DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19990427
The following is a near verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by the Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, Manoel de Almeida e Silva:
Good afternoon. As we announced yesterday, today our guests at the noon briefing are John Zogby of Zogby International and Stephen Jagger of GfK, a United Kingdom polling firm, and they will tell us about a global poll on attitudes towards the United Nations and awareness of the Organization. They are accompanied by Shashi Tharoor, Director of Communications.
**Secretary-General's Visit to Germany
The Secretary-General last night arrived in Dresden, Saxony, in the former East Germany. It was a one-day visit to one of Germany's new federal states. He wanted to witness the progress of German integration in a place where it was advancing rapidly. On arrival, he discussed Saxony's developments with Minister President Kurt Biedenkopf. This morning, he visited the Frauenkirche, a church that was destroyed with most of Central Dresden in a bombing raid in the final days of the Second World War.
Later in the morning, he went to the Technical University of Dresden where he was awarded an honourary degree by the Faculty of Economics. In his acceptance speech, the Secretary-General said Dresden can serve as a "global beacon of peace, of opposition to fanaticism, of learning from the past".
Copies of his speech are available in the Spokesman's Office.
He returned to Berlin this afternoon, where in the early evening he was to meet with members of the Federal Parliament, including Ulrich Klose, the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. In the evening, he is scheduled to be the dinner guest of Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer.
**Security Council
The Security Council members are listening to a briefing on Kosovo by Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Sergio Vieira de Mello during this morning's consultations. Among the points made in the briefing was the dramatic impact a protracted air campaign was bound to have on the psychological, social and economic conditions of the Yugoslav population.
He also mentioned that an oil embargo would render provision of relief aid even more complicated in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, where he said it was reasonable to assume it would adversely affect the civilian population first, and would require more time to have an impact on the military. In addition, Mr. de Mello flagged the continued reports of humans being used as
human shields in Kosovo and the fact that people are arriving now in significantly worse conditions than in previous weeks. He appealed to the international community to do all to enable the provision of protection and relief aid to civilians in Kosovo before it is too late.
**Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expressed its strong concern over the deteriorating living conditions in the refugee camps in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. With thousands more refugees arriving and on their way today, UNHCR field officers were appealing to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia's authorities to expand the sites, which they described as "hopelessly overcrowded".
**International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia
Against a backdrop of continuous accounts of physical abuse, including rape, being made by newly arriving refugees, the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Louise Arbour, is planning to travel to Washington on Wednesday for discussions with State Department and Pentagon officials on Kosovo. Ms. Arbour will ask for the assistance of the United States Government in facilitating investigations into the possible commission of crimes under the jurisdiction of the Tribunal.
As you know, she had already met on the same issue with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), German, Dutch and British officials.
**UN Special Rapporteur on Montenegro Mission
The United Nations Special Rapporteur for the former Yugoslavia, Jiri Dienstbier, meanwhile, has begun a mission to Montenegro to evaluate the impact of NATO air strikes on human rights.
**Refugees
The UNHCR said today it was concerned about the fate of civilians in Serbia who are bearing some of the brunt of NATO's air campaign. The UNHCR said it was particularly disturbed by the death of civilians, refugees and residents alike. The damage to infrastructure caused by the bombing has affected all civilians in Serbia, it said.
But, of top concern for the UNHCR today was the refugee influx into the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia which continued today with 4,000 arriving on 10 buses by midday, adding to the strains on the existing camps. The UNHCR said it has yet to receive permission from the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia's Government to expand the current sites while construction of a new site is being held up by the Government's insistence on using a local contractor.
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There have been warnings that warm weather forecasts in the coming days could trigger an outbreak of communicable diseases among the overcrowded camp population.
In Albania, many of the new arrivals, especially children, are continuing to tell tales of widespread physical abuse. The UNHCR reports there were strong undertones from their stories that at least some of the women had been raped.
**United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is continuing its campaign to immunize refugee children in the Kukes area. More than 16,000 refugee children have been vaccinated against measles and polio through the campaign. The programme is now being extended to local Albanian children.
**World Food Programme (WFP)
We have available in the Spokesman's Office a fact sheet produced by the World Food Programme (WFP), as well as UNHCR's update, from today, with their latest news on Kosovo.
**Japan Contribution to Kosovo Crisis
Still on Kosovo, I am happy to report that the Secretary-General is very pleased with the contribution by Japan to the Kosovo crisis. This contribution was announced today in Tokyo. It is worth $200 million of which approximately $40 million is for refugee assistance to go through the UNHCR, some $60 million is to be of assistance to neighbouring countries, namely, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Albania, and once a peace agreement is reached, some $100 million will go to the United Nations trust fund for human security -- primarily to assist the rehabilitation of Kosovo and the return of refugees.
**UNDP/CISCO Initiative Launched
This morning, the Deputy Secretary-General, Louise Fréchette, addressed the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)/CISCO Systems event launching an initiative on the eradication of poverty. Ms. Fréchette emphasized that through such partnerships "we can win greater support worldwide for the work of the United Nations and of the many other institutions seeking to address the plight of the poor worldwide". The Deputy Secretary-General went on to say that "we can convey the message that there is only one world -- the global community", and that eliminating poverty is an obligation and responsibility we all share.
Copies of her speech are available in the Spokesman's Office.
Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 27 April 1999
**Mohamed Sahnoun in Africa
The Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Africa, Mohamed Sahnoun, was scheduled to travel to Addis Ababa today on the second leg of his shuttle diplomacy to help mediate an end to the conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia.
Ambassador Sahnoun was in Asmara, the Eritrean capital, on Monday and met with ranking Eritrean officials.
**Human Rights Commission
The Commission on Human Rights voted a resolution today, in Geneva, on the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In it, the Commission expressed its concern at the preoccupying situation of human rights, particularly in the east, including the perpetration of recent massacres, executions, disappearances, torture, beatings, arbitrary arrest, sexual violence against women and children, and other human rights violations. The Commission requested several Special Rapporteurs to carry out a mission to investigate all massacres carried out on the territory immediately after the signing of a ceasefire.
The text of the resolution is available in the Spokesman's Office.
**Commission on Crime Prevention Opens 1999 Session
In Vienna today, the Commission on Crime Prevention opened its 1999 session.
During the session, which that will end on 5 May, the 40-member Commission will focus on non-punitive ways of preventing crime, which a growing body of work has shown to be cheaper and more effective than traditional measures, such as lengthy prison sentences. The strategies tackle social problems pushing criminals to the brink, or aim to eliminate the situations and rewards that tempt them.
In the Spokesman's Office, you will find a background press release produced by the Commission. You can also have, upon request, a copy of the statement to the Commission by Pino Arlacchi, Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention.
**Bretton Woods To Meet with Economic and Social Council
The two-day high-level segment of the Bretton Woods institutions with finance ministers and central bankers started today in Washington. They are focusing on responses to the world financial crisis and the new financial architecture. They will all travel to New York for the second meeting of Bretton Woods leaders with the Economic and Social Council that will take place here on Thursday.
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In the meeting, chaired by Economic and Social Council President Paolo Fulci (Italy), they will discuss, among other issues, how to promote economic recovery of emerging markets hit hard by financial contagion, and the reform of the international financial architecture.
A media advisory on the encounter is available in the Spokesman's Office.
**Iraq Oil Exports Also available in the Spokesman's Office is an update for the Iraq programme which shows another strong week for Iraqi oil exports. Sixty million barrels were exported with an estimated revenue of $285.5 million. So far, in phase 5, the total revenue is a shade under $3 billion. Phase 5 ends on 24 May.
**World Health Organization (WHO)
The World Health Organization (WHO) said today that cigarettes should be regulated like any other drug.
"A cigarette is a euphemism for a cleverly crafted product that delivers just the right amount of nicotine to keep its user addicted for life before killing the person", WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland told a key meeting of international drug regulators in Berlin today. The WHO said the product should be judged for what it is, not what it is made out to be by the tobacco industry.
The WHO says this is the first time the world's premier health agency is calling food and drug regulators to rationalize rules that govern all forms of nicotine consumption.
**Tomorrow's Press Conferences
I would like to announce that tomorrow there will be two press conferences. At 10:15 a.m., Ambassador Fulci of Italy, President of the Economic and Social Council, with Ian Kinniburgh, Director of the Development Policy Analysis Division of the United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), and Sarbuland Khan, Director of DESA's Division for Economic and Social Council Support and Coordination, will brief you in advance of Thursday's Bretton Woods meeting.
A background note is available in room S-378.
And, at 11 o'clock, the United States Mission is sponsoring a press conference about a Millenium Young People's Congress, to be held in Hawaii between 24 and 29 October. There will be a number of speakers, including David Woollcombe, Congress Director, and Mae Mendelson, Coordinator of the Millenium Congress.
There is a background note on this on the notice boards upstairs.
Daily Press Briefing - 6 - 27 April 1999
**Question-and-Answer Session
Question: Are there any details on the Secretary-General's visit to Moscow and whether he will be meeting with Strobe Talbot or anyone else involved in peace negotiations?
Deputy Spokesman: I don't have his agenda for his meetings in Moscow yet. I hope that tomorrow I will be able to share that with you. I believe there's something about this possible meeting with Strobe Talbot in Germany.
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