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 Stéphane Dujarric, Associate Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

**Secretary-General

Good afternoon.  Sorry for being a few minutes late.  I'll start off with the Secretary-General's programme.  He concluded his visit to Moscow last night with a dinner with the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, Valentina Matvienko.  And he is now in Geneva. 

This afternoon he met privately with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, for over an hour.  This evening he will be joined by his wife Nane.  They will go to an awards dinner, where the Secretary-General will be given the title of Bourgeois d'Honneur de Genève by the President of the State Council of the Republic and Canton of Geneva, Micheline Calmy-Rey.

**Security Council

Turning to the Security Council, they met this morning in consultations starting at 10 a.m. on Iraq.  During these consultations they heard a briefing by Hans Blix, Executive Chairman of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC).  He presented the ninth quarterly report of UNMOVIC, which came out earlier this week.

Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock of the United Kingdom then briefed the Council on his recent visit to Europe, including his participation in the Symposium on Combating International Terrorism, which was held this week in Vienna, which I believe we told you about a couple of days ago.

The Council President, Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe of Syria, then raised the most recent developments in the Middle East under "other matters".  That discussion is continuing.

**Democratic Republic of Congo

Yesterday afternoon, following a meeting in closed consultations, the Council unanimously approved a presidential statement on the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In the statement, the Council strongly condemned the acts of intimidation and public statements targeting members of the United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in particular the attempts by the Congolese Rally for Democracy -- known by its French acronym, RCD-Goma –- to “ban” the head of the United Nations mission, Amos Ngongi.

The Council expressed its support for the newly appointed Special Envoy of the Secretary-General Mustapha Niasse.

In a letter to the Council yesterday, the Secretary-General said he would appoint the former Senegalese Prime Minister, Mr. Niasse, who has already served one stint as the United Nations Envoy for the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1999, to assist the parties to reach an all-inclusive power sharing agreement in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Mr. Niasse will work in consultation with the Organization of African Unity and the Facilitator of the inter-Congolese dialogue, Sir Ketumile Masire.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo today, Lena Sundh, the Deputy head of the United Nations mission in the DRC, was in Goma.

She met for over two hours with high officials from the RCD-G.  The meeting, we were just told, took place in a rather positive atmosphere.  RCD-G officials said they guarantee the safety of United Nations personnel in areas under their control.

Ms. Sundh is on her way back to Kinshasa and we hope to have a bit more of a read-out on the meeting as the day goes on.

**Sierra Leone

Turning to Sierra Leone, the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Governance and Stabilization in Sierra Leone, Alan Doss, has commissioned the rehabilitated Government offices in the eastern district of Kono and a police station in Blama, near the eastern town of Kenema.

The Kono district offices were rebuilt by recently disarmed ex-combatants with funds provided by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the National Commission for Social Action (NACSA).

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony in the diamond town of Koidu, Doss said the project was “a concrete and tangible step” in national reconstruction.

He said the restoration of Government authority in areas previously occupied by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) was “an important but first step in rebuilding communities; reconciliation is the next step along the road to a prosperous future.”

We have a press release from the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) upstairs.

**Zimbabwe

A couple of human rights notes.  The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Dato’ Param Cumaraswamy, expressed his deep concern over the arrest of Zimbabwe law society officials.

In a statement issued today in Geneva, the Special Rapporteur says that he believes that the leaders of the Law Society have been arrested for expressing their association’s concerns over the deterioration of the rule of law in Zimbabwe.

The Special Rapporteur has previously expressed his very grave concern over the situation in Zimbabwe.  His statement reads:  “This latest arrest and detention further reflects the continuation of the systematic attacks on the independence of judges and lawyers by the Government and its agencies”.

We have the full statement available upstairs.

**Australia

At a press conference today, the head of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Justice Louis Joinet, expressed his concern on the conditions in Australia’s camps for asylum seekers.

Mr. Joinet, who is visiting Australia on the invitation of the Government, highlighted concerns about the detention of children, the disabled and the elderly.  He also said the most delicate issue was what he called “the collective depression syndrome”.  “We believe that the syndrome may be attributable to the fact that detainees live day in, day out with an agonizing uncertainty,” he said.

The Working Group’s visit was mandated by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and it has visited five detention centres throughout Australia.  Apart from talking to Government officials and non-governmental organizations, members have interviewed several hundred detainees.

The final report from the group will be made public during the 59th session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, which will be held in March 2003.

**Afghanistan

Mary Robinson, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, also in a statement welcomed the signing in Kabul today of the decree establishing the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission.  This is a historic step -- an important milestone -- to the implementation of the Boon agreement, signed only six months ago, she said. 

We have full copies of the statement upstairs.

**World Summit on Sustainable Development Preparatory Committee

Turning to the ongoing prepcom in Bali, the discussion at the Ministerial Segment of the conference for the World Summit on Sustainable Development centred on partnerships.  In the morning session, speakers stressed that partnerships should not be a substitute for government action in promoting sustainable development.  The need to promote partnerships, as in government and non-governmental organization partnerships, in the acquisition and use of modern technology in developing countries was the focus of the afternoon session. 

The United Nations Development Programme, in collaboration with the Government of Indonesia, presented the “Capacity 2015” report to the Ministerial Segment.  Capacity 2015 will provide a service-oriented platform to address a wide range of capacity development needs.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Secretary-General, Louise Fréchette, continued her visit to Bali today, holding several bilateral meetings with heads of delegations.  In the evening, she participated in an event organized by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for the political launching of the Global Environmental Outlook 3.  We have the text of her remarks available upstairs.

**Budget

Turning to budget news, the United Kingdom today became the 81st Member State to pay its 2002 regular budget contribution in full with a payment of more than $61 million.

**Press Releases

And I just want to quickly flag a couple of press releases for you. 

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has taken the fight against child labour one step further by deciding to mark 12 June of every year as the World Day Against Child Labour.  This will be formally launched at its Geneva offices later this month. 

According to the ILO, one in every six children aged between five and 17, or around 246 million children worldwide, are involved in child labour.  The importance of the issue was highlighted at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children in May here in New York, which devoted an entire section of its final report to combating child labour.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced today that the

15 European Union countries and the European Commission today signed in Rome the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, raising the number of countries that have signed this treaty to 26.

Finally, an exhibit of toys made by African, Asian and Latin American children from discarded material and trash will open at 6 p.m. this afternoon here in the Visitors’ Lobby.  The exhibit, supported by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Department of Public Information, was put together by the Christian Children’s Fund, which said the purpose of encouraging children to create toys was a means of building healthy minds and bodies.  You are all, of course, invited to attend.

**Press Conference

Last note, press conference this afternoon.  The press briefing by Patrick Mazimpaka, the Special Envoy of President Paul Kagame of Rwanda in charge, which was originally scheduled for 11:15 this morning will now take place right here at 12:30 p.m. after the briefing.

That's it for me.  Any questions from you?  Thank you very much.

* *** *