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 Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services, Karl Paschke, who would brief correspondents on his annual report. (Mr. Paschke's briefing is being issued separately.)

Mr. Eckhard then said the Security Council had met this morning for consultations on Western Sahara, the item postponed from yesterday. The Council had been briefed by the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Bernard Miyet. Under other matters, the Council was expected to discuss the situation in the Sudan. The Council would meet again this afternoon to discuss a draft letter to the Secretary-General outlining the position on a comprehensive review of Iraq's compliance with relevant Security Council resolutions.

Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Alvaro de Soto, who was visiting Myanmar right now, had so far met with a number of senior officials, including the Foreign Minister. He was expected to meet with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during the course of his visit, presently expected to end on Friday.

There had been a briefing this morning by the Director of the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Joseph Chamie, on the United Nations revised population estimates, the Spokesman said. There were now some 5.9 billion people in the world, he added, and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) was preparing to mark the "Day of 6 Billion" next year. A press release was available in Room S-378 on the date, set at 12 October 1999. UNFPA spokeswoman Corrie Shanahan would have further information, Mr. Eckhard said, gesturing toward Ms. Shanahan, who rose by way of introduction.

The Secretary-General would address the General Assembly's Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) this afternoon, Mr. Eckhard said, confirming with the spokesman for the Assembly President that she would be speaking on that item. "The Secretary-General feels that once he speaks to Member States about the issue, he will be able to speak to staff on the subject of human resources reform," Mr. Eckhard continued. The Secretary-General would present his report on that subject (document A/53/414) to the Committee this afternoon, then would hold an open meeting with staff, scheduled for tomorrow at 10 a.m. in the Economic and Social Council Chamber. The Deputy Secretary-General would also speak, and then the floor would be open to questions.

"This is the first time, as far as we can remember, that a meeting of this kind is being held," Mr. Eckhard added. The proceedings would be broadcast on the in-house MX system, at extension 7730 for the floor broadcast, 7731 for English and 7732 for French.

As mentioned yesterday, Mr. Eckhard said, the Secretary-General was meeting today with the heads of the five other principal organs of the United Nations. That would be followed by a luncheon of the same group. A photo opportunity would be provided before the pre-lunch meeting, and then the group was expected to issue a statement. "We'll squawk the time of that event and it'll be a second photo-op," the Spokesman said, adding that the group would consist of the following: President of the General Assembly, Didier Opertti (Uruguay); President of the Security Council for this month, Sir Jeremy Greenstock (Great Britain); President of the Economic and Social Council, Juan Somavia (Chile); President of the International Court of Justice, Stephen Schwebel (United States); and President of the Trusteeship Council, Yves Doutriaux (France), "and of course the Secretary-General".

The Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, was expected back at United Nations Headquarters tomorrow, the Spokesman announced. Mr. Brahimi would brief the members of the so-called "Six-plus-Two" group on Afghanistan tomorrow afternoon, and he had also been asked for a briefing by the Security Council. He was expected to be at Headquarters through the middle of next week, and if possible, he would brief correspondents.

Mr. Eckhard then said that tomorrow, Thursday, at 6 p.m., a programme in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium would launch a new book entitled, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Fifty Years and Beyond. A number of contributors to the book would speak, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, and the Chairman of the United States Coordinating Committee for the "UNDHR 50", William van den Heuvel, and a reception would follow. "Press are invited," the Spokesman said.

"We failed to say early enough that this is Disarmament Week but it is," the Spokesman said, adding that the Department of Public Information (DPI) and the Non-governmental Organizations Committee on Disarmament were holding a series of panel discussions through tomorrow. Today, a panel on "emerging partnerships on small arms" would be held in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium at 3:15 p.m.

Qatar had ratified the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (Ottawa Convention), Mr. Eckhard announced, which had brought the number of parties to that Convention up to 48. In addition, Namibia had signed the Statute of the International Criminal Court, which brought the number of signatories on that to 54.

On press conferences, Mr. Eckhard said this afternoon at 3 p.m. there would be a press briefing by the Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, Pino Arlacchi, who would speak about his recent trip to Colombia. Tomorrow morning at 11:30 a.m. the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, Klaus Toepfer, would hold a briefing on

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 28 October 1998

the follow-up to the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) (Istanbul, June 1996). At the noon briefing, by request, a representative of the Outer Space Committee would give a briefing on UNISPACE III. In the afternoon tomorrow, there would be a background briefing

by an anonymous senior United Nations official on the work of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC), the meeting of which was coming up soon.

In response to a correspondent's question, Mr. Eckhard said he would look into whether United Nations Television would cover the staff meeting with the Secretary-General tomorrow. [He later said that United Nations Television would cover the meeting.]

Jadranka Mihalic, spokesman for General Assembly President Didier Opertti (Uruguay), said the plenary this morning had decided to include two additional items into the agenda of the fifty-third session, bringing the number of agenda items during the session to 168. The plenary had agreed that the item entitled "dialogue among civilizations" would be discussed at a date to be determined, while further discussions would ensue regarding the allocation of the item entitled "armed aggression against the Democratic Republic of the Congo".

The Assembly had then proceeded with consideration of the cooperation between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the spokesman said. A representative of Spain had introduced draft resolution A/53/L.12 on that item, which had 19 speakers inscribed for debate, with one additional speaker inscribed to address the Assembly after the vote.

This afternoon, the plenary would first consider the third annual report of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Ms. Mihalic said. So far, six speakers had been inscribed under that item. The Assembly would then resume from yesterday its consideration of item 24, entitled "Implementation of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s". Nine speakers were inscribed for this afternoon.

Tomorrow morning, the spokesman said, the plenary would first take up the request by the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices, through the Committee on Conferences, to meet during the main part of the current session, specifically next week. The plenary would then consider cooperation between the United Nations and the following organizations: the Asian-African Legal Consultative Committee; the Economic Cooperation Organization; the Organization of Islamic Conference; the Organization of African Unity (OAU); and the Caribbean Community. Draft resolutions on all those items except the one on cooperation with the OAU had already been circulated.

As to the Main Committees, Ms. Mihalic said the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) had resumed this morning its ongoing discussion of items 63 through 80 of its agenda and relevant draft

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 28 October 1998

resolutions. In the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) this afternoon, a draft resolution on sustainable development and international economic cooperation would be introduced, along with four additional drafts on environment and sustainable development. The Committee would then open the discussion on the United Nations University, as well as on agenda item 97, permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan, over their natural resources.

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) had this morning begun consideration of the programme of activities of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People, Ms. Mihalic continued. The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) was this morning holding informal discussions on programme planning. This afternoon, the Committee would first take up the issue of human resources management, specifically the human resources management reform in which the Secretary-General would make the introductory statement. The Committee would then resume considering the scale of assessments for the apportionment of expenses of the United Nations. And finally, the Sixth Committee (Legal) had this morning resumed considering the report of the International Law Commission on the work of its fiftieth session.

In response to a question, Ms. Mihalic confirmed that the item on the occupied Palestinian territory would be considered in the Second Committee this afternoon. In response to another question, Ms. Mihalic confirmed that the discussion on dialogue among civilizations was an item that had been introduced by Iran. In response to another question, Ms. Mihalic said the date of debate on that item had not yet been decided.

"Have any members of the Outer Space Committee expressed concern over the 72 lbs. of plutonium that would fly by with the celestial phenomenon Cassini at uncomfortably low altitudes and with a one in 14 chance of causing a mishap"? a correspondent asked. "Tomorrow will be a good opportunity to ask that question directly", the spokesman answered.

And finally, after welcoming the Humphrey Fellows from the University of Maryland, Mr. Eckhard introduced Mr. Paschke for the briefing on the annual Internal Oversight Services report.

* *** *