REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Office at Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was also addressed by Spokespersons for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the International Organization for Migration and the World Trade Organization.

Activities of the Secretary-General

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was scheduled to travel to Dakar, Senegal, next week to attend the eleventh Summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal had also invited the Secretary-General to attend a mediation meeting he was chairing between Presidents Idriss Deby of Chad and Omar al-Bashir of Sudan on the eve of the OIC Summit to defuse tension and to amend relations between those two countries.

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that three statements of the Secretary-General had been made available in the Press Room. In the first, the Secretary-General condemned in the strongest terms yesterday's savage attack on a Jewish seminary in west Jerusalem. In the second statement, the Secretary-General welcomed the initiative to establish a group of “Friends of UNAMID” which would focus on supporting the deployment of the AU-UN peacekeeping operation in Darfur. The first meeting of the group had been convened by the United States and Canada on 6 March 2008 in New York. In the third statement, the Secretary-General welcomed the leading role being played by the Organization of American States in addressing the tensions that had arisen since last weekend between Colombia and Ecuador.

Activities of the Director-General

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that Sergei Ordzhonikidze, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, would address the Swiss Forum for International Affairs this evening at 6:00 p.m. at the Grand Théâtre, on the occasion of its 10th anniversary. The Director-General would make his address in the name of the United Nations and the international community in Geneva. Also attending the event would be H.E. Ms. Micheline Calmy-Rey Federal Counsellor, Head of the Federal Department for Foreign Affairs of Switzerland, and Laurent Moutinot, President of the Geneva State Council.

Geneva activities

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier recalled that the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination would this afternoon be concluding its 72nd session. UNIS would be releasing final observations of the Committee during the course of the morning, as well as a final press release on the session later in the day.

Next week, the Conference on Disarmament would be having a plenary session on Tuesday, 11 March, at 10:00 a.m.

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier recalled that the Human Rights Council had yesterday adopted a resolution on “human rights violations emanating from Israeli military attacks and incursions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly the recent ones in the occupied Gaza Strip”. In this resolution, adopted by 33 votes in favour, one against and 13 absentions, the Council called for the immediate cessation of all Israeli military attacks throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territories and of firing of crude rockets that had resulted in the loss of two civilian lives and some injuries in southern Israel. The Council also called for urgent international action to put an immediate end to the grave violations committed by the occupying Power, Israel, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier reminded journalists that the discussion of agenda item 7, devoted to the hman rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories, initially scheduled to take place on 17 and 18 March, had been moved up to yesterday at the request of the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the African Group in light of recent events in the region. The calendar of work of the session had been revised as a result and, to put it briefly, everything had been moved up by one day. The new calendar was available in the Press Room.

Today, the Council was considering the annual report of Louse Arbour, High Commissioner for Human Rights, which would be followed by an interactive dialogue. This afternoon, the Council would have another interactive dialogue, with Jorge Bustamante, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, who would present his report to the Council. On Monday, the Council would have interactive dialogues with special procedures mandate holders on toxic waste, arbitrary detention, mercenaries, forced or involuntary disappearances, the sale of children, and torture. These mandate holders would present their respective reports to the Council.

Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said that Ms. Arbour had in her opening remarks to the Human Rights Council this morning expressed her profound sadness at yesterday’s killings in Jerusalem and in central Baghdad. There was no justification for the murder of innocent civilians, and she had extended her condolences to the families of the victims.

International Women’s Day

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier recalled that International Women’s Day would be celebrated tomorrow, 8 March. The theme of this year’s observance was “Investing in Women and Girls”. In the view of the Secretary-General, “investing in women is not only the right thing to do. It is the smart thing to do.” Despite the real progress that had been made, inequality still prevailed and women were still victims of discrimination, in terms of access to education, decision-making and political participation. For his part, the Secretary-General pledged to work to strengthen the gender machinery within the UN Secretariat. He has proposed almost doubling the staffing of the Office of his Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, and increasing the resources of the Division for the Advancement of Women. The Secretary-General’s message on the occasion of the Day was available at the back of the room.

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier recalled that at the beginning of the week, the Inter-Parliamentary Union had held a press conference on the subject of “Women in Politics 2008”. The UN Refugee Agency had published a manual on the protection of women and girls. The International Labour Organization had released a report titled “Global Employment Trends for Women 2008” and at this moment, a discussion was taking place with the participation of a panel of eminent female bankers and trade unionists on “Investing in Decent Work for Women”.

Ndioro Ndiaye, Deputy Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), highlighted IOM’s message for the day, which was the need to ensure the well being of the families of migrants left behind in the countries of origin. More and more attention was being paid to migration for the purposes of employment and the different benefits that resulted from it, but also on its impact on the migrants’ families and the societies of the countries of origin. Countries of origin were increasingly dependent on the significant remittances being provided by migrants, but the long-term absence of a parent could undermine the very objective that led to the migration in the first place – bettering a family’s prospects. Ms. Ndiaye said that it was necessary to undertake efforts to ensure the security and well being of the families of migrants who stayed behind. Studies showed that being a single head of household usually entailed a significant increase in workload and responsibilities for women. IOM research had also found that wives left behind suffered from an increase in health problems due to depression, loneliness and fatigue. Another IOM study found that mothers noticed changes in the behaviour of their sons in particular, which was largely attributed to the lack of a male role model in the family. On the other hand, women themselves represented close to 50 per cent of the nearly 200 million international migrants in the world today and could face various problems upon returning home from to husbands unable to handle the responsibilities during the separation. Ms. Ndiaye appealed to journalists to help raise awareness of these issues and of the need to address them.

Veronique Tavau of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) drew attention to two press releases at the back of the room, one from Headquarters in New York highlighting UNICEF’s global message for the Day, which stressed the importance of investing in maternal health. Better access to maternal health care would reduce the estimated half-a-million pregnancy related deaths that occurred each year and would also help reduce child mortality rates. The second press release focused on a specific example from the field, namely from Somalia. This year, UNICEF was focusing on the importance of the education of girls in shaping the progress in Somalia of peace and development. According to UNICEF’s Representative for Somalia, much more had to be done to achieve the Millennium Development Goals of gender parity and 100% enrolment of girls in primary school. The education of girls was paramount in the fight against poverty, yet only 25% of girls in Somalia were enrolled in primary school, compared with 37% of boys. At present, only some 121,000 Somali girls attended primary school. By 2009, UNICEF wanted to see that figure increase by at least 50,000.

Mr. Colville of OHCHR drew attention to a press release at the back of the room, quoting the High Commissioner on the occasion of International Women’s Day. The focus was on laws that discriminate against women, and how they were still to be found on the statute books of virtually every country in the world.

Announcement by the High Commissioner for Human Rights

Mr. Colville of OHCHR said that a short while ago, the High Commissioner had confirmed to the States attending the Human Rights Council that she would not be seeking a second term after her mandate expired on 30 June. By that time, she would have served a full four-year term, and she did not wish to commit herself to do another four years. The procedure for appointing her successor would be as follows: The Secretary-General, in consultation with Members States would select a suitable candidate, who would then need to be confirmed by the General Assembly. The High Commissioner had asked Mr. Colville to apologize to the media for not being able to hold a press conference today, as planned, due to the change in schedule of the Human Rights Council session.

Asked to elaborate on the reasons for her decision, Mr. Colville said that she had made this decision for personal reasons and that she wanted to spend more time with her family. Asked whether the criticism she had received from various Member States, as well as moves to put her Office under the control of the Council, had influenced her decision, Mr. Colville said that she had indeed been the subject of criticism from all sides but that this was to be expected in a job like this. Human rights issues penetrated right to the heart of the issue of sovereignty. As a result, states were acutely sensitive to perceived or actual criticisms from the High Commissioner. That had obviously resulted in criticisms of her from various quarters. With regard to the Council members who sought to exercise control over OHCHR, the Secretary-General had been clear about that in his address to the Council on Monday in which he had stressed that the Council and OHCHR had “mutually reinforcing but independent and distinct mandates”. Ms. Arbour shared that view absolutely. Asked whether the preparation of the conference in Durban, in view of Canada’s opposition to it, had affected her decision, Mr. Colville said that it had not impacted her decision.

Other

Susan Timberlake of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) highlighted the issue of HIV-related travel restrictions. Ms. Timberlake said that 74 countries currently imposed some form of travel restrictions against people living with HIV, but with information lacking from many other countries, the number could be as high as 100 countries. These forms of restrictions had existed for a long time and were growing increasingly obsolete in the context of globalization and with increased access to treatment, which allowed people with HIV to live long and productive lives. Governments claimed broad discretion in the area of regulation of entry into their territories but UNAIDS believed that there were limits, based on human rights, that limited that discretion. The most common reason cited by governments for HIV travel restrictions was the need to protect the public health of its citizens. But UNAIDS, WHO and others had consistently states that there was no public health justification for these restrictions, which were discriminatory. UNAIDS had therefore created an International Task Team on HIV-related travel restrictions to try to take advantage of momentum on this issue due to the expression by two states, namely the United States and China, of their willingness to review the restrictions they had in place. The Task Team – made up of governments, civil society, including people living with HIV, intergovernmental organizations and UN agencies – had had its first meeting last week and would meet three more times before August 2008. It would present its findings at the various high level meetings ahead.

Ms. Taveau of UNICEF drew attention to a press release on emergency education efforts being undertaken for Chadian children in a refugee camp in northern Cameroon. Tens of thousands of people had fled Ndjamena, Chad, on 2 February as a result of fighting between military and rebel forces. While many had returned, more than 8,000 people – including nearly 2,800 children – remained in northern Cameroon in a refugee camp. UNICEF and its partners had been working to ensure basic health care, clean water and sanitation, psychosocial support and recovery – and now, the resumption of education activities. Among the actions undertaken was the distribution of School-in-a-Box kits and the identification of five sites for the construction of temporary primary schools. Further details were available in the press release.

On Gaza, Ms. Taveau said that the humanitarian situation continued to deteriorate. A total of 28 children and five women had been killed in the latest military operations undertaken by Israel between 27 February and 5 March, with a further 60 children and 10 women injured. While medical supplies were missing, the clinics that treated children for psychological problems had had a 60% increase in consultations in the last few days. In addition, schools had been closed for many days. UNICEF had distributed emergency supplies, including ten School-in-a-Box kits for 800 students. Twenty educators specialized in psychological trauma had also been dispatched to the areas affected by the attacks. Equipment and materials intended for children continued to be blocked by Israeli authorities from entering the area, including teaching and school kits needed for tens of thousands of children. Construction materials needed to repair school was also blocked. UNICEF hoped that these materials, which were officially being blocked for security reasons, could be released as soon as possible.

Ms. Taveau said that she had just received news that the Chadian Government had this morning given the green light for the 103 children that had been taken from Chad by the NGO l’Arche de Zoé in October 2007 to be reunited with their parents. UNICEF and other partners had been taking care of these children in the meantime. The Government had now asked UNICEF to supervise the process.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that the Humanitarian Coordinator in Somalia had on 4 March raised the alarm over the critical humanitarian situation in the country, primarily due to lack of access to vulnerable populations. One serious security concern was the staggering number of checkpoints – nearly 400 throughout the country – where humanitarian convoys were often subject to harassment, threats and violence. In just the first two months of the year, there had been nine shooting incidents at checkpoints. Convoys were often being charged from $50 to $150 for every 35 metric tons of cargo. Media and journalists continued to be targeted as well. Eight journalists had been killed in 2007. So far in 2008, one had been killed and seven other arrested. The total number of people in need of assistance in the country had risen to 2 million and there were increasing concerns about the severe drought in parts of Somalia. There were more than 200,000 internally displaced people in the country, with the rate of displacement from Mogadishu averaging about 25,000 per month in the last two months. The 2008 Consolidated Appeal for Somalia launched in December requested $415 million and was to date only 7% funded.

Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that tensions along the volatile Chad-Sudan border remained high, with people fleeing in both directions. UNHCR had yesterday started the transfer of a first group of 117 vulnerable Sudanese refugees from the Birak border area towards Kounoungou camp, about 70 km inland near the town of Guéréda. This first group was among more than 13,000 newly arrived refugees from West Darfur who had fled air and ground attacks during the past four weeks. UNHCR had planned to continue the transfer today but fresh fighting across the border had put the transfer on temporarily hold. More displacement was expected. In West Darfur itself, meanwhile, military activity in the northern part of the state opposite the Birak area in Chad continued to provoke forced internal displacement. In the town of Sileah, the fear of further attacks had again driven hundreds of civilians from their homes, leaving Sileah almost empty, with only 150 to 200 mostly elderly persons remaining.

On Nepal, Ms. Pagonis said that aid had been pouring into Goldhap refugee camp in eastern Nepal since a devastating fire last weekend, which had almost totally destroyed the camp, but there was still an urgent need for relief supplies for the thousands of refugees from Bhutan who lost their homes and belongings. UNHCR needed US$580,000 to rebuild the camp and help the refugees. The cause of the fire was still being investigated but it believed to have been accidental.

Ms. Pagonis said that High Commissioner António Guterres was today starting a four-day mission to Tanzania during which he would launch a two-year programme to end one of the world's most protracted refugee situations - the exile of some 218,000 Burundians who fled their country in 1972. This would be one of UNHCR’s most important programmes on the African continent this year. More details on all three issues were available in the briefing note.

Janaina Borges of the World Trade Organization (WTO) said that on Monday agriculture negotiations would take place in the afternoon to consider the next steps on debt negotiation. Other meetings of the full membership on the Doha negotiations included a meeting of the Goods Council at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, the TRIPS Council at 10 a.m. on Thursday and the Dispute Settlement Body at 10 a.m. on Friday. On Tuesday, the Director-General would meet with Carlo Trojan, Chairman of the International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council, and Lars Leijonborg, Sweden's Minister for Higher Education and Research. On Thursday, the Director-General would participate at the Trade, Investment and Labour Standards task force meeting at the International Labour Organization (ILO).