REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was attended by the spokespersons for the International Labour Organization, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Food Programme, the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Update from the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria

Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, said that consultations with key interlocutors and partners were ongoing as the Special Envoy and his team continued to forge a path towards establishing the constitutional committee under the auspices of the United Nations. On 28 May 2018, the Office of the Special Envoy had received a list of names for the committee from the Government of Syria; that list was being carefully studied.


Human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia

Elizabeth Throssell, for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), made the following statement:

“We are disturbed by the arrest in Saudi Arabia, over the past two weeks, of a number of activists and human rights defenders working on issues relating to women’s rights. Since 15 May, it appears that at least 13 activists, mostly women, have been arrested, although four of the women were reported to have been subsequently released. Given the significant loosening of certain restrictions on women’s activities in Saudi Arabia in recent months, including the forthcoming ending of the ban on women driving, it is perplexing why both women and men engaged in campaigning for such positive developments are now being targeted by the authorities.

According to Saudi media reports, the allegations against the remaining six women and three men known to have been taken into custody, appear to be very serious, and could lead to draconian sentences. The detainees’ whereabouts are unknown, and it is reported that most of them have only been permitted to make a single telephone call to their families since they were arrested. One woman has allegedly been detained completely incommunicado.

We urge the Saudi Arabian authorities to reveal their locations, and ensure their rights to due process guarantees. These include the right to legal representation, the right to know the reason for their arrests, the nature of the charges against them, the right to have access to their families, the right to challenge the legality of their detention before a competent, independent and impartial tribunal and if charged with an offense, the right to be brought to trial within a reasonable period of time.

If, as it appears, their detention is related solely to their work as human rights defenders and activists on women’s issues, they should be released immediately. We are concerned that the lack of transparency surrounding their situation could open the door to abuse of their physical and psychological integrity, and remind the Saudi authorities of the total prohibition of torture and harmful or degrading treatment under international law.

We are also concerned by the apparent arbitrary detention and disappearances of other people, without explanation or apparent due process. A recent example is Nawaf Talal Rasheed, a prince from the Al-Rashid dynasty, and the son of the late poet Nawaf Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al-Rashid. He is a dual national (Qatari and Saudi Arabian) and was allegedly deported from Kuwait on 12 May, and has not been heard of since. We urge the Saudi authorities to immediately provide information concerning his whereabouts, and make clear whether or not he has been arrested, detained or charged, and if so on what grounds. And, as in the case of the women’s rights activists, we call on the authorities to ensure his right to physical and psychological integrity as well as due process.”

Afghanistan

Elizabeth Throssell, for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), made the following statement:

“The report by the UN Human Rights Office and the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), ‘Injustice and Impunity: Mediation of Criminal Offences against Women’, examines the wide use of mediation by community leaders, Shuras, Ulemas and Jirgas, as well as Elimination of Violence against Women institutions, to resolve criminal offences against women. The concern that we have is that Violence against women in Afghanistan, including so-called ‘honour killings’, too often goes unpunished, despite concrete efforts by the Government to criminalise these practices, with victims often pressured into agreeing to mediation, instead of the alleged perpetrator being brought to trial.

The report is based on 237 documented cases of violence against women between 1 August 2015 and 31 December 2017, 280 cases of murder and ‘honour killings’ in 2016 and 2017 and focus group discussions with 1,826 mediators. The High Commissioner has said that the wide use of mediation when a woman or girl has been beaten, mutilated or murdered, or when she has been the victim of that awful concept of ‘honour killing’, normalizes such violence and makes it much more likely to recur. It also erodes the confidence of women – and the wider public – in the legal system.”

Irish referendum on abortion

Responding to questions from the press relating to the recent referendum in Ireland to repeal the ban on abortion, Elizabeth Throssell, for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said that OHCHR had repeatedly stated that women have the right to have an abortion in certain cases. The situation varied from one country to the next, but OHCHR generally welcomed the outcome of the Irish referendum. Christian Lindmeier, for the World Health Organization (WHO) said that WHO had repeatedly stressed the need for access to safe abortion within the legal framework of any given country.

Mali

Christophe Boulierac, for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said that the Executive Director of UNICEF, Henrietta Fore, was currently in Mali. He recalled that children in Mali continued to suffer in silence, six years after the beginning of the armed conflict. They were regularly denied their basic rights to food, education and survival. He then made the following statement:

“Amid increasing violence, more children are going hungry in Mali, missing out on learning and dying in the first days of life. More than 850,000 children under the age of five are at risk of global acute malnutrition this year, including 274,000 facing severe malnutrition and at imminent risk of death. This represents a 34 per cent increase and is largely due to the worsening food security situation in parts of the country. Severe acute malnutrition rates are highest in the conflict affected areas in the north, exceeding 15 per cent in Timbuktu, while limited donor interest has made it harder to acquire the necessary amounts of therapeutic food, critical to curing malnourished children.

Over a million children in Mali are currently out of primary school, a 30 per cent increase since 2009. To date, 750 schools remain closed in the northern and central parts of the country due to insecurity, affecting over 300,000 school-aged children. An additional 1 million children are out of secondary school.

With 1 in 28 newborns dying in the first month of life, Mali is in the top 10 countries with the highest newborn mortality rates in the world. (It was ranked No. 9.) Maternal mortality is also one of the highest globally, with 1 in 27 women likely to die from pregnancy-related causes. During her visit to Bamako yesterday, our Executive Director Fore stressed the importance of peacebuilding and social cohesion, including equal inclusion of girls in education, health care and protection, as paramount conditions for peace and development. Peace and development in Mali start with investment in children and young people, especially girls.

UNICEF is working in Mali with partners to provide life-saving support for children in extremely dangerous circumstances. We have five field offices, some of them in dangerous areas, such as Timbuktu, Gao and Mopti, to provide children with the basic assistance they need. We are delivering health, water and sanitation, nutrition, education and child protection services to children sometimes in inaccessible communities.

But funding for Mali for UNICEF remains scarce. For example, with the drastic deterioration of the nutrition situation in 2018, lack of funding will make it hard for us to acquire the therapeutic food that is so critical to malnourished children. Almost 80 per cent of our USD 37 million humanitarian appeal for 2018 remains unfunded.”

Somalia floods

Bettina Luescher, for the World Food Programme (WFP), said that WFP was very concerned about the 700,000 people who were in flood-hit areas of Somalia; nearly 300,000 of them had been displaced. There had been widespread flooding in central, south and north Somalia owing to particularly heavy rains since April. This was yet another example of people being affected by natural disasters; if compounded by conflict, the situation could become dire.

WFP continued to support livelihood and safety net activities wherever possible, in order to build up resilience. Once again, however, WFP was suffering from lack of funding. The agency needed some USD 120 million to assist people in Somalia until the end of October 2018. A comprehensive humanitarian response had helped avert famine in 2017 and saved many lives in Somalia, but assistance needed to be sustained in 2018 so that important gains were not lost. In 2018, WFP was aiming to reach 3 million people in Somalia and was working with partners to reach those affected by the floods. It was handing out two-month food rations, distributing high-energy biscuits and mobilizing boats to reach people cut off by the water; in addition, the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service, managed by WFP, had added a helicopter to its fleet so that aid workers could reach flood-affected areas not accessible by fixed-wing aircraft.

Somalia was vulnerable for many reasons: a drought-prone country, it also experienced seasonal flooding. Years of insufficient rains, combined with land degradation, volatile food prices and a lack of seasonal jobs had made Somalis more prone to hunger and malnutrition. Conflict, displacement and poor governance only made the situation worse. Insecurity disrupted trade and agriculture and sometimes limited access for humanitarian assistance. Some 73 percent of Somalis lived in poverty. School enrolment and literacy were among the lowest in the world, with up to 3 million school-aged children out of school.

Deaths in the Mediterranean

Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that since Friday, 25 May, some 2,220 people had been rescued in the waters between North Africa and Italy; another 1,000 arrivals were expected shortly. While deaths remained low along that route, they were very high in the western Mediterranean: the number of deaths on the route to Spain, including 14 over the previous weekend, had already surpassed those recorded in 2017. Deaths in those waters had nearly doubled from 2014 to 2015 and then nearly doubled again from 2016 to 2017. Having reached the 2017 total – 224 drowned men, women and children – in fewer than five months of 2018 thus far, it was possible that 2018 might become the third year of the past five during which annualized Western Mediterranean Sea deaths had doubled.

International Labour Conference

Hans von Rohland, for the International Labour Organization (ILO), made the following statement:

“This morning, the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards is expected to adopt a list of 24 countries and discuss the situation of labour rights in the latter. It also looks at a general survey on standards related to working time reflecting the experience of member States.

Tomorrow, 30 May, we will launch the annual report of the ILO Director-General on ‘The situation of workers in the occupied Arab territories’. We will send a press release without embargo in the morning.

On 1 June, Juan Manuel Santos, President of Colombia and Nobel Peace Prize winner, will address the Conference at noon.

On 7 June, a high-level World of Work Summit will discuss the role of jobs and decent work in securing peace and stability in countries emerging from crisis, conflict and disaster. The Prime Minister of Iraq, Haider a-Abadi, and the Presidents of the Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, and of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, will address the Conference on that day.”

Announcements

Joel Millman, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, 29 May, in press room 1, the former President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, would be giving a press conference on the outcome of the High-level Panel on Migration in Africa, held on 28 and 29 May at IOM headquarters.

Catherine Huissoud, for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), said that at 3 p.m., on Monday, 4 June, in press room 1, UNCTAD would hold a press conference related to the launch of its 2018 World Investment Report. The report included an overview of investment and industrial policies, and focused on trends in investment, at the country, regional and global levels. Also on 4 June, the Trade and Development Board would begin its sixty-fifth session, which would run from 4 to 12 June. The Board was responsible for overseeing the activities of the UNCTAD Secretariat between the quadrennial Conferences.

Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, said that at 3 p.m. on Thursday, 31 May 2018, an official ceremony would be held in Ariana Park on the occasion of the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers. A debate would then follow, at 4 p.m. in conference room XXVI; and at 6.30 p.m., Ciné-ONU was holding a free screening of the film “Until There Is Peace” at Cinérama Empire, Geneva. Since 29 May 1948, the day that the General Assembly had authorized the first United Nations peacekeeping operation in the Middle East, more than one million men and women had participated in 71 operations and 3,737 of them had unfortunately lost their lives in the service of peace. And the international community honoured theses losses in this 70^th anniversary of UN Peacekeeping operations.

Ms. Vellucci said that the Committee on the Rights of the Child would meet in private until the end of its seventy-eighth session on 1 June 2018, when it would issue concluding observations on the reports of the seven countries reviewed at its current session: Argentina, Angola, Algeria, Montenegro, Russian Federation, Lesotho and Norway.

Ms. Vellucci said that the Committee on Enforced Disappearances would also meet in private until the end of its fourteenth session on 1 June 2018, when it would issue concluding observations on the reports of the three countries reviewed at its current session: Honduras, Austria and Albania.

She recalled that at 10 a.m. on the morning of 29 May, the Conference on Disarmament had opened its first public meeting under the presidency of Syria, represented by H.E. Mr. Hussam Edin A’ala.

Press Conferences

Tuesday, 29 May at 1:00 p.m. in Press Room 1
IOM
High-Level Panel on Migration for Africa (HLPM) – Changing the narrative about African migration
Press conference by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Former President of Liberia and Chair of the HLPM
https://bit.ly/2smpuM9


Tuesday, 29 May at 2:00 p.m. in Room III
IFRC/WHO
Update on IFRC/Red Cross and WHO Ebola operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
Press conference by Mr Elhadj As Sy, IFRC Secretary General; Dr Peter Salama, WHO Deputy Director-General for Emergency Preparedness and Response; Dr Emanuele Capobianco, Director, Health and Care (IFRC); Dr Michael J Ryan, WHO Assistant Director General, Emergency Preparedness and Response.
https://bit.ly/2smhPgN


Wednesday, 30 May at 10:30 a.m. in Press Room 1
WHO
On the World No Tobacco Day 2018 (31 May), WHO is focusing on the strong connection between tobacco use as a major cause of cardiovascular diseases, like stroke and heart attack.
Release of a new publication, entitled the WHO global report on trends in prevalence of tobacco smoking 2000–2025, which demonstrates progress in tobacco control efforts. (Report under embargo until 31 May at 00:01 a.m. Geneva time)
Press conference by Dr Douglas Bettcher, Director, Department for the Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases, WHO; Dr Kerstin Schotte, Medical officer, Department for the Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases, WHO; Dr Vinayak Prasad, Project Manager, Tobacco Control, WHO.
https://bit.ly/2KQL4QF


Thursday, 31 May at 12:00 p.m. in Press Room 1
UNCTAD
Presentation of the Economic Development in Africa Report 2018 - Migration and Structural Transformation (Embargoed 31 May at 5 pm GMT)
Press conference by Isabelle Durant, UNCTAD Deputy Secretary General; Patrick Osakwe, UNCTAD - Head, Trade and Poverty Branch - Division for Africa, Least Developed Countries and Special Programmes.
https://bit.ly/2rQvNr9


Monday, 4 June at 3:00 p.m. in Press Room 1
UNCTAD
Publication of the World Investment Report 2018: Investment and New Industrial Policies (embargo 6 June 2018 at 5 p.m. GMT)
Press Conference by Mukhisa Kituyi, UNCTAD Secretary-General; James Zhan, UNCTAD, Director, Division on Investment and Enterprise
https://bit.ly/2IXMsAq


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The webcast for this briefing is available here: http://bit.ly/unog290518