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 Hua Jiang, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon.

**Bertini

As we mentioned yesterday, the Secretary-General’s Personal Humanitarian Envoy, Catherine Bertini, travelled to the West Bank today to meet with the Palestinian leadership and also to get a first-hand look at a number of humanitarian projects.

In the morning she travelled to Ramallah, where she met with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.

During the meeting, which lasted just under an hour and which was also attended by Palestinian Minister for Local Government Saeb Erakat, Mr. Arafat outlined the humanitarian problems faced by Palestinians as a result of the current situation.

In Ramallah, Ms. Bertini toured humanitarian projects run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East in the Amari refugee camp.  There she had the opportunity to talk to humanitarian workers as well to the beneficiaries of various programmes, including a summer camp and a health centre. 

In the afternoon, she continued her meetings with other Palestinians, including Hanan Ashrawi, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Dr. Mustapha Barghouti, the head of the Palestinian Medical Relief Organization, as well as a number of local business people.

During her stay in Ramallah, Ms. Bertini was also briefed on the economic situation by Maher Masri, the Palestinian Minister of Economy and Trade. 

**Security Council

A short while ago the Security Council unanimously adopted two resolutions following short consultations this morning.

The first resolution that was adopted concerned the UN Mission in Ethiopia/Eritrea.

The resolution, numbered 1430 (2002), adjusts the Mission’s mandate to enable it to assist the independent Boundary Commission in the implementation of its delimitation decision by demining in key areas and to provide for administrative and logistical support for its field offices.

The second resolution adopted this morning, number 1431 (2002), establishes a pool of 18 so-called ad litem -- or short-term -- judges for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.  That additional pool of judges would be used to

expedite the Tribunal's work by having more trial chambers operating at the same time.

**Iraq

Richard Foran, who is leading the UN team dealing with the return of Kuwaiti property from Iraq, held his first meeting with Iraqi authorities today in Baghdad.  More discussions are scheduled to take place tomorrow.

Following his talks with Iraqi authorities, Mr. Foran will head to Kuwait to continue discussions with officials there.

As you’ll recall, following the Secretary-General’s meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri in Vienna last month, Iraq had agreed to the return of Kuwaiti archives and other documents.

As part of that effort, the UN has agreed to re-establish the mechanism that existed for transfer of such material between 1991 and 1996.

**Afghanistan

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) informed us that armed men ransacked its office in Ghazni, south-west of Kabul in Afghanistan.

The incident happened around 8 p.m. on Tuesday night.  Three armed men locked UNHCR staff in the bathroom, took some office equipment and broke into the safe.  No one was hurt.

UNHCR will now strengthen security measures in Ghazni, employing armed guards at the compound. 

UNHCR considers that while the overall situation in Afghanistan has been improving this year, security still remains fragile in many areas of the country.

**Colombia

High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson today reiterated her concern about the critical human rights and humanitarian situation in Colombia, which she said has worsened as a result of terrorist acts committed since the inauguration of President Alvaro Uribe last week.

Mrs. Robinson noted the state of emergency declared by the Colombian Government on 11 August, saying that she recognized as legitimate the measures available to States to defend themselves against grave threats to the life of their nations.

She added that the measures adopted by governments in the exercise of exceptional powers have to be consistent with commitments derived from international human rights laws.  These laws regulate the limits of public powers when they place restrictions on human rights and fundamental freedoms.  Any such restrictions must be submitted to the control of the judiciary.

The field office in Colombia of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights will continue to monitor and provide advice on the implementation of the emergency measures.

**Floods in Czech Republic

The Government of the Czech Republic has called for international assistance in dealing with the floods that are affecting Prague, parts of Bohemia and areas in the north-west.  The Government estimates that more than 200,000 people have been evacuated from their homes, including 50,000 in Prague.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, in a report on the floods, says that the Ministry of the Interior, in their call for international assistance, have requested portable dryers for drying damp houses, floating pumps and electric submersible pumps. 

The situation report is available in the Spokesman’s Office.

**ESCAP

Polluted water and poor sanitation kill two children every minute, with most of the victims of contaminated water being Asian children, say environmental experts at the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, or ESCAP for short.

According to the “State of the Environment in Asia and the Pacific 2000”, a joint report published by ESCAP and the Asian Development Bank, inadequately enforced legislation and ineffective planning and management of water resources are to blame for the severe diarrhoea from contaminated water that has killed more children than all the people killed in armed conflicts since the Second World War.

Kim Hak Su, the Executive Secretary of the Commission, has pledged to urge governments attending the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, to deal with the crisis.

We have a press release available upstairs.

**North America Environment Report

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) today released a new report on the environment in the United States and Canada as part of the Global Environment Outlook 3 process.

The report, “North America’s Environment: A 30 year state of the environment and policy retrospective”, looks at changes in the North American environment over the last 30 years.  There has been notable success in resolving some environmental problems, such as reducing the use of CFCs and slowing the loss of wetlands, the report notes.  In many instances, however, it says the gains have been eroded by the impact of the growing population on the environment.  The report recommends that there must be substantial changes in automobile use, introduction of more fuel-efficient technologies and changes in town planning and urban development.

We also have the press release available upstairs.

**UNFPA

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) yesterday welcomed the strong expression of support from the "Group of 77" developing countries.  The 133-member group sent a statement to the Government of the United States, urging it to restore its contributions to the Fund.

Executive Director Thoraya Obaid said she was moved by the support from developing nations for the efforts of the Fund to improve the health and well-being of millions of people in their countries.  She said UNFPA will continue “to support safe motherhood until motherhood is safe for all women in developing countries”.

Fifty-three African countries recently made a similar appeal to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell.

We have a press release available upstairs.

**Documents

There are two documents out on the racks today that I’d like to flag for you.

The first is a letter from the Permanent Representative of South Africa, forwarding to the Security Council the text of the accord on troop withdrawal signed by Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Pretoria at the end of last month.

The second is a letter from the President of the Security Council to the Secretary-General, taking note of his proposal to extend the mandate of the UN Office in Guinea-Bissau until 31 December 2003.

**Signings

Today, Cyprus became the thirty-sixth country to sign the Protocol on Trafficking in Firearms supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.

So, that’s all I have for you.  And before you ask your questions; on Iraq, I would like to say that we still haven’t had any response from the Iraqi side to the Secretary-General’s letter to the Iraqi Foreign Minister last week.

Questions and Answers

Question:   In the communication that was made recently with Iraqi.  Was it the representative of the Secretary-General or the Security Council?

Deputy Spokesperson:    Which communication are you referring to?

Question:   There’s a communiqué with the Iraqi Government now, recently.  Made by whom?

Deputy Spokesperson:    Sorry, I didn’t get you.  You’re referring to a communiqué issued by the Iraqi Government?

Question:   Yes.

Deputy Spokesperson:    Well, if it’s a communiqué issued by the Iraqi Government, I think maybe the Iraqi Mission is the best place to get the answer from.

Question:   So the representative of the Secretary-General or the Security Council did not make any move?

Deputy Spokesperson:    No.  Last week, as you all know, the Secretary-General sent a letter to the Iraqi Foreign Minister regarding the inspectors, you know, going back to Iraq.  And we’re still waiting for a response to that letter from the Iraqi side.

Question:   Do you think there will be any response from the Iraqi side?

Deputy Spokesperson:    Well, I think you have to ask the Iraqi Mission here or the Government whether they are going to respond or not.

All right then, thank you.

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