REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Corinne Momal-Vanian, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization, the International Organization for Migration, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the United Nations Development Programme, the International Trade Center and the GAVI Alliance.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Momal-Vanian said the Human Rights Council had concluded its Special Session on the human rights situation in Haiti by adopting a resolution in which it called upon the international community to continue to ensure adequate and coordinated support to the Government and the people of Haiti, keeping in mind the importance of integrating a human rights approach.

The Human Rights Council Advisory Committee would conclude its current session today, by adopting its report and recommendations to the Council, said Ms. Momal-Vanian. The main issues the Advisory Committee had considered during its current session had been: a draft declaration on human rights education and training; a draft set of principles and guidelines to eliminate discrimination against persons affected by leprosy and their family members; a study on best practices regarding missing persons; and a draft study on discrimination in the context of the right to food.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child was also concluding its session today and would issue its concluding observations on all the reports it had considered during the current session, said Ms. Momal-Vanian.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women was considering today the report of Botswana. On Monday, 1 February, the Committee would consider the report of Panama, before closing its session next Friday, 5 February, said Ms. Momal-Vanian.

The Conference on Disarmament successfully adopted its agenda last Tuesday, said Ms. Momal-Vanian. It still had to adopt its programme of work for 2010. The next public plenary of the Conference was scheduled for Tuesday, 2 February.

Next Monday, 1 February, Gareth Evans, former Australian Foreign Minister, would make a public presentation of the report of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferations and Disarmament (ICNND) in the Council Chamber, said Ms. Momal-Vanian.

Also next week, John Holmes, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, would give a press conference on Tuesday, 2 February on the humanitarian situation in Haiti and other emergencies at 11:45 a.m. in Press Room III.




Secretary-General Activities

Ms. Momal-Vanian said the Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon would travel to Cyprus next week. On Wednesday he had met with his Special Adviser for Cyprus, Alexander Downer, regarding the intensive talks currently under way between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders. The Secretary-General wanted to personally show his support for their efforts, and thus he had decided to travel to Cyprus, from 31 January to 2 February.

Haiti

Ms. Momal-Vanian said the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) held a memorial service yesterday in Port-au-Prince for staff members who had died in the earthquake. The UN death toll was currently at 85, with around 30 people still unaccounted for. She also noted that the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations had announced yesterday that three-quarter of the 14,000 members of Haitian Police were now back at work.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that IOM was working with its partners from the shelter cluster to finalize the first organized settlement for some 3,500 displaced persons in the Port-au-Prince neighbourhood of Tabarre. Some 350 ten-person tents had been set-up, with work being finalized on latrines, showers and electricity. The first families were expected to move in from the capital's Parc de la Primature and surrounding areas in the coming days.

IOM also continued to focus on distributing tarpaulins and plastic sheets to improve shelter conditions for those made homeless, said Mr. Chauzy. Around 50,000 tents and 30,000 items of plastic sheeting were expected to arrive in the coming days. Tents were only a first response but permanent shelters would soon be needed, as the rainy season approached.

With regard to the appeal launched on 15 January, IOM had so far received pledges totaling US$ 23,3 million, out of the US$ 30 million that were asked. Mr. Chauzy noted that the appeal would be shortly revised to better reflect the scale of needs in the country.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the Haiti Flash Appeal was now 77 per cent funded. However, some sectors still remained under-funded: early recovery, which was 8 per cent funded; agriculture funded by 5 per cent; and education funded only by 2 per cent. The Appeal would be revised by mid-February and extended for 12 months. A major evaluation of the situation would be conducted in March, which would allow identifying further needs in all sectors.

The priority for the moment was to provide shelter to the people in need. Sanitation in the camps remained a major concern. Ms. Byrs said some 43,000 radios had been distributed to people in Port-au-Prince by the United States, as part of an overall effort to reach the people of Haiti via FM/AM broadcasting of Haiti public service announcements. Turning to telecommunications she noted that the high number of users created congestion to the network provided by the humanitarian community. High temperatures were also causing strain on the communications equipment.

On the logistics side, around 100 to 150 planes were still landing every day at the airport, with some 1,200 planes on the waiting list. The port was only 40 per cent operational and still needed some major repairs, said Ms. Byrs.

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that, UNICEF, as the Water and Sanitations Cluster Coordinator, ensuring access to potable water and sanitation was their priority. Yesterday they had been able to distribute water to 320,000 persons and would try to reach 500,000 persons by today.

The other priority for UNICEF was education, and as to allow for a return to school, as early as possible, in the areas that were not destructed by the earthquake, said Ms. Taveau. In the affected areas, a precise mapping effort of the destructed schools was currently undertaken. According to the Haitian Ministry of Education, 5,000 schools had been destructed, affecting 1.5 million children.

On the protection of children, Ms. Taveau said that controls were being reinforced, in hospitals, orphanages, at the border crossing with the Dominican Republic and at the airport. The MINUSTAH was also conducting investigations into alleged kidnappings of children.

Paul Garwood of the World Health Organization said that medical teams had reported a big shift in the last 48 hours in the types of cases they were receiving. Several medical teams reported a growing caseload of diarrhea in the last two to three days. There were also reports of measles and tetanus, including in resettlements camps, which was worrisome due to the high concentration of people. Additionally there was a decrease in trauma cases and an increase in mental health needs.

A system was in place, within Haiti, to detect reports of suspected disease outbreaks, said Mr. Garwood. A sentinel surveillance system was operating in 51 health facilities. There was also a network of early warning integrated by another 154 health institutions throughout the country.

Efforts were also continuing to gain a full picture of the needs in health, water and sanitations supplies outside of Port-au-Prince. In general, water and sanitation in hospitals was well under control, noted Mr. Garwood.

Reports indicated that there were more than 2,000 amputee cases in Haiti as a result of the injuries sustained in the earthquake. This number was likely to increase further, said Mr. Garwood.

As far as medical supplies were concerned, crutches were in very high demand. Other critical needs were specialists in orthopedic and internal medicine and X-ray equipment. Post-operation medical supplies and anti-biotic remained a key need. WHO had distributed a list of key medical needs and ways in which to properly donate these medicines, said Mr. Garwood.

Catherine Sibut-Pinote of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said that UNCTAD had called in a policy brief it had issued yesterday for the cancelling of Haiti’s debt. The brief also included UNCTAD’s propositions for rebuilding the country.

Yemen

Andrej Mahecic of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), updating on the situation in Yemen, said the humanitarian crisis there was deepening and they now estimated that 250,000 civilians had been displaced since the country’s internal conflict had flared in 2004. This represented a more than doubling of the number of displaced as of August 2009 when the latest round of fighting had erupted.

Over the past six weeks they had been witnessing a steady influx of around 1,000 families (some 7,000 people) arriving to Hajjah province every week. These people mainly originated from Sa’ada province which was bearing the brunt of the conflict between government troops and Al Houti forces, said Mr. Mahecic.

The fighting has gradually moved from Sa’ada city and its surroundings towards the north-west. This was reflected in the composition of the internally displaced population as the first arrivals had been mostly from Sa’ada city area and Al Dhaher, while over the past weeks the majority of people had come from Razeh, Ghamr and Saqayn districts, said Mr. Mahecic. Another push factor was the collapse of coping mechanisms - people simply could not sustain themselves any longer in Sa’ada province.

Mr. Mahecic said that despite three existing camps in Hajjah governorate which were continually being expanded, the lack of adequate shelter was a major concern for UNHCR. Many displaced Yemenis were in makeshift sites which had mushroomed along the roads leading to the camps. The situation was equally difficult in Amran province where the vast majority of internally displaced persons was either staying with relatives and friends or renting accommodation.

UNHCR and its partners were providing tents to displaced families in host communities to increase living space within housing compounds, said Mr. Mahecic. To alleviate the situation UNHCR was also working on setting up a transit center, pending the identification of suitable site for a camp.

The Yemeni government, UNHCR and other aid agencies were also distributing aid, but making ends meet was getting increasingly difficult for the displaced population as well as to get access to basic services such as health and education, said Mr. Mahecic. Most of them had fled leaving behind almost all of their belongings and cattle which had been the pillar of their livelihoods and primary source of income.

Tomorrow, UNHCR would be moving aid to the northern part of Yemen, said Mr. Mahecic. Five UNHCR trucks would be crossing from Saudi Arabia into Yemen sometime tomorrow, bringing aid for about 2,000 people. This was the third such convoy. There were some 10,000 Yemenis sheltering at a makeshift site in Mandaba area where assistance was also being provided by the governments and other aid agencies.

UNHCR was also calling on donor countries to continue their support to its operation in Yemen to be able to cope with the situation and to provide much needed assistance. UNHCR’s total needs for protection and assistance programmes in Yemen this year amounted to US$ 35 million, out of which US$ 16 million are for the internally displaced persons programmes operations and the rest for the refugee operations, noted Mr. Mahecic.

Council of Europe Hearings on H1N1

Christy Feig of the World Health Organization said that during the hearings on the H1N1 pandemic at the Council of Europe last Tuesday in Strasbourg, a member of the Geneva Press Corps had made a number of comments during the press conference by Dr Keiji Fukuda, Special Adviser on Pandemic Influenza to the WHO Director-General, and had also cast doubt on the integrity of a WHO Spokesperson. Such accusations could not be taken lightly and she underscored that this WHO Spokesperson was one of the best Spokespeople at WHO, the biggest advocate of the media at WHO and one of the media’s best assets.

World Alliance of Cities Against Poverty

Salwa Al-Dalati of the United Nations Development Programme announced the upcoming World Alliance of Cities Against Poverty Forum, which would be held in Rotterdam from the 24 to 26 February 2010. The theme for this year’s conference was “Confronting the Crisis Collectively: Working Together to end Poverty”.

Mohand Cherifi, Coordinator, World Alliance of Cities Against Poverty, United Nations Development Programme, noted that the Forum would take place in the context of the climate, energy, food and hydrological crises, as well as the European Year For Combating Poverty and a few months before the UN General Assembly’s evaluation of the Millennium Development Goals. Major cities from every continent would take part in the meeting, but also governments, regions, non-governmental organisations and representatives from the private sector.

Giuseppe Raaphorst, Director of Social Development of the City of Rotterdam and Vice-President of the Seventh Forum of the World Alliance of Cities Against Poverty said that there were 1 billion people living in urban areas and this figure was increase even faster due to the current crisis. Municipalities should take actions and look at problems in an integral way. The objectives of the Rotterdam Conference were to come out with concrete initiatives and best practices.

Prevention of Industrial Accidents

Jean Rodriguez of the United Nations Economic Commissions for Europe (UNECE) said the UNECE was calling today for continued efforts to prevent industrial accidents. This call came on the tenth anniversary, tomorrow, of the Baia Mare accident in Romania. On 30, January 2000 a mine tailings dam had burst releasing over 100,000 cubic metres of cyanide and heavy metal contaminated water into several neighbouring rivers. The contaminated water had later reached the Danube and the Black Sea.

The tenth anniversary of this accident was a reminder of the need for vigilance to prevent industrial accidents. The UNECE, through the secretariat of its Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents, had been supporting member countries in their joint work to reduce the likelihood of industrial accidents occurring and to minimize their effects, said Mr. Rodriguez.

The Convention had organized various workshops with government department to highlight legislative options and best practise for improving major hazard prevention and had also conducted in-field training exercises with local authorities to practice emergency response procedure that would reduce the effects of an industrial accident if one occurred, said Mr. Rodriguez.

UNICEF Flagship Report 2010

Veronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that on Thursday, 4 February, at 3 p.m. UNICEF would launch in Press Room III its Humanitarian Annual Report 2010. Hilde Johnson, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director would be present and an audio link would be provided with Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow.

The report would highlight the plight of children and women in humanitarian emergencies in a total of 28 countries, including Haiti, the Horn of Africa, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Sudan and Zimbabwe, said Ms. Taveau.

LDC Trade Recovery in 2009

Micaela Daniel of the International trade Center, presented the ITC’s Least Developed Countries Trade Recovery in 2009 report, which illustrates the impact of the global financial and economic crisis on the world’s Least Developed Countries.

Willem Van der Geest, Acting Director, Division of Market Development, International Trade Center, said that the Least Developed Countries had been doing rather well form an economic perspective in 2007 the decline had started in the second half of 2008. The cost of this crisis in terms of socio-economic impact was very high. Between 60 to 90 million people had been pushed below the poverty line because of the global financial economic crisis and its impact in developing countries. Indirect impacts were not yet well understood, and the impact on the Millennium Development Goals was not yet clear either.

Other

Jean Rodriguez of the United Nations Economic Commissions for Europe (UNECE) said that next week two important technical meetings would take place, namely: the Inland Transport Committee’s Working Party on Customs Questions affecting Transport, from 1 to 5 February in Room VII and the Inland Transport Committee’s Working Party on Brakes and Running Gear, from 2 to 5 February in Room V.

Catherine Sibut-Pinote of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said that next Friday, 5 February UNCTAD would present its Trade and Environment Review 2009-2010. Supachai Panitchpakdi, UNCTAD Secretary General, and Ulrich Hoffmann, UNCTAD, Chief, Trade and Sustainable Development Section, Trade Division would present the study.

Next week there would be also be a UNCTAD expert meeting on investment for development, said Ms. Sibut-Pinote. The meeting would analyse the development impact of both domestic investment activities and, in particular, foreign direct investment, including the interaction between the two.

Also next week, there would be a workshop on negotiation of international investment agreements in the Dominican Republic. Fifteen Latin American countries would participate in this workshop, said Ms. Sibut-Pinote.

Janaina Borges of the World Trade Organization (WTO), presenting WTO’s upcoming schedule said there would be meetings and consultations on agriculture negotiations over the next two weeks. There would also be a week of consultation on industrial goods, starting next Tuesday, 2 February. A briefing on the result of these consultations would be organized at 3 p.m. on Friday, 5 February. Also going on this week were meetings on the Doha negotiations, on intellectual property. Meetings on the services bodies were also scheduled for throughout the week.

Kerstin Reisdorf of the GAVI Alliance said the GAVI Alliance was celebrating its tenth anniversary. At this occasion, Julian Lob-Levyt, Chief Executive Officer of the GAVI Alliance would make a major announcement today at the World Economic Forum in Davos during a press conference with the Bill & Melinda Gated Foundation to make the next decade the decade of vaccines.