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 and representatives of the United Nations Children’s Fund, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the International Organization for Migration, the World Meteorological Organization and the World Health Organization.

Secretary-General’s Activities

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier announced that the Secretary-General had arrived in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, yesterday on the latest leg of his week-long visit to Central Asia. He had held talks with President Rahmon and other Tajik officials on topics including Afghanistan, human rights, climate change and the question of tensions over water resources in Central Asia. The Secretary-General would next visit Vienna, from 7 to 10 April, where he would, among others, be participating in the spring session of the United Nations Chief Executives Board meeting.

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier highlighted that the latest report of the Secretary-General on the Democratic Republic of the Congo had been published yesterday as an official United Nations document. In it, he had underscored that most of the country was conflict-free today; its relations with its neighbours had been normalized and reconstruction efforts were gathering pace. Improvement in the security situation in 8 of the country’s 11 provinces provided a sound basis for devising a responsible exit strategy for the United Nations peacekeeping mission.

Geneva Activities

Turning to Geneva, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier announced that the Director-General of United Nations Office at Geneva, Sergei Ordzhonikidze, would be in Moscow on 8 and 9 April to participate in a Conference on the Victory over Fascism in 1945 and its Impact on the Populations of the Commonwealth of Independent States and Others. The Conference was organized by the Office of the President of Russia, the Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Education. On 12 and 13 April, the Director-General would be in Washington, D.C., for the Nuclear Security Summit, as part of the United Nations delegation, along with the Secretary-General.

In Geneva, on the occasion of the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda, a commemorative ceremony would be held tomorrow, in Room XIX at the Palais des Nations from 4 to 5:30 p.m., Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said. A note to correspondents had been issued in English and French, and all were invited to attend the ceremony.

Haiti: Return to School

Christiane Berthiaume of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) was happy to announce the return to school in Haiti yesterday for some children who had been out of school for three months now. It was a small step forward, both because education was important, but also because it was a factor in ensuring children’s security and giving them a sense of a return to normalcy. However, it was a small step, as the goal was to get 700,000 children back to school by the start of summer. It would not be easy. There were some 3 million children in Haiti who had received little or no schooling for the past three months, and the conditions were difficult: 4,000 schools had been destroyed and for many school was starting in tents provided by UNICEF and others. A press release was available.

Humanitarian Situation in Northern Niger and Northern Mali

Marcel Izard of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that the ICRC was about to launch a huge relief operation for some 100,000 herders and farmers in the Sahel region in Northern Mali and Northern Niger. Those areas had been heavily affected by the poor rainy season over the past months, as well as by communal violence that was still ongoing in some parts of Northern Mali and Northern Niger, partly linked to the shortage of pastureland for herders and the shortage of agricultural land. All of that had created a food crisis affecting millions of people. Over the next eight months, ICRC would distribute monthly food rations to 85,000 people and would distribute seeds and tools and would also help with training for about 40,000 farmers. In addition, ICRC would buy about 20,000 head of cattle to help farmers to reduce their herds, which were too high at the moment given the dwindling grazing lands. To finance this project, ICRC would be asking donors to triple the budget foreseen for Mali and Niger in 2010, asking for an additional 23 million Swiss francs.

Colombian Refugees in Ecuador

Andrej Mahecic of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) announced that an innovative registration initiative, just completed on 31 March, had resulted in 26,000 Colombian refugees receiving identity documents in an isolated region of northern Ecuador. For 12 months, mobile teams comprising officials from the Ecuadorian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and UNHCR staff had traversed difficult terrain to reach the refugees. By using mobile registration teams, the Enhanced Registration Project had reduced the waiting period for a government decision on asylum claims from several months to just one day. Recognized refugees had received an official government document certifying their status as refugees and for those whose cases required further analysis a provisional document confirming their status as an asylum-seeker had been issued. Without such documentation refugees and asylum-seekers lacked essential legal protection and access to assistance. Many of the refugees had been living in that remote border area for years and had been unable to access asylum procedures in urban areas either because of a lack of resources and information or because of fear. The project had doubled the number of registered refugees in Ecuador, now totalling more than 45,000 people, 98 per cent of them from Colombia. However, UNHCR estimated that there could be another 100,000 people in Ecuador in need of international protection.

Other

Jared Bloch of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that last week IOM had assisted approximately 500 Ethiopian migrants stranded in Somalia to return home, including with reintegration assistance. Those were individuals that had been living in Bosasso in northern Somalia, where it was estimated there were approximately 11,000 Ethiopian migrants, many of them stranded and wishing to return home. In addition to return assistance, upon arrival in Ethiopia IOM also provided a reintegration package that included reintegration grants and, in some cases, advice and counselling on areas such as job training.

Mr. Bloch also announced that IOM had just released its 2009 Niger country profile. Key findings included a persistent lack of data regarding migration and migrants, and that a low level of economic development over the past decade had given rise to more emigration than immigration, with a net migration rate of -0.6. It also highlighted that, according to the 2000 census, about 500,000 Nigerian immigrants (or 3.5 per cent of the population) were living abroad, as compared with 100,000 in 1992. Other findings included that the “brain drain” syndrome was not as bad in Niger as in other West African countries – only 6 per cent of those with higher tertiary education in the country migrated.

Gaëlle Sévenier of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) recalled that the first African Ministerial Conference on Meteorology would begin next week in Nairobi. Marie Heuzé, WMO’s focal point on the ground, and a team of experts would leave for Nairobi tomorrow. Individual interviews could be arranged today before their departure, on request.

Paul Garwood of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that available at the back of the room was a press note on the two events being held at WHO headquarters to celebrate World Health Day, 7 April, including the launch of World Health Day by WHO Director-General Margaret Chan at 11 a.m. and a press conference at 12 p.m. also by the Director-General. All were invited.