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

Following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General and Jan Fischer, Spokesman for the General Assembly President.

Secretary-General’s Spokesman

Good afternoon.

**Srebrenica/Guests

Our guests at the briefing today are the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina on my right, Jacques Klein, and the Director of the United Nations Development Programme’s Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Kalman Mizsei, on my left.

Starting at 3 o'clock this afternoon in the Economic and Social Council Chamber, Mr. Klein and UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch Brown will host a pledging conference for donors to support the Srebrenica Regional Recovery Initiative, the $12.5 million effort to revitalize that region over a three-year period.  In a few minutes, our guests will talk to you about efforts to revitalize Srebrenica.

**Secretary-General Trip

The Secretary-General today has left New York, to start his trip to Cyprus, Indonesia and East Timor.  He is now in the air flying to London, where he will spend the night and then leave tomorrow for Cyprus.

Tomorrow, in Cyprus, he will meet separately with H.E. Glafcos Clerides, the Greek Cypriot leader, and then with H.E. Rauf Denktash, the Turkish Cypriot leader.  That evening he will host a dinner for them at the residence of the head of the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus.

**Indigenous Peoples

This morning in Conference Room 2, the inaugural meeting began of a new UN body, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, which brings together indigenous leaders and civil society from all around the world.  This is the first time that indigenous voices are being heard at such a high level by the United Nations.

“This moment has been a long time coming,” Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette said this morning.  She called the Permanent Forum “a milestone in the struggle of thousands of indigenous peoples to win recognition of their rights and identities.”

To date, more than 900 indigenous peoples from all parts of the world have registered to attend the Forum session and to take part in the two-week meeting that began today.  The Permanent Forum itself consists of 16 indigenous persons [half appointed by Governments, half nominated by indigenous groups], 15 of whom

have already been designated, who will advise and make recommendations to the Economic and Social Council on matters affecting indigenous people.

The Deputy Secretary-General said the Forum will have its hands full and urged those who are gathered here to make the Forum “a showcase for the many contributions that indigenous peoples can make.”  We have copies of her speech upstairs.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, who also addressed the Forum today, will hold a press conference in this room at 1 o'clock, and she’ll also talk to you today about today’s side event on indigenous women as well.  Today’s events are being Web cast live, at www.un.org/webcast.  We also have a press release with information, as well as copies of her speech to the Forum.

**Middle East

Over the weekend in Rome, Terje Roed Larsen, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, held separate meetings with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Mohamed Rashid, Yasser Arafat’s senior economic adviser.  The meetings took place on the sidelines of an international conference on globalization called the First Global Forum.

In other news from the region, earlier today Timothy Rothermel, the UN Development Programme’s representative to the Palestinian Authority, along with Japan’s Representative to the Palestinian Authority, inaugurated a school, a municipal building and a wastewater pumping station in Gaza City.

Japan underwrote a $5.8 million assistance programme for the Gaza Strip, administered by UNDP's Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People, which financed the construction of the facilities as part of its wider efforts in the area.  The school will provide education for children between the ages of three and 12.  The Beit Lahia municipal building, a two-story structure, contains offices, meeting rooms and an assembly hall for municipal staff.  The wastewater pumping station will serve 35,000 inhabitants of Beit Lahia and is expected to improve public health conditions in the municipality.

**Security Council

The Security Council this morning held brief consultations and they then went into back-to-back formal private meetings on Ethiopia and Eritrea.  The first was with Ambassador Ahmed Baduri of Eritrea.  The second meeting is with Fesseha Tessema, the Deputy Permanent Representative of Ethiopia to the United Nations.

Then at 3:30 this afternoon, the Council will hold consultations on the new "oil-for-food" resolution on Iraq.  There is no formal meeting on that topic so far scheduled.  And we expect the report of the Great Lakes mission to be issued later in the day.

**Statement attributable to the Spokesman

I have the following statement attributable to the Spokesman concerning Sierra Leone:

“The Secretary-General warmly welcomes the holding of presidential and parliamentary elections in Sierra Leone tomorrow.  This marks an important milestone in the peace process.  The Secretary-General calls on all eligible Sierra Leoneans to exercise their right to vote in the same spirit of peace and tolerance, and wishes them every success in rebuilding their country.

He commends the Government of Sierra Leone, the National Electoral Commission and the political parties for the resolute efforts they have undertaken, with the full support of the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), to make the elections possible.  The Secretary-General also thanks the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), donor countries and organizations that have provided valuable assistance to the electoral process."

**MONUC

The UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) has just informed us that a United Nations military observer was killed earlier today when the vehicle he was traveling in hit a landmine.  The incident took place at Ikela, a town 253 kilometres south west of Kisangani.  Another military observer, who was in the same vehicle, suffered serious injuries.  The mission dispatched an aircraft for a medical evacuation back to Kinshasa.

**Angola

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, is in Luanda, Angola for a seven-day official visit.

Speaking to the press shortly after arriving in Luanda on Saturday, Otunnu said the objective of his trip is to hear about the child protection projects that are being planned, in view of the peace process that is currently taking place in the country.  He said his Office is determined to make sure that the United Nations mobilizes the international community to help the Angolans, particularly the children victims of war.

**Media Alert/Nane Annan

Tomorrow, at noon, Nane Annan will deliver a speech on behalf of the Secretary-General at the American Museum of Natural History, on the upcoming World Summit for Social Development.  In the speech that she delivers, the Secretary-General will lament the loss of momentum since the Earth Summit took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and will call for action in five key areas:  water and sanitation; energy; agricultural productivity; biodiversity and ecosystem management; and health.  We have a media advisory that will explain all that to you.

**World Health Assembly

Gro Harlem Brundtland, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, today applauded delegates of the Organization’s 55th World Health Assembly, which opened today, for their efforts in moving health to the forefront of the world agenda and welcomed the increase in funding for public health worldwide.  She said that health is now seen as a prerequisite for economic growth, stability and peace.

She added that, despite some encouraging signs, there were worrying indications that changes in human behaviour are leading to negative health impacts.  “The world is living dangerously”, she warned, “either because it has little choice, or because it is making wrong choices about consumption or activity.”  We have the full text of her speech and a press release.

**Afghanistan

The UN mission in Afghanistan reports that there was no briefing as scheduled in Kabul yesterday, because of an operation to destroy unexploded ordnance next door to the UN compound.  The ordnance was unearthed during excavation and clearing of the grounds two days ago. 

**Photographic Exhibition

On Wednesday, there will be a press preview of a new exhibition called “The End of Polio:  a global effort to end a disease” by photojournalists and United Nations Children's Fund Special Representative, Sebastião Salgado.  The exhibition, the first depicting the story behind the largest public health initiative in history –- the bid to eradicate polio by 2005 -- features photographs from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India, Pakistan, Somalia and Sudan.  The press preview will take place at the Burden Gallery on East 23rd Street, and we have a press release with more information.

**Press Releases

The United Nations Environment Programme announced today that a group of expert climbers has left for the Himalayas to gather information on the environment of the mountain range.  As part of the International Year of Mountains, the expedition will gather first-hand accounts from monks, local people and travelers and will also film and record the impacts of global warming on the glaciers there.  We have a press release on that.

And that’s all I have for you.  Any questions before we go quickly to Jan and then to our two special guests?

Questions and Answers

Spokesman:  Yes, Bill?

Question:   Completely unrelated, but do you have any more information on the new Jenin inquiry.  How it’s going to proceed and what format that’s to take and who’s assigned to run and anything else?

Spokesman:  Nothing to add to what I said last week.  And those letters that Bill [Varner of Bloomberg News] has been asking about still haven’t gone out -- asking Israel and the Palestinian Authority to contribute information to the effort.  Okay, Jan?

General Assembly President’s Spokesman

Thank you, Fred.  Well. Friday at midnight the Special Session on Children adopted by consensus the outcome document “A World Fit for Children”.  The adoption was followed by a number of speakers explaining their understanding of the document. 

In his concluding remarks, the President of the General Assembly, Dr. Han Seung-soo, asked, “And what have we agreed?  To build a world fit for children.  To make it a better place for them to grow up in, a place where their basic needs will be met, where their rights will be respected and promoted.  This sounds

ambitious, but we have adopted a Declaration that describes, very clearly, the steps we must take to build a new world fit for children.  It does so in a clear, concise and robust manner.  It is a practical and achievable checklist, not only for a better future, but also for immediate action that will improve child well-being today.”

He also emphasized that chronic poverty was the biggest obstacle to promoting the welfare of children in many developing countries.

As you probably know, the negotiations on the outcome document continued throughout the day on Friday and we managed to get some updates on agreed text. They came out as documents A/S-27/AC.1/L.1 Add. 1, 2 and 3.  I have asked when we can expect a consolidated document or text but I haven’t had a response.  I wouldn’t expect it today, but very likely tomorrow.  I have also asked for an overview of the level of representation and that should be under way, but I can tell you that we heard statements from 187 of the 189 Member States.  I’ll put it out when I get that overview.  And there’s much more information about the events Friday afternoon and evening in press release GA/10022.

Lee, last week you asked for a list of the former presidents who will participate in a meeting here at United Nations Headquarters, and it was actually coming in via fax as I was walking down to the briefing.  I will give it to you this afternoon.

Any questions for me?  Thank you.

Spokesman for the Secretary-General:  Thank you Jan.  I think now we’ll go first to Jacques.

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