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.

**Secretary-General

Good afternoon.

The Secretary-General is on his way to Chicago to deliver the commencement address at Northwestern University late this afternoon.  I think I mentioned that to you yesterday.

In the address, which we have available upstairs embargoed, the Secretary-General will encourage the newly minted graduates to be engaged as responsible global citizens.  He will focus, in particular, on the fight against global poverty and how each and every one of them can and should contribute to this effort.

On Saturday morning, the Secretary-General will visit the national headquarters of the Rainbow Push Coalition, the organization headed by the Reverend Jesse Jackson.  In remarks he will make during the organization’s weekly community forum, the Secretary-General will highlight the Millennium Development Goals, which are at the core of the United Nations’ work around the world.  He will especially focus on the fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.  The text of those remarks is also available under embargo upstairs.

**Security Council

At an open meeting this morning, the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Kieran Prendergast, briefed the Security Council on the Loya Jirga, which concluded on Wednesday after 9 days’ meeting.

Prendergast believed that the Loya Jirga could be qualified as a success for three reasons.  The fact that it was held at all was the first success, he said.  That it accomplished what it was mandated to do under the Bonn Agreement was another success.  And, most of all, that Afghans “were able to gather together peacefully, debate heatedly, yet ultimately agree on fundamental questions regarding their common political future” was the most important success.

He also pointed out that an obvious disappointment was the inability of the Loya Jirga to agree to a formula for selecting a legislature.  He went on to say that the security situation in some parts of Afghanistan had deteriorated, and he had asked the Council “to again consider the possibility of a limited expansion of the International Security Assistance Force to areas outside Kabul".

Yesterday, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi,also issued a statement to mark the end of the Loya Jirga.  He said the process had been “a crucial milestone in the Afghanistan peace process.”

Council Members then went into closed consultations on Afghanistan.

The second item on the consultation agenda is a briefing by the high-level Coordinator on Iraq, Yuli Vorontsov, on the return of Kuwaiti property.  The latest report by the Secretary-General on the Return of Kuwaiti Property by Iraq came out as a document Monday.

The third item on the agenda is the extension of the mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina.  A formal meeting to adopt a resolution to extend the mandate is scheduled following the consultations.

Those of you who intend to cover the upcoming talks between the Secretary-General and an Iraqi delegation in Vienna in early July will need to obtain local accreditation.  We have the necessary forms upstairs, which will have to be sent to the press office in Vienna.

**Liberia

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that Liberian rebels on Thursday attacked a refugee camp near the border with Sierra Leone, taking away five local nurses and sending an estimated 11,000 Sierra Leone refugees into flight.

The UNHCR said the rebels, from a group that calls itself Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), acknowledged that they were holding five nurses from the medical non-governmental organization MERCI, which works with the refugee agency.

A rebel commander, who identified himself as "General Skeleton", radioed UNHCR from MERCI's abducted ambulance, and said they were taking the women to a rebel stronghold near the Guinean border.  He said the women were unhurt.  One woman was allowed to speak on the radio and said they were being treated well.  The UNHCR is appealing to the abductors to immediately release the nurses and the vehicle.

The camp is situated approximately 80 kilometres north-east of Monrovia, on the road leading towards the Sierra Leonean border.  The new fighting has rendered any repatriation of Sierra Leonean refugees impossible, at least for the foreseeable future.

**World Health Organization (WHO)

The World Health Organization’s European Region, consisting of countries in Europe and Central Asia, was today declared polio-free.  The announcement was made in Copenhagen at the meeting of the European Regional Commission for the Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication.  This is an important public health milestone for the 870 million people in the 51 countries that make up the region.

The European region has been free of indigenous polio for three years, although there have been a few cases of imported polio virus, mostly originating from the Indian subcontinent.

The Chairman of the European Regional Commission, Sir Joseph Smith, said the risk of the virus being imported will continue until polio is eradicated globally, and vaccination and surveillance is vital and will continue.  In addition, European countries are cataloguing all laboratory stocks of the polio virus as part of a global plan to ensure effective containment in a polio-free world.

We have a press release from WHO with more details and a full list of those 51 countries.

**UNRWA

In Geneva today, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) released a supplementary appeal based on the damage and destruction following the events of March and April of this year in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Rene Aquarone, Chief of the UNRWA Liaison Office in Geneva, told reporters that the additional appeal was for $55.7 million, which was over and above the agency’s Emergency Appeal 2002 for $117 million.  The amount, he said, was required for shelter repair, relief and social systems, rehabilitation of infrastructure, additional food aid, in addition to what was already foreseen in the emergency appeal, education and employment generation.  Please see the briefing notes from Geneva for more details.

**International Organization of Migration (IOM)

The International Organization of Migration this week restarted providing return assistance to internally displaced Afghans, following pledges of new funding from several donors.  IOM's Director of Programme Support, Jan de Wilde, described the renewed donor support for the project as "encouraging", but warned that the limited nature of the funding would result in "a more tightly focussed programme only targeting the internally displaced."

The IOM plan to move some 18,000 people from internally displaced persons camps in Herat and Mazar-i-Sharif between now and the end of the month, at a rate of some 1,000 people per day.  Previously, IOM's transport network also served refugees returning home to Afghanistan from Iran.  But a server funding shortfall forced IOM to suspend it in May.

**Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, returned to Moscow today after a four-day visit to the northern Caucasus region.  He will hold further meetings with officials in Moscow.

Yesterday, Otunnu visited the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)/WHO prosthetics centre in the capital of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania.  The centre rehabilitates children who were victims of mines and unexploded ordnance.  He praised the courage of the young victims who are struggling to come to grips with their new realities.  He appealed to donors for the resources to support the centre, which he said could do more to assist the young victims if it were expanded.

Before leaving North Ossetia-Alania, Otunnu met with the Prime Minister and the Chairman of the Parliament.  On Monday, Otunnu will leave Moscow for London, where he has a number of media appointments.  He will return to New York on Thursday.

**Human Rights

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, is sending a message to the meeting of the European Council in Seville, Spain, which will be considering the question of illegal immigration, among other issues.  In her message, she asked the participants to ensure that accurate information regarding migrants and migration issues was made available, including on the positive contribution that migrants make to the host society.

She also invited Member States of the European Union to ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and their Families.  One more ratification is needed for the Convention to enter into force.

**Secretary-General’s Lecture Series

On Monday, Toni Morrison, the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993, will deliver the inaugural lecture in the Secretary-General’s Lecture Series.  Her lecture, “The Humanities after 9/11”, will explore the uses of language for war and peace.  She will argue that the language of peace has more force and power.

The series will last through 2002-2003 and will focus on topics in the humanities and natural sciences.  The series was created in an effort to breach political and cultural differences and the speakers will be selected from a wide range of disciplines from all over the world.  You are all invited to attend and we will make the text of Ms. Morrison’s lecture available to you on Monday.

**Press Releases

Among the press releases today, first from the World Food Programme (WFP), they announced today that they will double their school feeding operation in Chechnya starting in September.

The programme to provide hot lunch to 20,000 primary school and 250 pre-school children began in December 2001.  In September, the programme will be expanded to feed 45,500 students in 165 schools in Grozny and other districts.  We have a press release on that.

In the second press release, the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) announced today the launch of a Web site with information on gender issues in the Horn of Africa.  Called HAWKNET, the Horn of Africa Region Women’s Knowledge Network, the Web site will enable women to discuss emerging national issues, to network and participate in global debates.

The third press release is from the United Nations Children's Fund, announcing that the Canadian Government has provided 5.5 million Canadian dollars for a major measles vaccination campaign in Angola.

And a document has just been issued with information on arrangements for viewing the Fourth of July Fireworks display from the grounds of United Nations Headquarters here.  The document has the symbol ST/IC/2002/35.  You can get it at the documents counter.

**Guest at Monday Noon Briefing

At our Monday briefing here at noon, our guest will be Joseph Chamie, Director of the Population Division.  He will brief you on the launch of the publication "HIV/AIDS:  Awareness and Behaviour" -- a new study to be released on the occasion of the first anniversary of the special session of the General Assembly on HIV/AIDS.

**Royal Yeomanry Concert

We have the week ahead for you, which includes on Monday the announcement that the regimental band of the Royal Yeomanry, a British army reserve regiment based in London, will give a concert from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. in the Visitor's Plaza in front of the General Assembly building.  You are all invited to attend this free concert.

I hope you have a quiet weekend.

**Questions and Answers

Question:  In view of the report by the Under-Secretary-General on Afghanistan since the process started, does the Secretary-General plan to visit the region just to boost morale and lend his support to this process?

Spokesman:  That's a nice idea.  I'll suggest it to him.  But at present there are no such plans.

Question:  Regarding Otunnu, I'm not sure if I understood correctly.  He was in Chechnya, or Chechnya was not part of his tour?

Spokesman:  He was in Ossetia -- you'll have to consult your map -- in the northern Caucasus.  He's been in that region for a while.  I don't know whether his visit included Chechnya.  Specifically, he was in Valdikavkaz, the capital of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania.

Question:  What was the reason for his visit?  Because the problem we have is in Chechnya with Russia.

Spokesman:  I don't want to get into the regional politics, but there are children in need in this area, suffering in this case from mine accidents.  He visited a centre and encouraged the world community to contribute more money, so that the centre's operations could be expanded, which he thought would be useful and worthwhile.

Thank you very much.

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