DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

Following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon.

**Statement Attributable to the Spokesman on Earthquake in Morocco

We’ll start with a statement attributable to the Spokesman regarding the earthquake in Morocco:

“The Secretary-General is deeply saddened by the heavy loss of life and the extensive damage caused by a powerful earthquake that struck near the city of Al Hoceima in northern Morocco.  He extends his deepest sympathy to the families of those who lost loved ones in the tragedy and to the Government of Morocco.

“The United Nations stands ready to render assistance, including by deploying a United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination Team to assist the Government in managing the international response to the emergency.”

**Statement Attributable to the Spokesman on Repatriation Of POWs to Morocco

This second statement regards relations between POLISARIO and the Government of Morocco:

“The Secretary-General welcomes the release by the Frente POLISARIO, with the assistance of a MemberState, of an additional 100 prisoners of war, who were repatriated on 24 February to the Kingdom of Morocco by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

“The Secretary-General expresses the hope that the Frente POLISARIO will expeditiously release all remaining prisoners, in accordance with the relevant Security Council resolutions and in compliance with international humanitarian law.  He also urges the parties to continue to cooperate with the ICRC to resolve the fate of all those unaccounted for since the beginning of the conflict.”

**SG in Tokyo

The Secretary-General today addressed the Japanese Diet, or Parliament, applauding Japan for having shown “commendable solidarity with Iraq’s plight” by contributing generously to that country’s reconstruction and dispatching Japanese self-defence forces to Iraq.

In his speech, the first by a UN Secretary-General to be delivered to the Diet, the Secretary-General said that the United Nations would be willing to offer its assistance to help build consensus among Iraqis on the specific powers, structure and composition of a provisional governing body, and the process by which it would be set up.

He also urged Japan’s active diplomatic engagement in helping to resolve the Korean nuclear crisis.  In that regard, he said he was encouraged by the resumption tomorrow of multilateral talks in Beijing, and pledged to do whatever he could to offer his firm support for that process.

In a press conference later in the day, the Secretary-General emphasized the need for improved security conditions in Iraq before UN staff returns to the country in larger numbers.  He said, “I’m not insisting that Iraq be as peaceful as Tokyo or Geneva, but there is a minimum that would be required.”

The Secretary-General is scheduled to return to New York on Wednesday, and we have copies of his speech to the Diet upstairs.

**Haiti - Update

The UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Kieran Prendergast, will be briefing the Security Council on developments in Haiti tomorrow morning in closed consultations.

Meanwhile, the UN inter-agency team that travelled to the cities of Port-de Paix and Cap Haitien on 19 February to assess the humanitarian situation there has reported on its findings.  The team says that in both places they found serious shortages of fuel and essential medicines, severe malnutrition on the rise, and spiralling prices.

The mission recommended the provision of medicines, surgical kits, fuel and food stocks.  However, food aid has been complicated by the looting of 800 tonnes of produce from the World Food Programme warehouse in Cap Haitien yesterday after rebel forces took over the city.  We have a press release upstairs with more.

**UNICEF – Haiti

And while on the issue of Haiti, UNICEF, the UN Children’s Fund, said today that the violence there had sent the country’s already weak health and educational systems into a downward spiral that’s threatening the lives of thousands of children.  UNICEF is concerned that children won’t be able to have access to basic public health services.  And we have more on that in a press release.

**Security Council

The Security Council today is holding a public meeting on Iraq, which began with briefings by the US and the UK Ambassadors on the work being done in that country by the Coalition Provisional Authority.

The other members of the Security Council went on to discuss recent developments in Iraq, including the work done recently by the UN fact-finding team and plans for the restoration of sovereignty to the people of Iraqi.  That discussion is going on now.

Tomorrow, the Security Council will hold consultations on Somalia and Haiti, to receive briefings from the Secretariat on the situations in those two countries.

**Statement Attributable to the Spokesman on Commission on Social Dimension of Globalization

The following is a partial reading of a statement on globalization attributable to the Spokesman.  You can get the full text in my office.  It reads in part:

“The Secretary-General welcomes the report of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization, which was launched in London today.  He hopes the international community will pay close attention to the Commission’s findings and recommendations on one of the most important issues of our time -- the need to ensure that people throughout the world, and especially the poor, can benefit from globalization and have a voice wherever decisions about it are taken.”

**Sudan

UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, will travel to Chad on Sunday to get a first-hand look at ongoing efforts to help an estimated 110,000 Sudanese refugees from the Darfur region.

In light of the tens of thousands of new refugees arriving in eastern Chad since late last year, UNHCR has revised its budget for the Chad emergency to more than $20 million.  So far, slightly over $1 million have been received.

Meanwhile, a UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination team is leaving today for the Darfur region.  They will go in with vehicles, communications and other equipment to establish a functional UN field presence to negotiate and protect unimpeded access for assistance for the local population as the situation remains highly volatile.

Nearly 3 million people affected by the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region have remained beyond the reach of aid agencies trying to provide essential humanitarian assistance.  UN aid agencies estimate that they have been able to reach only 15 per cent of people in need.  We have more on that upstairs.

**Uganda

A UN team in northern Uganda arrived today to assess the situation following the brutal massacre committed by the Lord’s Resistance Army over the weekend.

Just over 200 people were killed in the attack on the Barlonyo internally displaced persons camp.  Survivors have been relocated to other nearby camps where they are living in the open, in makeshift shelters, or with other families.

Local officials are telling the UN that security will be reinforced in the area’s 18 camps.  It’s believed that up to 170,000 people are in these camps, although the current climate of insecurity has made it impossible to carry out a precise assessment.  A press release from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is available upstairs.

**Liberia

In Liberia, international health agencies there said today they were launching a campaign to combat yellow fever.

Working with the Liberian Government, the World Health Organization, the UN Children’s Fund and a number of non-governmental organizations will start a mass immunization campaign this coming Thursday.

Experts warn that 14 years of civil war which destroyed Liberia’s health infrastructure led to conditions ripe for an epidemic.  They estimated that more than 700,000 people above six months of age were in need of urgent vaccination.  We have more on that in a press release.

**UNHCR/Refugees

Turning to the issue of refugees, according to provisional figures released by the UN Refugee Agency, the number of asylum seekers in the industrialized world dropped 20 per cent in 2003.

The statistics show that some 463,000 asylum claims were made in 36 industrialized countries -– and that’s the lowest since 1997, and the third lowest since 1988.

UNHCR’s High Commissioner, Ruud Lubbers, has welcomed the drop but warns that improvements remain fragile in many countries, and there needs to be continued investment of aid and resources in the regions of origin to ensure that the trend is not reversed.  We have a press release on that.

**Hans Corell

UN Legal Counsel Hans Corell today discussed the progress of the rule of law at a lunchtime lecture at the UN Office in Vienna, on the eve of his departure after serving 10 years as Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs.  He said that he will leave UN Headquarters on 6 March, and return to his native Sweden.

Corell, in summing up his impressions during his time at the United Nations, said that there is hardly any activity in the daily life of people in the world today that is not, in some way or another, governed by rules agreed among States.  But, he added, there is room for major improvement in having the law respected by all.

With the founding of the United Nations, Corell said, the course for the rule of law among nations was set; and, if we stay the course, he added, “the prospects are favourable”.

**Rotterdam Convention

The Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade becomes international law and, thus, legally binding on its members today.

The UN Environment Programme says the treaty will enable developing countries to avoid many of the mistakes made in the richer countries, where the misuse of chemicals and pesticides has often harmed or killed people and damaged the environment.  We have more on this in a press release upstairs.

**Barcelona to Host World Environment Day

Finally, the city of Barcelona will be hosting this year’s World Environment Day on 5 June.

According to the UN Environment Programme, the city was chosen to host the event because of the wealth of innovative ideas, technologies and infrastructure developments being undertaken by Barcelona.  This year’s theme for the Day -- “Wanted!  Seas and Oceans -– Dead or Alive?” -- reflects UNEP’s activities in the marine environment and sustainable coastal livelihoods.  And we have a press release on that.

That’s all I have for you.  Yes?

Questions and Answers

Question:  Does the Secretary-General plan to come back to the building after arriving in the morning tomorrow?

Spokesman:  I don’t know yet.  But, typically, he goes home first and rests, particularly after such a long flight.  So, I wouldn’t predict that he would in the morning.  And I think it’s most likely he will probably not come in until Thursday.

Thank you very much.

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