DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by informing correspondents that a biography of the newly appointed Deputy Secretary-General, Louise Frechette, was available in the Spokesman's office. Also available was a report by the Secretary-General detailing the Deputy Secretary-General's exact functions.

He then read the following statement on the subject of Algeria:

"The Secretary-General deeply deplores the continuing loss of life in the tragic situation in Algeria. He appeals to the consciences of the perpetrators to affirm the sanctity of human life and cease their terrorist attacks. The Secretary-General considers it particularly urgent and vital that the innocent civilian population, especially women and children, be protected from the forces of violence in Algeria."

On Iraq oil contracts, Mr. Eckhard said that the United Nations oil overseers had begun receiving new oil contracts for the third phase of the oil-for-food programme over the past weekend. Due to technical problems, it was not yet possible to say how many contracts had been received. That information would probably be available this afternoon.

Regarding the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM), Mr. Eckhard said that the Executive Chairman of UNSCOM, Richard Butler, was writing a letter to the President of the Security Council concerning a statement made by an Iraqi official spokesman in Baghdad today concerning the composition of UNSCOM inspectors. That statement referred only to the inspectors who had arrived in Baghdad yesterday. UNSCOM's intention was to make good use of resident inspectors in Baghdad. The Special Commission had approximately 150 staff members currently in Baghdad, many of whom were inspectors.

On other business, Mr. Eckhard said that the Secretary-General's Special Adviser on Cyprus, Diego Cordovez, arrived in Moscow today at the invitation of the Government of the Russian Federation for consultations on Cyprus with Foreign Ministry officials. While Mr. Cordovez would be visiting Cyprus following the upcoming elections, no decision had yet been taken by the Secretary-General on the precise timing of that visit, contrary to some recent press reports.

Sri Lanka was the first country to sign the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, Mr. Eckhard said. Sri Lanka was followed immediately by Canada and the United Kingdom. The Russian Federation, France and the United States were all expected to sign this afternoon.

The Convention would remain open for signature until the end of 1999, but would go into effect 30 days following the date of deposit of the twenty- second instrument of ratification, Mr. Eckhard said. The General-Assembly adopted resolution 52/164 on the new Convention on 15 December 1997.

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Referring to the remark made by the Secretary-General that he had chosen "not the best woman, but the best person" for the new post of Deputy Secretary-General, Mr. Eckhard said that he had consulted the latest statistics related to gender distribution of United Nations Secretariat staff -- made available on 30 November 1997 -- and had compared them to those from 30 June 1997. According to those statistics, the number of women in the Professional category had risen slightly, from 36.6 per cent to 36.8 per cent. Women at the P-5 Professional level were up to 29 per cent, from 27.8 per cent, while at the Assistant Secretary-General level and above, women represented 16.7 per cent, up from 9.4 per cent. Those statistics were for the Secretariat only and did not include special representatives.

A statement by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, Sergio Vieira de Mello, regarding the loss of life and material destruction caused by an earthquake in Hebei Province in China on Saturday was also available in the Spokesman's office, Mr. Eckhard said. Also available was a report from the Department of Humanitarian Affairs on that natural disaster that affected 542,000 Chinese. Also available was a Humanitarian Affairs situation report on floods affecting the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Secretary-General would attend the ceremonial meeting of the "Group of 77" developing countries at 3 p.m. this afternoon, for the transfer of the chairmanship of the Group from the United Republic of Tanzania to Indonesia, Mr. Eckhard said. The Secretary-General had met this morning with the Indonesian Foreign Minister, Ali Alatas. The text of the Secretary-General's statement for this afteroon's meeting was available in room 378.

Correspondents would see in his programme that the Secretary-General and his deputy were to attend the monthly luncheon hosted by the President of the Security Council for the month of January (France), Mr. Eckhard said. In observance of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which required fasting until sundown, that customary monthly luncheon had been changed to a working dinner to take place tonight.

A United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) press release on a vaccine initiative for children sponsored by the Children's Vaccine Initiative was also available in the Spokesman's office, Mr. Eckhard said. The release stated that "8 million young children could escape needless death each year if a group of new vaccines, now in the final stage of development, are widely used in developing countries".

In response to a question on whether or not the Secretary-General had informed Mr. Alatas about proposed new initiatives in East Timor, Mr. Eckhard

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 12 January 1998

said that while it was safe to assume that East Timor had been discussed during their meeting, at this time he had no specifics to offer.

In response to another question, Mr. Eckhard said that the Secretary- General's report on increasing Iraq's sale of oil for food would be ready before the end of January. His office did not have a specific date.

Asked whether or not there were any other candidates for the post of Deputy Secretary-General, besides Ms. Frechette, Mr. Eckhard said, "He [the Secretary-General] cast a wide net. He considered a number of candidates; I won't mention any by name. A number have been mentioned in the press. The important thing is that a final decision has been made."

A correspondent asked about the number of women at the Assistant Secretary-General level in the Secretariat. Mr. Eckhard said three Assistant Secretaries-General and two Under-Secretaries-General were women, five out of 30, as of the end of November 1997. They were Gillian Martin Sorensen, Assistant Secretary-General for External Relations; Rafiah Salim, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Resources Management; Angela King, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women; Elizabeth Dowdeswell, outgoing Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); and Mary Robinson, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

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