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 Jiang Hua, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, and Richard Sydenham, Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly.

Briefing by the Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General

Good afternoon.  I’ve just learned that we have a group of visitors here.  Welcome to the United Nations.

Joining us today will be Carolyn McAskie, Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, who will brief you about her recent humanitarian assessment mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi.  She will be with us in a few minutes.

**Secretary-General’s Travels

As the Secretary-General left Turkmenistan this morning, he and Nane Annan, his wife, stopped at the National Hippodrome, where they saw a rare breed of horse, known as the akhalteke, and the Secretary-General was offered one as a gift.  He selected a rare golden stallion named Kenar.

He then flew to the United Arab Emirates, where he met with His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, the President.  He thanked the President for providing the plane that facilitated his visit to Central Asia, and they spent an hour discussing world issues.

In his comments to the press after the meeting, the Secretary-General said they had discussed the Iraq crisis, the Israeli-Palestinian situation, Afghanistan and the fight against terrorism, including a tendency by some governments to abuse that fight by cracking down on political opponents.

On Iraq, he said, “We all expect Iraq to comply with the demands of the international community.”  He added, “War is not inevitable,” saying that if Iraq does what is required of it, “we may be able to avoid military action in the region.”

He is now flying back to New York.

**Bosnia

The Security Council is holding an open meeting today to review the work of the UN Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is to wrap up its work by the end of this year.

Addressing the Council this morning, Jacques Klein, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Bosnia, called the Mission a success, and said that arrangements for a seamless transition to a European Union Police Mission are in place

He said that, following recent elections where nationalist parties fared well, “this is not a time for either pessimism or complacency.”  The nationalist parties’ strong showing, Klein said, “does not mean the peace process will stop, but it does present a more challenging political environment, which will require strong intervention and continued commitment.”  He also warned of “ominous signs of renewed political interference in the police forces”.

On other fronts, Klein indicated several signs of success, with Bosnia no longer serving as the principal entry point into Europe for illegal migrants, and Bosnia now showing a lower crime rate than many Western European countries.

We have copies of his address, as well as a press release on the anticipated successful completion of the UN Mission in Bosnia.

Also, Jacques Klein will speak to you in this room at 2 p.m. today.

In addition, Paddy Ashdown, the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, who also spoke at today’s open meeting, will talk to you in this room once the Council meeting ends.

The meeting is going on right now, with Council members and other speakers discussing Bosnia with Klein and Ashdown in a question-and-answer format.

**ICTY

Judge Claude Jorda, President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, has written the President of the Security Council today to inform the Council officially of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia’s failure to comply with its obligation to cooperate with the Tribunal.

In his letter, which is available upstairs, Judge Jorda says he has been persuaded by the arguments of Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, who said that Yugoslavia has failed to arrest or transfer accused suspects in its territory, and has adopted a law on cooperation with the Tribunal that violates its commitments to that body.

He reminds the Council that 11 accused, including Ratko Mladic, have still not been apprehended or brought before the Tribunal.  He asks the Council to take all measures necessary to force the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to assume its international obligations fully.

Judge Jorda will travel to New York next week, where he is to meet privately with the Security Council on Monday morning.

**Security Council Sanctions Committee

The Security Council Committee on Sanctions against Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda, the Taliban and associated individuals and entities has added another name to its list of those subject to the measures.  The latest addition is a group called the Global Relief Foundation.

There is a press release announcing this addition.The complete list of names is posted on the Sanctions Committee Web site.

**Georgia

The Secretary-General’s report to the Security Council on the situation in Abkhazia, Georgia, is out on the racks today.

The Secretary-General notes that the situation in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone has not improved and that upsurges of tension, including exchanges of gunfire, continued to occur with alarming frequency.  He appeals to both sides to make efforts to reduce the tensions and pledges support to encourage progress in the political process.  “But the basic responsibility lies with the parties,” he adds.

The report is available with the symbol S/2002/1141.

**ESCAP report

Banks in Asia are afraid to lend and companies are reluctant to borrow, resulting in a deadly circle that threatens to keep economic growth muted across much of the region, according to a comprehensive study published today jointly by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Asian Development Bank.

In addition, the region’s monetary authorities have given little or no indication how they will solve this credit crunch, the report says.

The report also notes a lack of clarity across the region when it comes to tackling the problem.  “The so-called ‘credit crunch’ has been much discussed over the last few years with little, or no, indication as to what monetary authorities might do to overcome it,” it says.

**Right to Food

Out on the racks today is a report by Jean Ziegler, the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the right to food, in which he says it is an outrage that hunger and malnutrition still sentence millions of people to underdevelopment and early death.

He writes that more than 815 million people still suffer from hunger and chronic malnourishment, with 36 million people dying from hunger, either directly or indirectly, each year.

Ziegler also notes last year’s five-year review of the World Food Summit, saying it was disappointing that little progress has been made in reducing hunger, despite the commitments made in 1996 to reduce hunger by half.

**Press releases

The World Food Programme launched today the “Food Insecurity Atlas of Urban India.”

This ground-breaking surveys shows hunger “hot spots” in India’s growing population centres.

With a population of 1 billion, India has the highest absolute numbers of hungry people in the world.

**UNEP

According to a new report by the UN Environment Programme, the world's mountain regions, considered indomitable and unchanging, are gradually being tamed as more and more land is converted to farming and grazing, a new survey shows.

In Africa, an estimated 10 per cent of mountain areas have been converted to cropland, and 34 per cent turned over to grazing, notes the survey.

Parts of the Caucasus, California and the Northwest Andes are amongst the most threatened biodiversity-rich mountain areas in the world, and the survey recommends they should be made conservation priorities.

The report will be presented to heads of State, ministers and other delegates attending the Global Mountain Summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, which runs from 29 October to 1 November.

**Vaccine Supply

Public health experts today called for urgent action to address current shortages of key vaccines and to improve the stability of future supplies.  The call was made at a scientific colloquium organized by the Sabin Vaccine Institute, held in Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, from 23 to         25 October.  The colloquium will examine the current shortages of vaccine supply affecting industrialized and developing nations, and propose long-term solutions to remedy vaccine shortages.

**Budget

Today, two more countries paid their assessments to the UN regular budget in full, with Belize paying more than $11,000 and Croatia completing its payment of more than $500,000.  As of today, 111 Member States have paid in full.

**Press conference tomorrow

At 11:15 tomorrow, Doudou Diene, Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, will be here to brief you.  This will be his first press briefing in New York since he took office last August.

Briefing by the Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly

Good afternoon.

The First Committee of the General Assembly continues consideration of a number of draft resolutions on all disarmament and international security agenda items.  The Third Committee concludes its general discussion of the Programme of activities of the International Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, and then starts a general discussion on elimination of racism and racial discrimination, as well as comprehensive implementation and follow-up to the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action and the right of peoples to self-determination.

At this afternoon’s meeting, draft resolutions will be introduced under the agenda item “Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Children.”  And the Fifth Committee continues general discussion of pattern of conferences.

Looking towards tomorrow, in his message on United Nations Day, General Assembly President Kavan pays tribute to the founders of the United Nations and their foresight in establishing “an Organization that was mandated to ensure a just and peaceful world, an Organization that would reflect the universal moral conscience, an Organization which is the most inclusive of all world forums, where nations may settle their differences and disputes peacefully.”

The President goes on to say, “The relevance of the United Nations is confirmed more than ever in these times, when there are so many global problems challenging our world.

“On this day, we can take pride and satisfaction that every country and, therefore, every citizen is a stakeholder in this enterprise.”

His message concludes by affirming that “the United Nations has many important achievements to its credit.  But the ultimate test of its credibility is based not only on its ability to articulate political goals, but also, and primarily, on its ability to mobilize the will for their implementation.”

President Kavan’s message is released as a press release today.

Are there any questions?

**Questions and Answers:

Question

I believe there’s been a call by an expert in Kabul for an international commission to inquire into war crimes in Afghanistan.  Do you know anything more about that?

Answer

I don’t have anything on that.