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

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

**Under-Secretary General for Disarmament Affairs

Our Guest today will be Jayantha Dhanapala, Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, and he’ll be here to launch the UN Study on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Education.  He’ll be joined by Miguel Marin Bosch, Chairman of the Group of Governmental Experts which produced the Study.

**Iraq

Yesterday afternoon, the Secretary-General wrote to the President of the Security Council, informing the Council of a letter from Hans Blix, Executive Chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, and Mohammed ElBaradei, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, to Iraqi Presidential Adviser Amir Al-Saadi, who met with those two men in Vienna last week.

We have been informed by UNMOVIC that the letter from Blix and ElBaradei lists all the conclusions reached at Vienna, including agreement on immediate, unconditional and unrestricted access to sites in Iraq, including what had been termed “sensitive sites” in the past.

**Middle East

Today, a UN inter-agency technical assessment mission, led by Assistant Emergency Relief Coordinator Ross Mountain, arrived in Jerusalem to deal with the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The mission will spend the next ten days in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, and will produce a humanitarian plan of action for the occupied territories. It will also follow up on the other recommendations made by the Secretary-General’s Personal Humanitarian Envoy, Catherine Bertini, after her mission to the region in mid-August.

The technical assessment mission includes senior staff from the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East (UNSCO) and other key operational agencies. 

**Afghan Fighting

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) informed us just now that the fighting centred in Keshende in northern Afghanistan stopped at 4:00 a.m. today.

The Security Commission, comprised of the key factions in northern Afghanistan and an UNAMA representative, went to the area after learning that fighting broke out again Monday between Jumbesh, led by General Abdul Rashid Dostum, and Jamiat, led by General Ustad Atta Mohammad.

The Security Commission has now returned to Mazar and is in regular contact with the region.  

**Afghanistan

The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Asma Jahangir, will go on mission to Afghanistan from 13 to 23 October. 

The visit, which comes at the request of the Special Rapporteur, will include Kabul and a number of other cities and towns, where she will meet with Government officials, international agencies and UN representatives.

She will prepare a report on the visit for the upcoming session of the Commission on Human Rights, which starts in March 2003.

**Security Council

There are no consultations or meetings of the Security Council as a whole today.

The working group on peacekeeping operations is scheduled to meet at 3:00 p.m.

On the Security Council agenda tomorrow are consultations on the Secretary-General’s latest report on the UN Mission of Observers in Prevlaka.

**Kosovo

Milan Ivanovic, a Kosovo Serb doctor who has been sought by UN police in connection with an April riot in Mitrovica in which UN police officers were injured, has turned himself in to the UN Mission in Kosovo’s court in that city.

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Kosovo, Michael Steiner, welcomed Ivanovic’s surrender to the court, saying, “I have always said this was the only proper way open to him.  The investigating judge will now decide on further steps to be taken in this case”.

**Ethiopia-Eritrea

The Secretary-General has announced his intention to appoint Maj. Gen. Robert Gordon of the United Kingdom as the new Force Commander for the UN mission in Ethiopia-Eritrea.

Maj. Gen. Gordon replaces Maj. Gen. Patrick Cammaert, whose two-year tour of duty will end on 31 October.

We have the announcement containing his biography upstairs in my office.

Also, on Eritrea, United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Kenzo Oshima saw first-hand areas hit by drought and relief operations at an internally displaced camp in that country today.  Mr. Oshima has already visited Sudan and Ethiopia on his current mission to Africa.

**International Day for Disaster Reduction

The theme for this year’s International Day for Disaster Reduction, being marked today, is “Disaster reduction for sustainable mountain development” and is linked to the International Year of Mountains being observed this year.

In his message the Secretary-General says that mountain communities are particularly vulnerable to the threat of natural disasters as they are exposed to high rain and snowfalls and the landslides and avalanches that result from them.  He goes on to say that prevention must be the priority in implementing the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction and making communities and nations more resilient.

The full text of the message has been issued as a press release.

**Drugs

The Secretary-General, in a message to the eighth international meeting of the Rainbow International Association against Drugs, which began in Rimini, Italy, today, says that, to find lasting solutions to dealing with drug abuse, “we need to build partnerships that extend beyond professionals and experts to the people who are directly or indirectly affected by the drug problem, including and especially youth”.  He praises the work of non-governmental groups like Rainbow International and says the United Nations supports its mission to give people alternatives to drugs.

We have copies of that message upstairs.

**Yoko Ono

I’m told that, today, Yoko Ono will host a reception at 6:00 p.m. in the Delegates Dining Room, and will offer grants to two artists -– one Palestinian and one Israeli –- in her own “Middle East Humanitarian Arts Initiative”.  The Secretary-General will stop by at that reception to greet and congratulate Ms. Ono. 

**Macalaster

We also have available upstairs copies of remarks, embargoed until 7:00 p.m. this evening, that the Secretary-General will give at a dinner with the trustees and friends of his old alma mater, Minnesota’s Macalaster College, where, he will say, he found “an open door to the culture of this country”.

**Budget

Today we received a check for the regular budget for more than $46 million from the United States after Congress agreed to the reprogramming of payments for the United Nations regular budget.

We also have news from the United States Mission to the UN that President Bush, on Monday 30 September, signed into law an appropriations bill implementing the third and final stage of the Helms-Biden legislation providing for the repayment of United States arrears to the United Nations.  We also have news that Congress has agreed that the funds can be paid in 15 days from the day that the President signed the legislation, instead of the usual 30 days.

The Secretary-General has sent a letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell thanking the administration for supporting the legislation and he will also be writing to the chairs of the relevant Congressional Committees.

**Third Floor Security

Finally, as you know, new security measures are about to be put in place on the 3rd floor.

All of the media's concerns regarding access, we believe, have been taken into account.

However, the UN Chief of Security, Mike McCann, would like to walk you through the new procedures and take any questions you might have.

He proposes to meet you today at 1:00 p.m. on the third floor, just outside the 3rd floor entrance to the Security Council.

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Can we know the subject of the Secretary-General’s meeting with Hans Blix this morning?  Was it to turn over this letter?

Spokesman:  I don’t know.  I don’t have any guidance on that, but I could try to find out for you.  [He later said that Blix had briefed the Secretary-General on his visit to Washington last Friday.]

Question:  Was this letter a formality?  Or was this something that Mr. Blix and Mr. ElBaradei wanted to tell the Council that showed that they want something more stepped-up in terms of their inspections and they’re looking to sway the Council?

Spokesman:  I’m told by UNMOVIC that Mr. Blix intended to put in writing the understandings reached in Vienna and to provide that to the Council.  That was always his intention.  I believe that in addition some Council members requested the same thing.  But, as I said, I’m told it was originally his intention to do that.

Question:  Are you aware of any “Permanent Five” meeting of the Security Council today?

Spokesman:  No, I’m not.  If it’s for just a small group of members of the Council, we normally don’t announce those informal meetings.

Question:  A few other questions if I may.

Spokesman: Fire away.

Question:  Catholics for Free Choice is urging the United Nations to put more pressure on the Catholic Church regarding priests who are also pedophiles.  Has there been any United Nations response?  They presented something to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva with a report.

Spokesman:  I had heard or seen press reports of that but I don’t have any official reaction at this time.

Question:  Lebanon says they are going to be sending a report regarding the water dispute with Israel.  Lebanon says it’s only going to be up to the United Nations to settle this issue.  Is the United Nations tapped out on this?

Spokesman: I don’t have up-to-date guidance on that.  The last thing I said was that we were aware that the United States had sent water experts to try to mediate the dispute and that we were supporting those efforts.  I’m not aware that Lebanon has officially contacted us to get involved, but I’ll have to double check for you.

Question:  One more?

Spokesman:  It’s your show.

Question:  With all due respect and you’ve been great on this.  I would like to know who is the genius or UN official who has placed (and this is in house) a blood pressure reading machine device on the fourth floor right next to where there is heavy smoking, one of the leading causes of hypertension in the world?  And I know I speak for other people who will confront me when I come out of this meeting saying "thank you for asking UN staffers" and things like that.  Can we really find out how this decision was made?

Spokesman:  I’ll ask for you Richard.

Question:  There was discussion about the amount of money that the United States was to be paying.  I don’t remember exactly.  Can you tell us if the final amount is the correct amount?  Is it a subject of discussion?

Spokesman:  My understanding is that the Helms-Biden legislation identified about a half a billion dollars that it considered contested arrears, and with the exception of that half billion dollars authorized payment of all the rest, in tranches subject to conditions.  And that the conditions on the third tranche are now considered to have been met.  So, I think there’s a built-in arrears of $500 million.  And interestingly, this legislation that was signed into law a week ago Monday does encourage and reauthorize what they call the re-synchronization of US payment.  The US now appropriates on the first of October funds that were due the previous January.  And it’s been that way since the early days of the first Reagan administration.  So the US has programmed itself to be late every year.  And there’s now an encouragement in this legislation to appropriate the previous year.  So the money appropriated as of 1 October, which is the beginning of the US fiscal year, would be for bills that would come due the following January.  So it would be possible for the US to be on time.  So that would help too because as of 30 January those unpaid dues that will eventually come in sometime after October count as arrears, and compound the problem.  I hope that’s not too complicated for you.

Question:  Why did the Secretary-General have to congratulate Mr. Powell?

Spokesman:  This arrears problem has been around since the early 1980s and has been getting worse and worse.  And it became crippling.  And the United States Congress became seized of the matter with the intention to come up with a formula for payment.  It’s not 100 per cent, but it’s a substantial improvement over how it was and the Secretary-General is grateful that we’ve made this progress.

Question:  I don’t think it’s ready to be confirmed at least publicly is the Secretary-General’s trip.  Is there anything new on his plans to depart?

Spokesman:  We have no travel plans to announce.

Question:  Is there any comment from the United Nations at this time about the half billion dollars that Helms-Biden does not authorize?

Spokesman:  No, all of that is ancient history as far as we’re concerned.  To my knowledge, it remains on the books because it was contested in the view of the US Congress.  It was not contested in the view of the General Assembly.

Okay, we’ll go to Richard and then Mr. Dhanapala.

Briefing by the Spokesman for the General Assembly President

In his message today on the International Day for Disaster Reduction, General Assembly President Kavan said that the international community had a big responsibility in the process of disaster reduction through assisting developing countries in capacity-building.  And he knew the urgent need for collaboration amongst Member States of the United Nations to address the issue of major environmental threats like major global climate change.

However, President Kavan goes on to say that there are also positive signs.  He says, “As I have personally seen during the floods in my country,

there are several, very visible examples of cooperation in the field of post-disaster help and mitigation throughout the international community.  This gives me hope concerning future coordinated global efforts to decrease human, environmental, economic and social losses from disasters".  This message was issued as a press release today.

The First Committee today continued general debate on all disarmament and international security agenda items. 

The Special Political and Decolonization Committee was expected to take action on the draft resolution from Chile on international cooperation and peaceful uses of outer space.

The Third Committee today started consideration of women’s issues, which included consideration of the report of the Secretary-General, “Working towards the Elimination of Crimes against Women Committed in the Name of Honour”.

Any questions?  Thank you.

Spokesman for the Secretary-General:  I’d like to ask Mr. Dhanapala to come forward with Miguel Marin Bosch.