DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
| Press Briefing |
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.
**Guests at Noon
We will be joined today by Dileep Nair, the Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services, and Ambassador Peter Kolby of Norway, who will be talking about the Organizational Integrity Initiative, which the UN is undertaking to mainstream ethics and integrity within the Organization. And you will be hearing from them in just a few minutes.
**Statement Attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General
The following statement is attributable to the Spokesman in connection with events today in Gaza:
“The Secretary-General is deeply disturbed by Israeli military incursions today in Gaza City and the Rafah refugee camp, in which at least eight Palestinians were killed and many others injured. He stresses that such actions, including the reported house demolitions, are contrary to international humanitarian law. He believes that they contradict the international community’s efforts to restart the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, following yesterday’s presentation of the “Road Map” to the parties.”
“The Secretary-General remains convinced that there is no military solution to this conflict and calls on Israel to work with Prime Minister Abu Mazen to establish effective cooperation ensuring security for both Israelis and Palestinians. He again urges the parties to embrace the Road Map and to work for its early implementation.”
**Statement Attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General
The second statement concerns the earthquake in Turkey.
“The Secretary-General is deeply saddened by the loss of life, injuries and destruction caused by an earthquake in the Bingol Province of Turkey this morning. He wishes to convey his deepest condolences to the families of the deceased and to the Government of Turkey.”
“The United Nations has deployed a Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team to support the Turkish Government in the coordination of international response to the emergency, and assist in a rapid assessment of priority needs.”
**UN International Staff Returns to Baghdad
About two hours ago, UN international staff arrived at the Canal Hotel in Baghdad -– the long-time UN headquarters in the Iraqi capital. International staff had left Baghdad on 18 March, just prior to the start of the hostilities.
The Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Ramiro Lopes da Silva, led the
21- person team, which traveled overland from Amman, Jordan.
Upon arrival, the team was greeted by a large number of UN national staff, who had made great effort to repair and clean up as much of the facilities as possible. Over 70 per cent of the UN offices had been looted during the fighting in Baghdad.
Speaking to the national staff, da Silva thanked them and expressed his deep satisfaction at the work they had continued to do on behalf of the UN under very difficult circumstances.
The team, which includes representatives of the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, the UN Children’s Fund and the UN Development Programme, will now focus on getting a first-hand assessment of the urgent humanitarian needs of the population, so as to get UN humanitarian programmes back up and running.
The arrival of the senior delegation in Baghdad will bring to more than
60 the number of UN international staff working in Iraq. Additional staff will enter the country in the north, centre and south during the month of May to increase the delivery of humanitarian assistance to those in need.
**Amman
Today was the last humanitarian press briefing in Amman, Jordan. In the next couple of days, press briefings will start up again in Baghdad.
The World Health Organization said that three truckloads of aid have arrived in Baghdad. One of the refrigerated trucks was carrying some meningitis and polio vaccines and surgical kits as part of the Norwegian Government donation. These kits are sufficient to carry out one thousand surgical operations. Blood bank kits also arrived to ensure safety from HIV and hepatitis.
For its part, the World Food Programme (WFP) noted that the humanitarian corridor that was established from Kuwait earlier this week is picking up momentum. Today, WFP is sending a total of 29 trucks into the southern Iraqi cities of Basra and Nasiriya.
WFP staff members in Basra have been able to retrieve the records of all 1.8 million beneficiaries of food rations in the province. This is a very important development to guarantee the delivery of food rations to all the population of this province when the Public Distribution System is reactivated.
For more on these and other humanitarian items, please pick-up the briefing notes in my office.
**Security Council
Pakistani Ambassador to the United Nations Munir Akram has succeeded Ambassador Adolfo Aguilar Zinser of Mexico as President of the Security Council for the month of May.
There are no meetings or consultations of the Security Council today as the Council President is holding bilateral meetings on the work programme for the month.
Ambassador Akram is scheduled to brief you tomorrow, here in room 226, after the Security Council approves the program of work. We expect that to take place around 12:30 p.m. tomorrow.
**Sierra Leone Special Court
Alan White, the chief of investigations for the Sierra Leone Special Court, says that the Court’s investigators have received credible information that two of its indicted suspects are currently in Liberia.
White appealed to Liberian President Charles Taylor to hand over the two suspects, Johnny Paul Koromah and Sam Bockarie, who face charges of crimes against humanity at the Special Court. He said his office was trying to reach out to West African leaders to obtain their help in securing a handover of the two suspects.
The Special Court also put out a press release today, rebutting allegations by a Nigerian lawyer that the Court had mistreated him. We have that release upstairs.
**Afghanistan
The first National Conference and Workshop to promote Sports for All in Afghanistan began today in Kabul. The three-day event, organized by the Afghan National Olympic Committee, with support from the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, will discuss the challenges to achieve sports for all in Afghanistan, in particular access by women, children and the disabled.
It is expected that a Kabul Declaration on Sports for All in Afghanistan, outlining the priority action areas for the future, will be signed.
You can find copies of a press briefing note from Kabul with more information in my office.
**UNICEF
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) yesterday said it was concerned about the recent breakdown in the ceasefire in northern Uganda and the reports, in the last few days, of renewed abductions of children and women by the Lord’s Resistance Army. Since the conflict began, an estimated
20,000 children have been abducted, more than 5,000 in the last year alone.
In a statement, Carol Bellamy, UNICEF’s Executive Director, urged both the Government and the Lord’s Resistance Army to renew efforts to agree on a ceasefire and guarantee humanitarian access to the area. She called on the parties to the conflict to do everything in their power to secure the release and return of all abducted women and children.
In other news, UNICEF also announced today a new contribution from the Government of Canada of $66 million to support immunization and health programmes. The funds will help expand routine vaccination of children against tuberculosis, measles, diphtheria and tetanus as well as the highly successful Vitamin A supplementation campaign.
We have the full text of the statement and a press release in my office.
**Press Freedom Day
World Press Freedom Day will be observed tomorrow, and the Department of Public Information and Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs will mark the occasion this afternoon, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., with a panel discussion at Columbia on “Freedom of Expression in Cyberspace”.
The event is open to the public, and a press release is on the racks with more information.
Tomorrow, to mark Press Freedom Day, the Secretary-General will issue a message and a statement, which we’ll put out in the morning.
**New UNIFEM report
There has been encouraging improvement in the representation of women in legislatures around the world, but the progress of women in the areas of education, literacy and employment continues to be slow. So says a new report launched today by the United Nations Development Fund for Women, UNIFEM. “Progress of the World’s Women 2002” is the second edition of a biennial publication that tracks and measures the world’s commitment to gender equality. The current report looks at the progress towards women’s empowerment in the context of the Millennium Development Goals.
We have a press release with more information and the report is available on the UNIFEM Web site.
**34 Million Friends of UNFPA campaign
The United Nations Population Fund announced today that a grassroots campaign in the United States has raised $1 million to support the Fund’s programmes. The campaign, called the “34 Million Friends of UNFPA” raised most of the money through small donations from Americans who wanted to help replace funds withheld by the United States Government last year.
“This campaign highlights the power of individuals to make a difference”, said Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, UNFPA Executive Director. “It also shows that the American people support the right of all women to have quality health care and to be able to plan their families”, she said.
We have a press release with more on that.
**Africa Tightens Surveillance Over SARS
The World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday in Brazzaville, Congo, that African countries have tightened their health surveillance systems, with a view to ensuring prompt detection and prevention of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS.
WHO is working with Member States on precautionary measures to protect people in regions where healthcare systems are weak and where several millions are infected with HIV.
So far, the only probable case of SARS in Africa was reported in South Africa in early April, but there is no local transmission of the disease. The latest statistics on the global outbreak indicate a total of 5,663 probable cases with 372 deaths.
**Signings
This morning, South Africa became the 81st country to ratify the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the 93rd to ratify the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings.
**Press Conferences
Press conferences this afternoon, at 12:45 p.m. the Co-Chairs of the Independent Commission on Human Security, Sadako Ogata, the former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and Amartya Sen of Cambridge University, will launch the Commission’s report, and there will be press kits on that available at the side of the room at the time of the press conference.
And then at 1:30 p.m., Valli Moosa, Chair of the Commission on Sustainable Development and South Africa’s Minister for Environment and Tourism, will join Nitin Desai, the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, to brief you on the Commission’s 11th session which started last Monday.
And then immediately following that, at about 2 p.m., the Department of Economic and Social Affairs will be sponsoring a press conference by representatives of non-governmental organizations, who will also talk to you about the Commission on Sustainable Development.
**Noon Guest tomorrow
And our guest at tomorrow’s Noon Briefing will be Stephen Lewis, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, to brief you on a recent trip he made to Africa.
Any questions before we go to our special guests? Yes?
Questions and Answers
Question: Has the United States presented a new resolution on Iraq to the Security Council?
Spokesman for the Secretary-General: Has the United States presented a new resolution on Iraq?
Question: Yes.
Spokesman for the Secretary-General: To my knowledge, no. Yes?
Question: Can I have a read out of the Secretary-General’s meeting with the Pakistan Ambassador this afternoon set for 3:30 p.m.?
Spokesman for the Secretary-General: Well, we’ll see if we can get that for you. We don’t do read outs of all his meetings but on your request we can ask for one.
Dileep Nair, Ambassador Kolby do you want to come up?
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