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 reporting that the Secretary-General had given a press conference in Abu Dhabi and had then left the United Arab Emirates for Paris at 1:30 a.m. In that press conference, the Secretary-General had provided a response to a question posed at yesterday's noon briefing. The Secretary-General had said that upon arriving in Abu Dhabi, he had held a one-on-one meeting with his Special Envoy to Iraq, Prakash Shah. And, while giving no specifics about the meeting, the Secretary-General had implied that documentation requested of Iraq by the Executive Director of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM), Richard Butler, had been discussed, and further, that correspondence between UNSCOM and Iraq on that subject had been exchanged.

Further in that press conference, Mr. Eckhard said, the Secretary-General had been asked whether he would mediate between Iran and the United Arab Emirates over their territorial dispute regarding islands in the Straights of Hormuz. The Secretary-General had confirmed that he had discussed the matter with the President of the United Arab Emirates and with the Foreign Minister of Iran, and that he had encouraged them both to have "preparatory discussions". Both had responded positively, the Secretary- General had also said.

"It bears clarification, however," the Spokesman continued, "that the Secretary-General sees no mediation role for himself in that issue at this time". The full transcript of the press conference at which the exchanges had occurred was available in room S-378.

Meanwhile, Mr. Eckhard went on to say, the Secretary-General in Paris had addressed the French National Assembly this afternoon as part of France's celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Secretary-General had drawn strong applause with the statement, "I wish to reaffirm that, while regional organizations undoubtedly have an important role to play, any military intervention by the international community must remain subject to the approval of the Security Council".

Further this afternoon in Paris, the Spokesman added, the Secretary- General would close a meeting entitled, "Human rights at the twilight of the 20th century", held at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) headquarters and co-sponsored by UNESCO and the French Republic. The Secretary-General had been joined by the Prime Minister of France, Lionel Jospin, and the two had planned to take questions from the press. A full transcript of that exchange was expected in room S-378 by day's end.

In his address at UNESCO, the Secretary-General had said the Universal Declaration of Human Rights "gives the United Nations its inspiration and its guidance. It is a mirror that reflects how far we have come and how long we

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have yet to go. It is a mirror that, at once, flatters us and shames us, that bears witness to a record of progress for part of humanity while revealing a history of horrors for others. Our time, this decade even", the Secretary-General had emphasized, "has shown us that man's capacity for evil knows no limits. Genocide is now a word of our time too, a stark and haunting reminder of why our vigilance must be eternal".

This evening, the Secretary-General would proceed to the Palais de Chaillot, where he would receive from the Secretary-General of Amnesty International a book representing 10 million signatures in favour of human rights. He would pay tribute to the defenders of human rights by saying, "We owe it to them, these defenders of our freedom, to do all we can to defend theirs". The full texts of the various addresses were available in room S-378. The Secretary-General himself would return to New York tomorrow.

"The Secretary-General was shocked to hear news reports that four foreign hostages were found decapitated in Chechnya, a region where kidnappings have become common", Mr. Eckhard said. He noted that Vincent Cochetel of France, head of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in North Ossetia near Chechnya, had been abducted 313 days ago. So far, efforts to obtain Mr. Cochetel's release had yielded no results. Today in Paris, the Secretary-General had met with Mr. Cochetel's family. The Secretary-General had also said at a press encounter that he would talk with Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, as part of ongoing efforts to bring Mr. Cochetel home through contacts with Russian officials.

Almost lost in the massive celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was another 50th anniversary, that of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Mr. Eckhard then said. In his message marking the occasion, the Secretary-General had said that preventing and punishing genocide was never a matter for one nation only, "it is the duty of all humankind". The Secretary-General had solemnly called on all States to implement the Convention and for outstanding States to ratify or accede to the Convention without further delay. "Let us all undertake to end this ultimate denial of human rights, and the impunity that has allowed it to continue", the Secretary-General had said. The full text had been issued as Press Release SG/SM/6822.

Returning to the subject of the 50th anniversary celebration, Mr. Eckhard said tomorrow would yield a key moment when the General Assembly would adopt a Declaration on the Rights of Human Rights Defenders, reaffirming the specific individual rights needed to promote and protect human rights. On Thursday, the Secretary-General would award six prizes to individuals or groups at the forefront in the struggle for human rights. Today, the feature at the Human Rights Film Festival would be the documentary, "Fighting for Our Rights: A Tribute to San Francisco's Human Rights Heroes", focusing on three human rights components in which the San Francisco Bay Area had led the world

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in defending and expanding human rights: the free speech movement at the University of California, Berkeley; the bussing of students to integrate schools during the civil rights movement; and the gay and lesbian freedom movement.

The Spokesman said that among other events commemorating the Human Rights Declaration anniversary would be a discussion tomorrow with Supreme Court Justices and human rights organizations from Latin America on the human rights situation in the region. The discussion would be organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and would take place in Conference Room 4 at 11:30 a.m. Also, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, had called today on the international community to enshrine health as a basic human right in her first major policy speech on the subject since taking over her new position last July. The Human Rights Day celebration at headquarters itself would end with a recital by Luciano Pavarotti and Wynton Marsalis in the General Assembly Hall at 8 p.m. Tickets for those of the media lucky enough to obtain them were available through the Accreditation Unit. For others, the recital would be aired on in-house television as well as on large screen in the Economic and Social Council Chamber.

The Security Council this morning was holding consultations on the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and on Afghanistan, Mr. Eckhard said. The President of the Tribunal, Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, was briefing Council members on implementing Security Council resolution 1207(1998), of 17 November, calling upon parties to the conflict to cooperate fully with the Tribunal Prosecutor. Judge McDonald had informed Council members that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia had not complied with the resolution. Further details were provided in the text of her presentation, available in room S-378.

On Afghanistan, Council members would be briefed by the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Kieran Prendergast, the Spokesman continued. The Council would discuss draft resolution S/1998/1140 as well as a letter to the Council from the Secretary-General, issued as document S/1998/1139, in which the Secretary-General had reported that the parties in Afghanistan had agreed in principle to his proposal for deploying civilian monitors as part of the United Nations Special Mission to Afghanistan. The Security Council was expected to vote on the draft today.

From the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) had come word that the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Sergio Vieira de Mello, had been among the representatives of 15 donor countries, 16 United Nations agencies and departments, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and non-governmental organizations taking part in the Fourth Afghanistan Support Group meeting held in Tokyo on 7 and 8 December, Mr. Eckhard said. Participants had agreed to continue addressing the most basic humanitarian needs in Afghanistan through local United Nations

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staff and international non-governmental organizations until conditions for relocating international United Nations staff were in place. The forum had also endorsed the humanitarian strategy for 1999, outlined in a consolidated appeal to be launched by mid-December.

In Iraq, Mr. Eckhard said, the so-called "surprise visits" to undeclared or suspected sites had begun today in accordance with the announcement made yesterday by UNSCOM's Executive Director, Mr. Richard Butler. The surprise visits would be conducted in parallel with monitoring visits and interviews. An assessment report on Iraq's cooperation with UNSCOM was expected to be prepared around 15 December, Mr. Butler had also said yesterday.

Calling attention to the weekly update on the "oil-for-food" programme released yesterday afternoon, Mr. Eckhard said the Government of Iraq had begun exporting oil under the terms of Council resolution 1210(1998) adopted on 24 November. Two ships had taken on Kirkuk crude oil at the Turkish port of Sehan on 5 and 6 December, and four ships had loaded oil at the platform of Nina El-Baqar on 5, 6 and 7 December. In the week ending 4 December, the oil overseers had approved 25 contracts under Phase 5. The distribution plan submitted by the Government of Iraq for Phase 5 was being reviewed and would be submitted shortly for the consideration and approval of the Secretary-General.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) 1999 State of the World's Children report had been launched today as reported yesterday, Mr. Eckhard said, and it indicated that nearly one billion people, two-thirds of them women, would enter the 21st century without being able to read or write. The report also indicated that some 130 million school age children were not attending school, which was about 12 per cent of the worldwide total of school-age children, and that 150 million of those children who entered elementary school never completed the fifth grade. If the world would spend an additional seven billion dollars per year on education over the next 10 years, which would amount to less than the sum Americans spend annually on cosmetics, the Spokesman said the report had concluded, "a basic education for every child on the planet would be assured".

The Deputy Secretary-General was travelling this week, Mr. Eckhard announced, adding that she was currently on an official visit to London. Yesterday, she had met with the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for International Development, Claire Short. Today, Madame Fréchette had addressed the Overseas Development Institute on the issue of global governance, stressing that global governance had nothing to do with world government. To improve global governance, she had said, she advocated "building on what has been shown to work rather than setting up new institutions". The full text of her speech was available in room S-378.

In the afternoon, Mr. Eckhard went on to say, Madame Fréchette had addressed the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Overseas Development. Copies

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of that address were also available in room S-378 and were recommended reading for anyone interested in United Nations reform, for the reason that the Deputy Secretary-General had chronicled the Secretary-General's reform effort to date with the conclusion that much was in place already but that certain measures would "take more time to implement". Details on Madame Fréchette's other appointments in the United Kingdom were available through Hanna Yilma of the Spokesman's Office in room S-378. Tomorrow, the Deputy Secretary-General would travel to Vienna, where she would attend a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Mr. Eckhard then said a press release from the World Food Programme (WFP) had just arrived with the announcement that an emergency airlift had been organized to deliver desperately-needed food to 10,000 people found stranded on the banks of a river in remote eastern Honduras almost six weeks after Hurricane Mitch had struck Central America. After the area's only bridge had been washed away by floodwaters, the group had been forced to fend for themselves without food or medicine. No deaths had been reported among those in the group, but local authorities had estimated that 600 houses had been obliterated by the raging floods.

In another announcement from OCHA, Mr. Eckhard said the United Nations Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeals on behalf of 14 countries and regions for 1999 was being launched in Geneva, with the humanitarian community asking for a total of $1.5 billion to address humanitarian needs in the 14 targeted countries or regions. As part of ongoing preparations, OCHA had already disseminated the consolidated appeals for Angola, Sierra Leone, Tajikistan, the former Yugoslavia and Uganda, and all appeals were expected to be available for dissemination by week's end.

Also, the Spokesman said, the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) had asked him to remind correspondents to vote at the polling place outside the UNCA cafeteria, open until 4 p.m. today and tomorrow.

And finally, Mr. Eckhard took a moment to introduce the newest permanent member of the Spokesman's Office, Jessica Jiji, a youthful veteran of the Department of Public Information (DPI) who had also worked at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). "She has a mind like a steel trap and a boundless interest in everything", Mr. Eckhard continued, adding that as the junior member of his team, Ms. Jiji would take on every issue not covered by someone else, including development, disarmament, trade, United Nations administration, finance and reform, legal issues, population, oceans and outer space, "and on and on and on". Characterizing Ms. Jiji as a wonderful person, highly enjoyable in the work situation, Mr. Eckhard said four of the six professional posts allocated to his office had now been filled.

Betraying curiosity about the junior Associate Spokesman's "steel trap" mind, a correspondent then said he had two questions on Iraq. The first was related to a comment attributed on the news wires to Iraqi Deputy Prime

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Minister Tariq Azziz, stating that Iraq would decide in January whether to continue cooperating with UNSCOM. Was such a comment a violation of the agreement made in November or was it just talk not warranting concern? the correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said he had not seen the comment and would not comment on it.

Assuring that the second question would be easier, the correspondent asked whether the Secretary-General's Special Envoy to Iraq, Prakash Shah, would be coming to New York. Mr. Eckhard said he was unaware of such plans but would double check.

Jadranka Mihalic, spokesman for General Assembly President Didier Opertti (Uruguay), said that yesterday afternoon the President had left New York to attend the meeting of the Council of Ministers and the summit meeting of the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR), in his capacity as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay. He was expected back in New York Thursday morning.

Ms. Mihalic then said that this morning, draft resolution A/53/L.67, which had been submitted by the Assembly President and was entitled, "Fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights", had been issued as the text on which the Assembly would take action during the observance of the Declaration's fiftieth anniversary on Thursday, 10 December. Also this morning, the Assembly had adopted two draft resolutions under the agenda item entitled, "Strengthening of the coordination of humanitarian and disaster relief assistance of the United Nations, including special economic assistance". Those texts dealt with assistance to Somalia and with special economic assistance to Central and East African countries receiving refugees, returnees and displaced persons.

The spokesman then said the plenary had also decided to defer consideration of several items to its fifty-fourth session. Those items were: the Declaration of the Assembly of the Heads of States and Government of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) on the aerial and naval military attack against the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya by the present United States Administration in April 1986; armed Israeli aggression against Iraqi nuclear installations and its grave consequences for the established international system concerning the peaceful uses of nuclear energy; the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and international peace and security; consequences of the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait; implementation of United Nations resolutions; and launching of global negotiations on international economic cooperation for development. The Assembly had deferred to a later date consideration of the question of the Comoran Island of Mayotte, she added.

Ms. Mihalic then said the last item this morning had been the situation of democracy and human rights in Haiti. Before the Assembly had been a report of the Secretary-General, a draft resolution introduced by Venezuela

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(document A/53/L.57) and a report of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) concerning the programme budget implications of that draft. Five other speakers had made statements on that item before its adoption without a vote.

This afternoon, the Assembly would consider the reports of the Sixth Committee (Legal), Ms. Mihalic said. Tomorrow morning, the plenary would continue considering agenda item 20, strengthening of the coordination of humanitarian and disaster relief assistance of the United Nations; and the sub-item for tomorrow morning, emergency international assistance for peace, normalcy and reconstruction of war-stricken Afghanistan: the situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security. The Assembly would have before it three reports of the Secretary-General (documents A/53/346, 455 and 695), and a draft resolution contained in document A/53/L.66, to be introduced by Germany. Six other speakers had been inscribed so far. Tomorrow afternoon, the plenary would take up the reports of the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural).

This morning, Ms. Mihalic went on to say, the Fifth Committee was scheduled to conclude its general discussion of the first performance report of the budget for the current biennium, as well as of the proposed budget outline for the next biennium. The Committee would also conclude consideration of the tenth progress report of the Secretary-General on the Integrated Management Information System (IMIS), and would take action on the draft resolution on the United Nations pension system. The Committee would then resume informal consultations which would continue this afternoon, this evening and tonight, ending at 12:30 a.m tomorrow morning.

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