DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Manoel de Almeida e Silva, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, opened today's noon briefing by confirming that, as expected, the Secretary- General had held a press conference yesterday in Algiers and had announced acceptance by the POLISARIO Front of the package proposed by the United Nations for accelerating the peace process as set out in the Secretary- General's last report on the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). In brief, the package centred on a protocol for identifying applicants from contested tribal groups representing themselves individually; a protocol on the appeals process; a memorandum on activities of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the area; and an outline of the next stages of the settlement plan.

Today, Mr. Almeida e Silva went on to say, the Secretary-General had began his working visit to Algeria with a half-hour one-on-one meeting with Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf, followed by an additional hour of meeting in the presence of their delegations. They had discussed the peace process in Western Sahara and the Foreign Minister had informed the Secretary-General that Algeria supported the proposed United Nations package. Among other issues discussed, the Secretary-General had described his Legal Counsel's efforts to clarify issues raised by Libya in the Lockerbie case, as well as his efforts in Paris to broker a ceasefire in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

During a subsequent meeting, the Secretary-General had reviewed the same set of issues with Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia, Mr. Almeida e Silva continued. During a session of the General Assembly, the Secretary-General had met with several Parliamentarians, including Assembly President Abdelkader Bensalah. "Parliamentarians", the Secretary-General had said, "should be the bridge between the United Nations and the people since politics is no longer just local but global." In the afternoon, the Secretary-General, joined by Foreign Minister Attaf, had inaugurated the United Nations House, a facility donated by the Government of Algeria to house all United Nations agencies, funds and programmes working in the country. In the evening, the Secretary- General would attend a dinner hosted by the Foreign Minister.

"On the issue of Algeria's contribution", Mr. Almeida e Silva noted, "Algeria yesterday became the 110th Member State to make its full payment to the United Nations regular budget by submitting a cheque of slightly over $1 million."

Mr. Almeida e Silva then said that just a few minutes earlier, in the Economic and Social Council Chamber, actress Sharon Stone had made an impassioned appeal for people around the world to inform themselves about the deadly disease AIDS. Ms. Stone had been among the panellists on a programme commemorating World AIDS Day at United Nations Headquarters, opened by an address from Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette.

In his own message marking World AIDS Day the Secretary-General had pointed out that, by the end of this month, more than 33 million people would have HIV, Mr. Almeida e Silva said. "At least 95 per cent of all infections and deaths occur in the developing world, where costly new medicines capable of prolonging life are scarcely available", the Deputy Spokesman had said, quoting the Secretary-General. In that context, the Secretary-General had added, the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) was vital. "The most important message the United Nations system can convey is that we are not powerless against the epidemic", he had said. The full text of the message, issued as press release SG/SM/6798, was available in the Spokesman's Office, room S-378, as were copies of the Deputy Secretary-General's address delivered this morning in the Economic and Social Council Chamber.

Further on World AIDS Day, Mr. Almeida e Silva drew attention to a number of press releases and statements issued on the occasion by senior United Nations officials, the full texts of which were out on the racks. For example, the Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Carol Bellamy, had said that young people up to the age of 24 were bearing the brunt of the casualties. She had referred back to the staggering figures made public last week by UNAIDS, carried as a press release on the racks at the time.

The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Gro Harlem Brundtland, had urged health services to be more responsive to youth if the spread of AIDS among young people was to be slowed, Mr. Almeida e Silva continued. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in a press release, had warned that the lack of reproductive health care was disastrous to young people risking exposure to the virus. And the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, had said the current situation was an indictment of the international allocation of resources to fight HIV/AIDS.

Moving on to the Security Council, Mr. Almeida e Silva said Bahrain today would take over the Presidency of the Council for the month of December and the President was engaged in bilateral consultations with other Council members on the December work programme. Tomorrow, the Council was expected to meet for consultations on the programme of work and on the United Nations Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA), the mandate of which would expire on 3 December. Further details on the work programme would be available once the Council had adopted it.

Mr. Almeida e Silva then said the weekly update on the implementation of the Iraq "oil-for-food" programme was available in room S-378. As a highlight, the oil overseers had reported in the update that the total revenue generated during Phase IV of the programme, ending 25 November, had been $3.04 billion at current prices.

"Yesterday, Uzbekistan became the first Member State to ratify the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings", Mr.

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Almeida e Silva then announced, adding that Uzbekistan's instruments of ratification had been handed in to the Treaty Section. In addition to the single ratification, 38 parties had signed the Convention adopted by the General Assembly on 15 December 1997. A complete list of signatories to the Convention was available in room S-378.

Also available was a note on the visit to China of the Under-Secretary- General for Humanitarian Affairs, Sergio Vieira de Mello, taking place from 29 November to 1 December, the Deputy Spokesman said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Almeida e Silva continued, the World Food Programme (WFP) had today announced the launching of a new initiative to enhance the security of its employees in response to a recent increase in deliberate violence against its staff members. Further information was available from the press release in room S-378.

"The social fallout from the sudden unravelling of economic fortunes in East and South-East Asia is exceeding initial forecast and risks dramatically worsening", Mr. Almeida e Silva said. He was quoting from a press release, embargoed until 7:01 p.m. today New York time, which would accompany release of a new report by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Hong Kong and Geneva. The press release was available in room S-378.

The summary of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) daily press briefing was also available in the Spokesman's Office, Mr. Almeida e Silva said. Among the items in it was an update on the increasing flow of refugees fleeing from the fighting in the Shaba province of the southeastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Mr. Almeida e Silva announced that, in connection with events being planned to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a film festival would be held in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium beginning this Thursday, 3 December, and ending Wednesday, 9 December. The total of five daily screenings would each begin at 6 p.m. and would be followed by panel discussions of the issues raised in the film. Panellists would include a producer or director of the film, along with academics and human rights experts.

The world premiere of the United Nations documentary, "For Everyone, Everywhere", on the birth of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, would be held on Monday, 7 December, Mr. Almeida e Silva added. The film would air rare archival footage and interviews with key players in the drafting of the landmark human rights document. A full schedule of all the films being screened would be made available on the racks later today. Further information was also available from Bill Hass of the Department of Public Information (DPI) at tel. 963 0353.

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In response to a question on whether he could confirm reports out of Algeria that the Secretary-General was on his way to Libya, Mr. Almeida e Silva said no, he could not.

Jadranka Mihalic, spokesman for General Assembly President Didier Opertti (Uruguay), said that this morning after a debate the General Committee had decided to recommend to the plenary that agenda item 167, armed aggression against the Democratic Republic of the Congo, be allocated to it and considered at a date to be decided. Thereafter, following a debate involving nine Member States, it had also been decided to recommend to the plenary that the additional agenda item proposed by the Dominican Republic and entitled observer status for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources in the General Assembly be considered further with regard to its legal and institutional aspects, as well as that it be included in the provisional agenda for the fifty-fourth session of the General Assembly.

This morning, the plenary had continued its consideration of the question of Palestine, Ms. Mihalic then said. Sixteen speakers still remained in the debate of that item this morning and, if time permitted, the Assembly would also take action on the four draft resolutions before it, including hearing the speakers inscribed to address the Assembly before and after the vote. This afternoon, the plenary was expected to begin considering the situation in the Middle East, an item expected to continue tomorrow morning as 28 speakers so far had been inscribed to address the Assembly on the issue. A corrigendum to draft resolution A/53/L.53 on the item was applicable to the English, Spanish and Russian translations only.

Tomorrow afternoon, Ms. Mihalic said, the Assembly would observe the fiftieth anniversary of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. A draft resolution contained in document A/53/L.47 and sponsored by 77 Member States would be introduced by the representative of Armenia with 13 other speakers inscribed to speak so far. The draft would reaffirm and call for measures to strengthen implementation of the Convention originally adopted by the General Assembly on 9 December 1948 and opened for signature, ratification and succession prior to entering into force on 12 January 1951. Currently, 127 Member States were parties to the Convention.

Also tomorrow morning, the spokesman said, the open-ended working group on the question of equitable representation and increase in the membership of the Security Council and related matters would hold its first organizational meeting at the current session to elect two Vice-Chairmen. The President had nominated the Permanent Representatives of Sri Lanka and Sweden to fill those positions.

As for the Main Committees, Ms. Mihalic said, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) would hold its closing meeting at the current session this afternoon to take action on remaining draft resolutions before it. Those drafts included three under the agenda item macroeconomic policy questions (on trade and development; financing of development; and commodities); two on

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sustainable development and international economic cooperation; a total of 10 drafts on environment and sustainable development; two on operational activities for development; and two on the implementation of the first United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty. The Committee was also scheduled to take action on its biennial programme of work, contained in document A/53/L.50.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), Ms. Mihalic said, had this morning first taken up the programme budget implications of two resolutions of the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural). Those were in regard to the items on elimination of racism and racial discrimination, and on human rights questions: implementation of human rights instruments -- Committee against Torture. The Committee had then continued its discussion of the review of the administrative and financial functioning of the United Nations, with consideration of procurement reform and the issue of administrative arrangements for the International Trade Centre. The last item in the formal meeting of the Committee this morning was the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) on human resources management. For the rest of the morning, afternoon and evening today, the Committee would hold informal consultations on a series of issues before it.

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