SECRETARY-GENERAL'S ACTIVITIES IN GENEVA, 14-17 MARCH

Press Release
SG/T/2119

SECRETARY-GENERAL'S ACTIVITIES IN GENEVA, 14-17 MARCH

The Secretary-General travelled to Geneva on Saturday, 14 March, in advance of a three-week-long mission which would include visits to Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, the occupied territories, Israel, the Russian Federation, China and the United Kingdom. He would also return to Geneva at the end of March to attend meetings of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC).

On the evening of Sunday, 15 March, the Secretary-General was the special guest at a performance of Sergei Prokofiev's opera "Les Fiançailles au Couvent". The event was organized by the Foundation "Un Avenir pour Genève" and by the Republic and Canton of Geneva on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A short message of the Secretary-General entitled "The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: All Human Rights For All" was disseminated at the opera in both English and French.

On Monday, 16 March, the Secretary-General addressed the fifty-fourth session of the Commission on Human Rights. In his speech, he appealed to individuals everywhere to speak out in the face of intolerance and inhumanity. "Now is the time to ask not only how the Universal Declaration of Human Rights can protect our rights, but how we can rightly protect the Declaration", he said. The Secretary-General also called upon everyone to seize the day which the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration represented -- "...our moment to chart the course of human rights for the next 50 years and beyond". (For the full text of this speech, see Press Release SG/SM/6487 of 16 March.)

Before addressing the Commission, the Secretary-General had addressed Geneva-based United Nations staff (see Press Release SG/SM/6488 of 17 March). He then met with Vaclav Havel, President of the Czech Republic, with whom he discussed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) expansion, Kosovo and Iraq.

That morning he also met with Robert Badinter, who is responsible for human rights activities in France, to discuss coordination of the many activities being planned to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration throughout the year.

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After attending a luncheon hosted by Mary Robinson, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Secretary-General joined President Havel and the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Elie Wiesel in addressing an inter-agency forum on the subject of Mainstreaming Human Rights in the United Nations (see Press Release SG/SM/6492 of 17 March).

That evening, Mr. Annan attended a reception for the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights hosted by the Swiss Confederation, the Republic and Canton of Geneva and the City of Geneva.

On Tuesday morning, 17 March, the Secretary-General addressed the Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters (see Press Release SG/SM/6489 of 17 March). The United Nations has no monopoly on disarmament, he told them. The newly recreated Department for Disarmament Affairs strengthens rather than weakens the work of the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament. The process must be inclusive. "Let others in", he urged them. The public will not wait, as the non-governmental organizations-led ban on landmines concluded in Ottawa had demonstrated.

He then attended a ceremony to launch the book entitled "A Peace of Timbuktu", which describes the resolution two years ago of an internal conflict in Mali, the demobilization of the rebels, and the voluntary burning, in a huge bonfire, of their weapons. Mali has taken the lead in disarmament in West Africa. "The symbolism of that event burns still", the Secretary- General said. (The full text of his statement is available in SG/SM/6491 of 17 March.)

The Secretary-General greeted the Prime Minister of France, Lionel Jospin, and then attended a portion of the morning session of the Commission on Human Rights, at which the Prime Minister spoke.

At midday, the Secretary-General and the Foreign Minister of Spain, Don Abel Matutes, inaugurated an exposition of lithographs dedicated to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The lithographs had been donated by Juan Carlos I de Borbon, King of Spain. (The Secretary-General's remarks are available in press release SG/SM/6490 of 17 March.)

The Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations Office at Geneva, Ambassador Daniel Bernard, hosted a luncheon in honour of Prime Minister Jospin and the Secretary-General, following which the Secretary- General gave a press conference.

Before leaving Geneva, the Secretary-General met with Klaus Kinkel, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Federal Vice-Chancellor of Germany. They discussed Iraq, Kosovo and the Secretary-General's forthcoming trip to the Middle East.

The Secretary-General departed for Amman, Jordan at 5 p.m.

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