Transcript of the UN humanitarian briefing in Amman, Jordan, 24 March, 2003

[David]

Transcript of the UN humanitarian briefing in Amman, Jordan, 24 March, 2003

Nejib Friji, UN Spokesman:

David Wimhurst, spokesman for the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq:


Earlier today there was a report from Syria that a bus carrying Syrian civilians fleeing the war was fired on by an aircraft belonging to the occupying powers, on the Iraqi side of the border. Three people are reported dead and 16 injured. The bus appears to have been part of a convoy of 16 vehicles transporting Syrians home. The attack occurred yesterday, near Routba, which is 40 km south east of Tans, a crossing point between Iraq and Syria.
This deadly event underlines yet again the enormous responsibility the combatant forces bear, regarding the security and safety of civilians. Third country nationals and those wishing to seek refuge in a neighbouring country have every right to leave Iraq without being attacked by parties to the conflict. This right, which is enshrined in international humanitarian law, appears to have been seriously violated.


We would like to draw your attention to the fact that there can be no confusion between civilian and military responsibilities regarding humanitarian assistance. There were reports yesterday that in areas under military occupation, large amounts of humanitarian aid will rapidly be brought into Iraq by the occupying powers. The distribution of this aid should be carried out by civilian humanitarian organizations, not by military organizations. There are very good reasons why this is important. Only civilian organizations specializing in humanitarian assistance and emergency relief, whether they are United Nations agencies or NGOs working in partnership with the UN, can guarantee the impartial distribution of essential supplies. These agencies and NGOs are long experienced in assisting civilians in conflict and post-conflict situations. They always working independently of military forces but in agreement with all parties to the conflict. That independence permits them to co-ordinate the distribution of aid based on professional needs assessments. It provides them with the protection that is necessary in such situations, where close identification with one or more parties to the conflict creates a security risk. And it creates the necessary humanitarian space for all partners to carry out their activities.

Finally, concerning the airing of pictures of captured US troops yesterday that were shown on television, we are in complete agreement with the concerns expressed by the International Committee of the Red Cross last night. Those images are clear violation of the Geneva Conventions (1949) and particularly articles 13 and 14, which state that prisoners of war must be treated humanely and protected at all times from acts of violence, intimidation, insults and public curiosity. We would also like to repeat the appeal made by Sergio Vieira de Mello, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, a few days ago, on the obligation off all parties to respect human rights and international humanitarian law.

Geoffrey Keele, Spokesman for UN Children's Fund (UNICEF)
UNICEF staff in Iraq was at work today focusing on the urgent need for clean water in city hospitals in Baghdad. The importance of access to clean water is very much at the forefront of UNICEF action as the lead agency for water in this emergency. Frequent power cuts and the consequent cutting of water supplies to Iraq's second biggest city, Basra, is of considerable concern to UNICEF. This is the third day that reports say Basra has been without water. The Wafa Al-Quaid water treatment plant provides 40% of Basra's water needs, and feeds the Al Zubair Hospital. Currently, the plant is only partially functioning.
There must now be a threat of disease as tens of thousands of people in their homes, hospitals and care institutions attempt to cope and find what water they can from the river and other sources. Unfortunately the river is also where sewage is dumped.

As UNICEF has warned, bad water costs lives, especially among the most vulnerable. And the children of Iraq are some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

Not only are they suffering from high rates of malnutrition, in Basra there is the very real possibility now of child deaths, not only from the conflict, but from the additional effects of diarrhea and dehydration. We estimate that at least 100,000 children under the age of five are at risk.

UNICEF is looking at ways to provide emergency water provision as soon as conditions allow.

Over the past few years UNICEF has completely rehabilitated 37 water treatment plants, 23 compact water treatment units, ten sewerage facilities, benefiting 8.6 million people. These activities include one of the main water treatment plants and sewage plants in Basra.

In Baghdad today the UNICEF team has had talks with other agencies to look at priorities for action. One of the areas identified is the urgent need for emergency water tanks at city hospitals.

Fadela Chaib, Spokeswoman for the World Health Organization (WHO)
Water shortage in Basrah
We have received reports that, due to failure of the local power system, Basrah has been left without potable water. Teams from the International Committee of the Red Cross have managed to restore the service for approximately 40% of the population. This will only partially and temporarily cover the needs of the 1.7 million people of Basrah. WHO is worried about the impact that the lack of access to potable and clean water will have on the health situation, which could deteriorate quickly.

The three major killers of children are acute lower respiratory infections, such as pneumonia, diarrhea, and measles. These conditions account for 70% of deaths in children under five years of age. Diarrhea-related diseases are the second cause of mortality among children under the age of five. Re-hydration is one of the most efficient and cost-effective measures, but the use of re-hydration salts requires clean water. Dysentery and diphtheria could also be a major health problem. In previous, similar situations in Iraq, diarrhea diseases have accounted for 25 to 40% of deaths during the acute phase of the emergency, with 80% of deaths in under-two-year olds. Women and children will be the most affected groups.

Jordan
WHO has opened a sub-office that is walking distance from the Jordanian hospital of Ruwaished. A team of 4 WHO staff is already there. This is a referral hospital and is the first entry point for the potential refugees coming from Iraq. It has an operating theatre and a delivery room. WHO has provided one health kit for 10 000 people for 3 months. A large amount of drugs for chronic diseases will soon be available. In coordination with the Jordanian Ministry of Health, a first batch of vaccine has arrived and is stored at the hospital warehouse. More will arrive from Amman when needed. Health screening of refugees will take place at the Jordanian Karama health clinic where rapid assessment forms will be used for this purpose.

Michael Williams, Spokesman for the UNEP
The environment is a humanitarian issue because what affects the environment sooner or later affects people as well. For this reason, over the past several years UNEP has conducted a number of environmental assessments of conflict situations, notably in the Balkans, the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Afghanistan. These studies were designed to give early warning of major risks, provide timely advice on environmental priorities and clean-up activities and ensure that environmental concerns would be integrated into reconstruction programmes from the very start.

Based on these earlier experiences, and a mandate that we have been given by our Governing Council, we are now conducting a study of the Iraq environment, which is already highly stressed as a result of past conflicts. We will collect and analyze existing data and knowledge and then publish a report in late April that will recommend how to repair damage to the environment. We are also available to conduct field studies in Iraq later on.

In the meantime we are monitoring current events in the region and their potential environmental implications. For example, we are starting to analyze satellite data on the oil-fire smoke that may pose risks to residential areas in Kuwait, Iraq and Iran. We are also posting a great deal of information on conflict and environment in this region on our web site at www.unep.org.

Khaled Mansour, Spokesman for the World Food Programme (WFP)
According to reports we received from our staff in Erbil, 19 trucks carrying about 380 tons of food (vegetable oil) have offloaded their shipment in a warehouse for distribution under a nutrition programme in the northern provinces. These trucks crossed the border on March 18 (the day before the war began). As you know the borders remain closed.

In Erbil, the food handlers are still operating, so the food can be distributed. The situation is described as quiet but tense. People who had left Erbil because of the conflict are returning. Two other trucks have broken down in Mosul and WFP is attempting to find out what has happened to them.

Peter Kessler, Spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for the Refugees (UNHCR)
UN refugee agency (UNHCR) teams throughout the region are closely watching Iraq's border crossings.

There have been no refugee movements reported in the last 24 hours. This is not unexpected, in these early days of war. Iraqis are weakened by the collapse of their economy. They may lack the means to reach distant frontiers or be too afraid to go far on roads where some civilians have reportedly been hit by bombing. Perhaps, they are hoping to wait-out the conflict in their own homes with their meager supplies of food aid and other resources.

What with the grim situation reported in the southern city of Basra, where the electricity is out and water supplies seriously reduced, UNHCR mobile teams based from the southwestern Iranian city of Ahwaz are monitoring the crossings from Iraq. Further north along the frontier, a UNHCR team based in Khermanshah is visiting the Khosravi crossing today to check the frontier, following reports of attacks inside Iraq.

An eight-truck UNHCR convoy of relief items reached Silopi in southeastern Turkey this morning. Eight thousand mattresses from our regional stockpile at Iskenderun are being unloaded at the Red Crescent warehouse in Silopi. Our mobile teams in Turkey are visiting the border area near Silopi and Cukurca today.

In Syria and Jordan, our staff visited the Abu Kamel and Al Karama crossings, respectively. So far, there are no reports of any refugee movements.

Chris Lom, Spokesman for the International Organization for Migration (IOM)
IOM Director General Brunson McKinley will arrive in Amman tonight on a three-day official visit to Jordan.

Tomorrow he is scheduled to meet with Mr Shaher Bak, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr Qaftan Majali, Minister of the Interior, Dr Basem Awadallah, the Minister of Planning and Major General Majed Al Etan, Head of the Crisis Management Centre.

On Wednesday he is scheduled to visit IOM transport operations at the Iraq border and the Ruweished transit camp for third country nationals fleeing Iraq.

At 5.00 pm tomorrow, Tuesday, immediately after the UN press briefing, he will give a press conference in this room. He will outline IOM's humanitarian role in the ongoing Iraq crisis and will be happy to answer your questions.

A brief biography of Mr McKinley from IOM's website at www.iom.int is attached to this briefing note. Any broadcast media who would like to request one-on-one interviews with Mr McKinley after the press conference should let me know as soon as possible, preferably immediately after this briefing.

As you know, in relation to the Iraqi crisis, IOM's mandate includes transport for refugees and third country nationals to transit camps in countries bordering Iraq; repatriation for third country nationals; and coordination of relief efforts for displaced people inside Iraq as soon as access becomes possible.

In Jordan over the past week IOM has processed 482 third country nationals fleeing from Iraq. Some 359 of them, including 294 Sudanese, have already left Jordan to return home on flights and buses provided by IOM. Some 123 people remain in the Ruweished transit camp, pending their return home.

Third country nationals assisted by IOM in Jordan include Sudanese, Egyptians, Somalis, Eritreans, Malians, Chadians, Djiboutians and South Africans.

IOM is currently providing similar services for third country nationals fleeing Iraq into Syria. Yesterday it repatriated 28 Moroccans to Casablanca from Damascus on a commercial Syrian Airways flight.

IOM planners in the region are currently working with UN agencies, non-governmental organizations and others to prepare for the eventuality of large numbers of internally displaced people (IDPs) in post-conflict Iraq.

IOM's operations in the region are closely coordinated with governments and funded by the international donor community.

Questions and answers:

Q: Nobody seems to be drawing attention to 22 Palestinians in No Man's Land between Jordan and Iraq for the past 3 or 4 days and I think the situation is really dangerous and why isn't Jordan letting them in? I don't know what is going on there, isn't it violating international law for not letting them in. This is the latest report from

the 22 people not allowed to get into Jordan. I need some information about this?

A: First before I give you any information, part of this question should be addressed to the Jordanian authorities.

Q: Who is responsible?

A: I cannot answer instead of the Jordanian authorities; we don't have an answer on that, thank you.

Q: AL-RAI - Mr. David, in the beginning you condemned Iraq for showing pictures of the US POWs, in the beginning USA showed pictures of some Iraq POWs on the ground on TV, we considered Iraq violated the Geneva treatment laws by showing the pictures of the US POWs, but we saw USA showing pictures of Iraq POWs at the beginning of the war on the ground, is this another violation or is it only the American way?

A: As the Secretary General said and the UN chart and all the international conventions say, all parties in any conflict must apply international law. Any violation of this is a violation that cannot be accepted.

A: Thank you for your question. You must look at what is said in the convention and the definition is actually about protection from curiosity, which means they must be protected from the media, in the sense that they have the right of privacy and should not be abused in any way or humiliated publicly whatsoever. That is the distinction we should make.

Q: Dina AL Wakeel from Jordan Times: What about the Guantanamo Bay prisoners?

A: The UN position applies to all situations & I don't think there is a distinction between what David referred to & the Guantanamo prisoners. As you know the UN has raised this issue & the Secretary General has reminded everyone that all prisoners of war should be treated in the most humanitarian way & in this regard. The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sergio Vieira de Mello, recently met with President Bush & other senior US officials to discuss a number of such issues. On the 13th March, he criticized a US court ruling, which decided that the Guantanamo detainees were not protected by US law, asserting that "you cannot say that the law of a country that controls a territory does not apply to that territory."

Q: Do you have any information on the bus of Syrian passengers that was hit on the road from Baghdad because we spoke to drivers coming out of that road last night & they have confirmed to have seen a Syrian bus with its passengers being taken away. Are you operating any kind of rescue operations on those roads for other buses & passenger vehicles that could be hit?

A: I mentioned this earlier in my briefing so perhaps you came in late so you didn't hear me, so I will certainly give you a text of my briefing.

Q: Do you have any rescue plans for other vehicles or contingency plans or anything like that

A: No, we don't because we don't have access to the territory to Iraq right now. I was told could've been Syrian taxis that picked up passengers and took them back to Syria but this is something that has to be confirmed.

Q: Is there any sort of indication from the US command that this will be investigated?

A: I can't answer any questions about what the US military might or might not do. We are just concerned here about the fact that Syrians who are seeking to return home have been caught in the cross fire & suffered. All parties in the conflict must spare civilian lives & that's what we will reiterate time & time again.

Q: About the prisoners of war, are the people holding prisoners of war allowed to interrogate them?

A: My understanding is that prisoners of war can give minimal information but don't need to answer any questions.

Q: I think CNN & other media agencies have broadcast the POW's of Iraq military that are surrendering. Do you think that this is a violation to the conventions?

A: The convention is very clear, prisoners of war can't be exposed to any kind of abuse & there is a distinction that has to be made between that and simply showing images of them.

Q: Monica Peres, Chile: Was there a difference between a prisoner of war & making fun & curiosity of him. Are you saying that the pictures we saw from the US POW's had that connotation & the one's we saw from the Iraqi Nationality didn't?

A: I don't know which pictures you are referring to exactly; I did see the pictures of the American prisoners of war; they were clearly a violation of the Geneva Convention. The other pictures I believe you are referring to show a large number of Iraqi soldiers being taken prisoners & there was no interviewing on camera's, no humiliation & no abuse as, far as I understand. The distinction is that the convention is made to protect the prisoners of war from abuse & inappropriate treatment & humiliation.

Q: Nick Will, Freelance: I'd like to follow the earlier question from my Spanish colleague, where your reply seemed as if the UN was washing its hands form of the 22 Palestinians in No Mans land. Could please reiterate on what Jordan's responsibility is under the UN Charter concerning the access of refugees seeking help in another country?

A: Let me say that one Palestinian was allowed to enter Jordan today; further information on the fate of the other 22 Palestinian should be sought from the government. Indeed that the conditions of the borders of the No Mans land are entirely inappropriate for long stayers; the Jordanian Red Crescent & UNHCR, have tents in the location, delivering food, stoves, blankets & other items for the people there, ensuring that a doctor was available for an ill child. Again however on this population should be sought from the authorities.

Q: What is Jordan's legal obligation under the UN Charter on refugees that are not allowed to enter Jordan?

A: Every individual has the right to seek asylum, these people are seeking asylum but should be allowed to get aid in an appropriate center & not in a border of No Man Land.

Q: You just said concerning the Palestinian people that any individual has the right to seek asylum, what about the governments being in obligation to giving permission to those people to seek asylum or not

A: Yes, ever individual has the right to seek asylum, the individuals have the right to have that claim for asylum heard & to be cared for in a suitable environment, such as, shelter, food & the border No Mans Land is inappropriate for long stayers. Nevertheless, I want to stress, along with my colleagues at UNRWA, that no country has been a better host for refugees than Jordan, which has around 1.7 million Palestinian refugees here.

Q: What would be the next step inside Iraq after the oil for food programme has stopped & you appealed for money to reactivate the whole operation. Does a need arise inside Iraq now concerning that?

A: We have not yet finished our final document & made our appeal, this is something that should happen within a couple of days. We have said that to maintain the food distribution system inside Iraq, a system that 16 million people are entirely dependent on for 6 months that could cost us up to 1 billion dollars, but we have not finished our document & we have not yet appealed for funding. I believe that the people because of the extra rations that have been distributed to them over the last few months have enough food to sustain them & their families up until the end of April. You will see me very alarmed in three weeks from now if we don't see funding going to Iraq, ships heading to Iraq & food trucks. They should have enough food till the end of April, unless they have been displaced from their home cities & have not taken food with them.

Q: You have talked about the situation in Basra. Do you have any indication of how quickly you can supply water to the city?

A: Currently we have water supplies in neighboring countries to address this situation to some extent. Right now though the circumstances are preventing us from getting in there right away. As my colleague said there are some people from the ICRC on the ground, who have restored to some extent the capacity of these water treatment plants to treat & distribute water. Our hopes are for this to continue & more water will be pumped & distributed to the people & that this crisis will end very shortly.

Q: You mentioned in Basra, that Al Qaeda water treatment plant is not working; is it a result of a bombardment or a result of electricity power cut?

A: It isn't the biggest, but one of the largest & supplies water to 40% of the population in Basra. We have no information on why the power was out, whether a bombardment or something else. We hope to get this information in the coming days.

Q: At what time will you be able to get aid to Iraq, when do you assess that that will be possible?

A: We'll get aid into Iraq as soon as the conditions allow the UN aid workers to operate in Iraq. We are ready to go at any time. Basically what we require is the security to carry out & implement all the aid programmes we have ready. That depends on the situation on the ground, which we can't control or determine, but as soon as we receive word that the security situation on the ground will bear an assessment from our UN staff, then we will go in, but we can't assess a timeline to go in.

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