REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Ahmad Fawzi, Director a.i. of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was attended by Spokespersons for the United Nations Refugee Agency, International Organization for Migration, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, and the World Health Organization.
The Secretary-General
Mr. Fawzi informed that the Secretary-General was still in Paris for COP 21. The previous day he had visited Bataclan, where the terrorist attacks took place on 13 November, together with the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo.
The following day, the Secretary-General would be in Finland on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the country’s membership in the United Nations.
Geneva Activities
The Committee against Torture would hold a public meeting in the morning of the following day to close its session. The roundup would be issued in the afternoon, while the Committee would present its concluding observations on Liechtenstein, Azerbaijan, Austria, Denmark, China and Jordan at a press conference in Press Room III on 9 December at 1:15 p.m. Speakers would be the Committee’s Chairperson, Claudio Grossman, along with Jens Modvig, George Tugushi and Essadia Belmir, Committee Members.
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination would be closing its session on 11 December, after having considered reports of Egypt, the Holy See, Lithuania, Mongolia, Slovenia and Turkey.
Mr. Fawzi also informed that the World Health Organization would hold a press conference in Press Room 1 at 3 p.m. today. WHO would present its new comprehensive report on global public health, which analysed trends over the previous 15 years and assessed the challenges for the following 15 years. The speaker would be Dr. Ties Boerma, Director of Health Statistics and Information Systems. Tarik Jašarević, for the World Health Organization, added that hard copies of the report were available, and there was no embargo. A press release would also be available at 3 p.m. The report served as a point of reference and provided an overview of what had happened in the previous 15 years of the Millennium Development Goals and what the main challenges were for the Sustainable Development Goals.
Mr. Jašarević informed about an event that would take place in Salle B of the WHO at
11 a.m. on 9 December, on the occasion of the Universal Health Coverage Day. WHO, International Labour Organization and Save the Children would be co-hosting a panel discussion, including Ambassadors from Germany, Japan and Kenya.
On 10 December at 10:30, in Press Room III, WHO Director General Dr. Margaret Chan and Dr. Bernard Vallat, Director General of the World Organization for Animal Health, would hold a press conference on how to eliminate rabies, a disease entirely preventable.
The same day, at 10 a.m. in Room III, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) would launch a new report on the human rights situation in Ukraine, and the speaker would be Gianni Magazzeni, Chief of the Americas, Europe, and Central Asia Branch. In connection with that press conference, the Human Rights Council would hear a presentation of the OHCHR report on Ukraine in a meeting that would begin in Room XX at 11 a.m. on 9 December. The meeting would be open to the media and would be webcast live. States would take the floor after a brief presentation by Mr. Magazzeni. The meeting was expected to last around two hours.
Also on 9 December at 11 a.m. in Room S3, a video transmission would take place of the launch of the Food and Agriculture Organization's flagship publication “The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets 2015 (SOCO)”. The launch would take place at the FAO headquarters in Rome. The 2015 SOCO analyzed and offered advice on global food trade patterns and how they could best be governed. Daniel Gustafson, FAO Deputy Director-General, would be one of the speakers.
Finally, also on 9 December at 2.30 p.m. in Room III, the African Union and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) would hold a press conference on “Implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: towards Inclusive and Sustainable Industrialization in Africa”. Speakers would include Li Yong, Director General of UNIDO; Fatima Haram Acyl, African Union Commissioner for Trade and Industry; Yonov Frederick Agah, Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization; John Miller, Senior Vice President of Nestlé S.A, and Wu Hailong, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
Catherine Huissoud, for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), informed that the Report on technology and innovation would be presented at a press conference in Geneva on 14 December at 2:30 p.m. The report, which would be embargoed until 16 December, addressed how to combine innovation and industrial policies in Africa, and Nigeria, Tanzania, Ethiopia, three countries with different profiles, had been studied in depth.
Ms. Huissoud also informed that the Commodities and development report 2015 on small agricultural workers would be presented in Press Room I on 15 December at 2:30 p.m. and would be under embargo until 17 December. The report addressed sustainable development and eradicating extreme poverty. The statistics manual was available in Press Room 1.
Syrian refugee situation
Melissa Fleming, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), stated that the UNHCR recognized the tremendous contribution of Jordan in hosting over 630,000 refugees, which had put a heavy strain on its infrastructure and economy. Nonetheless, the UNHCR was gravely concerned for some 12,000 people trying to flee Syria and stranded in remote areas at the north eastern Jordanian border, facing deteriorating humanitarian conditions.
The population included about 11,000 people in Rubkan and 1,000 people in Hadalat, and had been growing in recent weeks. It included elderly people, others who were sick or wounded, children, women, and others who were vulnerable and needed help. The refugees were gathering near an earthen wall on Jordanian territory in a rocky area devoid of shade, water or vegetation. The number of people massing in those locations had risen sharply since the start of November, from 4,000 to 12,000, following the recent intensification of the conflict in Syria.
Women had had to give birth at the berm, in unsanitary conditions, while common medical complaints among the growing population included respiratory tract infections, gastroenteritis and skin diseases such as scabies. The health situation was deteriorating, with increasing signs of diarrhoea, vomiting and acute malnutrition among children. If they were not admitted to Jordan, their lives would be at risk in the coming winter months.
Ms. Fleming said the UNHCR appealed to the Government of Jordan to allow refugees at the border to enter the country, prioritizing entry for the most vulnerable adults and children, including serious and emergency medical and surgical cases, pregnant women and children below six months together with their families. UNHCR noted that the Azraq camp, some 320 km from Rukban, had capacity to receive additional people.
UNHCR recognized legitimate security concerns of Jordan, which could be managed through proper assessments of the circumstances of individuals. UNHCR stood ready to upgrade the security of the registration area at the Azraq camp to allow for the comprehensive screening of the entire border population there.
Answering a question, Ms. Fleming said that the UNHCR had been in a number of difficult situations with the Government of Jordan over the previous years. Jordan was in an unenviable situation, with a major conflict taking place next door and legitimate security concerns. The number of people coming in was down to 50-60 per day, and everyone was scrutinized. While Jordan’s concerns were understandable, the UNHCR was working with the authorities to resolve them. Jordan’s concerns were of a security nature rather than related to capacity. The Azraq camp was only one third full at the moment.
Asked to comment on the statement by a presidential candidate in the United States that no Muslims should be allowed to enter the United States for the time being, Ms. Fleming said that the UNHCR was not commenting on internal US politics. She said that a robust refugee resettlement programme was in place with the United States. There was a concern that the rhetoric used in the election campaign was putting that incredibly important resettlement programme at risk. In recent weeks, numerous US Governors had said they wanted to stop the resettlement programme altogether. Those resettled to the United States were the most scrutinized population; their screening took two years before entry was allowed. It would be a shame if that would be halted, at a time when the world needed to step up and support the victims.
Ms. Fleming emphasized that the UNHCR refugee programme was religion-blind and the resettlement programme selected people on the basis of need. She pointed out that people were not physically arriving to the United States the same way they were arriving to Europe seeking asylum. It was rather a resettlement programme, which included a certain number of places provided every year. In absolute terms, the United States was the largest resettlement country in the world, taking more refugees than any other country. The US screening process was the most stringent in the world and lasted from 18 to 24 months, after candidates for resettlement had been proposed by the UN Refugee Agency.
On another question, Ms. Fleming confirmed that there had been an increase in displacement in recent weeks. Refugees who had recently come to Jordan to seek safety said they were coming for a number of reasons, which included increased bombing in northern Syria, but also forced inscription and draconian punishments on civilian population in the areas held by extremists. People were thus fleeing both fighting and extremism.
UNHCR questionnaire on Syrians arriving to Europe
Ms. Fleming said that the UNHCR would today be releasing the results of a preliminary questionnaire answered by over 1,200 Syrian refugees who had arrived in Greece between April and September. The sample was the largest set of data collected thus far and offered insights into who those families were and why they were coming to Europe.
Between April and September 2015, UNHCR border teams had interviewed 1,245 Syrians who had recently arrived in Greece. Of those interviewed, 86 percent had a high level of education, at secondary or university level. Almost a quarter were still searching for a family member missing in Syria, and one in five had been separated from one or more family members in that country. The majority – 63 percent – had fled Syria during 2015, and 85 percent had reached Greece on their first attempt.
Over 62 percent originated from the Damascus and Aleppo areas, and the highest groups were students and working professionals, including teachers, lawyers, doctors, bakers, designers, hairdressers and IT specialists.
The next survey, which would cover the period from September until now, might show another dimension. Ms. Fleming said that almost 5,000 people had arrived in Greece just the previous day.
Answering a question, Ms. Fleming said that, based on anecdotal evidence, some of the refugees arriving from Greece had fled from the territory controlled by the Islamic State.
Mediterranean numbers
Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that the IOM estimated that over 909,000 migrants and refugees had entered Europe by sea so far in 2015. That was four times the number of 219,000, which had been recorded in 2014.
Total fatalities for 2015, with just over three weeks remaining, stood at 3,601. Just the previous days, almost 5,000 migrants had been rescued at sea in the Channel of Sicily. Some of the recent slowdown in the influx from Libya had been connected to the issues in the smuggling community and the tribal fighting.
Mr. Millman said the total of one million migrants might as well reach Europe before the end of 2015.
IOM appeals for USD 254 million for its 2016 Syria operations
Mr. Millman said that, under the Humanitarian Response Plan and the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan, the IOM was appeling for USD 254 million for its Syrian operations in 2016. These operations would target four million people with essential humanitarian interventions, as well as 1.6 million refugees and members of host communities in Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Egypt,
with the focus on social stability, livelihood support, provision of shelter and non-food items, health and education.
Also asked to comment on the statement by a presidential candidate in the United States that no Muslims should be allowed to enter the United States, Mr. Millman responded that prejudice based on religion was against any convention.