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.

**Afghan Report

Our guest today will be the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean Marie Guéhenno, who is here to talk to you about the Secretary-General’s latest report to the General Assembly on Afghanistan.  That report highlights the deteriorating security situation as a major concern throughout the country, with criminality, factional fighting and the illegal narcotics trade all having a negative impact on the Bonn process.

The Secretary-General says that, to ensure that the Bonn process succeeds, it is indispensable that international support must be significantly increased and sustained.  Above all, the international community needs to strengthen its commitment to provide security.

He also says that he has begun a process of consultation on a follow-up to the Bonn process, with a possible second international conference envisioned that would bring together a representative spectrum of the Afghan population, in partnership with the international community.

We have copies of the report available in my Office.

**Afghanistan

In a statement that we issued yesterday, the Secretary-General expressed his sadness at reports that nine children were killed in Ghazni, Afghanistan, apparently as the result of an air strike carried out by coalition forces against a Taliban leader.

The Secretary-General has noted that the coalition will conduct an investigation into this tragic incident, and urged that the investigation be comprehensive, and that its results be made public.

Given that this is not the first time innocents have been killed as a result of coalition air strikes, the Secretary-General also urges that the findings of the investigation include measures to ensure that such tragic mistakes are not repeated.  The fight against terrorism cannot be won at the expense of innocent lives, he says.

We have the full text of that statement upstairs, as well as the briefing notes from Kabul, in which Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi voiced his own distress at the killings in Ghazni.  Brahimi also expressed his shock at the explosion this weekend in a popular market in Kandahar, saying that recent attacks on civilians are utterly condemnable.

**Security Council

The Security Council is holding consultations today on the work of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspections Commission for Iraq, known as UNMOVIC.  The Commission’s acting Executive Chairman, Demetrius Perricos, is briefing the Council on UNMOVIC’s latest report, which came out last week.

In that report, the Commission informed the Council that by the end of November it was not provided with the results of investigations by the US-led Iraq Survey Group, other than a statement made to the public on its interim progress report.  The Survey Group has not given the Commission that report.

**Democratic Republic of Congo

Iulia Motoc, the UN’s Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was blocked from leaving a high security prison she was visiting in the Katanga region of the country.

During her visit to the Buluo prison, she met with a number of prisoners to discuss their situation.  As her delegation was about to leave, a group of 60 detainees blocked the exit of the prison.  After close to three hours, Ms. Motoc and her delegation were permitted to leave.  The prisoners complained of the illegal nature of their detention, claiming that official charges had not been filed in many cases.

Despite this incident, Ms. Motoc will continue her visit –- it’s her fourth to the Democratic Republic of the Congo -- in the interest of victims of human rights violations.

We have more available upstairs.

**Secretary-General in Geneva

The Secretary-General today arrived in Geneva, where he met with a teenager who won an arts competition for the United Nations International Year of Freshwater.  He also prepared for the upcoming World Summit on the Information Society and the World Electronic Media Forum.

Fourteen-year-old Billy Driver, on behalf of the winners of the British-Swiss competition, presented the Secretary-General and Nane Annan with a book featuring their art work and poetry.

The Secretary-General also received a briefing on the Summit and the Forum by the Secretary-General of the International Telecommunications Union, Yoshio Utsumi, and by other UN officials dealing with the Summit.  He also scheduled other internal meetings today, including with UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot, and Mohamed Sahnoun, his Special Adviser on Africa.

**China

The Secretary-General met with Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao yesterday afternoon.  Their talks touched on United Nations reform, Iraq, the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, Afghanistan, HIV/AIDS and China’s assistance to Africa.

The Prime Minister made a point of saying that he had made the UN the first stop on his current tour.

The two then spoke to the press after that meeting.  The Secretary-General congratulated China on the way it had handled the SARS epidemic and thanked the Prime Minister for China’s “very strong support” for the African continent.

On UN reform, the Secretary-General said they had talked about the need to take measures to strengthen the Organization and make it more responsive to the challenges of our time.

The transcript of the Secretary-General’s comments at that press encounter is available in my Office.

**Geneva Accord

Looking back to late Friday afternoon, we issued a statement following the Secretary-General’s meeting with Yossi Beilin and Yasser Abed Rabbo, and other Geneva Accord Signatories.

The statement said that while the Geneva Accord is not a substitute for official negotiations between the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, it has already achieved the important goal of stimulating debate among Palestinians and Israelis on the factors that must be resolved to end this long conflict.

We have the full statement upstairs.

**Liberia

Hundreds of Liberian combatants turned up yesterday at Camp Schieffelin, 35 miles outside Monrovia, to hand in their arms to the UN Mission in Liberia.  The fighters, mainly loyal to the former Government, waited in long lines throughout the day to begin the country’s disarmament process.  The Mission says that some 1,400 former combatants turned in their arms yesterday, and hundreds more are lined up today.

Jacques Klein, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Liberia, said that with the start of disarmament, Liberia “is putting an end to fourteen years of war”.  He said that those who turn in their arms would be given an opportunity to begin a new life, free of fear, of violence, and of the deprivations of war.

We have Mr. Klein’s statement at the start of the disarmament process and a press release from the Mission available upstairs.

**Côte d’Ivoire

Carolyn McAskie, the UN’s Special Humanitarian Envoy for Côte d’Ivoire, is in Abidjan today, where she met with President Laurent Gbagbo.

In her meeting with the President, she raised a number of issues, including the protection and return of internally displaced persons, and the need for basic services such as education and health to be restored, especially in the north and west of the country.

Ms. McAskie also raised the issue of land disputes, which have recently led to the expulsion of some farmers, emphasizing the need to find long-term solutions to this problem.

She also had a chance to meet with international donors.  She called on them to generously support the recent inter-agency appeal for $59 million to meet the needs of the most vulnerable in Côte d’Ivoire.

We have more upstairs in a press release.

**Sudan

The Secretary-General’s humanitarian envoy for Sudan said he was “shocked” by the conditions in which internally displaced persons were living in Darfur, following a visit to that region over the weekend.

The envoy, Tom Eric Vraalsen, noted a significant worsening of humanitarian and security conditions in Darfur, which now affect 1 million people.  Vraalsen reported that denials of access are the greatest single impediment to humanitarian efforts in Darfur.

As a consequence of growing insecurity and access constraints, the humanitarian crisis has reached unprecedented proportions, with one million war-affected people.  On a similar mission in September, Vraalsen said that humanitarian efforts could partially cover needs, but now, he warned, humanitarian operations have come to a virtual standstill.  Conditions in inaccessible areas are sure to be even worse.

We have a press release with more details.

**North Korea

Unless new pledges for the 2003 Appeal for North Korea are received by May, cereal shortfalls may affect 3.8 million people countrywide.  The appeal is funded at just over 50 per cent.

At times this year, up to 3 million food aid beneficiaries have been dropped from the World Food Programme distribution because of lack of resources.

According to the UN children’s agency, the humanitarian crisis in North Korea mainly affects the country's youngest children.  Around 70,000 children are severely or acutely malnourished and at high risk of dying, if they do not receive critical hospital treatment.

We have a press release from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs available with more.

**Guatemala -- Human Rights Compliance

In its latest report, the U.N. Verification Mission in Guatemala, has found that human rights compliance between July 2002 and June 2003 has deteriorated, with police violations having increased and impunity becoming the norm.

The Mission says this deterioration is closely linked to the failure to advance on other aspects of the peace agreements in that country.

The Mission's monitoring of the peace agreements in Guatemala ends on 31 December this year.

A copy of the Mission’s latest report can be obtained upstairs.

**Kosovo

The UN Mission in Kosovo over the weekend said it was greatly disturbed by a stone-throwing attack in Mitrovica on Saturday, directed against a World Bank delegation which had been seeking ways to improve Kosovo’s economic development.  The delegation was attacked after it had gone to the same restaurant where Kosovo’s Prime Minister was also visiting.

UN and Kosovo police acted immediately to restore public order after the delegates were harassed, and one UN bus used to transport them was damaged.  A criminal investigation has been opened into the attack.

There’s a press release with more on that.

**Morris in Moscow

James Morris, the Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), arrived in Moscow yesterday for a three-day visit to strengthen cooperation with the government, as well as the growing private sector.

Russia has become a donor to the agency for the first time this year, with cash and grain donations, which went to Angola and North Korea.

There’s a press release on that.

**Economic and Social Survey

This year’s UN World Economic and Social Survey says that some mixes of economic policies are better than others in attacking poverty, although it adds that policies geared to generating growth can be powerful tools in the anti-poverty fight.

The Survey says that, in terms of trade, the main threat to the poor comes from protectionism in rich countries, especially policies that target agriculture and textiles coming from the South.  The report also recommends greater trade openness among developing countries themselves.

The report also notes that land redistribution and the liberalization of agricultural markets can reduce poverty in rural areas, which are home to 75 per cent of those who live in absolute poverty.

Copies of the report, as well as accompanying press releases, are available upstairs.

**African Food Report

Though some regions in sub-Saharan Africa can expect bumper crops, food shortages are forecast in 23 countries throughout the continent, according to the Africa Report released today by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).

The agency says that this provides an opportunity to enhance food security through trade from surplus to deficit areas within the continent.

The report provides a country-by-country breakdown of food shortages and crop prospects for sub-Saharan Africa.

We have a press release on that.

**De Mello Tribute

In a message to the participants of a symposium on “Human Security” held in the memory of Sergio Vieira de Mello, the Secretary-General said that Vieira de Mello knew how difficult, yet important, it is to protect humanitarian space in conflict zones and how central the promotion of justice and the rule of law are to post-conflict transition.

“Sergio”, the Secretary-General said in the message, “set a standard for all humanitarians, peacekeepers, peacemakers, and peace-builders.”

The full text of the message, which was delivered by the UN’s chief humanitarian official, Jan Egeland, is available upstairs.  We also have more information on the symposium, which is being jointly organized by the Department of Humanitarian Affairs and the Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs at Fordham University in New York.

**Secretary-General’s Address to World Summit

At 12:45 today in this room, a senior UN official will brief you on a background basis on the Secretary-General’s address to the World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva on Wednesday, and on his Lecture on Global Ethics in Tübingen, Germany, on Friday.  Since this is a background briefing, UNTV will not be airing it, but delegations can see it in briefing room 4 in the basement.

**Noon Guest on Tuesday

Finally, our guest at tomorrow’s noon briefing will be Kieran Prendergast.  He will be here to brief you on the record regarding the Secretary-General’s report to the Security Council on Iraq, which we expect will be coming out tomorrow.

That’s all I have for you.

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Could you go into a bit more detail about the second Bonn meeting that you mentioned earlier in the briefing.  The Secretary-General is calling for a second Bonn meeting.

Spokesman for Secretary-General:  Could you wait until Jean Marie comes?

Question:  On Kosovo, this stone-throwing incident at the World Bank. There was this alert issued last week by NATO, which the UN seemed to know nothing about at the time, that international organizations were going to be a direct target.  Is this in any way related? Has the UN have any more information about targeting of international organizations in Kosovo at the moment?

Spokesman:  I do not. If you listen to the account, it seemed to be linked to the presence of this Kosovo official in a restaurant.  I don’t want to draw conclusions, but it sounds to me like it was a kind of spontaneous thing, rather than some international plot.  But your question is still a valid one, and I’ll see if we have any more today than the last time you asked about it.

Michelle?

Spokeswoman for the General Assembly President

Thank you, Fred.  Good Afternoon.

**General Assembly Emergency Session

The resumed Emergency session on “Illegal Israeli actions in Occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory” will be proceeding shortly with a vote on two resolutions.

As you know, one of the drafts requests that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) urgently renders an advisory opinion on the legal consequences arising from the construction of the wall being built by Israel, the occupying power, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.  The second draft resolution L.17, which we didn’t have Friday, simply would keep the Emergency session open

(It was later learned that the resolution on the advisory opinion of the ICJ was adopted by 90 votes for, 8 against and 74 abstentions, and the second resolution, L.17, was adopted by 11 for, 7 against and 74 abstentions.)

**First and Sixth Committee Reports

The General Assembly is also to examine the report of the First Committee right after the tenth Emergency Session.  A large number of resolutions will be acted on, following the same procedure adopted in the Disarmament Committee, which means that most resolutions are adopted without a vote.  Others would require specific votes on specific paragraphs, sometimes on three words.

In the afternoon, the General Assembly is to examine legal issues.  The issue of cloning is listed as the 11th item in the afternoon, but I have no information as to the time the issue will be acted on, and not even if it will be this afternoon.

On this issue, the Committee recommends to the General Assembly that the item entitled “International convention against the reproductive cloning of human beings” be included in the provisional agenda of the sixtieth session of the General Assembly.  (It was later learned that the voting on the report of the Sixth Committee is postponed until Tuesday).

**General Assembly President in Geneva

President Julian Hunte is back at Headquarters, following three days of constructive and very positive bilateral meetings in Geneva.  The President met with the Secretary General of UNCTAD, the Director General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Director General of the World Trade Organization, and the Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Issues discussed focused on important aspects of the work of the organizations and agencies concerned.  For example, the President took up issues including commodities and the forthcoming UNCTAD XI Conference with Mr. Ricupero of UNCTAD.

He discussed issues including post-Cancun developments with Mr. Supachai of WTO, security of United Nations personnel in the delivery of humanitarian assistance with Mr. Lubbers, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and the broad scope of work in the human rights area, including planning for the forthcoming meeting of the Commission on Human Rights with Mr. Gangaersaud, the acting High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Cooperation among the organizations and agencies in Geneva was an integral part of the issues addressed in the discussion between the President and the Director General of the United Nations Office in Geneva.

An important aspect of the President’s visit was his participation as the principal keynote speaker in the 22^nd General Assembly of the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Status with the United Nations (CONGO).  The President addressed the topic:  “The United Nations and Civil Society: Change and challenge”, focusing on the contribution NGOs can make to help the United Nations meet its responsibilities to the world’s people, in a rapidly changing and challenging global environment.

The President has now had two significant encounters with civil society.  One was addressing CONGO in New York, and the second was in Geneva two days ago.

This is all I have for you.  Thank you.

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