Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

AND THE SPOKESMAN 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 Djibril Diallo, Spokesman for the General Assembly President.

Good afternoon.

**Security Council

The Security Council began its work today by listening to the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Sudan, Jan Pronk.

Pronk said that in the key areas of security and impunity, there was no progress in Darfur during the past month.  He noted, however, signs of improvement on the political front, referring to the acceptance of an expanded African Union force and the resumption of political negotiations.

The force, he said, needs to be sizeable.  It needs to be speedily deployed.  It also needs to be a force with a mandate far beyond overseeing the ceasefire agreement.  For example, it should ensure the safety of displaced persons in the camps, and monitor the behaviour and actions of the Sudanese police.

The second most important issue, he said, to be solved in the month ahead concerns the political talks between the Government and the rebel SPLM (Sudan People’s Liberation Movement).  The outcome of the north-south peace process, he says, can serve as a basis for Darfur.  He suggested that the Council may wish to send a small delegation in order to make clear that the international community is watching and will not accept any further delay or hindrances.

He also spelled out seven ways for the international community to support Sudan.  One of them was to increase financial assistance for the victims of the conflict in Darfur.  The number of affected people, now close to 2 million, could rise to 3 or 4 million if the civil war continues and renders agriculture and food production impossible, he said.

The Council is now discussing Sudan in closed consultations.  And Jan Pronk will talk to you at the stakeout microphone after those consultations end.

**Sudan-SG

The Secretary-General, who attended the briefing, was asked by reporters on his way out what he would like to see the Security Council do.

He said, “We’ve raised the importance of getting the African forces in as quickly as possible, and the support they need from the international community to be able to deploy as quickly as possible.  I’m sure that the Council will focus on that aspect”, he said, “and also maintain the pressure on the Sudanese authorities to protect the population”.

**Security Council-Afternoon

At 4 o’clock this afternoon, the Security Council has scheduled closed consultations on the Middle East, with a view to holding a formal meeting afterwards.

Up for discussion is a draft resolution on the Middle East, which is in “blue” –- meaning, it can be voted upon.

**Secretary-General Press Comments

The Secretary-General was asked by reporters today whether it was still technically feasible to hold free and fair elections in Iraq.  He said, “One has to be clear:  the ownership of the elections belongs to the Iraqis”.

He added, “We are there to support and assist”.  He said that the decision to go ahead with elections in January would belong to Iraq’s Independent Electoral Commission.

The Secretary-General was also asked whether Israel should apologize if what it had claimed to be a rocket being loaded onto a UN vehicle was in fact a hospital stretcher.  He said that, in his discussions with Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman, he raised the matter that, if the allegations were not correct, Israel would issue a disclaimer on its side.  We have the transcript of those comments upstairs.

**Haiti

On Haiti, the situation in Port-au-Prince remains tense following several days of violence during which three police officers were killed and four leaders of the Fanmi Lavalas party were arrested.  UN mission troops and police continue to patrol the downtown area of Port-au-Prince in support of the Haitian National Police.  The Secretary-General’s Special Representative there, Juan Gabriel Valdés, met yesterday with interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue to review the situation.  Further meetings are expected today.

In a statement issued yesterday, Valdés expressed his deep concern and called upon the Haitian population to avoid being drawn into a vicious cycle of revenge and violence.  He condemned the brutal murder of the police officers.  He also called for the Haitian justice system to pronounce itself on the legality of the subsequent arrests, and noted that the authorities had assured him that the rights of the suspects would be fully respected.  In this regard, the UN Mission’s Human Rights Adviser is monitoring the conditions under which the four arrested leaders are being held.

In Gonaïves, efforts continue to provide humanitarian assistance, with UN peacekeepers securing distribution points for food and water throughout the city.

**Côte d’Ivoire

The UN Mission in Côte d’Ivoire says it is very concerned by allegations that human rights violations took place on the 29^th of September at the popular Adjame market in Abidjan.

Some 380 people at the market were detained by the Ivorian security forces, and released a few days later.  Some said they had to pay money for their release, while others report that they were beaten.  Three are said to be in a coma.

The UN Mission is in contact with national and local authorities and is interviewing victims.  It is asking the authorities to investigate the matter, and to make the results public.

**Bougainville

Bougainville is not expected to hold elections by the end of this year, although major progress has been made in the peace process there in recent months.  That is what the Secretary-General says in his latest report to the Security Council on Bougainville.

He says that the UN Observer Mission in Bougainville will continue to be required to chair the committee dealing with the peace process and to help in preparations for the elections.  There is concern, he said, that a premature closure of the Observer Mission could have a negative impact on the peace process as it enters the critical months ahead.  The report is out on the racks.

**Violence against Women

Also out on the racks is the Secretary-General’s report on violence against women.

The report provides information about legal and policy measures undertaken by Member States to combat all forms of violence against women.  It also includes a section of responses from Member States on measures to eliminate crimes against women committed in the name of honour.

The report recommends that governments should accelerate legal frameworks to criminalize all forms of violence against women.  In addition, governments should put in place penalties for perpetrators and ensure that violence against women is prosecuted and punished.

**Secretary-General/Mine Action Report

The UN’s efforts have strengthened the capacities of mine-affected States to effectively manage all aspects of mine action policy planning.

That’s one of the conclusions of the Secretary-General in his report -– which is out on the racks today –- to the General Assembly on progress achieved in the UN’s mine action strategy 2001 to 2005.

He also says that donors are recognizing the importance of supporting mine action from development and reconstruction budgets -– and not solely through humanitarian and emergency budgets.

**Pesticide Report

Children face higher risks from pesticides than adults and need greater protection against these chemicals, particularly in developing countries.

That’s a key finding of a joint report released today by the Food and Agriculture Organization, the UN Environment Programme and the World Health Organization.

The number of children affected is unknown but, based on the experience of many countries, is likely to be large.

The joint report highlights the magnitude of the problem.  It also emphasizes the need to put more effort into helping the rural, disadvantaged populations who are most affected by pesticide poisoning.  And we have more on that upstairs.

**UNFPA

We also have upstairs a press release from the UN Population Fund regarding an event on promoting universal access to reproductive health.  The conference is taking place later this month at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France.  And we have more details on that upstairs.

**Press Conference this Afternoon

Finally, a reminder of a press conference.  This afternoon at 1:15, Bertrand Delanoé, the Mayor of Paris, will be in this room following his meeting with the Secretary-General to talk to you about local governments in global governance.

That’s all I have for you.  I see we have Djibril ready to come up to brief you on the General Assembly.  No questions for me?  Fine, Djibril, come on up.

[See additional question after the briefing by the Spokesman for the GA President.]

Spokesman for General Assembly President

Thank you, Fred.  Good afternoon.  As I mentioned earlier, the arrangements that I have with Fred are that I will come to you, periodically, when there is something substantial to say.  If there is not, I have my colleague, Israa Hamad, whom Fred introduced to you yesterday.  She’s on the third floor.  Fred provided us graciously with office space there so that I have a way as Spokesman of the President of the General Assembly to be available to you on a systematic basis.

And today, I do have something new to say.  That is, the General Assembly has concluded consideration of two Agenda items that I had mentioned earlier:  agenda item 52 and agenda item 54.  Agenda item 52 has to do with the revitalization of the work of the United Nations General Assembly, and agenda item 54 has to do with the strengthening of the work of the United Nations system.  In his summing up, the President of the General Assembly, His Excellency Mr. Jean Ping, said that, obviously, these issues are not new issues.  They have been on the agenda of the United Nations for many, many years, and they have been the subject of several resolutions.  In particular, the President of the General Assembly drew attention to two specific resolutions, resolution 58/126 and resolution 58/316.  And, from these resolutions, it appears that a lot of work has been done, a lot of progress has been done.  At the same time, from the discussions, it also appears that a lot more work needs to be done for the implementation of the different resolutions.

Another item that was submitted, that was introduced yesterday, by the Deputy Secretary-General, Ms. Louise Fréchette, is the report of the Secretary-General in response to the report of the Panel of Eminent Persons on United Nations-Civil Society Relations.  The President of the General Assembly gave the following summary, coming out of the statements of delegations.  On the issue of the revitalization of the work of the General Assembly, delegations requested speedy implementation of the two resolutions I mentioned earlier, namely, resolution 58/126 and resolution 58/316.  Secondly, the speakers supported firmly the meetings between the presidents of the General Assembly, the Security Council and ECOSOC.  And, in this connection, the President of the General Assembly, Mr. Jean Ping, again reiterated the fact that such a meeting has already taken place, on the 30^th of September, and that it is the intention of the three presidents that these meetings take place regularly.

Another item had to do with the rationalization of the agenda of the plenary session and the work of the Main Committees.  And here, delegations asked for additional efforts in order to work further on this rationalization.  And, in this connection, particular emphasis was placed on the role, the essential role, that the bureau could play in this connection.  It has also been mentioned that this issue of the rationalization of the agenda of the plenary and the Main Committees could be evaluated at the sixty-first session.  So, start it, let it go for a while, and then evaluate it at the sixty-first session of the General Assembly.  In this connection, some delegations cautioned that the issue of rationalization of the agenda should not affect the work of the General Assembly to conduct, the capacity, I’m sorry, the capacity of the General Assembly to conduct its work, and that this rationalization should be accompanied with a reduction of the volume of documentation.  Reduction of the volume of documentation without prejudice to the information that is necessary for Member States to be able to conduct the different questions on the agenda of the General Assembly.

Another item that came up is really the need to do everything possible to reinforce the ECOSOC, and the need to reform the Security Council.  I mentioned in the President’s summing up last week of the general debate, if you remember, out of the 190 statements, 140 addressed specifically the issue of the Security Council reform.

Final point:  On the relations between the United Nations and civil society, delegations mentioned that this is a very, very important aspect of the agenda of the General Assembly, and that the contribution of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is very, very important for the work of the United Nations.  However, coming out of the discussions, it has been determined that the modalities of participation of non-governmental organizations, as well as their contributions to the work of the General Assembly, that these two points need to be examined further.  Some delegations also talked about a way of facilitating further the accreditation of representatives of civil society.  Others welcomed the cooperation that exists already outside the United Nations Headquarters at the local level, between governments and civil society, especially when it came to questions of development.

In this connection, it has been suggested, or it has been stated, that there needs to be further reinforcement of the work, of cooperation with the United Nations.  Some delegations also supported the proposal regarding the creation of a special fund to reinforce the work of NGOs from developing countries, as was mentioned in the report of the Secretary-General.  President Jean Ping ended his statement by reiterating his intention to work very, very closely with the bureau of the General Assembly, in order to have as large consultations as possible on this and other issues.  That’s all I have for you.  Any questions?  Yes, Richard.

Questions and Answers

Question:  When is the annual speech session on reform of the Security Council?  Usually it’s in October. Do you know which day it is?

Spokesman for General Assembly President:  Yeah.  We have the, on Monday, 11^th of October, the second item on the agenda is the report of the Security Council, question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council and related matters.

Question:  May I ask a question of Fred if there are no other questions for you?

Spokesman for General Assembly President:  Any other questions? If not, Fred.

Question:  I missed the slot.  Fred, has it been decided who will lead this team that was going to the Middle East anyway, regarding the Israeli UN ambulance [inaudible]?

Spokesman for the Secretary-General:  As I mentioned to you yesterday, a joint political affairs and peacekeeping mission, that had been scheduled to leave today in any case to review the UN’s operations generally in the Middle East, was tasked to look into the allegations that an UNRWA staff member had loaded a missile into a UN ambulance.  I’m not sure who the head of the mission is.  I suspect it’s Geir Pedersen, who is the Director in political affairs for that region, Asia.  On the peacekeeping side, it’s Susan Allee, and then there are two other members.  So, it’s a four-member delegation, and they are scheduled to leave tonight.

Question:  What do you make of Israel saying they are reviewing the tape now?  Does the UN feel that the UN was right, Peter Hansen was right?  I know the SG said there should be a disclaimer if they’re not, but have there been further conversations about the tape?

Spokesman for the Secretary-General:  Well, we were basing ourselves on our view of the tape, and essentially making an amateur’s assessment of what we had seen.  And what we had seen suggested very strongly to us that it could not have been a missile, given the lightness, the apparent lightness of the object which was carried by this person in one hand.  And the fact that he threw it into the back of the ambulance; I think it if were a missile you’d be handling it much more gingerly.  But, again, that’s an amateur assessment, and what we were hoping was that the professionals could blow up these images, look more carefully at them, and determine exactly what was on the tape.

Question:  What do you make of Ambassador Gillerman’s comment, which he said at the microphone yesterday, that the UN has been involved in terrorist activities?

Spokesman for the Secretary-General:  You’ll have to ask him what he meant.  I told you yesterday that we don’t hire terrorists and, in fact, we don’t tolerate any militant activity of any kind on the part of our staff in Gaza and the West Bank, or anywhere else in the world.

Thank you very much.

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