DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

(Incorporates briefing by spokesman for General Assembly President.)

Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, opened today's press briefing by noting that today Iraq, for the ninth time in 10 days, had again blocked inspection by the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) on Iraq's disarmament, in its continued objection to the presence of Americans on the inspection team. The Security Council was scheduled to hold consultations on Iraq at noon with a view to a formal meeting to adopt a resolution which had been tabled yesterday. That text had been made available to correspondents last night. "So far as we know, Iraq has not yet requested to speak in the formal meeting", he added.

The Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Hans Blix, had this morning addressed the General Assembly, Mr. Eckhard continued. A considerable portion of his statement had to do with the IAEA monitoring of Iraq's nuclear weapons programme. The full text was available in the Spokesman's Office.

Turning to United Nations reform, he said the General Assembly was expected to vote, this afternoon, on a draft resolution that would endorse the 29 actions contained in the Secretary-General's report on reform, the document he had issued in July (document A/51/950). Noting that "it has been very difficult to work around the Iraq-centred news of today", Mr. Eckhard told correspondents that the draft was considered a very important step in the reform process. In that connection, the Secretariat would like to give them a background briefing concerning the draft and its contents. That briefing had been scheduled for 3 p.m, today, he said, hoping that the business on Iraq at the Security Council would have been concluded by that time. Two senior officials of the Secretariat would be available to conduct that briefing, he said, stressing that it would be on background only.

He pointed out that there were two additional documents on reform out today: one was the Secretariat's response to comments and queries by delegations, and the other was the Secretary-General's statement delivered to the informal, open-ended meeting of the Assembly on 4 November. In it, the Secretary-General had appealed to Member States to conclude their work on reform as quickly as possible.

Mr. Eckhard said that the Special Rapporteurs of the Commission on Human Rights were beginning to present their reports to the Assembly's Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural). Noting that the subject was really the territory of the spokesman for the President of the General Assembly, he said they would this afternoon hear the experts on Myammar, religious intolerance, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan,

Haiti, displaced persons, and Cuba. In that connection, he pointed out that the Secretary-General's report on attacks on United Nations personnel and their families would be on the racks today.

There had been some press attention to a lecture at Oxford University yesterday on the subject of the "United Nations and Human Rights", given by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson. In the lecture, said Mr. Eckhard, the High Commissioner clearly stepped into the advocacy role that the Secretary-General had envisaged for her when he made her High Commissioner for Human Rights. The full text of the lecture was available the Spokesman's Office.

Concerning Sierra Leone, the Spokesman said that the Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Lansana Kouyate, and the representatives of that body's Committee of Five, had briefed Security Council members under the Arria formula yesterday afternoon -- the Arria formula is a very informal consultation process initiated by Diego Arria of Venezuela, which affords members of the Security Council the opportunity to hear persons in a confidential, informal setting. The Secretary-General was scheduled to meet the Foreign Minister of Nigeria (who was leading the ECOWAS delegation), as well as the permanent representatives of Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea and Liberia, today at noon to exchange views on Sierra Leone.

Mr. Eckhard announced that the Executive Committee on Peace and Security, which coordinates the Secretariat's policy on that subject, would discuss Sierra Leone this afternoon. It would focus on the United Nations approach in the wake of the Conakry peace agreement.

He drew attention to a press release from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which said that yesterday in Paris UNESCO had adopted a Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights. It was the first international text on the ethics of genetic research.

He also announced a United Nations Flash Appeal for Somalia, a press release of which was available from the Department of Humanitarian Affairs. It stated that the United Nations, in cooperation with partner non- governmental organizations, had today launched the Appeal to respond to the emergency created by extensive flooding in Somalia. It further said that the coordinated inter-agency rescue and relief operation urgently requested $4.6 million in supplies, and a further $5 million in cash, to meet pressing humanitarian needs of an estimated 800,000 people over the next six to eight weeks.

Mr. Eckhard also drew attention to a Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) press release on El Nino, which said that food shortages had continued to grip 29 countries worldwide, most of them in Africa. The FAO experts had said that El Nino might pose a threat to the crops planted to be harvested in 1998.

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The Spokesman announced the following press releases, all of them available in the Spokesman's Office: from the International Court of Justice at The Hague, concerning the Slavko Dokmanovic case; from the Department of Humanitarian Affairs, on Albania; and from the Department of Humanitarian Affairs, on preparedness measures against El Nino in Brazil.

He drew attention to closed consultations of the Security Council and troop contributors today, on the United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UNMOT) at 4 p.m. in Conference Room 7.

Mr. Eckhard also announced a press briefing tomorrow, 13 November, at 2:30 p.m., featuring the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Elizabeth Rehn. She would be focusing on the issue of rape and abuse of women committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia.

Concerning the briefing by the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Gert Rosenthal, on "Revitalizing Regional Commissions", which he had announced yesterday, he pointed out that although it would still take place today, the new time was from 1:45 to 2:45 p.m. in Conference Room 8. The press was invited.

Mr. Eckhard was asked to clarify what he had said concerning today's meeting of the Executive Committee on Peace and Security on Sierra Leone: a "new approach", or a "United Nations approach"? He confirmed he had said a "United Nations approach".

Asked what message needed to be sent to Iraq: that they could not keep turning away United Nations weapons inspectors, he said that was the essence of the entire debate. The position of the United Nations was that Member States could not determine the composition of inspection teams.

Concerning reform, a correspondent asked if the action at the Assembly today was on the 29 actions of the Secretary-General. Had they been treated as a package deal, or amended from the original proposal of the Secretary- General? Mr. Eckhard said that in proposing the reforms, which were a combination of actions and recommendations -- actions being things he could do on his own, and recommendations being things the Assembly needed to take action on -- he had urged the Assembly to consider them as a package. The Assembly had broken it down into two; they were approving the actions as a package. The Secretary-General's hope was that they would finish with the recommendations by the end of this month, so that the entire reform package could go to the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) and its budgetary implications included in the final revised budget for 1998-1999.

Saying that "The New York Times broke the conspiracy of silence on massive atrocities in Sarajevo", in reference to Muslim-perpetrated massacres against Serbs, a correspondent asked how it was possible -- in view of large United Nations-presence there at the time -- that the Organization did not

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know about it. In addition, why had the International Criminal Tribunal on the Former Yugoslavia not indicted anyone yet for those crimes? The Spokesman said it was a matter for the Tribunal to investigate. "We don't know that they don't have files on alleged Muslim perpetrators of gross violations of human rights." He would not say the United Nations was "silent", he continued, recalling that he was personally present in Sarajevo in 1992. "We were often criticized for the balance with which we approached this issue, so I don't agree with the cloak of silence, but it is true that over the years, the focus has been on the Serb side."

Mr. Eckhard stressed that the Serbs had started the war and committed the majority of the violations of human rights. "I believe that the Tribunal intends to take a totally balanced and fair approach, and once they have completed their investigations, you'll see indictments coming down for all that they find triable."

Alex Taukatch, spokesman for the President of the General Assembly, Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine), in reference to what Mr. Eckhard had said about the draft resolution on reform, said that Mr. Udovenko felt that it was an important step for the General Assembly and for the United Nations. The spokesman recalled that the informal, open-ended consultations had concluded late yesterday afternoon, and a decision had been made to meet today in an open meeting to adopt a consensus resolution (document A/52/L.17). He added that that document had been submitted by the President of the General Assembly, who had played an active role in pushing ahead with the issue.

Mr. Taukatch said that in dealing with that particular agenda item, the Assembly had broken new ground with the format of informal, open-ended consultations of the plenary, which had proved its effectiveness and had dealt with the issue in a very pragmatic manner. He pointed out that there had been about 190 statements and interventions by delegations, spanning the whole breadth of United Nations membership, in the course of 12 meetings within that format. Mr. Udovenko had personally presided over 10 of those meetings. He had also held a range of informal consultations, personally and with the help of his "Friends on Reform" (the permanent representatives of Brazil and Norway), who had been extremely helpful in building consensus. Groups of countries had also been helpful in that process, including the "Group of 77" developing countries, the European Union and the Non-Aligned Movement. As to when the Assembly would take action on the resolution, the spokesman said he expected it to be some time late in the afternoon meeting of the plenary.

Continuing, he said that at the time of the briefing the Assembly was considering agenda item 14: Report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The great interest in the subject was underlined by the nearly 30 speakers inscribed on the list, which would spill over into the afternoon session. There would be a vote on a draft resolution (document A/52/L.13), he added, pointing out there were requests for two separate votes on preambular paragraph three, and operative paragraph seven, of the resolution. There were three speakers inscribed to speak before the vote, and six speakers after the

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vote, all of which should give correspondents some idea of when the Assembly would get to the question of reform later this afternoon.

On the programme of work of the Assembly, Mr. Taukatch said that the next meeting of the General Committee would be held on Friday morning, 21 November, to consider a request by Jamaica for inclusion of an additional item concerning admission and membership of the International Seabed Authority to the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund.

Still on the subject of programme of work, Mr. Taukatch alerted correspondents to a document (document A/INF/52/3/Add.2), which was now out, that covered the Assembly activities through 15 December. If there were any changes or additions, correspondents would be kept informed.

Mr. Taukatch was asked about the "recommendations" area of the Assembly's consultations on reform. In response, he noted that the draft resolution commended the efforts and initiatives of the Secretary-General aimed at reforming the United Nations, and called upon him, while implementing the actions described in his report, to take full account of the views and comments expressed by Member States, and groups of Member States. The resolution also decided to continue with the consideration of the Secretary- General's report. He said that within the framework of informal, open-ended consultations, the Assembly had already had its first reading of the recommendations contained in it. As soon as it had completed its first important step regarding actions, it would get to the next stage, which was recommendations. He added that the President was determined to act on it as forcefully and with the same determination.

Where was the record of those views that had been expressed? the spokesman was asked. He referred the correspondent to paragraph 2 of the draft text, which listed the relevant documents. Asked whether they were conference room papers, Mr. Taukatch said they were not. The six conference room papers had been issued as addenda to the report of the Secretary-General.

Reminded that there had been a lot of debate within the consultations, Mr. Taukatch was asked whether all those views would come out in any form. Was there any record of them? Mr. Taukatch reiterated that there had been about 190 interventions during the debate. The value of the informal format was that it allowed Member States to negotiate and make their views known within that format. At the same time, he continued, some of the views were submitted in writing, and officially transmitted to the President of the Assembly. Mr. Taukatch again asked correspondents to refer to paragraph 2 of the draft.

Asked to confirm that there was an official record of all those views, he answered in the negative, reminding the correspondent that those were informal consultations.

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