been impossible to reach since the return to conflict at the end of last month. WFP had begun distribution of aid to 65,000 displaced persons in the districts of Masisi, Kalehe and Rutshuru. An additional 12,000 persons had fled the combat and found refuge in Bishangi, south of the city of Sake, the majority of whom were housed by host families. Some 90 families (ca. 450 persons) had taken refuge in schools and churches and were receiving aid from WFP. Aid was also being provided to Nyamilima in the district of Rutshuru, where there were 600 children suffering from malnutrition.
Despite the improvement in security conditions, there were still tens of thousands of people that WFP was unable to reach. WFP could not venture outside Goma without escort from MONUC, the United Nations Mission in DRC. It was estimated that WFP was able to reach only half of the 300,000 people displaced by the conflict. Ms. Berthiaume said that the requirements for food aid in the country had tripled during the course of the year and that WFP urgently needed an additional $12 million for its operations until the end of the year.
Jennifer Pagonis of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that a fresh round of fighting this week in Masisi district in the North Kivu province had resulted in the displacement of more people with new waves of uprooted people expected in the coming days. Fresh arrivals were reported daily in the campsites hosting internally displaced people in the Mugunga area, and there were also reports of people fleeing into neighbouring South Kivu province. There were now some 65,000 internally displaced people sheltering in the larger Mugunga area close to Goma, with 45,000 in displacement sites and camps.
Ian Simpson of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that an update on the outbreak of Ebola haemorrhagic fever in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) had been posted yesterday. Additional information was expected later this morning from the DRC Ministry of Health, which was about to hold a briefing in Kinshasa. The situation was complicated. The outbreak had been going on for some time and was mixed with an outbreak of Shigella dysenteriae type 1 and possibly typhoid as well. The team on the ground, which consisted of 26 international staff, local staff of the Congolese Ministry of Health, and staff WHO’s African regional bureau, was working to try to understand how many of the deaths had been caused by Ebola and how many by other diseases. It was hoped that the outbreak was slowing down. The last confirmed death from the virus had been on 22 September. The number of confirmed death remained at six.
World Habitat Day / Global Report on Human Settlements 2007
Abdalla Abbas, Acting Director, of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) said that World Habitat Day was observed on the first Monday in October, this year on 1 October, to reflect on the state of human settlements and the right of adequate shelter for all. The Day would be observed in 35 countries, with a major celebration in The Hague, as well as in Monterrey on 5 October. The Secretary-General and the Executive Director of UN-HABITAT would issue statements on Monday, copies of which had been provided under embargo until 10 a.m. Central European time on Monday. At the observance in The Hague, the Executive Director would also be giving the UN-HABITAT Scroll of Honour Awards to a number of individuals and institutions who had made contributions to improve the habitat.
Mariko Sato of UN-HABITAT announced the launch of the United Nations “Global Report on Human Settlements 2007: Enhancing Urban Safety and Security” on World Habitat Day, 1 October. The main launches would be held in The Hague and Monterrey, as well as in London. The report was embargoed until Monday, 1 October. It was hoped that the media would publish stories on Monday in support of the World Habitat Day theme, “A safe city is a just city”. The report was devoted to three major dimensions of urban safety and security: crime and violence; security of tenure and protection against forced eviction; and natural and human-made disasters. Ms. Sato drew attention to some notable statistics from the report: during the period from 1980 to 2000, total recorded crime rates over the world increased by 30%; at least 2 million people were forcefully evicted each year; there has been a 50% increase in the number of extreme weather events associated with climate change from the 1950s to the 1990s. Additional details were available in press materials.
Asked to comment on claims that millions of people in China had been evicted from their houses during the preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games, Ms. Sato said that UN-HABITAT was working with eviction watch groups, mainly NGOs, to monitor the situation. At the moment, she was not aware of any engagement with the authorities but that action would be taken, including policy dialogue with the authorities and housing associations, to mitigate massive evictions. Mr. Abbas and Ms. Sato would get back to the journalist with the official position of UN-HABITAT on the issue of the evictions.
Other
Catherine Sibut of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) announced that the Fifty-fourth Session of the Trade and Development Board would take place from 1 to 11 October. On Tuesday, 2 October, the Preparatory Committee for UNCTAD XII, which would take place in Ghana in April 2008, would be established. The opening of the session would take place on Monday morning, 1 October, followed by a high-level segment on “Globalization and inclusive development” with the participation of the Minister of Economic Affairs, Commerce and Development of Ghana. On 4 October, UNCTAD’s World Investment Prospects Study would be presented. It was agreed that a press briefing on the study would be organized in Press Room 1. Press releases would be issued on the opening of the Board on Monday, as well as on the establishment of the Preparatory Committee for UNCTAD XII on Tuesday.
Mr. Simpson of WHO drew attention to a media advisory circulated yesterday afternoon on the International Day of Older Persons, to be observed on Monday, 1 October. WHO would be publishing a guide to “Age-friendly Cities”. As the global population aged, it was increasingly important that city planners took into account the needs of the older members of its population. The guide provided analysis based on interviews with older people in a number of cities around the world.
On Cholera in Iraq, Mr. Simpson said that WHO had not received any updates since 25 September and nothing new was expected until the beginning of next week.
Mr. Simpson informed journalists that Sunday, 30 September, was World Heart Day. The Day was supported by WHO but organized by the World Hearth Federation to draw attention to the size of the problem of cardiovascular diseases. WHO estimated that more than 17 million people died each year of such diseases, mainly heart attacks and strokes. More than four of every five deaths were now in low- and middle- income countries, affecting men and women equally. It was no longer the case that cardiovascular diseases mainly affected the developed world.
Jennifer Pagonis of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced that UNHCR’s annual Executive Committee meeting would take place next week, beginning at 10 a.m. in the Assembly Hall with an address by High Commissioner António Guterres, followed by a keynote address by John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs. All the sessions of the Committee would be open to the media and a schedule was available at the back of the room. Ms. Pagonis drew attention to the speech by the Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Erica Feller, on Wednesday or Thursday, which would provide a global review of current refugee asylum challenges and successes. On Monday evening, journalists were invited to attend the 2007 Nansen Refugee Award Ceremony in the UNHCR atrium at 6:30 p.m.
Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that Under-Secretary-General Holmes would be a guest at the next press briefing on 2 October.
On Somalia, Ms. Pagonis said that UNHCR had began distributing much-needed relief supplies for some 24,000 people in the town of Afgooye, 30 km west of Mogadishu, many of whom had fled a recent intensification of violence in the capital. In September alone, 11,000 people had fled Mogadishu. More than 40,000 residents of Mogadishu had been displaced in Afgooye since February. The 22 settlements along the road from Mogadishu, built by families who had fled the capital earlier this year, were feeling the pressure of the new arrivals. Mogadishu was now divided into two parts; the northern part was becoming deserted as residents fled clashes between the Ethiopian-backed TFG forces and insurgents, whereas the southern part of the city was calm.
On the Gulf of Aden, Ms. Pagonis said that the deadly drama involving smuggling boats in the Gulf of Aden was continuing, with at least 89 confirmed deaths and 154 missing and presumed dead so far this month. UNHCR was strengthening its operations to deal with the ongoing crisis. Between 1-26 September, a total of 50 smuggling boats – nearly two a day – arrived on the Yemen shores from Somalia carrying 4,741 people -- mostly Somalis and Ethiopians. That was an increase of 70 percent over last year.
Ms. Pagonis said that UNHCR expressed its grave concern and condolences over the killing in Iraq on 25 September of a staff member of one of UNHCR’s humanitarian partners, Intersos. The 31-year-old Iraqi aid worker was kidnapped by armed militia members on Tuesday. His body and that of a friend were later located at a morgue.
Jana Borges of the World Trade Organization (WTO) reminded journalists that Hamid Mamdouh, Services Division Director of WTO, would hold a briefing at 3 p.m. this afternoon on the status of negotiations on the Services talks, which had been taking place for the past two weeks. Next week, on 4-5 October, WTO would hold its annual Public Forum, two days of intensive discussions on trade and related topics. The Forum would open at 10:30 a.m. with a high-level panel on the theme of “How can the WTO help harness globalization?” Participants would include Pascal Lamy, Director-General of WTO, President Tarja Halonen of Finland, and Olubanke King-Akerele, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Liberia. The panel would be followed by 40 sessions on four main topics: global governance, coherence, economic growth and sustainable development. Journalists had free access with a UN or WTO press badges.
Reviewing the regular schedule for next week, Ms. Borges said that the trade policy review of Gabon and Cameroon would take place on Monday and Wednesday. A meeting of the Services Council dedicated to air transport would take place on Tuesday. On Monday there would be a meeting on Market Access (industrial products) Negotiating Group, following which Josep Bosch would hold a briefing. On Monday and Tuesday, the Director-General would be in Dar Es Salaam participating in a conference on “Mobilizing Aid for Trade: Focus Africa”.
Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that a group of 42 Catholic nuns from Southern African countries would be given a week-long intensive training by IOM counter trafficking training experts in an effort to strengthen the capacity of faith-based organizations and personnel in the region in fighting the crime. The training, which would take place from 1 to 6 October, was expected to provide participants with the tools and information necessary to provide assistance to victims and potential victims including, to identify local instances of human trafficking and to prevent it, to empower victims and to protect themselves from psychological burn-out.