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
The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Manoel de Almeida e Silva, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, and Sue Markham, Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly.
Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General
Good afternoon, thank you very much for coming. I hope you have had time perhaps to rest a little bit last night after the marathon three days of the special session.
**SG in Philly
So I’m going to start with a note on the Secretary-General. He will be in Philadelphia next week to receive the 2001 Philadelphia Liberty Medal. He and Mrs. Annan will leave New York Tuesday afternoon and will return Wednesday.
The Secretary-General will receive the award at Philadelphia’s Liberty Hall --- where the US Declaration of Independence and Constitution were adopted. So they will be there on the Fourth of July. The award will be presented by Mayor John Street. The Secretary-General was named this year’s recipient of the award for his role in promoting peace, social justice and economic development.
The award includes a cash prize of $100,000, which, as you know, the Secretary-General has donated to the Global AIDS and Health Fund.
We have available in our office a press release which was issued by the city of Philadelphia which will give you details of the ceremony over there: it also has accreditation forms for journalists who wish to cover the events in Philadelphia.
**Security Council
Here in New York, the Security Council this morning held a public meeting to adopt a presidential statement on HIV/AIDS. In the text, which is available upstairs, the Council welcomes the Declaration of Commitment adopted at the just completed special session of the General Assembly on HIV/AIDS.
The Council’s statement specially refers to those parts of the Declaration of Commitment which touch upon HIV/AIDS in conflict areas.
The Security Council recognizes, in its text, that further efforts are required to develop the capacity of peacekeepers to “become advocates and actors for awareness and prevention of HIV transmission.”
Attending the meeting was Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS.
That was immediately followed by another open meeting on Sierra Leone. The first speaker was the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Sierra Leone,
Oluyemi Adeniji, who presented the Secretary-General’s latest report on the UN operation in that country.
Positive developments in Sierra Leone over the past two months constitute grounds for "cautious optimism" in Sierra Leone, the report says. But it warns that the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programme, which is crucial to all aspects of the Sierra Leone peace process, could be stalled as a result of insufficient funding. The Secretary-General in his report, as well as Mr. Adeniji in his briefing, appealed for urgent and generous funding, warning that should voluntary finding not be forthcoming, it would be necessary to consider alternative funding mechanisms.
This afternoon at 3 p.m., the Council will resume the open meeting on Iraq which had been suspended Tuesday evening. Nineteen speakers are expected to take the floor.
Following that open meeting, the Council will move into closed consultations to take up a discussion of the latest draft resolution on Western Sahara and also those on the oil-for-food-programme.
**Security Summit
This morning, the Secretary-General addressed the fourth annual summit on staff security, which is taking place right now in Conference Room 4, and called staff security a basic requirement that is essential for effectiveness and crucial for morale.
"A degree of risk has always been part of the job," he said. "But the conflicts of the 1990s have been characterized by a dangerous loosening of restraints imposed by international law on the conduct of hostilities."
Since January 1992, some 200 civilian personnel working for the United Nations have lost their lives. In addition, between 1991 and 2000, 286 UN peacekeepers died as a result of hostile action (out of more than 800 peacekeeping fatalities in all).
The Secretary-General said a full-time UN Security Coordinator is needed, and he also called on Member States to provide significant new resources for security activities. He urged further steps to prosecute those who attack or kill UN or associated personnel, saying that such prosecutions have been all too rare.
He asserted, "It would be a shame if those who target us with violence were to succeed in deterring us from the noble calling to help those in need."
Copies of the speech of the Secretary-General are available in the Spokesman's Office, as well as the speech delivered by the General Assembly President, which Sue will be telling you more about, once she starts her briefing. As I have mentioned, the General Assembly, let me add it will have a session tomorrow morning to elect the Secretary-General. Once that session is over, the Secretary-General will be available to answer questions from the media here at the stand-up mike on the second floor.
**Zedillo Report
This morning, former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, head of an 11-member High-Level Panel on Financing for Development, presented a report on that panel's findings to the Secretary-General. He will also present the report to you here, shortly after this briefing at 12:45 p.m., and we have embargoed copies of the report and an executive summary available for you at the Spokesman’s Office.
The report presents far-reaching recommendations on financial mechanisms to ensure stable global development and to turn the tide against poverty, and is intended to build momentum on this issue for the upcoming International Conference on Financing for Development, which is to take place in Mexico next March.
**DSG
The Deputy Secretary-General will be visiting East Timor next week, arriving in Dili on Monday, 2 July and departing Thursday, 5 July. She will meet with the UN Administration and key cabinet members as well as NGOs, staff from the East Timor Transitional Administration and the heads of UN agencies in East Timor.
In addition to Dili, the capital city, she will also visit Baucau and Aileu.
The Deputy Secretary-General has chosen to visit East Timor now since it is a crucial time in the preparations for East Timor’s independence. As always, she is interested in looking at how the UN system is working and ensuring optimal coordination.
On East Timor, I would like to bring to your attention that the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Sergio Vieira de Mello, today in Dili presented the first state-of-the-nation address to the East Timorese National Council. He gave a detailed and in-depth overview of the work in progress to date and the challenges that lie ahead, and called again for a pact of national unity.
More details on that in the briefing notes from Dili available upstairs.
**DRC Panel Chair
On the racks today is a letter from the Secretary-General to the Security Council in which he appoints Ambassador Mahmoud Kassem of Egypt as the Chairperson of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Kassem has served as Chairman of the International Commission of Inquiry on Rwanda and most recently on the Committee of Experts on Afghanistan. His bio note is available upstairs.
As you recall, the Council requested that the mandate of the panel’s work be extended for a final period of three months.
The Secretary-General says that the Chairperson and members of the panel would briefly reconvene in New York before proceeding to the region and would submit its final report after three months.
Ambassador Kassem will replace Mme Safiatou Ba-N’Daw, who has taken up a position as Director of the UNDP Special Unit for Technical Cooperation Among Developing Countries.
**Kosovo
The UN Mission in Kosovo said it was pleased with the broad support it received from the North Atlantic Council at yesterday's meeting on the UN and Kosovo Force (KFOR) approach on the way forward in Mitrovica.
The North Atlantic Council gave the UN and KFOR the authority to proceed with plans on an internationally acceptable security structure for Mitrovica, which would involve KFOR, UN police, and the Kosovo police, including Kosovo Serb officers.
Further details in today's briefing notes from Pristina, which also mention that the number of arrivals of refugees from the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) has decreased in recent days, with fewer than 1,000 crossing into Kosovo yesterday. That level is down from a peak of some 8,300 arrivals on Sunday alone, which had already declined to about 2,000 on Tuesday.
**2001 United Nations Population Award
This afternoon, the Secretary-General will present the 2001 United Nations Population Award to Nafis Sadik, former Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and the Japanese Organization for International Cooperation in Family Planning.
The award is presented annually by the Committee for the United Nations Population Award for outstanding contributions to increasing the awareness of population problems and their solutions. The Committee is made up of Member States of the United Nations, and UNFPA serves as secretariat without the right to vote.
**Peru Earthquake
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, reports that the Government of Peru has issued a list of urgent requirements following last week’s earthquake. The list includes blankets, food, medicines and water purification units. The Government has also requested the assistance of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in assessing damage to education infrastructure in the affected area.
The Pan American Health Organization is assisting the Government of Peru in assessing the damage to health facilities. Engineers from the Pan American Centre for Sanitary Engineering and Environmental Sciences, located in Lima, have been in the affected areas assessing the damage to hospitals and other health facilities. The Pan American Health Organization has issued an appeal for more than
$600,000 to reduce the health consequences of the earthquake.
**Signings
We have a number of signings taking place today.
This afternoon, Sweden will become the 36th country to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The Statute comes into force after the 60th country has deposited instruments of ratification.
This morning the Republic of Uzbekistan signed two Protocols to the Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime. Uzbekistan became the 84th country to sign the Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air and the 87th to sign the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children.
Also this morning, Nigeria signed three conventions and one Protocol, including the United Nations Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
**Press Releases
I am reaching the end of this briefing; just flagging press releases: for the first time, Angola, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon will be coordinating efforts to vaccinate about 16 million children against polio. UNICEF and the World Health Organization announced today that the cross-border initiative will be launched on 5 July and immunization in the four countries will take place between 6 and 9 July.
In other health news, the World Health Organization announced that a new programme would provide $17 million to boost tobacco control in developing countries.
More details in a press release available in our office.
And, finally, to tell you that in addition to President Zedillo’s press conference at 12:45 p.m. immediately following this briefing, we will have another one this afternoon at 3:15 p.m. with Ambassador Pierre Schori, representing the Presidency of the European Union.
He will be here to brief you on the growing cooperation between the European Union and the United Nations, as well as to summarize the work of the European Union during the Swedish Presidency, which began last January and ends this month.
Are there any questions before we move to Sue?
**Questions and Answers
Question: There seems to be inadequate financing of the DDR programme in Sierra Leone. Have you got the figures for how much has come in, how much is needed on top of that, and what the alternative mechanisms might be?
Spokesman: I will have to look into that. Of course, SRSG Adeniji was talking about voluntary contributions.
Question: What alternative mechanisms are needed?
Spokesman: I am afraid I will have to discuss that with him and come back to you.
Question: Is there any reaction from the Secretary-General on the announcement by Colin Powell during his Middle East trip that the United States now believes that international observers would be useful in the next stage of trying to restore the ceasefire?
Spokesman: I have seen the media reports but I have no reactions to share at this time.
Question: Why has Mrs. Safiatou Ba-N’Daw been replaced as Chairperson of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo?
Spokesman: She just took a new job with the UNDP.
Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly
As Manoel mentioned, this morning the President of the General Assembly spoke at the Panel on Staff Safety. He said that “we should send a clear message that humanitarian workers cannot be attacked with impunity” and he called on Member States to fully implement the two international agreements that are currently available for the protection of humanitarian or peacekeeping staff.
These are, of course, the Statute of the International Criminal Court under which it is a war crime for attacking humanitarian or peacekeeping personnel working under the UN Charter. And also the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel which was agreed to in 1994 and entered into force in January, 1999. And, as I said, he urged all Member States who have not already signed and ratified that convention to do so and also the Statute of the International Criminal Court which is not yet in force, but soon it will be, as we have 36 ratifications today, I believe.
Tomorrow, as Manoel also mentioned, the plenary will meet at 10 a.m. when it is expected to adopt the recommendation of the Security Council to appoint the Secretary-General for another term of office.
The scenario as I know it for tomorrow morning will be that the President of the Security Council will introduce the draft resolution. The Secretary-General will speak and the President of the General Assembly will speak, and then we expect the Chairpersons of the five regional groups to speak; and the host country, and then possibly other speakers. So, that is the scenario for tomorrow morning, and we will issue it as a note for you.
Last night, as I am sure you are well aware -- as you all covered it magnificently -- the special session of the General Assembly on HIV/AIDS concluded at 8:30 p.m. The session adopted by consensus, a Declaration of Commitment which contains strategies and concrete targets for governments, UN system, civil society and NGOs to fight HIV/AIDS.
In his closing remarks, the President noted that the first global battle plan against AIDS was adopted and the beauty and significance of it was its pragmatic and straightforward approach. He did say that we have all worked very hard to make the special session of the General Assembly happen. But, in fact, the real work only starts now with the implementation of the commitments made in this Declaration. But that work starts with new determination and vision because of the special session, which he described as historic.
During the special session we had 182 countries speaking in the plenary, of which there were 12 heads of State and 14 heads of Government. The breakdown of the other speakers -- we can provide you if you are interested. But again,
182 countries spoke.
A number of countries also pledged monies for the fight against AIDS. The announcements ranged from contributions of the smallest amount from the smallest country, Nauru, which has a population of 5,000 and which pledged a contribution
of $1 per head -- which is $5000 -- and some larger countries which pledged some hundreds of millions. Approximately $500 million was pledged for the fight against AIDS during those three days.
That’s all I have, thank you.
Spokesman: Any questions for Sue?
Question: Sue, in tomorrow morning’s election, am I right that the actual election will be after all those speeches?
Spokesperson: We expect the voting to be by acclamation. After the President of the Security Council introduces the resolution, it will be adopted by the General Assembly, and we expect that to be by acclamation. And then, the Secretary-General will speak and the other speakers will follow.
Spokesman: Any other questions for Sue? Thank you very much.
* *** *