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 Spokesman for the Secretary-General

**Statement Attributable to the Spokesman

The following statement is attributable to the Spokesman on the subject of Iraq:

“Yesterday, the Permanent Representative of Iraq to the United Nations sent a letter to the High-level Coordinator, Yuli Vorontsov, informing him that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iraq would welcome his visit to Baghdad.  This is the first time the Coordinator has been invited to visit Iraq.  No time has yet been set for the visit.”

**UNMOVIC

According to the daily report from Baghdad, a United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) team attended a test launch of a short-range ballistic missile being developed by Iraq.  The test took place at a test range approximately 200 kilometers west of Baghdad.  The missile is a modified version of a missile already owned by Iraq.  The missile range falls within that allowed under United Nations resolutions.  The UNMOVIC team was able to examine the missile before launch to verify its configuration.

Meanwhile, another UNMOVIC team visited a pharmaceutical plant specializing in antibiotics.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) teams conducted visits at five facilities, including an engineering plant, an electronics factory and a former nuclear site.

As for staffing, 28 inspectors from UNMOVIC arrived in Baghdad this afternoon, bringing the total of UNMOVIC and IAEA inspectors to 98.  The breakdown of inspectors is 71 inspectors from UNMOVIC and 27 inspectors from IAEA.

**Cyprus

On Cyprus, we are waiting to get an update from the Secretary-General’s Special Advisor for Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto, who, as you know, is in Copenhagen, as part of the intensive consultations going on regarding the revised proposal put forward by the Secretary-General.

**Security Council

In the Security Council, after consultations today in which there was discussion of draft presidential statements on Bosnia and Herzegovina, Prevlaka and Somalia, the Security Council began the first of two open meetings concerning United Nations peacekeeping missions that are wrapping up work in the Balkans this month.  All three statements are to be issued in meetings today.

The Secretary-General, speaking at that meeting, said it was a great pleasure to attend the meetings on the conclusion of the United Nations Missions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Prevlaka, both of which have successfully completed their mandates.

The end of the two Missions, he said, brought to an end an era of United Nations involvement in the former Yugoslavia, which has seen some of peacekeeping’s bitterest moments.  But the Bosnia Mission, he added, broke new ground in the techniques of United Nations civilian police operations, while the Prevlaka Mission maintained a favourable situation for an eventual negotiated settlement.

Jacques Klein, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Bosnia, also spoke and noted the upcoming completion of the Mission’s work at the end of this month.  He said the United Nations Mission was a success, adding, “A mandate has been implemented.  And there are visible signs that reform is at work”.

The meeting on Bosnia, which included speeches by the three-member Bosnian Presidency, was followed by one on the Prevlaka Mission, whose mandate will end on 15 December.  The Secretary-General, in his final report on Prevlaka, which is out on the racks today, welcomed the protocol signed by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Croatia two days ago on Prevlaka.

He added that he intends to keep a small core staff for the United Nations Mission for a few days beyond 15 December, to ensure the handover is conducted in a safe and orderly fashion, although that staff will not stay beyond the end of the month.

The Council then read out a Presidential Statement expressing its deep appreciation for the work done by the United Nations in Bosnia, and welcoming the European Union's decision to send a police mission there to start work on

1 January 2003.

This afternoon at 3:30, the Security Council has scheduled consultations on Burundi.

**Afghanistan

The United Nations is undertaking a quick review of the winter support programme in Afghanistan to see if there is a need to increase the winter package.  Nigel Fisher, the Deputy Special Representative, said in a press briefing today that the demand for winter support is much greater than expected.  The winter preparedness programme was covering about 2.1 million of the most vulnerable Afghans.  However, Nigel Fisher said, “we are getting requests from governors and others who say that besides those poorest of the poor, we still have a lot of people who need emergency aid”.

Fisher also gave some details of the appeal for next year’s “Transitional Assistance Programme for Afghanistan”, which will be launched in Oslo on

17 December.  He said:  “We will tell the donors that less resources needed to come through the United Nations; more should go directly through the Government”.  I'll try to straighten out that sentence later.

We have the transcript of his press briefing available in the office.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) meanwhile said that the delivery of emergency winter supplies is continuing for

3,350 internally displaced families in Spin Boldak, following the deaths of

10 children.

According to a health expert, the severe temperature drop to 15 degrees below zero seems to have been the primary cause of the deaths.  Reportedly, this region of Afghanistan rarely experiences sub-zero temperatures even during the height of the winter.

Also, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) is carrying out a Rabies Control Programme in major Afghan cities, aiming to vaccinate more than 150,000 dogs.  Rabies has been endemic in Afghanistan for many years, and the World Health Organization reports that rabid animals bite approximately 400 people throughout the country every month.  The programme is funded by Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

**Compensation Commission

We have a note here from the Compensation Commission on Iraq to the effect that, earlier today in Geneva, the United Nations Compensation Commission approved awards totaling $181 million.  The largest of those awards is for more than $100 million to Kuwait.

The press release from the Commission also refers to the next round of payments, which is scheduled to be made on 15 January.  The amount to be disbursed on that date is projected to be about $550 million, depending on the funds received during the next few weeks from the sale of Iraqi oil, under the Oil-for-Food programme.

We have more information upstairs.

**Middle East

From Lebanon, Terje Roed-Larsen, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, met today with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud during a one-day stay in Beirut.

Accompanied by Staffan de Mistura, the Secretary-General’s Personal Representative for Southern Lebanon, Mr. Larsen discussed with the Lebanese authorities a broad range of issues concerning the situation in the region prior to briefing the Security Council on 16 December and prior to the Quartet meeting in Washington on 20 December.

Larsen urged all parties to show full restraint.  He believed he “saw eye to eye with the Lebanese authorities on the situation”.

**Côte d'Ivoire

The Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Asma Jahangir, today expressed her serious concern about recent reports of extrajudicial executions, which are said to have taken place in Côte d’Ivoire.

In a press release, which we have upstairs, the Special Rapporteur urged all parties in the conflict to refrain from carrying out extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

She also affirmed the absolute necessity of identifying perpetrators and of ensuring that they are held accountable in conformity with international standards.

**Ethiopia-Eritrea

The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea reports today that the Military Coordination Commission (MCC) held its 14th meeting yesterday in Nairobi, Kenya, after an eight-month interlude.  The meeting was described as amicable and positive in all respects.

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, commended the two parties on the progress achieved to date in the peace process and urged them to continue their efforts toward the culmination of that process.

He underscored the importance of this new implementation phase, which centres on the demarcation of the final border, and called on the Commission to take up its military supporting responsibilities in that regard.

Among the topics discussed by the Commission was the process of demining in support of demarcation.  This task has, at the request of the Boundary Commission, been assigned by the Security Council to the United Nations Mission’s military demining assets with the consent of the Parties.

We have a press release with more details.

**International Year of Freshwater

On the International Year of Freshwater, to raise awareness and action to manage and protect freshwater resources, the General Assembly proclaimed 2003 the International Year of Freshwater, also called WaterYear 2003.  The Year was launched this morning at a panel discussion at which the Deputy Secretary-General, Louise Fréchette, made opening remarks.

She said the year should not only raise awareness of the more than a billion people worldwide who lack safe drinking water and sanitation, but should serve as a platform for creativity and promote participation.  She added that water problems should be a catalyst for cooperation rather than an issue of conflict.

In his message to mark the occasion, the Secretary-General said the world needs to improve its stewardship of water resources.  He said:  “Let us use the knowledge and technology at our disposal, and do our utmost to protect the world’s precious resources -– our lifeline for survival and sustainable development in the 21st century.”

We have a press kit with more information, including the full text of the messages of the Secretary-General and the Deputy Secretary-General as well as the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

**United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

The Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, will discuss drug control and rising levels of opiate abuse on his first visit to Central Asia, when he attends a two-day meeting on subregional drug control cooperation that begins tomorrow in Ashgabad, Turkmenistan.

All the countries neighbouring Afghanistan have suffered from rising levels of opiate abuse in recent years, with the prevalence rate in Central Asia estimated to be at 0.9 per cent of the population above the age of 15 -– or about three times the global level of opiate abuse.  The situation has had a dramatic effect on HIV/AIDS in the region, with data for last year suggesting that 88 per cent of all newly-recorded HIV cases were related to drug abuse involving injections.

We have a press release upstairs with more details.

On a related matter, the Office on Drugs and Crime and the Permanent Mission of Tajikistan are sponsoring a briefing tomorrow, starting at 3 p.m. in Conference Room 1, on Tajikistan’s role in combating narcotics traffic from Afghanistan.  The speaker will be General Rustam Nazarov, Director of the Tajikistan Drug Control Agency.

**Hazardous Wastes

At the Sixth meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, which took place in Geneva today, Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), delivered a message on behalf of the Secretary-General.

In that message, the Secretary-General pointed out that the 150 million tons of hazardous wastes generated in a year worldwide was simply not sustainable.  He added that the parties to the Convention and their partners in civil society should be commended for their efforts to address the challenge of reducing the risks from these substances, especially in developing countries.

Also at the meeting today, manufacturers of mobile phones will sign a declaration on the environmentally sound disposal of mobile phones.  This is expected to be the first of many collaborations between various industry sectors and the Basel Convention in the next few years.

We have the full text of the Secretary-General’s message and a press release available in my office.

**ICTY

Yesterday, the appeals chamber for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia set aside a subpoena for a reporter, Jonathan Randal of the Washington Post, to testify before the Tribunal.

In its judgment, the appeals chamber expressed the view that compelling war correspondents to testify before the Tribunal on a routine basis may have a significant impact upon their ability to obtain information and to inform the public.  It set forth a criterion for such testimony to be compelled:  that the evidence sought is of direct and important value in determining a core issue and cannot be reasonably obtained elsewhere.

We put out a press release yesterday afternoon with a summary of that judgment.

**Deputy Secretary-General

The Deputy Secretary-General will make the keynote address at the opening ceremonies of the Harvard Model United Nations Conference taking place at the Boston Park Plaza hotel at 5 p.m. today.

The Harvard Model United Nations attracts more than 2,000 students and faculty from around the world, who gather to represent countries in a simulation of the United Nations.

We will put out her speech as soon as it is available.

**Signings

This morning, India and Nepal signed the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, bringing the total of signatories to 147.

And then India, Poland and Lithuania signed the Protocol on firearms supplementing the same Convention.  India also signed the Protocols on trafficking in persons and on the smuggling of migrants.

**Press conferences

Finally, press conferences:  12:30 p.m. today, right after this briefing is over, we'll have the members of the Bosnian Presidency, Mirko Sarovic, the Presiding Member, Dragan Covic and Sulejman Tihic, speaking to you in this room.  And they will be accompanied by Dragan Mikerevic, the Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

And then tomorrow at noon, Jacques Klein has agreed to be our guest at the noon briefing.

Any questions before we go to Richard?

**Questions and Answers

Question: What would be the purpose of Mr. Vorontsov's visit?  When would it take place and had he been seeking an invitation?

Spokesman: The mandate that he has would require him -- to do his job effectively -- to travel to Iraq.  It was significant that Iraq had not extended an invitation to him all this time.  His mandate, of course, covers stolen property and missing persons.  So we would have to assume that those are the issues that he would hope to discuss when he got there.

And, as I've already said, there's no date yet for his travelling to Iraq.

Question: Can you tell us a bit more his mandate and what his role is?

Spokesman: I don't think I can, apart from what I've already said.  I'll give you his full title, which adds a few details because it's a mile long.

He is the High-level Coordinator for the repatriation of missing Kuwaiti or third-country nationals or their remains and the return of Kuwaiti property seized by Iraq in 1991 pursuant to paragraph 14 of Security Council resolution 1284 of 1999.  Now, I guess his title contains everything you need to know about his job description.

Question: Is it possible to get a copy of the Iraqi letter of invitation?

Spokesman: I'll have to see whether they requested this to be circulated as a document.  And if so, of course, we'll try to get you an advance copy or else the final printed copy.

Question: On another subject, the North Koreans said today that they're going to reactivate a nuclear power plant.  Does the Secretary-General have any concern that this could renew a nuclear crisis or start a nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula?

Spokesman: We would prefer to follow the International Atomic Energy Agency on their reaction to this event of today.  I haven't yet seen something come out of Vienna, but at this point, we here in the Secretariat, have no comment.

Question: Does Mr. Annan intend to go to Copenhagen?

Spokesman: He has no plans to go to Copenhagen.

Question: I understand the goal of Mr. de Soto's efforts is to get an overall agreement signed by the parties.  But given the short time, is he ready to settle for something less?  Let's say a joint statement of intentions.

Spokesman: The document that is on the table is really nothing more than a framework agreement for negotiations.  It's not a final settlement.  And so the hope is that they would agree on this framework in order to begin serious and intensive negotiations towards a final agreement.  That's what he and that's what all of us were hoping to get by the beginning, or before the beginning, of the summit that started today.  And, in a worse case scenario, by the end of

this summit in Copenhagen.  That's why Mr. de Soto is so energetically pursuing his mediation, his good offices rather, with the two parties in Copenhagen as we speak.

Should that fail, we're always prepared to continue seeking agreement, first on the framework and, hopefully, leading eventually to a final agreement.

Richard.

Briefing by Spokesman for President of the General Assembly

Good afternoon.  The Plenary this morning is continuing its discussion of oceans and the law of the sea.  Some 20 speakers and three observer organizations were inscribed to speak.  After they have spoken, the Assembly will take decisions on draft resolutions on the report of the Secretary-General, on drift-net fishing and conservation and management of straddling fish stocks in draft resolutions A/57/L.48, Rev. 1, L.49 and L.50 on those topics.

The Fifth Committee discusses programme budget for 2002-2003 and takes decisions on a long list of draft resolutions with financial implications. 

A panel event took place this morning to launch the International Year of Freshwater 2003.  After a screening of a video on freshwater, Deputy Secretary-General, Louise Fréchette, and Talbak Nazarov, Foreign Minister of Tajikistan, made statements.  And this was followed by a panel discussion moderated by Shashi Tharoor, Under-Secretary-General for the Department of Public Information and featured panellists, Nitin Desai, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs; June Clark, Barbados, Vice-President of the General Assembly, Milos Alcalay, Venezuela, Chairman of the Group of 77; and Gourisankar Ghosh, Executive Director of the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council.  That was followed by a performance of water songs by Pete Seeger and Bob Reid, and the Children's Choir of the United Nations International School.

The next meeting of the plenary will be on Monday morning, 16 December, to take action on draft resolutions that are ready for action by then.

One further note on the work of the Assembly, informal consultations on revitalisation of the General Assembly, agenda item 53, which were to be held next Monday are postponed to early January of next year.

Any questions?  Thank you.

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