DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19960930
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Sylvana Foa, Spokesman for the Secretary-General said at today's noon briefing that the United Nations Transitional Administrator for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium, Jacques Klein, would brief correspondents at tomorrow's noon briefing.
There were still a lot of VIPs at Headquarters, she said. Justice Richard Goldstone, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the Former Yugoslavia, would brief correspondents today. His visit was timely, given the criticism of the Tribunals, particularly the slowness of the work of the Tribunal for Rwanda, she added. (Justice Goldstone's briefing is being issued separately.)
Turning to the Secretary-General's activities, Ms. Foa said that he spoke this morning at the commemorative meeting sponsored by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) titled: "Keeping the Promise", a review of progress made on goals set at the World Summit for Children in 1990. The Secretary-General said the mid-decade reviews in some 90 countries indicated that 60 per cent were on track with the overall goal of child survival. In terms of progress, the Secretary-General said 1 million fewer children under five years of age would die this year compared with the death rate in 1990. "Still not good enough, but at least we are moving", Ms. Foa added.
The Secretary-General noted that, every year, about 80 per cent of the world's children were immunized against the major diseases of childhood before their first birthday and polio was well on its way to being permanently eradicated, Ms. Foa continued. He also noted that 50 million more children were now enroled in primary school than those in 1990, but the gain did not really keep pace with population growth. The Secretary-General had also paid special homage to the late James Grant, the former Executive Director of UNICEF.
Ms. Foa said that this morning, the Secretary-General had met with the Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey Tansu Ciller and a read- out on the meeting would be available later. He then met with the Secretary- General of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), Salim Ahmed Salim, and with the President of the Commission for Foreign Affairs and Defence of France, Xavier Villepin. At the time of the briefing, the Secretary-General was meeting with the Foreign Minister of Cambodia, Ung Huot, who would give a press conference at 1 p.m. in room 226, Ms. Foa added.
This afternoon, Ms. Foa said, the Secretary-General had meetings with the Foreign Ministers of Indonesia, Ali Alatas; Algeria, Ahmed Attaf; Iran, Ali Akbar Velayati; Republic of Korea, Ro-Myung Gong; Burkino Faso, Ouedraogo
Ablasse; Romania, Teodor Melescanu; and Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassem Bin Jaber Al-Thani. He would also meet with the Deputy Prime Minister of Albania. "It's a day!" she said.
Kazakstan and Slovakia had signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), this morning, bringing to 94, the total number of signatories to date, Ms. Foa said. "We're still missing the signatures of seven and we hope they will all come forward very, very soon", she added.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia last week finished exhuming bodies at Pilice -- the fourth site to be exhumed in eastern Bosnia, she continued. A total of 400 to 500 bodies had been exhumed at the four sites. An exact count was difficult as not all the bodies were intact. The exhumation work would be suspended until next spring because of the cold weather conditions.
Ms. Foa said the statement by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on certification of the 14 September elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina was issued yesterday and was available in the Spokesman's office.
"It turns out that we are all getting older, the world's population is getting older and they want to celebrate it", she said. The sixth International Day of Older Persons will be commemorated tomorrow, 1 October, and on 3 October a panel discussion titled, "Challenges to Older Persons: Economic Security Around the World" would be held from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in Conference Room 1. "An 'older person' is somebody over 60 and I'm getting real close. This doesn't make me feel good at all", she said, adding that one in four were 'older persons' compared with one in 14 just a few years ago. (A press release was available.)
Ms. Foa told correspondents not to forget the press conference today at 1 p.m., in room 226 by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Cambodia.
She then turned to the subject of the abduction and killing, last week, of former Afghan President Najibullah who had been sheltering in the United Nations compound in Kabul. In reply to a question asked at Friday's briefing as to whether the incident was unprecedented, she said the murder, in January 1993, of the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hakija Turajlic was a precedent. She reminded correspondents that Hakija Turajlic was taken out of an armoured personnel carrier of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina just outside Sarajevo and shot. On 8 January, the Security Council strongly condemned the killing and asked for a full report, without delay, following a complete investigation of the incident. The report was issued on 20 January. "So no, this was not the first time that someone was grabbed from a UN premises. An UNPROFOR vehicle would be regarded as UN premises", she added.
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 30 September 1996
On the question of the inviolability of United Nations premises and their use as a refuge, Ms. Foa said the situation was contradictory. United Nations premises were considered inviolable, but most agreements with host countries did not allow the premises to be used for sanctuary. They had only been used to grant refuge in dire humanitarian situations when there was an immediate danger and the United Nations always tried to resolve the situation very quickly.
A correspondent asked about the legal status of Afghanistan's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, now that the Taliban had control of the country. Ms. Foa said that would be a question for the Credentials Committee and the issue had not been raised when she last checked.
Samsiah Abdul-Majid, spokesman for General Assembly President Razali Ismail (Malaysia), said this morning the President presided over the UNICEF- sponsored commemorative meeting of the World Summit for Children. His meetings today included those with the Foreign Ministers of Mauritania, Czech Republic, Tunisia and the Republic of Korea. He would address the annual ministerial meeting of the least developed countries in the afternoon.
Speakers in the general debate today were the Foreign Ministers of Bolivia, Namibia, Indonesia, Benin, Czech Republic, Yemen, Cuba, Albania, Turkey, Australia, Tunisia and Honduras, and the Chairmen of the delegations of Rwanda and Estonia.
As an easy reference for correspondents, Ms. Abdul-Majid said that she had prepared a one-page list of various items to be taken up by the Main Committees of the Assembly from 7 to 25 October.
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