DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICES OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL AND THE SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICES OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
AND THE SPOKESWOMAN 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 Michele Montas, Spokeswoman for the General Assembly President.

Good Afternoon.

**Quartet

This Friday morning, the Middle East Quartet will meet here at UN Headquarters at the Principals’ level.  The meeting will be held from 9:45 to 11:15 and will be followed by press availability in Conference Room 4.

In addition to the Secretary-General, the participants will be Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov of Russia; Secretary of State Colin Powell of the United States; and the European delegation includes Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini for the Presidency of the European Union, Chris Patten, External Relations Commissioner of the European Commission and Javier Solana, the European Union’s High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy.

**UNRWA Protests Israeli Action in Qalqilya Hospital

According to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), earlier this morning Israeli troops entered a UN-run hospital in Qalqilya.  Soldiers made the medical staff leave their patients and lie on the floor of the hospital.  They searched the hospital room by room and some physical damage to the hospital’s facilities took place.

UNRWA has formally complained to the Israeli authorities at this serious breach of both the UN’s immunities and international humanitarian law.

In a meeting held today in Amman with 27 donor and host governments, UNRWA’s Commissioner-General Peter Hansen pleaded for urgent funding for the agency’s emergency operations in the West Bank and Gaza.  The international community has so far pledged $31 million out of the $103 million in an earlier appeal launched in June.

**Security Council

The Secretary-General opened a Security Council Ministerial Meeting on “Justice and the Rule of Law:  the United Nations’ Role” chaired by the United Kingdom as the current Council President.

Stating that the rule of law is not a luxury, and that justice is not a side issue, the Secretary-General went on to say that “a one-size-fits-all approach does not work.  Local actors must be involved from the start”.  He went on to say “We should, wherever possible, guide rather than direct, and reinforce rather than replace.  The aim must be to leave behind strong local institutions when we depart.”  “Liberia will be a test case”, he said, adding that the Council had responded to his recommendations by incorporating important rule of law components in authorizing the deployment of the UN mission in that country.  He also said that at times, the goals of justice and reconciliation compete with each other.  He said, “Each society needs to form a view about how to strike the right balance between them”, but added that, in striking that balance, certain international standards must be adhered to.  “There should be no amnesties for war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity or other serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law”, he said.

A presidential statement was read by the Council President, British Foreign Minister Jack Straw, who said an open debate will be held next Tuesday

3 September for further reflection and analysis on this subject.

**Afghanistan

The Secretary-General will open a closed high-level meeting on Afghanistan this afternoon at 3 p.m. in the Chamber of the Economic and Social Council.

That meeting, which will be chaired by Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guéhenno, will take stock of the progress made so far in the country and plan ahead.

The President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai, plus foreign ministers from 21 countries, representatives of the European Commission and the Council of the European Commission, are expected to attend the meeting.

We will make available the Secretary-General’s opening remarks once they are delivered.

**Democratic Republic of Congo

The Secretary-General will also convene a closed high-level meeting on the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the margins of the General Assembly at 3:15 p.m. this Thursday.

It is expected that the deliberations of this high-level event will focus on the re-establishment of good-neighbourly relations and resumption of bilateral arrangements between the States of the Great Lakes region.

The Presidents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi and Mozambique, together with the Prime Minister of Rwanda, the Deputy Prime Minister of Uganda, and the Foreign Ministers of Angola, South Africa and Tanzania are expected to participate.

And we have a press release with more details.

**Following Statement Is Attributable to the Spokesman

This afternoon, the Secretary-General, in just a few minutes time, will sign with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, representing the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, a Joint Declaration on UN-EU cooperation in crisis management.

He is delighted to do so, and hopes that this step will lead to even closer cooperation between the two organizations in both military and civilian areas of crisis management.  The Secretary-General is particularly pleased that the declaration outlines specific areas where practical cooperation can advance, such as training, planning, communications and “lessons learnt”.

**Kosovo

The Contact Group dealing with Kosovo -– consisting of France, Germany, Italy, Russia, United Kingdom and the United States, with representatives from the European Union –- met the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Kosovo, Harri Holkeri, yesterday afternoon at the United Kingdom Mission to the United Nations.

The Contact Group endorsed Holkeri’s proposal to launch the direct dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina on practical issues of mutual interest in Vienna in mid-October.

The Contact Group called on all the parties to work constructively towards early results and to seize the opportunity offered by these practical talks to improve the quality of life.

**Viet Nam

The Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Zéphirin Diabré, today praised Viet Nam for transforming itself from “a food hungry nation to the second largest rice exporter in the world”, while he visited the country to mark the 25th anniversary of UNDP’s presence there.

UNDP says that, largely due to land and price reforms, Viet Nam reduced its poverty rate from well over 70 per cent in the mid-1980s to about 29 per cent today.

UNDP has put out a press release today with more information.

**Human Rights

Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights Bertrand Ramcharan today addressed a group of central and eastern European experts in Prague in the Czech Republic, and called on the region’s leaders to speak out openly against xenophobia and racism.  Noting that ethnic strife has led to bloody conflicts in places like the Balkans, he said, leaders must “guard against extreme nationalism, accompanied by intolerance and hate speech”.

We have copies of that speech and an accompanying press release.

**UNICEF

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today has launched an emergency vaccination campaign against hepatitis B for two ethnic groups in a remote region of the Peruvian Amazon, whose existence could be threatened by a prolonged outbreak of that disease.

We have a press release, if you are interested.

**World Health Organization

The World Health Organization said today that with more than two people dying each minute from traffic accidents, representatives from more than 20 of the world's leading road safety organizations are gathering in Geneva for the first time to embark on global road safety.

We have a press release on that.

**Budget

Today, Burundi paid more than $24,000, and Syria paid just over $1,000,000, to become the 104th and 105th Member States to pay their UN regular budget dues in full for this year.

**Photo-op

As some of you have noticed, there is new format for the Secretary-General’s photo opportunities with visiting heads of State and government.

The photo-ops are being conducted at the end of each meeting rather than at the beginning, when the Secretary-General and his guest make a few comments to the press.

This is being covered by UN TV and replayed on the in-house TV channels.

**Press Conferences this Afternoon

At 2:45 in this room, President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan will brief you and take your questions, and then tomorrow morning, at 10:30 the Foreign Minister of South Africa, Nkosazana Zuma, and the Foreign Minister of India, Yashwant Sinha, will be joined by the Foreign Minister of Brazil, Celso Amorim, to brief you on cooperation among those three countries.

And then at 11:30, President Tassos Papadopoulos of Cyprus will have a press conference here.

Questions to Spokesman of the Secretary General

Questions and Answers

Spokesman:  Any questions before we go to Michele? Yes, Ronnie?

Question:  Fred, what can you tell us about the meeting with Annan and the Iraqi delegation this morning?  Was there a discussion about the UN’s presence there and the future of the UN in Iraq?

Spokesman:  He did meet at 8 o’clock this morning with a number of people from Iraq.  There was Ahmad Chalibi, this month’s President of the Governing Council.  There was also Adnan Pachachi, another member of the Council and Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, and several others.  They discussed the current security situation in Iraq.  The Secretary General expressed his concern about the condition of his own staff in that context.  They also talked about the prospects for a second Security Council resolution on Iraq, including both the role of the UN and a timetable for an early restoration of Iraqi sovereignty.

Spokesman:  And what was your second question?

Question:  Were there reassurances given about the UN remaining in Iraq and what the future (inaudible)?

Spokesman:  Mr. Chalabi specifically expressed the hope that the UN would maintain a presence in Iraq.  The Secretary-General responded that the safety of our staff there is paramount.  He is keeping that matter under constant review.  And he repeated a line from his speech yesterday, that subject to security conditions, the UN system is prepared to play a full role in working for a satisfactory outcome in Iraq.

Question:  Yes.  To follow on that, we understand that Chalabi has not presented his credentials for recognition by the United Nations, so we are curious to know why the Secretary-General met with somebody who didn’t present their credentials to be, you know, the diplomat representing Iraq in the General Assembly, even though he sat behind that sign yesterday, there was a question of protocol.

Spokesman:  First of all, it’s not for the Secretary-General to decide who has valid credentials and who doesn’t.  That’s a matter for the General Assembly.  Michele can correct me if I’m wrong.  But my understanding is that under the rules of the General Assembly, everyone is seated provisionally with the right to participate until the Credentials Committee of the Assembly gets to review all of the credentials letters that are submitted.  I was told yesterday that only 45 of a 191 Member States had submitted letters of credentials as of yesterday, so it is obviously something that comes in slowly, and the Credentials Committee, I don’t believe has met yet.  And they normally don’t submit their report until several months into the session, usually December, giving time for all the other letters to come in and for them to review all those letters.  So, unless any Member State, any other delegation, challenges the delegation of Iraq, they can sit there legally.  And from the Secretariat point of view, we deal with them as a delegation recognized by the General Assembly, by the Credentials Committee, which hasn’t met since about a year ago.  It’s a little complicated but that’s how we work.

Spokesman:  Yes?  Excuse me can we get the phones turned off please? Alright, can we go back to ...

Question:  I’m print media from Guatemala and I was wondering if it is possible, what were the issues discussed?

Spokesman:  Which were the?

Question:  Issues discussed.  Or what was the meeting about?

Spokesman:  Well then I’d kind of refer you back to what I said about the new format this year.  We are not doing read-outs because the Secretary-General is bringing the head of State out before the cameras at the end of the meeting to say a little something about what they had discussed.  We can give you an audio tape of what they said.  If that’s not good enough for you, ask someone in my office to see if they can get any more.  But as far as we are concerned the official read-out comes from whatever the head of State and the Secretary-General say after their meeting, on camera.

Spokesman:  Yes?

Question:  I would like to go back to the Iraq operation.  Could you tell us, how many expatriate staff of the UN are now in Baghdad and in Iraq, and how many national staff?

Spokesman:  I can’t give you exact figures.  In Baghdad there’s something just under 60, in the north of Iraq, there’s a similar number, so something like 110, probably, international staff.  National staff, I believe is more than 4,000, and if you check with my office, I think we can give you a somewhat more precise number, but it’s over 4,000.  [He later said the total number of international staff is closer to 100 and national staff is about 4,200.]

Spokesman:  Yes, Mr. Abadi?

Question:  Fred, the press conference you mentioned for 10:30 tomorrow with the Foreign Ministers of South Africa, India and Brazil, talking about cooperation among themselves.  Is that just a coincidence or is it because they are the leading candidates for a permanent seat on the Council?

Spokesman:  You would have to ask them why they called a press conference.  I don’t think there are any leading candidates, given the state of discussions on Security Council reform these days, which basically are nowhere.  I think that’s one of the reasons why the Secretary-General took the initiative he did yesterday to try to put some fresh life into those discussions.

Spokesman:  Serge?

Question:  Fred, (inaudible), in the past credentials were submitted to the Secretary-General as a member of the Assembly, because you can be a member of the mission and not be a member of the Assembly.  (inaudible)

Spokesman:  This is a matter among governments and among Member States.  It’s not a Secretariat matter.

Question:  (inaudible) at the beginning of the Assembly all the delegates at the UN did not introduce their credentials to the Secretary-General, as it is customary in the past?

Spokesman:  The rules -- I’ll let Michele take this in a minute -- but the rules, as I understand it, say all delegations must submit letters of credentials, latest one week before the beginning of the Assembly and these letters are reviewed by a credentials committee that is set-up as one of the first acts of each new Assembly.  And this year it’s the delegate from Fiji, I believe, who chairs that committee and they have not yet met.  So it’s only a matter among Member States, it’s not a Secretariat matter.  Don’t confuse that with the presentation of credentials to the Secretary-General; that’s a different process.

Question:  (inaudible)  But there is a credential for the General Assembly, that’s what I’m trying to explain.  You can be a member of the mission and you are not a delegate at the General Assembly, it is not necessary.  You have to be accredited to the Assembly.

Spokesman:  By that (inaudible).  That’s true.  What we are talking about is the delegations to the General Assembly introduced in letter form which, by the rules, must be signed by head of State, head of government or foreign minister, so it’s that presentation of delegations to the Assembly that takes place through the credentials committee.  (Aside to Spokeswoman for General Assembly President … did I get that right?).  Thank you.  Shall we go to Michele now?  Michele.

Spokeswoman for the General Assembly President:

Thank you Fred, and good afternoon.

The General Assembly continues its general debate today with 27 delegations listed to speak.  The President of the Assembly underlined yesterday the importance of these debates:

“Heads of State and governments must bring new dynamism to the General Assembly this session.  The political direction they will provide will be key to enabling the Assembly to effectively address critical issues such as sustainable development, poverty alleviation, violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms, terrorism and United Nations reform.  This is the direction we need.“

This is a quote from the President of the Assembly.

President Julian Hunte met yesterday with President George W. Bush of the United States andthe President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in a series of bilateral meetings with world leaders on the margins of the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate.

According to President Hunte, the exchange between himself and United States President George Bush was cordial and informative.  President Bush gave an indication of the issues that would be important to the United States delegation during the 58^th session.  These issues included:  the war on terrorism; fighting modern day slavery, particularly the use of women and children as sex slaves and non-proliferation issues.  President Bush said that the United States preferred to work on these issues with others.  Mr. Hunte was pleased to hear from President Bush that the UN is important to the United States, notwithstanding disagreements they have had.  President Bush also said in his meeting with President Hunte that the United States would meet its financial commitments to the United Nations.

The meeting with the President of Brazil was very cordial and forthright. President Lula da Silva indicated that Brazil had high hopes for the fifty-eighth session of the General Assembly.

He emphasized that the General Assembly should be strengthened and that the United Nations should be better utilized to find political solutions to the world’s problems and that its decisions should be respected and enforced.

President Hunte and President Lula da Silva also discussed regional issues.  President Lula da Silva indicated that he was doing his part in South America on issues of peace and security, in particular on conflict resolution in Colombia.

On the issue of United Nations reform, President Lula da Silva said that he was working with some South American and African countries on this matter.  To President Lula da Silva, the role of leadership that the President of the Assembly provides was critical, and he assured the President of his support in that regard.

The President also met yesterday with the Prime Minister of Kuwait and the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Japan and Spain.

Questions and Answers

Question:  I would like to know, please, when President Mugabe is supposed to talk?

Spokeswoman for General Assembly President:  I can check for you on that.  Has there been any change?  I can check that out for you and I’ll let you know.

Question:  He was on the schedule for yesterday, I understand there has been a delay in Zimbabwe, but he will be arriving tomorrow.

Spokeswoman for General Assembly President:  O.K.  I’ll check on that for you.

Thank you.

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