DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
| Press Briefing |
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.
We have some visitors from the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Welcome.
**Guest at Noon
Our guest today will be Hans Corell, who is giving a wrap-up briefing after 10 years as the UN’s Legal Counsel. And this will be his farewell call on you.
**SG to Canada
On Monday, the Secretary-General will leave for an official visit to Canada, accompanied by his wife, Nane.
While in Ottawa, the Secretary-General will meet with Prime Minister Paul Martin as well as other members of his cabinet, including the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Development and Cooperation. He will also hold a separate meeting with Canada’s Governor General Adrienne Clarkson.
The Secretary-General will also deliver an address to the joint Houses of Parliament.
And during his stay in the Canadian capital, he will lay wreaths at the monument for UN Peacekeepers and the memorial for fallen Canadian humanitarian workers.
The Secretary-General will also have an opportunity to meet with the new High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour.
Prior to his departure, the Secretary-General will receive honorary degrees from the University of Ottawa and CarletonUniversity.
He will be back in the office on Wednesday.
**Haiti Update
John Reginald Dumas, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for Haiti, has left New York and is on his way to Jamaica, where he will meet with the Prime Minister, P.J. Patterson, who’s also the head of the Caribbean Community, or CARICOM.
Meanwhile, in Washington today, there’s a meeting of the Group of Friends of the Secretary-General of the Organization of American States (OAS) on Haiti. The meeting is open to all OASmemberStates, interested Permanent Observers and other interested States and international organizations.
At the invitation of the OAS, representatives from the UN’s Department of Political Affairs and Department of Peacekeeping Operations will also attend the meeting –- which is aimed at sharing information on recent developments in Haiti.
Closer to home, Jan Egeland, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator, is due to brief the Security Council in consultations tomorrow on the humanitarian situation in Haiti.
**Myanmar
We expect to have a statement regarding Razali Ismail’s recent visit to Myanmar, and as soon as we have that approved, we will release it to you.
**Security Council
The Security Council is holding an open meeting today on the subject: “Threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts”.
Under discussion is a letter dated 19 February from the Chairman of the Security Council Committee on Counter-Terrorism, Ambassador Inocencio Arias of Spain, to the Security Council President, which focuses on the revitalization of that Committee.
Ambassador Arias briefed members on the work of his Committee, and more than 30 speakers are on the speakers list.
**OIOS Report
The Department of Peacekeeping Operations takes 347 days, on average, to recruit professional and senior staff -– much more time than the goal of 120 days for such recruitment, the Office of Internal Oversight Services says in a report that is out on the racks today.
The biggest challenge faced in the recruitment process, the OIOS says, is that managers had to review some 13,800 applications, received in response to 76 vacancy announcements issued during 2002. Because of a lack of a filtering mechanism in the computerized system used to process the applications, managers had to review every applicant –- although now, the report notes, advanced search features have been added to the computerized system.
By the way, the report notes that, out of 105 professional and senior candidates appointed in 2002, 35 per cent were women, an improvement over the previous year, when the figure was 31 per cent.
**SG Appointments
The Secretary-General has decided on the following two high-level appointments.
Elisabeth Lindenmayer of France will become Assistant Secretary-General, occupying the post of Deputy Chef de Cabinet in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General.
And Angela Kane of Germany will be the new Assistant Secretary-General for General Assembly Affairs and Conference Management. We have biographical notes on both in my office.
**Mrs. Annan
Nane Annan will today give opening remarks at an International Women’s Day luncheon hosted by the US Committee for UNIFEM in the Delegates’ Dining Room.
Mrs. Annan will speak on the growing impact of AIDS on women, especially young women, which she says “forces us to focus on the inequalities and power relations that exist between men and women”.
Other speakers include Dr. Charlotte Bunch of the Center for Women’s Global Leadership, and UNIFEM Executive Director Noeleen Heyzer.
Also, Mrs. Annan tomorrow will welcome children from Marin County, California, who have raised 7 million pennies through the Pennies for Peace-Making Change Work initiative, for mine action activities specifically geared toward children in Afghanistan. That will happen at 8:45 a.m. at the Peace Bell outside the building.
The money -– seventy thousand dollars worth of pennies -- has been handed over to the United Nations Mine Action Service.
**Burundi
The Economic and Social Council’s Advisory Group on Burundi says that ensuring food security remains a major challenge for that country, and that dependence on food aid should be gradually reduced through the promotion of self-reliance at the community level.
In a report, which is out today, the Advisory Group, which comprises six ambassadors on the Economic and Social Council, welcomes the recent progress in Burundi’s peace process. But it notes the enormous challenges in resettling refugees and internally displaced persons, and adds that Burundi faces a growing problem of violence against women and children.
The World Food Programme, meanwhile, today expressed concern that a surge in fighting in parts of Burundi over the past several weeks has prevented it from delivering food aid to thousands of people newly displaced to an area outside the capital, Bujumbura.
**Sudan/Chad Refugees
The UN Higher Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, has acknowledged that Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad may not be able to go home any time soon.
Lubbers has been visiting Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad’s Touloum transit centre, which houses more than 4,800 refugees, many of whom live in huts made of branches and plastic sheeting.
Lubbers said it could be months before the refugees could even begin to think of returning home. We have more in a press release on that.
**Arab Journalists
Throughout this week, the Department of Public Information has organized a program for 11 senior Arab journalists to receive briefings on the work of the United Nations, and today, Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette will talk to the group on UN reform.
The Secretary-General is expected to meet with the Arab journalists tomorrow. The program of briefings was organized in cooperation with the Better World Fund and the UN Fund for International Partnerships.
**World Chronicle Television Programme
Another World Chronicle programme to flag for you today, No. 929, featuring Dr. Ebrahim Samba, the WHO Regional Director for Africa, and that, as usual, will be shown today at 3:30 p.m. on in-house television channels 3 or 31.
That’s all I have for you.
**Questions and Answers
Question: Fred, can you explain to us the rationale and the role of the UNDP in forming the new Haitian Government because I noticed yesterday that the UNDP Representative will participate in the formation of the new Haitian Government? Can you explain that to us the rationale of this? Who authorized that?
Spokesman: I answered this question yesterday, Serge. The Secretary-General authorized it on Sunday and reported that to the Security Council on Sunday… (interrupted)
Question: But who gave the Secretary-General the power to authorize the formation of a government? Where in the Charter do we have this?
Spokesman: You’re looking at this from the wrong end. This Resident Representative is extremely experienced in these kinds of matters. He was asked to participate in a trilateral mechanism that had been recommended by CARICOM as part of their plan for getting Haiti out of its political crisis. Because at that time, we had no other person to send, and because this particular Resident Representative is particularly experienced in this area, the Secretary-General approved him taking on this responsibility. Now, I did say also, I think it was yesterday, that as soon as his role on this mechanism ends, and the mechanism is made up of, in addition to the UN Representative, a representative of the government and a representative of the opposition, once they agree on a nine-person panel to select a government, this Resident Representative will withdraw and go back to his development work. And of course, you have now the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy appointed, on his way to the region as we speak now, who will take over for the Resident Representative and represent the Secretary-General on all political matters regarding Haiti. It’s a stopgap measure, if you will. Yes, Abdurahim?
Question: On the two high-level appointments, can you address the significance of adding more French and German input to the Secretariat as opposed to American input? Is there… is there…?
Spokesman: These two people have been in the UN system a long time. They’ve worked their way up the ladder as international civil servants. So, he didn’t see it as an appointment of a German and a French woman. He saw it as the appointment of two people who had been serving him long and hard and who deserved a promotion. That’s how I would answer that. Yes?
Question: Fred, on Venezuela, can you give us a read out of the meeting yesterday between the Ambassador and the Secretary-General, and did Ambassador Alcalay ask him for anything in particular; any role in the situation in Venezuela?
Spokesman: I don’t have a read out of that meeting. I think the Ambassador spoke to you this morning and announced that he was resigning. He did tell the Secretary-General yesterday that that was his intention. That’s the only thing I was told that they spoke of. I can’t say that other things didn’t come up, but that’s all I was told from that meeting. Yes?
Question: Fred, do you expect another statement regarding the resignation?
Spokesman: I don’t believe so, no. Yes, Richard?
Question: (Inaudible)… level of concern in the political department of the UN and the Secretary-General’s, for about the Venezuela turmoil? Impact on the region in light of what happened in Haiti and other internal problems?
Spokesman: We’re looking at it very closely and watch this space. Yes?
Question: Does Ms. Louise Fréchette intend to come, since she is very close now in Canada, obviously here to New York and how can we get an interview with her?
Spokesman: That’s your second interview question in a week, Erol. She is upstairs.
Question: Oh, here?
Spokesman: Yes, she’s here. We process all interview requests for her through my office. We’d be happy, if you give me a piece of paper, to send it up to her office. She will be in Canada with the Secretary-General on Monday, however. Yes?
Question: Another question, there is a panel on slavery in Sudan here at 1:00 o’clock. Is there anybody from the United Nations system at any level going to participate on that panel or going to attend?
Spokesman: I don’t have that information. I will look into it for you. Richard?
Question: Did the 11:30 meeting with the British Ambassador take place?
Spokesman: It started a few minutes late. The Secretary-General was a little late arriving, but it did take place, yes.
Question: Can you just clarify, the previous meeting that was postponed, was that at the request of the Secretary-General or of the British? And this meeting was at the request of the SG?
Spokesman: The Secretary-General asked to see the Ambassador. The Ambassador asked for a postponement of a couple of days, and that meeting is now taking place or has taken place.
Question: Do you expect any type of read out?
Spokesman: No, I don’t. Yes?
Question: Is it possible to get a read out of this meeting, or Ambassador Jones Parry?
Spokesman: No. I was just asked and I said I don’t expect any read out of that meeting. You can guess at least one of the subjects that’s on the agenda.
Question: (Inaudible) …some of his aides wanting him to be angry about it, I mean has his mood about the alleged reported bugging, has it changed in any way because he said he is speaking through you on this issue, so?
Spokesman: Well, you also heard him tell you that he stands by the statement that I issued on his behalf last week. His mood hasn’t changed. And we don’t discuss differences among his aides. The words, as we issue them are his words.
Okay, Hans, welcome. Come up to the briefing, take the podium.
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