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 provided information about the situation in Myanmar, meetings this week of the Committee against Torture and of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Rift Valley fever in Sudan, the plight of displaced persons in North Kivu (DRC), the situation of the Chadian children stranded in Abeche, and a two-day UNRISD conference on the role of business in developing countries, among others. Spokespersons and representatives from the World Health Organization, the United Refugee Agency, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, the World Trade Organization and the International Organization for Migration participated in the briefing. A spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights was also present, but had no announcements to make.

Secretary-General's Travels

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that the Secretary-General was in Santiago, Chile, where he had attended a high-level panel on the Global Partnership for Development yesterday, along with the Chilean President and Spanish Prime Minister. The Secretary-General had taken that occasion to warn that, just past the midpoint in the race to reach the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, the world’s scorecard was mixed, particularly in Africa. Observing that "the clock is ticking louder and louder every day", the Secretary-General had stressed that "to reach the Goals on time, we have to take concerted action now." The full text of the Secretary-General's statement was available in the press room.

Yesterday evening, the Secretary-General had met with Chilean President Michele Bachelet, and had addressed the Ibero-American Summit, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier added.

Situation in Myanmar

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, had completed his latest mission to Myanmar yesterday and had flown to Singapore. There, at the request of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Mr. Gambari had read out a public statement on her behalf, which she had delivered to him during their meeting earlier in the day in Yangon. In the statement, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi thanked all those who had stood by her side all this time, both inside and outside her country. She also welcomed the appointment on 8 October of Minister Aung Kyi as Minister for Relations. She indicated that their first meeting on 25 October had been "constructive", and that she looked forward to further regular discussions. She went on to say, “In the interest of the nation, I stand ready to cooperate with the Government in order to make this process of dialogue a success and welcome the necessary good offices role of the United Nations to help facilitate our efforts in this regard.”

In another welcome development, the Government of Myanmar announced yesterday its decision to allow Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to meet today with the leaders of her party, the National League for Democracy. Mr. Gambari would now return to New York and have the opportunity to fully brief the Secretary-General on his mission. He had been invited by the Government to return to Myanmar and expected to do so in the next few weeks. A press release and Aung San Suu Kyi's statement were available in the press room.

Geneva Activities

Continuing a series of regular consultations with regional groups of Member States, this afternoon UNOG Director-General Sergei Ordzhonikidze would be meeting with members of the Western European and Others Group, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said. As in the other meetings held so far, they would discuss a number of issues of common concern, including ongoing UN reform, system-wide coherence and peacebuilding.

There were also two human rights committees currently holding sessions at the Palais Wilson, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier added. The Committee against Torture was taking up the report of Uzbekistan this morning, and this afternoon would be hearing responses from the delegation of Latvia to the questions put to it by Experts yesterday afternoon. On Monday morning the Committee would begin its review of the report of Norway.

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier recalled that the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which had also begun a three-week session at Palais Wilson on Monday, had reviewed the reports of Costa Rica and Ukraine earlier this week. Today, it was considering the initial and second to fourth periodic reports of San Marino. On Monday and continuing on Tuesday morning, the Committee would begin its examination of the third periodic report of Belgium. As always, press releases were issued in French and English after the meetings.

Rift Valley Fever in the Sudan

Fadéla Chaib of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that, yesterday, 7 November, WHO had confirmed the outbreak of Rift Valley Fever in the states of White Nile, Sinnar and Gazeera in Sudan, with 228 cases and 84 deaths so far. Following a request for assistance, in October, WHO had mobilized a team to provide logistic and technical support for a joint investigation with the Sudanese Health Ministry and other United Nations and international agencies, in particular with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. More than 25 human samples collected had tested positive for Rift Valley fever. The victims were mostly young men. As the virus circulated between animals via mosquitoes, the most significant risk factor for human infection was close contact with infected domestic animals. Samples had been taken from animals, but there were as yet no results from the laboratories.

With no specific treatment and no effective human vaccine – and with a mortality rate of around 1 per cent – intensive social mobilization to raise awareness of the risk, as well as to inform people of protective measures, was the only way to reduce human infection and deaths, Ms. Fadela emphasized. WHO recommendations targeted both reducing the risk of animal-to-human transmission through the use of appropriate protective clothing when handling sick animals or their tissues or when slaughtering animals; avoiding consumption of fresh blood, raw milk or animal tissue; and the use of insecticide impregnated mosquito nets and long-sleeved shirts and trousers to avoid mosquito bites. Briefing notes were available at the back of the room and information was also available on the WHO website (www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs207/en/index.html).

Situation of Displaced in North Kivu / Cholera

Ron Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo UNHCR and its partners had stepped up efforts this week to curb the spread of cholera in camps for the internally displaced in the Mugunga area of North Kivu province. In early October cholera had broken out in five camps hosting some 45,000 internally displaced persons, and according to health workers, by the end of October, there had been 439 suspected cases of cholera. Thankfully, the latest reports from the camps indicated that the cholera situation appeared to be stabilizing, as the number of new suspected cases was slightly dropping.

This week, UNHCR and its non-governmental organization partners had distributed soap to nearly 20,000 internally displaced people in two Mugunga camps, Mr. Redmond said. It was hoped that those efforts, plus improved water supply and sanitation, coupled with an intensive public awareness campaign on hygiene, would held to stabilize the situation further.

Palestinians at the Iraq-Syria Border

In an update on the nearly 2,000 Palestinians stuck in two camps at the Iraq-Syria border, Mr. Redmond said that their situation remained very precarious. Many of those fleeing the violence in Iraq had been in the camps for months now. Moreover, the population of Al Tanf camp had recently increased to 437, with the addition of 97 Palestinians caught by the Syrian authorities trying to enter from Iraq with forged documents.

On UNHCR efforts to find placement for seriously ill Palestinians, including several children, stuck in the camps, UNHCR was still looking for countries to take those cases. So far, UNHCR had resettled one family of eight with several sick children to Norway in August. But there were still 11 medical cases submitted for resettlement that were pending approval. Mr. Redmond appealed once again to the international community to come forward to help these children.

There was also some good news regarding the Palestinians, Mr. Redmond added. On Monday, the Ruweished camp in Jordan had been emptied when the last families left for resettlement in Brazil. The camp, which had been set up in 2003, had once provided shelter for some 1,000 refugees. Most had now been resettled in third countries.

Chadian Children Held in Abeche

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that the investigations to identify the families of the 21 girls and 82 boys who a French non-governmental organization had attempted to fly out of the country was ongoing. So far, just 4 of the children had so far not been identified, for the simple reason that they were too young to speak. UNICEF experts would be travelling to the villages mentioned by the older children next week to verify the information received from them, and at the same time they would try and gather information about the families of the four who remained unidentified. As soon as they had verification, the children would be reunified with their families. However, Given the remoteness of the different villages and the fact that they were spread over a large area, the information gathering visits were expected to take two weeks.

Ms. Taveau underscored that UNICEF's efforts in Chad would also continued with regard to some 400,000 children displaced in the camps in the east of country. It was more than ever important now to strengthen security and living conditions for those vulnerable children, and UNICEF was making education a priority.

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the statement by the Secretary-General, in support of the Chadian Government's efforts to find a solution to the attempted abduction of 103 children, was available in the press room.

Flooding in the Dominican Republic

In an update on the flooding in the Dominican Republic following the passage of Tropical Storm Noel on 29 October, Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that UN efforts continued to assist the 79,728 persons who had been displaced. Of those, 23,375 people were now living in temporary shelters. Approximately 20,000 homes had been partially destroyed and 50 bridges and highways had been affected. Eleven provinces remained on red alert. A six-member OCHA expert team had been sent to the Dominican Republic on 1 November to join the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination team already in place. On 6 November, OCHA had issued a joint flash appeal for $14 million to provide humanitarian assistance to flood victims over the next six months. So far, helicopters and planes had been provided by the United States and the United Kingdom, and major financial donations had been made by the European Union (€1.5 million), the United States ($600,000), and Japan ($112,000). However, this flash appeal, like the other recently launched by OCHA, was sadly underfunded. A press note was available at the back of the room.

Flooding in Mexico

Ms. Taveau of UNICEF said that available at the back of the room was a press release with an update on joint efforts of the UN system – in particular UNICEF, PAHO/WHO, and WFP – to provide emergency humanitarian assistance and ensure coordinated response to those affected by severe floods in Mexico's Chiapas and Tabasco States. Two expert missions from UNICEF were already in the affected areas to identify the most urgent needs of children, as well as to establish emotional recovery programmes for them.

UNRISD Conference on Role of Business in Developing Countries

Peter Utting, Deputy Director of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) announced that on Monday and Tuesday, 12 and 13 November, UNRISD was hosting a Conference on Business, Social Policy and Corporate Political Influence in Developing Countries, at the Palais des Nations. UNRISD had invited 25 social science scholars from some 20 countries to address one of the burning issues in international development circles: could transnational corporations and business associations play a constructive role not just in economic development, but also in social development? That was a particularly pertinent issue at a time when the international development community was calling on the business community to be partners in development, to be socially responsible and to assist in achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The Conference would not only examine the effectiveness of what transnational corporations were doing in terms of corporate social responsibility and private-public partnerships, but would look at whether they supported or obstructed government efforts to protect citizens' and workers' rights. A background press release was available at the back of the room.

Other

The Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, L. Craig Johnstone, was in Darfur today as part of a four-day mission to Sudan to review UNHCR operations there, Mr. Redmond of UNHCR said. The Deputy High Commissioner had earlier spent a day in Khartoum to meet with senior Sudanese officials. Today, he would travel to Abeche, in eastern Chad, where UNHCR cared for some 240,000 refugees from Darfur in 12 camps as well as to some 180,000 internally displaced Chadians.

Janaina Borges of the World Trade Organization (WTO) said that next Monday, 12 November, WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy would be meeting with Ecuador's Vice President, Ana Vilma de Escobar, and on Thursday he would meet with Indonesia's Trade Minister, Mari Pangestu. On Friday, Mr. Lamy would hold one of his regular live Internet chats, on the subject of Aid for Trade, at 11 a.m. at www.wto.org.

Turning to the WTO meeting schedule for the coming week, Ms. Borges highlighted that the Financial Services Committee would meet at 10 a.m. on Monday and Friday, to be followed by a briefing for journalists by Hamid Mamdouh, Director of the Services Division, at 4 p.m on those days. There were also services negotiations, linked to the Doha Round, taking place on Thursday, at 3 p.m. On Friday morning, there was a meeting of the Services Council at 10 a.m., which would also be followed by a briefing by Mr. Mamdouh (at 3 p.m). The Trade and Development Committee was meeting on Wednesday and Friday mornings, at 10 a.m. The following week, Monday through Wednesday (19-21 November), WTO would hold a global review of aid for trade. Participants would include heads of several multilateral agencies; regional development banks; and representatives of donor and recipient countries. A briefing session with details would take place next week, probably on Wednesday.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that operations to return thousands of internally displaced people to their former homes in South Sudan scheduled to restart at the end of the rainy season in late November would only last until the end of the year unless additional funding could be found urgently. IOM had already assisted more than 60,000 South Sudanese to return to their homes since 2006, by land, barge and air. Emergency funding of $2 million from the Common Humanitarian Fund and additional funding by USAID was allowing IOM to recommence voluntary returns of the displaced. However, IOM was urgently appealing for a further $4 million to begin the implementation of priority returns scheduled for early 2008, and to re-establish or refurbish departure centres and way stations that were either dismantled or damaged during the rainy season this year.

In the Americas, IOM was concerned by an increasing trend in minors travelling alone from Central American countries to the United States. This week, IOM and its partners had assisted a group of five unaccompanied minors en route to the United States to return to their parents and relatives in Nicaragua. That intervention had been made possible through the Intraregional Fund for Vulnerable Migrants, managed by IOM and created in 2005 by the States that make up the Regional Conference on Migration (Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and the United States). Since the Fund was created in 2005, IOM had assisted more than 430 vulnerable migrants with the majority (247) being unaccompanied minors and women, Mr. Chauzy said. A briefing note was available at the back of the room.