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UNIS Geneva press briefing
16 November 2004
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16 November 2004
REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which provided information on the latest developments in Côte d'Ivoire, Geneva activities, human rights and other issues. Spokespersons for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Food Programme, the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Health Organization, the International Labour Office, UNAIDS, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the United Nations Children's Fund, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN), the World Intellectual Property Organization, and the International Organization for Migration participated in the briefing.
Côte d'Ivoire
The Director said that the Security Council had yesterday unanimously adopted a resolution concerning Côte d'Ivoire in which it imposed an immediate, 13-month arms embargo against the country and gave the parties there one month to get the peace process back on track or face a travel ban and a freeze on their assets. Copies of the resolution were in the press room.
The Director said the International Day for Tolerance was commemorated today. The Secretary-General's message on the occasion of this International Day was available in the Documentation Centre. In his message, Mr. Annan noted that the global landscape continued to be scarred by fanaticism, exploitation of ignorance, and the fear of the "other", adding that one of the best responses to such toxic behaviour was to cultivate tolerance.
The Director said last week, the Secretary-General had condemned the use of hate media which was fuelling the tensions, xenophobia and inciting violent acts in Côte d'Ivoire. The Secretary-General's message was available in English and in French in the press room.
The Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on the prevention of genocide, Juan Mendez, had issued a statement yesterday in which he expressed his concern over the situation in Côte d'Ivoire, the Director said. He was particularly distressed by reports of hate speech and the ensuing actions of armed militant groups. He said the current crisis had deepened sentiments of xenophobia and could exacerbate already worrisome and widespread violations of human rights, which in the recent past had included extrajudicial executions, torture, arbitrary detention, disappearances and sexual violence. Mr. Mendez said that if the xenophobic expressions persisted and caused the further evacuation of essential humanitarian relief workers, he recommended that the UN and Licorne troops already in the field should be expanded and instructed to deploy so as to afford direct protection to civilian populations at risk of attack because of their ethnic, religious or citizenship status. The statement of the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General was available in the Documentation Centre.
Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the situation in Côte d'Ivoire remained extremely volatile. In Abidjan, shops had opened and there was more traffic on the roads. In the zone of confidence, the situation was relatively calm. Concerning UN humanitarian agencies, OCHA would be redeploying its team as quickly as possible in the north and west of the country to deal with the emergency situation. As was stressed at the meeting in Dakar for UN humanitarian agencies and non-governmental organizations last Friday, this humanitarian crisis would continue, even if the political situation calmed down, and it was necessary to respond to this emergency situation with emergency means. The meeting had also stressed that neighbouring countries could not sustain any large numbers of fleeing Ivorians so it was necessary to prevent a situation which would lead to large population movements. Also, free access had to be ensured through the zone of confidence.
Mrs. Byrs said there would be a joint press conference on Friday, 19 November at 11:30 a.m. in Room III after the briefing by Dennis McNamara, the Director of the Inter-agency Internal Displacement Division, and Walter Kalin, the Representative of the Secretary-General for internally displaced persons, to introduce a report on the protection of internally displaced persons.
Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said that as noted by Elizabeth, there was relative calm in Côte d'Ivoire but the situation remained very volatile and tense. Some of WFP's activities remained suspended. The fleeing of some Ivorians towards Liberia was also of concern to WFP. It had moved one ton of high energy biscuits for immediate distribution to the arriving refugees and had pre-positioned 100 tons of food aid to respond to the needs.
Ron Redmond of the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees said that the number of Ivorians fleeing in northeastern Liberia over the past 10 days was now estimated to have surpassed 10,000, with new arrivals reported daily. Ivorians were arriving in Liberia through at least 12 entry points along the border. UNHCR's monitoring work was being considerably slowed down by the very poor state of the roads. The majority of the refugees were, for the time being, staying in public buildings with local people. The main problem for both refugees and the local community was a shortage of food. The humanitarian dimension of the crisis in Côte d'Ivoire and its potential impact on Liberia was of grave concern to UNHCR.
Geneva Activities
The Director said the Committee against Torture opened its thirty-third session yesterday in Salle X1 of the Palais des Nations. It adopted its agenda and programme of work. The Committee will consider reports from Argentina, Great Britain and Greece during its two-week session. The Committee's meetings were public. This morning and tomorrow afternoon, the Committee would be considering the report of Argentina. And on Wednesday morning and Thursday afternoon, it would be reviewing the report of the United Kingdom. Available in the press room was the background press release on the Committee's session.
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was continuing its session at the Palais Wilson. This morning, the Committee would be completing its consideration of a report from Italy, and this afternoon, it would start its review of the situation in Azerbaijan. The Committee would consider the report of Chile on Thursday, 18 November.
The Director said the Ninth Session of the Group of Governmental Experts of the States Parties to the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects (CCW) would today be concluding its meetings at the Palais des Nations. A roundup would be issued on the work of the session. The States parties to the CCW amended protocol II on the prohibition of mines would be meeting at the Palais on Wednesday, 17 November. The meeting of the States parties to the CCW would be held at the Palais from 18 to 19 November. Ambassador Gordan Markotic of Croatia would chair the meeting which was being held in Hall XVIII.
Press kits on the launch of the International Year of Microcredit on 18 November were available in the press room, the Director said. This International Year underscored the importance of microfinance as an integral part of collective efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals. The message of the Secretary-General on the launch of the International Year was available in the Documentation Centre.
The Director said Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, and Louise Arbour, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, were today participating in the launch of a series of United Nations Postal Administration stamps on the Human Rights Education Decade (1995-2004). They would both speak at the ceremony which was being held at 11:30 a.m. in Hall XIV.
In conclusion, the Director said that the Swiss and Egyptian missions wanted to remind journalists that there would be a press conference today at 12:30 p.m. at the Geneva Press Club on the Suzanne Mubarak Women's International Peace Movement which was chaired by Egypt's First Lady. The Movement was organizing a conference in Geneva at the International Labour Office from 22 to 24 November entitled "International Conference on Women Defending Peace" on respecting the rights of women during times of war and conflict and how to improve their situation. Mrs. Mubarak would be visiting the Palais des Nations on 24 November in the afternoon where she would offer an Egyptian statue as a present to the Director-General of UNOG, open an art exhibition on Egypt, and preside over a round table organized by UNIDIR on women, peace and security.
Human Rights
José Luis Díaz, Spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, read out a statement by High Commissioner Louise Arbour about the situation of civilians in Falluja, Iraq: "The High Commissioner is deeply concerned about the situation of civilians caught up in the ongoing fighting in Falluja. There have been a number of reports during the current confrontation alleging violations of the rules of war designed to protect civilians and combatants. The High Commissioner is particularly worried over poor access by civilians still in the city to the delivery of humanitarian aid and about the lack of information regarding the number of civilian casualties. The High Commissioner considers that all violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law must be investigated and those responsible for breaches -- including deliberate targeting of civilians, indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks, the killing of injured persons and the use of human shields -- must be brought to justice, be they members of the Multinational Force or insurgents. The High Commissioner calls on parties in the fighting to take every possible precaution to protect civilians".
Other
Ian Simpson of the World Health Organization said the international health regulations meeting which concluded its two-week session last Friday had made a lot of progress but did not agree on a full final draft of the regulations. A final session would be held from 21 to 25 February 2005 at the Palais des Nations to finalize the draft. On another subject, an expert committee on biological standards was meeting at WHO this week. This committee looked into the safety and efficacy of vaccines, blood products and diagnostic tests and ensured that there were standards which were set and adhered to around the world.
Bruce Aylward, coordinator of the World Health Organization polio eradication initiative, said he had received calls from many journalists concerning how the situation in Côte d'Ivoire would affect the polio eradication in initiative in central and western Africa. He recalled that in October, the largest activity in peace time in terms of a synchronized activity was launched by the African Union when 23 countries from Senegal to the Sudan had synchronized their polio campaigns to try to stop the polio epidemic which emerging from Nigeria. The second round of that activity would be launched on 18 November in 24 countries. October's activity had been very successful, the coverage had been positive and the number of cases in West Africa was starting to decrease, suggesting that the massive epidemic which had come out of Nigeria was starting to come under control. There were big challenges with the second round, especially the internal strife affecting Côte d'Ivoire and the Sudan. The vaccination activities were organized by the national Governments and at this point the Government of Côte d'Ivoire planned to participate in this activity, albeit late.
Hans von Rohland of the International Labour Organization said that ILO's executive body, the Governing Body, was continuing its November session. The Governing Body was meeting in open plenary meetings this week. Tomorrow at 10:30 a.m., it would discuss a report on progress concerning a programme on technical cooperation for the occupied Arab territories. Also tomorrow at 3:30 p.m., the Governing Body would discuss the situation of trade unions in Belarus. On Thursday, at 10:30 a.m., it would discuss forced labour in Myanmar.
Dominique de Santis of UNAIDS introduced the new Chief of Communications at UNAIDS, Anne Marie Hou, and another new colleague with the communications team, Sophie Barton. At the back of the room, there was a note to correspondents on the launch of UNAIDS annual report on Tuesday, 23 November. The main launch would be in Brussels at the European Commission in the presence of the Executive Director Peter Piot. There would be other launches which were listed in the note. In Geneva, an UNAIDS Expert would participate in the briefing. The embargoed report would be available on Friday,19 November.
Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said WFP was closely monitoring the situation of internally displaced persons and others affected by the current events in Falluja. Iraqi institutions had the capacity to provide food through the public distribution system which was functioning. If required, WFP would assist.
Ron Redmond of the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugee said that the total number of asylum applications lodged in 36 industrialised countries during the first three quarters of 2004 fell by 22 per cent over the same period a year ago, according to the new third-quarter statistics compiled by UNHCR's Population Data Unit. The statistics which covered Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, showed asylum applications had totalled 271,700 during the first three quarters of this year, compared with 349,600 for the same period in 2003. That was a drop of 77,900.
Erica Meltzer of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said that UNCTAD was today launching a new publication on traditional knowledge. It was a compilation of expert papers which talked about the danger of the loss of traditional knowledge. There were copies in the press room.
Damien Personnaz of the United Nations Children's Fund said that there would be a press conference at 11:30 a.m. today in press room 1 by Carel de Rooy, UNICEF Representative in the Russian Federation, on Beslan. The second briefing would be on Thursday, 18 November at 1:30 p.m. in press room 1 by Keith McKenzie, UNICEF Special Representative for the Darfur, who would be speaking on children in crisis in Darfur
Renilde Vanden Broeck of the European Laboratory for Particle Physics said his Royal Highness, Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, would be visiting Geneva on 22 and 23 November in his capacity as the UK's Special Representative for International Trade and Investment. On 23 November, the Duke of York would visit CERN to open the UK&CERN exhibition. A media release was available at the back of the room.
Cathy Jewel of the World Intellectual Property Organization said the WIPO standing committee on copyright and related rights would be meeting from 17 to 19 November to continue discussions on the protection of broadcasting organizations with a view to adopting a new international treaty to update international property standards for broadcasting. There would be a press conference giving a read-out on the meeting on Monday, 22 November at WIPO at 11 a.m.
Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said that IOM and the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq had signed a Memorandum of Understanding mandating IOM to implement an Out of Country Voting Programme for the Transitional National Assembly Election in Iraq scheduled for January 2005. On another project, IOM London had launched a new pilot project to expand voluntary return assistance to irregular migrants in the United Kingdom who wished to return home. In Finland, the Finnish Ministry of Labour had selected IOM to provide cultural orientation training to Finland-bound quota refugees for the next three years. The aim was to provide participants with factual information about their country of destination and to assist them in developing the skills needed to succeed in their new environment.
REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which provided information on the latest developments in Côte d'Ivoire, Geneva activities, human rights and other issues. Spokespersons for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Food Programme, the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Health Organization, the International Labour Office, UNAIDS, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the United Nations Children's Fund, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN), the World Intellectual Property Organization, and the International Organization for Migration participated in the briefing.
Côte d'Ivoire
The Director said that the Security Council had yesterday unanimously adopted a resolution concerning Côte d'Ivoire in which it imposed an immediate, 13-month arms embargo against the country and gave the parties there one month to get the peace process back on track or face a travel ban and a freeze on their assets. Copies of the resolution were in the press room.
The Director said the International Day for Tolerance was commemorated today. The Secretary-General's message on the occasion of this International Day was available in the Documentation Centre. In his message, Mr. Annan noted that the global landscape continued to be scarred by fanaticism, exploitation of ignorance, and the fear of the "other", adding that one of the best responses to such toxic behaviour was to cultivate tolerance.
The Director said last week, the Secretary-General had condemned the use of hate media which was fuelling the tensions, xenophobia and inciting violent acts in Côte d'Ivoire. The Secretary-General's message was available in English and in French in the press room.
The Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on the prevention of genocide, Juan Mendez, had issued a statement yesterday in which he expressed his concern over the situation in Côte d'Ivoire, the Director said. He was particularly distressed by reports of hate speech and the ensuing actions of armed militant groups. He said the current crisis had deepened sentiments of xenophobia and could exacerbate already worrisome and widespread violations of human rights, which in the recent past had included extrajudicial executions, torture, arbitrary detention, disappearances and sexual violence. Mr. Mendez said that if the xenophobic expressions persisted and caused the further evacuation of essential humanitarian relief workers, he recommended that the UN and Licorne troops already in the field should be expanded and instructed to deploy so as to afford direct protection to civilian populations at risk of attack because of their ethnic, religious or citizenship status. The statement of the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General was available in the Documentation Centre.
Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the situation in Côte d'Ivoire remained extremely volatile. In Abidjan, shops had opened and there was more traffic on the roads. In the zone of confidence, the situation was relatively calm. Concerning UN humanitarian agencies, OCHA would be redeploying its team as quickly as possible in the north and west of the country to deal with the emergency situation. As was stressed at the meeting in Dakar for UN humanitarian agencies and non-governmental organizations last Friday, this humanitarian crisis would continue, even if the political situation calmed down, and it was necessary to respond to this emergency situation with emergency means. The meeting had also stressed that neighbouring countries could not sustain any large numbers of fleeing Ivorians so it was necessary to prevent a situation which would lead to large population movements. Also, free access had to be ensured through the zone of confidence.
Mrs. Byrs said there would be a joint press conference on Friday, 19 November at 11:30 a.m. in Room III after the briefing by Dennis McNamara, the Director of the Inter-agency Internal Displacement Division, and Walter Kalin, the Representative of the Secretary-General for internally displaced persons, to introduce a report on the protection of internally displaced persons.
Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said that as noted by Elizabeth, there was relative calm in Côte d'Ivoire but the situation remained very volatile and tense. Some of WFP's activities remained suspended. The fleeing of some Ivorians towards Liberia was also of concern to WFP. It had moved one ton of high energy biscuits for immediate distribution to the arriving refugees and had pre-positioned 100 tons of food aid to respond to the needs.
Ron Redmond of the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees said that the number of Ivorians fleeing in northeastern Liberia over the past 10 days was now estimated to have surpassed 10,000, with new arrivals reported daily. Ivorians were arriving in Liberia through at least 12 entry points along the border. UNHCR's monitoring work was being considerably slowed down by the very poor state of the roads. The majority of the refugees were, for the time being, staying in public buildings with local people. The main problem for both refugees and the local community was a shortage of food. The humanitarian dimension of the crisis in Côte d'Ivoire and its potential impact on Liberia was of grave concern to UNHCR.
Geneva Activities
The Director said the Committee against Torture opened its thirty-third session yesterday in Salle X1 of the Palais des Nations. It adopted its agenda and programme of work. The Committee will consider reports from Argentina, Great Britain and Greece during its two-week session. The Committee's meetings were public. This morning and tomorrow afternoon, the Committee would be considering the report of Argentina. And on Wednesday morning and Thursday afternoon, it would be reviewing the report of the United Kingdom. Available in the press room was the background press release on the Committee's session.
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was continuing its session at the Palais Wilson. This morning, the Committee would be completing its consideration of a report from Italy, and this afternoon, it would start its review of the situation in Azerbaijan. The Committee would consider the report of Chile on Thursday, 18 November.
The Director said the Ninth Session of the Group of Governmental Experts of the States Parties to the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects (CCW) would today be concluding its meetings at the Palais des Nations. A roundup would be issued on the work of the session. The States parties to the CCW amended protocol II on the prohibition of mines would be meeting at the Palais on Wednesday, 17 November. The meeting of the States parties to the CCW would be held at the Palais from 18 to 19 November. Ambassador Gordan Markotic of Croatia would chair the meeting which was being held in Hall XVIII.
Press kits on the launch of the International Year of Microcredit on 18 November were available in the press room, the Director said. This International Year underscored the importance of microfinance as an integral part of collective efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals. The message of the Secretary-General on the launch of the International Year was available in the Documentation Centre.
The Director said Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, and Louise Arbour, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, were today participating in the launch of a series of United Nations Postal Administration stamps on the Human Rights Education Decade (1995-2004). They would both speak at the ceremony which was being held at 11:30 a.m. in Hall XIV.
In conclusion, the Director said that the Swiss and Egyptian missions wanted to remind journalists that there would be a press conference today at 12:30 p.m. at the Geneva Press Club on the Suzanne Mubarak Women's International Peace Movement which was chaired by Egypt's First Lady. The Movement was organizing a conference in Geneva at the International Labour Office from 22 to 24 November entitled "International Conference on Women Defending Peace" on respecting the rights of women during times of war and conflict and how to improve their situation. Mrs. Mubarak would be visiting the Palais des Nations on 24 November in the afternoon where she would offer an Egyptian statue as a present to the Director-General of UNOG, open an art exhibition on Egypt, and preside over a round table organized by UNIDIR on women, peace and security.
Human Rights
José Luis Díaz, Spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, read out a statement by High Commissioner Louise Arbour about the situation of civilians in Falluja, Iraq: "The High Commissioner is deeply concerned about the situation of civilians caught up in the ongoing fighting in Falluja. There have been a number of reports during the current confrontation alleging violations of the rules of war designed to protect civilians and combatants. The High Commissioner is particularly worried over poor access by civilians still in the city to the delivery of humanitarian aid and about the lack of information regarding the number of civilian casualties. The High Commissioner considers that all violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law must be investigated and those responsible for breaches -- including deliberate targeting of civilians, indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks, the killing of injured persons and the use of human shields -- must be brought to justice, be they members of the Multinational Force or insurgents. The High Commissioner calls on parties in the fighting to take every possible precaution to protect civilians".
Other
Ian Simpson of the World Health Organization said the international health regulations meeting which concluded its two-week session last Friday had made a lot of progress but did not agree on a full final draft of the regulations. A final session would be held from 21 to 25 February 2005 at the Palais des Nations to finalize the draft. On another subject, an expert committee on biological standards was meeting at WHO this week. This committee looked into the safety and efficacy of vaccines, blood products and diagnostic tests and ensured that there were standards which were set and adhered to around the world.
Bruce Aylward, coordinator of the World Health Organization polio eradication initiative, said he had received calls from many journalists concerning how the situation in Côte d'Ivoire would affect the polio eradication in initiative in central and western Africa. He recalled that in October, the largest activity in peace time in terms of a synchronized activity was launched by the African Union when 23 countries from Senegal to the Sudan had synchronized their polio campaigns to try to stop the polio epidemic which emerging from Nigeria. The second round of that activity would be launched on 18 November in 24 countries. October's activity had been very successful, the coverage had been positive and the number of cases in West Africa was starting to decrease, suggesting that the massive epidemic which had come out of Nigeria was starting to come under control. There were big challenges with the second round, especially the internal strife affecting Côte d'Ivoire and the Sudan. The vaccination activities were organized by the national Governments and at this point the Government of Côte d'Ivoire planned to participate in this activity, albeit late.
Hans von Rohland of the International Labour Organization said that ILO's executive body, the Governing Body, was continuing its November session. The Governing Body was meeting in open plenary meetings this week. Tomorrow at 10:30 a.m., it would discuss a report on progress concerning a programme on technical cooperation for the occupied Arab territories. Also tomorrow at 3:30 p.m., the Governing Body would discuss the situation of trade unions in Belarus. On Thursday, at 10:30 a.m., it would discuss forced labour in Myanmar.
Dominique de Santis of UNAIDS introduced the new Chief of Communications at UNAIDS, Anne Marie Hou, and another new colleague with the communications team, Sophie Barton. At the back of the room, there was a note to correspondents on the launch of UNAIDS annual report on Tuesday, 23 November. The main launch would be in Brussels at the European Commission in the presence of the Executive Director Peter Piot. There would be other launches which were listed in the note. In Geneva, an UNAIDS Expert would participate in the briefing. The embargoed report would be available on Friday,19 November.
Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said WFP was closely monitoring the situation of internally displaced persons and others affected by the current events in Falluja. Iraqi institutions had the capacity to provide food through the public distribution system which was functioning. If required, WFP would assist.
Ron Redmond of the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugee said that the total number of asylum applications lodged in 36 industrialised countries during the first three quarters of 2004 fell by 22 per cent over the same period a year ago, according to the new third-quarter statistics compiled by UNHCR's Population Data Unit. The statistics which covered Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, showed asylum applications had totalled 271,700 during the first three quarters of this year, compared with 349,600 for the same period in 2003. That was a drop of 77,900.
Erica Meltzer of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said that UNCTAD was today launching a new publication on traditional knowledge. It was a compilation of expert papers which talked about the danger of the loss of traditional knowledge. There were copies in the press room.
Damien Personnaz of the United Nations Children's Fund said that there would be a press conference at 11:30 a.m. today in press room 1 by Carel de Rooy, UNICEF Representative in the Russian Federation, on Beslan. The second briefing would be on Thursday, 18 November at 1:30 p.m. in press room 1 by Keith McKenzie, UNICEF Special Representative for the Darfur, who would be speaking on children in crisis in Darfur
Renilde Vanden Broeck of the European Laboratory for Particle Physics said his Royal Highness, Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, would be visiting Geneva on 22 and 23 November in his capacity as the UK's Special Representative for International Trade and Investment. On 23 November, the Duke of York would visit CERN to open the UK&CERN exhibition. A media release was available at the back of the room.
Cathy Jewel of the World Intellectual Property Organization said the WIPO standing committee on copyright and related rights would be meeting from 17 to 19 November to continue discussions on the protection of broadcasting organizations with a view to adopting a new international treaty to update international property standards for broadcasting. There would be a press conference giving a read-out on the meeting on Monday, 22 November at WIPO at 11 a.m.
Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said that IOM and the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq had signed a Memorandum of Understanding mandating IOM to implement an Out of Country Voting Programme for the Transitional National Assembly Election in Iraq scheduled for January 2005. On another project, IOM London had launched a new pilot project to expand voluntary return assistance to irregular migrants in the United Kingdom who wished to return home. In Finland, the Finnish Ministry of Labour had selected IOM to provide cultural orientation training to Finland-bound quota refugees for the next three years. The aim was to provide participants with factual information about their country of destination and to assist them in developing the skills needed to succeed in their new environment.