REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Office at Geneva, chaired the briefing which was attended by Spokespersons for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Food Programme, the International Organization for Migration, the World Health Organization, the UN Refugee Agency, and the International Committee on the Red Cross.

Secretary-General’s Agenda

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon yesterday attended the meeting of the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East. Copies of the Secretary-General’s remarks to the meeting as well as the Presidential Declaration by the Security Council were available in the press room. The Presidential Statement read out by Council President Sergey V. Lavrov, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, expressed support for the Russian Federation’s proposal to convene an international conference on the Middle East peace process in Moscow in 2009. The Secretary-General said he supported the idea of convening an international conference to be held in Moscow and hoped the Security Council meeting would help provide direction and momentum.

Next week, the Secretary-General would undertake visits to Bahrain and Switzerland, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said. The Secretary-General would be in Manama for two days and his visit would focus on the official launch of the 2009 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction, which would take place on 17 and 18 May. The Secretary-General was set to deliver opening remarks at the launching ceremony, hosted by the Prime Minister of Bahrain. This was the UN’s first global report that identified increasing disaster risk factors and recommended 20 actions to reduce such risks, which would have beneficial effects on broader global security, stability and sustainability. The main message in the report was that investing in disaster risk reduction would help reduce poverty, safeguard development and help to adapt to climate change. While in Bahrain, the Secretary-General was scheduled to meet with His Majesty the King, as well as the Crown Prince and the Prime Minister.

After that, the Secretary-General would travel to Geneva, where he was set to deliver the keynote speech in the plenary of the World Health Assembly. He would also participate in a high-level meeting, convened by the World Health Organization, with representatives of some 20 pharmaceutical companies, to ensure that developing countries would have access to vaccines. The Secretary-General would also take part in the plenary meeting of the Conference on Disarmament on Tuesday, 19 May, the first plenary of the second part of the Conference’s 2009 session. He was also scheduled to meet with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was this morning concluding its review of the report of Cambodia. The Committee would consider the report of the United Kingdom this afternoon and all day tomorrow. That would be the last country report that the Committee would review during this session, and its concluding observations and recommendations would be issued towards the end of the session on Friday, 22 May.

The Committee against Torture was mostly meeting behind closed doors this week. This afternoon, there would be a brief public meeting with the SubCommittee on Prevention of Torture. The Committee would issue its concluding observations and recommendations towards the end of the session on Friday, 15 May.

Questions

Asked when this international conference on the Middle East would take place in Moscow, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that this was a proposal from the Russian Federation but no date had been set yet. Whenever more details were available, she would inform journalists.

Sri Lanka

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday that he was appalled at the killing of hundreds of civilians in Sri Lanka over the weekend. Thousands of Sri Lankans had already died in the past several months due to the conflict, and more still remained in grave danger. The Secretary-General said he had repeatedly called upon the parties to the conflict to stop using heavy calibre weaponry, including mortars, in the areas with high civilian concentrations. The Secretary-General once again called on both sides, in the strongest terms possible, to adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian law. The Secretary-General urged the Government of Sri Lanka to explore all possible options to bring the conflict to an end without further bloodshed and to make public the terms under which that could be achieved without further loss of civilian life, and for the LTTE to give sober and positive consideration of those terms. Copies of the Secretary-General’s statement were in the press room.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the Secretary-General’s statement reflected the position and main message of the United Nations. Sri Lankan security forces were continuing operations in the conflict zone. Intense fighting had been reported over the week-end with a heavy toll on civilians, resulting in the loss of hundreds of lives and more injuries. The United Nations estimated that at least 50,000 persons, and probably more, remained trapped in the conflict zone. On 11 May, a reported 900 civilians escaped from the conflict zone in Mullaitivu and most had reached Omanthai. Since 27 October, 196,044 persons had crossed to the Government controlled areas from the conflict zone. Around 194,303 persons were accommodated in temporary camps, where overcrowding was still a serious issue. There were more details in her notes about the situation in the camps and the UN’s and others’ efforts to help the displaced persons there. On the health situation, over the past two weeks, a team of 72 surgeons, doctors, nurses and other staff at a French Field Hospital in Vavuniya had treated over 700 persons, including 100 surgeries. Concerning funding, on 8 May, the Italian Government had announced a contribution of 400,000 Euros to the World Food Programme, and the Australian Government had announced that it would provide $ 7.6 million in humanitarian aid for internally displaced persons. The 2009 Appeal for Sri Lanka was still around 32 per cent funded, with $ 49 million received out of the $ 155 million requested.

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said because of the high number of civilians still trapped in the shrinking conflict zone in Sri Lanka, the number of children killed in this conflict could increase and UNICEF was gravely worried about the situation and the fate of these children. Since the beginning, UNICEF had asked the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE to allow civilians to leave the conflict zone and to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law. UNICEF continued to help 200,000 displaced persons in the fields of education, health, sanitation and protection. It was imperative for those who were still trapped in the conflict zone to be allowed to leave before it was too late for them, and for humanitarian aid to be able to reach them.

Emilia Casella of the World Food Programme said WFP was using a three-pronged approach in Sri Lanka. It was sending food into the conflict zone. It was providing food assistance to more than 190,000 people in temporary transit centres in Vavuniya and Jaffa districts. And most recently, WFP was preparing to provide cooked meals at a screening centre. Over the past couple of weeks, with the support of the Government and the International Committee of the Red Cross, WFP had been able to send in five shipments, making up a total of 150 metric tons of food, into the conflict zone. However, this was only enough to feed around 60,000 persons for five days. Given that they did not know exactly how many people were trapped in the conflict zone, WFP was concerned that the food being sent in was not enough. At least another three shipments were planned to be dispatched this week. Today, WFP was able to load a ship with 500 metric tons of food, which was considerably more than they had been able to get in the conflict zone in the past couple of weeks. The humanitarian situation for those trapped inside the conflict zone was obviously desperate. Reports were indicating that many of the fleeing internally displaced persons had not had a proper meal in days. WFP had set up a system to provide people with hot meals as soon as they got out of the conflict zone. In terms of the funding for the food portion, WFP still needed about $ 40 million, especially with the influx of people. Without additional resources, WFP was facing a pipeline break in July.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said IOM had launched a USAID-funded pilot project in the eastern district of Batticaloa to help reintegrate demobilized former LTTE Tamil Tiger rebels into civilian life. The Information, Counselling and Referral Services project aimed to reintegrate up to 1,000 former members of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikel, an armed Tamil group led by Col. Karuna Amman, which split from the LTTE in 2007. The Batticaloa project followed another pilot reintegration project implemented by IOM at the request of the government in 2003. The RECLAIM programme successfully helped some 600 former combatants return to civilian life. There were more details in the briefing notes.

Paul Garwood of the World Health Organization said WHO, like other UN agencies and the media, at the moment had no access to the conflict area in Sri Lanka. WHO was advocating that all care be taken to ensure the protection of civilians inside the conflict zone and to provide care for those who had left it. According to information received from the WHO country office in Sri Lanka, WHO was supporting healthcare in Vavuniya through support to mobile clinics, providing drugs and medical supplies, supporting coordination of health activities and partners, disease surveillance and construction of temporary health facilities. According to the Ministry of Health, a temporary hospital was operating inside the conflict zone and was being supplied by the Ministry of Health which also paid the doctors. The Ministry had also recently sent drugs and medical supplies to the enclave. Lack of human resources and proper facilities were severely limiting access to proper health care to the population inside the enclave. WHO did not know the impact of the military activities on the health status of the people as it was not present inside.

Pakistan

Ms. Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said OCHA was witnessing an increased suffering of civilian populations that found themselves in the crossfire of different conflicts in Pakistan. This was especially worrying as it was not a conflict that was expected to conclude in a week or two. The humanitarian community in Pakistan was currently assisting 556,539 internally displaced persons, displaced since August 2008. Seventeen per cent of these internally displaced persons or 93,323 were hosted in 11 camps in areas in the Northern North West Frontier Province. Fifty per cent of these displaced persons were women and 20 per cent were children under the age of five. The appeal for Pakistan was 43 per cent funded. There were more details in the briefing notes.

Ron Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency said as of late yesterday, the total number of displaced people from the new influx, registered by authorities, with UNHCR’s
help, had reached 501,000, so that was half a million since May 2. Of these new arrivals, 72,707 people were staying in camps, and 428,789 people were staying with relatives, friends or host communities -- including locals who had opened their doors to receive people fleeing the fighting. These people joined the previous population, which had fled since August of last year, and were in 11 other camps in the region. A Boeing 747 cargo plane with 120 tons of UNHCR relief supplies for people fleeing the fighting left Dubai this morning and was due to touch down in Islamabad at 3:15 p.m. local time. The UNHCR-chartered plane was carrying 10,000 mosquito nets, 14,000 plastic sheets for emergency shelters, 1,500 plastic rolls to build walls and privacy screens in camps, and two large portable warehouses from UNHCR’s central stockpiles in Dubai. The new supplies would be loaded onto seven trucks and taken immediately to UNHCR’s warehouse in Peshawar, and then distributed to various sites hosting displaced people in North West Frontier Province. The National Disaster Management Authority of Pakistan had facilitated today’s emergency flight, as well as the provision of an additional 10,000 tents to UNHCR, for the emergency operation. People were being registered in camps and in 38 registration points that had now been established. More were being set up daily.

Mr. Redmond said High Commissioner António Guterres said yesterday that the speed and scale of this crisis was posing huge challenges for the Government and the humanitarian community. More resources were urgently needed and UNHCR was calling for international solidarity to help Pakistanis uprooted in this crisis. As the High Commissioner noted, Pakistanis in this particular region had for decades been extremely generous to millions of Afghan refugees and now that they themselves were uprooted and deserved international help.

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said UNICEF was very worried about the humanitarian situation in Pakistan, which was deteriorating rapidly with another influx of hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons. UNICEF was working with the Provincial Government of North West Frontier Province, the National Disaster Management Authority and its UN and NGO partners as part of the United Nations coordinated response to provide assistance to people staying in 12 camps for the newly displaced and to those staying with relatives and host communities. UNICEF was supporting the provision of safe water and sanitation facilities. UNICEF was also supporting a measles vaccination campaign for children in the camps and in host communities that had already reached more than 1,100 children. UNICEF had now almost exhausted its contingency supplies. As the humanitarian crisis continued to unfold, UNICEF immediately needed $ 20 million to continue and expand its emergency operations to assist newly displaced children and women and to very rapidly procure urgently needed supplies.

Ms. Casella of the World Food Programme said registered internally displaced persons in terms of food assistance stood at close to 1 million persons now, of whom 645,000 had received WFP assistance so far. In terms of the influx, WFP had established 15 humanitarian hubs in the receiving district and a joint logistics base in Peshawar. WFP would increase the number of humanitarian hubs to 21 by next week. These hubs were locations where all humanitarian agencies and non-governmental organizations would be able to provide humanitarian assistance to the internally displaced person, the vast majority of whom were not living in camp situations which posed certain challenges. WFP had enough food for 1.5 million persons for the next two to three months. Obviously with this influx, there was a great need for increased funding for all humanitarian services. For food this year, $ 42 million had already been received, but WFP anticipated that the cost of the food operation of this size would be closer to $ 120 million.

Anna Schaaf of the International Committee of the Red Cross said that ICRC was once again calling on the parties to the conflict to comply with international humanitarian law, and in particular to take all feasible precautions to minimize civilian casualties. The civilians displaced by the fighting had the right to receive assistance to cover their basic needs, and this was not the case right now in the North Western Frontier Province where ICRC still did not have access today.

Mr. Garwood of the World Health Organization said WHO had sent a three-member mission to Pakistan to assess how current violence was impacting on the health situation facing people, and the means available to provide health care to them. WHO had received $ 514,000 in funding from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund to roll out emergency health interventions for around 550,000 internally displaced persons in the North West Frontier Province, and to assist in water and sanitation programmes. The threat of disease outbreaks was clear, and there was also a high level of global acute mal nutrition. The health services that needed to be rolled out there included continuing existing health care for internally displaced persons, establishing new wards and district hospitals for internally displaced persons, supporting new health partners to strengthen their health care delivery, strengthening patient referrals between IDP camps and the hospitals, and monitoring clean drinking water supply and hygiene promotion.

Other

Ms. Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said available was a press release on the situation in Sichuan province of China one year after the earthquake which destroyed a big part of the province.

Catherine Sibut-Pinote of the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development said available at the back of the rooms was a press release on the debate held yesterday at the Commission for Trade and Development. It was agreed that the depth of the impact on developing country economies had not yet been seen, including drops in demand for exports, deficits in credit and finance, especially trade finance, and falling prices for basic agricultural goods and industrial raw materials.

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said concerning Influenza A H1N1, according to the latest figures as of 6 o’clock GMT today, 30 countries had officially reported 5,251 cases of Influenza A H1N1. Mexico had reported, 2,059 human cases confirmed by laboratory, including 56 deaths. The United States had reported 2,600 laboratory confirmed human cases, including three deaths. Canada had reported 330 laboratory confirmed human cases, including one death. Costa Rica had reported eight laboratory confirmed human cases, including one death. The following countries had reported laboratory confirmed cases with no deaths: Argentina (1); Australia (1); Austria (1); Brazil (8); China (2), one in mainland China and one in Hong Kong; Colombia (3); Denmark (1); El Salvador 4; France (13); Germany (12); Guatemala (1); Ireland(1); Israel (7); Italy (9); Japan (4); Netherlands (3); New Zealand (7), Norway (2); Panama (16); Poland (1); Portugal (1); Republic of Korea (3); Spain (95); Sweden (2); Switzerland (1); and the United Kingdom (55).

The regular press briefing on H1N1 would be held today at 5 p.m. Geneva time, but she did not know yet who would be briefing. A tele-conference on 14 May would be held starting 2 p.m. on The Ad Hoc Policy Advisory Group on Influenza A H1N1 vaccine.

In a question on the World Health Assembly which starts on Monday, 18 May, Ms. Chaib said she would hold daily briefings at 11:30 a.m. in press room 1.

Mr. Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency said journalists had been asking UNHCR about any follow-up from UNHCR on Italy’s recent push back to Libya of persons intercepted or rescued in the Mediterranean. There were a few more boats that were pushed back over the weekend. UNHCR Rome this morning sent a letter to the Italian Government noting that while UNHCR appreciated the challenges which irregular migration posed to Italy and other European Union countries, UNHCR remained seriously concerned that the policy now implemented by Italy undermined access to asylum in the European Union and carried with it the risk of violating the fundamental principle of non refoulement. That principle does not carry with it any geographical limitation, and States were obliged to respect it wherever they exercised jurisdiction, including on the high seas. There was more on this in the briefing notes.

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the World Meteorological Organization had left documents at the back of the room on the World Climate Conference-3, to be held in Geneva from 31 August to 4 September, and would brief journalists on Thursday, 14 May.

She reminded journalists that there was an International Labour Organization press briefing now. At 12:30 p.m., the President of the General Assembly would speak to journalists. And at 2:30 p.m., John Holmes, the Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, would brief journalists.