6 November 2002

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

This is Annick Stevenson and despite the anglophone-sounding name, she is the new francophone spokeswoman for the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva.  She is here with Sergio Vieira de Mello,who is here in New York for a few days.  So you may see her as she walks around to get to know you, and we hope we'll have a close working relationship with her office in Geneva.

**Stevenson:  Thank you very much.  Nice meeting you and I'm hoping to see each of you in the next few days.

**Security Council

Well, as you all know, the Security Council is holding closed consultations on Iraq this morning and a new draft resolution on Iraq was circulated.

This afternoon at 3 p.m., the Council is scheduled to hold an open meeting on Kosovo, including the most recent report of the Secretary-General on the UN mission there.  Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, is scheduled to brief members on recent developments.

**Secretary-General’s Comments

Speaking just a few minutes ago on his way out of the Security Council Chamber, the Secretary-General said that the Council was making progress.

"I have always maintained", he said, "that it's important that the Council speak with one voice."

He added that he would prefer to see a unanimous decision, 15 to O.

**Secretary-General’s Travels

The Secretary-General will go to Europe next week, when he will travel on Sunday, 17 November, to Sarajevo, to pay an official visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina.  The following day, he will visit Kosovo, before travelling on Tuesday, 19 November, to Belgrade to meet with senior officials of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

He will wrap up his Balkans trip by paying an official visit to Croatia on Wednesday, 20 November.

Once the Balkans trip has ended, the Secretary-General will travel on the 21st to the Netherlands, where he is to receive an honorary doctorate from Tilburg University, and he will conclude his trip to Europe by paying an

official visit to France, starting on the 24^th, that's a Sunday, and he will end that trip and return home on the 26th.

We'll probably have some additional details on that trip for you in the course of this week.

**Cyprus

Yesterday afternoon, the Secretary-General met with his Special Adviser on Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto.

In speaking to reporters after that meeting, he said that De Soto had given him a thorough briefing on his recent round of consultations.  It is then, he said, “for me to take the next decisions on the next steps on where we go".

**Lecture

This afternoon, from 1:30 to 2:45 in the Economic and Social Council Chamber, the Secretary-General will host the second in a series of lectures dealing with issues of the day that are outside the normal range of United Nations topics.  This will be with the lecture concerning “Genetically Modified Crops for Developing Countries.”

That is a subject on which people’s views may be different, the Secretary-General is to say, but not one on which we can afford to be indifferent.

The lecturers will be Professors Jennifer Thomson of the University of Cape Town in South Africa and Daphne Preuss of the University of Chicago, who are also to attend a luncheon hosted by the Secretary-General in a few minutes from now.

**Timor-Leste

In Dili, Timor-Leste, today, the Serious Crimes Unit issued two new indictments to the Special Panel for Serious Crimes of the Dili District Court. 

The first indictment has 13 charges of crimes against humanity committed by five members of the Mahadomi militia in Manatuto District in 1999.  Five of the counts are for murder and the others are for torture, imprisonment, persecution and deportation.  All five accused are believed to be living in Indonesia.

The second indictment is for 17 charges of crimes against humanity committed by two Indonesian officers stationed in Lautem district, also in  1999.  The charges include 14 counts of murder, including the murders of a Dutch journalist and 21 other civilians.

Arrest warrants will be requested from the Dili District Court and will be forwarded to the Attorney-General of Indonesia and to INTERPOL. Timor-Leste became a member of INTERPOL last month.

We have more details in the briefing notes from Dili.

**Guided Tours

In November 1952, the first guided tour of the United Nations took place and, since then, tour guides from more than 100 countries have played host to more than 37 million visitors.  As part of the celebrations for the fiftieth anniversary, the Secretary-General will open a photographic exhibit this afternoon at 5:30 in the Visitors’ Lobby.  There are about 400 former guides here for the celebration, many of whom have gone on to successful careers in the United Nations, as well as in politics, academia and other fields.

We have the text of the Secretary-General's remarks embargoed until delivery and press kits are available in my office.

**International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment

in War and Armed Conflict

In his message to mark the first observance of the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict, the Secretary-General noted that modern warfare needs environmental rules, much as earlier war highlighted the need to protect civilians and prisoners of war. 

“It is the duty of every person, every organization and every government,” he said, “to help preserve the Earth’s riches for the generations who will succeed us.  That is the only battle we should be fighting.”

We have the full text of his message upstairs.

**Budgetary Issues

We've been reporting regularly on full payments of contributions to the regular budget, but from time to time we want to acknowledge other large payments.

Today, we had two sizeable payments to peacekeeping contributions.  Germany made a payment of over $19 million and Italy a payment of over $9 million.

**World Chronicle Series

We have another World Chronicle series to announce; this is No. 872.  It features Jose Antonio Ocampo, Executive Secretary of Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and that will be shown today at     3:30 p.m. on in-house television channels 3 and 31.

**Dag Hammarskjöld Memorial Fund

This bright paper here is inviting you to attend a farewell party for the 2002 Dag Hammarskjöld Memorial Fund fellows.  That will be today at 2:45 p.m. in the UNCA Club.  I think you've all met the three fellows who joined us for coverage of the General Assembly session.  And the Under-Secretary-General for Information and Communication, Shashi Tharoor, will be there.

**Press Conferences

Press conferences, all for tomorrow.  Three to mention.

At 10:15 the Austrian Mission will be sponsoring a press conference by Manuel Fontaine of UNICEF's Child Protection Programme and Casey Kelso of the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.

Then at 11:00 Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, will talk to you about his work.

And then at 12:15, or presumably right after the briefing, Gerhart Baum, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Sudan, will brief you.

**Briefing Guest

And our guest at the noon briefing tomorrow will be Peter Hansen, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, and I'm sure you will look forward to his briefing.

That's all I have for you.  Any questions before we go to Richard?  And a special welcome to our guests from Africa.

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Did the Secretary-General receive messages from President Bush and others on Cyprus?

Spokesman:  He has received messages from the United States, United Kingdom and the Netherlands concerning Cyprus.

Question:  Do you have anything on the ad hoc committee which we asked about yesterday?

Spokesman:  I don't have anything more on that.  We were unable to get anything for you yesterday afternoon?  (He later said that the committees have not met because the United Nations has not yet received a list of members from one of the parties.)

Question:  What's the next move by the Secretary-General on Cyprus?

Spokesman:  He is considering his options.  He's not ready to make a decision.  He realizes his time is short.  Okay, Richard.

Briefing by the Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly

Good afternoon.  In a message released today, on the first observance of the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict, General Assembly President Jan Kavan says that "the United Nations General Assembly established this day in order to strengthen awareness and vigorously prevent or condemn warfare that deliberately exploits or destroys the environment, that is our most precious and life-sustaining global public good.”

In his message, President Kavan goes on to say that, "In the past, the destruction of environment and natural resources affected the civilian population disproportionately to the combatants or armies.  In the current and recent conflicts around various regions, with the advances of technology and information, we have witnessed the destruction of environment on much larger scales, affecting much larger populations.  The consequences are felt by whole societies and nations.  With increasing capabilities in lethal warfare, this type of threat and destruction cannot be ignored anymore.  The only viable course of action, which would allow us to leave a sound planet to our heirs and their progeny, is to take preventive measures more vigorously and resolve disputes peacefully.” 

This message is released as a press release today and is on the President’s Web site.

The 2002 United Nations/FAO Pledging Conference for the World Food Programme is taking place this morning and the General Assembly is also holding open-ended informal consultations on Oceans and the Law of the Sea, and responding to global threats and challenges, under agenda item 44:  Follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit.

The Third Committee meets on Human Rights questions and hears introductory statements by Paulo Sergio Pinheiro (Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar), Gerhart Baum (Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Sudan) and Marie-Thérèse Keita-Bocoum (Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Burundi).  Those addresses are this morning.

This afternoon the Third Committee will hear from Julia Motoc (Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo).  And just as a heads-up, next Monday the Committee will hear from Jean Ziegler (Special Rapporteur on the right to food).

The Fifth Committee today discusses the United Nations common system, United Nations pension system, annual report of the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) and Financing of Peacekeeping Operations.

The Sixth Committee, among other items, discusses measures to eliminate international terrorism and the report of the Committee on Relations with the Host Country.

Tomorrow an NGO dialogue with delegates of the Second Committee on Financing for Development follow-up will take place at German House, 871 United Nations Plaza.  Among the speakers will be the Chairman of the Second Committee, Ambassador Marco Suazo of Honduras, and representatives of a number of civil society organizations.  Any media who would like to attend, please contact me for details.

And on Friday, World Bank President James Wolfensohn will deliver a keynote address to the General Assembly’s Second Committee on the topic “Making it Happen:  the new multilateralism and its implications for development.”  Details are available in a note to correspondents which is out on the racks.

Any questions?  Thank you.

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