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 was also attended by Spokespersons for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the UN Refugee Agency, the World Food Programme, the World Trade Organization, the Economic Commission for Europe and the World Intellectual Property Organization.

Geneva Meetings

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which opened its seventy-second session on 18 February, has already considered the reports of Fiji and Italy and was this morning concluding its review of the reports of the United States. Next week, the Committee will be considering the reports of Belgium, Nicaragua, Moldova and the Dominican Republic.

The Conference on Disarmament will hold its next public plenary at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 26 February.

Human Rights

Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour will make a three-day visit to Georgia starting Monday, 25 February. During her visit, the High Commissioner will hold talks with senior government figures, as well as with the Public Defender, as the Ombudsman is known in Georgia, senior judicial figures and various representatives of civil society. The High Commissioner will hold a press conference at 8 p.m. Tbilisi time on Wednesday, 27 February.

Mr. Colville said OHCHR was concerned about the reported abduction and detention of several opposition leaders as well as members of civil society organizations in Chad in the wake of the recent fighting in N’Djamena. While appreciating that the Government had faced a major crisis, with fighting taking place right in the heart of the capital city, it was important that detentions took place in full accordance with standards laid down under international law, and that the fundamental rights of detainees were maintained. OHCHR remained concerned about reports of killings of large numbers of civilians during the fighting and called upon the Government to fully investigate these allegations and to hold those responsible to account. OHCHR was also concerned by the scope of the 15 February Presidential Decree that declared a nation-wide state of emergency and authorized house searches and controls on the private and public press, as well as limiting movement of people and vehicles and banning most meetings. OHCHR called on the Government of Chad to respect fundamental human rights and freedoms during the period of state of emergency which it hoped would be as brief as possible.

In response to a question, Mr. Colville said OHCHR had made representations to the Government of Chad from Geneva.

Health

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said there will be an embargoed press conference at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, 26 February in Room III on tuberculosis. Tuberculosis killed around one and a half million people a year and was the second only to HIV/AIDS as the world’s leading infectious killer. New data from the largest WHO survey ever carried out on drug–resistant tuberculosis will be released on 26 February at 5 p.m. Geneva time. The report entitled “Anti-Tuberculosis Drug Resistance in the World” charts the scale of the multi drug-resistant tuberculosis MDR-TB problem and includes a list of countries which reported the highest recorded rates of drug resistance. It also featured analysis of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis XDR-TB, a virtually untreatable form of tuberculosis. The report would be released also in Washington.

Beth Magne-Watts of the Global Health Workforce Alliance said there was an important meeting taking place in Kampala, Uganda from 2 to 7 March. It was the first ever global forum on human resources for health. The conference was dealing with the issue of the health workforce crisis, the fact that there were at least 4 million health workers needed to bridge the gap and to move forward with many of the health development goals, including AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. She would be happy to set up any one-on-one interviews for interested journalists and there was more documentation with details on this issue at the back of the room.

Children

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said the tropical cyclone which hit Madagascar last Sunday has affected at least 300,000 persons, killed 26 victims, and 30,000 needed immediate aid, including 15,000 children under the age of 18. The rain continued to fall and many parts of the island were still under water. In the capital Antananarivo, at least 18,787 persons were without shelter. These figures did not account for the rest of the country, which could have been affected also by the strong winds and rain. There was substantial human, material and agricultural damage. The cyclone first hit the tourist island of Saint Marie in the east of Madagascar, and there, communication systems were barely functioning, certain bridges were submerged, and 70 per cent of the hotel infrastructure and homes were destroyed or damaged. There was also a shortage of rice, which was the main staple. The rising level of water meant there was a risk of water-born diseases like dysentery of diarrhea. UNICEF was working in close cooperation with other UN agencies, the Government and the National Office for Natural Catastrophes. A number of missions were assessing the needs in the affected areas. This afternoon, the Government of Madagascar will launch an appeal for international aid to help with this crisis.

On Zambia, Ms. Taveau said flooding was affecting 70,000 persons in Zambia. Most of the affected persons had had to abandon their homes. Aid worth $ 1 million was being sent to Zambia including urgent food aid and medicines, and also hygiene and family kits. A UNICEF team was visiting the 16 affected zones in Zambia to evaluate the immediate and urgent needs. Families had taken refuge in schools and churches. A campaign to vaccinate 50,000 children against measles will be starting soon. UNICEF was working with its partners to ensure that there was no spread of epidemics like cholera.

Concerning Iraq, Ms. Taveau said there was an increase in the cases of measles in recent weeks. Fifty-five children had fallen sick in the past six weeks, according to the Iraqi Ministry of Health, and 27 of those cases were confirmed as measles. Most of the cases were discovered in Anbar. UNICEF and WHO were working with local authorities to organize an urgent immunization campaign for all children between one and five years who lived in the affected areas to stop the virus spreading.

Bombing in Darfur

Ron Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency said a joint UN humanitarian mission on 21 February visited the town of Sirba, one of the west Darfur locations that came under Sudanese government attack earlier this month. Residents of the town pleaded for help in securing their villages. They also told the mission that fleeing to neighbouring Chad was dangerous because of the ongoing conflict as well as banditry, and expressed concern about their compatriots who had fled across the border to eastern Chad two weeks ago. UNHCR was shocked at the level of destruction in Sirba. The recent attacks also affected the nearby villages Silea and Abou Sourouj. The assessment mission noted that many villagers who had been internally displaced as a result of the 8 February air raids had returned to Sirba. Upon their return, the UN had provided them with emergency relief assistance, including food and shelter material, while the Sudanese Government also provided tents. In eastern Chad, meanwhile, a UNHCR and MSF-Suisse humanitarian convoy trying to reach the border from the Chadian town of Guereda today had to turn back because of military activity on the other side of the border in Darfur. In Cameroon, UNHCR had transported 2,400 Chadian refugees from Kousseri to Maltam 1 camp since last Saturday. The refugees were among tens of thousands who fled unrest in N’Djamena earlier this month.

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said insecurity in Darfur was continuously causing trouble for WFP. Since the beginning of the year, 28 trucks carrying food for WFP had been stolen in Darfur and 14 drivers were still missing. The security conditions had not improved, and attacks by bandits were increasing. The truck convoys were stopped by armed men who demanded money. To date, the companies owning the trucks continued to work, and the distribution of food had not been affected. But there was a risk of not being able to keep up with the necessary deliveries because of the insecurity. WFP helped between 2.1 and 3.2 million persons every month in Darfur, depending on the season, using about 40,000 tons of food aid a month. WFP demanded that the security situation on the roads in Darfur be improved and requested specific aid to the United Nations so that the rebel groups received the message.

In Chad, and despite the security constraints, WFP had finished the distribution of food for February to Sudanese refugees and internally displaced persons in eastern Chad. The convoys between N’Djamena and Abeche were functioning.

Other

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said in Tajikistan, winter was very difficult and the Government was already grappling with cuts of electricity, water and gas. Because of world-wide increases in the prices of grains and fuel, many people no longer had the means to provide enough for their families. These people were spending more and more money for less and less food, and many just ate one meal a day. WFP was launching an appeal for $ 8.3 million to help 200,000 particularly vulnerable Tajiks.

Ron Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency said UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Erika Feller, was starting a five-day mission to Iran on 23 February as part of UNHCR’s fresh look at trying to address specific long-running refugee situations around the world. The situation of Afghan refugees in Iran and Pakistan was part of this effort.

Mr. Redmond said in southern Chad, UNHCR teams had registered 10,516 refugees from the northern part of neighbouring Central African Republic at two border crossings, and hundreds more were awaiting screening by UNHCR teams. The first refugees crossed in Chad last December, and many refugees reported attacks on their villages by bandits.

Janaina Borges of the World Trade Organization said on 25 February, there would be the Brunei Darussalam trade policy review, which would continue on 27 February. There would also be the Trade and Development Committee — session on Aid for Trade on 25 February. Also on 27 February, the trade and environment negotiations (committee “special session”) were being held. On 28 February, a meeting of the Montenegro membership negotiations (Accession Working Party) would take place. As for Director-General Pascal Lamy’s schedule, he was having lunch with heads of United Nations agencies in Geneva today. On 28 February, he would meet with the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) and with the Institute for Global Dialogue (IGD) in Johannesburg, and then in Maseru, Lesotho, he would have dinner with Least Developed Countries' trade ministers. He would participate in the LDC Ministerial meeting and meet with King Letsie III of Lesotho on 29 February, in Maseru. On 1 March, Mr. Lamy would meet with South African President Thabo Mbeki and the country’s Ministers of Finance and of Trade and Industry.

Charlotte Griffiths of the Economic Commission for Europe said on Tuesday, 26 February, UNECE and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria were organizing an event on the future of economic cooperation in South-East Europe. The event was timed to be held on the eve of the final meeting of the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe. At the event, Goran Svilanovic, the former Foreign Minister of Serbia and Montenegro and the Chair of Working Table I of the Stability Pact, would deliver a presentation on his new report on the economic integration of South-East Europe and the role for the UNECE in this process. A press release was available with more details.

Samar Shamoon of the World Intellectual Property Organization said from 25 to 29 February, the inter-government Committee on Intellectual Property Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore will be meeting at WIPO. On 27 February, WIPO will hold a press conference on the Madrid system for the international registration of trademarks. She would try to get the statistics to journalists under embargo before the press conference.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said the voluntary repatriation of Sudanese refugees from Ethiopia was due to resume on 23 February, with 600 refugees departing by road from Sudan’s Blue Nile State. The operation had been temporarily put on hold to allow for roads to dry out or be repaired in the aftermath of the rainy season. More than 23,000 Sudanese refugees had been helped to return to their former homes in Sudan by IOM and its partners since March 2006.

Mr. Chauzy invited journalists to a play on 28 February at Alhambra Theatre which described the plight of victims of trafficking. “The Seventh Kafana” was originally developed in Moldova as part of an IOM counter-trafficking programmed funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and cooperation. The play would be performed in four Swiss cities as an effort to raise awareness among the public on human trafficking and its consequences for the victims.