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 addressed by Spokespersons for the World Food Programme, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the World Economic Forum.

Secretary-General’s Statement on Elections in Nepal

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday, in a video message on the run-up to the Constituent Assembly election in Nepal, expressed fervent hope that the ballot would take place in a free and fair atmosphere. Stressing that Nepal’s political leaders had a critical responsibility to ensure that voters could freely exercise their democratic right in a secret ballot, without fear of violence, intimidation or manipulation, the Secretary-General said that much hinged on the success of the election, and the acceptance by all of the people. Adding that the election was an opportunity to further cement the peace process in Nepal, Secretary-General Ban said the international community had consistently demonstrated its support and the United Nations was closely following the conduct of the election, including through the presence of hundreds of international observers. He also said he had accepted the invitation of the Government of Nepal to visit the country, and looked forward to witnessing the achievements of the democratic process.

Secretary-General’s Statement on Elections in Zimbabwe

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday expressed concern that presidential results had yet to be released in spite of the constitutional deadline. He urged the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to discharge its responsibility and release the results expeditiously and with transparency. He called upon all actors to act responsibly, exercise restraint and calm, and to address all issues regarding the elections through recourse to legal means and dialogue, as necessary for the good of all Zimbabweans.

Secretary-General Concerned about Increasing Food Prices World-Wide

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had been watching the rise in global food prices with deep concern. The reasons for the shortages were many and could not be solely ascribed, as some did, to a simple trade-off between biofuels and agriculture, though this might indeed be a factor. High oil prices had increased production and transport costs. Worldwide food production had also been affected this year by droughts and other natural disasters. Economic growth had increased consumption, especially in Asia. Secretary-General Ban said steps had to be taken, beginning now, to assure the world’s food security. The first step must be to meet urgent humanitarian needs. This year, the World Food Programme planned to feed 73 million people. But to do so, it required an additional $ 500 million simply to cover the rise in costs. Longer term, the world must increase production.

Asked what could be the impact of Secretary-General Ban’s statement, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said it clearly reflected the political will of the United Nations to solve this problem.

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said she had already spoken several times about the price of cereals and other food which had increased by 40 per cent from last June to last February. To date, the prices had increased by 55 per cent compared to last June. WFP’s appeal for 2008 had been $ 2.9 billion to be able to feed 73 million persons, and it had launched an appeal for another $ 500 million because of the increasing prices. In response to the original appeal, WFP had received $ 600 million, and in response to the second appeal, it had received more than $ 10 million, including $ 4.5 million from Germany, $ 750,000 from Luxembourg, $ 1.5 million from the OPEC Fund for Development and $ 7 million from Spain.

In response to questions, Ms. Berthiaume said that the rising prices of food were partly the result of the rising prices of fuel, which was used to transport the food, and the dollar exchange rate. Also, the increase in the price of food could result in the increase in the number of people who needed food aid, and there could be another natural disaster or another conflict which would create more victims in need of aid. In developed countries, around 15 per cent of a family’s income went to buy food. But in poor countries, this percentage could go up to 70 or 75 per cent. So if there were increases in food prices, how could families continue to survive. Usually families started to cope by taking children out of school and sending them to work, and then by decreasing the quality and amount of food they bought.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes was on a tour of Gulf countries. In Abu Dhabi yesterday, he discussed with senior officials collective humanitarian challenges, focusing particularly on the adverse effects of increasing fuel and food prices. In Dubai today, Mr. Holmes would be delivering the keynote speech at the Dubai International Humanitarian Aid and Development conference, which was also addressing the increasing price of food, before continuing to Kuwait and Qatar.

Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency said High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres had expressed concern about the impact of global food shortages on the world’s most impoverished people and had urged the international community to support a World Food Programme call for critical funds to address soaring good and fuel prices. Mr. Guterres made the call at the Progressive Governance summit hosted over the weekend by United Kingdom Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Governing Council of the United Nations Compensation Commission would hold its sixty-fifth session from 8 to 9 April 2008 under the Presidency of Ambassador Alex Van Meeuwen (Belgium). A background press release had been issued yesterday and a roundup with the results of the session would be issued on 9 April 2008.

The first session of the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review Working Group opened yesterday in Room XVII of the Palais des Nations. During the session, which would conclude on 18 April, 16 States would have their human rights records examined under this new mechanism. Yesterday, the Working Group reviewed the situation in Bahrain and Ecuador, and today, it would consider the situation in Tunisia and Morocco. The meetings of the Working Group were public, and the results would be made public during the eighth regular session of the Council in June.

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier reminded journalists that the Minister of Justice and Human Rights of Tunisia Béchir Tekkari would speak to journalists today at 1:15 p.m. in Room III on the Universal Periodic Review of Tunisia at the Human Rights Council.

China Deportations

Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency said UNHCR had been made aware of the deportation from China of a 17-year-old unaccompanied male refugee from Pakistan who was returned to his country of origin after being taken from his home in Beijing on 3 April. UNHCR had made it clear to China that any deportation of refugees must scrupulously observe the relevant articles of the 1951 Convention, to which China was a party, and depending on the circumstances, this might constitute a violation of the non-refoulement provision of the Convention. The news of this and other deportations had created considerable anxiety among the refugees in Beijing who had told UNHCR of feeling very intimidated. UNHCR appreciated that from a security perspective, particular vigilance was needed during the period of preparation for the 2008 Olympics and was ready to discuss acceptable arrangements which were sensitive to those concerns but which preserved necessary conditions of protection for persons in need. There had been 15 deportations in total from China this year of refugees from Iraq, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Other

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said IRIN had released a new film on the problem of drugs in Indonesia. Indonesia was home to an estimated half a million injecting drug users, and as many as 70 per cent of them were HIV positive. “A Cleaner Fix” spoke about informing users of the risks of sharing needles. The film could be viewed online at www.irinnews.org/film.

Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency said representatives of Google and UNHCR were today unveiling a powerful new online mapping programme that provided an up-close and multifaceted view of some of the world’s major displacement crises and the humanitarian efforts aimed at helping the victims www.unhcr.org/googleearth. Available was a press release with more details.

Ms. Pagonis said UNHCR was shocked by an ambush over the weekend on a UNHCR vehicle in the town of Garowe in the north-eastern Somali region of Puntland. In Colombia, a new agreement between UNHCR and the Government to promote land protection and restitution of property rights marked a positive development for Colombia’s displaced population. In Iraq, the plight of some 2.77 million internally displaced Iraqis remained precarious. More than 1.5 million of them were displaced since 2006 and the remainder prior to that. The Government of Kuwait had announced that it was contributing $ 1 million toward UNHCR’s work on behalf of internally displaced Iraqis. The Government had also announced it was increasing its annual contribution to UNHCR’s general budget to $ 1 million.

Anna Schaaf of the International Committee of the Red Cross, updating journalists about ICRC’s activities in Sudan, said ICRC had had access to some of the rural areas in western Darfur where a lot of people had been displaced due to recent fighting, and it had been able to assist these people on the other side of the border and inside Chad. Also following the clashes in central Sudan recently, in south Kordofan and northern Bahr el Ghazal, ICRC had also stepped up its activities there, together with the Sudanese Red Crescent Society. There were more details in the ICRC bulletin at the back of the room.

Ms. Schaaf said available at the back of the room was a press release about the visit of the President of ICRC, Jakob Kellenberger, to Afghanistan. Also, she reminded journalists about the ICRC press conference at 4 p.m. today in press room 1 on Chad.

Irene Mia of the World Economic Forum said the Forum would be releasing its Seventh Global Information Technology Report 2007-2008 on Wednesday, 9 April. The report assessed the degree to which 127 economies leveraged information and communication technology for increased development and combativeness. According to the report, which was under embargo until 10 GMT on Wednesday, Denmark was the number one for the second consecutive year, and Sweden was number two. Switzerland was number three, the United States number four, Singapore number five, Finland number six, the Netherlands number seven, Iceland number eight, Republic of Korea number nine, and Norway number ten. Available was an embargoed press release with all the details.