DAILY PRESS BRIEFING 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, Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly.

Spokesman for Secretary-General

Good afternoon.  Joining us today is Anna Tibaijuka, the Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Director of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, which we all call Habitat.  As you know, the General Assembly Special Session which will review and appraise the Habitat Agenda will be taking place here at Headquarters next week, from 6 to 8 June, and she will be talking to you about the issues she expects to come up with at that session.

** Statement Attributable to the Spokesman

Also at my briefing is a statement attributable to the Spokesman:

"The Secretary-General was profoundly saddened by the sudden death of

Faisal al-Husseini.  He extends his heartfelt condolences to the family of

Mr. al-Husseini, and to the Palestinian people for the loss of one of their most distinguished and principled leaders.

"Faisal al-Husseini embodied the aspirations of his people, and infused their cause with integrity and justice.  The Secretary-General calls on leaders on both sides of the conflict to pay tribute to Mr. al-Husseini's legacy by redoubling their own efforts to end the violence and work towards a just and secure peace for both peoples."

** SG Goes to Washington

As we mentioned to you last week, the Secretary-General is going to Washington this afternoon to deliver the keynote speech tonight at the Global Health Council's Annual Awards Banquet.  Among the guests at that event will be Melinda Gates of the Gates Foundation and former Education Minister of Mozambique Graca Machel.

In his speech, the Secretary-General will call attention to the impact of HIV/AIDS on women.  In the beginning, he will say, AIDS was thought to be striking mainly at men.  But a terrifying pattern has developed.  Infection rates among women in Africa are now higher than those among men.

He will spend the night in Washington in order to attend a breakfast meeting tomorrow morning with the United States Chamber of Commerce.  Again, he’ll be talking about AIDS to that group.  He will urge business to get involved in the fight against AIDS, because AIDS, he will argue, affects business.  It causes costs to rise and markets to shrink.  By joining the fight against AIDS, business will see benefits in their bottom line.

Embargoed copies of both speeches are available now in my office.

And the Secretary-General will return to Headquarters at midday tomorrow.

** Kosovo

From Kosovo, we have word that the Yugoslav security forces have completed their move into the last sub-sector of the five-kilometre wide Ground Safety Zone -- in southern Serbia, that is -- and that is as reported by KFOR or the Kosovo Force.

Because of a mine threat, it will take another 24 to 48 hours to clear the zone for full freedom of movement for people going in and out of the Presevo Valley.

Meanwhile, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says 500 people were reported crossing the boundary into Kosovo over the last two days, but at the same time large numbers of people have been spontaneously returning to the Presevo Valley.

UNHCR in Pristina, Kosovo, also reports on the influx into Kosovo from the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), saying it is very concerned that the fighting there will prevent further access of humanitarian organizations to the region to provide urgently needed aid.

We have briefing notes from Kosovo with more details.

** Security Council

The Security Council is meeting in closed consultations this afternoon.

First, the Council will receive a briefing from the Department of Political Affairs on the latest developments in the Central African Republic.

The second item on the Council’s agenda is a discussion of the Oil for Food programme.  As you know, the current phase of that programme expires at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday.

** UNMOVIC Report

Out on the racks today is the fifth quarterly report of the Executive Chairman of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) on Iraq.

In the report, Dr. Hans Blix, the Commission’s Executive Chairman, writes that training and recruiting of staff continued during the reporting period. 

“With the work completed to date,” he writes, “UNMOVIC is ready to take up the full tasks mandated to it by the [Security] Council.”

The Executive Chairman adds that only when UNMOVIC is able to perform its tasks will the Commission be able to assess fully the disposition of Iraq’s now proscribed weapons of mass destruction.

** Sierra Leone

The United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone says that the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) yesterday returned some weapons and some military equipment, including vehicles, that were seized last year from United Nations peacekeepers in that country.

The handover took place at a ceremony held in the northern town of Makeni. The RUF told the Deputy Force Commander, Maj. Gen. Martin L. Agwai, that more equipment would be handed over in future.

Maj. Gen. Agwai commended the RUF for the release of the equipment, noting that it demonstrated the RUF’s commitment to abide by the Abuja Ceasefire Agreements.  He added, however, that additional equipment taken is still in the RUF’s possession.

He also asked the RUF to provide the United Nations mission with the locations and types of the remaining equipment.

We have a press release on that, if you’re interested.

** World No-Tobacco Day

Today is World No-Tobacco Day and –- I don’t see Richard Roth here -- but in a statement on the occasion, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General of the World Health Organization, emphasized the dangers of second-hand smoke.  She said, “Far from being a mere annoyance or a minor discomfort, exposure to second-hand smoke causes cancer and contributes to various lung and heart diseases.”  She went on to call for a ban on smoking in public places and said that the wider the bans on smoking, the greater the social unacceptability of tobacco use will be.

We have the full text of her statement in my office.

** Budget

This morning, Barbados became the 84th Member State to pay its regular budget contribution for this year in full, and that with a cheque for more than $93,000.

** Press Conferences

Press conferences.  Tomorrow at noon, Stephen Lewis will be joining us.  He is the Special Adviser for Africa to the Executive Director of UNAIDS.

And a press conference this afternoon -– this is a second call on this one. At 4 p.m., the Permanent Missions of Austria and Hungary will be sponsoring a press conference on the draft resolution entitled “Protection of Religious Sites”, which is expected to be adopted by the General Assembly at this afternoon’s plenary meeting.  Speakers will include Rabbi Arthur Schneier of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation and Archbishop Demetrios of the Greek Orthodox Church in America.

Any questions before we go to Sue, and then to Ms. Tibaijuka?

** Questions and Answers

Question:  Has there been any reaction of the Secretary-General about the situation in the Central African Republic?

Spokesman:  We did issue a statement that basically called on everyone to respect democratic principles, and our Political Affairs Department continues to monitor the situation very closely.  We have an office in Bangui and, as I have just reported, we will be giving the Council an update this afternoon.

Question:  William Safire in his column today speaks of an organization called the Community of Democracies which has been around for a while and will be having a meeting in Washington and a bigger affair next year in Seoul.  Is the United Nations in any way involved with this Community, or do you have somebody who keeps tabs on it?  Does it have a semi-official status?

Spokesman:  I’ll have to look into that for you.  I don’t know whether this is the same organization that had sponsored a number of regional meetings of democratic countries.  There was one in Warsaw, and one in West Africa.  If it is, the Secretary-General actually addressed one of those meetings, but let me make sure we are talking about the same organization. I’ll get back to you after the briefing.  [The spokesman said afterward that the Secretary-General had addressed the conference "Toward a Community of Democracies" in Warsaw on 26 June 2000.

Question:  Fred, regarding the Oil for Food programme:  is it the expectation that the programme will be extended for some length of time today or will that be pushed to tomorrow or Monday?

Spokesman:  You’ll have to check with the Council. I understand that the permanent five members of the Council had a private meeting this morning.  The whole Council will discuss it this afternoon.  I think you’ll have to stay in touch with the members to see what the timetable will be.  They have until midnight Sunday.  You’re probably hoping you’ll have your weekend to yourself.  So do we. (Laughter.)

Question:  It’s customary to have a meeting of the Security Council on the first day of a new presidency.  How’s that going to be anything different?

Spokesman:  The last I heard from [Bangladeshi] Ambassador [Anwarul Karim Chowdhury, he’s hoping to use tomorrow -- as the first day usually is -– for bilateral consultations with other members to determine the programme of work for June.  He’s hoping to have more meetings tomorrow.

Question:  So that means a decision, based on Linda’s question, will be Saturday or Sunday?

Spokesman:  Well, we’ll have to see how this plays out, again.  It’s up to the members to decide.  They’ll, obviously, be assessing how much agreement there may be at the closed consultations this afternoon.  If they are able to act quickly, I’m sure they will.  If they have to impose on Ambassador Chowdhury to break into his consultations time tomorrow, we just have to see.

On second-hand smoke, we’ll appreciate it if journalists, Secretariat and delegates all refrain from smoking in the south lounge, and outside the Security Council stakeout, particularly when non-smoking reporters are forced to hang out there waiting for delegates to come out of the Council chamber.  So let’s keep that part of the building healthy, at least.

Question:  What happened to plans to establish a smoking lounge in the basement downstairs?

Answer:  Nothing has changed since the last time I announced –- which was maybe when you were away -– because they need to move some people out of the space that would be used for the lounge, they don’t expect the lounge to be completed before the first quarter of next year.

Anna, welcome to the briefing.  What’s going to happen next week?

Spokesperson for President of General Assembly

General Assembly Plenary

Good afternoon.  The plenary of the General Assembly will meet this afternoon at 3 o’clock, and we have five items on the agenda for this afternoon. There’ll be a draft resolution, as Fred has already mentioned, concerning protection of religious sites.  This comes under the umbrella of the item on UN Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations.

The draft resolution condemns all acts or threats of violence, destruction, damage, or endangerment of religious sites, and calls on States to ensure that such sites are fully respected and protected, among other things.

You can pick up the text, if you don’t have one already.

And, also as Fred mentioned, there’s a press conference later in connection with the adoption of that draft resolution.

The second item on the agenda of the plenary this afternoon is the extension of the appointment of Mary Robinson as High Commissioner for Human Rights for another year.  Her term was due to finish this September, and would be extended on the recommendation of the Secretary-General for another year.

The third item is in connection with the dates for a second high-level dialogue on strengthening international economic cooperation for development through partnership.  The dates for that are 17 and 18 September.  So we have that to look forward to later in the year.

And then quite an important item on the agenda will be the adoption of a protocol against the illicit manufacturing and trafficking in firearms.  This is a supplement to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime which was adopted by the plenary last year.  Once the protocol is adopted -- the text is available if you wish to have a copy -- it will be open for signature in New York and it will require 40 countries to ratify before it comes into force.

And the fifth item on the agenda relates to the adoption of the provisional agenda for the Special Session of the General Assembly on HIV/AIDS.  That was adopted through informal consultations -- if you recall -- last Friday.  We can make that available to you.

The next plenary is not expected before 12 June at which time there will be elections of judges for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.  Of course, before then we have the special session of the GA on Habitat.

Working Group on Africa

This morning the President of the General Assembly is chairing the Working Group on Africa, which is continuing for the third day.  It began discussion this morning of conflict prevention and post-conflict peace-building.  The keynote speaker was Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Ethiopia and Eritrea.  And there were panellists and interactive discussions which will continue tomorrow.

Just to remind you; there will be an NGO informal session on this issue with members of the Working Group which is open to you and to Secretariat staff and other delegations.  It is in Conference Room 3 from 1 to 3 this afternoon.

World No-Tobacco Day

Today, as Fred said, is World No-Tobacco Day.  The President of the General Assembly has issued a statement in support of this Day in which he notes there’s no safe level of exposure to second-hand smoke, which is today’s focus.  Second-hand smoke is recognized as a public health hazard as much as it is seen as a mere discomfort for non-smokers.  He strongly supports the World Health Organization in its efforts to promote a healthier life for us all.

His message is available upstairs and, of course, on his Web site.

NGO Symposium

Last night, the President of the General Assembly attended a symposium under his own patronage which is sponsored by the Stanley Foundation and World Federation of United Nations Associations.  This is a symposium on UN and civil society outreach and it is being held today and tomorrow -- unfortunately, not in New York.  It’s upstate.  In his address last night to members of the symposium, the President noted that when he was elected as President of the Millennium Assembly, he set only a few priorities for himself, knowing his time in office was limited to only one year.  One of his main priorities was to work for an open United Nations and to reach out to civil society as a whole to fully benefit from its expertise and to make the United Nations more relevant to the outside world.

The symposium, which brings together delegations of Member States of the UN, members of civil society and, of course the President, is to explore innovative ways and new avenues that would enable civil society to contribute better and more effectively to the work of the UN system.

So, we think they will come up with some interesting ideas and we’ll keep you posted.  If you would like any more information, I can provide that to you.

HIV/AIDS Consultations

The informal consultations are continuing on the document for the Special Session of the GA on HIV/AIDS.  There was a new draft circulated this morning and

they have now broken into smaller groups to discuss the section dealing with reducing vulnerability.  Quite a number of paragraphs are now being adopted and they have made good progress. But I think they will continue tomorrow.  We had hoped they might finish this evening.

Just to let you know that the deadline was yesterday to have a full list of all the NGOS that are going to participate in that Special Session, and we have more than 680 different NGOs which have registered and expressed interest in attending.  Of those nearly 500 are new NGOs, meaning not those already in consultative status with ECOSOC.  So that is a large number of NGOs who have expressed interest, and they will be allowed probably two or maybe more representatives at the Special Session.  So, we are expecting some 2000 individuals on behalf of civil society.

I think that’s all I have.

Questions and Answers

Question:  These new NGOS, have they acquired consultative status?

Spokesperson:  They don’t have consultative status with ECOSOC but they have registered that they want to attend and participate in the Special Session of the General Assembly.  So, they have been accredited for that discussion.  Each of the conferences and the special sessions that we have decide on their own rules for NGO participation.  For the Habitat one there is a broad spectrum of civil society actors attending that special session.  For AIDS, it is restricted to those in consultative status with the UN and those who work on the issue of HIV/AIDS.

Question:  Any or several of these NGOS have some kind of political controversies surrounding them.  How is that going to be dealt with?

Spokesperson:  They have already been agreed to by the General Assembly. There were two lists agreed by the Assembly:  one was in February, another just two weeks ago.  We can make those available to you.  They list all the NGOS and civil society actors.  They include pharmaceutical companies, foundations and all sorts of different civil society actors.  These have already been agreed to by the General Assembly.

Question:  Can you tell me how many pharmaceutical companies are involved?

Spokesperson:  Yes. NGOs and civil society.  We can give you a list.

Question:  Are there other private sector representatives involved?

Spokesperson:  I’m sorry, I don’t know the number.  I’ll have to go back to the document.  There are, as I said, some 500 different organizations.  I haven’t counted the number of pharmaceuticals, but I can do that for you after the briefing.

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