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

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 Marie Okabe, Associate Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon.  As we mentioned earlier, the Deputy Secretary-General will be here at 12:15 to make an announcement.  At that point I’ll stop the briefing, if its okay with you, so she can proceed with the announcement.  And I’ll resume afterwards if there’s time.

** Secretary-General Visits Washington

The Secretary-General, as you know, is in Washington.  This morning, he addressed over 500 members of the United States Chamber of Commerce in that city and appealed to the business community for help in the global fight against AIDS, which he described as an “unparalleled nightmare”.

“As 42 per cent of United States exports go to markets in the developing world,” he argued, “the negative impact of AIDS on American business should be obvious.”

The epidemic is not only bad for business, he said, but also undermines regional and global security and stability.

He called on business to respond.  “Business is used to acting decisively and quickly,” he said.  “The same cannot always be said of the community of sovereign states.  We need your help -— right now.”

He urged business to help raise spending on fighting the disease by an additional $7-10 billion a year.

Harvard University estimates that AIDS has already caused the world more than $500 billion, he argued.  “So 10 billion a year to defeat it seems fairly reasonable -- in fact, a bargain.”

The Secretary-General took questions from the audience and later met with reporters.  We’ll have the transcript for you shortly.

Later in the morning, he went to the State Department for a meeting organized at the last minute with Secretary of State Colin Powell.  The meeting was tête-à-tête, in fact.

Last night, the Secretary-General delivered the keynote address at the Global Health Council Annual Awards Banquet.

Focusing on the impact of the AIDS pandemic on women and girls, the Secretary-General said, “We must make sure that girls —- who run a particular risk of infection -— have all the skills, the services and the self-confidence to protect themselves.”

“And we must encourage men,” he added, “to replace risk-taking behaviour with taking responsibility.”

The full texts of his speeches are available upstairs and on the Internet, as well as the Secretary-General’s message to the AIDS Memorial Quilt March, to take place on Sunday in Washington, D.C.  We also have a fact sheet and time-line issued by UNAIDS marking the twentieth anniversary of the first clinical evidence of AIDS.

** Nkosi Johnson

We learned of the death this morning of the 12-year-old South African AIDS activist, Nkosi Johnson.  The Secretary-General in Washington said Nkosi was an inspiration to many people beyond South Africa.  The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) described Nkosi as a “courageous boy who moved a continent”.  UNICEF Executive Director, Carol Bellamy said, “He stood up before a distracted world and told us who he was –- a boy who was sick, but still a boy.”

UNAIDS added that in his short life, he strove hard for the removal of stigma and discrimination.

We have press releases from UNICEF and UNAIDS available upstairs on this subject.

** Security Council

Moving to the Security Council here.  Following consultations his morning, the Security Council has just adopted unanimously resolution 1352, which extends the current phase of the Oil-for-Food programme, as elaborated by resolution

1330, for one month until 3 July 2001.

At the start of this meeting, the first under the Bangladeshi Presidency which began today, Council members observed a moment of silence in honour of the Palestinian official Faisal al-Husseini, who died earlier this week.

** Faisal Al-Husseini

Meanwhile, Terje Roed-Larsen, the Special Coordinator for the

Middle East Process and the Secretary-General’s Personal Representative to the Palestine Authority, attended a ceremony this morning in Ramallah in honour of Faisal al-Husseini.

Larsen then went to Orient House in Jerusalem where Mr. Husseini’s body has been lying in state.

Tomorrow, Peter Hansen, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for the Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), will attend a memorial service at Orient House.

** Di Mistura

Also in the Middle East:  this morning in Beirut, Steffan di Mistura, the Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Southern Lebanon, met with Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud to discuss the demining process and United Nations peacekeeping operations in Lebanon.

The Minister raised the issue of the remains of the Lebanese pilot whose civilian plane was shot down in Israel last week.  The International Committee of the Red Cross has been tasked to deal with this issue.

** Human Rights/Racism

This morning in Geneva, Mary Robinson, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, issued a statement following the decision yesterday by the General Assembly to endorse by consensus the one-year extension of her mandate.

In the statement, which is available upstairs and on the Commission’s Web site, she accepts the General Assembly decision with “enthusiasm”.

She goes on to say that “defending human rights is a difficult and complex challenge, but I have no doubt about its significance and centrality to the work of the United Nations as a whole.”

Also from Geneva, the formal session of the Preparatory Committee for the World Conference against Racism ended today.  However, a smaller group of

21 countries will continue preparatory work until the next meeting of the full Committee at the end of July.

The Preparatory Committee has finished its work on the preamble to the draft declaration of the World Conference.  We just received a copy of it and it's available upstairs in the office.

** East Timor

On East Timor, the Transitional Administration for East Timor has set up an independent commission of inquiry to examine the violence that took place on May 19 in the sub-district of Quelicai, when fighting between two groups led to the burning of at least 25 houses.

The Commission is chaired by National Security Adviser Niei Dahrendorf, and includes members of the United Nations civilian police, the peacekeeping force, United Nations military observers, district administration officials and Timorese representatives.  It will issue a final report about the unrest in the area, and ways to prevent further disturbances, by 9 June.

We have further details in today's briefing notes from Dili.

** Signings

This morning, three more countries signed the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity.  Botswana, Iceland and Uruguay brought the number of signatories of the Protocol to 100.

** Budget

This morning, Cuba became the 85th Member State to pay its 2001 regular budget contribution in full, with a payment of more than $300,000.

** Press Releases

We have a number of announcements and press releases.  The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) announced today that the Government of Japan has contributed $30 million to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

We also have a press release from the Food and Agriculture Organization announcing a series of new initiatives aimed at improving food safety and security.

In Geneva, the World Food Programme said tens of thousands of Somalis were once again threatened by famine because of the weak rains in the country.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says that under-funding had forced it to cut back and refocus its operations.  As a result, more than 900 posts will be abolished.

The UNHCR also reported in Geneva that in Senegal, tensions in Casamance Province continued to drive people into neighbouring Gambia.

And UNICEF said a crisis was looming among the internally displaced children in Ethiopia’s Somali region.

All of these announcements are available in the form of press releases in our office.

And finally, we have the Israeli Mission informing us that President Moshe Katsav will be available to the press at the Secretariat entrance following his meeting with the Secretary-General at about 3:30.  We’ll squawk it when he’s ready to come down.

We also have available upstairs our weekly feature, the Week Ahead at the United Nations.  I won’t read from that because it will take too much time.

The final thing I want to let you know is that the Secretary-General is probably now expected -– we just spoke to the party -– he’s on his way to the airport.  So he should be back around 2:30.  We’ll let you know, and we’ll have the cameras set up at the Secretariat entrance upon his return.

That’s all I have for you.  I have a couple of minutes before we expect the Deputy Secretary-General.  I can take a few questions.

** Questions and Answers

Question:  With regard to the moment of silence in the Security Council for Faisal al-Husseini, is it usual for a civilian, not a Head of State, to be given a moment of silence?  What is the procedure whereby someone gets a moment of silence?

Spokesperson:  The Security Council members decided that, this morning in consultation.  I’ll have to look into that for you.  [The Spokesperson later said the Council has held moments of silence for both government officials and civilians, including the victims of the 1998 Swiss Air flight 111 and of the

1996 bombing in Atlanta's Olympic Park.]

Question:  Is there any reaction to the decision by Iraq on the man who was accused of killing United Nations workers last year?

Spokesperson:  I haven’t seen anything today.

Question:  The situation in Central African Republic is not improving.  Is the Secretary-General going to do something?  Is the United Nations going to do something?

Spokesperson:  The Secretary-General, as you know, did issue a statement earlier this week.  As far as I know, we’re closely monitoring the situation.  The Secretary-General, obviously, is monitoring the situation as well.  But I don’t have anything additional to report to you as of today.

Question:  Has he been in touch with people there?

Spokesperson:  We have, as you know, an office in Bangui -– we have a political office in Bangui, and it’s also one of our logistical hubs for the United Nations operation for the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  The United Nations relies on that office for information as well as for logistics, so our personnel are still there.  They are doing their work to the best of their ability.  That’s how we’re monitoring the situation, but in terms of additional initiatives taken today, I haven’t heard of any.  But I’ll keep you informed if I hear of anything.

Question:  Have you heard anything about the Cyprus report?

Spokesperson:  It has not come out, as of now.  We’ll keep you informed, again, and as soon as it is issued as a document, we’ll announce it and make it available to you.

We’ll break up for a few minutes.  We hope to get the Deputy Secretary-General down here.  

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