DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19960909
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Sylvana Foa, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by saying that it was a busy day at the United Nations. "It's speech day at the 'UN Coral', with speeches all day long. As for the Secretary- General, he will make four speeches today."
This morning, she said, the Secretary-General delivered the welcoming remarks at the inauguration of the International Peace Academy Seminar on Peacemaking and Peace-keeping, being held in the Trusteeship Council Chamber. (See Press Release SG/SM/6042, of 9 September.) In his statement, the Secretary-General suggested that more focus be put on preventive action, both through diplomacy and, if necessary, through deployment. The Secretary- General said that there was too little prevention and too much cure. The Secretary-General went on to say, "we lack a culture of prevention in a culture where the protagonists are willing to accept international mediation, or judicial settlement -- whether or not through the United Nations -- and are prepared to act upon the results of such measures. Very often, international mediation, or even action, is accepted by the protagonists after the situation has passed a critical threshold".
The Secretary-General also noted the lack of diplomats qualified for prevention. "We need a greater number of diplomats with the training, with the experience and with the moral authority, to undertake preventive work on behalf of the United Nations", he said.
Ms. Foa said the Secretary-General also stated that we lack political will. He said that it had been recognized that prevention was less costly, in terms of human and material resources, than cure. However, there was an emerging pattern of unwillingness to prevent, control or stop a wide range of conflicts, followed by a readiness to step in after the killing is over and the carnage had subsided. "So, back to prevention", Ms. Foa said.
Also this morning, the Secretary-General had addressed the Congress of the Socialist International, Ms. Foa said. (See Press Release SG/SM/6043, of 9 September.) In that statement, the Secretary-General said that he was particularly happy that the Socialist International had decided to hold their Congress at the United Nations, because there was an increasingly important role for "the new international actors, in international affairs". The Secretary-General said that "non-governmental organizations and institutions such as the Socialist International, constitute a key element of today's world. The new international actors have a three-fold role to play: to be a mobilizing force for international public opinion; a stimulus for the work of the United Nations; and an element in the democratization of the international system".
This afternoon, the Secretary-General would be addressing a special event, "One Year After Beijing", being held to mark the first anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women. That event was expected to begin at approximately 2 p.m. in Conference Room 4. Scheduled speakers included Donna Shalala, United States Secretary of Health and Human Services; Ugandan activist and lawyer Florence Butegwa; and Dr. Nafis Sadik, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), were also scheduled to speak. CNN anchor Judy Woodruff would moderate the discussion.
Ms. Foa said that at this afternoon's event the Secretary-General would say that the three main issues to be addressed are: women in conflict; women in society; and women at work. During his address, the Secretary-General would note that "long the victims of inequality and abusive practices, women have now become the primary victims of war".
"He noted that although undeniable progress has been made in recent years, much remained to be done on the legal, health, educational, maternal care and family planning fronts." Also, Ms. Foa continued, the Secretary- General would note that there were still too few women in high level posts, including at the United Nations. He would request that governments send him names of possible candidates to fill such posts.
At 11:30 a.m., she went on, the Secretary-General had met with the Minister of Defence of Argentina, Jorge Dominguez. Later this afternoon, the Secretary-General would address the Peace-keeping Exhibition at Madison Square Garden.
Other major events at the United Nations today included the 123rd plenary meeting of the fiftieth General Assembly. At that meeting, which would be held at 3 p.m. in Conference Room 3, the Assembly would resume its consideration of agenda item 65, relating to the comprehensive nuclear test- ban treaty. Australia would submit a related draft resolution.
Ms. Foa stated that the Secretary-General "welcomes the consideration of the prohibition of nuclear weapon tests by the General Assembly. The Secretary-General continues to be convinced that a comprehensive test-ban treaty will make a critical contribution to the process of nuclear disarmament". Ms. Foa noted that the draft resolution was not yet available, but was expected to be issued this afternoon. There was a list of speakers "which is increasing by the second". At the time of the briefing there were 24 speakers inscribed on the list. In addition, Iran was scheduled to speak before the vote, and Pakistan after the vote. Whether the Assembly would conclude its meeting today would, of course, depend on the number of speakers. With the speakers' list expected to increase before the Assembly convened its
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meeting this afternoon, Ms. Foa suggested that correspondents "keep an eye on it".
Turning to the situation in Cyprus, Ms. Foa said that the Secretary- General had spent much of yesterday afternoon on the phone addressing that matter. The Secretary-General was very concerned regarding the shooting incident reported in Cyprus yesterday in which a Turkish Cypriot soldier had been killed and another wounded. It was clearly a serious incident which needed to be fully investigated by the authorities concerned. The Secretary- General had requested that Gustave Feissel, his Deputy Special Representative and Chief of Mission in Cyprus, to be in touch with the two parties on the island with a view to preventing any action that might raise tensions between them. Mr. Feissel was undertaking those contacts.
Regarding Iraq, Ms. Foa said that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) local staff in Sulaimaniya had reported that about 8,000 Kurds were moving towards the Iranian border. It was unclear whether any had attempted to cross into Iran. Although current food stocks were quite good, the UNHCR was attempting to assess the exact number of people on the move in case they needed to enter a stock-piling situation. Also, the UNHCR in Geneva had established a special task force to watch the situation closely. More information was expected from the UNHCR later today.
Ms. Foa said that she had received a number of questions regarding the activity of the Steering Committee on the Implementation of Security Council resolution 986 (1995), regarding an "oil-for-food" agreement between the United Nations and Iraq. The Steering Committee would meet today at 3:30 p.m. The Committee had not met last Friday, 6 September, because Security Council meetings of that day had been expected to go on quite a bit longer than they had. "I hope to get a read-out as soon as today's meeting is over", Ms. Foa said.
The Forty-Ninth Annual Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations would begin at 10 a.m. tomorrow in Conference Room 4, she said. It would continue through Thursday, 12 September. The theme of the Conference was "The United Nations: Facing the Challenges of a Changing World". A full programme of the Conference was available on the racks.
To several questions from correspondents on this afternoon's General Assembly meeting, Ms. Foa said that the meeting would be covered by United Nations television and that she would check on the procedure to be followed by journalists wishing to gain access to the meeting. (It was later announced that the General Assembly meeting would be broadcast on in-house television channels 6 and 38, and on "MX" channels 1 and 2.) Names were constantly being added to the speakers' list, Ms. Foa said. "On my way down the stairs I had 23 speakers on the list. By the time I got to the door, I had 24." Asked which Member State would speak first, she said it would be Australia.
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Australia would speak first, followed by China; Marshall Islands; and Ireland, on behalf of the European Union (EU).
A correspondent asked for a reaction regarding the relaxation of sanctions imposed on Burundi in order to allow for the delivery of humanitarian aid. Mr. Foa said that the United Nations was very happy about this, as the Organization had several humanitarian agencies working in the area. With a large number of displaced persons there dependent on humanitarian assistance, the United Nations had been urging that the humanitarian agencies be allowed to continue their work.
A correspondent asked for comment on the statement made this morning at the United Nations by CBS News anchor Dan Rather that coverage of the United Nations was "out of fashion". "I unfortunately did not get to hear Dan Rather speak, as I was reading up for the briefing. But, I'm afraid what he said is true", Ms. Foa said. "Sometimes the serious political issues we tackle are too difficult to squeeze into a 30 or 15 second sound bite. But, hopefully, we can make it interesting enough around here so that more people will cover the United Nations."
Concluding the noon briefing, Ms. Foa said, "I know you have a lot of speakers to cover today and I'm glad your doing it and not me. I don't know how you cover eight speakers at the same time".
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