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 Population Fund, the World Intellectual Property, the Global Fund, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Food Programme, the United Nations Children's Fund, the International Organization for Migration, the GAVI Alliance and the International Federation of the Red Cross.

Activities of the Secretary-General

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon held its regular press conference in New York yesterday during which he talked about the upcoming Millennium Summit. The French and English summaries of the press conference were available in the back of the room.

The Secretary-General had said that 139 Heads of State and Government were expected to attend the Summit meeting from 20 to 22 September. He also said that the outcome document had already been agreed upon, said Ms. Momal-Vanian. A simple yet crucial message ran through the text: the goals can be achieved. The Millennium Development Goals were difficult and ambitious but doable.

The Secretary-General also announced that during the Summit he would launch a Global Strategy for Women and Children’s Health. No area had more potential in order to reach the Millennium Development Goals had said the Secretary-General. Questioned on how this initiative would be financed he answered that he hoped that the General Assembly would favourably welcome his initiative to invest an additional $ 26 billion in the health sector in 2011, said Ms. Momal-Vanian.

During his press conference, the Secretary-General had also said that he would soon announce his choice of who would lead UN-Women the United Nations entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women, said Ms. Momal-Vanian.

In parallel to the upcoming Millennium Summit, several High-Level meetings would take place at Headquarters, including on the Middle East, Haiti, Myanmar, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, and disarmament, said Ms. Momal-Vanian. Next week the Secretary-General would organize a High-Level Meeting aimed at revitalizing the work of the Conference on Disarmament, the world’s single multilateral disarmament negotiating forum.

Conference on Disarmament

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the Conference on Disarmament was holding this morning a public plenary to discuss its Annual Report to the General Assembly.

Committee on the Rights of the Child

The Committee on the Rights of the Child had opened yesterday a three week-long session and was considering today the reports of Guatemala and Angola. Tomorrow it would take up the reports of Spain and Sierra Leone. On Thursday it would consider the reports of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Burundi, said Ms. Momal-Vanian.

Stand Up Against Poverty Soccer Match

Ms Momal-Vanian further mentioned that the United Nations Information Service was organizing, together with the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace, Mandat International and the Geneva Welcome Center, a friendly soccer match to mark the International Day of Peace, the start of the International Year of Youth and the “Stand Up Against Poverty” campaign.

The match would take place on Friday, 17 September from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. at the Stade de Varembé (Rue de Vermont, 33). A team composed of diplomats from Permanent Missions in Geneva and staff members of United Nations agencies in Geneva would play against a team of local high-school students, said Ms. Momal-Vanian. The aims of this initiative was to promote the activities of the Organization for peace and development, reach out to the Geneva public, particularly young people, and encourage them to engage in individual or collective action in these fields. Before the match, Sergei Ordzhonikidze, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, and Cecile Molinier, Director of the UNDP European Office at Geneva would deliver remarks. Ms. Sandrine Salerno, Mayor of the City of Geneva, would also address the teams.

Geneva Lecture Series

Ms. Momal-Vanian said the fifth of the Geneva Lecture Series would take place on Thursday, 16 September 2010 from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Assembly Hall at the Palais des Nations. This fifth lecture would be delivered by Carlos Fuentes, award-winning Mexican writer, and Ekmeleddin Ýhsanoðlu, renowned Turkish scholar and Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, on the topic “Building bridges: intercultural dialogue, identities and migration”.

Resolution 1325 Events

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that in the context of the tenth anniversary of Resolution 1325 on women and armed conflicts in October of this year, the United Nations Office at Geneva and the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces were organizing a seminar to take a critical look at this landmark Resolution’s implementation and impact, tomorrow in Room XII. Journalists wishing to attend the whole seminar should contact the Information Service.

Anne Wittenberg of the United Nations Population Fund, said that a High-Level Consultation would also take place on the same subject starting tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. until Wednesday. It was being organized by the Belgian Presidency, the Council of the European Union, the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. The outcome document of that meeting would be taken by the European Union to the upcoming consultations on the Resolution that would take place October in New York.

Situation in Pakistan

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that the Revised Appeal would be launched on 17 September in New York.

Meanwhile, the situation on the ground remained critical, said Ms. Byrs. They were now one month into the catastrophe. Large parts of Sindh province were still under water -- 12 per cent according to latest satellite imagery --, with the most recent flooding in the districts of Dadu, where the towns of Dadu and Johi continued to be at risk.

In Balochistan, authorities in the Nasirabad division estimated that there were currently 400,000 flood-displaced persons in this region, of which approximately half had come from Sindh. The persons had organized themselves in spontaneous camps. It was estimated that nearly 40 per cent of the displaced population in the division had yet to be reached with humanitarian assistance, said Ms. Byrs. There were concerns in particular about the extent to which responders were reaching those in need located away from the main road.

Floodwaters in affected districts of Punjab continued to recede, but pools of stagnant water remained, posing major health risks, said Ms. Byrs. Food, shelter, water, sanitation and health continued to be the priority sectors, and there were growing concerns about under-nutrition among children and the availability of essential medicines.

The water and sanitation sector was currently only 35 per cent funded and as of today the Pakistan Floods Emergency Response Plan was 67 per cent funded, said Ms. Byrs.

Paul Garwood of the World Health Organization, updating on the health situation, said that the disease stretch remained a major a concern for the health sector, particularly for water- and vector-borne diseases in flood affected districts, especially in the southern provinces of Sindh and Punjab.

In response, the World Health Organization distributed medicine that could treat more than four million people. Treatment has been provided for 5.3 million people since 29 July. The major health concerns that people had been treated for were acute diarrhoea, acute respiratory infections, skin diseases and suspected malaria, said Mr. Garwood.

Across the country some 1,200 mobile health facilities were working providing treatment to people, as well as around 900 fixed health facilities. Diarrhoea treatment centers which had been established during this crisis were also operational in the affected districts. The Government had also run a campaign with more 1,200 volunteering health workers, which were deployed to affected areas to try to provide for the health needs and to support the healthcare facilities in the affected areas. However, he needs however remained still immense, said Mr. Garwood.

Emilia Casella of the World Food Programme (WFP) said that they were continuing to work on essentially two fronts. The first was to continue distribution for the emergency. It was a constantly shifting picture, especially in the Sindh Province and in areas where a lot of access roads were still blocked. The second front was the preparation for the upcoming winter. WFP was already beginning to preposition food in some areas where they were concerned that people would remain cut-off or be further cut-off during those months. WFP was also working with its partners on agricultural recovery as they were now moving into the planting season.

Marixie Mercado of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that the UNICEF-led water sanitation and hygiene cluster currently provided more than 2.5 million people with clean water everyday. UNICEF was also supporting local health authorities in chlorinating and testing water sources in the flood affected areas. Four water purification plants had been set up and were operational in Punjab. Each of these had the capacity to clean 1,200 litres of water per hour. 2,723 emergency-latrines had been built for around 40,000 people. Hygiene information on personal hygiene and safe water handling had been provided to over 740,000 people.

To help prevent outbreaks of malaria, UNICEF had supported 14,753 fumigation sprays in areas with standing floodwater and had distributed 25,000 insecticide-treated bednets in Baluchistan, said Mr. Mercado. A 120,000 more insecticide-treated bednets were en route, along with 250,000 untreated bednets which UNICEF would treat with the Government of Pakistan. UNICEF estimated that 1 million bednets were needed. Immunization campaigns had been launched in 57 of the 77 flood affected districts. Over 600,000 children had been vaccinated against polio, almost 550,000 against measles, over 39,000 against tuberculosis and over 82,000 had been vaccinated with the Pentavalent vaccine which immunizes children against type B influenza, diphtheria, tetanus and hepatitis B. Over 480,000 had received vitamin A supplements and a 112,000 lactating women had been immunized against tetanus. These activities had been possible due to the help of over 30,000 lady health workers that worked within communities.

Even before the floods, 38 per cent of Pakistani children under five years old had already been moderately or severely underweight. To date, over 83,000 children and pregnant or lactating women had received supplementary food rations or micronutrient supplements. And over 25,000 women and children had been reached with basic but critical information on breastfeeding and safe water use, said Ms. Mercado. More than 30 supplementary feeding programmes and 30 outpatient therapeutic programme services were functional in Khyber Paktunkwa. 153 static and 22 mobile child friendly spaces had been set up reaching more than 34,000 children with educational and recreational support. Over 16,000 had received psychosocial assistance. As of 11 September, 263 children out of 397 that had been unaccompanied or separated from their families had been reunified with their families and efforts were underway to reunite the remaining 134 with their families.

In education, 213 temporary learning centers had been set up with UNICEF’s support, reaching almost 21,000 children. Before the floods, just 54 per cent of girls and 61 per cent of boys of primary school age had been in school. These temporary learning spaces were the first time that many of these children were in a learning environment. UNICEF had also developed 10,000 sets of posters on safety and hygiene for internally displaced persons who were residing in schools.

In terms of funding, as of 11 September, UNICEF had received US$ 104 million out of the US$ 140 million appeal, with almost US$ 22 million in pledges, said Ms. Mercado.

Mr. Garwood, answering a journalist’s question on possible cases of cholera, said that some 57 cases of cholera had been confirmed in sporadic locations. There were no outbreaks as such. All these cases had been responded to with the kind of protocols for treating diarrhoeal diseases cases. There were also many other types of diarrhoeal diseases that had been noticed.

Migration/Mexico

Jared Bloch of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that IOM signed last week a cooperation agreement with Mexico's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) followed by the launch of a mass information campaign in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez.

The agreement between IOM and CNDH and the new information campaign -"No más Trata de Personas", No More Human Trafficking- focused on combating human trafficking, the kidnapping of migrants, and other human rights violations against migrants, by raising awareness, defending and promoting the human rights of all migrants, and providing assistance to the most vulnerable, said Mr. Bloch.

Also, as part of the agreement, research on human trafficking and the kidnapping of migrants would be carried out, with the aim of compiling the necessary data and information needed to combat these crimes, said Mr. Bloch.

According to a 2009 investigation by CNDH, some 10,000 migrants had been victims of kidnapping over a period of six months that year, but estimates had put that number much higher. Most of the kidnapping victims were migrants from Central America, mainly Honduras and Guatemala, said Mr. Bloch. Criminal groups along the route north had adopted kidnapping of migrants as a new way to finance their operations.

The recent mass murder of 72 migrants in San Fernando, Tamaulipas, along the Mexican Northern Border pointed to the dangers that migrants faced, said Mr. Bloch.

The information campaign was part of IOM's regional counter trafficking project funded by the United States State Department Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration and was one of five programmes in the region including in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua, said Mr. Bloch. The States of Chihuahua and Chiapas were places of origin, transit and destination for migrants, many of whom were vulnerable to trafficking.

Immunization Report

Sadia Kaenzig of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said that they were introducing today with their partners of the GAVI Alliance a report entitled “Immunization: unfinished business”. An important side event on this topic would take place during the Millennium Summit in New York. There had been significant interest from major Governments and they were confident that more commitment would be made as the result of this report.

Giving an example of the current challenges, Ms. Kaenzig noted that it would be the biggest failure of our time if the world did not go the last mile towards polio eradication. The tools and the people were available, but not the funding. The report highlighted the importance of continued investments and engagements at community level. They would come back in November with a follow-up on the commitments made at the Summit.

Jeffrey Roland of the GAVI Alliance said that the report was timely because of next week’s Millennium Summit and the side event they would be holding on Monday together with the IFRC. It provided a read-out of where the world stood with immunizations and the opportunities that lied ahead as well as the financial needs required to meet the challenges.

Agenda

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that this afternoon, at 2 p.m. in Press Room I, the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children & Armed Conflict, Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy would present her report to the Human Rights Council on children and armed conflict.

Catarina de Albuquerque, Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe water and sanitation would also hold a press conference tomorrow at 12 p.m. in Press Room I, said Ms. Momal-Vanian.

Samar Shamoon of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) said that on Wednesday, 15 September, WIPO Director General Francis Gurry would be speaking about the launch of the World Intellectual Property Indicators 2010 report in Press Room III. He would also be talking about the upcoming Assemblies which would begin next Monday and which would kick-off with a High-Level Segment to which 72 Ministers planned to participate. Also next week, there would be the Second Symposium of the Intellectual Property Authorities and an event open to the press would take place on Friday at 3 p.m. for the launch of a new public-private partnership between WIPO and private sector companies, which would provide information on advanced tools for analyzing pattern data to developing and least developing countries.

A new report released by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme highlighting progress in protecting the ozone layer would be presented at a press conference on Thursday at 12 p.m. in Press Room III, said Ms. Momal-Vanian. The publication also marked the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer.

Veronique Taveau of the Global Fund, said that on Thursday, 16 September, the Executive Director of the Global Fund, Michel Kazatchkine, would speak about the progress achieved and the challenges that remained, ahead of the Millennium summit in New York. The Summit was quite important for the Global Fund, especially in relation to the health-related Millennium Development Goals. The Summit was also taking place a few days ahead of the Global Fund’s pledging conference on 5 October which would be presided over by the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon.

Catherine Sibut-Pinote of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said that Louka Katseli, Minister for Labour and Social Security of Greece, would participate in the High-Level Segment of the Trade and Development Board, which would open tomorrow. She would try to arrange a press conference with her tomorrow at 9:30 a.m.

Janaina Borges of the World Trade Organization (WTO) said that the World Trade Organization’s Public Forum would start tomorrow. The three day conference, called “The Forces Shaping World Trade”, would start tomorrow at 10 a.m. and the first panel would start at 10:30 a.m. with Dame Billie Miller, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Barbados, Mr. Jeremy Hobbs, Executive Director, Oxfam International, Mr. Festus Mogaes, former President of Botswana, Mr. Ravi Kant, Vice-Chairman of Tata Motors. This first panel would focus on how to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Ms. Borges also noted that this Sunday the WTO would hold its second Open Day. There would be a couple of debates, an international buffet and activities for children. WTO would also be hosting an installation over the next weeks by Alex Flemming. It would be unveiled today at 6:30 p.m.

Ms. Borges further said that the open hearings for the COOL dispute between Mexico and Canada against the United States were taking place today at the Centre International de Conference de Geneve and the meeting was public.

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said that they would send out this afternoon a report presenting the figures of maternal mortality between 1990 and 2008. Tomorrow between 12:30 and 14 p.m. a Seminar held by the Word Bank, the United Nations Children's Fund, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Population Fund would take place in Room D on the subject and the press was welcome to attend.