REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Ahmad Fawzi, Director, a.i., United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing attended by spokespersons of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization and the World Meteorological Organization.

UN Secretary-General

Mr. Fawzi announced that the Secretary-General was in Vienna from 26 to 29 April, to chair the formal session of the UN System Chief Executives Board. He would also participate in a high-level panel commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. He would be in Geneva on 29 April to attend a ceremony commemorating the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, at which the Olympic Flame would be present at the Palais des Nations, and the UN would be awarded the Olympic Cup by the International Olympic Committee.

The ceremony would also be attended by UNOG Director-General Michael Møller, as well as Wilfried Lemke, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace, Riccardo Leyser, Brazil’s Minister for Sport, Carlos Arthur Nuzman, President of the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee, and Thomas Bach, the President of the International Olympic Committee. A stakeout would take place at 11:15 a.m. in the area across from Room XX. There would be many photo opportunities on 29 April starting at 10 a.m. (listed in the note sent to the press). Mr. Fawzi also announced that the press briefing on 29 April would be cancelled.

Geneva activities

Committees

The Committee against Torture would begin in the morning of 26 April the review of the report of Turkey. It would hear on 27 April in the afternoon the answers from the Turkish delegation to the questions raised by Committee experts. On 27 April in the morning, the Committee would begin the review of the report of Philippines. During the 57th session, taking place at the first floor of Palais Wilson until 13 May, the Committee would also review the report of Israel (in the week of 2 May).

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination had opened on 25 April at the Palais Wilson (ground floor) its 89th session by electing Ms Anastasia Crickley (Ireland) as its President. On 26 April in the morning, the Committee was having an informal (public) meeting with NGOs on the implementation of the Convention* in the countries whose reports were to be reviewed over the course of the week, i.e. Spain, Oman and Rwanda. Other reports to be reviewed during the session (ending on 13 May) were from Georgia, Azerbaijan and Namibia. In the afternoon of 26 April, the Committee would begin the review of the report of Spain.

Press conferences and other announcements

Mr. Fawzi said that tomorrow, 27 April, the Special Envoy would wrap up the second round of Intra-Syrian Talks. He would brief the Security Council in the evening, Geneva time, and would then brief the press in Geneva, in Room III. The briefing to the press would be webcast.

Mr. Fawzi announced a press conference held by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on 26 April at 4.30 p.m. in Room III, on the call for support and action in response to El Niño. The speakers would be Stephen O’Brien, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Izumi Nakamitsu, UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Assistant Administrator, as well as Dr. Wolfgang Jamann, Care International Secretary General and CEO.

Mr. Fawzi also announced a press conference by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on 27 April in Press Room 1 at 11 a.m., dedicated to the presentation of the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2016, “Nurturing productivity for inclusive growth and sustainable development”, under embargo until 6 a.m. on 28 April. The speaker would be Alfredo Calcagno, Head of the Macroeconomic and Development Policies Branch - Division on Globalization and Development Strategies, UNCTAD.

Syria

Bettina Luescher, for the World Food Programme (WFP), said that in the month of April WFP had carried out 12 high-altitude airdrops over the besieged eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor, with food for 100,000 people (equivalent to the population of the town). WFP’s local partner on the ground, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, had already distributed food to 50,000 people and the distributions were ongoing. In response to a question, Ms. Luescher clarified that the city itself was under Government control, but surrounded by ISIS, which is what made the airdrops necessary. Amounts per family had been limited to 10 kilograms of rice, chickpeas and beans, in order to reach as many people as possible. Those deliveries could be expanded to a wider variety of foods in the future.

Ms. Luescher also said that Turkey was the country hosting the most refugees from Syria and that the situation of those refugees was worsening. Almost 90 per cent of refugees were living outside of camps, often without work and in makeshift accommodations. WFP was assisting close to a quarter million of the most vulnerable Syrian refugees in camps and communities though its electronic food card programme (e-cards), having received donations from the U.S., Germany and the European Union. WFP would continue to assist 150,000 Syrian refugees living in camps, and would expand the e-card programme to assist half a million refugees living in cities across Turkey.

El Niño

Ms. Luescher said that El Niño had affected 60 million people so far, fuelling a major food security crisis, and WFP was concerned that the worst was yet to come. WFP was working very closely with Governments in all of the affected countries, providing emergency food, but also cash programmes wherever people were able to buy food. In Ethiopia alone, WFP urgently required USD 570 million to meet the needs of the drought-affected population. In that country, WFP had already distributed food to 10 million people and cash vouchers to 200,000 people. The focus was also on fighting against malnutrition of pregnant and breastfeeding women, and of young children.

Other initiatives included working with Governments on insurance payouts for families affected by El Niño, and helping build the resilience of communities by training farmers in building irrigation systems and water dams.

Iraq

In response to a question, Ms. Luescher said that in Fallujah, which had been under siege for three months, foods like meat, eggs, rice and sugar were scarce in the city markets, causing prices to skyrocket. Like all humanitarian actors, WFP was on stand-by to provide assistance when access would be restored.

Mexico

Rupert Colville, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said that OHCHR commended the invaluable work of the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (IGIE) in Mexico on the case of the enforced disappearance in Iguala of 43 students from the Ayotzinapa teacher-training college in Guerrero State, and the killing of six others in 2014. The Group, which had been appointed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and invited by the Mexican Government to follow up on the investigation of the case, had published its extensive 605-page report on 24 April.

The Iguala case had received huge attention, not just in Mexico itself but all across the world, and had become a test case of the authorities’ willingness and ability to tackle violent crime and corruption. As High Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein had stressed during his mission to Mexico in October 2015, it was very important that the Government acted decisively on the IGIE’s recommendations. OHCHR welcomed the willingness expressed by the President of Mexico and the Attorney-General’s Office to take into serious consideration the Group’s recommendations, and urged them to fully explore the new lines of inquiry suggested by the Group, and to strengthen the investigations into this emblematic case.

OHCHR was, however, concerned about the many challenges and obstacles reported by the experts that may have prevented certain lines of inquiries from being further explored, including regarding the roles and responsibilities of the military and other official authorities. OHCHR called on the Government to ensure effective follow-up to the investigation report and to tackle the broader structural challenges it has exposed. OHCHR also encouraged the Government to engage with the follow-up mechanism that the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights had announced that it would establish. The Iguala case showed the crucial role that international cooperation could play in helping States to fight impunity for serious human rights violations.

In response to a question, Mr. Colville said that the President of the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights had expressed his regrets at the decision not to extend the IGIE’s mandate, and had announced that a new entity would be set-up to monitor the case after the IGIE’s mandate expired. The main concern at present was that, with the departure of the IGIE, the final resolution of the case did not appear to be close. Careful cooperation of the Government with the follow-up mechanism was needed.

Mauritania

Mr. Colville said that OHCHR deplored the confirmation of the death sentence for apostasy against a Mauritanian blogger, Mohammad Ould M’Kaitir, by the appellate court on 21 April. Mr Ould M’Kaitir had been convicted in the first instance by the criminal court in Nouadhibou in December 2014 for an article he had published online. He had expressed repentance on several occasions since, including during the appeals hearing. Under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Mauritania had become a State party in 2004, the death penalty, if not abolished, could only be applied for the most serious crimes. OHCHR hoped that the Supreme Court, which had been seized with the case, would overturn the death sentence against Mr Ould M’Kaitir.

In response to a question, Mr. Colville said that the OHCHR office on the ground had been present in court throughout the case and had monitored the case very closely. OHCHR welcomed the fact that during the appeals case, there had at least been a proper defense able to argue its case.

Yellow fever

Christian Lindmeier, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that the Organization was reminding all travellers to Angola that they were required to receive the yellow fever vaccination and to have a valid certificate of vaccination to prove that they were protected from the disease and to prevent its further spread.

Mr. Lindmeier added that since the outbreak in Angola had begun in December 2015, 1,975 suspected cases of yellow fever, including 258 deaths, had been reported, the majority of them in the capital, Luanda, and in two other provinces. A large-scale vaccination campaign had been launched in February 2016 and had so far reached almost 7 million people.

Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General, had said: “cases of yellow fever linked to this outbreak have been detected in other countries of Africa and Asia. We are particularly concerned that large urban areas are at risk and we strongly urge all travellers to Angola to ensure they are vaccinated against yellow fever and carry a valid certificate.”

WHO’s list of countries with risk of yellow fever transmission and those with yellow fever requirements for travellers could be found on the WHO website at http://www.who.int/ith/2016-ith-annex1.pdf and http://www.who.int/ith/2015-ith-county-list.pdf?ua=1

South Asian climate outlook

Clare Nullis, for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said that the South Asian Climate Outlook Forum would issue today its forecast for the southwest monsoon season, from June to September. The monsoon accounted for 75 to 90 per cent of the rainfall in the region. The outlook would factor in the decline of the very strong El Niño, which had been associated with lower than average rainfall in much of the region in 2015, and in parts of India in particular. The outlook was destined to inform decision-making in the agricultural sector, the water sector and the health sector for the next few weeks. India had already issued its own monsoon outlook a few weeks previous, saying that it was expected to be above normal, which was good news.

Meetings with climate, water and health experts would ensue. The Climate Services Forum for Health, convened together with the World Health Organization and with the Indian Institute of Public Health, would look at how to improve the management of health risks from heatwaves like those suffered by India and Pakistan in 2015. The focus would be on improving heat health warnings, and making sure that people understood and acted on them. India was currently being affected by a heatwave, and heatwaves were expected to become more frequent and intense as a result of climate change. In response to a question, Ms. Nullis clarified that the health and heatwave meeting was the first of its kind in South Asia, but that coordination on heat and health was better developed in other parts of the world such as North America and Europe.

Hurricane Committee Meeting

Ms. Nullis said that the WMO Hurricane Committee was currently meeting, covering North and Central America, and the Caribbean, reviewing the past season for lessons learned to be applied in the forthcoming season. Items on the agenda included improving warnings and understanding of storm surges, more deadly than the winds accompanying hurricanes and cyclones. In the past 12 months, 3-4 exceptionally strong hurricanes had been seen in separate parts of the world: Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu, Cyclone Winston in Fiji, Hurricane Patricia in Mexico, and Cyclone Fantala in the southwest Indian Ocean. WMO was also retiring several names of cyclones that had been particularly deadly or destructive: Erica, replaced by Elsa, Joaquin, replaced by Julian, and Patricia, replaced by Pamela.

Construction worker deaths – Rio 2016

In response to a question, Hans von Rohland, for the International Labour Organization (ILO), said that the construction sector was one of the most dangerous ones in terms of accidents. Mr. von Rohland would check on global and regional statistics on this issue and get back to the press. The ILO’s Director-General would be going to Sao Paulo, where he would attend an international trade union congress where the issue of worker deaths on the construction sites of Rio de Janeiro Olympic installations would come up.