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 United Nations Refugee Agency, the World Food Programme, the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the World Meteorological Organization.

Secretary-General’s Activities and Statements

The Security Council held a formal meeting yesterday and adopted a draft Presidential Statement on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, in which it condemned the recent launch by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, which was in contravention of Security Council resolution 1718. In a statement, the Secretary-General welcomed the adoption of a statement by the President of the Security Council which he said sent a unified message of the international community on the launch.

Ms. Heuzé said the Secretary-General had welcomed the announcement made on Sunday by the Government of Sri Lanka that it would observe a two-day pause in offensive military operations. This was less than the full humanitarian pause of several days that the Secretary-General had pressed for but was nevertheless a useful first step and an opportunity to move towards the peaceful and orderly end to the fighting now so badly needed.

The Secretary-General yesterday attended the donors’ conference for Haiti in Washington. The Secretary-General met earlier yesterday with Haiti’s Prime Minister Michèle Duvivier Pierre-Louis. The Secretary-General was also participating today in the conference.

Ms. Heuzé said that statements made by the Secretary-General since last Thursday were available in the press room 1 and on the web.

Durban Review Conference

Ms. Heuzé said that according to the latest information she had at this stage, around 35 States had confirmed their participation in the Durban Review Conference, including the Presidents of Timor-Leste, Togo, Iran and Montenegro. The Vice President of Zambia and the Prime Minister of Lesotho were also on the list, as were a number of Foreign Ministers, including from Egypt, Nigeria, Norway, South Africa and Uganda. The United Nations Secretary-General would participate in the opening of the meeting, as would the Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Professor Ekmelldin Ihsanoglu. As soon as she had received an update about the attending dignitaries, which could have changed during the four-day Easter weekend, she would inform journalists.

Concerning media coverage, Ms. Heuzé said around 60 journalists had been accredited so far to the Durban Review Conference, representing all regions of the world. Contrary to some media reports, there was no overrepresentation of media from Israel.

In response to a question, Ms. Heuzé said that the Secretary-General of the United Nations invited the Presidents to this conference and the High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, invited Ministers of Foreign Affairs.

For journalists’ agenda, the President of Iran would probably give a press conference on Tuesday, 21 April at 9:30 a.m., but this had not been confirmed.

Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said that the latest version of the document – the Chair’s version - was almost complete. Hopefully, that would be submitted in time for the PrepCom on Wednesday 15th April. This was a kind of Rev. 1 of the 17 March Rolling text. As of the middle of last week, there were 250 NGOs registered, but that number would undoubtedly be quite a bit higher by now, and they expected it to continue rising during the course of this week.

In response to a question, Mr. Colville said the Chair of the intersessional, inter-governmental working group had been put in charge of negotiating the outcome text. His 17 March text (Rolling text) had already received considerable support from all the regional groups. Over the past week, there were already more inputs and more discussions. Mr. Yuri Boychenko hopefully would finalize his revised text and then the PrepCom could continue to look at it.

Refugees

Ron Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency said UNHCR shared the serious concern expressed by the United Nations over the killing of three Pakistani Baloch leaders last week. They were members of the Balochistan Quam Dost Committee that was recently formed by the Government of Pakistan to investigate the case of missing persons in the province of Balochistan. UNHCR supported calls for the Government of Pakistan to immediately investigate these murders and to ensure that the Balochistan Quam Dost Committee continued its important work. UNHCR extended its deepest condolences to the families of those killed.

Somalia

Mr. Redmond said some 60,000 people had returned to Mogadishu since the start of 2009. The majority were returning from settlements for internally displaced people in the Lower and Middle Shabelle regions in south-central Somalia, and Hiraan, Galgaduud and Mudug regions in central Somalia. They were returning mainly to the districts of Yaaqshiid, Wardhiigleey, Heliwaa, and Hawl Wadaag in north-east Mogadishu. UNHCR also had reports of 2,200 returnees from Kenya, 300 from Yemen and 20 from Ethiopia, as well as a mixed group of some 900 refugees and forced returnees from Saudi Arabia. Despite the fact that returns were a positive sign and that sustainable return of refugees and displaced people was the preferred solution, at the moment UNHCR was not encouraging returns to Mogadishu because of the volatile security situation and lack of basic services. UNHCR was re-establishing its presence in Mogadishu, as all international humanitarian workers were evacuated after the security deteriorated in July 2008 following killings and kidnapping of UN officials, including the abduction of the UNHCR head of office. Despite the positive sign of returns to Mogadishu, the insecurity in some regions of the country, combined with drought and the lack of livelihoods among rural and urban people, continued to push thousands of Somalis to flee to neighbouring countries.

Emilia Casella of the World Food Programme said regarding food assistance for Somalia, obviously piracy was a constant concern, in terms of all food deliveries through that area. The Maersk was the first ship carrying WFP food heading for Mombassa to be taken. While the crew had now departed the Maersk, they were still waiting for food to be unloaded today. The Maersk was carrying 232 containers of food for WFP, out of a total of 400 containers of food. Ninety per cent of WFP’s food for Somalia was delivered by ship. The food was off loaded in Mombassa, and then put on to smaller vessels which carried it to Somalia. These vessels had had escorts since November 2007 and since that time, there had been no seizures of ships carrying WFP food specifically destined for Somalia. Right now, WFP was being escorted by the European Union.

International Organization for Migration – Iraq and Haiti

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said according to the latest IOM report on Iraqi displacement, Iraq's estimated 270,000 families (1.6 million people) displaced by sectarian violence since February 2006 were increasingly returning home, but many still faced problems including a lack of adequate shelter, limited basic services, food insecurity and a lack of jobs. The government had officially ordered an end to new registration of internally displaced families, limiting the numbers eligible for certain types of government assistance. But according to the IOM report, registration was still occurring in some governorates as local authorities struggled to resolve the complex housing issues thrown up by displacement. These included cases of families unable or unwilling to return for security reasons and in need of help to integrate in new communities; families willing to return, but unable to do so because their old homes had been occupied by other displaced families; and displaced families facing eviction from their new homes, because the former owners want their property back.

Mr. Chauzy said new funding from the United States Agency for International Development would allow IOM to rehabilitate some 60 schools in areas in Haiti severely damaged by the four tropical storms and hurricanes that struck the country.

Other

Catherine Sibut-Pinote of the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development said a work shop on instruments of analysis on international trade was being held in Dakar, Senegal from 14 to 17 April. It was being organized by UNCTAD and the University of Dakar. More details were available.

Gaelle Sevenier of the World Meteorological Organization said a press conference would be held on Monday, 20 April at WMO Headquarters from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. for a joint announcement about monitoring of meteorological conditions in Africa. Speakers would include Kofi Annan, President of the World Humanitarian Forum, and Michel Jarraud, Secretary-General of WMO.

Ms. Heuzé said that 11:30 a.m. today in Room III, there would be an interesting press conference by Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, and Javier Garrigues, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Spain to the United Nations Office at Geneva, on the presentation of the "Human Rights and Alliance of Civilizations Room (Room XX) in the guided tours of the Palais des Nations.