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 the noon briefing with, "appropriately enough, two hours before John Glenn's historic re-entry into space, our briefing guests are concerned with the peaceful uses of outer space". Mr. Eckhard then welcomed, in response to a request for a briefing on outer space activities by the press, the Director of the Office for Outer Space Affairs of the United Nations in Vienna, Nandasiri Jasentuliyana, and the Special Representative and National Coordinator for Austria of the Third United Nations Conference on International Cooperation in Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, Peter Jankowitch. Known as UNISPACE III, the Conference would take place in July of next year, Mr. Eckhard added. (The briefing by Mr. Jasentuliyana and Mr. Jankowitch is issued separately.)

The Spokesman then said the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Bernard Miyet, had appeared before the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) of the General Assembly this morning and, on behalf of the Secretary-General, had made a statement along the following lines:

"The Secretary-General has decided to set minimum age requirements for the United Nations peacekeepers being made available to the United Nations by Member States. As announced this morning by the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping, contributing governments are asked not to send civilian police and military observers younger than 25 years of age to peacekeeping operations. Troops in national contingents should preferably be 21 years of age, but certainly not less than 18 years of age.

"This decision has been taken as an additional measure in the Organization's efforts to promote the rights of the child. While we have no indication that Member governments have provided the United Nations with soldiers under the age of 18, this policy has been adopted as a proactive measure and to ensure that the Organization's use of uniformed personnel is an example for police and military forces worldwide."

Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General was coordinating on the matter with the Office of the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu.

As mentioned yesterday, Mr. Eckhard said, the Secretary-General had held his first question-and-answer meeting with the staff this morning on the issue of human resources reform. He had opened the meeting with a frank statement, acknowledging that the United Nations did not invest enough in people.

"We don't adequately reward high performance, but we appear to tolerate underperformance", the Secretary-General had declared. He had called for an overhaul of the areas not working well, and he had introduced his report on

human resources reform, which described initiatives for decentralization and the delegation of authority. He had said those measures would give staff more opportunities for training, ensure greater accountability, and foster more dialogue "up and down the hierarchy".

Further, Mr. Eckhard said, the Secretary-General had stressed that "reform" did not mean "cuts", but that from time to time, as mandates changed, the Organization could need to retrain or redeploy staff. "You can count on me to foster an open, transparent environment of mutual trust", the Secretary- General had said, before opening the floor to questions posed by staff from New York, Geneva and Nairobi. The questions covered a range of issues, including the need to adjust the behavioural culture of the Organization, the need to achieve gender equality, and the issue of job security. Also asked were questions on how managers would be able to handle new responsibilities, and how they would be held accountable on falling short.

Joining the Secretary-General on the podium, Mr. Eckhard said, had been the Deputy Secretary-General, Louise Fréchette, along with the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Resources Management, Rafiah Salim, and, of course, the Under-Secretary-General for Management, Joseph Connor, all three of them also fielding questions. The full text of the Secretary-General's statement was available in room S-378.

The Security Council had met this morning to discuss the draft resolution on Western Sahara, Mr. Eckhard said. The Council had approved a final text, which would go into "blue", or final draft form, today, and it was expected to be adopted tomorrow at a formal meeting after morning consultations. Council members were now reviewing sanctions against Libya for the twentieth time since the sanctions had been adopted in 1992 under Council resolution 748. The sanctions review took place every 120 days, and the last review had been carried out on 2 July.

On East Timor, Mr. Eckhard continued, the Secretary-General's Personal Representative for East Timor, Jamsheed Marker, would open the fourth gathering of the All-Inclusive Intra-East Timorese Dialogue taking place at Krumbach Castle in Austria, from 31 October to 3 November. In all, 43 participants from inside and outside East Timor and representing various shades of opinion had been invited. That number was eight more than last year, and the meeting was being hosted by the Austrian Government.

The final report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Police Support Group in Croatia was out on the racks today, Mr. Eckhard said. That Support Group had completed its mission on 15 October.

Mr. Eckhard then said a press release was available in room S-378 from the Special Rapporteur for human rights in Burundi, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, "but only in French, unfortunately for the English speakers". The communication was to condemn the killings that had taken place in Burundi on

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the night of 27 and 28 October, during which 34 unarmed civilians had been killed and 25 wounded.

Today in The Hague, Mr. Eckhard continued, Goran Jelisic had pleaded guilty to 31 out of 32 counts against him, of which 15 counts were Crimes against Humanity and 16 were Violations of the Law or Customs of War. The counts were related to 12 killings, four beatings and one plunder of private property in the Brcko area in 1992. The indictment against Mr. Jelisic had included one count of Genocide, to which he had pleaded not guilty. At the end of the hearing, the Trial Chamber had decided that sentencing would take place once the trial for Genocide had been held. No date for the beginning of that trial had been set. A press release with all the details was available in room S-378.

"I want you all in bed early tonight because you've got to start early tomorrow", the Spokesman said, continuing, to report that at 9 a.m. in room S-226 there would be a press briefing on a new campaign to roll back malaria. Featured at the briefing would be the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Gro Harlem Brundtland, who was currently in New York for the first time since her appointment as head of the WHO. Others participating in the briefing would be the Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Carol Bellamy; the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), James Gustave Speth; and the President of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn.

"So I'll be sitting there on the floor because this table will be full of heavyweights", the Spokesman sighed, adding that the group was bringing correspondents out early because they would be tied up later in the day with attending the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) meeting, which would be chaired by the Secretary-General. The ACC, it was explained, brought together all the heads of the United Nations specialized agencies, programmes and funds. It would be meeting on Friday and Saturday with a full agenda.

On the malaria campaign, Mr. Eckhard said a media advisory and an embargoed press release were available in room S-378, and press kits were to be distributed in the morning, "so please don't miss it". On the ACC meeting, a background briefing had been planned for this afternoon as had been announced yesterday. Difficulties had forced cancellation of the background meeting, which would be replaced by an on-the-record briefing on Monday regarding the outcome of the ACC meeting. More details would be made available as they became known.

A number of interesting documents were on the racks today, the Spokesman said, including the report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Robert Garretón, who was well- known to United Nations correspondents and whose report was document A/53/365. Another report of interest was by the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Nigeria (document A/53/366).

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While on the subject, Mr. Eckhard added, two reports of special rapporteurs had been on the racks yesterday without being mentioned. One of those reports was on Myanmar (document A/53/364) and the other on human rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (document A/53/322). Finally, on the racks today was a report of the Office of Internal Oversight Services dealing with the United Nations health insurance programme (document A/53/467).

Regarding ratifications and signatures, Mr. Eckhard said the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia had signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty this morning, bringing the number of signatories on that instrument to 151. In addition, Slovenia had ratified the landmines Convention, bringing the number of parties on that to 49.

"Last call for the Maghreb"! Mr. Eckhard stated, adding that, as announced previously, the Secretary-General would visit the Maghreb region starting on 7 November. In brief, the Secretary-General's programme was: Mauritania on 7 and 8 November; Morocco on 10 and 11 November; Tunisia on 13 and 14 November; and Algeria on 15 and 16 November. A limited number of seats were available on the plane accompanying the Secretary-General's aircraft. A decision about the final list would be made on Monday. "So, end of work tomorrow, New York time, is the deadline", the Spokesman added.

The latest weekly humanitarian update from Kosovo was available in room S-378, Mr. Eckhard said. Also available today was a press release from the World Food Programme (WFP) out of Maseru, Lesotho, stating that the organization had begun an emergency feeding programme this week to students at 63 primary schools that had been severely looted during the civil war unrest in that country last month. And from the International Criminal Tribunal in Rwanda had come a press release announcing that the 25 detainees who had joined a hunger strike in solidarity with Jean-Paul Akayesu had called off their hunger strike yesterday.

And finally today, Mr. Eckhard said the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) had asked for announcement of a briefing to be held today at 2 p.m. in the UNCA Club by Fernando Da Araujo, who, according to UNCA, had been imprisoned for six years in East Timor for dissident activities.

A correspond recalled that an outside panel of experts had produced a report on staff issues. Was that a public document? the correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said no, those recommendations had been folded into the Secretary- General's report. Jadranka Mihalic, spokesman for General Assembly President Didier Opertti (Uruguay), said the plenary this morning had first authorized the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs in the Occupied Territories to meet during the main part of the fifty-third session. They would meet from 2 to 5 November in New York.

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The plenary had then proceeded with consideration of the cooperation between the United Nations and the Asian-African Legal Consultative Committee, Ms. Mihalic said. The Secretary-General of that organization had addressed the Assembly, and a draft resolution on the item, introduced by India, had been adopted by consensus.

The Assembly had then considered cooperation between the United Nations and the Economic Cooperation Organization and had also adopted a draft resolution on that issue by consensus, Ms. Mihalic said. At the time of the briefing, the Assembly had begun consideration of cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization of the Islamic Conference. A draft resolution on that item had been introduced by Qatar, and eight other speakers had been inscribed on the item.

This afternoon, Ms. Mihalic said, the plenary would resume considering cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity (OAU). Ten speakers had been inscribed to address the Assembly on that item, but no draft resolutions had yet been circulated, meaning the Assembly would return to consideration of the item at a later date.

The last item to be considered today by the plenary was cooperation between the United Nations and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the spokesman said. There was a draft resolution on the item, to be introduced by Guyana, and other speakers had been inscribed to address the Assembly on the item, including the Observer for the Caribbean Community. No plenary meetings had been scheduled for tomorrow.

As for the Main Committees, Ms. Mihalic said, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) would this afternoon continue its general discussion of agenda items 63 through 80, together with relevant draft resolutions. Later in the afternoon, the Committee would hold informal consultations on the issue of the rationalization of its work and the reform of its agenda. The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) was meeting this morning, opening the general debate on the comprehensive review of the whole question of peacekeeping operations in all their aspects.

Ms. Mihalic then said the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) was meeting both this morning and afternoon, considering the implementation of the outcome of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), as well as the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development. In the afternoon, the Committee would begin considering trade and development as part of the agenda item on macroeconomic policy questions. An introductory statement would be made by the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

At 5 o'clock this afternoon, the Committee would also hear a presentation by the Director of the Population Division of the Department of

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Economic and Social Affairs, Ms. Mihalic said. Also, from 1:15 to 2:45 p.m. today, a panel discussion would be held under the auspices of the Committee in Conference Room 2, on the implementation of the outcome of the Habitat Conference. Among the panellists would be the Acting Executive Director of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat).

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural), Ms. Mihalic said, was this morning beginning its discussion of agenda item 110, human rights questions. Also, a draft resolution (document A/C.3/53/L.15) on the promotion and protection of the rights of children would be introduced this morning.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), Ms. Mihalic said, had this morning concluded its general discussion of the scale of assessments and had begun formal consideration of the development account, specifically the utilization of the development dividend. The Committee was also scheduled to review implementation of resolution 48/218 E, which had established the Office of Internal Oversight Services. This afternoon, the Committee would begin considering reports by the Oversight Office and the Joint Inspection Unit.

And finally, Ms. Mihalic said, the Sixth Committee (Legal) was holding two meetings today and also continuing discussion of the report of the International Law Commission on its fiftieth session.

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