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 welcoming the spokesman for the President of the fifty-third session of the General Assembly, Jadranka Mihalic. Mr. Eckhard said she had been present at the General Assembly President's press conference in the morning and would be part of the Spokesman's team for a year.

Mr. Eckhard then said the Security Council was meeting this morning in closed consultations to receive a briefing on Kosovo by Nicholas Morris, the Special Envoy to the Former Yugoslavia for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Sadako Ogata. Because of the timing of his Council briefing, it had not been possible to bring Mr. Morris to the noon briefing. Correspondents who wished to reach him in the afternoon could contact him through the UNHCR liaison office.

Meanwhile, Mr. Eckhard said, UNHCR teams in Kosovo had reported that tens of thousands of people, mostly women and children, had been trapped yesterday in a 12 kilometre stretch of road after troops had shelled and torched their villages. The road was jammed bumper to bumper with carts and tractors even as more people were arriving, and they had spent the night in the rain. The UNHCR confirmed there were at least 25,000 people in the area, possibly the largest concentration of displaced people in Kosovo.

The Council would take up Angola this afternoon, Mr. Eckhard said. The Secretary-General's report (document S/1998/723), which was on the racks, or about to appear there, described the situation in Angola as continuing to deteriorate, with the stalemate in the peace process mainly the result of continued delays by the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) in fulfilling its obligations under the Lusaka protocol. The situation had been further complicated by the involvement of the Angolan army in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo. In addition, the recent announcement by the Angolan Government to suspend UNITA members of the Government and of the National Assembly raised doubts about the prospects for national reconciliation.

A statement from the Cambodia Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights was available, Mr. Eckhard said. It announced that yesterday the Office had called on government security authorities and demonstrators alike to avoid any forms of violence and to refrain from all acts of incitement or intimidation.

In the statement, Mr. Eckhard said, the Office recalled that the fundamental right to peaceful assembly, expression and association should be protected. The Office also called on the authorities to ensure that people who had been arrested were treated fairly and in full accordance with the law. Further, the Office deplored the loss of life, injuries, violence and other

illegal acts in Phnom Penh which had occurred during government operations since Monday to disperse peaceful protestors by force. The Office confirmed that at least two people had been killed so far and many beaten, including monks and ordinary citizens, as well as one foreign journalist. The text of the statement was available in room 378.

The World Food Programme (WFP) had announced that it had airlifted the first emergency food aid to Kinshasa for residents facing acute food shortages since fighting had broken out five weeks ago, Mr. Eckhard said. The fighting was between the rebel forces and the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Twenty tons of maize had been delivered by a C-130 aircraft loaned to the WFP by the Belgian Government. The WFP press release on that subject was available in room 378.

Mr. Eckhard said the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, had arrived in Lhassa, Tibet, this morning. She had visited the Jokhang Monastery, which was the main monastery in Lhassa. There, she had asked to see a monk who had been interviewed by the Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance during his visit to Tibet in 1994. She had then gone on to visit some development projects in Lhassa.

Two press releases from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) were available on the racks, Mr. Eckhard said. One concerned the opening tomorrow of the Swedish Marine Biological Centre in the city of Kalmar, Sweden. The Centre was the future home of the coordination office for the Global International Waters Assessment project -- which was a $13.5 million joint undertaking of UNEP and several United Nations and governmental partners. The project would provide the first comprehensive assessment of the world's water-related environmental problems.

The other UNEP press release, Mr. Eckhard said, concerned the opening today in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, of a conference to formally sign the International Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade. The UNEP Executive Director, Klaus Toepfer, had called the agreement a "major addition to our toolkit for reducing the negative impact of human activities on human health and the natural environment".

"We received a check for $525,000 plus today from Oman", Mr. Eckhard said, noting that Oman had become the ninety-fourth Member State to pay its assessed contribution in full. "We're still broke", he added, stating that copies of the updated honour roll of Member States who had paid in full were available in room 378.

The United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) had asked him to announced that the Dag Hammarskjold Luncheon was taking place on 15 September, Mr. Eckhard said. The Secretary-General would be the guest of honour.

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Details were posted on the UNCA bulletin board and the deadline for buying tickets was tomorrow.

Another reminder, on a personal note, Mr. Eckhard said, was that Juan Carlos Brandt of his office was going off to become the United Nations Information Centre Director in Sydney, Australia. A party for him was scheduled for next Wednesday from six o'clock on, and the guest list needed to be firmed. Those interested in attending were invited to reserve a place with anyone in the Spokesman's Office, by tomorrow at the latest.

Ted Morello, President of the United Nations Correspondents Association, then welcomed the spokesman for the President of the General Assembly, Jadranka Mihalic, who stated that she preferred the designation of "spokesman" over either "spokesperson" or "spokeswoman". Mr. Morello, noting her preference, said the New York Times preferred to use the others.

A correspondent then asked about the United Nations policy regarding business promotion of United Nations issues, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She cited a Benetton campaign promoting human rights in 136 countries and showed a sample of the advertisements she had picked up while in Italy. She said they were confusing and cheap, promoting Benetton more than the subject at hand. A Benetton house publication showed an off-shoot from Swatch, which read "every Swatch shall be entitled from its birth to a name and a Swiss nationality". A business paying for an ad was one thing, but the Human Rights Declaration was done in a glossy, flip way that was a contrast to the UNHCR advertisements on refugees, which told a different story and were fantastic.

Why did the Benetton advertisements come about, how did they come about and were they setting a precedent to trivialize a very sensitive issue? the correspondent asked. Also, was this the only campaign? Other alternatives had been presented but this had been chosen. Also, there were other alternatives offering a totally different campaign and those firms had pulled out.

Mr. Eckhard said the campaign had come out of the United Nations Information Centre in Rome and had been approved by this Headquarters in the name of the Secretary-General. It had been announced at a noon briefing, where prototypes of the advertisements had been shown. The advertisements had been presented as intending to bring attention to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights without any commercial benefit to Benetton, the sponsor.

On being shown an advertisement carrying a "United colors of Benetton" logo, Mr. Eckhard said the advertisements were designed with elements of the Human Rights Declaration being presented in a massive worldwide campaign. "We approved the format and if you find it unsuitable, I'm sorry," Mr. Eckhard said. He added that the Swatch advertisements were a take-off that had "nothing to do with us".

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"Did anyone check where Benetton has its clothes made?" the correspondent asked, saying that Benetton was a company with a social conscience, but one that was in a business known for farming out its work.

"How politically correct would you like us to be?" the Spokesman responded. "A major corporation had come and said they would like to help promote the Universal Declaration and its fiftieth anniversary. We said fine, as long as there is no direct commercial link with you. They showed us prototypes, we said that's fine and they did it."

On another subject, a correspondent said the Deputy Secretary-General was one of the highest appointments in the Secretariat. Why did no one know about her activities?

Mr. Eckhard explained that the Deputy Secretary-General's appointments were issued daily by the Spokesman's Office, as were those of the Secretary- General. The Spokesman's Office also reported on the Deputy's official travel, as it did with the Secretary-General's travels. Interviews were booked for her just as they were for the Secretary-General. "If you'd like to speak to her, we'd be happy to forward your request", Mr. Eckhard said.

The correspondent said that was desirable for when she had something special to say, but why couldn't she come and report on her activities sometimes? "If you'd like that, I'll be glad to relay that message to her", Mr. Eckhard repeated.

The spokesman for the President of the General Assembly, Ms. Mihalic, summarized yesterday's events. She said the fifty-third session had been opened by the Chairman of the delegation of Ukraine, who had first invited the Assembly to observe a moment of silence, as was customary. The Assembly had then appointed nine members of the Credentials Committee. A list of those members was available in room 378.

She then said the Assembly had elected by acclamation the nominee of the Latin American and Caribbean States Group, Didier Opertti, Foreign Minister of Uruguay, as President of the fifty-third session. In his acceptance speech, Mr. Opertti had noted that the United Nations faced such special challenges as serious disruptions in the financial markets, a dramatic resurgence of terrorist activities and conflicts that took the form of attacks on the security of individuals and the stability of institutions. He had also said that creating a favourable climate for consideration of those issues would be the main goal of his presidency. He noted, however, that very little could be done on such issues if Member States did not fulfil their commitments to the United Nations.

The full text of the President's statement had been issued and was available on the rack as Press Release GA/SM/58, the spokesman said. The text

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in Spanish was available in her office, and a list of her phone numbers was available in room 378.

Following the address by the President, consecutive meetings of the Assembly's six Main Committees had been held to elect their respective Chairmen. Following that, the Assembly had elected 21 Vice-Presidents. A list of the Chairmen, which included their nationalities, was also available in room 378. The next meeting of the Assembly would be tomorrow at 10 a.m., when the General Committee would meet to discuss organizational matters of the fifty-third session.

The only scheduled meeting the President had today was the press conference at 11 a.m., she said. She then announced that the video of the daily briefing was available on the United Nations website on the Internet, both live and later on demand, at www.un.org/news. "I understand I'm the first spokesman of the President of the General Assembly to appear on video on the Internet", she added.

She said that beginning today the Department of Public Information was unveiling the General Assembly home page on the United Nations website at www.un.org/GA/53/session. Beginning tomorrow, a list of the President's daily appointments would be available on that site, under the heading of "General Assembly President". Also available would be a transcript of today's press conference, as well as other statements the President might issue. For those interested in the Spanish United Nations website, the President's speech had already been posted there.

Were the Human Rights Commission elections going on now? a correspondent asked. The spokesman said they were not. The first meeting, that of the General Committee, would take place tomorrow, and the Assembly's agenda had not yet been formally adopted. That would occur on the recommendation of the General Committee.

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