6 March, 2003

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.

Good afternoon.  Our guest at the briefing today will be Olara Otunnu, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict.   He’ll be briefing us about a recent visit he made to Sierra Leone.

**Secretary-General on Iraq

The Secretary-General was asked today by a reporter whether there was still a chance to achieve Security Council unity and avoid a war with Iraq, and he conceded that “the positions are very hard now” in the Council.  But he noted that, with the arrival of many Foreign Ministers for tomorrow’s Security Council meeting on Iraq, there will still be a chance to discuss the matter calmly.

He noted that there are several proposals on the table, including the draft resolution submitted by the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain; the French-German-Russian proposal; and an idea offered by Canada.  He added, “Until there is an actual vote, you cannot tell what will happen”.  The Secretary-General said he was working hard to encourage all sides to strive for a compromise and seek common ground.  He noted, “To make concessions, you get concessions”.

We have the transcript of that press encounter available upstairs.

**Secretary-General’s Meetings

I was asked yesterday about the Secretary-General’s meetings with Ambassadors of the permanent members of the Security Council.  With the two meetings on his programme today, he will have met with all five permanent members as well as with the President of the Council.

These meetings were at his request and are on the subject of Iraq.  They were all one-on-one, or will be one-on-one, and there will be no read-outs.

**UNMOVIC

Our daily update on the work of the weapons inspectors in Baghdad tells us that a team from the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) supervised the destruction of six more Al-Samoud

2 missiles, bringing to 34 the number of missiles destroyed to date.  Another missile team observed the final concrete encasing of the two destroyed missile casting chambers at Al Mutasim.  Teams from UNMOVIC and IAEA conducted a series of other inspections as well today.  These include visits to a phosphate mine and sulphur production plant. 

For more information, pick up the briefing note upstairs.

**Security Council

A preview of tomorrow’s meeting of Iraq is as follows.  The Security Council has scheduled 10 a.m. for an open meeting on Iraq.  In response to your questions yesterday, as of this morning, the Council Presidency says that

11 Foreign Ministers and one Deputy Foreign Minister are expected to attend this meeting.  We hope to have the list of speakers in order of speaking order by the end of today.

Then at 4 p.m. tomorrow, consultations are scheduled on Iraq.  We will keep you notified of any changes.

Meanwhile, out as a Security Council document today is the joint statement on Iraq by the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of France, Russia and Germany adopted in Paris yesterday.

There are no Council consultations or meetings today.

**Press Arrangements

The media arrangements for tomorrow’s meeting will be similar to those we’ve had in place for other high level meetings of the Security Council.  The Council stakeout area will be limited to 300 special pass holders.  As always, resident correspondents will not need passes.

One hundred passes for the Security Council press gallery will be distributed on a first come first serve basis to print media journalists. Resident correspondents will need one of those passes to access the Security Council Chamber.  All passes can be picked up from the Media Liaison office on the second floor of this building, starting at 5 p.m. today.

Conference Room 1, in the basement, will be set up as an overflow room for media and staff.  Facilities in that room will be provided to broadcasters to record the Council proceedings.

For your colleagues that still do not have a grounds pass for the UN compound, the pass office in the UNITAR building will remain open until

6 tonight and reopen at 8 a.m. tomorrow.

**UNIKOM

The United Nations Mission in Iraq, between Iraq and Kuwait on the border, the UNIKOM, has reported numerous violations of the demilitarized zone between Iraq and Kuwait since 4 March, by personnel in civilian clothes, in 4x4 vehicles, at least some of whom were armed and identified themselves as U.S. Marines.

On 5 March, UNIKOM observed three breaches that had been cut in the electric fence erected by the Government of Kuwait along the border with Iraq in Sector North of the demilitarized zone.  UNIKOM has raised this matter with the Government of Kuwait and requested advance information of any similar future construction projects in the demilitarized zone.

This information is being brought to the attention of the President of the Security Council. 

**Statement Attributable to the Spokesman/Middle East

The following statement is attributable to the Spokesman.

“The Secretary-General deeply deplores the use of disproportionate and excessive force by the Israeli Defense Forces in the Jabalya Refugee Camp in Gaza earlier today, which reportedly led to the killing of 11 Palestinians and the injuring of more than 140.  Such military actions in densely populated areas, as well as the demolition of Palestinian homes, cannot be accepted as a legitimate means of self-defence and violate international humanitarian law.  The Secretary-General once again wishes to remind Israel of its obligations in this regard, and in particular, of the need to protect the lives of civilians.” 

**Arab Foreign Ministers

The Secretary-General’s meeting this afternoon with a group of Arab Foreign Ministers, as well as the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, known as the Presidential Committee, has been pushed back from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., due to the weather.  The Foreign Ministers at the meeting are from Tunisia, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, and Bahrain, in addition to the Arab League Secretary-General.

**Counter-Terrorism Committee

The Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee today convened a special meeting bringing together representatives of 60 international, regional and subregional organizations, and the Secretary-General opened the meeting this morning by pointing to the Council’s firm commitment to fight terrorism in every instance.

The Secretary-General warned that terrorists could do much more damage if they were to acquire weapons of mass destruction and said it has never been more important to strengthen the multilateral regimes to prevent the proliferation of such weapons.  He stressed the need to develop an international program of action to fight terrorism, founded on “an unshakable commitment to upholding the rule of law”.  And he also pointed to the compelling need to fight poverty and injustice, suffering and war, to help counter the conditions that serve as a justification to those who would commit terrorist acts.

We have his speech in my office.

Aside from the Secretary-General’s address, the rest of today’s meeting is closed, but a communiqué will be issued at the end of today’s proceedings.  The Counter-Terrorism Committee will discuss, in the coming weeks, an action plan and issue recommendations on coordinated global action by international, regional and subregional organizations.

**Afghanistan

In a report entitled “The Situation of Women and Children in Afghanistan”, the Secretary-General states that, despite positive developments, intimidation and violence by regional and local commanders against women continue unabated.  In many rural areas, the situation of women has not changed since the Taliban’s rule ended.

The report goes on to say that more efforts are needed to repeal legislative measures that discriminate against women and girls particularly with regard to education, access to healthcare, employment and political participation.  The report also states that overall high illiteracy levels of women and girls continue to be one of the key obstacles to their full participation in society.  Nevertheless, it also highlights that 30 per cent of the 3 million children who have returned to school since March 2002 are girls. 

The Secretary-General’s report is available in my Office.

Also on women’s education in Afghanistan, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is going to launch a new partnership with the Afghan Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, on International Women’s Day, to produce the country’s first literacy textbook for women, 79 per cent of whom are illiterate.  The textbook will focus on the subject of life skills within an Islamic context.  Chapters will concentrate on issues such as the importance of family, raising healthy children, food, the environment, housekeeping, respect and understanding, marriage, and employment.

**International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day is on Saturday and will be observed here tomorrow with a discussion on the theme “Gender Equality and the Millennium Development Goals”.  Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette will make opening remarks and is expected to emphasize that gender equality is essential to meeting the Millennium Development Goals.

The event will be chaired by Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, Shashi Tharoor, and speakers include High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Asia, Nafis Sadik.  The event will be webcast on the United Nations Web site.

We have embargoed copies of the Deputy Secretary-General’s remarks and the Secretary-General’s message on the Day has already been issued as a press release.  We also have a backgrounder and note with more information on tomorrow’s event, as well as a press release from UN agencies and programmes.

**Cyprus

There was a question yesterday on Cyprus, and I’d like to clarify that the Secretary-General has said that his plan is structured in such a way that, should a positive outcome be reached in The Hague, the two leaders can still, if both of them agree, make further refinements to the plan up until 25 March.

**Timor-Leste

From Timor-Leste, we have sad news that an accident involving Republic of Korea peacekeepers took place when a vehicle with two Korean peacekeepers on board got stuck when crossing a river with a strong current.  Three other South Korean soldiers from another vehicle tried to help them.  As a result, all five soldiers were swept away by the current.  According to the United Nations mission, four bodies have been found so far.

**Human Rights

High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira de Mello, in his first official visit to Washington since taking up his post, met yesterday afternoon, first with United States National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and then with President George W. Bush.

In his meetings, the High Commissioner discussed, among other topics, the treatment of detainees in the war on terror and the situation in Iraq.  Vieira de Mello raised his concerns about the detainees at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere.  They had a broad discussion on Iraq, and concurred that everything should be done to address the plight of the Iraqi people.

The High Commissioner also brought up his growing concerns regarding the human rights of both the Israelis and the Palestinians.  He also asked whether, in line with the US national security strategy, the United States could ensure that affordable AIDS drugs would be available to all who need them.

**Press Releases

We have a press release from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) today on a joint programme to assist the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) in HIV/AIDS prevention.  Sierra Leone has the largest peacekeeping mission in the world, and peacekeepers will be trained in HIV prevention and gender awareness.  Participating in the launch in Freetown today are Mike Sheehan, the Assistant Secretary-General in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Oluyemi Adeniji, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sierra Leone, and representatives from UNFPA and the United Nations Development Fund for Women.

We also have a press release from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on the launch of a new initiative on environmental awareness for children.  The programme aims to bring children closer to nature through sport and also to raise awareness that sports and sports facilities can adversely affect the environment.

Finally, we have received word from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, better known as UNESCO, that the Israeli journalist, Amira Haas, has been awarded the 2003 World Press Freedom Prize.  Haas has lived in, and reported on, the Palestinian territories for the last decade for the Israeli daily HA’ARETZ.  The press release has full details.

**Budget

In budget news today, Slovakia today became the 60^th Member State to pay its regular budget contribution for this year in full, with a payment of more than $580,000.  Also today, Japan made a payment of $428 million to the peacekeeping budget.

**Press Conference

Finally, a Press Conference this afternoon in this room at 1 p.m.,

40 minutes from now.  Jack Straw, the United Kingdom Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, will be here to talk to you.  That’s all I have.

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Just a couple questions about the removal of United Nations staff from Iraq.  If, in the event of military intervention in Iraq, when would United Nations staff be removed, and how exactly would that work?

Spokesman:  We’ve asked the United States Government to give us as much advance warning as they can.  And we’ve done, on a contingency basis, planning for the quickest possible evacuation of our staff.

Question:  Can you be more detailed as to how that would work?  Would everyone come out at once?

Spokesman: This falls into the category of security matters, and we tend not to discuss those in public.  So I can’t give you any more details.

Question:  With regard to the inspectors, Hans Blix has said he thinks it would take about 48 hours to get all the inspectors out.  But, how would they be notified?  Would that come from the U.S. to the United Nations and then through the streets?

Spokesman:  He has said that he would expect that the United States would notify the Secretary-General, who would immediately notify him, Mr. Blix.

Question:  Do you have a number of the peacekeepers in Sierra Leone, the world’s largest peacekeeping force? 

Spokesman: I have it in my Office.  I don’t have it in my head.  Sorry.

[He later said there were about 15,500 troops, military observers and civilian police.]

Question:  And also, the Women’s Day events tomorrow.  Will they be all over the map?  Or are they all in one conference room?

Spokesman: I think we have a handout in my office that will give you those details.