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 World Health Organization, the International Labour Organization, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the World Meteorological Organization, the UN Refugee Agency, the International Organization for Migration, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the World Trade Organization.

Activities of the Secretary-General

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that the Secretary-General was scheduled to travel early next week to South Africa, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Egypt. It would be his first official visit to South Africa and Tanzania, where he would hold discussions on national, regional and international issues. In South Africa he would meet with President Kgalema Motlanthe, as well as the Ministers for Finance and Environment. The Secretary-General was also expected to meet with former President Nelson Mandela.

In Tanzania, one of the pilot countries for the UN reform programme on “Delivering as One”, the Secretary-General would hold discussions with President Jakaya Kikwete. He would also address the diplomatic and academic community in Dar es Salaam, said Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier. The Secretary-General was also due to fly over the receding ice cap of Mount Kilimanjaro on his way to Arusha to visit the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, his next stop, he would meet with President Joseph Kabila, with parliamentarians as well as members of civil society. The Secretary-General then planed to travel to Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, where he would participate on 2 March in the International Conference in support of the Palestinian economy, for the reconstruction of Gaza. The Conference was co-chaired by Egypt and Norway, noted Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier.

Geneva Activities

Turning to the activities in Geneva, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that the Human Rights Council was holding today a Special Session on “the impact of the global economic and financial crises on the universal realization and effective enjoyment of human rights”.

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was finishing this morning its review of the report of Pakistan, said Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier. Next week, the Committee would review the reports of Turkey, Surinam, Finland, Croatia and Gambia.

Also next week the first session of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities would be held at the United Nations Office at Geneva from 23 to 27 February 2009. The opening meeting would take place at 10 a.m. on Monday 23 February during which the Committee would elect from among its members a Chairperson, three Vice-Chairpersons and a Rapporteur. This would be followed by the adoption of the agenda and by discussions on the draft provisional rules of procedure. The Committee would also start discussions on the organization of its future work. Adopted on 13 December 2006 by the General Assembly, the Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities Protocol entered into force on 3 May 2008, said Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier.

Further, the next plenary session of the Conference on Disarmament would take place on Thursday 26 February at 10 a.m. said Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier.

Answering a journalist’s question on today’s planned large demonstration in connection with the situation in Sri Lanka, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that the United Nations Office at Geneva had been informed by the Geneva Police that this demonstration was scheduled to take place from at 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and that 20,000 participants were estimated to take part. A march would begin at Gare Cornavin and was expected to arrive at the Place des Nations, via Avenue Guiseppe Motta, by 2:00 p.m. Due to its size, the demonstration was likely to cause significant traffic problems in Geneva, particularly around the Palais des Nations, where the Geneva Police would block streets from 12:00 noon until 8:00p.m. Given the considerable logistical and security challenges anticipated in connection with the demonstration, the Director-General had authorized managers, on an exceptional basis and subject to the exigencies of service, to release staff by 12:00 noon to leave the Palais des Nations.

United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier introduced the new Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Europe, Mr. Jan Kubis. She said that he had been appointed by the Secretary-General on 19 November 2008 and had taken office on 27 January 2009.

Jan Kubis, Executive-Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe said that he had been many times at the Palais, as the Head of the Slovak delegation to different meetings and also in his international capacities as the Secretary-General of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe or as the European Union’s Special Representative for central Asia. He had also worked for the United Nations as the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the UN Mission of Observers in Tajikistan.

Mr. Kubis also presented the Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish versions of the colouring book called “Daddy you can save the planet!” that they had first produced in English and French in 2007. This book was a nice example how they could do something that was at the same time useful, effective but also nice and with a touch of human sentiments.

The book aimed at raising children’s, and their parents’ awareness about all the little gestures that could have a big influence in limiting the impact of our daily activities on the environment: recycling paper, avoiding wasting water, switching off the water, etc. At the initiative of the Government of Portugal a Portuguese version would also be available soon, said Mr. Kubis.

Cholera Outbreak in Zimbabwe

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said that as of 19 February 2009 some 80,200 suspected cholera cases, including 3,759 deaths had been reported by the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare of Zimbabwe since August 2008 and the Case Fatality Rate had reached 4.7 percent. All ten provinces of the country were affected. The deaths continued to be recorded to happen in majority within the community rather than in the health facilities. Some 365 Cholera Treatment Centres and Units were reported to be active in all provinces. Interestingly, the Case Fatality Rate in the treatment centres was lower than in the community, with 3.1 percent.

High numbers of cases had also been reported in neighbouring countries, especially South Africa. But the relative strength of the health care system there had enabled the Case Fatality Rate to remain below one percent. Other countries where cholera had been reported included Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia, but it had to be noted that cholera was endemic in these countries, said Ms. Chaib.

The World Health Organization, together with its partners, had set up a Cholera Command and Control Centre in the capital, Harare. The role of the Centre was to coordinate the response to the cholera outbreak and provided technical coordination for partners in the areas of epidemiological and laboratory surveillance, case management, social mobilization, logistics and infection control of water and sanitation in treatment centres, said Ms. Chaib. Further, an alert and response system had been established with partners. WHO and national experts in public health, water and sanitation, logistics and social mobilization had been deployed to outbreak areas to support WHO response efforts.

Durban Review Process

Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said that the latest round of informal consultations by the working group, charged with the continuing negotiations on the outcome document, had finished yesterday. The first reading of the document was almost complete. The meetings were being held under the chairmanship of Russia. Also, for the first time the United States and Australian delegations had actively participated in the discussions. So far, 84 percent of the 250 paragraphs of the draft document had been reviewed. Discussions had been very detailed. There had generally been a very constructive atmosphere throughout the process. All decisions so far had been made on the basis of consensus. A total of 35 paragraphs had so far been fully adopted by the working group. Delegates had also added a number of new paragraphs which would be discussed at a later point. Further sessions of informal consultations would take place next week.

Answering a journalist’s question on the participation of the United States in the discussions, Mr. Colville said that the presence of the US delegation had created a major shift in the atmosphere in the room. They had made a statement which basically said that they were pleased to be here and that they were looking forward to work with others in addressing racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerances responsively and productively. The US noted that they had not participated in these discussions and that they were now here to explore whether there were possibilities to redress their differences. They had also said that they were prepared to work with others in the hope the discussions would move in a reasonable direction and allow future participation of the US in the review and eventually in the conference.

UNHCR Abducted Staff Member in Pakistan

Ron Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency said about their missing abducted staff member in Pakistan, John Solecki, that the United Nations had been meeting with various people in Pakistan, including with the Pakistan Minister for Human Rights. The minister had received a list of people from the United Nations and he had given some encouraging signals, including in the Pakistani media today, about the release of elderly people, children and women. UNHCR was hopeful that this and other initiatives would create the conditions for the immediate and safe release of John Solecki. UNHCR remained very concerned about his health and in the latest communications they had received from the abductors on Wednesday; these had said that his health was deteriorating. He had a serious medical condition that might now endanger his life. UNHCR wanted this situation to be taken care of as quickly as possible, so that John could be immediately and safely released.

Iraq

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said that three years ago the Al-Askari mosque in Samarra, Iraq was bombed. This incident had resulted in sectarian violence and important internal displacements. The IOM had now published a report on the status of displacements and returns in Iraq. Some 1.6 million people were still in Iraq, which represented approximately 5 percent of the total Iraqi population. The report also noted that 22 percent of the internally displaced persons were still living in collective settlements, public buildings or makeshift shelters, 14 percent of them had no access to healthcare and 44 percent had only occasional access to food rations. The humanitarian situation for these persons was still of concern. Other problems arising from this situation were problems of damaged property and houses. Families who wished to return to their former homes encountered difficulties as their homes had been either destructed or occupied by other families.

Kyrgyzstan

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that following the harsh winter of 2007, which had been followed by a period of very few rains in spring and summer 2008 the humanitarian situation in Kyrgyzstan was still of concern. Hydroelectric resources had suffered from the situation and power cuts were continuing around the country. This posed problems to the population and left hospitals and other institutions without power for several hours a day. The cold chain was thus often broken for drugs and surgeries had to be rescheduled.

An appeal had been launched to help address the needs of some two million persons affected by this situation, including 800,000 of the most vulnerable people in the country. The Kyrgyz Ministry of Health had also reported that children were increasingly encountering problems, of which were thyroid gland diseases and anaemia. Both affections were largely connected to a deficit of micronutrients in the diet. Heavy snowfalls at the beginning of February had aggravated energy shortages. In addition there had been avalanches and roadblocks that had led to the closure of the main road between the north and the south of the country, said Ms. Byrs.

Animals were also affected by the situation and anthrax had been registered at more than 1,200 sites around the country and 46 cases had occurred among humans since May 2008. Ms. Byrs said that the appeal was of US$ 14.7 million and so far only 48 percent of this revised appeal had been funded. The received fund had increased significantly last week as a result of three donations to the World Food Programme aid response: US$ 2 million from the Russian Federation and US$ 430,000 from Switzerland. Other key-sectors such as health, hygiene water and sanitation remained severely underfunded.

Ethiopia

Further to the press briefing of Tuesday 17 February on Ethiopia, Ms. Byrs underscored that in fact 4.9 million was the number of people in need of emergency assistance, including food and non food aid. Those 4.9 millions were the beneficiaries of the latest Humanitarian Requirement Document, that was issued on 30 January. She also stressed that the assessment undertaken in November and December 2008, on which the Humanitarian Requirement Document was based, was a joint assessment between the Government of Ethiopia and the Humanitarian partners.

Weather & Climate

Gaelle Sevenier of the World Meteorological Organization said that international experts had gathered in Beijing, China to review the increasing frequency and severity of droughts and extreme temperature events around the world. More than 40 scientists had participated in the workshop, which had been organized jointly by the World Meteorological Organization and the China Meteorological Administration. The experts had noted the recent heatwave, long-term drought and wildfires in Australia. This heatwave was without historical precedent and could be, at least partly, a result of climate change.

The experts had also noted that severe heatwaves were expected to increase in several parts of the world, said Ms. Sevenier. The workshop had adopted several recommendations to cope with increasing droughts and extreme temperatures on agriculture, rangelands and forestry.

Turning to the International Polar Year, Ms. Sevenier said that a press conference would take place on 25 February 2009 at 11 a.m. on new evidence about changes happening in the Polar Regions. A report on the status of polar research would also be launched that day.

Labour

Corinne Perthuis of the International Labour Organization said that a meeting on social justice was taking place today at the ILO to observe the first World Day of Social Justice. Also, on 24 and 25 February 2009 a meeting would take place to discuss the situation in the finance sector and the impact of the current financial crisis on finance and banking sectors workers.

Bird Flu

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said that a press conference would take place next on Tuesday 24 February 2009 at 11:30 a.m. in Press Room III on avian influenza. Two experts would talk about the recent bird flu cases in China, Egypt, Vietnam and Indonesia and on the actual status of the bird flu vaccine research.

Trade

Anoush Derboghossian of the World Trade Organization said that next week’s meeting included the Trade Facilitation Negotiating Group, which would meet the whole week. Also meeting would be, on 25 and 26 February the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Committee and on 27 February the Lebanon Accession Working Party.

Turning to the activities of WTO’s Director-General Mr. Pascal Lamy, Ms. Derboghossian said that he would be, until Wednesday in Korea and in Japan, and meet with high officials of both countries. Mr. Lamy would also address the Korean Chamber of Commerce.