DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
20001205The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, and Susan Markham, Spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly.
Briefing by the Spokesman for the Secretary-General
**Middle East Report
Good afternoon. We have upstairs a press release from the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator in the Occupied Territories, Terje Roed- Larsen, announcing the release of his report on the economic situation in the Palestinian Territories.
According to the report, the Palestinian economy has lost more than $500 million since the beginning of this current crisis more than two months ago. Furthermore, the continued closures of the crossings into Israel and the restriction of movements within the West Bank and Gaza have helped push the unemployment rate to 40% of the workforce, which is over 260,000 people.
In this press release, the Special Coordinator says that his message to the Israeli Government has been that the closures are counter-productive, because unemployment and poverty lead to anger and aggression and, therefore, a closure policy, which was created for security reasons has in reality created a less-secure environment.
The report was introduced yesterday afternoon in Gaza at a meeting chaired by Roed-Larsen and attended by Palestinian Authority officials and key donors to the Palestinian economy.
As I mentioned, the press release, as well as the report, are available upstairs.
**Security Council
This morning, the Security Council is meeting in closed consultations to take up a draft resolution prepared by the United Kingdom on the roll-over of the Iraq Oil-for-Food programme into its next phase.
The current phase ends at midnight tonight.
Later, they will discuss, in closed consultations, the draft resolution on the creation of a United Nations protection force for the Palestinians, as introduced by Mali on behalf of the Non-Aligned caucus on 30 November.
**Iraq Programme
According to the weekly update from the Office of the Iraq Programme, no agreement has yet been reached between Iraqs State Oil Marketing Organization
Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 5 December 2000(SOMO) and the United Nations oil overseers on the pricing mechanism for the sale of Iraqi oil for the month of December. At Iraqs decision, there have been no oil loadings at either Mina al-Bakr or Ceyhan oil terminals under the programme since midnight 30 November.
During the week 24 November - 1 December, Iraq exported 16.4 million barrels of oil, adding an estimated $452 million to the phase VIII revenue. The final total of Iraqs oil exports in phase VIII is 376.3 million barrels for an estimated revenue of $9.713 billion.
The full text of the Office of the Iraq Programme (OIP) weekly update is available upstairs.
**Côte d'Ivoire
I have two statements in connection with Côte d'Ivoire.
First: Following a discussion with the Government of Côte dIvoire, the Secretary-General has appointed Ambassador Colin Terrence Granderson of Trinidad and Tobago as Chairman of an International Commission of Inquiry, which he intends to dispatch to the Côte dIvoire to help shed light on the serious human rights violations that took place in that country in October.
Ambassador Granderson will initially travel to Abidjan, accompanied by Secretariat officials, to meet with the Government and other concerned parties. He is expected to report on his visit to the Secretary-General by 18 December.
The second: Because of the recent decision of the Ivoirian Supreme Court and the subsequent events on the ground, the United Nations is of the view that the conditions are no longer conducive for the involvement of the United Nations in the forthcoming legislative elections in Côte dIvoire.
The United Nations has therefore decided that it will suspend its electoral technical assistance and withdraw its offer to coordinate the activities of international observers. The regular activities of United Nations agencies and programmes will continue in Côte dIvoire.
The United Nations calls on all parties to shun violence and favour dialogue, so that calm will prevail in Côte dIvoire.
**Secretary-General in Benin
The Secretary-General this morning concluded his visit to Benin by travelling 30 kilometres outside of the capital Cotonou to the town of Porto Novo, where he met with local chieftains and children's groups.
He began with a tour of the old palace of the King of Porto Novo, which is now a museum. He then met children's groups, which had been set up with the assistance of UNICEF. The children put on skits for him to illustrate their concern about peace, development, AIDS and the environment.
After that, he sat down with a dozen traditional leaders for a discussion of traditions and the modern democratic State. He commented that democracy
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 5 December 2000requires the participation of everyone, not just the leaders.
He returned to Cotonou at midday today, and shortly after flew to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for the second leg of his trip, this one to the Horn of Africa.
**Cyprus
The Secretary-Generals report on the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus is out today.
In his report, the Secretary-General recommends the extension of the Forces mandate for a further six months until 15 June 2001. He also underlines a shortfall of $22.5 million in funding for the force and appeals to Member States to pay their assessments promptly and in full.
The Secretary-General states the situation along the ceasefire line has remained generally stable during the reporting period.
Also related to Cyprus, the Secretary-Generals Special Advisor, Alvaro de Soto, wrapped up his visit to the island today.
In a press conference in Nicosia, Mr. de Soto told reporters that he hoped to be back in January for further consultations with both leaders ahead of the next session of proximity talks, which are set to take place in Geneva.
**Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Secretary-Generals report to the Security Council on the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina is coming out as a document today.
Jacques Klein, the Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Bosnia, will be here next week when the Council takes up this issue.
**Indian support for Global Compact
The Secretary-General's Global Compact, to encourage business and labour to respect core international standards relating to the environment, labour laws and human rights got a critical boost yesterday when more than 20 Indian corporate leaders met in Bombay and pledged to support the Compact.
The high-powered group of Indian CEOs also agreed to mobilize collective business action against HIV/AIDS and for sustainable cities and education.
We have a list of the corporate leaders who participated in that meeting available in my office.
**Ebola in Uganda
We learned with regret today of the death of Dr. Matthew Lukwiya, a senior doctor at the Locor hospital in Gulu, Uganda, and one of the leaders in the fight against the Ebola virus in Gulu. Twelve nurses, it has been reported,
Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 5 December 2000
have also died in the same hospital since the beginning of the outbreak. The doctors death, and those of his colleagues, illustrates how vulnerable healthcare workers are in outbreak situations and also just how contagious this virus is. The Ugandan Ministry of Health has appealed to the local community for more medical workers to staff the hospitals in the region, as the workers there are stretched to the limit.
**Human Rights
High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, ended a visit to Colombia yesterday, calling for a comprehensive agreement among all parties on human rights and international humanitarian law. She said such an agreement could be a key step and could build confidence on all sides. Colombia has one of the largest populations of internally displaced persons in the world, as a direct result of the human rights abuses.
The High Commissioner is in Chile today, where she addressed the Preparatory Conference of the Americas against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Other Forms of Intolerance. She said that, structural inequalities in wealth and income, and the close association between racial discrimination and extreme poverty define many of the problems of racism and xenophobia. She also urged countries to establish or reinforce national human rights mechanisms and to make full use of international instruments.
We have a press release and the programme of the conference available in my office.
**Briefing Notes
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees today announced it will award the annual Nansen Medal in honor of distinguished refugee work to the United Nations Volunteers. The UNHCR, meanwhile, reports on refugee movements from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the trickling back of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo to Serbias Presevo valley. See their briefing note and press release for details.
Todays briefing notes from the United Nations mission in East Timor flag increasing indications of corruption in procurement practices and lists steps to be taken to redress the matter. The mission reports on a donor meeting on East Timor which is under way in Brussels, and mentions that Xanana Gusmao and his wife, on behalf of their recently born child, will receive the first birth certificate issued by the Central Civil Registry which is opening tomorrow.
**Signings
We have two treaty signings today. Just about now, the Protocol on Liability and Compensation for Damage Resulting from Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal is being signed by representatives of the Governments of Hungary and Denmark.
Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 5 December 2000
**World Chronicle
And finally, the Department of Public Information has asked me to announce that World Chronicle programme no.812 with your boss, Sue. Harri Holkeri, the President of the General Assembly, will be shown today on in-house channels 3 or 31 at 2:30 p.m.
Any questions before we go to Sue?
Question: Fred, the comment in the New York Times by Mr. Morris that the Serbian side should keep their forces away and not involve themselves in the Presevo Valley, is that the sort of advice that is given on behalf of the UNHCR and the United Nations system as a whole because of the high influx of refugees?
Spokesman: The comments by Mr. Morris were made in his capacity as an official of the High Commissioner for Refugees, and I have nothing further to say about it.
Question: On the contacts between SOMO and the oil overseers, have those contacts been re-established yet today?
Spokesman I don't know. I'd have to check. I don't know if we have any information on that yet, so check with my office afterwards. Sue?
Briefing by the Spokeswoman of the President of the General Assembly
Thank you. There was no plenary meeting today. Yesterday, the General Assembly adopted more than 60 resolutions and seven decisions on the recommendation of the Third Committee, which deals with social, humanitarian, cultural and human rights issues. The full details are contained in a very thick press release that you can find on the racks, and that would include also copies of the results of the recorded votes that were held on some 14 resolutions and one paragraph of a resolution.
Tomorrow, the plenary will meet in the morning to take up six reports of the Fifth Committee concerning appointments to fill vacancies on subsidiary bodies. These include the appointments to the vacancies on the ACABQ and were decided by the Fifth Committee on 3 November, so you can see that in a press release of that date.
Also tomorrow morning, the plenary will act on the draft resolution on Assistance in Mine Action, and on the report of the Credentials Committee, which is out today. The Credentials Committee had recommended that the credentials of 28 countries, including Somalia, be accepted.
Also today, we expect the report of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping relating to the Brahimi report. This was something that was agreed to yesterday by the Special Committee on Peacekeeping. You can see the details of it, even though the report is not yet available, in the press release of that Committee's meeting yesterday, which is on the racks.
The Fourth Committee will take up this report tomorrow morning. So that's the Brahimi report: the recommendations from the Special Peacekeeping Committee
Daily Press Briefing - 6 - 5 December 2000will be taken up by the Fourth Committee tomorrow.
At the Pledging Conference that I mentioned yesterday for UNWRA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees, some $38.5 million was pledged, plus some $22 million for an emergency special appeal, which was launched on 8 November. This does not meet the required $311 million, which the Agency requires for its work next year.
There is a press release containing the details.
Also on the racks this morning, there is a draft resolution on the follow- up to the Outcome of the Millennium Summit. As you know, this is something that the President of the General Assembly himself has been concerned about, and he has been undertaking informal consultations with Member States on the formulation of this draft resolution.
In it the Assembly would decide to use existing structures and mechanisms, and upcoming conferences and events, to implement the Declaration. It recognizes that resources will be required, especially in Africa and least developed countries, and asks that urgent consideration of how this should relate to the budgetary process should be undertaken.
The Secretary-General is asked to find innovative ways of enhancing cooperation and coherence of the United Nations system in implementing the Declaration, and it invites the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization to be involved also in the implementation.
The Secretary-General is asked to prepare a long-term road map of implementation of the Declaration and to provide periodic reports, both annual and every five years, in more detail. So I'm not sure when the General Assembly will take up that draft resolution, but there will be another round of informal consultations on Thursday afternoon about it. So it probably won't be until Friday or later next week,
On Monday, the President of the General Assembly will address the opening of the Fourth Session of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. This meeting is being held in Bonn, Germany, from 11 to 22 December.
Mr. Holkeri will travel to Bonn on Sunday, and on Monday he will meet with the Federal President of Germany, Mr. Johannes Rau and the Mayor of Bonn, Mrs. Baerbel Diekmann, before addressing the opening conference in the afternoon on Monday. Mr. Holkeri will then return to New York that evening. Details of his schedule will be available to you this afternoon, and also we'll make available to you in advance the address that he will give on Monday afternoon. That's all I have.
Spokesman: Questions for Sue? If not, thank you very much.
* *** *