REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Alessandra Vellucci, the Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the UN Information Service, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for the World Meteorological Organization, the UN Children's Fund, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the International Organization for Migration, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Health Organization.

Tunisia

Jumbe Omari Jumbe of the International Organization for Migration said that IOM had began the screening of a first group of 193 migrants, mostly Sub-Saharan Africans, rescued on Wednesday by the Tunisian navy and local fishermen after the overcrowded boat they were in ran aground in a sand bar near Tunisia's Kerkennah Islands.

Tunisian authorities had reported that some 800 people were believed to be on board the overcrowded fishing vessel bound for the Italian island of Lampedusa. Many were still missing.

An initial military registration established that many of the 193 transported Thursday by the Tunisian military from the port city of Sfax to the Choucha transit camp near the Tunisian-Libyan border were women and children, including a number of very young children and infants.

Survivors said there had been a scuffle on the boat among the migrants, and that had probably led to the accident. The migrants were at sea for a couple of days before they had been rescued. IOM was grateful that the Tunisian authorities reacted quickly, thus saving the lives of at least 600 people.

Adrian Edwards of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said that UNHCR’s team in Tunisia had spoken to some of the survivors who said that the boat was manned by people with little or no maritime experience. It ran into difficulties soon after departure and experienced problems with
its steering and power.

The boat ultimately ran aground on Wednesday on a sandbank near the Kerkennah islands, some 300 kilometres north-west of Tripoli. It capsized as desperate passengers rushed to one side, seeking rescue by the Tunisian coast guard and fishing boats that had approached the vessel. Many fell into the water. Women and children are among the missing.

Libya

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the inter-agency mission, in which participated IOM, OCHA, UNHCR, UNICEF, WHO and WFP, continued to assess humanitarian needs in and around the Libyan capital. The team had traveled east of Tripoli to Khums and Zlitan and had confirmed the displacement of 49,000 people who were now in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. The first UN inter-agency mission to Misrata arrived on 1 June, after setting sail from Benghazi on 31 May. The team had spent 1 and 2 June conducting assessments in the city.

Ms. Byrs said currently the chief concern was the situation in the Nafusa Mountains in Western Libya, where it remained challenging to understand the needs given the security situation in the area.

The revised regional flash appeal was 46 per cent funded, with only US$185 million of the US$407 received.

Mr. Edwards said that yesterday’s forced return of a Libyan national, Eman Al Obeidi, by Qatar to Libya violated international law. Ms. Al Obeidi had been recognised as a refugee by UNHCR. UNHCR had been present at the hotel where Ms. Al Obeidi was staying in Qatar, ready to accompany her to the airport to travel to an emergency transit centre in Romania. She had been prevented from leaving for this flight in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Ms. Al Obeidi had been transported against her will to Benghazi on a flight by Qatar early Thursday. UNHCR was seeking to meet with Ms. Al Obeidi and her family this morning in Benghazi. Every effort would be made to ensure that their best interests were respected.

IOM Rescues Migrants Stranded in Chadian Desert

Jumbe Omari Jumbe said that the IOM rescue mission, which had departed Faya early this week following reports that 67 migrants fleeing Libya were stranded on the road to Zouraké with a broken down truck and no water, had successfully returned to Faya with the group.

According to IOM Operations Officer Craig Murphy, 21 women and children had been put on a passing truck and the remaining 46 migrants had travelled the 296 kilometers to Faya on the IOM truck.

Without the intervention of IOM the situation would have been very bad and there would probably have been casualties, said Mr. Omari Jumbe.

Yemen

Mr. Edwards said that UNHCR was alarmed by the deteriorating situation in Yemen. Among victims were two Somali refugees who had been killed in clashes last week between armed tribesmen and security forces near the capital Sana’a.

The two refugees were a 14-year-old boy and a young woman who had fled the violence in Somalia to seek refuge in Yemen. Dozens of refugee families had fled the al-Hasaba area near Sana’a. UNHCR and its partners were encouraging them to move in with relatives and friends until the situation calms.

So far UNHCR had provided 150 refugee families with emergency funds to relocate, as well as water and relief supplies. For those with no support network, UNHCR was exploring other shelter possibilities.

UNHCR was also seeing Yemeni families fleeing in the South and renewed displacement to the North.

The violence was also affecting internally displaced people from a previous conflict in Sa’ada in the North. More than 80 of these families of internally displaced persons had fled the fighting in al-Hasaba and returned to Sa’ada city and the surrounding areas. So far, UNHCR had managed to locate 43 families of internally displaced persons and was providing aid in the form of shelter and other basic supplies.

Meanwhile in the south of Yemen, ongoing clashes between government forces and gunmen in Abyan governorate had displaced an estimated 20,000 people. Hundreds of families had fled the city of Zunjubar to the surrounding areas. UNHCR, its partners and local authorities were also helping 517 families hosted in seven schools in Aden city. The majority of internally displaced persons were being hosted in small villages. Aid agencies were working with the local authorities to assess the situation and provide assistance.

Australia

Mr. Edwards said that in Australia, Immigration Minister Chris Bowen was quoted in an ABC interview last night as saying Australia planned to go ahead with returns of unaccompanied minors to Malaysia under a wider bilateral agreement between the two countries on handling asylum cases.

While a draft Memorandum of Understanding between Malaysia and Australia had been shared with UNHCR, last night’s announcement was not something that UNHCR had been informed about in advance.

UNHCR was not able to lend its support to the text as it currently stood because of the absence of the operating protection safeguards UNHCR had been calling for.

UNHCR had always stipulated that one of its specific requirements with regard to the transfers was that protection safeguards be in place to protect vulnerable groups, especially unaccompanied children, said Mr. Edwards.

E. Coli

Fadéla Chaib of the World Health Organization said she was trying to set up a press briefing with an E. Coli expert for today. (It was later announced that the briefing would take place at 2.30 p.m.)

Responding to a question, Ms. Chaib said the strain of E. Coli isolated from cases from the infection outbreak in Germany was a rare one. It has been seen in humans before, but never in an outbreak. Although laboratory and epidemiologic investigations were currently being carried out in several countries, the source of the infection was yet to be found.

New WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS

Ms. Chaib said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan today appointed Chinese singer and health activist Peng Liyuan as Goodwill Ambassador for Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.

Lunch briefing ahead of immunisation pledging conference in London

Marixie Mercado of the United Nations Children's Fund, making an announcement on behalf of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation, invited journalists to a lunch briefing on Monday, 6 June. Speakers at the briefing would include the Communication chiefs of UNICEF, WHO and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation.

This was ahead of the 13 June Pledging Conference in London that aimed to raise an additional US$ 3.7 billion to fund immunisations for almost a quarter of a billion children.

The heads of UNICEF, WHO, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation would be at the Pledging Conference, along with other major players and pharmaceutical companies.

A media advisory was at the back of the room.

WMO Agenda

Clare Nullis of the World Meteorological Organization said WMO planned a press conference with its newly elected President David Grimes and WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud next week (time and date to be confirmed).

The WMO Congress was finishing its three-week quadrennial session today. Many decisions and resolutions had been passed yesterday to strengthen WMO activities in priority areas, including more coordinated disaster risk reduction and more efficient meteorological services for the aviation sector. Other priorities included improved observing systems and capacity development for vulnerable countries. Consultations on the proposed Global Framework for Climate Services were continuing today and WMO would issue a press release once they were completed.

Other

Ms. Vellucci said that the Committee against Torture would conclude its session today and might make public its concluding observation on the eight countries examined since 9 May (Slovenia, Kuwait, Ghana, Turkmenistan, Finland, Mauritius, Monaco and Ireland).

The Committee on the Rights of the Child was examining the report of Cambodia today before reviewing the reports submitted by Egypt, Cuba, Finland and Costa Rica next week.

The Conference on Disarmament, presided over by Colombia since this week, would reconvene in public on Thursday, 9 June at 10 a.m.

Ms. Vellucci said that ILO would launch the annual report on the situation of workers of the occupied Arab territories at noon in Press Room 1. At 1.30 p.m. in Room III would follow a press conference with the Minister of Social Development and acting Minister of Health of Bahrain, who would speak about the impact of recent events on children in Bahrain. Frank La Rue, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, would also address the press to present his report on the internet and the right to freedom of opinion and expression, at a press conference at 3 p.m. in Press Room 1.

Ms. Vellucci said the opening remarks delivered by UNOG Director-General Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on 1 June at the 100th International Labour Conference were available on the UNOG website.

Journalists were invited to the vernissage of an exhibition of Russian books on the occasion of UN Russian Language Day. The event, which would feature traditional music and a speech by Mr. Tokayev, would be held on Monday, 6 June at 1 p.m. in Hall 20.

Journalists were also invited to the exhibition "The Recycling Labyrinth" on 6 June 2011 at 6:00 p.m. organized by UNOG and the US Permanent Mission at the Palais des Nations.