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 Secretary-General, and Michele Montas, Spokeswoman for the General Assembly President.

Spokesman for Secretary-General

**Guest at Noon Briefing

Good afternoon.  Our guest at today’s briefing will be Jacques Klein, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Liberia.

**Libya

On Saturday, we issued the following statement on behalf of the Secretary-General welcoming Libya’s announcement of its intention to fulfil all its obligations under the relevant regimes of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

The Secretary-General sees this as a positive step towards the strengthening of global efforts to prevent the spread and use of those weapons.  He looks forward to Libya's cooperation with the relevant United Nations and other international bodies in this domain.

The Secretary-General seizes this occasion to underline the importance of full and complete implementation of all disarmament treaties by all States concerned and encourages them to intensify their efforts towards the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

`     **Libya/Visit

Continuing on that same subject, Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the UN’s nuclear agency, said today that he will visit Libya.

During the visit, ElBaradei and a UN team will initiate a process of verification of all of Libya’s past and present nuclear activities.

Over the weekend, a Libyan delegation travelled to the IAEA headquarters in Vienna to inform ElBaradei that the country had decided to eliminate materials, equipment and programmes relating to the production of internationally proscribed weapons.

ElBaradei welcomed Libya’s decision as a positive development and a step in the right direction.  We have more information from the IAEA upstairs.

**Philippines/Floods

The Secretary-General was distressed to learn of the casualties and damage caused by landslides and floods in the central part of the Philippines.  He conveys his condolences and deepest sympathy to the Government of the Philippines and to the victims of the disaster.

The United Nations stands ready to assist those affected by the tragedy.  As part of these efforts, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is providing an emergency grant of $50,000 for the local purchase and transportation of relief items, and is working to mobilize international donor response.

According to official figures received from the Philippines, nearly 100,000 people have been affected by the landslides.  Close to 100 people are confirmed dead and just over 90 are missing.  Continuing bad weather has been hampering rescue and assessment efforts.  We have more information on that upstairs.

**Security Council

The Security Council heard a briefing on Liberia this morning by Secretary-General’s Special Representative Jacques Klein.

As you’ll recall, the Secretary-General, in his report to the Council issued last week, highlighted the need to expedite the deployment of peacekeepers beyond Monrovia.  He also urged Member States who have offered troops to expedite their deployment.

Jacques Klein will brief you shortly here.

This afternoon, the Security Council will hold five back-to-back formal meetings.

At 3 p.m., Council members will hear briefings by the chairs of the various Security Council committees and working groups.

They will then meet on a resolution and presidential statement on the extension of the mandate of the UN Observer Force in the Golan Heights.

That meeting will be followed by a vote on a resolution concerning the extension of the sanctions on Liberia.

After that, the Council has on its agenda a meeting on a resolution outlining the completion strategies for the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

And finally, there is a meeting scheduled to adopt a presidential statement on Burundi.

**Afghanistan

Seven new voter registration sites have been opened in Kabul, Afghanistan.  The opening of these sites follows a decision to open four other new sites in Mazar-e-Sharif, in northern Afghanistan.  There are now 50 sites open to the general public in the country’s eight regional centres.

Every Afghan who will be eighteen or older by 20 June 2004 is encouraged to register at one of these sites.

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) says it hopes these new centres will facilitate more Afghan women to register.

As you’ll recall, last Thursday, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Lakhdar Brahimi, called for greater female participation in the country's electoral process, and had asked Afghanistan's Chief Electoral Officer and the Gender Adviser of the UN Mission (UNAMA) to examine what can be done to improve female participation rates.

**FAO/Hunger Maps

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has launched its latest “hunger maps”.

The maps pinpoint places where the population is undernourished and impoverished, and they identify the key factors that make each place particularly vulnerable.

One map shows the percentage of undernourished people based on the availability of food and the demographic profile of the population; the second shows the number of children under the age of five worldwide whose growth has been stunted by malnutrition.

According to the FAO, many countries are now using “hunger maps” to target food aid and public works projects to areas where the poorest people live.  It is hoped that, together with other factors, they will help shape effective policies to wipe hunger off the map.

**Wood Food Programme (WFP)/Zimbabwe

In Zimbabwe, more than 2.6 million people face a bleak Christmas after having their food rations halved because of insufficient donations from the international community, according to the World Food Programme.

It adds that prospects for next year’s first quarter look even worse, as this is when local granaries tend to be empty and people enduring food shortages are most reliant on food aid.  WFP says it needs new cash contributions now to avoid a further cut in rations.  We have a press release with more upstairs.

**World Food Programme (WFP)/Somalia

Meanwhile, in northern Somalia, thousands of people in the Sool and Sanaag districts have received life-saving food rations over the past three weeks.  The World Food Programme confirmed today that it managed to reach nearly 77,000 people affected by the region’s most severe drought of the past two decades.  WFP adds that humanitarian access to the region has been guaranteed following extensive discussions with the administrations of Somaliland and Puntland.  Again, a WFP press release is upstairs.

**Population Fund Contributions

The UN Population Fund has announced that, during 2003, it received contributions from 142 of the 191 Members of the United Nations -– the largest number of donors in the Fund’s history.

Regular resources for population activities in 2003 were some $294 million.  The new resources mean the Fund can meet more of the demands in the 150 countries where it works.  We have a press release on that.

So that’s what I have for you.  Any questions before we got to Michelle?

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Do you know when Mr. Brahimi is leaving Afghanistan?

Spokesman:  The intention is for him to leave at the end of this month, or as soon as possible once a replacement has been found.  The search for a replacement is continuing intensively.

Question:  Fred, does the Secretary-General have any comment on this incident this morning at the mosque in Jerusalem?

Spokesman:  Well, he’s out of town, as you know, but I think I can say on his behalf that he was shocked by the attack on the Foreign Minister of Egypt.  This kind of irrational violence is never an acceptable alternative to dialogue, and, of course, he hopes that the Foreign Minister will have a speedy recovery from whatever injuries he might have sustained this morning.

Okay, I’ll turn it over to Michelle.

Spokeswoman for the General Assembly President

Thank you, Fred, and good afternoon.

The General Assembly approved on Friday a set of sweeping changes concerning its work.  The changes will take effect following broad consultations over the next two years.  They range from sharpening the focus of the Assembly’s decisions to paring down its workload, and deepening cooperation with the Presidents of the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council.

Unanimously adopting a two-part resolution on revitalization, the General Assembly reaffirmed on Friday the Assembly’s vital and fundamental role in international affairs, deciding, among other things, to take steps to increase the body’s efficiency and effectiveness, and to raise the level of its visibility, so that its decisions might have greater impact.

Assembly President Julian Robert Hunte welcomed the resolution’s adoption on Friday.  He said that the Assembly could now move to set up a viable framework for long-term action and a continuing revitalization process, as a means of ensuring that it meets contemporary global challenges effectively.  The text conveyed, he said, the Assembly’s unequivocal resolve to perform the functions mandated to it under the United Nations Charter.

The work on that resolution is far from over.  It will be pursued in the next few months.

Member States decided that the work of the Assembly’s Main Committees might benefit if it was scheduled over two substantive periods during the session, but at no additional costs and with no additional meetings.  With a view to enabling the Assembly to consider changes in that regard, the Secretary-General is requested to present, by 1 February 2004, various options for consideration by the General Committee, which would then hold open-ended discussions before making recommendations to the Assembly for its decision by July 2004.

The rescheduling is to take effect from the sixtieth session.  It entails also rescheduling a number of meetings of other bodies and working groups reporting to each of the Main Committees.

The 77th plenary meeting this afternoon will consider several reports from the Third Committee (Social and Humanitarian).  Among issues to be voted on or adopted by consensus are resolutions on the implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development, on questions related to youth, ageing, disabled persons and the family.

The Assembly will also act this afternoon on decisions taken by the Third Committee regarding crime prevention and criminal justice, as well as international drug control.

I would like to attract your attention to one report of the Third Committee that will be acted on this afternoon.  It is “Women 2000:  Gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”.

Also on the agenda of a very dense meeting this afternoon will be the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and questions relating to refugees, returnees and displaced persons, and issues of human rights with several reports from the Third Committee.

The adoption of most resolutions will follow the pattern adopted by the Committee itself.  However, a recorded vote has been requested on some draft resolutions, such as, for instance, access to medication in the context of pandemics such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

The Assembly will meet tomorrow in plenary to address the series of reports presented by the Second Committee on economic issues.

This is all I have for you today.  Thank you.  I’m not saying Merry Christmas yet, because it looks like we’ll be working until Wednesday.

Spokesman for the Secretary-General

Okay, Jacques Klein has not shown up, so we’ll arrange for him either to come later to this room, or to talk to you at the stakeout.

Thank you very much.

* *** *