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 Spokeswoman for the Secretary-General.

**Noon Guest

Good afternoon.  I understand we have a group of journalists from the Russian Federation at our briefing.  Welcome to New York and welcome to the United Nations.  Our guest today right after the briefing will be Mr. Stephen Lewis, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for HIV/AIDS in Africa.  He will brief us on his recent visit to Kenya and Namibia.  He’s already here, so we look forward to that.

**Statement on Abuse Allegations

I’ll start the briefing with a statement attributable to the Spokesman of the Secretary-General.

“The Secretary-General is clearly shocked and disturbed at the news of the possible extensive abuse of children in refugee camps in West Africa.  The Secretary-General has directed that these allegations be investigated as thoroughly and urgently as possible, and remedial action aimed at strengthening the protection of women and children be taken as necessary.

“There is currently an investigative team in the region to clarify these matters.  The Secretary-General reiterates the policy of zero tolerance for any such acts perpetrated by any one employed by or affiliated with the United Nations.  He intends to act forcefully should any of these allegations be confirmed and undertakes to do so in a transparent and expeditious manner.”

We have copies of this statement upstairs in the Spokesman’s Office.

**Investigation of Allegations

As you know, late yesterday the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the aid group Save the Children UK, released details of some disturbing findings from a joint assessment team that those two groups sent to examine sexual violence and the exploitation of refugee children in West Africa.

During its 40-day mission last October and November, the team reported evidence of extensive sexual exploitation of refugee children in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, with allegations that local employees of many aid groups, as well as those of UN agencies, including UNHCR, perpetrated such sexual exploitation.  The group says the problem seems to be especially pronounced in refugee camps in Guinea and Liberia, where there have been allegations that local men employed by the international agencies traded humanitarian aid and services for sex with girls under the age of 18.

The assessment team has made clear that it is not in a position to verify the allegations.  However, UNHCR says it takes the matter seriously and has

already begun further investigation, and a team of investigators is currently in the region examining the matter further, as we just mentioned.  Meanwhile, a UNHCR working group has drawn up proposals to combat child abuse in the region, including measures to increase security in camps, deploy more female staff and establish mechanisms to report abuses.

We have further information upstairs in a press release from UNHCR and a summary of the UNHCR-Save the Children team findings.  The complete report of the team is not expected until mid-March.  We also have a press release from the Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Carol Bellamy, which is available in the Spokesman’s Office.

**Secretary-General in Germany

The Secretary-General today arrived in Berlin and began his official programme in Germany with the signing of a memorandum of understanding to establish a new UN house in Bonn.  The United Nations facility will be based on a campus containing former government buildings in Bonn, which is being converted into an international conference centre that will include several buildings to be used by UN bodies.  The campus complex, which is to be fully renovated at German Government expense, will eventually house the German headquarters of the UN Volunteers (UNV), the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP)/Convention on Migratory Species, among others.  It is expected that the United Nations bodies will be able to begin moving in as early as next year.

Prior to the signing ceremony, the Secretary-General met privately with German President Johannes Rau.  In the evening, the Secretary-General was to continue that discussion further as he and his wife Nane were to have a private dinner with President Rau and his wife Christina.  Following the signing, the Secretary-General met with the representatives of United Nations agencies, funds and programs working in Germany.  While the Secretary-General was at the signing ceremony, Nane Annan met with Afghan women living in Germany, including entrepreneurs, students and academics.

**Security Council on Afghanistan

Here at United Nations Headquarters, the Security Council is currently meeting in closed consultations on Afghanistan.  Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast is responding to questions from Member States following his open briefing to the Council this morning.  In his address to the Council, Prendergast outlined the main political, security and humanitarian developments in the country.  On the political front, the commission for the convening of the emergency Loya Jirga has been making progress, he said.  Commissioners, accompanied by UN staff, have already held meetings in a number of provinces to explain the commission’s role and solicit advice from Afghans.

Prendergast noted in his presentation the recent critical diplomatic efforts of Chairman Hamid Karzai to mend fences and forge good relations with neighbouring States.  On the security issue, Prendergast reminded Council members “that the question of security continues to be the foremost concern, and the manner in which it is addressed by the international community and the Afghans together, may well determine in the very near future the success or not of the Bonn process.”

In conclusion, Prendergast said that the United Nations system is putting the final touches on its plan for the UN Civilian Mission for Afghanistan and that a report would be presented to the Security Council soon.

**Security Council on Ethiopia, Sahara and Middle East

This afternoon, Council members will meet again in closed consultations to discuss their recent mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea.  Following that discussion, Council Members will meet to continue their discussion on the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) in the presence of the Secretary-General's Personal Envoy, James Baker.  Council Members are expected to adopt a technical resolution extending the mission’s mandate by two months.  And at 6 p.m. this evening, they will resume their open debate on the Middle East.  Twelve Member States remain on the speaker’s list.

Also, I just learned that the Security Council mission's report on Ethiopia and Eritrea will be available this afternoon.

**Afghanistan

Further on Afghanistan, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Kenzo Oshima today visited Kandahar as part of a mission to that country.  In the first visit by a senior UN official to Kandahar since 11 September, Mr. Oshima met with the Governor of Kandahar, as well as with the mayor of Kandahar City and other local officials.

Oshima expressed his appreciation to the local authorities for their excellent cooperation with UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that have been rapidly expanding their assistance activities in southern Afghanistan.  He and the Governor discussed several issues of mutual concern, including the insecurity that is continuing to restrict access to several districts, the fight against opium production and the urgent need for financial support for salary payments to civil servants. 

Tomorrow, Oshima will attend the presentation of the updated financial requirements of the Immediate and Transitional Assistance Programme for the year 2002, which was originally presented at the Tokyo Conference in January.  This event in Kabul will be attended by the Interim Authority, UN agencies, NGO representatives and donor countries.  The updated financial requirements call for a total of some $1.8 billion to be spent on humanitarian and recovery efforts, from 1 October of last year until the end of this year.  So far, some $600 million has been received by donors, so the net request amounts to about $1.18 billion.

**New Appointment

We have an appointment today.  The Secretary-General announces today the appointment of Brigita Schmögnerová as the new Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Europe at the Under—Secretary-General level.  Schmögnerová served as economic adviser to the president of the Slovak Republic in 1993, Deputy Prime Minister in 1994 and Finance Minister from 1998 to 2002.  From 1995 through

1998 she served as a Member of Parliament.  Her biography is upstairs in the Spokesman’s Office.  

**Ageing Conference Prep

The last session of the Preparatory Committee for the Second World Assembly on Ageing, which will take place in Madrid on April 8-12, is meeting this week.  Today, in informal talks, delegates are in their second reading of the text that will be presented for adoption at the Assembly. 

I would like to remind you that tomorrow, Joseph Chamie, Director of the Population Division in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, will be a guest at the noon briefing.  He will give us the most recent update on the demographics of population ageing, and a new wall chart prepared by the Population Division will be available.  Information materials on ageing are available in the back of the room and at the 3rd floor documents counter.  Additional materials will be made available later this week.

**International Women’s Day

The Department of Public Information (DPI) announces that the observance of International Women’s Day will take place on Friday, 8 March.  This year’s event will highlight the status of women and girls in Afghanistan, and will feature addresses by the Secretary-General and the first lady of the United States, Laura Bush.  The event will be webcast live on the UN Web site.  The Secretary-General’s message on International Women’s Day is available as a press release.

**Press Releases

A new study by the World Health Organization indicates that cigarettes have become more expensive in developed countries but are more affordable than ever in developing countries.  The study looked at tobacco prices in over 80 countries between 1990 and 2000 and shows that there is room to increase tobacco taxes in developing countries.  A price increase of only 10 per cent in developing countries can reduce demand by eight per cent.  We have a press release available upstairs with more information on this subject.

**UNIS/United Nations Conference

One final announcement.  The twenty-sixth annual United Nations International School (UNIS)/United Nations Conference will take place in the General Assembly hall on 28 February and 1 March with the theme, “Prejudice:  How Racism and Bigotry Scar Our World.”  The Conference, which is organized and run by the UNIS students, will focus on the means to combat racism and bigotry.  You can get more information on that in a note that’s available upstairs in the Spokesman’s Office. 

And that’s all I have for you today.  Before we turn to Stephen Lewis, do you have any questions?

**Questions and Answers

Question:  On the child story in Africa, how did it come that these people were sent there?  What were they concerned about to be able to hear these testimonies?

Associate Spokeswoman:  First of all, there is an investigation going on currently, which I mentioned in the Secretary-General’s statement.  That investigation is currently composed of two officers from the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), a pediatric expert on child abuse, and staff from the UNHCR’s Inspector-General’s Office.  They’re in the region currently.  They were sent there to look into the allegations that were brought about in this assessment that was sent by UNHCR and Save the Children.  That team was sent, as I mentioned, last October and November, and they are the ones whose report now has been made partially public and looks into the various allegations into the exploitation.

Question:  There are media reports of peacekeeper involvement, prostitution, exploitation for refugee services.  Is this the worst case the United Nations may be faced with, or is this just the tip of the iceberg?  Why hasn’t some of this come out before?  I’m sure there’s been similar testimonies before.

Associate Spokeswoman:  As I mentioned in the Secretary-General’s statement, he’s shocked to hear allegations of this kind.  These are very disturbing allegations against probably the most vulnerable of population groups in the world.  So he is obviously very concerned and disturbed.  That’s why we had the very strong statement from him.  As to the extent of whether this is the worst or the most widespread or any kind of superlatives, I can’t get into that until we hear from this independent investigation, which has been sent and has been there for two weeks.  We expect the report from that in early March.

Question:  Has the sexual exploitation conference in Asia ended, is it starting in March, or am I just talking about some fantasy conference?

Associate Spokeswoman:  I’ll look into it.  [She announced before the end of the briefing that it had ended two months ago.]   

Question:  Will James Baker be available after he briefs the Council?

Associate Spokeswoman:  We’ll certainly try to get him for you.

Question:  Is Laura Bush here physically for Women’s Day?  Is it her first time in the building?  In a private or first lady role?

Associate Spokeswoman:  I’ll have to check about 8 March.  I don’t know if she accompanied President Bush on his trip here.  [The correspondent was later told that Laura Bush did not accompany the President.]

Question:  The proposal made by Crown Prince Abdullah on the Middle East conflict has received support from Shimon Peres, President Chirac, President Bush, and from Jordan, Egypt and others.  Is there some response to the proposal at this stage?

Associate Spokeswoman:  The Secretary-General made a comment on the proposal earlier this week when he was asked about it.  I suggest you take a look at the remarks made the day before yesterday, I believe.  

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