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 World Health Organization, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the International Organization for Migration, the World Trade Organization, the United Nations Refugee Agency and the World Meteorological Organization.

The briefing followed a live transmission from Davos, Switzerland of a Press Conference on global development challenges by the Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon and the British Prime Minister, Mr. Gordon Brown.

Secretary-General’s Activities

Ms. Heuzé mentioned that the Secretary-General had addressed yesterday in his statements at the World Economic Forum in Davos the Climate Change Communication Initiative, the tenth anniversary of the United Nations Global Compact and the efforts to create water security.

The Secretary-General would leave Switzerland for Ethiopia, to attend the African Union Summit, which would take place from 1 February to 3 February 2009 in Addis Abeba. After the Summit he would make a series of visits to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Islamabad, Pakistan and Delhi, India said Ms. Heuzé.

Geneva Activities

Turning to the activities in Geneva, Ms. Heuzé said that the Committee on the Rights of the Child would close its current session today by adopting its concluding observations and recommendations and the country reports which it had reviewed during the session. The Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women would continue its work until the end of next week and the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee was also scheduled to close its session today.

Ms. Heuzé also noted that the new Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, Mr. Jan Kubis, had taken his functions yesterday and he would soon meet with the press. Meetings with the Director of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, Ms. Teresa Hitchens and the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Mr. Michel Sidibé would also be organized at a later date.

Cholera Outbreak in Zimbabwe

Dr. Eric Laroche, Assistant Director-General for Health Action in Crises, World Health Organization said that WHO was very concerned over what was happening in Zimbabwe, because they had already passed the number of 60,000 cases of cholera. This was by far too high and the bad news was that it was going to continue within Zimbabwe and could spiral to neighboring countries. The number of deaths was rising, with now 3,100 casualties since August 2008. Unless drastic action was taken, they would not get out of this epidemic before soon, he said. “An extraordinary effort had to be made to respond to an extraordinary situation.” he added.

This epidemic was unlike those they had experienced in the past, such as in Goma or in Angola. Zimbabwe had been under embargo, it had experienced a lot of disruption of health services and the country was currently in the midst of reconciliation efforts between the political opposition and the Government. The response to the epidemic had thus been very difficult to implement, in spite of huge efforts from all parts. This was a very special case. A lot of doctors and nurses had not been paid, said Dr. Laroche. This was a political and social problem which needed to be solved so that staff could go back to business. Money was needed. UNICEF had set up a trust fund to receive US$ 5 million. But distributing the money was very difficult too as there was no more access to banknotes and to the banking systems in the country. Further, the cholera outbreak was now also affecting rural areas after people had gone to visit their relatives in villages over Christmas and New Year.

In order to tackle the crisis, they had to avoid new cases from occurring. This was an issue of sanitation, hygiene, raising awareness and access to potable water. To do this in rural areas was more complicated than in urban areas, said Dr. Laroche. One of the problems was that there were not many Non-governmental Organizations present outside of the cities in Zimbabwe. The other measure was to prevent already infected people to become sick and to die. Capacity to tackle dehydration at the household level was important and so-called Oral Rehydration Therapies had to be made available. This could take as up to five years in a small area. Without an extraordinary reaction, they would not be able to do it rapidly on a larger scale.

The good news was that the quality of treatments had been enhanced in institutions to a certain extent and the overall “case fatality rate” was decreasing. But compared to other places, it was still very high with 5% case fatality rates in Zimbabwe, compared to 1% in Goma and even much less in South Africa, noted Dr. Laroche. Also going to a village to record cases of cholera needed a nurse taking the bus. But how could she do that if there was no fuel or no money to pay for a bus ticket? This made the whole situation much more difficult.

Dr. Claire-Lize Chaignat, World Health Organization Global Cholera Taskforce Coordinator, said that the instruments to tackle the epidemic had been put in place at the national level, but what was desperately needed now was to replicate this same structure at the provincial level, so that the coordination mechanisms and the response activities could also be reflected at that level.

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, answering to a journalist on the status of the financing of the Appeal, said that the money was urgently needed to help what represented more than 50 percent of the country’s population. The 2009 Zimbabwe Appeal launched on 19 November 2008 asked for US$ 567 million and they had not received any contribution to this date. The 2008 Appeal for Zimbabwe had been of US$ 583 million and they had received only 72 percent of that amount. This money was urgently needed to help the United Nations increase its response to the epidemic.

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said that at the end of her two-day visit to Zimbabwe in January, UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman announced that UNICEF will make available US$ 5 million to pay health workers and make the health system restart again.

Answering a question on the position of the Government of Zimbabwe with regard to the crisis, Dr. Laroche said that he was closely working with the Zimbabwean Mission in Geneva and the Zimbabwean Health Ministry and that he had a very good working relationship with both of them. Also, the entire world had to be concerned by the number of deaths in Zimbabwe and by the magnitude of the crisis.

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said that their anti-cholera response in Zimbabwe had been very much focused on targeting mobile and vulnerable people and that they had been leading their efforts in three provinces, namely Manicaland, Mashonaland West and Matabeleland North as well as the boarder areas. The cholera spread was partly due to the movement of people, particularly form urban to rural areas and most of these three provinces covered by large the rural areas. Every week, between two and five IOM assessment teams were going out into these areas to identify new cholera outbreaks. Another aspect of their work was in the training of communities in rural areas on safe water sanitation techniques.

Situation in the DRC

Ron Redmond of the United Nations Refugee Agency said that tensions were rising and new displacement were being reported in the South Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which followed last week’s start of the joint Congolese-Rwandan military operation against the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda militia group in neighbouring North Kivu. About 5,000 people had fled the Makobola area south of the South Kivu regional centre of Uvira after the so-called Mai Mai militia, which opposed the the offensive in North Kivu, had blocked a main road. Some of the 5,000 displaced people were now reported fleeing toward Uvira.

The threat of this new conflict in South Kivu also threatened to impede the repatriation of Congolese refugees from neighboring Tanzania. Mr. Redmond said that Makobola was a major destination for returnees from exile in Tanzania. UNHCR was concerned that the growing tensions and the blockage, which had temporarily stopped all movements between Uvira and Fizi, could force more displacement.

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that, in the district of Haut-Uele in the oriental province of the DRC, the LRA had conducted attacks against 19 villages between 1 and 20 January 2009, killing 269 civilians, pillaging and torching houses. More than 130,000 displaced had been reported in the region, which is almost half the population of the Dungu territory. The main concern was the protection of civilians. Food was another concern, as a large part of the population could neither access their fields nor prepare the next seeding period of February due to insecurity.

Situation in Madagascar

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said that they were worried about the situation in Antananarivo and the consequences the violence could have on children in a country where living conditions were already hard for numerous children on the island. According to figures by the Health Ministry, the recent outbreak of violence had made 82 victims and injured 320. Pillaging had also marked the beginning of the week. Being a witness to such violence could have an important psychological impact on children. Most of the schools were currently closed in Antananarivo. Rice and oil shortages were already being reported and prices were going up. UNICEF was carefully following the situation. In parallel to this situation, UNICEF was also continuing to assist the population on the island that had been hit by the Cyclone Eric last week, notably in the eastern region of Madagascar. UNICEF had shipped some 40 “schools in the box” kits to the region. One such box could serve some 80 children.

Situation in Gaza

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said that IOM’s part of the UN Flash Appeal for Gaza was of US$ 3.8 million for programmes that were aimed at supporting the rapid recovery of victims of the conflict. Their intervention focused very much on health and the rehabilitation of homes and businesses, particularly in North Gaza, which was the area worst affected. With so many thousands injured people, mainly women and children, funding would allow IOM, to carry out medical evacuation of people who were unable to get urgently needed adequate medical treatment in Gaza and to set up a mechanism for this kind of rapid assistance during crisis situations.

They would also provide return assistance to patients and accompanying family members who had already been evacuated abroad and to assist in the medical follow up as well as shelter and non-food support. In coordination with WHO and the Palestinian Ministry of Health, IOM intended also to help rehabilitate health care facilities and distribute medical equipment to ensure support for those with ongoing health needs. A special emphasis would be put on strengthening life saving emergency health service provisions, said Ms. Pandya. To address the psychosocial issues, IOM would carry out a rapid psychosocial needs assessment with partners while training modules would be provided for staff in 15 centers IOM was going to rehabilitate and reequip. They would also train the staff there to enhance their response skills and those of public health care workers in understanding the mental health consequences of conflicts.

With at least 25,000 homes in Gaza destroyed or badly damaged, the last part of the appeal was to support the immediate reconstruction process; this would be done by reactivating workshops that produced construction materials. The Organization would also assist local craftsmen to access finance to resume their livelihood.

Refugees

Ron Redmond of the United Nations Refugee Agency said that more than 4,500 refugees from the Central African Republic had recently arrived in south-eastern Chad fleeing attacks from rebel groups and in anticipation of further fighting between government forces and rebels in the northern part of the country. This influx had been going off and on for some years now. UNHCR had some 56,000 refugees from the Central African Republic in southern Chad in five UNHCR camps. They had managed to reach this latest group in a remote region on Wednesday with a joint UN humanitarian mission supported by the UN peacekeeping force MINURCAT and EUFOR.

Also, for the first time in two years, there were signs that Somalis displaced in some of the worst fighting in the capital, Mogadishu, were beginning to return to their devastated neighborhoods, said Mr. Redmond. Over 16,000 internally displaced people who had been fleeing to various parts of Somalia had returned to three districts in the capital in the last two weeks, following the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from Mogadishu. The three western districts had been scenes of some of the worst violence and human rights abuses witnessed in Mogadishu some months ago. UNHCR’s local partners said that the returnees were families who intended to stay for good in the city. Despite the returns, the security situation in Mogadishu remained extremely volatile. Only this week, some 10,000 civilians had fled from two other districts in north-east Mogadishu to escape advancing Islamist militia, who had wanted to seize control of the neighborhood. Most of the recently displaced had moved to other neighborhoods within Mogadishu and to the outskirts of the city.

Heatwave in Australia

Gaelle Sevenier of the World Meteorological Organization said that WMO would issue a note today on the current heatwave hitting the southeast of Australia. This was apparently the warmest heatwave in the 100 last years.

UNICEF Activities

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said that UNICEF’s Belgian Office had recently appointed Ms. Justine Henin as Goodwill Ambassador for Belgium and she had recently gone to Goma where she had met with women and children.

WTO Activities

Janaina Borges of the World Trade Organization said that next Monday, WTO Director General Pascal Lamy would meet with Thailand’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and with Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister. He would also meet with the Secretary-General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. On Monday the Rules Negotiation Group was planned to meet for a weeklong discussion on the a draft of the rules negotiation. The WTO General Council was also scheduled to meet next week on Tuesday and Wednesday and a briefing would take place on Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. at the WTO. Guatemala ‘s Trade Policy Reviews would take place on Wednesday. On Thursday an informal meeting of the services negotiations would discuss the way forward. A briefing would take place after that meeting at 5:30pm at the WTO. Also on Thursday and Friday, Mr. Lamy would made an official visit to Berlin, where he is scheduled to meet with the German Chancellor Ms. Angela Merkel, the German President Mr. Horst Köhler and several other ministers and business representatives.