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 UN Refugee Agency, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Organization for Migration, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development.

Secretary-General to Visit Geneva

Ms. Heuzé said that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon would be visiting on Sunday, 31 August and Monday, 1 September. His detailed programme would be available later in the week, but basically, the Secretary-General would be visiting the headquarters of UNAIDS on Sunday, and then would have a working lunch with the Administrative Council of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He would then attend a commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the IPCC at the Batiment des Forces Motrices. There would be a press briefing by the Secretary-General at the Batiment des Forces Motrices at 4 p.m., probably for half an hour. During that period, the IPCC would hold a closed scientific symposium. The IPCC’s twenty-ninth plenary would be continuing next week at the International Geneva Conference Center.

Ms. Heuzé said on 1 September, the Secretary-General would attend a special commemoration ceremony to mark the fifth anniversary of the bombing of the Canal Hotel in Baghdad on 19 August 2003. The ceremony would take place in the Assembly Hall at the Palais des Nations at 10:30 a.m. He would also sign a memorandum of understanding with the Iraqi Government covering cooperation in the areas of science and technology. UNCTAD would provide more information about the agreement at the next briefing. The Secretary-General would then leave Geneva to Zaragoza, where he would attend Exposition Zaragoza 2008, whose theme was “Water and Sustainable Development”, and he would speak about the importance of water for social, economic and political security. While in Spain, he would also meet with the Spanish Foreign Minister and the Prime Minister in Madrid. The full programme of the Secretary-General would be available later in the week.

New High Commissioner for Human Rights

Ms. Heuzé said Navanethem Pillay would commence her functions as High Commissioner for Human Rights on Monday, 1 September 2008. The High Commissioner would be available for a photo opportunity at the Palais Wilson at 2 p.m. on Monday. A media advisory on the photo opportunity was available.

Sudan

Ms. Heuzé said the United Nations was gravely concerned about the reports it received yesterday of Sudanese police vehicles surrounding Kalma camp housing internally displaced persons in South Darfur. Subsequent reports of the attacks that followed within Kalma said they had resulted in injuries and deaths of civilians. The United Nations urged restraint and called for the immediate establishment of a humanitarian corridor so that the injured may be evacuated. The African Union-United Nation mission in Darfur (UNMID) had sent police and military patrols to the camp location to confirm the incident and lend any assistance needed. UNAMID leadership was extremely concerned by this serious incident which would be investigated.

Afghanistan

Ms. Heuzé said the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Kai Eide, had issued a statement over the weekend on reports of civilian casualties in western Afghanistan. The Special Representative said he has learned of conflicting reports that large numbers of civilians may have been killed during military operations in the Shindand district of Herat province. “It is vital that this incident is investigated thoroughly and quickly to establish the facts of what has happened before we jump to any conclusions,” he said. “The United Nations has always made clear that civilian casualties are unacceptable, that they undermine the trust and confidence of the Afghan people." He said he instructed his office in Herat to offer every assistance to the provincial authorities as well as to establish and verify the facts. “Any civilian casualty, is one civilian casualty too many. And every effort that can be made - must be made - to ensure the safety and welfare of the civilian population where military operations are conducted,” he said.

Ms. Heuzé said the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime was issuing the Afghanistan Opium Survey 2008 today, but it was embargoed until 16:00 Central European Time. The report showed a 19 per cent decrease in opium cultivation. But because of higher yields, opium production had dropped less dramatically, only by 6 per cent. A press release was available.

Somalia

Ms. Heuzé said the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, has said he is saddened by the indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians and the resulting displacement of residents of the town of Kismayo. He believes that control of the port of Kismayo and the revenues it generates are the main reasons behind the brutal fighting. Mr. Ould-Abdallah also said he was deeply saddened by the large number of casualties in the August 16 and 17 gun battles in Afgooye and Mogadishu. The fighting displaced some 2,000 people. The Special Representative called on all parties to the conflict in Somalia to respect international human rights and humanitarian law, and to stand by their commitments under the Djibouti agreement.

Georgia

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said access to South Ossetia was still not possible as of 25 August from within Georgia which remained a major humanitarian concern. Since 24 August, spontaneous organized returns had taken place, and it was estimated to be approximately 10,000 internally displaced persons to Gori. Regarding concerns of forest fires burning in the Borjoni forest reserve, UNEP was monitoring the situation closely. As of 25 August, 104 airlifts, truck convoys or ships had delivered supplies to Georgia and North Ossetia since the start of the crisis. Ten more planes were in the pipeline. Concerning financing of the 18 August inter-agency flash appeal requesting $ 59.6 million for the crisis, as of 26 August, funding stood at $ 9.7 million contributed or committed, with a further $ 14 million as uncommitted pledges. A map and a note were available at the back of the room.

Asked what was holding up humanitarian access to South Ossetia, Ms. Byrs said it was security conditions and destruction of the infrastructure. Ron Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency, answering the same question, said there was no agreement, and without agreement, it was not possible. There were various reasons for the lack of agreement.

Ron Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency said High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres had been in South Ossetia last Friday. There was an enormous amount of assistance coming from the Russian Federation into South Ossetia. But no agreement had been reached on assistance entering South Ossetia from Georgia proper. The High Commissioner had concluded his four-day mission to Georgia, South Ossetia and the Russian Federation last Friday and UNHCR was seeing an increasing number of refugees and displaced people return to their homes as the situation improved in the region. UNHCR had opened an office in the Georgian town of Gori and established a provisional warehouse there as an increasing number of people returned home in the aftermath of the Russian withdrawal last Friday. In addition to providing aid, UNHCR would assist local authorities in mapping and assessing the numbers of returnees to the town, which was largely abandoned during the conflict earlier this month. UNHCR was also coordinating assistance programmes providing shelter and non-food items as an increasing number of aid organizations arrived in Gori. Most of the returns had been spontaneous, with many of the displaced returning from areas in and around the Georgian capital Tbilisi. UNHCR field teams were monitoring departure points and shelters in Tbilisi to ascertain the voluntary nature of the returns. UNHCR was advising returnees through the local media to watch out for unexploded ordnance and to stay away from villages not yet cleared of mines and declared safe by the authorities.

Mr. Redmond said in South Ossetia, the humanitarian and security situation was being stabilized and people had started returning to their homes there as well. According to Russian authorities, some 23,000 people from South Ossetia had returned from the Russian Federation since 12 August. In western Georgia, people displaced from the Kodori Valley in the northeast region of Abkhazia told UNHCR that practically all ethnic Georgians from that region had left. They said they had no information on conditions in the valley and no intention of returning. UNHCR’s operation in Georgia was now entering the post-emergency phase. Altogether, 122,000 people had been provided with emergency relief, more than half of them by UNHCR teams.

Anna Nelson of the International Committee of the Red Cross, responding to a question, said ICRC was asked to accompany a group of 17 very elderly men who were in a state of shock from South Ossetia to Gori in Georgia last Friday. This had been organized by the authorities and ICRC had not taken an active role in it.

Ms. Nelson said for the first time, ICRC delegates would be visiting South Ossetian villages outside of Tskhinvali today. They would be evaluating living conditions and needs of people in remote and isolated villages as well as following up on tracing requests from families seeking news of their loved ones. Also for the first time, over the weekend, ICRC was able to visit people detained in relation to the hostilities in South Ossetia. ICRC carried out a visit to 89 civilians currently held in the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali on 23 and 24 August. Gaining access to people detained or arrested in connection with the conflict had been a top priority of the ICRC and it continued to be. In Gori, ICRC was hoping to send a mobile health unit this week to remote villages around Gori to help elderly and chronically ill people in some of these villages. ICRC continued to set up its permanent presence in Gori. ICRC was seeing that the needs were growing there as more and more people left Tbilisi for Gori. ICRC on 24 August was able to visit a dozen South Ossetian detainees being held in two places of detention in Georgia. ICRC was continuing to help restore family links between separated family members in Georgia and respond to tracing requests from people who had lost contact with their relatives.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said IOM was deploying additional staff in the western city of Kutaisi and in the Black Sea port of Batumi to further assess the needs of internally displaced families and to assist in the on-going distribution of basic humanitarian assistance. Initial evaluations carried out in the west of the country by IOM in cooperation with local authorities and partner NGOs showed that as of 22 August, there were some 15,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Batumi. However, numbers were said to have decreased over the past few days as many of the displaced are heading back towards the central town of Gori and surrounding villages. An additional 3,500 IDPs from the remote Kodori Gorge were currently sheltering in Kutaisi, with some 1,500 living in collective centres. In both towns, there was a pressing need for more hygiene kits, blankets, mattresses, pillows, bed sheets and water containers. In Tbilisi, IOM staff with the assistance of local volunteers continued to provide humanitarian assistance to vulnerable displaced families who were currently sheltering in hundreds of small collective centres set up in public schools, nurseries and building sites, many with limited space, inadequate or no facilities. According to the Georgian authorities, some IDPs are leaving Tbilisi to return to the towns of Gori, Khashuri, Kareli and Kaspi, to the west of the capital. As part of last week's UN Flash Appeal, IOM required an initial $ 1.9 million to provide emergency logistical support, shelter and non-food assistance over the next six months to tens of thousands of IDPs in Tbilisi and in other parts of Georgia. Once over the initial emergency phase, IOM would address the immediate rehabilitation needs, beginning with the provision of transitional shelter and see what could be done to bolster peace in shattered communities.






Ethiopia

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said UN Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes would arrive in Ethiopia on 1 September. The Government of Ethiopia has identified 4.6 million people in need of emergency assistance and 8 million in need of immediate food relief, over two million of them in the Somali region alone, of which 75,000 were children under five. Two regions were especially affected by the drought and the situation of food security, Oromiya and Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Region (SNNPR). In total in this region, 23,700 new admissions of children suffering from severe malnutrition were counted between 27 June and 14 August. There were also cases of Acute Watery Diarrhea in Oromiya region.

Pakistan and Afghanistan

Anna Nelson of the International Committee of the Red Cross said fighting between Pakistan’s government forces and the armed opposition on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan had intensified recently, with many thousands forced to flee their homes. ICRC remained very concerned for these victims. Around 200,000 persons had left their villages in Bajaur Agency with not much more than what they had been wearing when the conflict intensified. Around 80 per cent of these people were women and children who were now living with host families or in camps in schools. They lacked and needed everything. This was a fluid situation. ICRC would equip five camps with water tanks and bladders and distribution ramps. Medical care was being provided for the wounded and was being organized for the displaced.

Other

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization reminded journalists of the press briefing on Thursday, 28 August at 10 a.m. in Salle III which would be attended by WHO’s Director-General on the launch of the WHO report Health Equity through Action on the Social Determinants of Health. A media advisory was sent out yesterday with a password so journalists could access the embargoed report on line in English and the summary in the other UN languages.

Ms. Chaib recalled that the World Cancer Congress 2008 would be held at Palexpo in Geneva from 27 to 31 August. WHO Director General Margaret Chan would address the opening meeting of the congress on 27 August around 6 p.m. Her statement would be available on the WHO website around noon.

Anna Nelson of the International Committee of the Red Cross said the International Day of the Disappeared was commemorated on 30 August. ICRC would be issuing a press release on 28 August and this year, it would be focusing on Nepal and the right of families to know the fate of missing persons and the responsibility of the authorities to help them in accessing the inheritance of loved ones and giving them legal status.

Catherine Sibut-Pinote of the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development said UNCTAD’s Trade and Development Report 2008 would be issued on 4 September, and was under embargo until 5 p.m. GMT on the same day. The Secretary-General of UNCTAD would brief journalists about the launch of the report on 2 September at 11:30 a.m., right after the briefing. An embargoed press kit was available in the press room. The report was subtitled "Commodity prices, capital flows and the financing of investment" and would present the outlook for the world economy and the economic prospects for developing countries in view of the situation in international financial, currency and commodity markets and doubts about the direction of macroeconomic policy in major economies.

Ambassadors of Georgia, the Republic of Korea, Pakistan and the Russia Federation made statements at the Conference on Disarmament (a press release would be available).