REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Corinne Momal-Vanian, the Director of the UN Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for the World Meteorological Organization, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the International Organization for Migration, the World Health Organization, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Sudan

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that the situation in Abyei town continued to be volatile, with sporadic shooting and looting reported. In a statement issued yesterday, the UN Country Team in Sudan expressed concern at the looting of 800 tons of food and medical equipment. This food would have fed 50,000 people over a period of three months.

The situation in Agok town remained tense and the inter-agency assessment teams had identified food, water, sanitation and hygiene needs in the areas of displacement. While the humanitarian presence had been reduced due to insecurity, an OCHA team had visited Agok yesterday.

Humanitarian agencies were stepping up their efforts with a humanitarian hub in Wunrok. A radio station had also been established there to provide 24/7 information to the displaced population, estimated at between 30,000 and 40,000. It was now urgent to reach the people who had fled into the bushes with no belongings whatsoever, among them the elderly, children and women.

Jumbe Omari Jumbe of the International Organization for Migration said that IOM was delivering emergency aid to thousands of people who had fled the conflict in the disputed Abyei region between north and south Sudan. As the security situation in the area continued to be volatile, IOM was providing trucks, essential non-food relief items, fuel and medicines to support humanitarian operations. Reports suggested that thousands of internally displaced persons had poured into Southern Sudan’s Warrap, Unity and Northern Bahr El Ghazal states. Many were in need of food and water and, with the recent heavy rains, may be vulnerable to water-borne diseases and respiratory tract infections. IOM had registered four truckloads of internally displaced persons who had arrived in Turalei in Warrap State on 25 May. A further 1,000 internally displaced persons had arrived on 26 May in Wunrok, south of Turalei, and had been met by an IOM team.

IOM had registered some 6,500 internally displaced persons until yesterday and had provided transport for 138 internally displaced persons who were walking towards Gogrial West, south west of Wunrok. An IOM mobile clinic had been put on standby in Wau to provide help if requested by other humanitarian organisations in the area. IOM had also made $1 million from its US-funded Sudan Rapid Response Fund available to local and international NGOs responding to the Abyei crisis. IOM was also distributing 1,000 kits containing non-food relief items, including plastic sheeting, jerry cans, mosquito nets, soap, blankets, sleeping mats and cooking utensils in Mayen Abun, and Turalei in Warrap State. It was also helping to construct emergency latrines.

It was also planning for longer term assistance, which would include providing trucks to humanitarian organisations, coordinating the distribution of non-food relief items, procuring equipment to treat and distribute clean water, and organising the return of internally displaced persons back to Abyei, once the crisis was over.

Tarik Jasarevic of the World Health Organization said that the Abyie hospital was currently not functioning and the Ministry of Health staff had been relocated to Agok. The Ministry of Health and WHO had conducted a one-day mission to Muglad hospital and had found medical records saying there had been 71 admissions with injuries there. Doctors without Borders Switzerland had confirmed treating a total of 50 patients with 1 death since 19 May. Immediate surgical services had initially been provided in Agok and were currently being provided in Turalei and Gogrial.

The immediate needs of the displaced people were shelter, food, water and sanitation. With the influx of a displaced population seeking shelter in the villages neighbouring Abyei, the existing primary health care services were expected to be overstretched. It was expected that morbidity and mortality in children would be due to acute respiratory infections, diarrhea, malnutrition and malaria. The onset of the rainy season and population movements were together likely to lead to an increase in such cases.

A health cluster coordination meeting had been conducted yesterday in Kuajok, Warrap State. An inventory of most of the available stocks and resources had been updated and the organizations providing health services had been mapped. A health cluster coordination meeting would relocate to Wunrock since most of the health partners were now based there.

WHO had prepositioned emergency supplies in Warrap, Wau and Northern Bahergazel, and buffer stocks were available in its Juba warehouse. Additional supplies such as diarrheal disease kits and assorted emergency supplies were in the pipeline. WHO was supporting the Ministry of Health with 3 medical doctors, medical supplies and operational costs for Muglad Hospital. With this support, the hospital was now functioning 24/7. WHO had 19 rapid response kits, 4 diarrheal disease kits, 3 trauma kits and 2 trauma running bags available in 17 hospitals and primary healthcare centers in South Kordofan and Abyei to meet the needs of thousands of people.

Doctors without Borders Switzerland and GOAL were service providers in the area and a surgical team of the International Committee of the Red Cross would be in the country by end of the week. World Vision International would deploy a mobile clinic in the event that the displaced population increased and Doctors without Borders Belgium also had a surgical capacity. UNFPA and UNICEF had also prepositioned emergency supplies.

Libya/Tunisia

Melissa Fleming of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said that this week had seen serious disruption at the Choucha camp near the Tunisia-Libya border where around 4,000 migrant workers and refugees from the conflict in Libya were accommodated pending humanitarian evacuation to their countries of origin or other solutions. Four Eritreans had died in a fire in the Eritrean block of the camp on Sunday night as residents were sleeping. The problems had continued on Monday when a large group of migrant workers had surrounded UNHCR’s office at the camp, seeking immediate resettlement. UNHCR staff and other humanitarian workers had received death threats and were forced to withdraw.

Some of the demonstrators then blocked the main highway between the Ras Ajdir border point and the rest of Tunisia, prompting anger among the local Tunisian community. Early on Tuesday morning violence had erupted among various groups in the camp and at least two deaths had been reported. Despite the efforts of the Tunisian military to prevent clashes, the situation had deteriorated further as some 500 local Tunisians had descended on the camp. In the chaos more tents had been looted and burned. Many camp residents had fled to the surrounding desert. Order had been restored by the Tunisian authorities by Tuesday evening, but for a full day assistance to the camp had been impossible.

On Wednesday morning, a small inter-agency team led by UNHCR arrived to find that two thirds of the camp had been destroyed or looted. In coordination with UNHCR, the Tunisian army distributed mattresses, blankets and food to camp residents, who had lost most if not all of
their belongings, said Ms. Fleming.

Mr. Jasarevic said that the health situation in Misrata remained critical despite the decrease in fighting over the last week. Medical records had been affected during the conflict and no reliable information on casualties could be obtained. However, an average of 12 deaths and 70 injuries were believed to occur daily across six existing hospitals in Misurata throughout the conflict. These numbers started to decrease one week ago.

There was a shortage of specialized nursing staff, most notably in the areas of operating theaters, intensive care units, midwives and dialysis nurses. Doctors specializing in areas such as nephrology, neurology, psychiatry, oncology, cardiac pediatric and maxillofacial surgery were also needed. Many specialized doctors working in emergency units, who had worked for more than 80 days almost around the clock, now suffered from exhaustion. In addition, they had not received salaries since the beginning of the conflict. Medical items such as chemotherapy drugs, anti-tetanus, anti-toxoid and most children's vaccines had reached critical levels of shortage. Antibiotics were also needed and a shortage may result in cases of resistant infections in intensive care units.

At the end of the assessment mission fifty patients had been evacuated, including some war-wounded, six patients requiring intensive care, three children and two women. Health partners were now preparing a detailed list of the supplies required to continue supporting health facilities in Misrata. The community had begun rebuilding the polyclinic and local cancer institute, both severely hit during the conflict. Since the beginning of the crisis in Misrata, WHO had provided medical supplies and had assisted wounded evacuees by setting up logistics support systems to ensure the provision of medical supplies to all health facilities receiving evacuees.

Yemen

Rupert Colville of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said that the dangerous escalation of violence in Yemen over the past few days was extremely alarming, especially given that the Government and opposition had been so close to an agreement. OHCHR had received reports of dozens of civilian casualties, including women and children, in the fighting over the past few days and was working to confirm this information. There were also reports of shelling by Government troops in residential areas. OHCHR was deeply concerned that such violence may be pushing the country to the brink of a civil war. It called on the Government to stop the excessive and disproportionate use of force, to stop targeting activists, human rights defenders and journalists, and to seriously investigate all allegations of crimes committed by security forces.

As OHCHR had mentioned before, the Government had extended an invitation to OHCHR to conduct a mission at the end of June, but the Office was seeking access earlier than that. It was in discussions with the Government on the terms of reference of the mission.

Syria

Mr. Colville said that OHCHR had still not received a response from Damascus to its official request for access sent on 6 May, but remained in dialogue with the Syrian Permanent Mission in Geneva. It had sent a second official letter on 20 May informing the Government of the composition of the mission, including the fact that it would be headed by the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Kyung-wha Kang. OHCHR had also informed of its intention to first visit neighbouring countries as well, and that it planned to begin the mission to Syria itself on 6 June.

Meanwhile, OHCHR remained deeply concerned about the situation on the ground. Reports kept coming in of excessive use of force against demonstrators, and OHCHR had seen videos of beatings and sniping in the streets, reports of a campaign of detention of opposition and human rights activists, and incidents of torture and ill-treatment of those detained. There were also allegations of killings by armed groups sponsored either by alleged external forces, or by operatives close to the regime. There was much conflicting information and OHCHR urged the Government to grant it early access into the country to help clarify the issues.

Bahrain

Mr. Colville said that the Government of Bahrain had agreed in principle for OHCHR to deploy an assessment mission to the country. OHCHR had been seeking access into Bahrain for quite some time, precisely so that it could assess the situation independently. As it prepared for this mission, OHCHR continued to receive reports about ongoing dismissals of people from their jobs, as well as trials of individuals for their political views and for participating in the demonstrations earlier this year. According to NGO reports, the total number of detainees stood at more than 1,000, including 40 women, as of 18 May. Some 59 people, including one woman, remained unaccounted for. OHCHR hoped to be able to further investigate these reports once its delegation was in the country.

Haiti

Responding to a question, Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said data from the surveillance system of the Ministry of Health and the MSPP/PAHO Alerts & Response system suggested there was an increase of cholera cases in Haiti’s Ouest department which may affect the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area.

Given the early detection of alerts, a prompt response was underway. Partners active in the Ouest department included the Ministry of Health, the Canadian and French Red Cross, the International Medical Corps, Médecins du Monde-Canada, MERLIN, Doctors without Borders France, Save the Children and UNICEF.

The current rise in cases was a reminder that the guard could not be let down. Haiti would be facing cholera for years unless water and sanitation issues were properly fixed. New case numbers on cholera in Haiti’s Ouest department may become available on Tuesday, according to PAHO.

UNHCR repatriates stranded Liberian refugees from Côte d'Ivoire

Ms. Fleming said that UNHCR had this week resumed the repatriation of Liberian refugees who had been stranded at its Abidjan office compound during the post-election crisis in Côte d'Ivoire. These refugees had sought refuge at the UNHCR office in December, when they were being targeted amid allegations that Liberian mercenaries were fighting for ex-president Laurent Gbagbo in western Côte d’Ivoire. Most of this week’s returnees were heading home for the first time in nearly 20 years.

Organized returns start for displaced Chadians in east

Ms. Fleming said that UNHCR has started helping internally displaced people in eastern Chad return to their villages amid improved security in the region. Since Saturday, UNHCR had organised return convoys carrying over 500 passengers. The movements were taking place within eastern Chad’s Dar Sila and Assoungha regions that border the West Darfur region of Sudan.

IOM Film Highlights Dangers of Irregular Migration from Egypt to Italy for Unaccompanied Minors

Jumbe Omari Jumbe said that an IOM film aimed at raising awareness of the dangers of irregular migration among Egyptian minors hoping to get to Italy and to propose alternatives would be shown on 30 May in Cairo as part of efforts to promote regular migration from Egypt. The irregular migration of unaccompanied minors from Egypt to Italy had reached worrying levels in recent years and was emerging as a new social phenomenon.

The film, "The Road to Atalia", would be premiered before an audience of 100 people from public and private sectors, as well as international organizations, government ministers and the diplomatic community. It was part of an IOM programme funded by the Italian government aimed at promoting regular migration and positive alternatives through education and training in Fayoum Governorate. Fayoum ranked the lowest on the human development index in Egypt.

New IOM Office in Chiapas State Will Focus on Migration Across Mexico's Southern Border

Mr. Omari Jumbe said that a new IOM office in the city of Tuxtla Gutiérrez in Chiapas State would allow IOM to strengthen its working relationship with local government and organizations and to help vulnerable, newly arrived migrants. It would also provide direct assistance to migrants, including medical and psychological support, temporary accommodation, assistance in obtaining documentation and information about integration opportunities.

Once migrants entered Mexico through Chiapas, the more than 3,000 kilometer journey to the northern border was fraught with dangers, especially for unaccompanied minors and women.

WMO

Clare Nullis of the World Meteorological Organization said that the WMO Congress was heading into its third week. WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud had been reappointed on Tuesday and David Grimes of Canada had been elected President on Wednesday for a four-year term of office.

The proposed Global Framework for Climate Services would be discussed in plenary next week. Once approved, WMO would hold a press conference.

Interview requests regarding extreme weather events around the world could be directed to Clare Nullis.

There would be a side event with the Administrator of the Chinese Meteorological Administration on multi-hazard warning systems at 12.30 p.m. today.

Secretary-General’s participation in G8 Summit in Deauville

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had arrived in Deauville, France, yesterday to take part in the G-8 summit, during which he would participate in working sessions and meet several heads of State. Today, Mr. Ban would address a session on regional crises in Africa (notably Côte d'Ivoire, Somalia and Sudan).

Human Rights Council and Committees

Ms. Momal-Vanian said the Committee on the Rights of the Child was this morning opening a three-week session during which it would examine the reports of Bahrain, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Egypt, Finland and the Czech Republic. A background release had been distributed yesterday.

The Committee against Torture was holding a public meeting today to discuss the organisation of its work, in particular with regards to future sessions. The current session would end on Friday, 3 June. Until then, the Committee would hold closed meetings to adopt its concluding observations.

Cédric Sapey, the press focal point for the 17th session of the Human Rights Council (30 May to 17 June), would be available again as of next Monday.

Press Conferences

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that Armando Peruga, Programme Manager at the WHO Tobacco Free Initiative, and Haik Nikogosian, the Head of the Convention Secretariat, would give a press conference on World No Tobacco Day today at 12 p.m. Press Room I.

On Monday 30 May, ILO Deputy Director-General Guy Ryder would present the programme and points of discussion of the 100th International Labour Conference (1-17 June) at a press conference at 3 p.m. in Press Room 1. Journalist badges could be received from François Richer in Office C. 323 (until start of conference) or from the ILO media centre at Hall 13-15 (after 1 June).

UNAMID, UNEP and UNICEF would give a press conference on water and sustainable peace in the Darfur region on Tuesday, 31 May at 9.30 a.m. in Room III.

Other

Ms. Momal-Vanian invited correspondents to the commemoration of the International Day of UN Peacekeepers on Monday 30 May, organised jointly by UNOG and the International Association of Soldiers for Peace. The ceremony would start with flag-raising and wreath-laying ceremonies (UN Memorial, Ariana Park, 3 p.m.) and be followed by a round-table discussion with high-level speakers on “The Rule of Law” (Room XXVI, 4 p.m.).

The Conference on Disarmament would reconvene in public on Wednesday, 1 June at 10 a.m. under the presidency of Colombia.