DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

AND THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT

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 General Assembly President.

Spokesman for Secretary-General

Good Afternoon.

**Secretary-General on Iraq

On entering the building today, the Secretary-General was asked about the situation in Iraq, and he drew attention to the need to take steps to ensure that calm is restored and that the civilian population is protected.  He also noted reports about the lack of medication and other challenges being reported in Iraq’s hospitals, and said that the United Nations is doing whatever it can to see how to get medicines in as soon as possible.  We have the transcript of that press encounter upstairs.

Yesterday afternoon, we told you that the Secretary-General had been invited by Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis, in his capacity as President of the European Union, to attend the European Conference in Athens on 17 April.  Since that occasion will provide him with the opportunity to meet with the leadership of the European Union, as well as other participating countries, he has decided not to travel to Europe today, as we had previously announced.  We will let you know what his full travel plans are once the plans have been firmed up, but for now, he will discuss the situation in Iraq with European leaders in Athens next Thursday.

**Humanitarian Briefing

The breakdown of law and order in Baghdad and in Basra has been accompanied by widespread looting, said the Spokesman for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs during today’s daily United Nations briefing in Amman, Jordan.

The longer the situation remains out of control, the more difficult it will be to start humanitarian relief operations and the greater the delay in beginning the work of reconstruction, he said.  The operating environment for humanitarian assistance requires secure access to populations in need.  That environment does not yet exist, except in Umm Qasr and from Turkey, in the north.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) issued a warning today that despite significant progress in humanitarian cross-border trucking operations, early attempts by UNICEF to reach Iraqi children and women were being significantly hampered by what it called "a residue of fear and chaos".

Praising the courage of civilian contract drivers venturing into recently fought-over towns and cities to deliver aid, UNICEF Executive Director
Carol Bellamy said that all forces which controlled territory were also obliged to provide secure access to civilian populations. 

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) also expressed its concern about the general lawlessness that is apparent in parts of Iraq.  The UNHCR's fears that growing chaos in Iraq's cities and the precarious humanitarian situation could combine to spark the displacement of civilians.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has highlighted the dire situation of hospitals in Baghdad where a growing number of patients are going without basic medical needs and services.  The WHO is flying more medical supplies into Jordan and is looking into urgent ways of getting those items into Iraq.

**Iraq –- Human Rights

High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira de Mello is deeply disturbed by reports of the increasing number of deaths and injuries of civilians during the Iraq conflict.

He said, “The impact on civilians must never be underestimated, for it is truly terrible in a way that words simply cannot convey”.  He noted his appeal to all parties to make distinctions between combatants and non-combatants, adding, “The most precious right of all is the right to life.”

Citing reports that hospitals can no longer cope with the influx of the wounded and running low on essential medicines, he praised the work being done by Iraqi medical staff and volunteers, as well as by the International Committee of the Red Cross and other groups.

The High Commissioner also voiced his concern that the fighting has already claimed the lives of roughly a dozen journalists, and added that the right to freedom of information suffers “a fatal blow” when journalists are killed or wounded.

Yesterday afternoon, after our briefing, the Director-General of the United Nations Scientific, Educational and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Koïchiro Matsuura, issued a statement deploring the heavy toll paid by the press in Iraq and reminding the belligerents of their obligation to treat journalists as civilians.  He recalled that article 79 of the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions states that, “Journalists engaged in dangerous professional missions in areas of armed conflict shall be considered as civilians”.  The full text of both statements is available upstairs.

**Security Council

The Security Council held consultations on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The subject was introduced under the heading of a letter dated 12 February sent by Mohamed ElBaradei, the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which transmits the Agency’s Board of Governors’ declaration on the DPRK’s non-compliance with the Treaty of Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

As you will recall, Security Council President, Ambassador Adolfo Aguilar Zinser of Mexico, said at the beginning of the month that the topic was being tackled one day before the date when the DPRK would be dispensed from its NPT obligations, from which it had withdrawn.

This morning, the Secretary-General responded to questions about today’s consultations.  He said that “everyone has been trying to ensure that it is dealt with peacefully” and noted that his Special Envoy, Maurice Strong, who has been in the region twice, is trying to get everyone talking.  In the meantime, he said, the United Nations is providing humanitarian assistance to the North Koreans.  The Secretary-General also said “the next step really is to get the parties talking and to find a format that will be acceptable to both parties and bring them to the table to talk.”

**SARS

The WHO expert team which visited Guangdong Province, China, to investigate the outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, today issued its interim report and recommendations on the local SARS situation to the Chinese health authorities.  The four-person team had been in Guangdong since 3 April.

According to the report, the outbreak in Guangdong Province appears to have been contained, but there was an urgent need to improve surveillance in rural districts.  The team also found that resources to deal with the outbreak need to be strengthened in the poorer provinces.

The team recommended that the reporting system established in Guangdong to track SARS cases is an excellent model and should be followed in other provinces.  They also recommended that the Guangdong experience in treating the outbreak should be used to develop uniform standards for the country.

Today’s figures indicate a total of 2,722 SARS cases in 18 different countries, with 106 deaths.  We have a press release with more information.  And also, Dr. David Heyman from WHO in Geneva will be our guest at the noon briefing next Tuesday to take your questions on SARS.

**Liberia

Humanitarian agencies are flagging their concerns about the deteriorating situation in Liberia.  Widespread fighting in western, northern, and eastern Liberia is cutting off those most in need from humanitarian aid.  Aid agencies in Liberia fear the supplies they have will not be enough to meet growing needs.  An increasing number of Liberians are being forced to flee within their own borders, many of them for the second or third time.

With the rainy season fast approaching and numbers of displaced persons on the rise, United Nations humanitarian agencies and their non-governmental organization (NGO) partners are trying to cope with shortages in shelter materials.  Shortages have also prompted the World Food Programme to reduce the rations of food it will distribute for April and May.  To date, donors have provided just 2 per cent of the $42.6 million in funding required under the 2003 United Nations humanitarian appeal for Liberia.  United Nations humanitarian agencies urge donors to enable them to assist vulnerable Liberians by urgently funding this appeal.

**Cuba

The High Commissioner for Human Rights today expressed concern over the arrests and ongoing trials of approximately 80 people in Cuba, who were charged with working with a foreign power to undermine the Cuban Government.
Sergio Vieira de Mello said he was requesting Cuba to provide detailed information on the trials urgently.  He said, “There are questions about the fairness of such expedited proceedings, which have been closed to the public and observers, and I am calling for transparency.”  He said Cuba must ensure that those accused obtain due process, including the right to an adequate defence.  We have copies of that statement available upstairs.

**Chile

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Mark Malloch Brown is in Chile today, where he spoke yesterday at the Conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Santiago.  He told the assembled parliamentarians to make the Millennium Development Goals the “pocketbook issues” for their voters and to demand more from their Governments to achieve those goals.

Mr. Malloch Brown yesterday also met with Chilean President Ricardo Lagos Escobar, and they discussed the UNDP’s role in Chile, as well as the recent developments in the Security Council, on which Chile sits.  Today, before he departs the country, he is scheduled to participate in a seminar on global social responsibility, in which nine major Chilean companies are to sign on to the Secretary-General’s Global Compact.

**World’s Largest Lesson

The United Nations Children's Fund brought together about 350 children and United Nations staff this morning as part of a global attempt to break the world record for the largest lesson.  The lesson, on the value and urgency of girls’ education, was led by Nane Annan, wife of the Secretary-General, and global music star Angelique Kidjo.  The Secretary-General stopped by at the beginning of the event and spoke briefly to the children, congratulating them on what they were about to accomplish. 

In addressing the children, Mrs. Annan said “You don’t have to be an expert to realize that girls need education to participate fully in society and pull themselves out of poverty…  What you do need is to care.”  In my office, we have a message by the Secretary-General to commemorate the event, in which he notes that studies have shown that there is no tool for development more effective than the education of girls.  “Let this be not only the world’s biggest ever lesson”, he says, “ but a lesson that the world will never forget.”  And you should pick up some lapel stickers.  It says “Go Girls”.

**ICTY

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia confirmed an indictment against Duska Jovanovic, the director of a media company that publishes the Montenegrin newspaper DAN, for contempt of court, alleging that he disclosed to the public the identity of a protected witness in the trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.  That witness, identified in court documents as K32, has received death threats since his identity was made public, the Tribunal added.  We have more details in a press release.

**Bosnia

Although the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina finished its work at the end of last year, the United Nations is maintaining a liaison office in Sarajevo, which is supporting the tasks of the European Union Police Mission that succeeded the United Nations peacekeepers, and that office has launched a new Web site providing information on its work.  The Web site address is www.unlos-bih.org.

**Signings

One treaty signing to tell you about today.  Gambia became the 167th country to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.

**World Chronicle TV Programme

And finally, the World Chronicle programme 886 is going to feature
Georg Kell, the Executive Head of the Global Compact in the Office of the Secretary-General.  You can see that today at 3:30 p.m. on in-house television channels 3 or 31.

Anything before we go to Richard?  Mohammed?

Questions and Answers

Question:      Regarding the recent developments, what will be the fate of the Iraqi Ambassador to the United Nations?

Spokesman:  That’s a matter for General Assembly members to decide.  First, it’s a matter of governments to decide because the United Nations does not recognize governments; governments recognize governments.  And so, it would go through the Credentials Committee of the General Assembly.  Should there be a new authority, that would send an ambassador.  And then it would be for that Committee to decide what to do with the request for credentials for a new ambassador.  But, as of now, the status quo remains.  Yes?

Question:   Can you comment on reports, specifically reports about the looting in Baghdad, that the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad had been looted and the United Nations inspectors’ vans have been stolen?

Spokesman:  We don’t have much more detail; I think we’re still trying to get them.  But I did, I don’t know if you were here in the beginning, but I did read something about our reaction to that looting and the impact that it’s going to have on our humanitarian work.  And if you want to check with my office afterwards, maybe they can put you in touch with someone in Amman, Jordan, who can give you more details.  Yes?

Question:   Just to follow up on my colleague’s question.  I mean, Iraq was one of the founders of the United Nations.  I just want to know, legally speaking what the position of Iraq would be now with regard to membership at the United Nations?  I mean, I am aware that the United Nations does not recognize governments; governments recognize governments.

Spokesman:  There is no impact on membership.  Iraq is a member; is a founding member of the United Nations.  The question may come up as to who should represent Iraq at the United Nations, and that’s what the Credentials Committee will deal with should it come up.

Question:   Can you tell me just one more please?  I am aware of the statement made by the Secretary-General this morning.  But, have events going on in Iraq right now brought the United Nations in any way closer to a clearer vision of what role it wants to play in post-war Iraq?

Spokesman:  No, the Security Council will have to deal with that issue.  The Secretary-General’s Special Adviser, Rafeeuddin Ahmed, has been meeting with a number of Council members at their request.  The Secretary-General made him available to them should they want to discuss ideas.  So, at some point that will go forward in the Council as a whole.  At the time being, to my knowledge, it’s just being discussed by individual members, either among themselves or with Rafeeuddin Ahmed.  And then of course the two permanent members of the Council are leading the coalition that is fighting in Iraq and they will, and do now, have responsibility for the humanitarian situation in the areas they control.  And our first objective as the United Nations will be getting our international humanitarian workers back into Iraq and we will do that in consultation to whatever authority controls whatever part of Iraq that we deem might be stabilized enough for us to continue working there.

Question:   One question? 

Spokesman:  Hans?

Question:   I understand there were some very important discussions between the Secretary-General with Mr. Solana of the European Union regarding Iraq and the role of the United Nations?  Is there any follow up?  I mean, will the Secretary-General cancel his trip to Europe today, will there be another meeting, will there be another consultation between the Secretary-General and the European Union on that issue?

Spokesman:  Well, his discussions with Mr. Solana were indeed on Iraq, but also on the Middle East and a number of other subjects.  For the
Secretary-General, follow-up would be the talks he will have next week in Athens with European Union leaders.

**Statement Attributable to the Spokesman

I would just finish, if I may, with a statement attributable to the Spokesman on events in the Middle East.

“The Secretary-General is deeply concerned by Israel’s air attack last night in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City that resulted in the deaths of seven Palestinians and the wounding of dozens more.  He deplores the use of excessive force in a densely populated area and reiterates his opposition to extra-judicial killings.  While he recognizes Israel’s right of self-defence, the Secretary-General again calls on Israel to conduct itself in a manner fully consistent with its obligations under international humanitarian law.

“The Secretary-General reiterates his strongly held conviction that the only way out of the cycle of violence and retaliation is an immediate cessation of violence by all parties and a return to the negotiating table.  He believes that the best path to a just and comprehensive peace is through the full implementation of the Quartet’s Road Map, which will soon be presented to the parties.”

Spokesman:  Yes?

Question:   Fred, I was just listening to what you were saying about Iraq, et cetera.  I hope that I didn’t miss anything?  But, what do you consider as the vital role for the United Nations?  Could you give us some light please?

Spokesman:  If you just check yesterday’s briefing notes, I took that question yesterday, if you don’t mind?  I answered that question fully yesterday; it came up yesterday.  The quote was from yesterday.  Richard.

      Spokesman for General Assembly President

Thank you, good afternoon.

Late yesterday a letter was received by the President of the General Assembly from the Chairman of the Arab Group, the Permanent Representative of Yemen, requesting inclusion of a new agenda item “the situation in Iraq” in the current fifty-seventh session of the General Assembly. 

The letter which is being translated today, will be issued tomorrow morning as document A/57/236.  The General Committee of the General Assembly will consider this request for inclusion of a new agenda item at a meeting on Friday morning.

Also on Friday, the plenary will hold a discussion on the role of diamonds in fuelling conflict.  That would be in the plenary.

And tomorrow, Thursday, 10 April, the General Committee will meet to consider inclusion of an additional agenda item submitted by Oman entitled “Global road safety crisis”.

President Kavan concluded his visit to Austria yesterday with an address to the forty-sixth session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, and meetings

with officials of the United Nations bodies headquartered in Vienna and a press briefing, for which we have a summary, which is available at the documents counter.

President Kavan will be returning to New York this afternoon.  He will meet tomorrow morning with the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Amre Moussa, and following that he will meet with Chairman of the Arab Group, Abdullah Alsaidi, also tomorrow morning.

Any questions?  Yeah?

Question:   I didn’t get this, what is the subject related to diamonds that you mentioned?

Spokesman for Assembly President:      On Friday, there is a plenary in the General Assembly on the role of diamonds in fuelling conflicts.

Question:   In “fuelling”?

Spokesman for Assembly President:      Yes, that is the agenda item.  I believe it’s agenda item 27.   

Thank you.

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