DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19990304
The following is a near verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General:
**Secretary-General on Women's Rights:
Good Afternoon.
This morning the Secretary-General addressed the panel organized by the Group on Equal Rights on the occasion of International Women's Day. In his message, he said: "On this last International Women's Day before the new millennium, let us rededicate ourselves to eliminating the discrimination and disadvantage to which women are still subjected -- whether in access to health care services, in the provision of social services and social safety nets, in peace-building and reconstruction, in the home, or in the workplace."
United States First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was also a keynote speaker at the event, which is still going on as we speak.
**International Women's Day:
Amid all of the excitement of the International Women's Day commemorations today, I hope that some of you noticed that the Secretary- General announced a welcome new policy to address the issue which is commonly known as the problem of "deadbeat dads".
Referring to the fact that women are more likely to suffer financially the consequences of the breakup of a family, the Secretary-General said that "As divorce rates increase everywhere, ever more women are left with the responsibility of caring for their children without support which a father is legally -- and morally -- obliged to provide."
He went on to say that this is therefore an issue of moral concern for the United Nations. He said: "It presents us with a duty to set an example. On the troubling issue of staff members in default of court-ordered family support payments, I can therefore announce today that the United Nations will voluntarily deduct funds owed from the salaries of such staff members and pay it to spouse and/or the children." And I think that's welcome news for all.
**Afghanistan:
On Afghanistan, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, announced in Islamabad today that the representatives from the Taliban and the opposition alliance have agreed to attend a high-level meeting under United Nations auspices in Ashkabad, Turkmenistan, on 10 March.
As you recall, the two sides met in Ashkabad last month and agreed to meet again. The United Nations will be represented by a senior official.
Mr. Brahimi, meanwhile, will be travelling to Iran on Friday on the third leg of his current mission to the region. Following several days in Teheran, he is expected to go to Moscow and to several Central Asian Republics before returning to Islamabad.
**Security Council:
The Security Council is holding consultations today on the Secretary- General's report on the United Nations Civilian Police Mission in Haiti (MIPONUH). The report was introduced by Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping, Hedi Annabi.
**Iraq: Oil Export through Turkey Resumes:
We announced yesterday afternoon that oil resumed flowing through the pipeline from Iraq to the port of Ceyhan, Turkey, at 4:58 p.m. (New York time).
**Iraq: Panels Work Continues:
The Iraq Panel on Prisoners of War and Kuwaiti Property, which is Panel 3, has been meeting since yesterday. The Panel on Humanitarian issues (Panel 2), which met on Monday and Tuesday, will meet again tomorrow from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. The Panel on Disarmament and Current and Future Ongoing Monitoring and Verification (Panel 1) is expected to meet again from 22 to 26 or 27 March.
**Bosnia and Herzegovina: UN Police Commissioner Leaves:
The Commissioner of the United Nations International Police Task Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Richard Monk, who you met just a week or two ago when he briefed you in this room, finished his tour of duty and has returned to his home country, the United Kingdom, on 2 March. He served as Commissioner for one year. Until his replacement is found, the Deputy Commissioner for Operations, David McBride, is serving as Acting Commissioner.
**Germany versus US at ICJ:
We told you yesterday at the briefing that Germany had brought a case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against the United States over a German national who faced capital punishment in the state of Arizona. Following that noon briefing, we put out an update from the ICJ, which had issued an order calling on the United States to "take all measures at its disposal" to prevent the execution. The state of Arizona executed Mr. LaGrand last night at 9:30 p.m.
Concerning next steps, the ICJ tells us that if Germany doesn't inform the Court that they want to discontinue the case, it will go ahead, and the
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next step would be for the Court to fix a deadline for the parties to file written pleadings.
**New ILO Director-General Begins Tenure:
The new Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO), known to all of you, Juan Somavia of Chile, takes office today, marking the first time that a representative of the Southern Hemisphere has headed this organization.
We have a press release for you in my office.
**Angolan Refugees in DRC:
The World Food Programme (WFP) announced in Rome today that it dispatched emergency food aid aboard a freight train from Lubumbashi in the southeastern Congo for 30,000 Angolan refugees living in the southern part of that country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
**Hurricane Mitch Appeal:
The World Food Programme (WFP) has issued an urgent appeal to international donors to help finance an emergency airlift of food to an isolated region of Honduras where the effects of Hurricane Mitch are still being felt. And you can see a press release with full details.
**SG Meets Handicapped Child:
On the Secretary-General's appointments for today, you'll see that the Secretary-General is meeting Hero Nightingale at 3:30 p.m. today. Ms. Nightingale is a wheelchair-bound person who can speak only through hand signals. However, she has won the Childnet Internet Prize for her Internet magazine, "In the Window", which is for young writers.
The Secretary-General contributed a brief message to her webzine, as it is called, and she is here on a worldwide tour. If you want the text of the Secretary-General's message, we have it in my office.
**Press Conference:
The Mission of Eritrea will sponsor a press conference this afternoon at 3:30 p.m. in room 226, for an Asmara-based NGO called "Citizens for Peace in Eritrea". The group's report, entitled "The Uprooted: A Scientific Study of Ethnic Eritrean Deportees from Ethiopia Conducted with Regard to Human Rights Violations", will be discussed.
Justice Louise Arbour, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda, will be our guest at
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tomorrow's noon briefing. Justice Arbour will update journalists on the work of the tribunals.
That's all I have. Any questions?
**Question-and-Answer Session:
Question: What does it mean to have voluntary deductions from (salaries of) deadbeat dads?
Answer: I was afraid you were going to ask that question. This actually caught us a bit by surprise. It happened just minutes before the briefing. So, before I answer that question, I'd better consult with the Legal Department.
Question: Is it the first time that a country is taking the United States to the World Court over the execution of a national? Is it in the context of the United Nations that the action is taken?
Answer: The context is the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. And the complaint is that this individual was tried and sentenced without being advised about his rights to consular assistance. It's not the first time. There was a similar case in early April of last year when a Paraguayan national faced the death penalty and Paraguay also took the matter to the ICJ. That individual was executed in mid-April, and in November Paraguay discontinued the case.
Question: It takes a lot of years. Why has it taken the last moments for the Governments to wake up... If they did so early, maybe they could save their nationals.
Answer: I can't speak for either Paraguay or Germany on the timing of their intervention with the Court.
Question: Do you know anything about Issa Diallo being sentenced last week in Geneva because he did not pay the woman working for him and considered her as a slave?
Answer: That's not my understanding of what happened. The tribunal in Geneva that was considering these charges against Mr. Diallo found all of them without basis, except for a few details which, it said, did not have legal bearing. So, that's what I have on that case. We checked with Geneva just this morning and this is what they told us, that the Tribunal decided that. I could double-check for you.
Question: Could you find out how many deadbeat fathers are there in the United Nations? What are their nationalities, and what is the total amount involved?
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Answer: Total amount? That I have no idea, but we'll be glad to put you in touch with either the Legal Department or the relevant Secretariat office. I'm not sure we would be able to give out their nationalities or that we would be able to even identify individuals. For numbers, we should be able to give you a sense of them. So we'll check afterwards for you.
Question: Is the United Nations in receipt of a letter from the Cambodian Government saying that they would rather go through a truth commission, as opposed to a tribunal? Is there a reaction from the Secretary- General yet to this letter?
Answer: Not yet, and I don't know that there would be. The Foreign Minister of Cambodia is expected towards the end of next week. And I think that's when a definitive discussion between the Secretary-General and the Cambodian Government concerning this report would take place. In the meantime, as we have told you, the recommendations in the report were prepared for release on Monday, 8 March. And then the intention is to release the full report, translated into all official languages, on the 15th.
Question: Returning to the ICJ issue. How long does Germany have to respond to meet the deadline? What is the deadline for countries to bring cases to the ICJ?
Answer: I don't know if there's a deadline. We'll have to find that out for you. It'll be up to Germany to inform the Court that they don't intend to pursue the case. If they don't do that the Court would automatically inform Germany and the United States of the deadline they would have to submit their written pleadings. But I'll look into the deadline issue for you.
Question: Has there been any communication from Libya, whether formally or informally, to the Secretary-General on the issue of Lockerbie suspects?
Answer: There was a further communication yesterday, I believe, between Ambassador Dorda and someone on the Secretary-General's staff. But we have no further comment on that. We're now waiting for a Libyan decision.
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