DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
20000927The following is a near-verbatim transcript of todays noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, and Susan Markham, Spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly.
Briefing by Spokesman for Secretary-General
**Statement on Yugoslav Election
Okay. Concerning the elections in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, we have the following statement:
The Secretary-General has been following with close interest developments in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In his view, the election results demonstrate a clear wish on the part of the voters of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia for a genuine change.
And, as we said on Monday, The Secretary-General hopes that the election will result in a Government with a clear democratic mandate, with which an open and honest dialogue will be possible, and that the problems of the region will be addressed in a spirit of cooperation rather than confrontation.
**Global Polio Partners Summit
The Secretary-General, along with Thaddeus Farrow, set the Polio Countdown Clock at the start of the Global Polio Partners Summit today. Thaddeus is the son of actress Mia Farrow, a United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) Special Representative, and is confined to a wheelchair as a result of polio.
The 11-foot-high clock registers the number of reported polio cases, currently at just under 1200, and will count down to the year 2005, when it is expected to register no cases of polio.
The Secretary-General, in his keynote address, pledged the commitment of the United Nations in the fight to reach the last child to be immunized against the polio virus.
He said the child is probably under five, probably living in Africa, possibly in the midst of hunger, poverty or armed conflict. Our race to reach this child is a race against time. He called on all parties to negotiate access to children for national immunization days, particularly those affected by conflict, and to ensure the safety of volunteers in order to make the dream of a polio-free world come true.
In her opening address, Gro Harlem Brundtland, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), introduced the Strategic Plan for the final five years of the Eradication Initiative, which began in 1988. Brundtland said that this final stage was the most difficult. She stated that by the end of 2000, 190 countries and territories would have achieved the target set by the World Health Assembly in 1988 for an interruption of the transmission of the polio virus. There are currently only 20 countries, 16 in Africa and four in Asia, in which the polio virus is still transmitted.
**Security Council
The Security Council met in consultations this morning to discuss the report on United Nations peace operations. That report was prepared by a panel of independent experts at the request of the Secretary-General. Lakhdar Brahimi chaired the panel and introduced the report, focusing on the recommendations which fall within the purview of the Security Council.
The Deputy Secretary-General, who was also present, informed Council members of the implementation steps to be taken by the Secretariat, including the preparation of an implementation plan to be sent to the General Assembly next month. As you know, the Secretary-General asked his deputy to take charge of the implementation of the Brahimi Report.
At 3 p.m., Bernard Kouchner, the Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Kosovo, will brief the Security Council in an open meeting, and that will also be shown on United Nations Television. And Kouchner will be here at 12:30 to brief you. His remarks, which are on the record, are embargoed until the Security Council session on Kosovo is under way. His Spokesman, Nadia Younes, will be accompanying him and will also be available to answer your questions.
Kouchner has meetings at United Nations Headquarters, including with the group known as the Friends of the Secretary-General for Kosovo. He travels to Washington, D.C., tomorrow and will be back here in New York on Friday.
Also on Kosovo, we have the press briefing notes from Pristina, which include an announcement of the premiere performance tonight of the Kosovo Philharmonic Orchestra.
**Rwanda Tribunal
Yesterday in Rwanda's Taba Commune, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda launched a support initiative for the victims of that country's 1994 genocide. The Tribunal's registrar, Agwu Okali, and Rwandan Justice Minister Jean de Dieu Mucyo, laid the foundation stone for a "Peace Village" which is to be built in Taba.
The Tribunal's programme, called the Support Programme for Witnesses and Potential Witnesses, intends to help genocide victims by providing them facilities for legal guidance, psychological counseling, physical rehabilitation and reintegration assistance. The programme will be implemented by five Rwandan non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that have established a track record in community-level work in helping genocide victims.
The victim support programme in Taba will also assist victims of sexual violence. You might recall that Jean-Paul Akeyesu was the former Burgomaster of Taba and the first person to be convicted by the Tribunal for crimes against humanity, including rape, in a case in which the Tribunal ruled that rape had been used as an act of genocide.
We have further details in a press release from the Tribunal, which had been issued in Arusha, Tanzania, yesterday.
**East Timor
The East Timor Transitional Cabinet decided today to establish a passenger ferry service between the Oecussi enclave, which is that little bit of East Timor that is surrounded by West Timorese territory, and the Timorese capital of Dili. The new service is expected to begin in early October.
Oecussi has been without transportation links to the rest of East Timor -- except for limited air service -- for more than a year. The distance between the enclave and the East Timorese border is approximately 45 kilometres.
The United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) and the Indonesian Government agreed in February that a special transit corridor between the enclave and East Timor proper would be established to allow for unimpeded access for goods and people. However, it is unlikely that a land corridor could be operational any time soon due to the presence of militia groups in West Timor.
For more details on this project, see the Briefing Notes from Dili which I have in my Office.
**Yugoslavia Tribunal
The latest press release from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia notes the visit this week to Washington, D.C., by the Tribunal's prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte.
She will be visiting Washington to encourage efforts to seize the suspects indicted by her Office. After that, the Prosecutor is expected to come to New York to meet with the Secretary-General and other United Nations officials, specifically to discuss the budget for her Office.
**Cambodia Floods
The World Food Programme (WFP) announced in a press release today that it will provide emergency food aid to half a million people in flood-ravaged Cambodia.
**Goodwill Ambassadors
The first gathering ever of the United Nations Messengers of Peace and Goodwill Ambassadors will take place here at United Nations Headquarters on 23 October so that the Secretary-General can thank them for their work and they can discuss the role of celebrity advocacy.
A public forum on the role of famous personalities in advocacy efforts will be held that day between 10 a.m. and 12 noon in the Economic and Social Council Chamber, and will be moderated by Riz Khan of CNN. The Secretary- General will also host a private luncheon for the honourees, followed by special tours of the United Nations and a media availability in the afternoon.
So far, 42 Messengers of Peace and Goodwill Ambassadors have confirmed that they will attend this 23 October gathering.
We have a press release upstairs with more information.
**Photo Exhibit
Starting at 6 p.m. this evening in the Visitors Lobby, the Department of Public Information will host the opening of a photo exhibit of migrant children by the renowned Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado.
The exhibit will include 90 photographs of refugee children, as well as mural images. Speakers will include Salgado and the Secretary-General, as well as the UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy. Also present will be the Under-Secretary-General for Public Information Kensaku Hogen, and the actress and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Susan Sarandon.
There's plenty of time to see the exhibit. It will be open to the public in the Visitors Lobby through 30 October.
**Press Conferences
We have already mentioned Bernard Kouchner here at 12:30, and then at 4 p.m., also in this room, Richard Stanley, the President of the Stanley Foundation. He will be among those who will present the Foundations report titled Problems and Prospects for Humanitarian Intervention. I think that was sponsored by the United Kingdom Mission.
Thats all I have for you. Any questions? If not, we will go right to Sue.
**Questions and Answers
Question: Where is the Polio Countdown Clock?
Spokesman: The Clock was moved into, I believe, Conference Room 2 this morning. I think they intend to put it in the Public Lobby, but I dont think they have found a precise location. Its rather large and, as I said, it is 11 feet high. Sue?
**Briefing by Spokeswoman for the Assembly President
Thank you. This morning, the General Committee decided to recommend that the General Assembly add a new agenda item. This deals with Cooperation between the United Nations and the Economic Community of Central African States. It also agreed to a second item being discussed simultaneously in the plenary. The issue of crime prevention and criminal justice will be discussed in the Third Committee, but the General Committee recommended that the plenary, at the same time, adopt the draft United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. So that will be scheduled some time soon.
This morning, the General Assembly began discussing the report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization. As you will remember, this report was introduced by the Secretary-General at the beginning of the General Debate on 12 September. And of course, its available. There are 54 speakers listed so far, which is a large number. So, the debate will run on tomorrow.
In the Committees, there was no meeting today of the Third Committee, but it will continue tomorrow its discussion of social development and follow up to last years International Year of Older Persons. Sunday, 1 October, is International Day for Older Persons, and I think the Secretary-General has issued a statement, which is available. There will be a panel discussion and observance of this day here on Wednesday. Details are in the Journal.
The Fourth Committee continued this morning with its general debate on decolonization. It heard from a number of Non-Self-Governing Territories, including Gibraltar, Guam and Virgin Islands. It heard also from petitioners from Gibraltar and Western Sahara.
The Fifth Committee started this morning its first substantive meeting. It started with the introduction of Joint Inspection Unit reports which deal with their programme of work for this coming year.
As I mentioned yesterday, Mr. Connor, the Under-Secretary-General for Management, is scheduled to brief the Committee today, but that is a closed session. But you wont be missing anything because the various items that he is going to talk about to the Fifth Committee will be introduced in due course, when the items come up. For instance, the item on human resources management reform will come up in the Fifth Committee on 30 October. That is one of the issues he is flagging to the Fifth Committee.
The Sixth Committee continues its working group on international terrorism. As you know, that is in closed session.
And just to remind you, tomorrow, the President of the General Assembly and the Chairs of the Main Committees will be holding a briefing, starting at 10:30 a.m. in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium. This briefing is primarily for NGOs, but members of the news media are invited to attend.
Looking to Friday, the Division for the Advancement of Women is holding a briefing in Conference Room 4 at 1:15 p.m. to explain the reports on women which are coming up -- as you know -- in the Third Committee discussions, starting next week on 6 October. So, that is on Friday at 1:15. Thank you.
**Questions and Answers
Question: The NGO meeting -- is it open to the press, or closed?
Answer: Its open to the press. Youre able to attend. That is Thursday, tomorrow, in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium.
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