DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICES OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL AND THE SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT
| Press Briefing |
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, sorry for the delay.
**Guest at Noon
Joining us today will be Heidi Tagliavini, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Georgia. She has just briefed the Security Council this morning on the situation in that country and she will be here to brief you and take your questions.
**Secretary-General in Peru
On the Secretary-General’s Latin American tour, he is on his second day in Peru. He flew from Lima to the highland city of Cuzco this morning together with Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo.
They were welcomed in Cuzco by the Mayor of the city and the President of the Cuzco region, after which they attended a ceremony of indigenous dance and music.
The Secretary-General was named “Illustrious Guest” of Cuzco and Honourable Guest of the region and awarded keys to the city.
In his remarks, the Secretary General said that local authorities have a key role to play in bringing people’s everyday concerns to the attention of national and global policy makers and in mobilizing them to implement policies once they are decided on. He told those gathered that he was glad to be in Cuzco, a city which had so much to offer the world and he added:
“I want to encourage you to maintain your admirable engagement with the urgent issues of our time -– I am referring, for example, to the contribution that the heritage, knowledge and traditions of the indigenous peoples of Peru, and indigenous peoples everywhere, can make to the world’s quest for sustainable development, as was recognized in the Plan of Action adopted at the Johannesburg Conference.”
The Secretary-General and President Toledo then left Cuzco by helicopter to the town of Aguas Calientes, from where they are to proceed by road to the Inca ruins in Machu Pichu, situated at 1800 metres above sea level.
On their return to Cuzco, the Secretary-General is to have a meeting with representatives of indigenous communities.
This evening, the Secretary-General will travel from Cuzco to the Bolivian capital of La Paz, the last leg of his four-country Latin America trip, which will culminate on Friday with the inauguration of the Ibero-american Summit.
**Security Council
The Security Council is holding consultations on Georgia today, as we have mentioned, with a briefing by the Secretary-General’s Special Representative Heidi Tagliavini on the Secretary-General’s latest report on Abkhazia, Georgia.
The latest report says the momentum gained in the Georgian peace process since last February should not be lost. The report adds that, in order to achieve lasting stability and security, the political issue at the heart of the conflict ultimately must be addressed, and the Secretary-General strongly urges both sides, in particular the Abkhaz side, to enter into a meaningful dialogue on the core issues of the conflict.
Under other matters, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guéhenno is giving an update on the situation in Bunia in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hedi Annabi is expected to brief on Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Then at 3 p.m., the Security Council has scheduled consultations on the Al Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committee. Ambassador Heraldo Muñoz of Chile will report on the last 90 days of work of his Committee, which includes his recent travels to Europe, Asia and the Middle East dealing with the enforcement of sanctions under Resolution 1267, which concerns Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Ambassador Muñoz will speak at the stakeout microphone outside the Security Council following those consultations.
**Egeland
The head of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Jan Egeland, arrived this morning in Kinshasa at the start of a four-day visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In meetings with senior government officials he stressed that the Government should do more to reduce insecurity, since it resulted in limited access to people in need. He also discussed the need to continue to work on protection of civilians, stopping human rights violations, and ending impunity.
Egeland promised to provide as much humanitarian support to the people of the DRC as possible, and pledged to advocate for support to the consolidated appeal for the country.
Tomorrow, he will travel to the eastern part of the country to visit field locations, including Kindu, Bukavu, Goma, Bunia, and Baraka.
Access to people in need in Kindu and Baraka has recently improved and while there, Egeland will be able to take a look at how that translates into better conditions for the civilian population.
The eastern DRC has the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world, with three and a half million people displaced.
We have more information upstairs.
**Panel
As we squawked yesterday after the briefing, the team established by the Secretary-General to determine accountability at all managerial levels at Headquarters and in the field to review responsibilities prior to the 19 August bombing, is set to begin its work today.
As you know, this team is headed by Gerald Walzer, former Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees. The other members of the team will be Srinath Basnayake, former Director of the General Legal Division of OLA; Kevin Carty, Assistant Commissioner of the Irish National Police; and Stuart Groves, Senior Security Manager, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva.
They expect to finish their work by mid-January.
**West Africa
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for West Africa, Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, says “insecurity has become widespread in West Africa and is one of the most critical cross-border issues in the subregion. The response must be to ensure the well-being, prosperity, and overall, security of populations of West Africa”.
He plans to address this issue when he attends the first high-level meeting of Heads of UN Missions in West Africa in Freetown, Sierra Leone this Friday, 14 November.
**Angolan Refugees
From Angola, thousands of Angolan refugees living across the Zambezi River in western Zambia can now be assured of a steady flow of assistance during the rainy season after the UN refugee agency handed over a ferry donated by maestro Luciano Pavarotti to the Zambian Government.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says the new ferry, valued at $210,000, was donated by Pavarotti, a UN messenger of Peace, from the proceeds of his 2002 charity concert for Angolan refugee children.
**Guatemala
Today at 12:30, the Guatemalan Ambassador, Gert Rosenthal, will sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the UN on peacekeeping stand-by arrangements.
Guatemala is the 45th Member State to agree to such arrangements.
**Cuba
On Cuba, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) says today that some remote communities in Cuba can now rely on alternative power sources, including solar power and wind power, with a UNDP-supported project helping to provide 12-volt solar panels to all the homes in Los Tumbos, a community in the western province of Pinar del Rio.
We have details on how the solar panels have benefited Los Tumbos in a note from UNDP upstairs.
**Nepal
From UNCHR -- the Special Rapporteur on Torture of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Theo van Boven, as well as the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Ambeyi Ligabo, and the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the working group on arbitrary detention, Leila Zerrougui, expressed their profound concern over reports that dozens of individuals are being detained secretly in Nepal, and are therefore at risk of suffering torture and other forms of ill-treatment.
In the last two months, the experts have sent 31 urgent appeals, most of them jointly, to the Government of Nepal regarding the alleged detention in unknown locations of 56 people, including some journalists.
According to reports received, since the ceasefire collapsed between the Government and the Communist Party of Nepal on 27 August, both sides in the conflict have committed human rights abuses.
**FAO
At a two-day forum in Budapest hosted today and tomorrow by FAO and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, major international financial organizations, development agencies and private banks met to create a formal network of institutions financing agriculture.
FAO said creating a coordinated approach to financing agricultural development in Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States would improve investment in the region.
**Press Conferences this afternoon
Press conferences, we mentioned to you yesterday, I will repeat again now.
At 12:45 in this room, Jean Ziegler, the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the right to food, will talk to you about his recent trip to the occupied Palestinian territories and his report to the General Assembly’s Third Committee.
And then at 3:00 this afternoon, the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, will brief you on his recently concluded eight-day visit to that country.
**Guest at Noon Tomorrow
And our guest at the noon briefing tomorrow will be Hina Jilani, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Human Rights Defenders.
**Press Conference Tomorrow
And a press conference tomorrow afternoon, 12:45 in this room, will be conducted by Ambassador Martin Dahinden of Switzerland and Jean-Marie Guéhenno, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations.
They will be here to brief you on the activities of the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, following an open briefing on mine action in the Security Council.
**UN Correspondents’ Association
And the Correspondents’ Association has asked me to invite all of you to a farewell reception for the 2003 Journalism Scholars.
That will take place at 4:30 today in the UNCA Club.
Any questions, before we go to… yes?
Questions and Answers
Question: Does the Secretary-General have any reaction to the bombing in Iraq that killed 23 Italian civilians and soldiers?
Spokesman for the Secretary-General: I do have something here, I can say on his behalf that, “the Secretary-General is dismayed at the loss of life in today’s car bombing in Nasiriya, Iraq, including a number of Italian personnel killed.
“He expresses his heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims of this attack and to the Government of Italy.”
Yes, David… David, you’ve got the floor.
Question: The panel that’s meeting today -- what do you expect as this gets going in Iraq, what do you expect in the early stages to come out of this panel, perhaps today?
Spokesman: There will be no reports on early stages of their deliberations. Their meeting today is their first organizational meeting their target date is the end of January. I think if they can finish a bit sooner they will but there won’t be any reports to you on the various stages of their deliberations. You will only hear from them, if at all, at the end and it’s really I think just the Secretary-General who will be getting their final report. To my knowledge we would not be making that report public.
Yes, Richard?
Question: I know we have had background briefings in the past, but in light of the bombing and Paul Bremer being recalled back to Washington, can you just refresh us what is the thinking upstairs on whether Iraq is ready to be handled by Iraqis, if the US speeds up the timetable?
Spokesman: There is no change in our position. As you know, we have -- the Secretary-General has -- told members of the Security Council that he felt that a rapid transfer of power would be good for security in the country. He made his views known, there is nothing more he can do, it’s not his show.
Question: Does he think though that the security situation might get even worse if the Coalition were to withdraw?
Spokesman: We don’t want to speculate about how much worse it could get, or what the prospects of it getting better might be, apart from what we’ve said -- a clear timeline for the transfer of authority to Iraqis, we think, would help reduce tensions somewhat. That doesn’t say that this situation that the international community as a whole is facing in Iraq would change for the better overnight by this first step in the direction of the transfer of authority to the Iraqis, but we have to take it a step at a time and we think that an early transfer of power would be helpful to everyone.
David?
Question: Given the fact that the Ahtisaari Report was made public and given the fact that what happened on 19 August is impacting not only on this Organization but on the Member States who contribute or offer people to work in missions, why is there a measure been taken to keep the findings of the current panel closed and not open to the public?
Spokesman: Well the Secretary-General now wants to take specific administrative actions in response to the Ahtisaari Report. To help him do that, he has asked these four experts to take a more focused look at the accountability issue and as you know, he has asked our people in the field, those people who are based in Baghdad, to go to Cyprus and to start meeting with representatives of the Peacekeeping Department, Political Affairs Department and Humanitarian Affairs Department to take a comprehensive look at the security situation in Baghdad and how we might be able to respond to the mandates that we have been given by the Security Council in Iraq. So this is part, I think, of his information-gathering process before he makes a number of executive decisions, probably beginning in January when this team, this four-member team is expected to report to him.
Richard?
Question: Is it possible to get a photo-op of the team, just for visuals?
Spokesman: We’ll ask. We are really not trying to focus media attention on their deliberations; that’s not really why they are here. But we’ll ask for you, we understand why you would want that. [It was announced that the Security Panel headed by Gerald Walzer would not be available for a photo-op.]
Question: Fred, while you were away, I raised a question about the old security coordinator Tun Myat, and I asked the question why he was put on that post when he had no hard security background and I was just wondering if you could pursue that?
Spokesman: I am happy to look into that for you. He had an excellent reputation as a manager and an administrator in the World Food Programme. They were sorry to lose him, and we felt lucky to get him. He has, of course, under him staff that are experienced in security matters. I don’t think, but then again this might be something the Secretary-General might have to reconsider, I don’t think extensive experience in security is a necessary, probably desirable, but not a necessary condition in that post. A good manager backed up by good experts in security should do the trick. Whether or not there were any shortcomings in his performance is what is now being looked at by this four-person team and we’ll see what the Secretary-General’s decision is in January when he receives that report.
Richard again?
Question: I would think you would want to have a security coordinator have a background in security though, especially in such precarious situations around the world?
Spokesman: Well let’s see what the Secretary-General’s decision is in January.
Question: The Security Council mission to Somalia that just left yesterday, can we have the list of members who are travelling with…?
Spokesman: Except for Ambassador Tafrov, the other members are expert level, but I’m sure we can get the list for you.
Question: This may be old news, a man approached me in the dark last night and said that the UN has a new policy on breast-feeding and there was a whole bulletin to the Secretary of Staff. Is there something with more rights for women or mothers here, who work at the UN, do you know anything about it? Or was he a stranger, I should have avoided?
Spokesman: I know that for some time there has been a room in this building designated for breast-feeding. Whether anything has been decided beyond that or not I would have to ask.
Thank you very much. Michele, we are going to reverse the briefings, because we understand Ms. Tagliavini has to go to a meeting and we will do Michele afterwards. [The Noon Guest then spoke).
Now we will go to the General Assembly with Michele.
Spokeswoman for General Assembly President
Thank you Fred, and good afternoon.
We have no General Assembly plenary scheduled for the rest of the week. Yesterday, it took four rounds of voting to elect 18 new members to the Economic and Social Council, for three-year terms beginning on 1 January 2004.
The Assembly will next meet at 10 a.m. on Monday, 17 November to elect 43 members of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law and seven members of the Committee for Programme and Coordination. It is also expected to conclude its consideration of support of the United Nations system for the efforts of governments to consolidate new or restored democracies.
The Second Committee is working on the follow-up to the high-level dialogue on financing for development, held two weeks ago, and on ways to implement commitments made at the 2002 Monterrey International Conference on Financing for Development. After the Summary of the Dialogue presented by the President of the General Assembly yesterday, several speakers echoed the appeal for a fair and predictable multilateral trading system, calling on developed countries to open up their markets to exports from developing countries, to eliminate customs tariffs and to reduce agricultural subsidies.
The debate is still on.
The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) has decided to defer action on the two items remaining on its agenda for the current session. Draft resolutions under the two items deal with the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and Israeli practices in territories occupied since 1967. The vote is postponed until tomorrow, Thursday, 13 November, to facilitate further mediation efforts on the texts.
I have had a number of questions on this. The United States, as you know, has sponsored one of the drafts, and has expressed its intention to achieve broad support on a consensus resolution.
The Fourth Committee will meet then again tomorrow when it is expected to conclude its work for the current session.
The Third Committee continues today its consideration of alternative approaches to the promotion of human rights, as well as reports of special rapporteurs and representatives on Myanmar, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and on the right to the enjoyment of health.
As far as we know, the Israeli resolution, which is the first in this committee, on the rights of Israeli children, will be presented this afternoon. We expect that there will be a vote tomorrow.
**Upcoming events
Italy’s President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi will accept the seventh Franklin Delano Roosevelt International Disability Award on behalf of his country at a ceremony at the UN on Monday. President Julian Hunte and world famous disability rights advocate Christopher Reevewill participate in the ceremony.
The Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute and the World Committee on Disability will honor Italywith the seventh annual Franklin Delano Roosevelt International Disability Award for its progress toward the goal of the UN World Programme of Action Concerning Disabled Persons
This is all I have for you today. I will be away until Monday. I will see you then, unless you have questions now.
Spokesman for Secretary-General
Thank you very much.
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