REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Alessandra Vellucci, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Information Service, chaired the briefing, which was also attended by Spokespersons for and Representatives of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Food Programme, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the Human Rights Council, the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, the World Trade Organization, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration.

Situation in the Horn of Africa

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that operations must continue to be stepped up as the Horn of Africa -- and notably Somalia -- would be in need of humanitarian assistance and lives must be saved in the coming months. Operations would indeed continue for months to come, given that the situation would not improve before the next rainy season in October. There were 2.8 million people in need of immediate life-saving assistance in southern Somalia, including an estimated 450,000 famine-affected people, and child mortality rates had reached alarming rates in Ethiopia. This underlined the need for urgent action. OCHA thanked donors and asked them to continue their efforts for the Horn of Africa and the drought in Somalia, as $ 1.1 billion of the requested $ 2.4 billion Horn of Africa appeal were yet to be received (appeal 55 per cent funded). A note was at the back of the room.

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme (WFP) said that WFP was launching a series of additional programmes to aid malnourished children. The organization was boosting nutritional support for 90,000 children in the Dadaab refugee camp with a supplementary feeding programme for children under five, which had started this week. WFP was also to begin distributing food tomorrow in six Kenyan districts to boost nutrition in children below three years of age. As a safety net, the WFP, working with the Ministry of Education and UNICEF, was providing school meals to 587,000 Kenyan children in the worst-hit areas during the August school holidays, as the government had requested that schools remain open.

Tarik Jasarevic of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that 1,019 suspected measles cases and 31 related deaths had been reported in South and Central Somalia in July 2011 alone, representing almost 20 per cent of all reported cases for this year. Since January 2011, 5,176 suspected measles cases had been reported in South and Central Somalia. The number of suspected measles cases was several times higher than during the same period in 2009 or 2010.

The major factors for a measles outbreak in Somalia were low coverage, malnutrition, population movements, and overcrowded camps for internally displaced persons. WHO feared that the measles outbreak could affect a high number of people, especially among the vulnerable internally displaced persons whose overall health was already fragile.

Measles could be prevented by vaccination. The routine immunization coverage against measles in Somalia was 29 per cent. As a response to the suspected measles outbreak, WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund, as well as health partners and authorities, had started an emergency vaccination campaign in all accessible areas of South and Central Somalia. About 2.5 million children aged between 6 and 15 years in 10 regions of South and Central Somalia, including 745,000 children in Mogadishu, would be targeted during this campaign.

Since the beginning of the year, 4,686 acute watery diarrhea cases and 192 related deaths had been reported from Banadir Hospital in Mogadishu. Seventy-five per cent of these cases were reported among children under five, said Mr. Jasarevic. He added that an additional 200 diarrheal disease kits, each able to treat 100 severe cases and 400 moderate cases, were being procured by WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund and should be in Southern Somalia in the next few weeks.

Marixie Mercado of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said the data on cholera and measles made it clear that what was happening in Somalia was more than a food crisis - it was a crisis for child survival. A healthy child would survive a bout of diarrhea, but severe malnutrition and cholera or measles could be a lethal combination for children. UNICEF’s ultimate target was to vaccinate 2.5 million children between six months and 15 years against measles. UNICEF had dispatched 700,000 doses of measles vaccines to Mogadishu for the campaign, which was starting today.

Vaccination campaigns had already taken place in camps for internally displaced persons in Mogadishu and Gedo and had already reached over 150,000 children. A measles campaign at the Dadaab camp, Kenya, had reached some 70,000 children, and UNICEF had supplied 170,000 measles vaccines for campaigns in the Dolo Ado camp in Ethiopia.

Safe water, sanitation and hygiene were also critical to the response, Ms. Mercado went on to say. In Mogadishu, UNICEF and its partners were providing clean water for over half a million people, as well as distributing water purification tablets and providing household water treatment supplies in the districts worst affected by cholera. As the malaria season was coming up with the rainy season in October, UNICEF was also working to distribute insecticide-treated bed nets and to ensure that treatment and diagnostics were available in the affected areas. Furthermore, the organization was already drawing up plans for spraying in all areas with internally displaced persons, said Ms. Mercado.

The Consolidated Appeal for Somalia called for $ 80 million for the health sector and $ 78 million for the water, sanitation and hygiene sector. But so far the health sector was only about 30 per cent funded, and the water and sanitation sector only about 37 per cent.

Andrej Mahecic of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that the mass distribution of UNHCR aid was continuing in Southern and Central Somalia, reaching some 30,000 people this week alone. Since early July UNHCR had assisted some 180,000 people. It was planning to reach another 180,000 internally displaced Somalis before the end of August. Despite the withdrawal of Al-Shabaab from many parts of Mogadishu almost two weeks ago, the security situation was still difficult and the humanitarian workers were facing many restrictions on movement. Nonetheless, UNHCR had been able to hold a number of meetings and distributions in the capital.

In Ethiopia, a large-scale effort had meanwhile been underway to address the high mortality rates among new arrivals from Somalia. Malnutrition remained the leading cause of death but the situation was being compounded by suspected measles and other diseases. UNHCR was expanding existing nutritional programmes to older children and was rushing to open a dedicated stabilization centre for severely acute malnourished children in Kobe camp, which had been experiencing the highest mortality rates. Virtually all of its 25,000 residents had crossed into Ethiopia over the past ten weeks.

The measles vaccination in Kobe camp finished this week and the second programme had started yesterday in Melkadida camp, the largest Somali camp in the Dollo Ado area. Across the four camps at Dollo Ado, UNHCR had so far identified 166 cases of suspected measles and 15 related deaths. The children in Melkadida would be vaccinated against measles and polio, and screened for malnutrition. Efforts were being stepped up to bring services closer to the refugees and to encourage parents to continue to take children for treatment after the first visit. UNHCR was also working on improving sanitation and hygiene and on increasing the quantity and quality of water delivered to the camps. Refugee leaders and community outreach workers had been engaged to deliver three key messages to refugees: hand washing, use of latrines and referral of sick children to the health centres.

In Kenya, UNHCR had begun populating yesterday the Ifo2 part of the Ifo Extension. The first 259 Somali refugees had been moved there yesterday afternoon. In the meantime, movements to the Ifo3 part were also continuing, and 18,000 refugees had been moved there so far.

In Djibouti, more than 3,500 Somalis had arrived so far this year. An existing camp called Ali Addeh was already overcrowded and UNHCR was working with the authorities on opening a new site.

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that IOM had launched its $ 26.6 million appeal for the Horn of Africa about two weeks ago but, unfortunately, had only received $ 1.5 million from the United States this week. IOM was urgently asking donors to step up strongly on this appeal.

There was much discussion around subjects such as food, shelter and medical care. But a large part of the work also consisted of taking people from overcrowded transit centres to refugee camps, where better facilities and life-saving assistance were available. To lessen their risk of disease it was important that people did not stay in overcrowded centres but were taken elsewhere.

On Thursday, in support of the United Nations Refugee Agency, IOM had relocated the first 259 of 30,000 Somalis from the outskirts of Dadaab to Ifo extension 2. That transport system was critical, and IOM urgently asked donors to fund that assistance. However, it was not only about relocating refugees but also about reunifying families who had been separated during the journey from Somalia to Kenya or Ethiopia.

Large Number of Migrants in Tripoli in Need of Evacuation

Ms. Pandya said that IOM was working to evacuate the growing number of migrants in need of help in the Libyan capital, Tripoli. The organization had received several requests to evacuate foreign nationals in Tripoli who were increasingly vulnerable and now wanted to leave. Large numbers of Egyptian migrants were still believed to be in Tripoli and in the western part of Libya, with many other nationalities still present in the capital. Exact numbers of the total migrant population in the capital area were unknown.

As IOM actively prepared a foreign national evacuation plan taking into account the highly complex logistical, political and security challenges, the organization would soon be in need of significant new funds to carry out this urgent humanitarian operation. A rapid response was critical to ensuring that, in the small window of opportunity it had to get people out of Tripoli, IOM was not constrained by funding issues. In addition to the many thousands of stranded migrants IOM had assisted elsewhere in Libya since the start of the crisis in late February, IOM had evacuated more than 10,000 migrants by road from Tripoli to the Tunisian border point at Ras Adjir. That evacuation route had eventually to be abandoned due to increased fighting between rebel and government forces.

As logistics for this special operation from Tripoli were being put into place, the organization was continuing to evacuate migrants elsewhere. Today, another IOM-chartered ship would be leaving the eastern Libyan town of Benghazi for Misrata on a mission to evacuate migrants, mainly from northern African. It was the first of two rotations to take place between now and mid-next week.

Killing and disappearance of journalists in Pakistan

Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said that OHCHR had received numerous reports of abductions, disappearances and extrajudicial killings in Pakistan since 2007. In the past eight days alone, the office had received reports on the killing of one journalist, Munir Shakir, in Baluchistan on 14 August, and the disappearance of another journalist, Rehmatullah Darpakhel, three days earlier in North Waziristan on 11 August.

In March, the High Commissioner for Human Rights had spoken out about the escalating trend of journalists, human rights defenders and political activists in Baluchistan who were disappearing or being killed.

OHCHR was very concerned that such incidents were not abating. It called on all responsible parties to immediately stop such violations of human rights, and urged the Government to take immediate steps to independently investigate these cases.

Responding to a question by a journalist, Mr. Colville said that Pakistan was one of the most dangerous places, if not the most dangerous place, for journalists. At least 16 journalists had been killed in 2010 and, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 9 had been killed in Pakistan so far in 2011. None of the cases had been fully or satisfactorily investigated.

In Baluchistan alone there had been disturbing reports that 25 people -- a mix of journalists, writers, students and human rights defenders -- had been extrajudicially killed within the first four months of 2011. One of the main sources of information was the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, a highly respected National Human Rights Institution. The institution had produced a report in June 2011 which revealed a total of 143 cases of disappearances, including those of journalists, up to May. The same report indicated that 141 people, including journalists, had been found dead in Baluchistan between July 2010 and May 2011.

Update on sixty-first CITES Standing Committee meeting

Juan Vasquez, of the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), said that the CITES Standing Committee was closing its sixty-first session today. A press conference would be held today at 1 p.m. in Room 19 of the CICG.

David Morgan, the Chief of the Scientific Support Unit, said that CITES had a role to play in the International Decade of United Nations Biodiversity because international trade in wildlife was one of the significant threats to biodiversity around the world. This week had been an encouraging one for CITES. The 175 CITES parties were taking their responsibility seriously. They did not hesitate to criticize each other, they asked difficult questions and were making progress on improving the application of the convention so that international trading in wildlife was conducted at sustainable levels.
A number of examples had been seen this week where parties had asked difficult questions and had been called to account before their peers in the Standing Committee. This particularly applied to country legislation for implementing the convention; if their laws were not satisfactory, parties were called to account. Action had also been seen on elephants. Illegal international trading in elephants and rhinoceroses was unfortunately continuing, and in some cases accelerating. Parties who were involved in that trade, who had been victims of criminals engaging in such activities, had been asked to take action to address this issue before it got out of hand.

The Standing Committee had this week launched an inquiry into trading in snakes, which were used extensively for their skins in the luxury leather industry in Europe, North America and Japan, and for their meat in parts of Asia. This was now posing a considerable burden on the conservation of snakes.

Tortoises and turtles had also been consumed in enormous quantities, which was threatening the species. This week the CITES parties had shown their will to tackle the issue by setting up a working group which would make recommendations next year.

Human Rights Council Special Session on Syria

Cédric Sapey of the Human Rights Council said that the current draft resolution on Syria was at the back of the room. The Special Session would start at around 11.30 a.m. on Monday, 22 August with an opening by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, to be followed by a statement by a Special Procedure Mandate Holder and interventions by Observer States and Member States. The Special Session might continue on Tuesday morning.

World Humanitarian Day ceremony

Ms. Byrs said that about 780 humanitarian workers have perished over the last ten years. World Humanitarian Day was the occasion to commemorate those who died in the line of duty, but also to remind people of the fact that being a humanitarian worker was extremely dangerous in some regions, notably in Somalia. Today’s World Humanitarian Day was particularly dedicated to the crisis in the Horn of Africa.

A song featuring Ziggy Marley, Beyoncé and artists from around the world, produced by Jerry 'Wonda' Duplessis for World Humanitarian Day, was available on the internet.

Ms. Berthiaume added that World Humanitarian Day was marked on 19 August because former United Nations High Commissioner Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 other United Nations staff had been killed on 19 August 2003 in a bomb blast in Baghdad.

Journalists were invited to participate in the march and ceremony to take place at the Parc des Bastions in Geneva today.

UNCTAD Agenda

Catherine Sibut-Pinote of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said that the 2011 Report on UNCTAD's assistance to the Palestinian people would be presented at a press conference on Tuesday, 23 August at noon in Room III.

The Occupied Palestinian Territories had seen growth approaching a two-digit figure. However, the situation remained very difficult in terms of labour, food security and poverty. Journalists would receive the latest economic figures on the Occupied Palestinian Territories at the briefing on Tuesday.

The press release and report, under embargo until 23 August at 5 p.m. GMT, would be issued this afternoon.

WTO Agenda

Ankai Xu of the World Trade Organization (WTO) said a public observation of the oral hearing of the “United States - Measures Affecting Trade in Large Civil Aircraft” would be held on Tuesday, 23 August at 10 a.m. in the viewing room.

WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy would be meeting the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva on Monday. On Wednesday, Mr. Lamy would meet the Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme.

Other subjects

Ms. Vellucci said that the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was concluding its examination of the report of the Czech Republic this morning. Next week the Committee would review the reports of Albania, the United Kingdom and Malta, the last countries scheduled for consideration at this session.

The next public meeting of the Conference on Disarmament, to be held on Tuesday, would mark the start of the Cuban presidency. On that occasion, the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, Mr. Abelardo Moreno Fernandez, would address the Conference. On Monday, Mr. Moreno Fernandez would meet with Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.

Ms. Vellucci said that an expert embargoed briefing on the Statelessness Campaign by the United Nations Refugee Agency would be held on Monday, 22 August at 10.30 a.m. in Press Room 1.

Mr. Colville said that following her briefing to the Security Council yesterday on Syria, the High Commissioner for Human Rights would again be briefing the Security Council, in the morning New York time, on two situations: South Kordofan, on which OHCHR had issued a report on Monday, and Libya.