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 Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon.

**Guest at Noon Briefing

Our guest at the briefing today is Catherine Bertini, the Secretary-General’s Personal Humanitarian Envoy, who has just come back from the Middle East.  She would like to brief you on that visit and, given the demands on her time, I think I would like to go directly to her so that she can get under way immediately.

Catherine, welcome to the briefing.

Ms. Bertini:  Thank you very much, Fred.

(Issued separately)

Spokesman:  Thank you, Catherine for sharing that with us.  And thank you ladies and gentlemen, I’ll continue with my briefing in just a minute.

**Security Council

We’ll start with the Security Council.  It met in closed consultations this morning.

The Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Danilo Türk provided the Council with its monthly review of the situation in the Middle East. 

**Palestinian Reform

In Paris today, the meeting of the International Task Force on Palestinian Reform, which I flagged for you yesterday, opened as scheduled.

The discussions will continue until tomorrow.  We expect the Task Force to release a statement at the end of tomorrow’s session.

**New CMO for UNMOGIP

The Secretary-General is pleased to announce today the appointment of Major-General Pertti Juhani Puonti of Finland as the Chief Military Observer in the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP).

Major-General Puonti succeeds Major-General Hermann K. Loidolt of Austria who led the mission since July of 2001.

Major-General Puonti was born in 1948, served in the Finnish armed forces since 1968.  We have a press release and a curriculum vitae on him available in my office.

**Afghanistan

In today’s briefing notes from the UN Mission in Afghanistan, spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva says that the United Nations has not been formally approached by the Afghan Government about helping in any investigation of mass grave sites in northern Afghanistan, but added that the United Nations would be prepared to support any investigation.

He reiterated that it would be ideal to protect the gravesite at

Dasht-e-Leily, as recommended by Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission, and as I noted to you two days ago.  Meanwhile, the UN Mission will send people to the area periodically to visit the site.

The Mission today also said that the disarmament process that was to have begun in Gosfandi, in the province of Sar-i-Pul, on Monday has been halted, with the factions in that area working to find a mutually acceptable solution.

As you’ll recall, a political officer from the UN Mission had travelled to Gosfandi following factional fighting in which eight people were killed last week, but he left the area this morning with the process of disarming combatants unresolved.

**Somalia Report

On the racks today, the Secretary-General’s latest report to the General Assembly on Somalia says that recent months have seen a worsening of the humanitarian situation in many parts of that country, with drought, conflict and displacement combining to affect some 700,000 Somalis who live at, or below, subsistence level.

The Secretary-General says that, although the United Nations is able to maintain a strong presence in northwestern Somalia, access to the northeast, central and southern areas remains restricted because of the volatile security situation.  Despite that, the United Nations remains committed to Somalia, he says, with more than 900 projects to provide humanitarian and development assistance to its people.

The Secretary-General adds that the United Nations also will undertake peace-building activities aimed at strengthening communities and encouraging factional reconciliation, and he urged Member States to contribute to the trust fund for such peace-building activities.

**Somalia -– Press Conference

In related news, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Maxwell Gaylard, is in Geneva today, where he drew attention to the problems that factional armed conflict has created by hindering humanitarian access to vulnerable communities.

In Mogadishu, a crime wave -- which has included the brief abductions of three local UN staff members over the past six months -- has made aid efforts there difficult, while heavy fighting in Baidoa, in the southwest, and Puntland, in the northeast, have slowed humanitarian projects in those areas.

Gaylard said at a press conference in Geneva today that the sanctity of the UN flag must be restored, so that vital humanitarian assistance can be delivered to where it is most needed.

**Rwanda

The President of the Rwanda Tribunal, Judge Navanethem Pillay, wrote a letter to the Security Council earlier this month, which is out on the racks today, containing the Tribunal’s response to accusations levelled at the Tribunal by Rwanda’s Government -- accusations of inefficiency, corruption and other failings.

The Tribunal’s reply notes the problems it has had in obtaining witnesses from Rwanda for its trials in Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania, which, it says, has severely disrupted trial proceedings at the Rwanda Tribunal, setting them back several months.

It defended its treatment of witnesses, who come under the care of a witness support unit, and noted that over 80 per cent of its witnesses testify anonymously and are given appropriate security protection before, during and after their testimony.

It also notes efforts by the Tribunal to reform its management over the years and to pick up the pace of trials, a process which is expected to improve following the approval by the Security Council earlier this month of the creation of a pool of 18 additional “ad litem,” or short-term, judges.

The Tribunal ends by stressing the importance for the Security Council to underscore the independence and impartiality of the Tribunal and the obligation of all States, including Rwanda, to cooperate with it.

**Bosnia

The UN Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina today outlined the process it has designed to certify that Bosnian police meet international standards of professional competence and personal integrity.

All Bosnian police officers, the Mission says, will need to meet requirements on their ability to exercise police powers; they will need to have clean criminal records and valid educational credentials; they must have completed compulsory courses provided by the UN Mission; and they must have proof of their Bosnian citizenship and full compliance with housing laws.

Should any of these criteria not be met, the Mission says that officers will not be certified.

**Cambodia

High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson left Cambodia today, one day after she addressed the country’s National Assembly and told it that she hoped the people of Cambodia “are now on the road towards a society in which a responsible, democratic and representative government will be firmly established”.

She told the National Assembly that Southeast Asia remains a major centre for the trafficking of women and children, with more than 200,000 women and children trafficked in the region every year.  She said of the victims of such trafficking, “They are our sisters and daughters; they are our children.  This trafficking in them must stop.”  She urged all countries in the region to work together to end what she called “this vicious and inhuman trade”.

We have copies of her speech upstairs.  Her next, and final, stop on her current travels in Asia is East Timor.

**World Food Programme Web donations

The World Food Programme today launched an online donation feature on its Web site.

The new feature allows individuals to use a credit card to make direct donations to help the agency feed hungry people.

“With a few clicks of a mouse, individuals can make a difference in the fight against hunger”, said James Morris, WFP's Executive Director, while making the first online donation himself.  “Our administrative costs are lower than

9 per cent”, he said, “that means of every dollar donated, more than 91 cents will go to feeding a hungry person”.

Online donations will go to WFP's under-funded operations in Afghanistan, West Africa and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. 

**Press Releases

The World Health Organization and the World Trade Organization secretariat today published a joint study of the relationship between trade rules and public health  -- we mentioned this to you yesterday.  The study, “WTO Agreements and Public Health”, covers areas such as drugs, intellectual property rights, food safety and tobacco.  It outlines the implications of WTO agreements on health and public policies.  We have a press release upstairs.

**Fire Drill

And we’ll have to take an hour out of your life tomorrow.  There will be an evacuation drill at UN Headquarters, sometime between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. -– but, to make it an effective drill, Security would not give us a more specific time.

All staff are to participate, and, during the time when it is going on, entry into the building will be prohibited.  Your fire wardens will tell you the assembly point that you should report to when you leave the complex.  All of you in the media will be leaving from the south end of the building, and then head from 39th Street south to 38th Street and then east to the FDR Drive.

During the drill, security officers will be deployed throughout the complex, and anybody experiencing a medical problem or other discomfort during the drill should seek their assistance.

The drill will end an hour after it begins, whether or not the evacuation has been completed.  So, it’s guaranteed not to take more than an hour.

Security is asking for all of you in the media, as well as all UN staff, to cooperate with the drill, and they also recommend you to wear comfortable footwear and to put away your valuables before the drill begins.

And if it is in the morning hours, we will have to postpone the briefing from noon to 1 p.m.

**WEHAB

Finally, our sustainability feature today focuses on the fourth priority area for the Johannesburg Conference, Agriculture.

Del Jan is one of many thousands of Afghan women who, along with their families, were forced to flee their homes to avoid increased violence and fighting in the countryside.

She initially sought refuge near Jalalabad, then she returned to her village where she went back to her primary occupation -- farming.  However, she soon realized she could not earn enough money to feed her family with proceeds from a small vegetable stand.

Del Jan then decided to take part in a UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) project on village poultry production.

From the FAO, Del Jan received a starter package of 10 hens, construction material for a chicken coop and 10 kilos of chicken feed, along with vaccines and training.

Today, using high-productivity breeds, Del Jan's family was able to quadruple their yearly egg production.  This has enabled her to make a small income by selling eggs in the market in Kabul.  Egg production contributes about 40 per cent of the income of poor Afghan families.

Del Jan is one of some 2,500 village women taking part in this project.  More than 90 per cent of poultry production in Afghan villages is in the hands of women.

The programme is not just a one-off gift of a starter kit.  For six months, small groups of women meet three times per week to discuss poultry production, management, marketing, and animal disease prevention.  The meetings also provide an opportunity to talk about social and health issues.

Poultry production has big potential in Afghanistan.  Working with the farmers, the FAO has created a unique infrastructure of self-sustainable projects that could be easily expanded.  These types of projects help generate income and business opportunities, especially for women, and contribute to a better diet for Afghan families.

So, that’s our development commercial for today.  Any questions? 

Questions and Answers

Thanks very much.

* *** *