REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Rhéal LeBlanc, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section, United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was attended by the spokespersons for the United Nations Refugee Agency, the World Health Organization, the International Organization for Migration, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the International Labour Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund.
Reported atrocities in DR Congo’s Tanganyika province
Andrej Mahecic, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), made the following statement:
“UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, warned today that a humanitarian disaster of extraordinary proportions was about to hit the southeastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as the province of Tanganyika plunges further into violence, triggering spiraling displacement and human rights abuses.
Several areas of the province have seen atrocities and mass displacement, due to entrenched intercommunal conflicts between the Twa, the Luba and other ethnic groups. Moreover, fierce clashes between the Congolese armed forces and militias have continued since the end of January, while new armed groups threaten to wreak more havoc in the province.
People fleeing for their lives near the provincial capital Kalemie have shared stories of horrific violence during attacks against their villages, including killings, abductions and rape. UNHCR partners documented some 800 protection incidents in the first two weeks of February in Tanganyika, marking an upwards trend.
Throughout 2017, UNHCR partners documented over 12,000 reports of human rights violations in Tanganyika and the nearby area of Pweto in the Haut Katanga province, to where the conflict has spread. However, UNHCR fears that the number of the people affected by the violence could be much higher since many areas were too dangerous to reach.
While the majority of the incidents concerned violations of property rights including extortions, plundering and destruction, some 4,700 of these incidents referred to physical abuse, torture, murders, arbitrary arrests, forced labour, rape and forced marriages.
Sexual violence is of particular concern. Despite access challenges and the prevailing stigma for those affected, UNHCR’s partners managed to record 523 cases of sexual and gender based violence in Tanganyika and in Pweto, referring survivors to medical services, judicial assistance and psychosocial support. About half of them were children.
Overall, already vulnerable displaced populations most often fell victim to the latest atrocities. These were not only committed in the context of the ethnic conflict, but also by the soldiers deployed to fight the renegade militias.
UNHCR calls on the Congolese authorities to ensure the protection of the civilian population, to effectively follow-up any reports of crimes attributed to the armed forces and to put an end to the perception of impunity related to human rights abuses.
The violence spreading across Tanganyika, which is three times the size of Switzerland with a population of some three million, has now internally displaced over 630,000 people. This number is almost double the 370,000 who were displaced within Tanganyika in December 2016. UNHCR is working with partners to redress this calamitous situation, but is appealing for increased assistance to help the population cope.
Last year, UNHCR received less than US$1 per person in donor contributions for its programmes for the internally displaced in the DRC. This has left many displaced in Tanganyika receiving hardly any humanitarian aid. In Kalemie, thousands of families lack the plastic sheeting which could protect them from the rain. People often suffer from hunger and lack of medical support. Single women and widows without appropriate shelter run an even higher risk of sexual abuse and violence in the displacement areas.
For 2018, UNHCR is appealing for US$368.7 million for the Congolese situation. A total of US$80 million is required to support the internally displaced populations inside the DRC.“
Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said there had been a dramatic deterioration in the situation in DRC over the past year, the violence spreading to the previously stable and calm provinces of Kasai and Tanganyika. The number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in DRC had reached 4.35 million, the highest figure for any African country. With additional funding received from Sweden, IOM had achieved the successful return of some IDPs in recent days, with 30 households returning as they had planned to their area of origin, and another 71 households deciding on the day the returns took place to join them rather than transfer to another displacement site. Working in close collaboration with the Congolese authorities, IOM facilitated the return of 102 households, or 230 persons, to the Kasanga-Mtoa area.
Responding to questions from journalists, Mr. Mahecic said the violence had spiralled towards the end of 2017, particularly in Tanganyika province, with existing armed groups using more firearms and showing increased aggression, as well as the formation of new armed groups. The protection incidents mentioned were cases of rape and killing, abuse, arbitrary arrest and forced labour or forced marriage. While militias tended to be ad hoc formations that had a joint interest in pillaging or stealing, perhaps under the guise of a political aim, most of the violations committed concerned extortion, illegal taxation at road blocks and other allegations against soldiers of the Congolese armed forces. The situation in DRC had already been extremely serious, and the recent sharp escalation of the conflict together with the serious lack of humanitarian resources meant that there would be a massive humanitarian disaster if the call for additional funds to help address the population’s needs for shelter and other assistance was not heeded.
Asked about the need to call on multinational corporations working in the region to show respect for human rights, and on the governments of arms-exporting countries to refrain from allowing weapons to be sold to the different parties to the conflict, Mr. Mahecic said his organization constantly channeled the message that the fundamental need of the population of DRC was for peace and stability.
Rhéal LeBlanc, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section, United Nations Information Service in Geneva, added that humanitarian agencies on the ground continued to provide essential aid to the population, as much as possible, and made the following statement:
“Regarding the Democratic Republic of the Congo, our colleagues at the World Food Programme (WFP) recently said it was energizing its emergency operation to prevent famine in war-ravaged Kasai by distributing cash to the most vulnerable people and providing support to check acute malnutrition in women and young children. Since the launch last week of the cash initiative, 38,000 people had received the equivalent of $15 each for a month to meet their basic food needs. The intention is to more than double that reach in the coming weeks. Recent airlifts from France had also enabled a significant scale-up of WFP’s nutrition interventions in Kasaï: 56,000 malnourished children treated in January, up from 21,000 in the final quarter of last year. An estimated 3.2 million people, a quarter of the region’s population of mostly subsistence farmers, are desperately short of food, in a context of continued funding constraints, an upsurge in fighting between pro- and anti-Government forces and a rapid deterioration of the already poor road network due to the rainy season.”
Responding to questions from journalists, Mr. Mahecic said the figure of USD 368.7 million called for in the appeal for 2018 was based on information available in December 2017 and might need to be revised as the data changed. Of the 3 million people in Tanganyika province, 630,000, or one fifth, were already internally displaced persons and that figure was growing.
Update on Monsoon preparations in Bangladesh
Andrej Mahecic, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), made the following statement:
“UNHCR, UN Refugee Agency, is following the situation of several thousand Rohingya who have been living in a so-called “no man’s land” near the border between Myanmar and Bangladesh since the end of August 2017.
We estimate there are some 1,300 families, approximately 5,300 men, women, boys and girls living in the area near Tombru canal. Several representatives of this group have indicated that they fear returning home and wish to seek safety in Bangladesh.
UNHCR reiterates that everyone has the right to seek asylum, just as they also have the right to return home when they deem the time and circumstances right. People who have fled violence in their country must be guaranteed safety and protection, and must be consulted on their future. Any decision to return must be voluntary, based upon a free and informed choice.
Meanwhile in Bangladesh, together with the authorities, UNHCR and partners continue to step up preparations to ensure that refugees are as well-protected as they can be ahead of the monsoon season. To date, we have distributed over 33,000 upgraded shelter kits for refugee families, including biodegradable sandbags to help anchor the structures.
Small engineering projects continue in the settlements where UNHCR operates to build bamboo-reinforced footpaths and stairs, raised bridges, and retaining walls for soil stabilization and drainage networks. We are also pre-positioning 35 containers of post-storm relief items at distribution points across Kutupalong and Nayapara camps.
Families most at risk of floods and landslides will be encouraged to relocate to other areas. Given the limited land available in the settlements, strict prioritization on relocations will need to be undertaken.
Today, we began relocating the first 50 families living in one flood prone area to a new and safer part of the site. They will be among 381 households who will be relocated over the next week. Other families will be relocated by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
We continue consultations with the Bangladesh government about the relocation in order to increase the number of refugees we can relocate who are currently living in locations at risk of landslides or flooding in the coming weeks.
UNHCR staff are facilitating community engagement in preparedness efforts, in particular on appropriate messaging to communities likely to be affected by landslides, floods or cyclones, and analysing community coping mechanisms and preparedness plans.”
Christian Lindmeier, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said an estimated 688,000 Rohingyas had crossed from Myanmar into Bangladesh since 25 August 2017. They were living in camps, settlements and together with the host population, making a total of 1.3 million people who needed humanitarian assistance. The health status of the Rohingyas was generally poor, with very low immunization coverage, around 50 per cent of children malnourished and 25 per cent of under-fives suffering from acute malnutrition. Approximately 65 per cent of women had low or no access to gynaecological or obstetric services. It was estimated that 60,000 children would be born in the refugee camps in the coming year, with two thirds of deliveries taking place at home. It was extremely important to prepare for the upcoming monsoon and cyclone season and, to that end, WHO was working with the Government and over 100 partner agencies to expand services in over 270 health facilities in the camps and settlements. WHO had collaborated with the Ministry of Health in administering over 900,000 doses of cholera vaccine to the Rohingya population in October and November 2017. A second round of diphtheria vaccinations had reached nearly 392,000 children aged between 6 weeks and 15 years, bringing coverage to 95 per cent, a level unprecedented in a population on the move. As of 17 February, there were 5,700 suspected cases of diphtheria and 38 deaths, 50 of the cases, but no deaths, being in the host population. Over 335,000 children had also been vaccinated against measles and rubella during a three-week campaign in November 2017.
In response to questions from journalists, Mr. Mahecic said refugees often chose to remain as close to their former homes as possible, which was why some Rohingya refugees were reportedly in the border area considered as no-man’s land. It was, however, difficult to assess the needs of those who were not in a specific country. Some of the refugees concerned had expressed the wish to seek safety in Bangladesh, but more clarity was needed as to their wishes in general, as it was not safe for them to remain where they were. They had received some aid through the International Committee of the Red Cross. UNHCR did not yet have humanitarian access in Northern Rakhine and so could not give any information on the conditions in the refugee camps there or on the number of refugees who had returned to Myanmar.
Libya survey of undocumented third country nationals
Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that, while the detailed report on migrants from Libya would be released only in a few days’ time, the displacement tracking mechanism showed that there were over 700,000 migrants in the country, from sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere. Since the beginning of 2018, IOM had organized over 3,100 voluntary returns to countries such as the Niger, Bangladesh, Cote d’Ivoire, the Sudan and Sierra Leone, making a total of 22,510 such returns from Libya since 1 January 2017.
Latest Mediterranean figures
Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said there had been a startling rise in the number of fatalities in migrants crossing off the coast of Algeria in 2018; information had been received of 20 deaths there. As had been the case with Tunisia in 2017, the migrants attempting the crossing in small boats were mainly nationals of the country concerned, but it was to be expected that smuggling networks would draw in other nationalities with time. Only 600 migrants had arrived in Italy in February, probably as a result of the situation in Libya combined with the severe weather conditions. Over 2,000 had been rescued by coastguard services since the beginning of 2018.
Launch of the Burundi Humanitarian Response plan
Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), made the following statement:
“The Burundi 2018 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) was launched yesterday in Bujumbura to assist 2.4 million people in need of assistance across the country, more than double the number of people targeted last year. In total, some 3.6 million people in Burundi are in need of aid, and over one-quarter of Burundi’s population is estimated to be acutely food insecure. This represents a 7 per cent increase compared to 2016. Nearly US$142 million are required in funding to the HRP which focuses on supporting the return of internally displaced people and the reintegration of returnees and repatriated people, as well as give due attention to people affected by natural hazards. More information is available online: http://bit.ly/2sIAyqk .”
Syria
Responding to questions from journalists about the reported bombing of five hospitals in East Ghouta the previous day, Mr. Lindmeier, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that efforts were being made to verify the reports, and to attempt to gain access for medical supplies and to evacuate victims. WHO had called on all parties to protect the civilian population and the health service infrastructure and to allow humanitarian access.
Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said Panos Moumtzis, Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis, had made a statement on the situation in East Ghouta the previous day, saying that:
“The recent escalation of violence compounds an already precarious humanitarian situation for the 393,000 residents of East Ghouta, many of them internally displaced, and which account for 94 per cent of all Syrians living under besiegement today.
Overall access to East Ghouta remains woefully inadequate. No convoys were undertaken in December and January due to limited access.
While requests for inter-agency humanitarian convoys for East Ghouta are systematically made monthly, just one convoy was allowed to the town of Nashabieh on 14 February, delivering life-saving food, health and nutrition assistance to 7,200 people, but well short of the overall needs.”
Responding to questions from journalists, he said that besiegement would be illegal under international law if the intention was to prevent people escaping or accessing aid, but that would need to be established. As of 6 p.m. the previous day, it had been reported that the shelling and aerial bombardment of the town of Duma had caused 30 deaths in a severe escalation of the fighting.
In answer to a request for specific information on casualties on the ground in Syria, Mr. Christophe Boulierac, for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said that no verified information had been received on the number of casualties, including child casualties, of the previous day’s bombing in East Ghouta, nor a date for any evacuation.
Mr. Rhéal LeBlanc, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section, United Nations Information Service in Geneva, said the United Nations was fully monitoring the situation. It deplored the systematic use of violence against the civil population and hospital facilities and called on all parties to de-escalate the fighting. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference last week, the UN Special Envoy for Syria had said the current situation was one of the most dangerous and violent that he had seen during his mandate, including inside the de-escalation zone.
On the political front, Mr. LeBlanc added that the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria, Staffan di Mistura, back in Geneva, continued to work towards the establishment of a constitutional committee comprising representatives of the Government, the opposition, civil society, rebel leaders, women and other sectors of society, as well as towards the next Geneva talks, for which there were as yet no dates or other details.
WHO announcement
Christian Lindmeier, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said a WHO meeting on the composition of the influenza virus for the 2018 northern hemisphere vaccines was being held in the Starling Hotel, Geneva. An open session would be held for the media from 9 to 11 a.m. on Thursday 22 February 2018 to announce the composition of the new vaccine.
Geneva events and announcements
Rhéal LeBlanc, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section, United Nations Information Service in Geneva, said that 21 February 2018 would be celebrated as International Mother Language Day, to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. A documentary film called “Mother Tongue: Revisiting the Inca Language” would be shown in the Kazakh room, room 14 at 12.30 p.m., followed by a discussion with the director of the film, the director of UNESCO in Geneva and the focal point for multilingualism at UNOG.
Mr. LeBlanc also said the Conference on Disarmament would be meeting in public plenary under the presidency of Sweden until 18 March 2018.
The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was continuing to meet until 9 March 2018, and would be considering the reports of Nepal, Oman, the Sudan, Slovenia, Seychelles and the Russian Federation.
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women had begun its sixty-ninth session this week and would be meeting until 9 March to consider the reports of countries such as Malaysia, Chile, the Republic of Korea, Fiji, Saudi Arabia, Surinam, Luxembourg and the Marshall Islands.
Press Conferences
OHCHR
Human Rights Council, 37th regular session (26 February-23 March)
Wednesday, 21 February at 9:30 a.m. in Press Room 1
http://bit.ly/2sJ2nyG
WHO
Launch of new consolidated guidelines on TB preventive treatment
Wednesday, 21 February at 11:00 a.m. in Press Room 1
http://bit.ly/2omqa1Y
UNICEF
Pre-embargo launch of UNICEF Child Alert: the dangers facing Rohingya children in Bangladesh and Myanmar six months after the latest mass flight of refugees
Thursday, 22 February at 11:00 a.m. in Press Room 1
http://bit.ly/2EGSSoN
The webcast for this briefing is available here: http://bit.ly/unog200218