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, opened today's noon briefing by announcing that the Secretary-General had returned from Paris today and was working at home. Available in room 378 were transcripts of the Secretary-General's press conference yesterday and of comments he had made to the press outside the National Assembly.

In response to a question on what could be done to help the people of Serbia and Montenegro, Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General had stressed that much work was needed in the entire Balkan region to bring people together and to get them to leave behind the atrocities of past wars. "It cannot be done overnight, it will take time", the Secretary-General had said. "And even in those situations where we have managed to introduce fragile peace, peace is not always perfect." Peace followed war and hatred, and therefore took time to put together, he had added.

The Secretary-General had also been asked about the need for Security Council authorization prior to military actions by regional groups, the Spokesman said. In response, the Secretary-General had pointed out that such authorization was not a requirement "in the future", but rather, it existed today, as set out in the United Nations Charter. If this point was ignored, he had added, any group could use force without going through the Security Council.

When questioned about the Lockerbie case, Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General had answered that discussions in Libya had been very positive. All explanations had been delivered to the Libyan leaders, he had said, adding that, "We've encouraged them to go in the right direction. I hope they will do this".

Finally, Mr. Eckhard said, the Secretary-General had been asked about the human rights situation in Algeria, and, in response, the Secretary-General had said that during discussions there with Government officials, he had stressed that this year was the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and that in this year, "we have to accept the broad definition of human security". Human security meant more than an absence of war or physical danger, the Spokesman quoted the Secretary-General as having said. Rather, human security must embrace human rights, equality before the law, decent social and economic conditions, the right to education and the right to health, the Secretary-General had said.

Yesterday, Mr. Eckhard said, the Secretary-General had announced his intention to speak with the Russian Federation's Prime Minister, Yevgeny Primakov, regarding the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) staff member Vincent Cochetel. That conversation had taken place from Paris yesterday. The Secretary-General and Prime Minister had discussed ways of

assisting and cooperating in order to secure the release of Mr. Cochetel -- kidnapped on 29 January from North Ossetia.

This morning upon entering the building, the Executive Director of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) on Iraq, Richard Butler, had been asked for his reaction about the news that Iraq had turned away a United Nations arms inspection team in Iraq, the Spokesman said. Ambassador Butler had confirmed that a team had been blocked, adding that he considered it serious. However, Ambassador Butler had later elaborated to say he "would not make an assessment of overall Iraqi compliance on the basis of a single incident". Ambassador Butler was expected to submit a report with that assessment early next week. As of now, he had not been asked by the Security Council to report on this morning's incident, and UNSCOM had said surprise inspections would continue, as would other routine UNSCOM activities.

Mr. Eckhard then said the Security Council this morning had held consultations on Bougainville, an island part of Papua New Guinea close to the Solomon Islands. Council members had extended the mandate of the United Nations Observer there by one year, with a review to take place in six months. The Council President was expected to make a statement to the press. As background, Mr. Eckhard recalled that the United Nations had established its presence in Bougainville at the request of the parties for the purpose of chairing the peace process consultative committee, monitoring implementation of peacekeeping arrangements and assisting in confidence-building.

Under other items on its agenda today, the Council was expected to take up Cambodia and Angola, Mr. Eckhard continued. The Director of the Asia and Pacific Division of the Department of Political Affairs, Francesc Vendrell, would brief the Council on the situation in Cambodia since the July elections there, and the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Hedi Annabi, would brief the Council on developments in Angola since last Friday, when the Council had issued a press statement on the situation in the country.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia was expected to hand down its judgment on the Furundzija case tomorrow, Thursday, at 2 p.m. local time in The Hague, Mr. Eckhard said. According to the indictment, Anto Furundzija had been a Commander of a Croatian Special Forces group called the Jokers during the recent war, and he had been based in Vitez. Further according to the indictment, Mr. Furundzija had been present at his headquarters during the questioning of two prisoners who had been mistreated by another member of his unit, and he had allegedly been present while one of those prisoners had been sexually assaulted, and he had done nothing to stop it. A background fact sheet on that issue was available in room 378.

"The United Nations has two new directors of its regional disarmament centres", Mr. Eckhard then announced. Ivor Richard Fung would head the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa, and Péricles

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Gasparini Alves would be in charge of the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean. Furthermore, the Regional Centre in Africa would be managing a new project to implement the moratorium on import, export and manufacture of light weapons that had recently been declared by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). To date, some $13 million had been pledged for the implementation effort.

The Spokesman then said a press release had been issued by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Desertification, which would end its second session tomorrow in Dakar, Senegal. The release was to announce that in a statement made at the Conference today, UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer had said the most effective actions for preventing dryland degradation were often the same actions as those needed to protect biological diversity or to minimize the risk of climate change. "Governments must bring these distinct but interlinked issues together in national policies", Mr. Toepfer had said. The release was available in room 378.

Mr. Eckhard said another press release available in room 378 was from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on the subject of a major relief and recovery effort for Central America. The release was to announce that UNDP Administrator James Gustave Speth would represent the Secretary- General at a Consultative Group Meeting for the Reconstruction of Central America to be hosted by the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, D.C., on 10 and 11 December. Participants would discuss wide-ranging measures for providing relief and assisting the recovery of victims of Hurricane Mitch.

"Denmark, Portugal, Ireland, the United States and Greece have the highest food availability in the world, with an average daily energy supply per person of 3,340 kilocalories", Mr. Eckhard said. "In the poorest countries such as Mozambique, Burundi, Afghanistan, Eritrea and Somalia, the average daily energy supply per person is 2,060 kilocalories", Mr. Eckhard added in announcing a new map released today by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which contained the most recent data on nutrition and malnutrition in 177 countries. According to the FAO, the Spokesman continued, more than 800 million people in developing countries were chronically undernourished. Some 2 billion people were estimated to be affected by deficiencies of vitamin A, iron and iodine. Copies of the FAO press release were available in room 378. The map itself was available on the FAO website.

On new signatures, Mr. Eckhard said that yesterday, Kyrgyzstan and today, Australia, had signed the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Signatories on that instrument now numbered 65.

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While activities related to the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights had already been publicized in briefings, a number of additional events had come to attention, Mr. Eckhard said. First, a live video conference would take place at 9 a.m. between the Secretary-General and President Jacques Chirac of France. The exchange on this end, occurring in studio 4, would take place in French, while monitors carrying the event in English and French would be aired in the Delegates Lounge, the Indonesian Lounge, the Bullpen on the third floor, the Viennese Cafe, the Secretariat Lobby and the Public Lobby.

Next, Mr. Eckhard said, the United Nations Radio would broadcast a live international phone-in with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, who would answer questions on global human rights issues posed by correspondents from around the world. The show would air on Thursday from 9 to 9:45 a.m. and would be webcast live on the United Nations homepage (www.un.org/rights/50/anniversary.htm).

United Nations Information Centres around the world would be doing their share for the commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration, Mr. Eckhard said. A four-page list of worldwide activities was available in room 378, with activities ranging from exhibits and concerts to a breakfast meeting in Washington with women honouring the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, to a soccer tournament in Sana'a. "And in Madrid, commemorative telephone cards have been issued", Mr. Eckhard said, holding up two colourful variations of the item and inviting correspondents to take a closer look in room 378.

Press conferences being announced today were all human rights related, Mr. Eckhard said. First, the awardees of the Human Rights Prize would hold a conference tomorrow at 11:15 a.m., although their identities were still a big secret today. The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, would be the guest at the noon briefing tomorrow, and then at 2:30 p.m., the 1998 Global Campaign for Women's Human Rights would hold a press conference featuring a number of speakers. All three events would take place in room 226.

Also, the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) would sponsor a briefing on Thursday at 1 p.m. in the UNCA lounge, the Spokesman announced. Speakers would include Chinese dissident Harry Wu, East Timorese activist Constanzio Pinto, Nigerian pro-democracy leader Hafsat Abiola and Tibetan activist Dawa Tsering. All correspondents were invited.

And, in a final reminder, Mr. Eckhard told UNCA members to "Get out there and vote for your officers by 4 p.m. today".

A correspondent asked whether UNSCOM Executive Director Butler had spoken with the Secretary-General on the latest developments in Iraq and

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whether the Secretary-General had registered any response to those developments. Mr. Eckhard said Ambassador Butler and the Secretary-General had spoken this morning by telephone, and that the Secretary-General had no public reaction at this time to the developments. "He's left it to Ambassador Butler to speak, and he has, through me just now", Mr. Eckhard stated.

Jadranka Mihalic, spokesman for General Assembly President Didier Opertti (Uruguay), said it had been announced this morning in the plenary that following consultations with regional groups, the President of the General Assembly had appointed Algeria, Austria, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Nepal and the United States as members of the Committee on Conferences for a three-year term beginning on 1 January 1999. The Assembly had also decided this morning that the main part of the fifty-third session would be extended until 17 December to allow the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) to complete this stage of its deliberations. The Assembly had also decided to take up the reports of the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) on Tuesday, 15 December in the morning.

This morning, Ms. Mihalic continued, the Assembly had resumed consideration of agenda item 20 with the sub-item "emergency international assistance for the peace, normalcy and reconstruction of war-stricken Afghanistan", together with agenda item 45, "the situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security". Three reports of the Secretary-General were before the Assembly, along with a draft resolution contained in document A/53/L.66, introduced by Germany on behalf of 57 sponsors. Eleven other speakers had been inscribed in the debate, and the Assembly would take action on the draft at a later date.

The President's message on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights had been issued as a press release this morning, Ms. Mihalic said. In his message, the President had said the adoption of the Universal Declaration had constituted not only a giant step forward in the development of the system for protecting human rights, but above all, it had been a milestone in the history of civilization. The President had suggested that the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary be used by all to renew, in ideas and in action, an "ongoing commitment to the cause of human rights".

This afternoon, the spokesman said, the Assembly would take up the reports of the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural). A summary of the draft resolutions before the Assembly had been made available in room 378.

"Tomorrow morning, of course, the plenary will observe the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights", Ms. Mihalic then said. The opening meeting would begin at 10 a.m. and the General Assembly President, the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner for Human

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Rights were all scheduled to speak at it. The President's statement at the observance would be issued as a press release tomorrow morning.

Also at that meeting, Ms. Mihalic said, the Secretary-General would award the 1998 Human Rights Prizes. In accordance with General Assembly resolutions 2217 (XXI) of 19 December 1966, 51/88 of 12 December 1996 and 52/117 of 12 December 1997, the Prizes would be awarded for outstanding contributions to the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Following the award ceremony, the plenary would move to Conference Room 4, where it would hear the statements of 114 Member States and six observers, in morning, afternoon and evening sessions. A five-minute time- limit would be placed on statements. The list of speakers would close at 12:30 p.m. tomorrow. At the end of the observance, the Assembly was scheduled to take action on draft resolution A/53/L.67, submitted by the President and entitled, "Fiftieth Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights".

Ms. Mihalic said the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) was holding informal consultations on a series of issues before it in meetings this morning, this afternoon, this evening and again tonight until 12:30 a.m.

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