DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, and Susan Markham, Spokeswoman of the President of the General Assembly.

Briefing by Spokesman for Secretary-General

**United Nations

Good afternoon, and happy United Nations Day. We just heard from Freetown that the United Nations staff there are conducting a peace march through the centre of town to the cheers of the local population.

In the Secretary-General’s United Nations Day message, he reminded world leaders to remember the pledges they made to each other at the Millennium Summit. “Working together,” he said, “we can succeed. All we need is courage, imagination and perseverance.”

United Nations offices around the world are also marking United Nations Day with a variety of events, from educational seminars and model United Nations assemblies to peace marches and exhibitions.

In Pakistan, an exhibit on United Nations peacekeeping was opened at the National Art Gallery in Islamabad. In Buenos Aires, the Director of the United Nations Information Centre read the Secretary-General’s message at a wreath- laying ceremony at Plaza San Martin where the Secretary-General laid a wreath on his visit there in 1998. From East Timor, the United Nations mission issued a book called “One Momentous Year” commemorating the United Nations activities in East Timor.

**Women, Peace and Security

In the Security Council today, this morning, the Secretary-General addressed a special meeting of the Security Council on Women, Peace and Security that was organized at the initiative of the current Council President, Namibia. And of course Namibia’s Foreign Minister, Theo-Ben Gurirab, was in the chair.

In the Secretary-General’s remarks, he noted that women are better prepared than men to prevent or resolve conflict. Women, he said, “have proved instrumental in building bridges rather than walls. They have been crucial in preserving social order when communities have collapsed”. The Secretary-General concluded by asking the Council help ensure that women and girls are protected in conflict and that “women are able to take their rightful and equal place at the decision-making table”.

The Council, during the day-long informal debate, also heard from Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women and Angela King, Assistant Secretary-General and Special Advisor on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women. Both Noeleen Heyzer and Angela King will be here in this room at 2 p.m. to take your questions about this event.

Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 24 October 2000

**Human Rights

This afternoon in the Economic and Social Council Chamber, Mary Robinson, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, will receive a petition labeled “A Call to Action” which addresses the continuing racial bias in the United States criminal justice system. Mrs. Robinson will lead a question and answer period with some 60 United States civil rights leaders and United Nations Goodwill Ambassadors, including Julian Bond, who is the chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People or NAACP.

And then at 2:40 p.m., again in this room, the High Commissioner will hold a press conference to discuss this petition and its significance for the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.

**Deputy Secretary-General in Berlin

The Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette is in Berlin today to address the Fourth Forum on Global Issues. In her speech entitled “Strengthen the United Nations -– New Impulses after the Millennium Summit,” she says that the Millennium Declaration was very important, but it was just a beginning, not an end. She adds that, “It gives us a formidable agenda of work to do. We must act –- and when I say we, I mean the international community in its broadest sense”. We have the full text of her remarks upstairs. She arrived in Berlin yesterday, and in addition to participating in this forum, she has held a number of meetings with senior Government officials.

**World Food Programme

The World Food Programme (WFP) announced today that they will be distributing in the Palestinian territories monthly emergency food rations to about 4,900 families whose members have been unable to work due to the closure of entry points to Israel. This distribution, which is being done at the request of the Palestinian Ministry of Social Affairs, is expected to reach close to 30,000 people. This is in addition to WFP’s ongoing food distribution programmes in the Palestinian territories, which reach about 104,000 vulnerable Palestinians.

**UNAIDS

From Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) we have word that yesterday Senegal announced that it had become the first country to reach an agreement with a group of five pharmaceutical companies to substantially reduce the price of HIV drugs sold in Senegal. In May of this year, UNAIDS and the World Bank announced that five of the world’s largest drug companies had agreed to help increase access to HIV drugs in sub-Saharan Africa. UNAIDS was instrumental in negotiating this agreement between Senegal and the companies, which is expected to reduce the price of some of these drugs by up to 90 per cent, as compared to the sticker price found in Europe and North America.

**Democratic Republic of the Congo

The United Nations Expert Panel on the Exploitation of Natural Resources and other Forms of Wealth in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is in the Central African country this week. Panel members have visited Gbadolite, Goma, Kisangani and Bunia in addition to the capital Kinshasa. The Panel will be travelling to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia during the current phase of its work.

**Office of the Iraq Programme

We have the weekly update of the Office of the Iraq Programme. The report says that in the week ending last Friday, Iraq exported some 19.4 million barrels of oil with an estimated market value of $508 million and that brings the total oil exports in the current phase, which is phase 8, to over 282 million barrels -- total revenue $7.2 billion. You can pick up the full report in my office.

**East Timor

From East Timor we have word that East Timor has received its first royalty payment from the Timor Gap, worth about $3 million. The revenue comes from oil taken from the only active oil field in the Timor Sea during the period October 1999 to September 2000. The field is jointly shared by East Timor and the Government of Australia. Australia and the United Nations mission, negotiating on behalf of East Timor, are trying to determine the terms of a final treaty on the exploration of the Timor Gap, which is the body of water between East Timor and Australia. During a press conference yesterday in Sydney, where he is on an official visit, the Special Representative, Sergio Vieira de Mello, said that he believed that it would be possible to conclude successfully this negotiation during the transitional phase, so that once East Timor becomes independent it can sign a new and real treaty, in his words, with Australia. We have the transcript of that press conference, if you are interested.

**Ethiopia and Eritrea

We have just heard from the United Nations mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea, which reports that the first batch of helicopters, and these are four M18 Russian-made helicopters, arrived in Asmara just a short while ago and will be in operation later this week. The helicopters will be used to transport troops, personnel and supplies to the United Nations mission team sites.

**UNHCR

Today’s briefing notes from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) includes an item on the opening of a field presence in Ecuador, where an estimated 4,000 people have fled fighting in Colombia. It also includes an item on High Commissioner Sadako Ogata’s meeting with the Russian President Vladimir Putin.

**Financial Report

The Information Department today put out a handout on the United Nations financial crisis, saying that at the end of September, Member States owed the United Nations over $3 billion, which is close to the total assessments for this year for the regular budget, peacekeeping and the Tribunals. The United States accounted for about two thirds of that amount.

We did take in a little bit of money though in the last three weeks, so that as of today, the total amount owed is about $2.7 billion -– the United States share of that is about $1.6 billion. We received about $200 million from the United States in this last three-week period.

**Press conferences

A press conference tomorrow at 11:15 a.m. in this room, the Department of Disarmament Affairs will be sponsoring a press conference by the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and they will be talking about partnerships on disarmament matters, and updating you on developments in the First Committee, in case Sue doesn’t tell you everything you want to know about the First Committee.

**Samar Shamoon

And we have a visitor here today -- Samar Shamoon who is the Press Officer, if I can use the shorthand title, for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva. Samar, stand up. Anyone who wants to know about WIPO, you can chat with her after the briefing.

Ranan Lurie Cartoon Award

I hope you all saw the press conference at 11:15 where the prizes for the Ranan Lurie Political Cartoon Award were announced. They were also announced at last night’s United Nations Correspondents Association dinner and there was a handout there with some of the winning cartoons.

That’s all I have for you, any questions before we go to Sue?

Question: Do you have any idea when the Secretary-General will announce his recommendation for head of UNHCR. Is it likely to be this week?

Spokesman: I think his intention is to do this tomorrow at midday and I think he wants to introduce to you his nominee for High Commissioner for Refugees and his selection for the head of the United Nations Population Fund. So, I think he will have two new faces to introduce to you tomorrow afternoon.

Question: The $200 million that the United States paid, what percentage of that went on peacekeeping and what percentage to the regular budget?

Spokesman: Can you check with me after the briefing, I don’t have that with me here now. [He later announced that the $200 million had been paid against peacekeeping arrears.] Question: Can you explain to us how the United Nations Special Representative Sergio de Mello in East Timor become involved in oil transactions?

Spokesman: In East Timor, we are effectively running an independent territory that’s in transition to becoming an independent nation. He is involving, to the extent possible, East Timorese in day to day governmental decisions. But, like in Kosovo, the United Nations is effectively running the administration of these two territories. This was an important revenue source for East Timor. If he could work out some kind of interim agreement with Australia to get some of those royalties, which he has just done, I think that’s a good thing. I think the East Timorese would be happy with that and once they become fully independent, then of course they can enter into a formal treaty with Australia.

Question: Will they renegotiate it when they are independent?

Spokesman: I don’t know how it’s going to be worked out. I would think that the terms they have negotiated this time would carry over, but I can’t prejudge how it would eventually come out.

Question: Are these five pharmaceuticals that have been so generous to Senegal among the United Nations new business partners? If so, who are they and would any part of the United Nations, like World Health Organization (WHO), be monitoring the quality of the drugs?

Spokesman: I assume that the host country -- in this case Senegal, and we understand Uganda and others are also very close to concluding agreements with these companies -- will do the quality control. The five companies are Bristol- Myers-Squibb, Glaxo-Wellcome, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Merck and Roche. And these are the five that UNAIDS has negotiated, with the World Bank, this kind of an agreement in principle. And now Senegal is the first country to work out a practical agreement. We expect other countries will be following suit.

Question: Fred, now that the Middle East peace process has come to a halt practically, what is the latest thinking of the Secretary-General?

Spokesman: He certainly hopes it has not come to a halt. He said at the end of last week the next couple of days were be crucial. I think he had in mind the period in which the Arab summit was taking place in Egypt. He appealed to all to watch their words and not say anything that would inflame the situation. He is watching events in the Middle East very closely. I think I mentioned to you yesterday that he had spoken to both Prime Minister Barak and President Arafat over the weekend. His hope is that the situation will calm down eventually and that the peace process will be able to resume. Whether that will happen or not is anyone’s guess. It certainly looks very much touch and go now.

Question: Has the Secretary-General had occasion to read the Kosovo Report? Has it been presented to him yet?

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Spokesman: I don’t think so. It was presented to his Chief of Staff yesterday. It’s a thick book and he had a full programme yesterday, I kind of doubt he got to it.

Question: Do you have any reaction to it?

Spokesman: No, apart from the fact that its principal conclusion recommending, I think, what it called “conditional independence” is of course not consistent with what the Security Council has called for, which is substantial autonomy within the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. So he cannot of course endorse this conclusion. He did welcome the creation of the Commission and their engaging in this work, but he is bound by the Security Council decision in this matter. OK, Sue.

Briefing by Spokeswoman for President of General Assembly

Thank you, the President in his United Nations Day message says that the real goals established by the Millennium Summit cannot be met just with promises. We need action. For this he pledges to do his utmost to make sure governments follow up on those promises and asks that we do our part too. The full text is available in the Spokesman’s Office.

The President will attend the United Nations Day concert this evening. There is no plenary today, but tomorrow there will be a plenary meeting in the morning. One of the items which will be taken up is a new agenda item on the role of the United Nations in promoting a new global human order. This item was placed on the agenda at the request of Guyana and it’s intended to prompt a re- examination of international cooperation and partnership with a view to ensuring that people-centred development is a central pillar of the work of the United Nations in the twenty-first Century. We will hear more about that tomorrow.

In the Committees this morning, the Second Committee took up the issue of globalization and the Third Committee continued its general discussion on human rights issues. This afternoon the Third Committee will hear from the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson. She will have a dialogue with the Committee and will be followed by the two Special Rapporteurs on Afghanistan and on Arbitrary Executions. As you know, there is a programme in the Journal for the rapporteurs for the rest of the week and early next week.

The Sixth Committee this morning continued its discussion on the report of the International Law Commission. The Fourth Committee is not meeting today and the Fifth Committee is holding informal consultations. That’s it. Any questions?

Spokesman: Thank you. Questions for Sue? If not, thank you very much.

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