DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19960614
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Ahmad Fawzi, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, told correspondents at today's noon briefing that the Security Council "just a few minutes ago" had voted on a resolution on Tajikistan. It had extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UNMOT) until 15 December.
In half an hour's time from the briefing, the Council would meet again informally to discuss the situation in Iraq, Mr. Fawzi said. As correspondents were aware, last night a draft presidential statement had emerged deploring the stand-offs currently under way between the Iraqis and the inspectors of the United Nations Special Commission set up under Security Council resolution 687 (1991) in connection with the disposal of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. The draft statement demanded once again that Iraq comply with the relevant Security Council resolutions. "We'll see what happens with that. Some members were consulting with their capitals overnight and we expect a position to be announced soon", he said.
Today was the last day of the second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), Mr. Fawzi said. Those correspondents who had been following news reports from Istanbul would know that negotiations on the draft plan of action of the Conference had continued until the early hours of morning. There had been a few sticking points, however, there had been breakthroughs as well. There were three sticking points which had been resolved, those relating to reproductive rights, the right to housing and the key role that the Nairobi United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) would play in the implementation of the Conference's final document. One of the remaining sticking points concerned language reconciling the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with spiritual and cultural values. In addition, Conference participants were trying to clarify the role that sovereign countries would play in the implementation of the Conference's action plan and were working towards acceptable language regarding "occupied territories".
Mr. Fawzi said, at present, Conference participants were meeting in smaller working groups. At the time of the briefing, it was 7 p.m. in Istanbul, and one of the Conference's committees was scheduled to resume its discussions at 6 p.m. The plenary, however, was not expected to adopt its final resolution until 10 p.m. (Istanbul time). Mr.Fawzi further confirmed that the high-level segment had continued this morning. Statements had been made by the Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic, the President of Cuba and a number of ministers and government's senior officials.
There was good news from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) regarding Afghanistan, he said. The two agencies were planning a campaign in collaboration with the national health authorities in Afghanistan to immunize 3 million children against polio and 1 million mothers against tetanus. The campaign would be on from 14 to 21 June and again from 19 to 26 July. A press release regarding that campaign was available in the Spokesman's office. The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Yasushi Akashi, said he was greatly heartened by the impressive humanitarian campaign. He had called upon all the parties in Afghanistan to once again cooperate in creating an environment in which the organizations involved had the security and freedom of movement to reach those in need. "We know how important that is for non-governmental organizations and United Nations agencies working in environments that pose potential danger", he added.
A question had been raised yesterday regarding the International Court of Justice, asking if there had been any movement on the issue of legality of the possession of nuclear weapons, Mr. Fawzi said. "We have contacted the Court and there has been no date set yet for this report", he added.
A very comprehensive press kit on education, entitled "Education for All" was available at the documents counter, Mr. Fawzi said. It had been released on the occasion of the mid-decade meeting of the International Consultative Forum on Education for All. The meeting was sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), as well as by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank. The World Conference on Education for All had been held in Thailand six years ago. This month, a high-level meeting was being held in Amman, Jordan, to assess what had been done by nations and by the international community to fulfil the commitments reached in Thailand.
Stating that yesterday he had shared with correspondents a letter from a Chinese pupil, Mr. Fawzi said today he wanted to share a letter from a member of the House of Representatives of the United States. The letter was from Representative Eliot L. Engel, from New York. He was a member of the Education and Labor Committees and of the Foreign Affairs Committee. He had written to the United Nations Association of the United States (UNA-USA) to share his concern about the United States' debt to the United Nations. The letter stated that 50 years ago, the United States was the major force behind the founding of the United Nations and without the leadership of American diplomats, the New York-based multilateral Organization would never have been created. He had said that the outstanding debt was affecting the Organization's ability to carry out "critical functions in peace-keeping and international humanitarian support".
Mr. Engel had continued that it would be tragic if the United Nations, which was now more effective than ever, given the end of the cold war, were to
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fall apart because its most important member had refused to pay its dues, Mr. Fawzi said. "I, therefore, joined more than 20 of my colleagues, on 25 April, in writing to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bob Livingstone to urge support for the President's plan to pay off United States arrearage to the United Nations within five years", the letter said. Enclosed with the letter was Mr. Engel's contribution of $4.40. "I would like to assure you that your cheque has arrived", Mr. Fawzi said, adding "we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your support and hope that your voice reaches across to the other members both in the House and the Senate".
Mr. Fawzi added that the United Nations had also recently received a letter from another United States Congressman with his contribution for himself, his wife, his two married children, their spouses and three grandchildren.
Asked about when the parties in Guatemala would resume talks, Mr. Fawzi said the parties had concluded talks last weekend in Mexico City and they would meet again on 21 June in Mexico City for two days. However, this morning an inter-agency meeting on Guatemala was being held in Conference Room 8. It was expected to end at 1 p.m. and was being chaired by the Under- Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Marrack Goulding. The participants were discussing the action that would be taken by the United Nations system to help implement a peace settlement in Guatemala. It was being attended by the relevant officials in the Department of Political Affairs, including Assistant Secretary-General Alvaro de Soto and the newly appointed Director of the United Nations Mission for the Verification of Human Rights and of Compliance with the Commitments of the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights in Guatemala (MINUGUA), David Stephen.
A seminar on lessons learned from the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) was winding up in New Jersey today, a correspondent said. He asked if those lessons would be kept a dark secret? Mr. Fawzi said "no, not at all", adding that a copy of the presentation to the seminar by Under- Secretary-General for Peace-keeping Operations Kofi Annan had been made available. He said he hoped the results of the deliberations would be shared with all.
Asked, why the seminar was not an open forum, Mr. Fawzi responded that he was not sure if it was an open or closed forum. But he did know that the seminar organizers were keen to share Mr. Annan's presentation. He added further that it was not possible for the media to be everywhere, but said he would convey the sentiments of the correspondents to the organizers. Another correspondent wanted to know who was the sponsor of the seminar. Mr. Fawzi said he would find out and let her know.
Concerning Iraq, a correspondent inquired how the recent stand-offs had affected the "oil-for-food" agreements. Mr. Fawzi said that he, on behalf of the Secretary-General, sincerely hoped that the stand-offs would not affect
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the progress of efforts to implement Security Council resolution 986 (1995) and the memorandum of understanding reached with Iraq on 20 May. As correspondents were aware, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 661 (1990), which is monitoring the sanctions against Iraq, was still proceeding diligently with work on the draft procedures for the implementation of the memorandum. "We hope by the end of next week to reach a conclusion on that. You also know that we have a mission in Iraq which is winding up. In fact, its been there for over a week, inspecting the sites for distribution and would be returning over the weekend", he added.
The United Nations was also proceeding diligently with the implementation of the memorandum, Mr. Fawzi said. It was sincerely hoped that what was happening now would not affect its implementation and would not affect the spirit in which the agreement had been reached. It had required very hard work on both sides. It was unfortunate that the stand-offs had taken place at a time when it was believed that a spirit of mutual cooperation had been reached which could produce a change in relations between Iraq and the international community.
Mr. Fawzi reiterated that the Sanctions Committee was working to finalize draft procedures for the implementation of the memorandum. There were certain steps that had to be implemented every time a deal was completed, whether it was on the oil, food distribution or the purchase of either. Those procedures had to be very carefully designed so that they could be implemented when the time came. It was expected that the Committee would conclude its deliberations by the end of next week, but there were no deadlines.
A correspondent wanted to know how far the United Nations was from falling apart. Mr. Fawzi replied that the United Nations had proven itself to be extremely resilient in the past 50 years. It had weathered numerous crises. However, the present crisis was perhaps the most serious ever in its history. If the current financial crisis was not resolved by a massive injection of cash into the Organization, then there would be a decline in its programmes and operations. There had been some encouraging signs from many Member States, but it was still not enough.
Would correspondents be briefed on the achievements of the open-ended working group of the General Assembly on the question of equitable representation and increase in the membership of the Security Council? a correspondent asked. Mr. Fawzi said he hoped so. As the correspondent was aware, that was a question for the Member States to resolve. There had been so many formulas for the expansion of the Council. However, he was not in a position to comment on that.
Mr. Fawzi informed correspondents that, as usual, the office of the Spokesman would be staffed over the weekend. Nothing was expected at the present stage. However, a weekend duty officer would be there.
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A correspondent said that a couple of weeks ago, he had been told by a duty officer that giving information on work of the General Assembly's Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) work was not a part of his mandate. He asked Mr. Fawzi to instruct whoever was on duty this weekend that telling the press about developments in the Habitat II Conference was a part of his duty. Mr. Fawzi said, "Yes, we will do our best. We always do our best for you."
Another correspondent remarked that Mr. Fawzi's reading yesterday of a letter from a child in China to the Secretary-General had been done with more feeling than his reading of the letter from Representative Engel. Mr. Fawzi said he had the same feelings and emotions towards Mr. Engel's letter as he had to the Chinese pupil's letter yesterday."
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