REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Corinne Momal-Vanian, the Director of the United Nations Information Service, chaired the briefing, which was also attended by Spokespersons for the UN Conference on Trade and Development, the International Organization for Migration, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Food Programme, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Refugee Agency.

Libya

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that OCHA was concerned about a lack of water and interruptions to water provisions in Tripoli and the areas west of Tripoli, towards the border with Tunisia, where serious water shortages were being reported. As four million people were at risk of lacking access to potable water if this situation continued, a response was underway under the leadership of the UN Children’s Fund and in cooperation with actors from the logistics sector.

As there were increasing numbers of injured people, the provision of hospitals with medication was another source of concern, Ms. Byrs went on to say. Many medical personnel had left the hospitals, and some doctors were reportedly treating the wounded in their homes. Doctors without Borders and the International Committee of the Red Cross, among other actors, continued to provide urgent care in health facilities, notably in Tripoli. The Flash Appeal was 60 per cent funded, with $243 million received out of the $407 million requested.

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said that WFP was providing logistical support for the humanitarian relief effort in Libya, sending food and other urgent supplies including water, medicine and fuel to Tripoli. WFP was also scaling up food assistance to meet the needs of the most vulnerable internally displaced people in Tripoli, the coastal areas and the Nafusa Mountain Region. WFP was dispatching around 600 metric tons of food to the Libyan capital for distribution by the Libyan Red Crescent to more than 35,500 conflict-affected and displaced people for one month. A WFP vessel carrying 500,000 litres of water on behalf of the UN Children's Agency was also en route from Malta to Tripoli. Earlier this week WFP had delivered 23,000 1-litre bottles of drinking water to Tripoli for the UN Children's Agency.

At the request of Libya's National Transitional Council, WFP would procure 250,000 metric tons of fuel to cover needs for one month. Fuel supplies had been disrupted by the fighting, and water and electricity supplies depended on fuel-run generators. Fuel was also required for hospitals, ambulances and vehicles to distribute critically needed medicines, food, water, and other supplies. WFP had also delivered humanitarian aid to two towns which had seen significant fighting in recent weeks, assisting 30,000 people in Gheryan and 15,000 Zliten, and would also provide emergency assistance to other towns in the region.

Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said that OHCHR was extremely concerned by the emerging reports of atrocious human rights violations in Libya, including what appeared to be mass summary executions, mostly apparently carried out by the forces of the Gaddafi government during the last few days before they had lost Tripoli. The Office was also deeply concerned about reports that there were still thousands of people unaccounted for who had been arrested or taken prisoner by Gaddafi security forces, either earlier in the conflict or before it had even started. Given the gruesome discoveries that had taken place over the past few days, there was good reason to be extremely concerned for their safety. OHCHR urged any members of the former regime in a position to reveal where prisoners had been held to do so, before more lives were lost.

It was of utmost importance that these crimes - as well as other serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law – were properly documented and investigated, as the first steps towards accountability and justice for the victims and their families. The Commission of Inquiry for Libya, whose mandate continued until March, would undoubtedly examine all such reports. During the second phase of its work, the Commission would be supported by a team of OHCHR staff. The Office once again urged both sides to exercise restraint and refrain from committing further human rights violations or acts of retaliation.

Bahrain

Mr. Colville said that OHCHR continued to receive reports of the repression of relatively small protests in Bahrain, and understood that at least 264 cases involving protestors remained pending before the courts, many of whom may be tried in the Court of National Safety, which was effectively a military court.

OHCHR stressed that civilians must be tried in civilian courts and that every detained person must be charged with a recognizable criminal offence, with adequate access to a lawyer and enough time to prepare a defence. The Office was concerned that most of the defendants in these cases may be prisoners of conscience, detained only for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and association. All such detainees must be released. OHCHR also called on the Government to release the names of all those arrested since 15 March, including their places of detention and details on the charges and status of their trials.

Thousands of employees in Bahrain had allegedly lost their jobs because of their participation in anti-Government protests. OHCHR called on the national authorities to order the immediate reintegration of such individuals and to ensure that they were compensated for their lost income.

In response to a question about the nature and conviction rate of the Court of National Safety, Mr. Colville said that the Bahraini authorities had issued a decree establishing the Court of National Safety in March. The Court was headed by a military judge, along with two civilian judges. All three judges were directly appointed by the Bahraini Defence Force commander-in-chief, while the cases were prepared by the military public prosecutor. According to OHCHR’s sources, defendants had had limited access to lawyers, and in most cases, lawyers did not have enough time to prepare their respective client’s defence properly. OHCHR had even received reports of detainees calling their families a day before the hearing asking them to appoint a lawyer.

The Court of National Safety had issued harsh sentences against protesters, with charges ranging from participating in an illegal gathering, or expressing hatred of the Government, to actual crimes such as murder and destruction of property. The sentences imposed ranged from one year to life imprisonment. According to OHCHR’s sources, nearly 124 cases brought before that court had received verdicts so far. These included two people who were sentenced to death, 16 who had been fully acquitted, and seven others who had been acquitted of some charges but convicted of others.

South Sudan

Jumbe Omari Jumbe of the International Organization for Migration said that he would like the media to take note of the terrible situation in Jonglei State. In the aftermath of the tribal clashes between the Lou Nuer and the Murle, two tribes in the area, members of the Murle tribe had attacked villages inhabited by the Lou Nuer on 18 August, killing, maiming, burning and displacing thousands of people. According to Government figures, 600 people had been killed in that attack while 250,000 had been made homeless.

The attack was in revenge for a similar one carried out in June by the Lou Nuer, in which about 900 people had been killed. The main cause of such incidents was cattle rustling. In the traditions and customs of Southern Sudan cows represented wealth and social status.

IOM, in collaboration with the UN Mission in Southern Sudan (UNMISS), had started airlifting relief aid to three out of the six areas affected by these attacks. The airlifts included 5,000 mosquito nets and 5,000 blankets and non-food items for an estimated 3,500 internally displaced people. More airlifts were planned for other locations in the coming days.

Asked whether these attacks were related to the independence of South Sudan, Mr. Omari Jumbe said that such incidents had rather increased due to internal politics and that they were more widely reported now as the UN had a presence there and journalists were on the ground.

Ikea Foundation Donates $62 million to Dadaab Refugee complex

Adrian Edwards of the United Nations Refugee Agency said that UNHCR was pleased to announce today that it had received a $62 million donation from the IKEA Foundation geared towards expanding emergency relief for the thousands of people at the world’s largest refugee complex in Dadaab, Kenya.

The donation, which would be staggered over three years, was the largest private donation that the UN Refugee Agency had received in its 60-year history, and the first time that a private body had chosen to directly support a major refugee complex. UNHCR was working with the staff of the Foundation on the development of a detailed submission for how these funds would be used. But in the short-term the immediate focus would be on helping the needs of up to recently arrived 120,000 refugees, with a particular focus on refugee families and children.

The Dadaab initiative was part of a broader and ongoing partnership arrangement between the IKEA Foundation and UNHCR that began a year ago and included funding support to UNHCR’s work in Bangladesh and East Sudan, in-kind product support to UNHCR’s emergency operations in Kyrgyzstan and Tunisia, as well as technical expertise in logistics, supply, packaging and warehousing.

Dadaab currently hosted a population of 440,000 refugees from Somalia, 152,000 of whom had arrived so far this year fleeing conflict, famine, and drought in their homeland.






UNHCR chief in Eid solidarity visit to Horn of Africa

Mr. Edwards said that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, was in the Horn of Africa to show solidarity with displaced Somalis during Eid il-Fitr. Over the Eid period, UNHCR was airlifting 240 metric tons of aid from Saudi Arabia to Somalia. The assistance comprised dry goods and special Eid packages of ready-to-eat meals, orange juice, sweets and biscuits. UNHCR’s partner Islamic Relief would distribute the packages to internally displaced people in Somalia and the urban poor in Mogadishu and Lower Shabelle region.

The goal remained to provide as much aid as possible within Somalia so that people affected by famine and conflict would not have to undertake the arduous journey to neighbouring countries in search of assistance. While the Somali outflow into Ethiopia and Kenya had slowed in recent weeks, the camps continued to face enormous challenges with the recent arrivals. In Ethiopia’s Dollo Ado area, Kobe camp had seen a slight decrease in the overall mortality rate. However, there had been a worrying rise in deaths among children under five years of age. According to UNHCR’s partner agency MSF, measles was a main compounding cause of death in Kobe camp, accounting for 68 per cent of deaths. Other contributing factors were malnutrition, pneumonia and diarrhea.

Although health services and nutritional feeding programmes were available, parents were not taking their children for continuing treatment. Decentralization of services therefore remained a key priority for UNHCR in addressing high mortality. In addition to the community outreach programme, UNICEF’s mobile health clinic would this week start work in Kobe camp to encourage refugees to access the medical facilities available.

A UNHCR airlift had arrived in Addis Ababa last weekend, bringing aid to the Gode area, 250 kilometers north-east of Dollo Ado. Meanwhile, in Kenya’s Dadaab refugee complex the movement of people from the crowded parts of the camp into the Ifo extension areas and Kambioos was continuing. But the sandy nature of the soil posed logistical challenges as standard pegs for tents did not go into the ground and latrine pits could cave in if not additionally strengthened. Another hurdle was the condition of local roads, which in some locations were barely passable paths in the sand. This makes movements of heavy machinery extremely difficult.

Bomb Attack on UN Headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that according to information released last night by the UN team in Abuja the death toll following the attack on the UN Headquarters in Abuja stood at 23 persons. This included eleven UN staff - 10 Nigerians and one Norwegian – as well as nine non-UN staff and three unidentified others. Twenty-six injured persons also remained in hospitals and clinics in the Nigerian capital, while others had been evacuated abroad.

Launch of Trade and Development Report 2011

Catherine Sibut-Pinote of the UN Conference on Trade and Development said that the Trade and Development Report 2011 would be presented on Monday, 5 September at 11 in Room III at a press conference featuring UNCTAD Secretary-General Supachai Panitchpakdi.

A press kit was available from UNCTAD’s website and the report was available from Press Room I, under embargo until Tuesday, 6 September at 5 p.m. GMT.

Other

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the Conference on Disarmament, which was pursuing the third and last part of its 2011 session until 16 September, would hold a public meeting on Thursday, 1 September at 10 a.m.

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was convening in closed meetings this week before making public the concluding observations on the nine countries examined at this session on Friday, 2 September.

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the offices of the UN at the Palais des Nations would be closed tomorrow, Wednesday 31 August, and on Thursday 8 September. A press briefing would be held on Friday, 9 September.