REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Rhéal LeBlanc, Chief, Press and External Relations Section, United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing attended by spokespersons of the Human Rights Council, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Food Programme, and the World Health Organization.

Syria
Mr. LeBlanc said that today, the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, alongside Stephen O’Brien, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, and Ivan Simonovic, Assistant-Secretary-General for Human Rights, would be briefing during an informal meeting of the General Assembly plenary around 4 p.m. Mr. de Mistura would be briefing from Geneva and the briefing would be webcast.

In response to a question, Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that there had been an inter-agency humanitarian convoy on 19 June with food, nutrition and health supplies for 25,000 people to Kafr-Batna. That sub-district comprised several locations including two besieged areas, Ein Tarma and Hamoryah, and three hard-to-reach communities, Hazeh, Beit Sawa and Eftreis. Those communities had last been reached in mid-April.

Mr. LeBlanc said that the cease-fire task force would be meeting today and a humanitarian task force meeting was expected to take place on 23 June, probably followed by a stakeout as usual, to be confirmed.

Niger
Christophe Boulierac, for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), introduced Viviane Van Steirteghem, UNICEF Representative in Niger. Mr. Boulierac said that over the past two weeks, insecurity in the Bosso region in eastern Niger close to Lake Chad had triggered the largest population movement since the beginning of the crisis in 2014. Ms. Van Steirteghem had visited Diffa twice in the past 14 days. Speaking via phone from Niamey, Ms. Van Steirteghem confirmed that after the events on 3 June there had been the single largest displacement in the Diffa region since the beginning of 2013. There were now more than 240,000 people on the move in the region which amounted to one third of the population of what was the least populated region of Niger. Diffa was also the eastern-most region of Niger and the least developed one in terms of social services. Nigerian refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons had settled along the Route Nationale 01, the main road crossing the region. The traffic and the military presence on the road gave a sense of security to the population.

The sites in question had been pre-existing and had their own organization. After 3 June they had had to receive an additional estimated 60,000-70,000 people along the same road. That had resulted in increased pressure on water resources especially. The newcomers, settling in three of the main sites, had arrived with their families and with their cattle. Those sites had initially been quite homogeneous in terms of linguistic groups and occupations of the inhabitants, but it was no longer the case now, and this was causing additional tensions.

UNICEF’s assistance focused very much on the coordination of the water response, initially water trucking, and now, as people were expected to settle on the sites for quite some time, also drilling. In Bosso town, prior to the 3 June event, people had had access to quite adequate health and nutrition services, provided by a number of NGOs and also by ICRC. The nutritional status of Bosso children had therefore not been worrying in the very first days. A number of men had remained in Bosso, Yebi and Toumour to watch their land and properties, so women and children were the majority in the displaced persons’ sites. There had been cases of measles reported, despite a massive vaccination campaign in December 2015. The rainy season was settling in, which would be positive if people lived close to their land, but since they lived in very temporary housing they were extremely vulnerable when the rain arrived. An increase in diarrheal diseases and respiratory tract diseases was feared, as well as cases of importation of cholera, for which preparedness was difficult to operationalize in the current conditions. Malaria was also a corollary of the rainy season, and with the Ministry of Health and the support of a number of NGO partners, UNICEF was planning a massive distribution of mosquito nets to help families protect themselves.

There was a high level of vulnerability of women and children on the sites. Some children had come unaccompanied and thanks to the NGO partners, it had been possible to find their family members and help them reunite with their families. Many of the children had seen violence and were traumatized. Protection services were being offered to allow children to express what they felt and relieve some of their stress. Women going to get water at night were very vulnerable to gender-based violence and UNICEF was preparing messaging to help them strategize and go in groups to avoid being targeted.

Regarding education, which was one of UNICEF’s priorities in this context of displacement, the school year had just finished and all the children would be able to take their examinations in the neighbouring town. UNICEF was preparing for the next school year, taking into account the increase in the number of children.

Ms. Van Steirteghem stressed that UNICEF had been able to respond by using existing emergency stocks, initially prepared for the rainy season. There were now floods in the northern part of the country. The appeal for the Diffa crisis was 25 per cent funded out of the required USD 74 million. UNICEF would be unable to provide an adequate response if other localities were to experience the same situation as what happened in Bosso, where the town was completely empty.

In response to a question about Boko Haram recruitment in the region, Ms. Van Steirteghem said that UNICEF was working with the Ministry of Justice in the case of 85 minors suspected of association with armed groups. They had all been centralized in Niamey. UNICEF was following up on them. They were receiving psycho-social care from the social services of the Directorate of Social Action of Niamey, and there were plans to provide them with vocational training.

Bahrain
Ravina Shamdasani, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said that in a further intensification of their crackdown on dissent, Bahraini authorities had in recent weeks detained a prominent human rights defender and subjected several others to travel bans; deprived individuals of their nationality; and dissolved three organisations, including the country’s largest opposition group.

On 20 June, Sheikh Issa Qassem, the highest Shia authority in Bahrain, had been stripped of his citizenship. He had been the latest of at least 250 people who had had their nationalities revoked since July 2014, when an amendment to the citizenship law had given powers to the Interior Ministry to revoke the citizenship of an individual who “aids or is involved in the services of a hostile state” or “causes harm to the interests of the Kingdom or acts in a way that contravenes his duty of loyalty to it.” Since the night of 20 June, a mass protest had been taking place outside the house of Sheikh Issa Qassem in the northwest port village of Diraz. OHCHR urged the Government to ensure that the freedom of peaceful assembly was fully respected and the protests were handled in line with Bahrain’s obligations under international human rights law. OHCHR also called on the protestors to exercise their rights peacefully and to avoid any act of violence.

In the week of 13 June, five Shia clerics had been interrogated, and Friday prayers by Shia mosques had been suspended until further notice, as mosque leaders had said they felt “unsafe”. This had followed the sentencing of Sheikh Ali Salman, the leader of al-Wefaq to nine years’ imprisonment on 30 May and the suspension on 14 June of al-Wefaq for “chronic disregard for the Kingdom’s constitution and contest of its legitimacy” and “calls for foreign interference”, as well as “promotion of violence and support to terrorist organisations” among other charges. Two other non-profit associations had also been suspended on claims of illegal fundraising and money-laundering.

Also, human rights defender Nabeel Rajab had been arrested on 13 June for “spreading false news and rumours about the internal situation in a bid to discredit Bahrain”, and there appeared to be a media campaign against human rights defenders in the country. Prior to his latest arrest, Rajab had been subject to a travel ban since at least July 2015. Travel bans had also been issued against other rights defenders, including five who had reportedly been planning on attending the current session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Other civil society activists had expressed fears that they would be next to face reprisals for their advocacy of human rights.

OHCHR was very concerned at this intensified crackdown on the freedoms of expression and association and the right to a nationality. OHCHR urged the Bahraini authorities to seek to de-escalate the situation – instead of taking such damaging steps in quick succession with a serious risk of escalating the situation.

It was unfortunate that instead of pressing forward with the recommendations made by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, which had been appointed by the King in 2011, the Government had instead sought to undermine the enjoyment of civil and political rights in the country. OHCHR urged the Government to ensure that civil society activists did not face undue pressure, intimidation or reprisals for their work or for their cooperation with UN human rights bodies. OHCHR called on the Government to take immediate confidence-building measures, including the release of all those who had been detained for the exercise of their human rights.

In response to a question regarding the number of people detained for the exercise of their human rights, Ms. Shamdasani said that it could range from 14 to 3,500 people. OHCHR had raised the issue repeatedly with Bahraini authorities. The figure of 3,500 came from some civil society organizations and OHCHR was not able to verify it. There was a lack of information on those political prisoners. It was difficult to obtain precise figures as some people were arrested and detained for a short time before being let go. Others were charged, prosecuted and convicted, then pardoned by the King after pledging to leave the country, which was why it was hard to keep tabs on the number of people currently in detention. Like Nabeel Rajab, many had been detained and released several times.

In response to another question, Ms. Shamdasani said that the right to a nationality was provided for by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 15 said that everyone had the right to a nationality and no-one should be arbitrarily deprived of his or her nationality. Deprivation to nationality was permitted under certain conditions, but it had to serve a legitimate purpose, had to be proportionate to the interest protected, and there had to be a recourse to appeal for the people to whom this had happened. Ms. Shamdasani also said that since due process had not been followed in any case, the cases of deprivation of nationality in Bahrain that OHCHR was referring to could not be justified. Given the numbers in question - a minimum of 250 people deprived of their nationality, and that number could be even higher – the measure was clearly unjustified.

Mr. LeBlanc added that in a statement issued on 16 June, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had reacted to the situation and had said that he was dismayed about reports that suggested that human rights defenders and activists in Bahrain had been intimidated and even stripped of their citizenship for peacefully carrying out activities to promote human rights, as well as for legitimately exercising their rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association.

Iraq
Cécile Pouilly, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), expressed concern about the continuing allegations of serious human rights violations and abuses against civilians fleeing Fallujah by armed groups operating in support of Iraqi security forces. OHCHR had recently received shocking footage of a man’s body being dragged at speed by a military truck while a man wearing a military uniform was hitting his disfigured and bloody head. Another video showed people being struck with a rifle and kicked in the head by men wearing military uniforms whilst exiting a truck. Ms. Pouilly stated that although OHCHR was not in a position to authenticate those videos, they depicted violations which had been reported to them by several sources and which they had previously condemned.

On 12 June, a committee set up by the Governor of Anbar to investigate violations against civilians perpetrated during the military operations in Anbar had stated that 49 people had been killed and at least 600 men had disappeared after having been taken into custody by armed groups operating in support of Iraqi security forces. It had been found that the people taken into custody by those groups had been ill-treated and/or tortured. These violations had allegedly occurred on 2-4 June near a cemetery, in the Saqlawiya area, northwest of Fallujah, and in the al-Mazra'ah area, east of Fallujah.

OHCHR welcomed those initial findings and hoped that the committee’s investigations would be pursued rigorously and extended to cover all such alleged violations. Following the announcement by the Iraqi Defence Minister that four army members had been arrested, OHCHR called on the authorities to ensure that there would be no impunity for the grave violations and abuses that had been reported. While OHCHR acknowledged measures taken by the Government of Iraq, including the establishment of another committee by the Iraqi Prime Minister on 6 June, they wished to emphasize the urgent need for Iraqi leaders – across political and sectarian divides - to articulate and publicly commit to a shared, concrete, deliverable road map towards building a truly inclusive, prosperous and peaceful society.

Ariane Rummery, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that, as tens of thousands of people had fled Fallujah, UNHCR wanted to warn of a funding crunch in the light of a very dire humanitarian situation. UNHCR was urgently seeking USD 17.5 million to meet the immediate needs of the thousands pouring out of Fallujah.

More than 85,000 people had fled Fallujah and the surrounding areas since a Government offensive had begun a month ago, on 23 May. About 60,000 of those had fled over a period of just three days, between 15 and 18 June. Thousands more could still flee the city.

The funds were desperately needed to expand the number of camps and to provide urgently needed relief supplies for displaced people who had already endured months of deprivation and hardship without enough food or medicine. UNHCR also needed funds to provide psychological care and counselling to this exhausted and deeply traumatised population.

UNHCR and its partners had been providing tents and relief aid to displaced families in Amiriyat al Falluja, Al Khalidiya and Habbaniyah Tourist City (HTC) – all within 20 to 30 kilometres of Fallujah. But with the surge in arrivals over the past week the overcrowding was desperate. Two and sometimes three families were having to share tents in many cases while others slept out in the open, without hygiene facilities. Rising temperatures, already about 46 degrees Celsius in Iraq at the moment, the absence of shade and insufficient clean drinking water were compounding an already desperate situation.

Those escalating needs had pushed UNHCR funding into crisis levels. Almost half way through the year, they had received only 21 per cent of their funding for the entire Iraq situation, including the IDPs inside Iraq as well as the refugees in the region. They were currently exhausting their available resources. Six camps had already been established but an expected 20 more would be needed over the coming weeks to house 30,000 people.

As well as Fallujah, UNHCR was also responding to the displacement over the past three months of over 20,000 people from Mosul and surrounding districts due to renewed offensives there. In the past few days, about 3,000 people had arrived in the already crowded Debaga camp in Erbil Governorate, pushing the population there and in the nearby stadium to over 10,000. The new arrivals were staying in a severely overcrowded reception centre, currently seven times above its capacity. There were few latrines, and drinking water was in short supply. It was estimated that more than a million people still lived in Mosul and any large offensive against the city could result in the displacement of up to 600,000 or more.

In response to questions, Ms. Rummery said that UNHCR was covering the camps, providing relief items such as mattresses and blankets, as well as protection activities which included psychological counselling. The population was deeply traumatized after having lived under siege for four weeks and under extremist control for two years. In the case of insufficient funding all those areas would be affected.

In response to another question, Ms. Rummery said that there had been contingency planning in Fallujah but that the scale and pace at which people had been fleeing had been very sudden in the past week. Regarding Mosul, there was an estimate that about one million people could be living there and 600,000 or more could be displaced in an eventual assault to retake the city.

Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that the entire operation in Iraq was poorly funded at the moment. The humanitarian response plan launched almost half a year ago called for USD 861 million, and was only 36 per cent funded. An additional USD 65 million was needed for the new emergency in and around Fallujah. In order to partly respond to that, the Emergency Relief Coordinator had released on 20 June an additional USD 15 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to provide urgent life-saving assistance to the people who had fled the fighting. The funding would help provide shelter, water, household kits and specialized support for victims of gender and sexual-based violence. People had fled with nothing, rushing out of the city. The average temperature in the area was 45 degrees Celsius. A lack of shade, shelter and clean drinking water were contributing to a critical situation. All donors were urged to step up, fund the overall response and urgently fund the response ongoing in Fallujah.

In response to a question about the donors, Mr. Laerke said the United States had given almost USD 90 million, Germany USD 83 million, the European Commission almost USD 49 million, Japan USD 29 million, Canada USD 17 million.

Mr. Laerke said that the CERF money was rapidly injected into areas where there was critical underfunding, meaning that programmes could not be carried out otherwise. The Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Lisa Grande, had said “Humanitarian partners are working around the clock to provide shelter, water, healthcare, household kits and specialized support for victims of gender and sexual-based violence. This CERF grant will allow to rapidly scale up our efforts, so it could not be more timely”. Those sectors would be affected if the funding did not come through. He also confirmed that there was a lack of drinking water, which was a priority to tackle.

Mr. Laerke said that the UN was talking to the Iraqi Government and was trying to adjust its contingency planning, a rolling process constantly taking into account the messages and information given by the parties on the ground, in order to provide relief as soon as possible – which was also conditioned by funding. In response to another question, Mr. Laerke said the Gulf States were not among the top 25 donors. He also underscored that everyone was invited to participate in the funding of this humanitarian effort.

Yemen
Bettina Luescher, for the World Food Programme (WFP), said that WFP and FAO were very concerned about the situation in Yemen. Various UN partners had done a food insecurity survey and were extremely concerned that the situation would deteriorate even further if the conflict persisted. Over half the country’s population was living in “crisis” or “emergency” levels of food insecurity, and at least 7 million of those were living under emergency levels (15 per cent more than in June 2015). The conflict was hitting the families very hard. There was no access to some areas. More numbers were available in the press release. WFP needed USD 238 million in order to be able to respond over the next few months. It was a dire situation and one of the biggest humanitarian crises on earth.

In response to questions, Ms. Luescher said that import restrictions had made it hard to get food into the country. Even in peaceful times Yemen had been dependent on imports. Only 12 per cent of the fuel needed by the country had been able to be brought in, with impact on people’s daily lives, and Yemen was suffering from that. Yemen had also been hit by two cyclones in November 2015. She also said there had been delays for the humanitarian shipments in the past. Access was also needed to more areas which WFP could not reach. WFP was bringing in assistance via ports, and there were significant delays for vessels entering all the major ports in Yemen, partly because of the damage to the infrastructure. The sea ports did not have the operational capacity, and the security situation was changing all the time. Access in other areas also remained a problem, due to infrastructure and lack of information.

In response to another question, Ms. Luescher said that when the assessments of the food insecurity situation were being done, all kinds of partners were working together and people on the ground were involved. WFP had been feeding 3 million people every month, and rotating the assistance between families every month in 20 out of the 22 governorates. WFP was concerned especially about the women and children, as well as the elderly. The population was cutting back on food consumption, people were sometimes eating just one meal a day. There were no numbers on starvation deaths, but Ms. Luescher would try to get back to the press with numbers of acutely malnourished children.

Mr. Boulierac said that in Sana’a, he had seen children arriving in hospitals with acute malnutrition. Many of the children had been coming from the countryside and it was hard for parents to bring their children on the brink of death to the capital.

Health Advice – Brazil Olympics
Fadela Chaib, for the World Health Organization (WHO), announced the imminent launch of the "Health Advice for Travellers to the 2016 Summer Olympic and Paralympics Games in Brazil in August and September" document. The travel advice was not only related to Zika but tackled all aspects of health and safety. It gathered information on routine vaccines required, personal protection against all vector-borne diseases (such as Zika, chikungunya or dengue), prevention (the use of condoms for safe sex for example), malaria and other infectious diseases, food safety, water safety, as well as road accidents. The document was aimed not only at travellers but also at the population in Brazil that needed protection from diseases people coming to Brazil could bring.

Human Rights Council and related press conferences
Rolando Gomez, for the Human Rights Council, updated the press on the Council’s activities. The Council was about to conclude its general debate on Item 3. The Council would then hear an oral update from the Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic by the Chairperson of the Commission, Paulo Pinheiro, touching upon recent human rights developments in Syria. A statement from Syria and an interactive discussion with States and NGOs would follow. Thereafter the Council would hear the presentation of a report by the Special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus, Miklós Haraszti, followed by a statement from that country and an interactive discussion. Close to 3 p.m., the Council would hear from the Commission of Inquiry on Eritrea formally presenting to the Council today its report published in May. Chairperson Mike Smith would deliver the statement.

Today at 1 p.m. in Press Room 1 on 21 June, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns would be presenting to the press his report, presented to the Council on 20 June, on private security providers in law enforcement contexts, as well as on his recent missions to Ukraine and Mexico. He would be stepping down after six years on the mandate. At 3.30 p.m. the Commission of Inquiry (COI) on the Syrian Arab Republic would hold a press stakeout in the space next to Room XX. All three COI members would be present: Paulo Pinheiro, Carla del Ponte and Vitit Muntarbhorn.

On 22 June, there would be an enhanced interactive dialogue on South Sudan starting at 9.30 a.m. in Room XX. There would be a cross-section of participants representing the South Sudanese Government, the African Commission for Human Rights, the Joint Monitoring Mission for South Sudan, a South Sudanese member of civil society, as well as a representative of the UN mission in South Sudan, UNMISS.

On 23 June in Room XXIII, from 9 to 11 a.m., there would be a panel discussion in connection with the report of the Commission of Inquiry on Syria on the crimes committed by ISIS against the Yazidis. The panellists would include Nadia Nurad, a young Yazidi rights activist who had been by ISIS during the August 2014 attack on Sinjar.

The deadline for resolutions submitted by States for consideration to the Human Rights Council would be on 23 June and the Council had already received a handful of resolutions, among others on youth and human rights, on Eritrea, and on violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Geneva activities
The Conference on Disarmament was holding a public plenary this morning. The Presidency of the Conference was currently held by Ambassador Luis Enrique Chávez Basagoitia of Peru, who would present this morning the results of the consultations he had held in order to advance the work of the Conference.

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, whose 58th session would end on 24 June, would hold only one public meeting next week – on 23 June at 3 p.m. – dedicated to a joint meeting with the Human Rights Committee to celebrate the 50th anniversary of both Covenants (the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights).

At the end of its session, the Committee would issue its concluding observations on the reports of the seven countries reviewed during this session, i.e France, Sweden, Honduras, Burkina Faso, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Angola and United Kingdom.

The Human Rights Committee had opened on 20 June its one hundred and seventeenth session. This morning, the Committee would conclude its review of the report of Denmark, which had started on 20 June in the afternoon. This afternoon, at 3 p.m., the Committee would start the review of the report of Kuwait, which it would finish on 22 June in the morning. During the current session, the Committee would also review the reports of Kazakhstan, Ghana, Ecuador, Burkina Faso and Argentina on how they had been implementing the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Other press conferences and announcements
Mr. LeBlanc announced a press conference on 23 June at 11 a.m. in Room III by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) launching the 2016 World Drug Report (WDR). Speakers would include Aldo Lale-Demoz, Deputy Executive Director / Director for Operations (UNODC), Chloé Carpentier, Chief, Drug Research Section (UNODC), Dr. Mariângela Simão, Director, Rights, Gender, Prevention and Community Mobilization Department (UNIAIDS) and Dr. Andrew Ball, Senior Strategy and Operations Adviser, HIV/AIDS Department (WHO).

Mr. LeBlanc also said that it was the International Day of Yoga today. A yoga lecture-demonstration event had been held at UNOG on 19 June and documented on the @UNGeneva social media accounts.


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The webcast for this briefing is available here: http://bit.ly/unog210616