DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
| Press Briefing |
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, and Richard Sydenham, Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly.
Briefing by the Spokesman for the Secretary-General
**Security Council
The Secretary-General spoke at the open meeting of the Security Council to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Committee on Counter-Terrorism, whose Chairman, Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock of the United Kingdom, also spoke.
In the concluding lines of his statement, the Secretary-General says, “Just as terrorism must never be excused, so must genuine grievances never be ignored simply because terrorism is committed in their name. It does not take away from the justice of a cause that a few wicked men or women commit murder in its name. It only makes it more urgent that the cause is addressed, and grievances heard, and the wrong put right.”
He went on to say, “As the United Nations unites to defeat terrorism in the months and years ahead, we must act with equal determination to solve the political disputes and long-standing conflicts which generate support for terrorism. To do so is not to reward terrorism, he said, or its perpetrators; it is to deny them the opportunity to find refuge. Only then can we truly say that the war on terrorism has been won.”
In addition to the Secretary-General, 46 speakers are so far inscribed at the open meeting, entitled “Threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts”.
A presidential statement will be adopted at the end.
The Council first met in consultations to discuss Kosovo during which members discussed a Security Council mission to Pristina, Kosovo and Belgrade planned for the 25th to the 27th of this month. The mission is being led by Ambassador Ole Peter Kolby of Norway. The terms of reference and composition of the mission are still being worked on.
**Cyprus
The Secretary-General is scheduled this afternoon at 3 p.m. to meet again with H.E. Glafcos Clerides, the Greek Cypriot leader and H.E. Rauf Denktash, the Turkish Cypriot leader.
At the Press Encounter this morning, in responding to a question on the Cyprus talks, the Secretary-General said: “We are pursuing our efforts and we are going to work very hard in search for a solution.”
This morning, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus, Alvaro
De Soto, met with the two leaders together for a working session.
**Secretary General at General Assembly
The Secretary-General today presented to the General Assembly his first annual report on the progress achieved towards implementing the Millennium Declaration, and he warned them, as he did when talking to you earlier this week, to take decisive action to make sure that the pledges made in that Declaration are actually fulfilled.
He told the General Assembly that it had a particularly important role to play, and urged it to follow the process vigorously and in an integrated fashion. “The Millennium Declaration”, he said, “has given us a big picture. We must not allow that picture to be fragmented and dealt with piecemeal by different processes in different committees. We need to keep the whole of it firmly in view.”
We have copies of his speech upstairs.
**Security at Headquarters
Following the incident yesterday afternoon in which a man climbed the gate outside the United Nations Headquarters building and fired seven shots, United Nations security conducted a floor-by-floor search of the building to find any bullets. Security officers retrieved three bullets that hit the twentieth floor, where an American Express office is located, and one that went through the window of a ladies’ room on the eighteenth floor.
As Chief of Security Mike McCann explained to you yesterday, the individual, who has been identified as Steven Kim, was apprehended by United States and United Nations security officers shortly after he fired his weapon, and, after initial questioning by United Nations Security, he was transferred to the custody of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.
He was found with papers that Chief McCann characterized as a “rambling” description of human rights problems in North Korea.
No one was injured in yesterday’s incident.
Last night, the Secretary-General, in a press encounter with CNN, said he was confident in the work being done cooperatively between United Nations Security and the New York police, and added, “I see this as an isolated event, and I don’t think the staff should worry.”
**Iraq
The Secretary-General spoke to the press briefly after leaving the Security Council this morning, and he was asked whether United Nations weapons inspectors should go forward with plans to go to Iraq, or whether they should wait for the Security Council to work on a new resolution.
He noted that chief weapons inspector Hans Blix himself addressed that issue yesterday when talking to reporters after briefing the Security Council, and had indicated that the inspectors were ready, but, as the Council was discussing further guidance, it would be appropriate for him to know what that guidance was before he resumed work in Iraq. The Secretary-General added, “I hope that will be forthcoming shortly.”
Blix and International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Mohammed ElBaradei are in Washington today, where they are scheduled to meet with senior United States officials.
**Iraq-Compensation
Yesterday afternoon in Geneva, the Governing Council of the United Nations Compensation Commission on Iraq concluded its latest session by approving awards amounting to nearly a billion dollars. The total amount awarded at this session exceeded 995 million dollars, bringing the total compensation that the Commission has awarded to date to 43.6 billion dollars.
The largest of the awards was 694 million dollars for claims by Kuwait’s Ministry of Defence and the Kuwait Oil Company for the removal and disposal of mines and unexploded ordnance.
By the way, this past September 30 was the deadline for submission of late claims by the Palestinian Authority on behalf of individuals who did not have the opportunity to file their claims by the original deadline, of January 1, 1996. While the final total of claims from the Palestinian Authority is not yet computed, it is estimated that some 45,000 claims were submitted by them.
We put out a press release yesterday afternoon, breaking down the compensation awards by category.
**South Africa
United Nations special rapporteur Juan Miguel Petit, who deals with the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, warned of an apparent increase in sexual violence against South African children.
He said there are reports that young children are being targeted as sexual partners by people who believe that doing so could reduce the risk of contracting AIDS, as well as reports that instances of child rape have occurred because of the mistaken belief that sleeping with a virgin could cure AIDS.
Petit recommends treatment and support for children affected by HIV/AIDS and urges steps to deal with sexual violence against children in South Africa. We have a press release, including his preliminary findings following his visit to South Africa last month, upstairs.
**Sudan
We just received the summary of a press briefing given in Nairobi today by Emergency Relief Coordinator, Kenzo Oshima, and the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Humanitarian Affairs in the Sudan, Tom Eric Vraalsen, at the end of their mission to the Sudan during which they stressed to both the Government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) the need for unimpeded humanitarian access and the need for a return to the negotiating table.
Oshima will be travelling to Ethiopia and Eritrea from Nairobi.
Meanwhile, the World Food Programme reports that the flight ban in southern Sudan, affecting half a million people, is continuing.
**Saudi Arabia
The Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Dato’ Param Cumarswamy, will conduct an official mission to Saudi Arabia from the 20th to the 27th of this month. This is the first time that the Government of Saudi Arabia has invited a Special Rapporteur of the Commission for an official visit.
During the mission the Special Rapporteur will meet with officials from the Government, the Judiciary and other bodies involved in the administration of justice.
The Special Rapporteur will present a report of the mission to the fifty-ninth session of the Commission on Human Rights next spring.
**ICTY
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia yesterday withdrew its indictment against one suspect, Zoran Marinic, after the prosecutors filed a request stating that Marinic was a low-level indictee, and noted that the Security Council, this past July, had said it would be more appropriate that low-level accused be tried before a national court.
Consequently, the arrest warrant against Marinic, whose whereabouts remain unknown, has been withdrawn.
We have a press release with more details.
**Chemical Weapons Convention
The Seventh Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention will be held in The Hague, Netherlands from October. 7th to 11th.
In his message to the Conference, which will be delivered by Mr. Roman-Morey, the Deputy Secretary-General, Conference on Disarmament, the Secretary-General comments that “progress continues to be made in the destruction of declared chemical weapons and in the destruction and conversion of chemical weapons production facilities.” The Convention now has 146 States parties, and another 19 countries have signed.
“Such progress notwithstanding,” he says, “vigilance and a renewed commitment to the full implementation of the CWC are more necessary than ever.” He urges those States that have not yet ratified or acceded to the Convention to do so without delay.
**Illegal trade in ivory
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said today that despite a ban on the international trade in ivory since 1989, studies have revealed that a significant illegal trade still continues. The studies, conducted by the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS), point out that the illegal trade is driven mainly by large, unregulated domestic markets in some Asian and African countries, with China, Nigeria, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Thailand being the most frequent source or destination of illegal ivory. All elephant populations are listed as endangered in the appendix of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES.
**World Teachers’ Day
World Teachers’ Day will be marked tomorrow and in a joint message, the heads of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) have called on Governments to ensure that teachers have good physical and moral conditions in which to work, and are paid a decent salary. They paid tribute to teachers who often work under difficult conditions and noted that there is a shortage of teachers in many countries.
Tomorrow, UNESCO and ILO will release a new report, The Statistical Profile of the Teaching Profession, which found that population growth and declining working conditions are creating a severe shortage of teachers that may lead to a slide in education standards. We have the full text of the joint statement and an embargoed press release on the report upstairs.
**Secretary-General at NYU
The Secretary-General will go to New York University this evening, where, at 7:15, he'll stop by the School of Law to attend a reception in honor of one of the professors there, Thomas Franck, who is well known for his work on the United Nations and his writings on issues ranging from decolonization to nationalism.
The Secretary-General is to make brief remarks in tribute to Dr. Franck, and we will make those remarks available to you, on an embargoed basis.
World Chronicle
The World Chronicle TV programme produced by the Department of Public Information will feature Louis Frechette, the Deputy Secretary General. It will be shown on the in-house TV channels 3 or 31 today at 3:30 p.m. and transcripts, as well an archive webcast video, are available on the United Nations Web site.
The Week Ahead
We have the week ahead for you which you can pick up in my office. And on behalf of UNCA, I would like to re-invite you to the UNCA club for a informal briefing by the General Assembly President Jan Kavan, at 1 o'clock today in the UNCA club, and you are all invited
Question and Answer
Question: There is a report we saw in an interview today with the Iraq Vice President suggesting that to work out the problem between the United States and Iraq, there should be a duel between the two presidents. Do you have any comment on that observation, which we do have on camera by the way?
Spokesman: We did see that item and the Secretary-General was also amused by it. I don't think I 'll say anything more than that.
Question: It's been characterized a little bit differently what the net result of yesterday's briefing of Dr. Blix to the council was, and I just wanted to confirm with you. Was there a decision to delay the return of inspectors to Iraq until the Security Council comes up with a new resolution?
Spokesman: I don't speak for Dr. Blix, as you know. He spoke to you yesterday, so I don't want to get into the business of interpreting what he said. He said what he said. I think it is clear from what he said. Some of the reporting today on what he said was less clear, but I think if you look at his words, you'll see what his position is.
Question: Is that what the impression of the Secretary-General is then as to whether or not Dr. Blix has already decided to wait or whether he is still...?
Spokesman: I cannot go beyond what Dr. Blix himself said yesterday, I am not authorised to do that. You can ask his spokesman if you want any clarification or interpretation of what he said. Sorry.
Briefing by Richard Sydennam, Spokesman for the General Assembly President
Good afternoon.
This morning President Kavan first chaired a meeting of the General Committee of the General Assembly which decided to include two additional agenda items in the work of the Assembly. They are: “South American Zone of Peace and Cooperation”; and “Cooperation between the United Nations and the Association of South-East Asian Nations.”
He then chaired the 22nd plenary which is considering the follow-up to the Millennium Summit and the report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization.
In his opening remarks, the President said: “More than ever, the call for multilateralism in maintenance of international peace and security resonates through the Organization.” While some progress had been made in the past year, he said, “It is necessary, however, to commit ourselves to further strengthening the United Nations legal framework, including a renewed effort to negotiate the comprehensive convention against terrorism.” He went on to say, "Millennium Development Goals became the basis of the economic and social policy of the United Nations Organization and international development cooperation. Their implementation must remain our top priority. We have to keep in mind that credibility of the United Nations is based not only on its ability to articulate political goals but also, and primarily, on its ability to mobilize political will for their implementation.”
His remarks are available on the president's Web site and this debate will continue on Monday.
This afternoon in ECOSOC, President Kavan will make a statement at the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the signing of the General Peace Agreement in Mozambique. He will tell the meeting that, “The United Nations helped Mozambique to overcome the most difficult period of its history. Support of the United Nations in the peace-making, peace-keeping, demining, humanitarian and electoral assistance and the repatriation of refugees was prime example of a correct policy involvement of the United Nations in post-conflict situations. But there is another essential element of successful peace-building that has been witnessed in Mozambique –- the political willingness and determination of the Government and people of Mozambique to secure peace and rebuild the country. The experience of Mozambique, thus, could and should serve as a good example for other African countries experiencing protracted conflicts and instability such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola or Guinea-Bissau.”
Thank you very much. Any questions?
Happy weekend.
THE WEEK AHEAD AT THE UNITED NATIONS
Saturday, October 5
Today is World Teachers’ Day.
Sunday, October 6
Monday, October 7
The Seventh Session of the Conference of States Parties of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons will begin in The Hague, and it is to last through Friday.
Today is World Habitat Day.
Tuesday, October 8
The Security Council is expected to hold its monthly luncheon with the Secretary-General.
Wednesday, October 9
The Secretary-General’s latest report to the Security Council on Prevlaka is expected by the middle of the week.
This is the International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction.
Thursday, October 10
The International Court of Justice is expected to issue a ruling on the Bakassi Peninsula between Nigeria and Cameroon.
The Security Council expects to hold consultations on the United Nations Mission of Observers in Prevlaka (UNMOP).
Today is World Mental Health Day.
Friday, October 11
The Security Council will hold an open meeting on small arms.
* *** *