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 Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, and Susan Markham, Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly.

Spokesman for the Secretary-General

** Habitat Speech

Good afternoon. This morning the Secretary-General told the delegates gathered for the Habitat conference that rich and poor nations need to get together to find solutions to the long list of common challenges faced by the world's cities.

"The world is in the midst of a historic and radical transformation", he said, "not only in how people live, but in where they live".

This conference is a special session of the General Assembly on the implementation of the Habitat agenda, which was elaborated five years ago in Istanbul.  The Secretary-General explained that since the majority of the world's population is now concentrated in urban areas, many of society's inequities are also becoming more and more urban.  He concluded by telling the delegates that the challenge of this conference is to "create lasting momentum for action on housing issues".  Copies of his speech are available upstairs, and Sue will have more on the conference in her briefing.

** Security Council

The Security Council is meeting in closed consultations this morning on the subjects of Sierra Leone and Burundi.

Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Heddi Annabi briefed the Council on recent developments in Sierra Leone and the West African region generally. He also introduced the report of the Secretary-General on refugees and internally displaced persons, which was issued last week.

Council members are about to discuss Burundi. They will be focusing on efforts to advance the peace process in that country. The Council President is expected to make comments to the press on both these issues at the end of this morning's consultations.

Under other matters, at the request of Ireland, Mr. Annabi will brief the Council on the incident which occurred on the East Timor border on 29 May in which five civilians were killed and up to 40 people were wounded. You will recall that I reported to you on it at the time.

Then, in an effort to reach out to Member States which are not in the Security Council and to obtain their views on issues on the Council's agenda, the President of the Council had a series of meetings yesterday evening with the Permanent Representative of Iraq and this morning with the Permanent Representative of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This morning, Ambassador Chowdhury also met with the Permanent Representative of Djibouti on the question

of Somalia, which is a possible agenda item on the Council's programme of work for this month.

** AIDS

Following the announcement this morning by the pharmaceutical firm, Pfizer, to offer the drug fluconazole free of charge in least developed countries, Peter Piot, the UNAIDS Executive Director, welcomed the offer to expand access to the drug. In his statement, Piot said that "we look forward to this new programme being implemented as swiftly and broadly as possible, and to its significant impact in the treatment of fungal brain infections".

** Afghanistan

The Secretary-General's Personal Representative for Afghanistan has drawn our attention to a letter addressed to the Secretary-General from the exiled former King of Afghanistan, Mohammad Zaher Shah.

Referring to the prolonged sufferings of the people of Afghanistan, the former King makes an urgent appeal for a further increase and expansion of the humanitarian aid programme to meet the needs of the worsened crisis both inside and in refugee camps outside the country.

He also appealed for the provision of unhindered access for humanitarian aid. Starting tomorrow, the Afghan Support Group, which brings together the major donor nations, will spend two days in Islamabad, Pakistan, assessing the humanitarian needs for Afghanistan.

** Arlacchi

In St. Petersburg, Russia, today, Pino Arlacchi, the Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, addressed the closing session of the International Conference on Illegal Economy and Money Laundering.

Arlacchi told the delegates, which came from 140 different countries, that laws against money laundering are not inconsistent with respect for human rights, as they can go a long way in protecting personal freedoms and safeguarding potential victims from profit-motivated crimes. The Executive Director also saluted Russia's efforts in combating money laundering, saying that Russia had taken its place among nations engaged in this fight.

** East Timor

The registration of East Timorese refugees in West Timor took place today. It is an exercise organized and conducted by Indonesia. The United Nations Mission in East Timor has one observer for this process, but there are others from the International Organization for Migrations (IOM) and from a number of countries. Initial reports are that, though slow, today's exercise took place without incident.

** Refugees

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reports today that a rebel offensive in Senegal's Casamance province has forced more than 1,000 people to flee into the Gambia this week, bringing to 3,500 the number of refugees since fresh fighting broke out in mid-May. The arrivals reported heavy fighting between Senegalese Government forces and the separatist Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance. We have a press release with more details.

** Cyprus Letters

Out on the racks today is an exchange of letters between the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council on the extension of the Secretary-General's Good Offices Mission in Cyprus.

** Signings

This morning, Algeria signed the two Protocols to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. Algeria became the eighty-sixth country to sign the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children and the eighty-third to sign the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air.

** Press Releases

We have a press release from the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) today announcing the publication of the report "The State of the Environment in Asia and the Pacific, 2000". The overall environment in the region has deteriorated since the Rio Conference on the environment in 1992, and the report says that globalization and poverty have made a serious impact on the natural resources and the environment of the region. The executive summary of this report is available on the ESCAP Web site.

** Press Conferences

Press conferences: This afternoon, 1 o'clock, Anna Tibaijuka, the Executive Director of Habitat, and Sue will give you a little bit more information on that press conference.

At 1:45, as we announced yesterday, Thoraya Obaid, the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), will be joined by Frank Devlyn, the President of Rotary International, and they will be talking about the Memorandum of Cooperation on population and development between UNFPA and Rotary International. And we have a press release on that in my office.

Then, at 2:30, press conference, again, on Habitat -- this on "Managing Water for African Cities".

And, finally, 3:15, another Habitat press conference by the Hassan Fathy Institute. (Do you have any further details on that, Sue?) 

Press conferences tomorrow morning: 10 o'clock, Swedish Housing Minister, Lars-Erik Lovden, representing the European Union presidency, will be here to talk about European Union housing policies. He will present a booklet outlining the efforts of the European Union member States and the European Commission in implementing the Habitat agenda.

And then at 11, Mel Martinez, the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, will talk about United States implementation of the Habitat agenda.

** Guest at Noon Briefing

And then our guest at the noon briefing tomorrow will be Carol Bellamy, the Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). She will be introducing the Secretary-General's report, "We the Children", which is an end-of-decade review of the status of the world's children.

That report, which, I think, has been on the racks for a couple of days now, sums up achievements since the World Summit on Children in 1990. It claims significant progress in a number of areas, such as fewer child deaths and more children attending school than ever before. But it also warns that there have been some setbacks and slippage. Over 10 million children still die each year, often from preventable causes, and an estimated 150 million children are malnourished.

That's all I have for you. Anything, before we go to Sue?

** Questions and Answers

Question: Do you have anything specific on the meeting between the President of the Security Council and the Ambassador of Iraq?

Spokesman: No. Apart from what I gave you, that's all I have. First of all, he will be coming out to the stakeout after the consultations. So, its really, just a flag for you to give him something -- give you, that is -- something you can ask him about.

Question: Has the Secretary-General done anything about trying to get the Iraqis to turn the taps back on before 3 July?

Spokesman: To my knowledge, he has not had any contact with the Iraqis. I'll have to double check, but to my knowledge, no.

Question: Any reaction from the Secretary-General on the Pfizer announcement this morning?

Spokesman: Which announcement?

Correspondent: Pfizer.

Spokesman: No, the only one we had was from Peter Piot.

Question: Was Piot's reaction by the Secretary-General? The action by Pfizer?

Spokesman: I can't say if it's in response to a specific appeal, but Pfizer is one of the companies that the Secretary-General has had repeated contact with, primarily urging them and the other pharmaceutical firms to back off the lawsuit that they had in South Africa, and then to take further steps to facilitate the delivery at reduced prices of key medications to least developed countries. His emphasis has been primarily on AIDS, but not exclusively on AIDS. I can't say whether this specific initiative this morning was in direct response to something he talked to Pfizer about.

Question: Do you have any estimate of the significance of this decision by Pfizer in terms of doses of this drug which will become available.

Spokesman: No, but I think you should ask Peter Piot that. As an expert, he could give you a very specific answer to your question.

Spokesperson for General Assembly President

** General Assembly Special Session

This morning, the President of the fifty-fifth session of the General Assembly, Harri Holkeri (Finland), was elected President of the special session of the General Assembly to review the Habitat Agenda. This is the twenty-fifth special session of the General Assembly.

In his opening remarks, after he was elected by acclamation, the President said that the crux of the Habitat Agenda was to ensure adequate shelter for all and to make human settlements safer, healthier, more pleasant to live in, equitable and productive. The Habitat Agenda, he said, also pays attention to the promotion of gender equality and to the empowerment of women as effective ways to combat poverty, hunger and disease; and to stimulate sustainable development and the well-being of people.

He also noted with some pleasure the innovative structure of this special session of the General Assembly. We have, for the first time, a Thematic Committee, which, I think, is being covered on in-house television; so you can watch the proceedings in the Thematic Committee where case studies are being presented on success stories from various parts of the world. It’s quite an interesting innovation.

The President also noted with some pleasure the number of civil society partners, local government authorities and other members of the loosely called NGOS/civil society group who are participating in the special session of the General Assembly. And he noted that people and partnership constituted an important resource for the implementation of the Habitat Agenda.

The full text of his statement is, of course, available upstairs and on his Web site.

** Organizational Matters

There are a number of organizational matters dealt with this morning in the plenary meeting, including agreeing on two additional speakers who will speak at the end of each plenary session, starting with this afternoon’s session. And this afternoon, the two speakers will be the Executive Director of Habitat, Anna Tibaijuka, and Jean Clos, the President of the World Association of Cities and Local Authorities, who you might have met at the press conference yesterday.

As you know, statements in the plenary are limited to five minutes because we have so many speakers. There were 24 speakers listed this morning, and with these additional two, there will be 33 this afternoon. The plenary will run until 7 o’clock every night and starts in the morning at 9 o’clock. It started a little bit late this morning -- about 9:10. Copies of all speeches are available in the Media Centre in Conference Room 1.  If you can’t find them, you let us know and we’ll get copies for you.

** Committee of the Whole

The Committee of the Whole also began its work this morning. It constituted a working group to negotiate the remaining square brackets that are in the draft

Declaration, which is expected to be the outcome document of the special session. The Chair of the working group, Ambassador German Garcia-Duran of Colombia, also served as Chair of the Preparatory Committee. This morning, you probably heard, he introduced the report of the Preparatory Committee to the General Assembly. He noted that the Declaration still has some square brackets. Ambassador Duran will be at the 1 o’clock briefing with Anna Tibaijuka. So you’ll be able to get more details of what the sticky issues are and his prognosis on how they’ll resolve these issues.

If you want a little background before that 1 o’clock briefing, I’ll recommend that you pick up a copy of the Earth Negotiations bulletin which is available on the third floor.

** Thematic Committee

The Thematic Committee will meet five times, starting this morning as well. There’s a run down on what will happen there, and which you can get on the third floor.

** Special Events

I’ll also draw your attention to a number of special events being held today, Thursday and Friday. This is also available as a schedule of events, which you can also pick up on the third floor and downstairs in the Media Centre in Conference Room 1. There’s also a Note to Correspondents on the media arrangements which is available on the racks on the third floor, if you need to know more.

** Speakers in Committee of the Whole

The speakers in the Committee of the Whole –- I should have mentioned that. In addition to the small working group that will continue to negotiate the draft Declaration, the Committee of the Whole will hear speakers that cannot address the plenary. These are the Habitat partners and members of civil society, and local authorities, as well as United Nations agencies, funds and programmes. And we do have a list of speakers for this morning; available on the third floor as well.

So, I look forward to seeing you at 1 o’clock. That’s all I have for now. Thank you.

** Questions and Answers

Spokesman:  Any questions for Sue?

Question: Do you have any estimate of the number of journalists who normally do not cover the United Nations coming for this? This is really a big deal for journalists coming from outside?

Spokesperson: I’m sorry, I don’t have a figure for that. If I can, I’ll let you know.

Spokesman for the Secretary-General: Going back to your question about Pfizer, Michael, the fungal brain infections that this medication treats are common among AIDS patients. I'm told that the CEO of Pfizer, in the press conference that he gave here this morning, said that the Diflucan Partnership helps answer the call of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan for companies, like Pfizer, to continue to expand their roles in the global fight against AIDS. So, he drew a direct link, I'm happy to say.

Thank you very much.

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