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 Stephane Dujarric, Associate Spokesman for the Secretary-General, and Michéle Montas, Spokeswoman for the General Assembly President.

Associate Spokesman for Secretary-General

Good afternoon, and for once we start right at the top of the hour.

**Secretary-General in Chile

Starting with the Secretary-General’s ongoing trip to Latin America, last night he was the guest of honour at a dinner hosted by President Ricardo Lagos of Chile.  In his toast, the Secretary-General noted that the Latin American region embodied almost all the potential and all the challenges that we find globally, and added that he is keen to ensure that its problems receive the attention they deserve.

On the last day of his official visit to Chile, this morning the Secretary-General took part in a round table on the “Renewal of the United Nations and the Global Situation”.  With him were President Lagos and President of Finland Tarja Halonen who is also on an official trip to Chile.  The round table was held on the premises of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, known as ECLAC.

During the round-table discussion, the Secretary-General remarked that an age of common threats and dangers -– terrorism, poverty, weapons of mass destruction, disease, intolerance and injustice -- these threaten us all, and we must act collectively to meet them.  He noted that if we fail to do so, “many will feel that multilateralism is a code word for inaction and the promise of the UN Charter will remain elusive”.

The Secretary-General added that the UN must reshape its international architecture, so as to maximize effective collective action against the threats we all face.  The panel of eminent persons he appointed this week would review ways to strengthen the Organization to meet this challenge.

This afternoon, the Secretary-General will end his visit to Chile and travel to Guayaquil, the main port and largest city in Ecuador.  He will be welcomed there by the Vice-President of Ecuador, Alfredo Palacios.

**Statement on Canada’s Ratification of Law of Sea Convention

We now have a statement attributable to the Spokesman on Canada’s ratification of the Convention on the Law of the Sea:

“The Secretary-General was delighted to learn that Canada has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea -- a momentous occasion in the history of the Convention.  As a major coastal State, Canada has considerable special interests in maritime trade, fisheries and protection of the marine environment.  It has one of the longest coastlines in the world, bordering on three oceans, and one of the largest expanses of ocean space off its coast.  Canada has also been highly prominent in the development of the law of the sea, both at the Third United Nations Conference and as a key promoter of the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement.  The Secretary-General congratulates Canada on this important step, and welcomes it into the family of parties to the Convention on the Law of the Sea”.

**Security Council

As you know, there are no Security Council consultations scheduled for today, with the Council’s next scheduled meeting expected to take place on Tuesday morning, when it will hold an open meeting to be briefed on the Security Council mission to Afghanistan, headed by German Ambassador Gunter Pleuger.  Members of that mission are now on their way back to New York where they are expected to arrive later today.

This afternoon at 3 o’clock, the Council members will have a meeting with the troop contributors for the UN Mission in Cote d’Ivoire.

On the racks today is a letter from the Secretary-General to the Security Council, saying that, because of recent developments in Liberia, he will have to defer until early next year the submission of a report to the Council on whether Liberia has ceased its support for Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front and other armed rebel groups in the region.

**Liberia

Also on Liberia, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in that country, Jacques Klein, yesterday launched a $220,000 road improvement project for Monrovia.  Mr. Klein said the people of Liberia have lived for too long on promises and it is now time to deliver.  And a press release from the mission is available upstairs.

Also in Liberia, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said recent fighting in the central part of the country has forced some 6,000 people to flee to Saclepea, one of the larger towns in Nimba County.  The agency is attempting to get supplies to those refugees.

The UNHCR also reports that its High Commissioner Ruud Lubbers is in Burundi as part of a visit to refugee centres in eastern and central Africa.  He will also talk to refugees and workers in the United Republic of Tanzania, Sudan and Eritrea.  More information is available upstairs on those items.

**Somalia

On Somalia, out on the racks today is a report by the Panel of Experts examining violations of the arms sanctions on Somalia, which says that the constant flow of weapons and ammunition through that country represents hundreds of tons of arms over a six-month period.  The Panel has found evidence linking violations of the arms embargo with arms flows to neighbouring countries and its activities of armed groups and extremists beyond Somalia’s borders.

The report says that weapons destined for Somalia tend to come from or pass through Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, and adds that those sailing from Yemen to Somalia’s north-east coast carry much of the weapons traffic.

The Panel says that the violations of the arms embargo have allowed transnational terrorists to obtain not only small arms, but also portable air defence systems, light anti-tank weapons and explosives.  The terrorists responsible for the bombing of the Paradise Hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, last year, involved missiles brought from Yemen via Somalia.

The Panel, among other measures, recommends a more systematic monitoring mechanism to examine the arms embargo on Somalia, which would list specific violations and name violators, and suggests that such violators should be banned from receiving UN contracts.

**Sudan

In the Sudan, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that the humanitarian situation in the Greater Darfur Region in the western part of the country may emerge as that country’s worst humanitarian crisis since 1988.  Insecurity there continues, with humanitarian access in some cases being non-existent.

Since the escalation of the armed conflict this past February, an estimated 500,000 to 600,000 newly displaced people live in the Darfur region, and so far, humanitarian assistance to them, particularly for water, sanitation and non-food assistance, has been insufficient.

We have more details upstairs from an OCHA press release, with also information on the critical food situation in several southern African countries, particularly Zimbabwe.

**Children and Armed Conflict

The Secretary-General’s latest report to the Security Council and the General Assembly on children and armed conflict is out as a document today, and it says that the central challenge now is to ensure the application on the ground of international standards on the protection of children.

The report notes atrocities against children in recent wars, from widespread massacres of children in Guatemala and El Salvador to a systematic campaign of torture carried out by Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front and the abduction of children in such countries as Angola, Nepal, Sudan and Uganda.

Among other steps, the Secretary-General recommends that child protection should be systematically included in the mandates of all UN peace operations, and children’s issues should be incorporated into all peace negotiations and peace accords.

**Western Sahara -– Release of Moroccan POWs

We have learned from the UN Mission in Western Sahara that the Frente POLISARIO has announced the immediate release of 300 Moroccan prisoners being held in Tindouf.  The repatriation of the POWs to Morocco will be handled by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The UN Mission in Western Sahara, MINURSO, has issued a statement welcoming this announcement and expressing its hope for the early release of all remaining POWs in full compliance with international humanitarian law.

**Ramcharan

The Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights, Bertrand Ramcharan, tells an International Peace Academy meeting today that a society’s commitment to human rights offers a vision against which the twisted stratagems of terrorists can only fail.

The Acting High Commissioner said this is why human rights are so essential to the struggle against terrorism.  The copies of the speech are available upstairs.

**Budget

On budget, Morocco today paid more than $555,000 to become the 122nd Member State to pay its UN regular budget dues in full for this year.  By comparison, last year, only 117 Member States had paid their dues in full by the end of the year, so the pace has improved as you can see.

**World Chronicle Television Programme

World Chronicle programme no. 914 with Dileep Nair, the Under-Secretary-General for the Office of Internal Oversight Services, will be shown today on   in-house TV at 3:30 p.m.

**The Week ahead at United Nations

And today being Friday, we have the Week Ahead for you.  Any questions before we go to Michéle?

Thank you.

Spokeswoman for General Assembly President

Thank you, Stephane.

Good afternoon.

No plenary scheduled in the General Assembly today, only informal consultations.

In the Committees:

In a departure from its usual practice of approving, without a vote, the widely supported draft resolution on the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons, the First Committee yesterday approved that draft by a recorded vote of 162 in favour to 1 against (United States), with no abstentions, as it concluded its session.  So, now we have two Committees that have completed the session.

The Second Committee is examining the item of the Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries.  The report on the Brussels Programme was introduced by Anwarul Chowdhury, Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States.

The Second Committee also discussed the Palestinian question from the economic angle of the control of the Palestinian people over their resources.  The issue of the occupied territories was also discussed yesterday in the Third Committee and in the Fourth Committee.

A draft resolution on the situation of Palestinian children was approved in the Third with a vote of 86 in favour to 4 against, with 58 abstentions.  It is expected that Israel will introduce a similar resolution on Israeli children.

Upcoming, on Monday the General Assembly will meet on the support by the United Nations system for efforts to promote and consolidate new and restored democracies.  There will be the elections on Monday of 29 members of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and on Tuesday, the election of members of the Economic and Social Council, which will be interesting to follow.

This is all I have for you.  Thank you.

Associate Spokesman:  Any questions?

Question:  Stephane, I just wanted to ask you; are you up to speed yet on what’s being planned on the observance of World AIDS Day, have we gotten anything on that?

Associate Spokesman:  Yes, we can talk afterwards; I’ll put you in touch with the people who are coordinating that coverage.  Thank you very much, have a wonderful weekend.

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