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 World Food Programme, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the Group of Earth Observers, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Labour Office, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Refugee Agency.

Deputy Secretary-General Visiting Geneva

Ms. Heuzé said Asha-Rose Migiro, the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, was visiting Geneva and would be participating tomorrow in the opening of the 16th session of the General Assembly of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Ms. Migiro would be reading out the message of the Secretary-General to the General Assembly and it would be made available to journalists as soon as it was ready.

Ms. Migiro was presently meeting with Charles Beer, President of the State Council of the Republic and Canton of Geneva. At 11:30 a.m., she would be meeting with Peter Piot, Executive Secretary of UNAIDS. This would be followed by lunch hosted by Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva. The Deputy Secretary-General would hold a town hall meeting with UNOG staff at 4 p.m.

Secretary-General Returns to New York

Ms. Heuzé said Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon was back in New York after a tour which took him to Argentina, Chile, Antarctica, Brazil, Tunisia and Lebanon and which culminated in Valencia, Spain to release the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change. Yesterday he had briefed journalists in New York about his 12-day tour and a transcript of his comments was available in the press room.

Geneva Announcements

Ms. Heuzé said the International Committee of the Red Cross had asked her to inform journalists that their scheduled press conference today on climate change had been cancelled.

As the embargo on the UNAIDS AIDS Epidemic Update had been broken by the Washington Post, the embargo had now been lifted and journalists were free to use the statistics in the report. Ms. Heuzé said there would still be a briefing today at 2:30 p.m. in room III and journalists were welcome to attend and ask questions about the report.

UNDP would be holding a pre-launch press briefing under strict embargo today at 11:30 a.m. on the Human Development Report 2007/2008 "Fighting Climate Change: Human Solidarity in a Divided World”. Ms. Heuzé said the embargo for the report was on 27 November 2007, 13:00 Geneva/Paris time. The main launch of the report would be in Brazil and President Lula would be participating in it.

Ms. Heuzé said today was also the 18th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention of the Rights of the Child. The Convention had revolutionized the culture of children’s rights in countries around the world. There was a press release available from UNICEF about the appointment of Ishmael Beah, author and former child soldier, as UNICEF Advocate for Children Affected by War.

Human Rights Committees

Ms. Heuzé said the Committee against Torture this morning was meeting in public at the Palais Wilson with members of the Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture. The Committee would be concluding its session on Friday, 23 November when it would issue its observations and recommendations on the reports from Benin, Latvia, Uzbekistan, Norway, Estonia and Portugal which it had considered during the session. There was a possibility that some of the members of the Committee would come to Palais des Nations around 11:30 a.m. on 23 November to brief journalists about the session, but that would be confirmed later.

Ms. Heuzé said the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights would also be concluding its work on 23 November and would issue its observations and recommendations on the reports of Ukraine, San Marino, Belgium, Costa Rica and Paraguay which had been reviewed during the session.

Bangladesh Cyclone and Climate Change

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund had authorized the first disbursement of $ 8.7 million in support of life-saving relief assistance for victims of the super cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh. The cyclone had affected more than 3.1 million people in 28 southern districts. More than 273,000 homes had been destroyed and a further 650,000 houses were partially damaged. A series of assessments were underway. The Bangladesh Armed Forces aircrafts, helicopters and navy ships were participating in the rescue, evacuation and relief operations. The United Nations and non-governmental organizations were also participating in the relief efforts. Available were three texts with more details on the relief operations. UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes said he hoped that Bangladesh would see an expansion of the many offers of support offered so far.

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said according to Bangladesh officials, the cyclone had destroyed 876,707 hectares of crops. There was no electricity or potable water in many areas. Now, all the affected areas were accessible and some people were returning to their homes to see what remained. WFP had distributed 100 tons of high-energy biscuits to 654,440 particularly vulnerable persons by road, air and boat, and it would continue with this distribution to another 465,000 victims starting today in Burguna, Patuakhali, Pirozpur and Barfhal. WFP had five teams on the ground which were continuing with their assessment of needs.

Miranda Eeles of the United Nations Children’s Fund said available was a press release issued by the UNICEF country office in Bangladesh which said that just over 40 per cent of the population of Bangladesh was under 18. Many of the victims affected by the floods were children. The Government said that nearly half of the affected population were children and an estimated 400,000 of them were under the age of five. Children were believed to number high among the casualties. There had been extensive damage to public houses, roads and schools. So far, 792 Government schools had been fully destroyed, and more than 4,000 had been partially destroyed. The most pressing needs for women and children in this kind of situation was food, clothing, blankets and shelter, as well as access to a safe water supply and sanitation facilities to mitigate the threat of water-born diseases. UNICEF had been part of the UN assessment missions to the worst affected areas, and it was supporting the Department of Public Health Engineering to repair wells and to get jerry cans to people. There was an adequate stock available of medicines to address possible disease outbreak, but UNICEF was afraid that electricity outbreaks had affected the quality so it would help replenish medicine stocks. UNICEF was also working closely with WFP to distribute high-energy biscuits to the five most affected districts. It was working with the Ministry of Education in the response plan to all the schools which had been damaged. UNICEF had sent out an immediate needs document to donors – this was an initial assessment which was expected to change. For now UNICEF had asked for $ 2.3 million and focused on nutrition, water and sanitation, non-food items and child protection.

Michael Williams of the Group on Earth Observations said Bangladesh was one of the countries that was particularly vulnerable to climate change, and this whole issue of climate change impact and adaptation was very much in the air these days. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report which came out on the weekend had focused very heavily on adaptation because so many climate change impacts were already happening or were inevitable. The work of the Group on Earth Observations was going to make a very big contribution to adapting to climate change impact. The Group was linking together the world’s environmental monitoring systems so data could be integrated and analysed on a wide range of issues such as biodiversity and water resources. The Director of the Group on Earth Observations would be briefing journalists at 11 o’clock on Wednesday, 21 November in press room 1 and would provide case examples of what could be done to improve adaptation in future. A press release would be issued tomorrow morning.

Human Rights

José Luis Díaz of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said High Commissioner Louise Arbour would today be concluding her visit to Afghanistan. She would be issuing a statement in Kabul at the end of her visit and it would be put out in Geneva.

Mr. Díaz said journalists should have received a note on the visit by Asma Jahangir, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, to Angola from 20 to 27 November after she had been released from house arrest in Pakistan. They should also have received a note on the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention would be holding its 50th session in Geneva from 21 to 30 November 2007.

Human Rights Day was commemorated on 10 December, Mr. Díaz recalled, and on that day, three weeks from now, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights would launch a year-long campaign to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The High Commissioner would launch the campaign, which was placed under the leadership of the Secretary-General, at a news conference here in Geneva. The initiative aimed to bring together all parts of the UN system to advocate for the human rights that fall within their areas of activity. The Office would also welcome partnerships with civil society, Governments and the media to celebrate this historic document and to raise awareness of the Universal Declaration and its enduring relevance. The 60th anniversary would be an occasion for High Commissioner Arbour to emphasize two core principles of the Declaration: universality and justice. These principles were important in the face of constant challenges to human rights justified on the basis of such reasons as cultural specificity or State sovereignty. A series of materials and documents would be made available to journalists ahead of the event.

Mr. Díaz said that he would not be in Geneva to moderate the High Commissioner?s press conference on 10 December because today was actually his last briefing, as he was undertaking a new assignment shortly with the UN Force in Cyprus. He said it had been a privilege and a pleasure to work with the Geneva press corps and hoped that their paths would cross again.

Ms. Heuzé said she was sure journalists would join her in congratulating Mr. Díaz for his new assignment, expressing regret at his departure, and thanking him for the frank and helpful manner in which he carried out his work, which helped raise the profile of human rights. Ms Heuzè recalled that Mr Díaz had done excellent work for three High Commissioners for Human Rights. The President of the ACANU also thanked Mr. Díaz for his work and efforts to help journalists.

Other

Laetitia Dard of the International Labour Office said ILO had issued last Friday, 16 November a new book entitled “Microfinance and public policy: Outreach, performance and efficiency”. This study on the performance of microfinance institutions and their efficiency, which looked at 45 microfinance institutions in 24 different countries, was available only in English. An executive summary was available in English, French and Spanish. The study sought to clarify how to preserve the dual commitment of microfinance institutions to both poverty reduction and profitability, whilst ensuring their progressive integration into the financial market and the phasing out of subsidies.

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said the intergovernmental meeting on pandemic influenza preparedness opened this morning. WHO Director-General was delivering her statement right now, and the text would be sent to journalists shortly. The meeting would then hold elections to choose its Chairman, adopt its agenda, and discuss its work methods. All documents were available in the six UN languages. The meeting would be concluding on Friday, 23 November, and there would probably be some form of briefing, but she would inform journalists as sure as it was finalized. Topics to be discussed included progress in strengthening procedures for sharing influenza virus samples, as well as increased access to vaccines.

Ms. Chaib said concerning the outbreak of a disease of unknown etiology in Cacuaco municipality in Angola, there should be an update about it later in the day and she would send it to journalists.

Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency said the number of displaced people inside Somalia had risen sharply to a staggering one million, according to UNHCR estimates. Sixty per cent of the population or some 600,000 people were believed to have fled from the lawless Somali capital, Mogadishu since February this year - nearly 200,000 of them in the past two weeks alone, leaving entire neighbourhoods in the volatile capital empty. The numbers of displaced this year were in addition to some 400,000 people displaced by previous fighting. A UN inter-agency mission to Afgooye last weekend echoed reports of dire living conditions for IDPs living in the area. Another inter-agency team based in Galkayo, 700 kilometres north of Mogadishu, visited the Dusa Mareb area in Galgaduud - the first visit to the area in nearly six months. Because of persistent insecurity in the area, regular humanitarian assistance to these areas south of Galkayo has been ad hoc and dependent on security access. Water, health and sanitation needs were immense.

Ms. Pagonis said that UNHCR this morning started the final phase of its voluntary repatriation programme to help some 1,800 Somali refugees return home to Somaliland, in northwest Somalia, from Djibouti by the end of the year. The 1,800 refugees were one of the last groups of Somaliland refugees living in Djibouti. Many of the returnees fled to Djibouti more than 16 years ago after the collapse of the Siad Barre regime in 1991 and ensuing civil war in Somalia.

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said in Somalia, two boats carrying WFP food to Somalia had arrived safely after being escorted for the first time by a French naval ship. Ships, including those carrying aid, were threatened by pirates off the coast of Somalia. So far this year, pirates had mounted at least 26 attacks on ships off Somalia, including 13 hijackings. Of those attacked, three were ships carrying WFP food assistance. An estimated 80 percent of WFP food assistance to Somalia is transported to the country by sea. The Government of France has said that its escort operation would last two months and WFP hoped other Governments would help in the same way.