DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

DAILY PRESS BREIFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE 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 for the General Assembly President.

Briefing by the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

Good afternoon.  Our guest today will be Carina Perelli, the Director of the Electoral Assistance Division in the Department of Political Affairs. There’s no particular news-hook for this visit; we just thought the work that she’s doing is very interesting and you might like an update.

** Secretary-General Opens Security Council Debate on Peace-building

This morning, the Security Council began an open debate on peace-building.  The Secretary-General addressed that session, noting the usefulness of peace-building as a preventive instrument, which can address the underlying, root causes of conflict and which can also be used before the actual outbreak of war. 

He told the Council, "Whether started before, after or during the eruption of conflict, peace-building must be seen as a long-term exercise.  At the same time, there is an unmistakable element of urgency -- a need to achieve tangible progress on a number of fronts in a short period of time."

He noted the peace-building work the United Nations has performed in countries as diverse as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Liberia and Mozambique, as well as the current United Nations Peace-Building Support Offices in the Central African Republic, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia and Tajikistan.  We have copies of his speech upstairs.  The Council's open debate on peace-building is continuing, with 30 speakers inscribed for today, and we expect further contributions to be made to the discussion on peace-building during the United Nations meeting with regional organizations tomorrow and Wednesday.  I spoke in detail about that meeting on Friday.  The Council will not be meeting tomorrow, while the meeting with the regional organizations proceeds.

**UN Civilian Support Mission in Haiti to Close

The United Nations International Civilian Support Mission in Haiti, known by its French acronym, MICAH, will come to a close tomorrow.

In his report to the General Assembly last November, the Secretary-General had recommended that the Mission’s mandate be terminated.  The head of the Mission and Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Alfredo Lopes Cabral, will remain until 8 February so that he can represent the Secretary-General at the inauguration of Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Wednesday.

The international staff of the mission has been leaving Haiti since mid-December, but we expect 38 of them to remain there until May to assist in the liquidation of the mission.

**IFAD Launches "Rural Poverty Report 2001"

Today, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is launching its report on rural poverty.  Just now, in his press conference in this room, the IFAD President, Fawzi Al-Sultan, spoke to you about the contents of that report, which evaluates the state of rural poverty and offers practical ideas for poverty reduction.

Starting at 1:15 p.m. in the Delegates Dining Room, the Secretary-General will deliver remarks at the formal launch of the report, which notes that people living in rural areas still form the majority of the world's poor.  In his remarks, the Secretary-General calls for a greater and more focused effort to meet the target, pledged at last year's Millennium Summit, to cut in half the proportion of the world's people living in extreme poverty by 2015.  We have embargoed copies of his remarks in my Office.

Also in connection with the launch of the Rural Poverty Report, IFAD will sponsor a panel discussion, "The Challenge of Ending Rural Poverty: Opportunities and Options for Africa", tomorrow at 10 a.m., in the Economic and Social Council Chamber.

**Second Global Environmental Forum Opens in Nairobi

Environmental sustainability is everybody’s challenge.  That was the message from the Secretary-General to members of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) who are meeting in Nairobi through the end of this week.

In a speech delivered on the Secretary-General’s behalf by Klaus Toepfer, the Executive Director of UNEP, he said that:  “alongside failures of governance, negligence and greed, poverty is one of the causes of the ecological crisis we confront today”.

He called on the more than 70 environmental affairs ministers gathered for the occasion, which is also the Second Global Ministerial Environment Forum, to find a way to break the vicious circle of environmental degradation and increased poverty.  “A strong signal of our determination”, according to the Secretary-General's statement, “would be to ensure the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol by 2002”.  The full text of the speech is available in my Office.

**Secretary-General Receives Honorary Degree at Seton Hall

This afternoon, the Secretary-General is traveling to Seton Hall University, in South Orange, New Jersey, where, starting at about 4:45 p.m., he will receive an honorary degree and deliver an address to its School of Diplomacy and International Relations.

That address, embargoed copies of which are available in my Office, deals with the dialogue among civilizations, and the proclamation of the year 2001 as the Year of the Dialogue among Civilizations.  The Secretary-General, in that speech, notes the importance of the United Nations as a place where dialogue can triumph over discord.

The Secretary-General's Personal Representative for the Dialogue, Giandomenico Picco, will also participate in today's ceremony at Seton Hall University.

**India Earthquake Update:  UNICEF Reports Disaster Could Affect Five Million Children; UNEP, UNV Launch Joint Project to Distribute Aid

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), in a press release issued today, said that as many as 5 million children under the age of 14 may have been affected in some way by the earthquake in the Indian State of Gujarat.

Also on India, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations Volunteers (UNV) are recruiting 107 UNVs to help coordinate the distribution of relief items following last week's earthquake.  The Volunteers will coordinate relief work with humanitarian organizations in the earthquake-affected area, in an initiative for which the United Kingdom has provided $650,000.  The project is being put in place by UNDP's Emergency Response Division, and the Volunteers are to start working over the course of this week.  For further details, UNDP will put out a press release on the racks this afternoon.

      **Notes From Kosovo

Today’s briefing notes from Pristina, Kosovo includes an item on a guilty verdict against the first defendant charged with trafficking in women, which the United Nations mission (UNMIK) describes as a strong message to those who would buy and sell human beings for profit.  United Nations police, meanwhile, also noted increasing evidence of a growing problem involving domestic drug abuse within Kosovo.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, who is in Brussels discussing asylum and refugee issues in Europe with European Commission and European Union officials, is expected to give a press conference tomorrow.

**Press Conference

This afternoon, in this room at 12:45 p.m., the former Governor of Brasilia, Brazil, Cristovam Buarque, will be here to discuss "Bolsa Escola", a programme implemented in Brazil and several other countries to eradicate child labour.

**Noon Briefing Guest 

Our guest at the noon briefing tomorrow will be the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson.  She will talk about the preparations for the World Conference against racism, which will take place in South Africa in August.

**Memorial Mass for Information Chief of Iraq Programme

John Mill's widow, Karin, contacted us this morning to say that there will be a memorial mass on Friday of this week for John, at St. Boniface Church, which is on Willoughby Place in Brooklyn Heights, at 6 p.m.  The nearest subway stop is Hoyt Street.  She asks that in place of flowers, you make a contribution to the church's education fund.

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Will the United Nations remain involved in Haiti now that the mission is closed?  If so, what will that involvement entail?

Spokesman:  Our development work will continue in Haiti.  So, I think you'll see active involvement in economic and social development programmes but the political job is terminated and, of course, the peacekeeping job before that is also terminated.

Question:  I hate to bring up housekeeping matters, but can you find out who thought it was a good idea to change the locks on all the booths used by broadcast organizations in the building?

Spokesman:  Thank you, I'll look into it immediately after the briefing.

Question:  Could the Haiti mission be described as a success? 

Spokesman:  We struggled with it for a long time.  I think that there had been a considerable amount of progress.  But as you know, the Secretary-General's judgement at the time he recommended the closing of the mission was that the political uncertainty in the country did not justify a continuation of the mission.  With the inauguration tomorrow of Mr. Aristide, I think we can only hope that the political situation in the country would begin to improve and that our development work can proceed in a climate of increasing stability.

Question:  Do you think at the time the Secretary-General made the decision on the feasibility of maintaining the mission -- when many governments had been critical of the country's election process -- he was thinking more in terms of donor support?  It seems like the very time United Nations involvement would be needed would be during a time of instability.  Why pull out?

Spokesman:  Well, I don't want to crawl into his mind, but I will say that he doesn't take a decision like that without wide consultation with governments.

Question:  There is a feeling that poverty cannot be totally eradicated. Perhaps that goal could be possible for some parts of Europe or the Americas, but not in Africa or the Middle East.  Are there any other plans or initiatives for the people of those regions?

Spokesman:  Well, first of all, the Millennium Assembly objective is not to eliminate poverty by 2015, but to reduce by half the proportion of the people living in extreme poverty.  So, since we still have some time to go, let's not say that we cannot achieve that objective.  Although we'd all like to see poverty eliminated entirely -- and there are many ambitious development programmes with that aim -- our objective is to reduce the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by half by 2015.

Question:  In general, what are the plans to start the dialogue among nations?

Spokesman:  Let me refer you to the press kit that we put out at the end of last year on the "Dialogue Among Civilizations".  In that, you can see the full set of activities planned for this year. 

Question:  Has the United Nations been monitoring Libyan leader Colonel Kahdafi's comments regarding the decision in the Lockerbie trial?  He says he has evidence regarding the bombing.  What are the implications of his comments?

Spokesman:  The trial is over.  There is talk that there will be an appeal.  If there is any fresh evidence to be presented, I assume it would be presented in that appeal.  I'm sure that our political department has been monitoring the Libyan leader's comments of this morning, but not for the purposes of reversing the decision of the Scottish judges; their decision was taken last week.

Question:  Why are they monitoring his comments then?

Spokesman:  Just as a political development worth noting.  It's their job to follow political developments.

Question:  Is there any role for the United Nations in the reporting of Libya's compliance with the [Security Council] resolution, which calls for cooperation with the investigation?

Spokesman:  I think the Security Council is responsible for making that judgement call.  If they asked us to help in some way, I'm sure we would, but to my knowledge, they have not asked.

Question:  Last Friday, the United Nations hosted [Democratic Republic of the Congo] President Joseph Kabila, and now this Wednesday we'll have [Rwanda] President Paul Kagame.  Is the Secretary-General pursuing any sort of strategy to bring these two leaders closer together? 

Spokesman:  He's huddling with his senior staff today on the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  I think everyone is looking at the changed political picture that's emerging there.  In the Security Council on Friday, he said he saw this as a window of opportunity.  So I think that we here on the United Nations side will be looking at what can be done to seize that opportunity.

Question:  Will President Kagame be here for only private meetings with the Secretary-General or will he also speak to the Security Council?

Spokesman:  I'm not aware that the Council has something planned.  I'll have to check on that for you after the briefing.  All I know is that he'll be seeing the Secretary-General. 

Question:  Will the Ruud Lubbers press conference tomorrow be held in Brussels or here at Headquarters?

Spokesman:  In Brussels. 

Briefing by the Spokeswoman for the General AssemblyPresident

Good afternoon.

This morning, General Assembly President Harri Holkeri presided over the meeting of the Open Ended Working Group on Security Council Reform.  At this meeting, the Group's first of this year, it adopted its programme of work and participated in an initial exchange of views.  It is scheduled to meet again in the afternoon on this Tuesday and Wednesday.  The President also announced tentative dates for other meetings in March, May, June and July of this year.

This afternoon, President Holkeri will address the Preparatory Committee for the Third United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries.  The preparatory session is being held this week in Conference Room 1.  And while the Journal announces that this afternoon's meeting is "closed", I want to assure that it won't be closed until after the President makes his statement.

In that statement, the President will emphasize that development can no longer be viewed as the business only of governments, but is the collective business of all people.  He will tell the Committee that "Unless we are able to effectively involve civil society, the private sector, the media, lawmakers and academia, we will deprive ourselves of their enormous potential".  The full text of his statement is available in the Spokesman's Office and, of course, on the President's Web site. 

The main purpose of this preparatory session will be the first reading of the proposed programme of action.  That draft is available as a document on the racks.  You can also get it from our Office.  Further information is available on the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Web site.  I'm told that delegates for all the LDC countries will participate in the preparatory meeting and, in addition, there are some 200 representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who are holding their own meetings in Conference Room 5. 

There is a booklet available here in the room and upstairs on the third floor with background information on the themes and purposes of the Conference, which is scheduled to be held from 14 to 20 May, in Brussels.  The booklet, available in both French and English, will be the main information product until the press kit is available sometime in April.  If you have any further question, please contact Erica Meltzer of UNCTAD, at extension 6529.

Also this afternoon, President Holkeri will address the luncheon to launch IFAD's report on rural poverty.  In his remarks, he notes that this report makes a significant contribution to the implementation of the Millennium Declaration, in which, as the Spokesman mentioned, the heads of State and government pledged to halve extreme poverty by 2015.  The vast majority of those living in extreme poverty live in rural areas and the report identifies approaches that empower the rural poor to make better lives for themselves, their families and their communities.  President Holkeri's remarks are available in the Spokesman's Office.

Tomorrow morning, President Holkeri will attend the high-level meeting of United Nations regional organizations on cooperation for peace-building.

That's all I have.  Are there any questions?

** Question and Answer

Question:  Is there any more information on that meeting with the regional organizations?

Spokeswoman:  I can find out for you if there is anything available.  I do know that the Secretary-General will open that high-level meeting tomorrow.

Spokesman for the Secretary-General:  So far, the heads of 11 of the

18 regional organizations will be attending that meeting.

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