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 Stephane Dujarric, Associate Spokesman for the Secretary-General, and Richard Sydenham, Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly.

Briefing by the Secretary-General’s Associate Spokesman

Good afternoon.  I would start off today with a statement attributable to the Spokesman on Cyprus.

Today in The Hague, in the Netherlands, the Secretary-General met with his Special Adviser on Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto, to take stock of efforts to solve the Cyprus problem.

The Secretary-General is encouraged by the generally positive reaction to his plan that is emerging, and wants to press ahead with the parties in accordance with the calendar which is part and parcel of the plan and which is designed to take advantage of the opportunity that is available now.

They discussed steps for engaging the parties intensively in the next week or so.  The Secretary-General looks forward to receiving their substantive reactions with a view to moving ahead in earnest.

The Secretary-General will also remain in contact with the Prime Ministers of Greece and Turkey on the matter, and his Special Adviser will return to the region to continue consultations.

**Secretary-General on killing of UNRWA Staffer in Jenin

The Secretary-General is saddened by the death of Mr. Ian Hook, the Project Manager of UNRWA’s Jenin Camp Rehabilitation Project this morning in Jenin Refugee Camp.

The full circumstances surrounding the incident have not yet been established, but the Secretary-General is greatly disturbed by the fact that the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) refused immediate access for an ambulance, which had been summoned by UNRWA to take Mr. Hook to a hospital.  Mr. Hook subsequently died before reaching the hospital.

The Secretary General has on a number of previous occasions called on the IDF to allow ambulances unimpeded access to the sick and the injured.  The Secretary-General expects to issue a further statement.  Meanwhile, he extends his heart-felt condolences to the family of the victim.

**UNRWA on Jenin Killing

The UNRWA today confirmed the death of a senior manager, Ian Hook, while he was organizing the evacuation of UNRWA staff from their compound in the Jenin camp.  He was shot dead and at the time of his death the source of the gunfire was not absolutely certain.

The Agency’s Commissioner-General, Peter Hansen, said he could only hope that his family could take some small comfort and pride in the knowledge that Mr. Hook lost his life while trying to save those of others.  Mr. Hansen also expressed his sadness and anger at his loss, saying, “increasingly in this conflict, UNRWA staff are facing difficult and dangerous situations just to carry out our humanitarian mandate”.

We have copies of Mr. Hansen’s statement available upstairs.

**Secretary-General in the Netherlands

As I mentioned, the Secretary-General was in the Netherlands today.  Earlier, he met with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers for one of their periodic discussions.  Mr. Lubbers also accompanied the Secretary-General to the launch of the Declaration of The Hague, a document produced by the Society for International Development of the Netherlands, which contains 21 principles for more humane government policies to deal with migrants.

In accepting the Declaration, the Secretary-General stressed that “immigrants and refugees should not –- and must not -– be seen as a burden”.  If the issue of migration is tackled properly, he added, citizens of developed and developing countries alike will come to understand how its benefits far outweigh the problems it may bring.

“Politicians have a choice to make,” the Secretary-General said.  “They can embrace the potential that migrants and refugees represent, or instead could use them as political scapegoats”.

We have copies of his statement upstairs.

He then held a press encounter, in which he reiterated his challenge to world leaders not to scapegoat migrants.  The Secretary-General went on to meet with the judges of the International Court of Justice, who reviewed with him their caseload.  The Secretary-General briefed them on his meeting with the Presidents of Cameroon and Nigeria last Friday, following the Court’s ruling last month on their border dispute.

After meeting with the leaders of the United Nations of the Netherlands and thanking them for their work, the Secretary-General had a working luncheon with his Special Adviser on Cyprus which I just mentioned to you.

On Sunday, the Secretary-General will leave the Netherlands for France.

**Security Council

As you know, the Security Council just broke out.  They held closed consultations today on the Secretary-General’s Report on the United Nations operation in Cyprus.  A draft resolution which recommends an extension of the mandate of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus for a further period of six months, until June 15 2003, was introduced.

And under other matters, the extension of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan was discussed and a resolution was also introduced to extend its mandate.

**UNMOVIC

Today in London, Hans Blix, Executive Director of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair for about 30 minutes at No. 10 Downing Street.  Mr. Blix briefed the Prime Minister on his recent visit to Baghdad and his discussions with the Iraqi Foreign Minister and other senior Iraqi officials on the status of preparations for the resumption of weapons inspections on 27 November.

As you’ll recall, Mr. Blix had conferred in Paris with the Foreign Ministers of France and Mexico on his way to Baghdad.  The stop in London on his return from Baghdad was an opportunity for Mr. Blix to brief the Prime Minister in the context of his continuing consultations with Security Council members.

And, as you know, as we’ve already told you, Mr. Blix is expected to brief the Security Council in closed consultations on Monday afternoon, here in New York.

Meanwhile, we’ve been informed by our colleagues in Baghdad that the first batch of inspectors, who will arrive on 25 November, will include 12 from UNMOVIC and six from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

**Kosovo

The United Nations Mission in Kosovo announced today that four former Kosovo Albanian members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, including Commander Rrustem Mustafa, were indicted earlier this week by an international prosecutor for war crimes committed against other Kosovo Albanian citizens during 1998 and 1999.  The charges against them include illegal arrest and detention, as well as inhumane treatment, torture and murder.

The defendants remain in detention pending trial.

Also on Kosovo, the Security Council has agreed to send a Mission to Kosovo and to Belgrade, from 13 to 17 December, under the leadership of Ambassador Ole Peter Kolby of Norway.  A letter from the Council President to the Secretary-General, including the terms of reference for the Mission, is out on the racks today.

**UNHCR

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) noted its massive effort in both the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the neighbouring Republic of Congo to provide identity cards to refugees and asylum seekers.  That operation got underway today in Kimaza, where some 2,000 refugees from the Republic of the Congo will receive their identity cards.

According to government estimates, there are some 440,000 refugees and asylum seekers in those two countries.

You can pick up more information in UNHCR’s briefing notes, which also includes information about UNHCR efforts to interview the residents of the Sangatte reception centre in northern France, to hear asylum seekers’ claims from the roughly 1,900 people with valid badges in that reception centre.

**Human Rights

A couple of human rights notes.

The Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on the question of torture, Theo van Boven, will be undertaking a fact-finding mission to Uzbekistan from 24 November to 6 December 2002 at the invitation of the Government.

And Juan Miguel Petit, the Special Rapporteur dealing with the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, will visit France next week, starting on Monday, at the Government’s invitation, to examine the trafficking of children into and through France.

We have a press release available with more details on his visit.

**Press Releases

The World Health Organization (WHO) reveals that 7 per cent of deaths among women aged 15 to 44 years are due to violence.  The World Report on Violence and Health says that nearly half of the women victims of homicide are killed by their current or former male partners.  The report also highlights

a number of promising prevention programmes, including social development, reducing alcohol availability and access to firearms, reducing inequalities and strengthening law enforcement and judicial systems.

We have a press release with more information available upstairs.

From the United Nations Regional Inter-Agency Coordination Support Office in Southern Africa, we are informed that humanitarian relief operations in the region face a shortage of 400,000 metric tons of food.  Urgent humanitarian needs are not limited to food aid and there is also a need for assistance in the health, education and fuel sectors.

We also have a press release from the Secretariat of the Convention to Combat Desertification on the two-week meeting of the Committee to Review the Implementation of that Convention, which ended in Rome today.  The meeting discussed ways to improve implementation of the Convention and the conclusions and findings will be presented to the next Conference of Parties.

From the United Nations Development Programme, they’ve announced today that it had signed a project worth $5.5 million today with the Government of Viet Nam, to help develop a “democratic, clean, professional, efficient and effective administration system” in that country by 2010.  The support will focus on assisting the ministries of home affairs, justice and finance, and the Office of the Government.

**Budget

Today, the peacekeeping budget received another very large contribution from the United Kingdom, which made a payment of more than $46 million.

**Guest on Monday

Our guest on Monday will be Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).  Ms. Heyzer will brief on the International Day to End Violence Against Women, which is being observed on Monday, and she will also discuss UNIFEM’s Trust Fund for Violence Against Women.

**World Chronicle

World Chronicle programme number 877, with Professor Nayyar of the World Institute for Development Economics Research and Nitin Desai, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, will be shown this afternoon on in-house channels 31 and 3.

We also have upstairs copies of the weekly Week Ahead.

Any questions?

**Questions and Answers:

Question:  The Norwegian Ambassador was scheduled to meet with correspondents in the UNCA club I think at 4 o’clock this afternoon for a briefing.  I wonder if this appointment was made before there had been a change in his plans.

Associate Spokesman:  I don’t know.  I would be happy to check with the Norwegian Mission for you.

Question:  What is the United Nations doing about a United Nations employee in Pretoria named Faith Zake, who is currently being detained by the Government at an illegal immigration detention centre?

Associate Spokesman:  It is the first I‘ve heard of it, but I will look into it.

[The Associate Spokesman later said that United Nations officials were trying to locate her.  The United Nations was also working with the South African Mission in New York to that end.]

Question:  How many United Nations staff have been killed during the last two, three years?

Associate Spokesman:  I don’t have the full figures.  What I can tell you is that Mr. Hook’s death…he was the first UNRWA international staff member to have been killed since the beginning of this Intafada.  But you will recall that earlier this year a Palestinian guard inside an UNRWA ambulance was killed and we issued a statement at that time.  And, not counting Mr. Hook’s death, UNRWA has had 10 casualties since 1992.

Question:  Do you have any indication today if Mr. Denktash is going to give you an answer?

Associate Spokesman:  We do know that Mr. Denktash has had health problems and he remains in New York.  He has indicated that he needs a bit more time for consultations and we do hope that we will be getting some more definitive remarks from him in the future.

Question:  He has asked for an extension for a week, can you confirm that?

Associate Spokesman:  No I can’t.  Any more questions?  Thank you.

Briefing by the Spokesman for the General Assembly President

Good afternoon.

The General Assembly Plenary this morning is taking action on reports of the First Committee on Disarmament and International Security agenda items. There are 17 items under consideration (documents A/57/ 501-517).

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) is expected to take action this afternoon on outstanding draft resolutions on implementation and follow-up to the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions, and protection of the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities.  That’s in the Third Committee this afternoon.

And on Monday, the Plenary will discuss the report of the Secretary-General on strengthening of the coordination of humanitarian assistance, special economic assistance to individual countries or regions.

Any questions?

Question:  Do you know when the General Assembly is going to take up the Third Committee resolutions?

Spokesman:  At this point I do not have a definite date for that.

Thank you very much, have a good weekend.

      THE WEEK AHEAD AT THE UNITED NATIONS

      Sunday, 24 November

The Secretary-General will arrive in Paris, France, where he will pay an official visit.

      Monday, 25 November

In Paris, the Secretary-General will hold meetings with President Jacques Chirac and other senior French officials.

The Security Council is expected to hold an open meeting to consider a resolution on the “oil-for-food” programme for Iraq, the current phase of which expires today.  It will also hold consultations on Liberia sanctions in the morning and on Iraq, with a briefing by United Nations chief weapons inspector Hans Blix, in the afternoon.

Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and the guest at the noon briefing will be Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).

The 14th meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer will take place in Rome.  For more information, see www.unep.org/ozone

      Tuesday, 26 November

The Secretary-General will end his trip to Europe, returning to New York. The Deputy Secretary-General will speak at an event marking World AIDS Day, which will be formally observed on 1 December.  Also, at 10 a.m., Desmond Johns, Director of the New York Office of the Joint United Nations Programme against HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), will brief the press on World AIDS Day.

      Thursday, 28 November

Today is Thanksgiving Holiday, and United Nations Headquarters in New York will be closed.

      Friday, 29 November

Today is the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

Over the weekend, Colombia will replace China in the Presidency of the Security Council.

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