REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Corinne Momal-Vanian, Director of the United Nations Information Service at Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was also attended by Spokespersons for and representatives of the Human Rights Council, the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Ms. Momal-Vanian welcomed students from the University of Business and International Studies who were attending the briefing.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Momal-Vanian said the 2013 UNOG Annual Report was out. It provided useful statistics about what had happened at UNOG last year, as well as the vision of the new Acting Director-General. There were paper copies of the report available and it could also be seen online on the UNOG website.

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was this morning concluding its review of the report of Luxembourg. The consideration of the report of Switzerland would start this afternoon, and would be concluded at 1 p.m. on Monday, 17 February. The Committee would meet with Member States on Tuesday, 18 February in the afternoon, and would meet in private for the rest of the week. The report of Switzerland would be the last report that the Committee was considering. Reports of Belgium, Honduras, Montenegro, Poland, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan were also considered during this session.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women was today reviewing the report of Kazakhstan. On Monday, 17 February, the Committee would be holding informal meetings with non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions, as well as private meetings. The Committee would consider the report of Iraq on Tuesday, Sierra Leone on Wednesday and Finland on Thursday. The Committee would then be meeting in private until it concluded its session on Friday, 28 February. During the session, the Committee also reviewed the reports of Bahrain, Cameroon and Qatar.

The next public plenary of the Conference on Disarmament would be held on Tuesday, 18 February at 10 a.m.

Rolando Gomez of the Human Rights Council reminded journalists that the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea would give a press conference on Monday, 17 February at 2 p.m. in Room III to launch their extensive report. Speaking at the press conference would be Michael Kirby, the Chair of the Commission, and Marzuki Darusman, a Member of the Commission and Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The report culminated the mandate of the Commission, which was authorized by the Human Rights Council in March 2013. The Commission would be presenting this report to the upcoming session of the Council, which would be starting on 3 March.
The press conference would be webcast live at http://webtv.un.org/ , and the report itself, its annexes, and the detailed findings on which it is based, would be posted on www.ohchr.org at 14:00 on 17 February.

In response to a question on information about a draft resolution on Internet governance and who was proposing it, Mr. Gomez said he had nothing confirmed in this regard. He noted that on Monday, 17 February the Council would hold an organizational meeting, which would be an opportunity for States to spell out what draft resolutions or side events they would propose. This would be an open meeting at 3 p.m. in Room XX.

Melissa Begag of the World Trade Organization (WTO) said the Trade Policy Review Body would be meeting at 3 p.m. on Monday, 17 February, to discuss the Director-General’s report on developments in international trade. The Compliance Panel in the dispute on US-COOL requirements would open portions of its meeting to public viewing on Tuesday, 18 February and on Wednesday, 19 February. WTO members would be meeting on 21 February to discuss the accession of Azerbaijan. As for the Director-General, he would be meeting with UNOG Acting Director-General Michael Moller and Fatima Haram Acyl, African Union Commissioner for Trade and Industry, on 18 and 19 February. The Director-General would also address the group of African ambassadors.

Asked if the Joint Special Envoy for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, would be speaking to the press today, Ms. Momal-Vanian said this morning, Mr. Brahimi met with the delegation of the Government first and then with the delegation of the Opposition. It was not clear what was going to happen afterwards. They were waiting to hear whether anyone would speak to the press, where or when. She would try to get an answer as soon as possible.

Central African Republic

Dr. Rick Brennan, Director of Emergency Risk Management and Humanitarian Response at the World Health Organization (WHO), speaking after his return from a four-day visit to the Central African Republic, said there were many ongoing humanitarian crises in the world today but nowhere were the needs as pressing as they were in the Central African Republic. He had the opportunity to visit many of the sites where internally displaced persons were living and health facilities in Bangui and other places. The Central African Republic had suffered from years of underdevelopment and neglect from the international community. Even before the current conflict, the Central African Republic had the third highest maternal death rate in the world and the sixth highest child mortality rate in the world. A child in the country had one chance in six of dying before his or her fifth birthday. There were enormous health needs even before the current deterioration.

The overall needs were well known today. Over 2.5 million people were in need of assistance, over 800,000 people were displaced, there were high levels of ongoing violence, including 1,100 violent deaths in Bangui since early December, and many more injured. There had been real devastation of the health facilities. The vast majority of the hospitals and clinics had been extensively looted and damaged. Most health workers had left their posts, leaving huge gaps in delivery of care. Essential health programmes such as vaccination had been disrupted. People had now been forced in these overcrowded, unsanitary camps for internally displaced persons. In one of the camps they visited, there was one latrine per 100 persons. The basic standard was one per 20 persons. Six litres of water were available per person per day, the standard was 15 litres. In face of these enormous needs, the capacity to respond was extremely limited. The Social Sector, including the Health Sector, had essentially collapsed, and health services were largely dependent on the international community.

Dr. Brennan said WHO and its partners had taken key steps. Their first priority had been to extend health services to displaced persons in the camps, and they had seen vaccination of more than 140,000 children, particularly against measles. They had distributed drugs to meet the needs of 180,000 people for the next three months. Partners like “Médicins Sans Frontières” and the International Committee of the Red Cross were also filling vital gaps in surgical and emergency services. Save the Children were starting to support health services outside of Bangui. WHO was also setting up a system with partners to detect when outbreaks occurred. There had already been outbreaks of measles in at least two sites. There was a new Minister of Health and WHO and its partners were working with the Minister on a plan to reactivate health facilities, particularly those outside of Bangui. They were also working to address other major gaps in health services, ensuring that blood transfusion services were re-established; ensuring that women having babies had access to clean delivery facilities and access to emergency care in case of complications; re-starting HIV services; and ensuring that referral and ambulance services were available for those with emergency needs. There was a huge amount to do, the humanitarian community could not do it alone, they were in desperate needs for funds for the strategic response plan for this year: the health sector was requesting $ 55 million, but to date they had received about $ 3.5 million. There were insufficient numbers of operational partners on the ground.

Security also needed to be addressed, said Dr. Brennan, as there were still high levels of insecurity. Logistics issues were a big constraint, and there was the wet season coming up, which would make the field operations even more challenging.

Elisabeth Byrs of the World Food Prgramme (WFP) said the airlift that WFP started last Tuesday was continuing and was expected to last for one month. This operation would bring a total of 1,800 metric tons of cereals to the Central African Republic, enough to feed 150,000 people for a month. Two road convoys carrying 1,200 metric tons had arrived on 8 and on 13 February in Bangui. This had allowed WFP to replenish its stocks and increase the rations being distributed daily. In February so far, WFP had provided food assistance to 39,000 internally displaced persons or extremely vulnerable persons in the capital of Bangui and the towns of Bouar and Bossangoa. Although the airlift of food was five times more expensive than moving the food by road, WFP was using the airlift because of the insecurity situation, and the reluctance of truck drivers to carry food from the border with Cameroon into the Central African Republic. During the weekend of 8 and 9 February, a truck carrying 15 metric tons of assorted foods had arrived in Bozoum from Paoua in the north west of the Central African Republic. This food would be used to provide assistance to vulnerable displaced people who fled violence while their villages were burned down. In January, WFP distributed food in Bangui to 90 per cent of their goal of 315,000 persons. In February, outside Bangui, WFP had distributed food to 3,000 persons in Bossongoa and 2,700 persons in Bouar. The food distributions continued. There were more details in the note.

Marixie Mercado of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said for the past two months, UNICEF and partners had verified the killings of 37 children and the maiming of 96 children, some of these acts committed with brutality that was difficult to fathom. A number of children had also had limbs amputated because the fighting kept them from getting to medical help in time. Over the past two months, UNICEF and partners had also received reports of 167 cases of sexual violence in Bangui displacement camps, 26 of them related to cases involving children. Survivors were being referred to services and assistance. The targeting and emptying of communities over the past couple of weeks had also led to a significant increase in the number of unaccompanied and separated children. These children were particularly at risk. So far, UNICEF and partners had identified 544 children in Bangui who were separated and unaccompanied, 190 of whom had been reunited with their families. IOM did not have a comprehensive grasp yet of the nutritional situation of children across the country, but the evidence coming in from Bangui already pointed to a significant number of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, which was that form of malnutrition that was potentially the most life threatening. UNICEF was appealing to the Government, the community, the religious and civil society leaders who were invested with the trust of their communities, to help end the violence and to draw the communities back from these places where adults applauded the desecration of children. UNICEF was also urging immediate funding of its $ 62 million appeal, it had only received 16 per cent so far, including money in the pipeline and pledges. It was very difficult to plan, function and implement an operational response this way. Last year, despite the steadily worsening situation in the Central African Republic, UNICEF had received just half of the finding requested. They needed to do better this year.

Chris Lom of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said he would focus on the situation of some 3,000 stranded migrants who were at the Bangui military airport site , along with thousands of Central African internally displaced persons. IOM had just distributed 560 non-food-item relief kits donated by UNHCR, including blankets, mats, mosquito nets etc. IOM was also organizing at the request of the camp coordination management cluster wet feeding for these people with food donated by WFP and ICRC. The food was cooked by volunteers at the camp and shared with the entire community. This camp was actually growing. It was regarded as one of the relatively safe locations in Bangui for stranded migrants and Muslim internally displaced people fearing attacks from armed anti-Balaka groups. While it was previously a transit centre, now it had become a longer term site, and this implied that it would increasingly need resources and management. As far as the stranded migrants were concerned, IOM had already evacuated over 5,400 persons, mostly to Chad, but its last flight was on Sunday because it no longer had any funding. What was happening in the camp was that increasingly Muslims were being referred there as a relative place of safety. Resources were incredibly stretched. IOM was operating a mobile clinic in the camp with MSF and other partners. IOM had also been sending out site facilitators to over 60 other sites for internally displaced persons around Bangui to gather information on the situation in these camps as well as the needs. The main needs continued to be the provision of food and non-food aid and visits by mobile health clinics. IOM had appealed for $ 17.5 million for the Central African Republic, but it had only received $ 2.8 million to date.

Jens Laerke of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that just to wrap up, they were all trying to beef up the response, as the situation continued to deteriorate at a very rapid and depressingly scale. Overall, the revised strategic response plan was asking for $551 million for this year, and as of today, it was 13 per cent funded. This was absolutely deplorable. They needed to get the funding in rapidly as the rainy season was coming up in March and April. In order for the agencies to preposition and get the pipeline flowing before the bad weather hit the Central African Republic and the roads became increasingly difficult to pass through, they needed the funding rapidly. There was a high-level meeting in Brussels on 20 January where a number of Member States generously pledged about $ 200 million for the response, so the agencies were urging those donors to come forward and commit those pledges.

In response to a question on what the absolute priority was that had to be done with what little money was available, Dr. Brennan said they essentially had to look at the re-activation of the health facilities. There were over 500 health facilities in the country. They did not have the money to reactivate all of them. They needed to carry out an assessment with the government and partners to look at the functionality of those facilities, to work out where the priorities were, and which ones needed to be supported. They would prioritize the key health centres in the main areas, and then as more resources came, they would scale up. In the remote areas, they would consider what they called intermittent medical missions. They were looking at a combination of measures to provide health services.

In response to a question on how many trucks were blocked at the border, how long had they been there and how many tons of food were they carrying, Ms. Byrs said since January 6, some 60 commercial trucks had been blocked at the border because of the drivers' fear for their own security. MISCA had already escorted some tracks to Bangui but there was a reluctance, despite the armed escort. Now, around 11 trucks remained on the border. There was also the additional problem of the rainy season coming up. The delivery of food stocks had suffered from the insecurity. Therefore, it was now more efficient to use an air lift to assure food distributions in Bangui and elsewhere.

In response to a question on what UNICEF could do to help the children in the Central African Republic, Ms. Mercado said one of the steps that UNICEF and other partners were trying to do was to provide protection just by their presence. There had been a huge amount of effort to extend their presence around the country. For children who had been injured, UNICEF and its partners did a lot to support hospitals and health services so that these children could get the best possible treatment. What was needed first and foremost however was an end to the violence. UNICEF appealed today to the adults in the Central African Republic to stop the violence.

South Sudan

Melissa Fleming of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said as a sign of how grave the situation was in South Sudan, UNHCR had issued what they called a non-return advisory for South Sudanese. That was always a sign that the situation in a country was violent and not conducive to anyone who had escaped to be sent back. The release included the figures of those who had been displaced, over 700,000, and over 130,000 persons already in neighbouring countries. UNHCR welcomed the fact that many of the neighbouring countries had granted these people refugee status and it called on governments to make sure that they kept these refugees in their countries and not return them to this unfortunately continued volatile situation in South Sudan.

Asked if anyone had been expelling South Sudanese persons, Ms. Fleming said no, this announcement was a pre-emptive step.

Venezuela

Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said OHCHR was deeply concerned about the escalation of violence, and in particular the death of at least three people during demonstrations in Caracas on Wednesday. Thousands of people in big cities throughout Venezuela reportedly participated in protests against the detention of student demonstrators earlier in the week, as well as against rising crime rates and increasing economic hardship in the country. On Thursday, the Public Prosecutor reported that three people lost their lives, 66 were wounded and 69 detained, as a result of various clashes during and after demonstrations. OHCHR had also received worrying reports of intimidation of journalists, some of whom had had their equipment seized, as well as reports that some local and international journalists were attacked while covering the protests. In addition, some protestors had reportedly been detained and may be prosecuted on terrorism charges. It had also been reported that some protesters, including minors, were being denied contact with family or lawyers. The Regional Representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in South America had called on the Government of Venezuela to ensure that the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of opinion and expression were guaranteed, and that a prompt, full and impartial investigation into the killings and any act of excessive use of force was undertaken. He also called for all detainees to be promptly brought before justice in order to decide on the lawfulness of their detention or to order their release.

Mr. Colville said perpetrators should be prosecuted and those found responsible for acts of violence, and in particular deaths, should be sanctioned with appropriate penalties. OHCHR was especially concerned at reports of attacks on demonstrators by armed groups acting with impunity. It was also concerned that this situation could trigger further outbreaks of violence and that of cycle of violence may take place.

Asked who was committing the violence, and who the armed groups were affiliated with, Mr. Colville said it might be violence committed by authorities in the form of excessive use of force or violence used by protesters or demonstrators or others, whoever committed the crimes. In terms of the armed groups, they seemed to be a bit shadowy, paramilitary types, and it was not clear what their affiliations were.

A journalist said Venezuela had issued an arrest warrant for an opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, and asked for a comment. Mr. Colville said he had no information on that.

In response to a question from a journalist about reported violence in Brazil earlier in the week, Mr. Colville said OHCHR called for the end of violence that led to crimes and deaths of civilian protesters or journalists or whoever. A crime was a crime, whoever committed it, especially if it was deliberately instigated as well. There was a judicial process underway now in Brazil, so they had to see what came out on that. It would be premature to comment on each allegation made at this point.

Turkey

Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said OHCHR was concerned that legislative amendments adopted by the Turkish parliament last week regulating use of the Internet could lead to breaches of human rights, in particular the right to freedom of expression and opinion, and the right to privacy. The amendments contained in Law no. 6518, adopted on 6 February, could allow Turkey’s telecommunications authority (Telecommunications Communication Presidency) to block websites without first seeking a court order. Law 6518 would also require Internet service providers to store data on web users' activities for two years and mad it available to the authorities upon request without a judicial order. In addition, Internet service providers faced severe penalties if they failed to remove content deemed to be illegal. Even before the amendments, Law 5651, enacted in May 2007, placed broad restrictions on Internet use in Turkey. Since the law came into force, approximately 37,000 websites had reportedly been denied operation by court orders and administrative blocking orders. The law as it stood appeared to be incompatible with Turkey’s international human rights obligations, in particular those related to freedom of expression and the right to privacy. As the General Assembly had recently affirmed (November 2013), the same rights that people had offline must also be protected online. Following its Universal Periodic Review before the Human Rights Council in 2010, Turkey accepted a recommendation to "align all articles of the Penal Code and other laws with international standards, particularly with regard to freedom of expression."

OHCHR called on the authorities to review laws No.5651 and 6518 to bring them in line with international human rights standards, in particular the rights to freedom of expression and opinion, and the right to privacy.

Syria

Jens Laerke of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said last night, Valerie Amos, the Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, had briefed the Security Council, and her statement issued after that briefing was available at the back of the room. Ms. Amos noted that the Security Council adopted a Presidential Statement four months ago stressing the need for immediate action to protect civilians and to give access to people in need in Syria. Since then, the conflict had intensified, civilians had been constantly under fire, and the social fabric of Syria had been torn to shreds. Everybody in Syria was failing their responsibility to protect civilians. There were still 250,000 persons in besieged areas, including still in Homs, and there were more than 3 million people in hard to reach communities across the country. Ms. Amos said that they had managed to get 26 inter-agency convoys to deliver one-off assistance to those hard to reach areas in Aleppo, Ar-Raqqa, Dara’s, Hama, Homs, Idleb and Rural Damascus. However, the same time since October last year, 15 more aid workers had lost their lives.

Mr. Laerke said Ms. Amos had underscored that there were no amounts of words that could adequately describe the horrors facing civilians in Syria today. They must not fail the women, men and children of the country. The operation in Homs had delivered food and medical supplies to around 2,500 people in the old city, and evacuated around 1,400 people. The operation as such had been a success, but they still found it difficult as progress. Ms. Amos reminded the Security Council that she first raised the alarm about Homs 14 months ago. She said they could not wait another 14 months to reach about 1,400 people. There were millions of people in dire need across Syria, their lives hanging in the balance. Ms. Amos asked the Security Council to use its influence over the parties to the conflict to ensure that they abided by humanitarian pauses and ceasefires, that they give humanitarian actors sustained and regular access to those who need, that they commit in writing to upholding international humanitarian law, and to allow systematic cross-line access.

Elisabeth Byrs of the World Food Prgramme (WFP) said WFP had so far distributed 500 family food parcels and 6,200 kilograms of wheat flour, each bag of 25 kilograms, enough to feed 2,500 people in the old city of Homs for one month. It was agreed among both parties and the operation was a success. In addition, every single evacuee got to eat a ration, enough for five days. Any further distribution inside Homs would require a new agreement between both sides. The old city of Homs was one of the many besieged communities around the country, and WFP hoped that this week’s success in delivering much needed food aid to the most vulnerable could be replicated in other parts of the country.

Melissa Fleming of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said over 1,400 people had been evacuated from the old city of Homs and there were an estimated 2,500 who were still deemed in need of evacuation. UNHCR hoped that this evacuation would continue over the next few days. Many journalists had been interested in the case of the boys above the age of 15 and the men under the age of 55 who had been taken to a separate facility. Right now, 381 men and boys remained in the facility. In addition, there were 13 men and boys who were hospitalized. Some of them brought their wives, mothers, children to the school, and 31 were waiting for the processing with their men and sons in the school. So far, 170 had been screened and had left. UNHCR’s role was that it collected the basic information, their names, gender, family size, contact number, and where they intended to move to. Also, together with UNICEF which also had a presence there, were providing a certain environment that allowed for certain treatment and dignity of people in this situation. UNHCR was concerned about the fate of these men and boys once they left the facility. They had limited ability to follow-up. UNHCR could not guarantee their safety and security as a UN institution. UNHCR was consistently and continually calling on the government to ensure the safety and security of these people and to respect international humanitarian and human rights law.

Marixie Mercado of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that as of last night, 18 children between 15 and up to 18 years old had been vetted at this shelter had been released, and another 14 children remained. UNICEF was unaware of any cases of unaccompanied minors at the shelter. UNICEF had access to the shelter and was following the cases of all the children. It had been able to provide the children there with some clothing, and it had also provided some prefabricated sanitation facilities. UNICEF and protection partners had not bombarded questions about the ordeal that they had lived through. The plan was to let children be, to attend to their needs, and to give them space to recover. The tit-bits that colleagues had overheard involved the deplorable conditions inside, counting lice and hiding in tunnels. UNICEF was advocating for the expedited release of all remaining children. Together with all the other agencies, UNICEF would maintain an active humanitarian relief and protection presence to the evacuees in Homs. It was unclear how many children remained in the old city, but there were about 40 other besieged communities in Syria that were home to about 250,000 people, a significant proportion of whom were children.

Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said OHCHR was deeply alarmed at reports of a major military build-up and the increased threat to the population in the town of Yabroud, an opposition-held area in the Qalamoun mountains of Syria. According to reports they had received from within Syria, there had been numerous aerial attacks and shelling, along with a military build-up around the town, suggesting a major assault by land may be imminent. Electricity was totally cut off this past Wednesday. Field hospitals were suffering serious shortages in medicine and medical supplies as scores of people, including civilians, reportedly continued to require urgent treatment. OHCHR understood that there remained a large number of civilians in Yabroud, with some estimates suggesting as many as 40,000 to 50,000 people, and thousands of other fleeing over the last few days. OHCHR reminded the Government of Syria of its obligations under international human rights and international humanitarian law to protect all persons who are not taking an active part in the hostilities, including civilians, members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention or any other cause. Effective warning was required by international humanitarian law to give civilians an opportunity to leave areas that will come under attack.

Mr. Colville said OHCHR was deeply concerned that the attack on Yabroud, if it took place, may follow the pattern of previous attacks on cities and towns across Syria where government aerial bombardments were indiscriminate and disproportionate in violation of obligations under international law and ensuing land incursions resulted in heavy civilian casualties. If the State did not take all necessary precautions to ensure the safety of civilians, it risked committing grave violations of international humanitarian law. The High Commissioner this week renewed her call to the Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court. She warned that civilians had paid and were continuing to pay the price for the lack of consensus on Syria and the resulting inaction. Violations were continuing in full sight of the international community. OHCHR was closely watching the situation unfold in Yabroud and urged all sides to respect their obligations under international law. OHCHR also echoed the Secretary-General’s condemnation of the reported massacre in the village of Ma’an in Hama on 9 February. Perpetrators of this massacre, and all other crimes in Syria, must be held accountable.

Ms. Fleming said people had been asking whether there had been any influxes into Lebanon as a result of the situation in Yabroud. UNHCR was bracing for a big influx. Right now, there had been between 500 and 600 families who had arrived in Lebanon, citing their fear of this attack as being the reason they fled over the border.

In response to a question on the protection of the evacuees, Mr. Colville said the Government was responsible for the protection of the people, not the United Nations. The mandate of OHCHR was to protect and promote human rights, but they were not present in Syria and had not been allowed in since the start of the conflict. Therefore, there were limitations on what their role could be. OHCHR could sharpen the spotlight on the situation and to flag the danger of it. Ultimately, it was the Government who was responsible and that had to be absolutely clear.

Answering another question, Mr. Colville said the mere fact of questioning people was not illegal in these circumstances. But if someone was held for a period of time, there would have to be a reason for this and they could scrutinize this, a normal, legal process. Mr. Colville noted that the day before yesterday, High Commissioner Navi Pillay had addressed the Security Council for her annual briefing on the protection of civilians in armed conflict. On Syria, she said the lack of consensus and the resulting inaction had been disastrous and civilians had paid the price. Her statement was on the OHCHR website.

In response to a question on the resolution at the Security Council on the humanitarian response, Mr. Laerke said they had the Presidential Statement of 2 October, which very clearly specified what was immediately needed at that point of time to help the people of Syria. Very little had happened since then. When Ms. Amos briefed the Security Council yesterday, she had pointed this out, particularly that she asked the members of the Council to use their influence on the parties on the ground to adhere to international humanitarian and human rights law.

The representatives of the International Labour Organization and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development also attended the briefing but did not speak.

The webcast for this briefing is available here: http://bit.ly/1gDPXHC