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.

I guess at the back of the room, we have guests from the independent media from Serbia.  Where are the Serbian journalists?  Okay, I was told we have journalists from Serbia here.  Well, journalists from Pakistan, you’re very welcome.

** Secretary-General Concludes Visit to Germany

The Secretary-General concluded his official visit to Germany today, collecting a pledge from German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder for $131 million to the Global AIDS and Health Fund.

He began his day with a breakfast with German President Johannes Rau.

He then went to the Freie Universität, Belin's largest university, where he received an honorary degree and delivered an address on racism.

"Intolerance is a many-headed monster," he told the students.  "Its victims are diverse, and include women, migrant workers, indigenous people, minorities and those whose political views are deemed objectionable."

He closed by reading a few lines from a poem by a 14-year-old Berlin schoolgirl.

"They attack foreigners, punks, the disabled and Jews,

One day, soon, they will attack me and you.

That's why each of us must look deep inside,

At what our surface is trying to hide.

For if we do not know what's in here,

Can any of us walk the streets without fear?"

The Secretary-General concluded, "This schoolgirl challenges all of us, throughout the world, to act.  I hope that all of you, in the spirit of this free university, will be involved personally in rooting out the evil of intolerance."

The full text of that speech is available in my office.

The Secretary-General then met with the Chancellor.  At a press encounter afterwards, the Chancellor announced his pledge to the Global Fund.  The two also took questions on the fight against AIDS, the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change, the G-8 Summit, the Small Arms Conference and the Middle East.

And we have a full transcript of that encounter in my office.

After lunch with the Chancellor, the Secretary-General met with Paliamentarians with whom he discussed, basically, the Middle East and the Balkans.  His talks with the Economic Minister, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul (I apologize for the pronunciation) included AIDS and follow-up to the Millennium Summit.

His last appointment for the day was a private one with former Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker.

He should now be en route to Geneva, where on Monday he will address the high-level segment of the Economic and Social Council.

Have the Serb journalists now joined us?  Good, welcome.

** Small Arms

The United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects (Small Arms Conference) will hear 30 speakers, and I think these are the last 30 speakers of the Ministerial segment which should end this morning.  Among the last of the speakers will be Mark Malloch Brown, the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

There are some side events, and I will mention a few, today.  These are organized by non-governmental organizations (NGOs).  The National Rifle Association is planning a “technical briefing on weapons of war” and that will be in Conference Room 8 at 1:15 p.m.  The International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) will launch various publications of that organization’s Women’s Caucus.  That will be in Conference Room 2, also at 1:15 p.m.  So you’ll have to choose between them.

Looking to Monday, the Conference will hear representatives of NGOs, including both of these that are making their presentations today.  The morning session will start at 10 a.m. in Conference Room 4.

A revised draft Programme of Action, the main conference document, is expected to be issued on Monday morning.  All the plenary meetings from Monday afternoon on are expected to be closed for negotiation.  The closing of the meeting will be Friday, 20 July, and that last closing meeting will be open.

** Iraq

On Iraq, Benon Sevan, Executive Director of the Iraq Programme, briefed the Security Council’s 661 Committee yesterday and provided Committee members with clarifications on a number of questions raised by Riyadh Al-Qaysi, the Under-Secretary in Iraq's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Al-Qaysi’s allegations against the Secretariat were made during a speech in an open meeting of the Council held on 28 June.

Sevan, who provided details on issues ranging from administrative and banking matters to keeping the Government of Iraq informed on UN operations in the three northern governorates, said that he felt obliged to make his statement because he did not wish his silence to be misinterpreted as agreement with what was said by Mr. Al-Qaysi.

“I owe it to my colleagues”, he said, “both at Headquarters and in particular to those in the field.  “Some of my colleagues have made the ultimate sacrifice in losing their lives while working with the humanitarian programme, the objective of which is to serve the Iraqi people.”

We made copies of his presentation yesterday and you can also find it on the Web site of the Iraq Programme.

** East Timor

Today’s briefing note from Dili, East Timor, tells us that more than

30,000 East Timorese have turned out over the past month at more than

200 Constitutional public hearings.  These hearings, as you know, aim at soliciting the views of the population on what should be considered by the future Constituent Assembly when drafting the first East Timor Constitution.

Peter Galbraith, Transitional Cabinet Member for Political Affairs, said that “by any standard this is an amazing public participation that shows just how committed the East Timorese are to being involved in their own future”.

More details on this and other aspects of the preparations for the 30 August Constituent Assembly elections are available in the briefing note that you’ll find in my office.

** Week Ahead at United Nations

Last item for this morning is the Week Ahead.  We don’t have a long briefing today, so maybe I will mention a few of the items.

      On Monday, as I mentioned, the High-Level segment of the Economic and Social Council will begin and last through Wednesday, and the theme is Sustainable Development in Africa.

The World Health Organization, also on Monday, will launch its report “Small arms and global health”.  And that will be at a panel discussion on “The role of Public Health in preventing armed violence” which will be here in Conference Room 8 at 3 p.m.

Tuesday, the United Nations International Meeting On The Question Of Palestine will take place with the theme:  "The Road to Israeli-Palestinian Peace" and that will happen in Madrid and it will end on Wednesday.

Also in Madrid, there will be a press conference by the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs of Spain, Mr. Juan Carlos Aparicio, to launch the World Assembly on Ageing, which will take place in Madrid in April 2002.

Last item to flag is, on Thursday, the Sixth Conference of the Parties to the UN Climate Change Convention will resume in Bonn, Germany.  The first part of the session took place in November at The Hague.  And that will begin Thursday evening.

So, that’s what I have.

** Questions and Answers

Question:  Concerning the German contribution to the AIDS Fund, is it contingent on how the administration of the fund is determined?  What are the total contributions to the Fund now?

Spokesman:  It wasn’t clear whether there are any conditions, at least, not in what the Chancellor said at the press encounter.  I believe it’s going to be discussed in greater detail at the G-8 summit in Genoa.  So, if there are any conditions, I suspect, they will emerge there.  I don’t have the total so far.  I’m sure someone can get it for you immediately after the briefing.

Question:  I have a question about the videotape.  Were any copies made of the videotape?

Spokesman:  My understanding is that one copy was made to bring to New York, and the original is still in the Force Commander’s safe.  So to my knowledge there are two copies.  Of course, in these matters, it’s hard to make a definitive statement.  But, we all equally await the outcome of Under Secretary-General for Management Joseph Connor’s investigation, which is designed to establish what the facts are.

Question:  (inaudible)

Spokesman:  But the Secretary-General told him “as soon as possible”.  So we don’t expect him to drag his feet.

Question:  What steps has he taken so far to launch the investigation?

Spokesman:  The terms of reference have been drawn up and were approved yesterday by the Secretary-General.  They are broad enough to include some of these more recent allegations that have come out about all these conspiracy theories, and so on.  Mr. Connor will be able to look at all of these questions within the terms of reference.  The Secretary-General really wants to know what the facts are and the terms of reference are broad enough to allow that to happen.

Question:  Do the terms of reference refer to the issues which the investigation is supposed to address?

Spokesman:  It says what he’s expected to do; what he’s expected to look into, and it’s worded broadly enough, as I said, that he could look into all these questions that are being raised now.

Question:  Who is assisting him in this investigation?  Does he have a team of any sort?

Spokesman:  I don’t have that kind of information, yet.  So, as soon as I get it...I got this question yesterday, I think, or the day before.  It’s clearly something that no one person can do, but what team he might put together to help him, I don’t know yet.  I’ll let you know as soon as I find out.

Question:  Regarding Iraq’s dispute with Mr. Sevan, what are UN rules on disputes between Member States and staff?  It seems to me that this is a polemic between the staff and a Member State of the United Nations.

Spokesman:  As Director of the Programme, he felt that he needed to, at least, put on record -- to the public statement made by Mr. Al-Qaysi alleging a long series of misdeeds by the Secretariat -- the official United Nations position as he sees it.  And his reasoning was that it was out of respect for his colleagues in the Programme that he wanted, at least, to put the Programme’s views on the record with the 661 Committee and, consequently, to make the text available to you, so it became a matter of public record.

Question:  And there’s nothing in the staff rules preventing the circulation of such material by the Secretariat?

Spokesman:  I don’t think there can be anything in the rules to prevent a debate of an issue where you might have different views between the Secretariat and Member States.

Question:  What has become of the Liberian Foreign Minister’s application for UN approval for his trip to Sierra Leone?

Spokesman:  I don’t know.  I’ll have to look into that for you.  [He later announced that the Sanctions Committee denied permission to travel to both the Foreign Minister and the Minister of Finance.]

I do have information here on the Global Fund.  The current total is

$975 million.

Okay, have a good weekend.  Thank you very much.

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