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.

Spokesman for the Secretary-General

Good Afternoon.

**Secretary-General at General Assembly

The Secretary-General this morning openedthe 58^th plenary session of the General Assembly by noting the challenges the international community has faced over the past year and asserting, “We have come to a fork in the road.  This may be a moment no less decisive than 1945 itself, when the United Nations was founded”.

He said we must now decide whether it is possible to continue on the basis agreed when the United Nations was first set up, or whether radical changes are needed, to deal with threats ranging from terrorism and weapons of mass destruction to the possibility that some States may act pre-emptively to respond to threats.

He said that the Security Council will need to consider how it will deal with the possible use of pre-emptive force, and to discuss seriously how to respond best to threats of genocide or other massive human rights violations.

The Secretary-General added that other bodies, including the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and the Trusteeship Council, also need to be re-thought and reinvigorated.  You’ll recall that he came out with a report to the Assembly earlier this month calling for concrete ideas for such reforms.

“For my part”, he said, “I intend to establish a High-Level Panel of eminent personalities”, which will examine current challenges to peace and security; consider how collective action can address such challenges; review the functioning of the major UN organs; and recommend ways of strengthening the United Nations through reform of its institutions and processes.

The Secretary-General said, “The United Nations is by no means a perfect instrument, but it is a precious one”.  He urged the Member States to seek agreement on ways to improve it and to use it as its founders intended.

We have copies of his speech upstairs as well as on our Web site.

**Iraq

The Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme today warned that despite a better cereal harvest and the lifting of economic sanctions, nearly half of the 26.3 million Iraqis are estimated to be poor and in need of assistance, with 60 per cent of the population unemployed.

The joint nutrition assessment report said that currently millions of Iraqis have no access to food other than through public food assistance, which is financed through the “oil-for-food” programme.  You can get a press release with more details.

**Security Council

There’s nothing on the Security Council’s agenda for today.

A ministerial-level Security Council meeting on “Justice and the Rule of Law:  the UN Role” is scheduled for tomorrow.

And then on Thursday, the five permanent members of the Security Council are scheduled to have their annual luncheon with the Secretary-General.

**AIDS Panel

Yesterday afternoon, following the conclusion of a high-level panel on AIDS that was attended by 10 heads of State and government, the Secretary-General noted that those present at the panel agreed that, while resources available to fight AIDS has doubled since 2001, they remain woefully inadequate.

“Yet the panel’s conclusions were not pessimistic”, the Secretary-General said, adding that “we are learning more every day about what works, resources are increasing and political leadership is gaining steam”.  We have copies of his remarks in my office.

By the way, a total of 126 Member States spoke during yesterday’s high-level meeting, in a session which lasted until about 1:30 in the morning.

**Liberia

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says it is worried about reports that civilians were being forced to work in local farms in the city of Gbarnga, 150 kilometres north of Monrovia, for rebel groups.

Civilians are reportedly dying of hunger, while others face food shortages and grave violations of human rights in this area.  There were also reports of civilians being forced to work in the port city of Buchanan, 120 kilometres south-east of Monrovia.

In Monrovia itself, the Special Humanitarian Coordinator, Ross Mountain, praised a call on all parties to pay special attention to gender issues and the protection of children –- including an immediate end to the use of child soldiers -- in the recently adopted Security Council resolution establishing the UN mission in Liberia.

**Human Rights in DRC

The Special Rapporteur dealing with human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iulia Motoc, condemned recent incidents in Bunia, during which fighters of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) fired shots at UN military observers who were carrying out a disarmament operation in the area.

The Special Rapporteur called on the armed militias and the ethnic communities in Ituri to end the fighting which has caused thousands of civilian victims, especially women and children, and to cooperate fully with the United Nations.  She reiterated that there will be no impunity for those who are found guilty of the massive violations of human rights that were committed in Ituri.

**Chechnya Refugees

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says it was concerned about a succession of events that had increased the uncertainty around a thousand displaced Chechens living in a camp in Ingushetia.

According to UNHCR, during the course of the past week, the camp’s inhabitants had been subjected to a number of measures that had increased their already substantial fears that they were about to be forced back to Chechnya against their will.  Access for aid agencies, including UNHCR, had also been denied for varying periods and remained erratic.  On Friday, UNHCR made official complaints about the lack of access in both Moscow and Geneva.

**UN Journalists Training Programme

United Nations has decided to rename its annual training program for young journalists in honor of Reham al-Farra, one of the UN staff members killed in last month’s bombing in Baghdad, who had been the first female daily political columnist in her native Jordan.

In a letter to Reham al-Farra’s mother, Shashi Tharoor, the Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, said he hoped that the newly-renamed Reham al-Farra Memorial Journalists’ Fellowship Programme would “honour her memory and remind us of the inspiration she gave us all”.

**Press Conference

We also have a press conference that will take place at 12:45 in this room by the President of France, Jacques Chirac.  He will be here in about a half hour.

**General Assembly Spokesperson

The spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly is out sick today, but she sent in this report to me from home, which I will now read.

During the general debate that started today, the General Assembly hears 58 heads of State, 28 heads of government, 3 vice presidents, 102 foreign ministers and heads of delegations.  The representatives of all Member States and Palestine will express their views during the two-week debate -- a total of 192 speakers.

The debate that you have been following since this morning will end on the 2^nd of October, with the delegation of Iraq scheduled to speak in the afternoon next Thursday.  On the last subject, we have been receiving a number of questions from you in the last week concerning the delegation of Iraq.  We have confirmation from the request sent to the Assembly that the Iraqi delegation will be headed by Ahmad Chalabi, the Governing Council’s present President.  There has not been any challenge to the credentials of the delegation from Member States at the General Assembly.

Under the rules of procedure of the Assembly, Member States submit credentials for each session.  A Credential Committee is appointed.  This happened last week.  The Committee is headed by the permanent representative of Fiji. The Committee usually takes several weeks to examine the credentials of each Member State and a report is not expected until much later in the session.  Representatives of Member States sit provisionally with full rights of participation.  The Credentials Committee can, however, be convened on short notice in the event of an objection by any Member State to any credentials of any representative.

That’s all I have for you.  Any questions?

Questions and Answers

Spokesman:  Yes.

Question:  Sir, if I can take you back to early February when Secretary Powell was here, speaking before the UN about weapons of mass destruction (inaudible)… for Iraq…And since that time, since the war has ended, there’s been an obsessive search underway to try to find these weapons and try to (inaudible)…but there hasn’t been such evidence as of yet.  What is the UN’s position on this right now looking back to what was said in early February and the fact that nothing has really been found right now?

Spokesman:  We would withhold a judgement on that.  The Security Council did not disband the UN’s inspection system, although it is not active in Iraq as of now.  The search for weapons that you describe is being carried out by the Coalition.  And I can’t tell you what they may have found or may not have found.  You’d have to ask, you have to ask them.

Question:  Could you kindly repeat the numbers of presidents?  It’s a little hard to hear.

Spokesman:  So she says, Michele Montas says, during the general debate that started today, the General Assembly will hear 58 heads of State, 28 heads of government, 3 vice presidents, 102 foreign ministers and heads of delegations.

That it?  Okay, so the President of France will be here in another 25 minutes or so.  We’ll come back…Say it again?

Question:  (Inaudible)…Bush?

Spokesman:  He has not scheduled a press conference, no.  Thank you very much.

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