DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19990303
The following is a near verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by the Spokesman for the Secretary-General, Fred Eckhard.
**Germany Brings Case against the U.S. to the ICJ:
Good afternoon. We squawked a press release yesterday afternoon from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that I want to bring to your attention:
Germany, last night, brought a case to the ICJ against the United States charging that the U.S. violated a 1963 Convention on Consular Relations with respect to two German nationals convicted of murder in Arizona. The two were brothers, and one, Karl LaGrand, was already executed last month. The other, Walter LaGrand, is scheduled to be put to death this afternoon.
Germany alleges that the United States tried and sentenced the two brothers without advising them of their rights to consular assistance, in violation of the 1963 Convention. You'll find more details in the press release, which is available in English and in French.
Also, a heads-up to let you know that the Court is expected to make a further announcement at 7 p.m. local time, which is 1 p.m. here. So, we'll be getting some more news on this topic to you shortly.
(Following the briefing, the ICJ issued an Order calling on the United States to "take all measures at its disposal" to prevent LaGrand's execution. The Court also requested the U.S. Government to transmit the order to the Governor of the state of Arizona.)
**Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs to Nairobi:
Kieran Prendergast, the Under Secretary-General for Political Affairs, left today for Nairobi where he will meet with President Daniel arap Moi of Kenya. President Moi is the current Chairman of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, or IGAD, Standing Committee on the Sudan Peace Talks.
Mr. Prendergast will discuss ways for the international community to support and invigorate IGAD's efforts in the Sudan. They'll also discuss the appointment by President Moi of his Special Envoy to the Sudan peace process.
From Nairobi, Mr. Prendergast will go to Oslo where he will participate in the IGAD Partners Forum. The co-chairs of the Forum -- a group constituted mostly of donor countries -- are Norway and Italy. The meeting will be on 10 March and will look into practical arrangements in support of IGAD.
By the way, Hilde Johnson, Norwegian Minister for International Development and Human Rights and the co-chair of the Forum, met yesterday with the Secretary-General.
**UN agencies react to criticism of Operation LIfeline Sudan:
Also on Sudan, we have for you upstairs a joint statement by the Executive Directors of UNICEF and the World Food Programme (WFP), together with the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, in response to what they describe as "inaccurate and unbalanced criticisms" by Medecins sans Frontieres-France (Doctors Without Borders) of Operation Lifeline Sudan and its efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Sudan.
**Enhancement of African Peacekeeping Capacity
The Secretary-General's report on the enhancement of African peacekeeping capacity (document A/54/63) is out today.
Noting the ongoing efforts by Africans countries themselves and that those 22 African countries are now contributing almost 2,500 troops to United Nations peacekeeping operations, the Secretary-General suggests a number of additional steps to enhance African peacekeeping capacity. These include: the formation of a working group on training, scholarships and funds that would allow African military officers to participate in short-term exchanges with UN peacekeeping staff; deployment of United Nations liaison officers to regional organizations; and establishment of a special peacekeeping programme for African police officers.
**Security Council Schedule:
The Security Council is holding consultations today to discuss their programme of work for the month of March.
Under other matters, Benon Sevan, the Executive Director of the Iraq Programme, is expected to brief Council members on the humanitarian consequences of the air strikes in Iraq.
**Yugoslavia Sanctions Committee Issues Report:
The Sanctions Committee monitoring the arms embargo on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, including Kosovo, issued its report, covering its activities from its establishment in April of last year until December. During this period, the Committee received several reports on violations of the arms embargo, including the one reported by Croatian authorities last December on their interception of arms and ammunition worth $1 million, originating in Bosnia and Herzegovina and destined for Kosovo.
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 3 March 1999
**The Deputy Secretary-General:
Yesterday in Beruit, Lebanon, Louise Fréchette, the Deputy Secretary- General, addressed a regional coordination meeting of the United Nations system, hosted by the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. The meeting was part of the current reform efforts to improve cooperation among United Nations agencies.
On Friday, she will address a similar coordination meeting in Nairobi, Kenya.
**UN Cabinet Hears Update on Gender Issues:
The Secretary-General's weekly cabinet meeting this morning featured a status report by Angela King, his Special Adviser on Gender Issues, on the United Nations' efforts to achieve equality between men and women in the Secretariat and in the United Nations system as a whole.
As a reminder, the Group of Equal Rights for Women in the United Nations is organizing a panel discussion on "Equality for Women" tomorrow from 10 a.m. to noon in the Trusteeship Council Chamber. The Secretary-General, as well as the First Lady of the United States, Hillary Clinton, will address that gathering.
**Protection of Cultural Heritage in Armed Conflict:
UNESCO announced today that a major diplomatic conference will be held in The Hague, Netherlands, from March 15 to 26, designed to adopt new provisions for the protection of cultural heritage in the event of armed conflict, destined to improve the safeguards provided by the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, which was adopted in The Hague in 1954.
The Diplomatic Conference for the Adoption of a Second Protocol supplementing the Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict will offer the international community an opportunity to take measures to counter the alarming new tide of damage and loss related to armed conflicts since 1990. Recent and sometimes intentional destruction of heritage in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Croatia and Somalia, among other places, has led to calls to improve that protection.
We have a note on this subject in my office.
**WHO Urges Tobacco Farmers to Consider Public Health:
The World Heath Organization (WHO), which has identified global tobacco control as one of its major priorities, today urged tobacco farmers worldwide to separate their concern for their own livelihood from the public health
Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 3 March 1999
impact of tobacco, which today kills 4 million people annually and could kill up to 10 million annually by the late 2020s.
The agency called on tobacco growers to back WHO's efforts to give the world its first public health treaty -- the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).
See the press release for details.
**WHO and UNICEF appeal for Ceasefire in the DRC:
The Secretary-General is expected to receive a letter today in which the heads of WHO and UNICEF ask his support for a ceasefire in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, so that they can carry out an immunization campaign. He is also meeting Gro Harlem Brundtland of the World Health Organization at 12:30 p.m.
**Two More Signatories:
Since yesterday, we've had two more signatories -- to the Rome Statue of the International Criminal Court, and to the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Malawi signed the Rome Statute, and Papua New Guinea signed the Kyoto Protocol.
The two Treaties are running neck and neck, with 77 signatories each.
**Secretary-General To Thank Longtime Disarmament Employee:
You'll notice among the Secretary-General's appointments today that he's seeing Bill Epstein at 3 p.m.. Mr. Epstein has been a United Nations staff member since its inception, and in the early 1970s, he headed the Division for Disarmament Affairs. He's considered to be a walking encyclopedia on disarmament matters. Bill has been actively promoting nuclear disarmament for over 50 years.
The Secretary-General is meeting with Mr. Epstein to thank him for his work in disarmament and for his dedication to the United Nations.
**"Age Quake" Debates at Headquarters:
We have an announcement from the Department of Public Information, which is hosting a series of debates here at Headquarters on what is being called the "Age Quake" -- a reference to the growing population of older persons.
The first debate will be held tomorrow from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium on the question of "Ageing and Gender: Are There
Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 3 March 1999
Different Scripts for Men and Women?" Four experts will participate, and you are all invited to attend.
**Exodus Within Borders Book Signing Today:
Upon completion of an in-depth study by the Secretary-General's Representative on Internally Displaced Persons, Secretary-General Kofi Annan suggested an illustrated, popularized version of the text. That suggestion became Exodus Within Borders: An Introduction of the Crisis of Internal Displacement, which is now out. David Korn, the author, will be at the United Nations bookshop to sign copies of the new book, between 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. today.
**Announcements:
Press conferences -- in roughly one-half hour, 12:45 p.m., in this room (S-226), Joschka Fischer, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany. And then at 2 p.m., UNICEF is sponsoring a press conference on the decline of breastfeeding worldwide. We have a background note on that subject in my office.
Finally, the twenty-third annual UNIS/UN Student Conference -- that's the United Nations International School -- with the theme "Facing the New Millennium: A Search for Global Ethics" will be held in the General Assembly Hall on the fourth and fifth of March. Over 600 high school students representing more than 100 nationalities from 20 international schools and 23 United States schools, including 12 schools from the tri-state area, will participate.
The Secretary-General will address that Conference on Friday, at 9:30 a.m., and we have a note to correspondents on the racks.
I'm finished, do you have anything?
**Question-and-Answer Session:
Question: On Cambodia, Fred, is the report going to be issued earlier, now that it's out in Phnom Penh?
Spokesman: Not to my knowledge. As far as I know there's no change in what the Secretary-General announced yesterday, that the conclusions would be issued on the eighth and the full text on the fifteenth, I believe.
Follow-up question: But, we've now got an official reaction from the Cambodian Prime Minister to a report that nobody in this building has yet seen?
Daily Press Briefing - 6 - 3 March 1999
Spokesman:
Well, that was a risk we ran when we shared it with the Government, but we have an obligation, I think, to our own timetable. I know it's not convenient for you. I'm sorry.
Question: On that person you labelled a walking dictionary on disarmament -- does that have anything to do with the replacement of Mr. Butler? (Richard Butler is the Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission [UNSCOM] set up by the Security Council to monitor Iraq's destruction of its weapons of mass destruction.)
Spokesman: No, absolutely not.
Question: The BBC and others are reporting that Prime Minister Hun Sen has sent the Secretary-General a letter urging him to think very carefully about the risks an international tribunal poses for stability in Cambodia. Does he have a reaction to that letter yet? Has he seen it?
Spokesman: Again, that's coming out of Phnom Penh, because the Secretary-General hasn't received such a letter, as of a few minutes ago.
Question: I have a domestic situation -- I usually take the 45th Street and First Avenue entrance to get into the building. This morning I was stopped and asked to go to the Visitor's Entrance by an officer. Are the members of the permanent press considered visitors? Is there a new ruling? What is behind it?
Spokesman: No, I don't know why that should have happened. I was visited by the Chief of Security yesterday, who said that Karl Paschke's unit, the OIOS (Office of Internal Oversight Services), had done an assessment of the United Nations security operation and had suggested that press and NGOs (non-governmental organizations) go through the Visitor's Entrance in order to pass through metal detectors.
I said that I didn't think that was necessary for the resident correspondents and that I would discuss it with UNCA. I haven't even called for that UNCA meeting yet, but my understanding with the Chief of Security is that this rule -- if it is imposed -- will not apply to resident correspondents. So, it sounds like someone jumped the gun, and I'll talk to the Chief of Security about it right after the briefing.
Question: Any comment on the reaction of the Arizona Governor regarding the International Court; that she doesn't care -- or so I read in Reuters -- what is said in The Hague on the death penalty of Karl and Walter LaGrand?
Daily Press Briefing - 7 - 3 March 1999
Spokesman: I have nothing more than what I gave you. And, as I said, we expect shortly to have some additional reactions from the ICJ, but I have nothing more at this time.
Thank you very much.
* *** *