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

AND 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.

Spokesman for the Secretary-General

Good afternoon,

**Human Rights Day

From New York to Zambia, from Botswana to Bangkok, from Paris to Uganda, the United Nations family today marked International Human Rights Day with calls for education and action, exhibitions and panel discussions.

Noting “the enormous efforts still required to make human rights a reality for all”, the Secretary-General cast the spotlight on the vital role of education in the battle.  And we have copies of his message upstairs.

**Human Rights - DSG

Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette, in her statement to the General Assembly on Human Rights Day, also focused on the importance of human rights education.

She said she joins the High Commissioner for Human Rights in paying tribute to the many human rights educators and human rights defenders around the world who contribute day after day to building a universal culture of human rights.  “They should serve as an inspiration to all of us”, she said.  And we have copies of her statement upstairs as well.

**Iraq

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, is meeting today in Washington with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.  They are expected to have a wide-ranging discussion on Iraq, including the UN’s support for the elections and political process.

Qazi will be in New York on Monday, when he will present to the Security Council the Secretary-General’s latest report on Iraq.  And we will also make him available to you after his meeting with the Council either here in room 226, or at the stakeout.

**Sudan

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sudan, Jan Pronk, has expressed his concern at the escalation of violence in Darfur, in direct violation of the N’Djamena Ceasefire Agreement and the Abuja Protocols on humanitarian and security issues.  He drew particular attention to the Government of Sudan’s military action on the roads around Al Fasher, which has led to the eruption of a new round of fighting in Darfur this week.

Pronk says he is worried about the possible negative impact of the fighting on the Abuja talks on Darfur.  He fears that this round of negotiations, which is due to begin shortly, is headed for failure if the parties do not show restraint.  Pronk is scheduled to be in New York next week and we have asked him to be our guest at the noon briefing on Tuesday or Wednesday.

**Sudan - Humanitarian

Meanwhile, on the ground in Sudan, humanitarian agencies are reporting new waves of population displacements as a result of the renewed fighting in Darfur.  For example, the 16,000 Sudanese who had recently fled their town after it came under attack on 22 November have reportedly dispersed once more, due to the attacks Wednesday on Thabit, where they had sought refuge.  Agencies report ongoing negotiations with the authorities to locate a new site for a large number of people displaced by the recent wave of insecurity.

**Middle East

UN Envoy Terje Roed-Larsen paid a farewell call to the UN Peacekeeping Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL.  He met with the Force Commander, General Alain Pelligrini.

While in Lebanon, he also paid a farewell call to the Speaker of the Parliament, Nabih Berri.  The Speaker thanked Roed-Larsen for his efforts over the years as the UN’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East peace process, notably for his efforts during the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon.

Roed-Larsen is now heading for Saudi Arabia, where he is set to meet with a number of senior officials.

**Security Council

The only meeting of the Security Council scheduled today is an 11 a.m. session with the troop-contributing countries to the UN Disengagement Observer Force in the Golan Heights.

Looking ahead to Monday, the Security Council will take up Iraq in the morning, and UNDOF and Côte d’Ivoire in the afternoon.

**UNHCR – Budget

The UN Refugee Agency is today presenting its budget for 2005 to donor countries attending a pledging conference in Geneva.  The budget amounts to just over $1 billion, and is needed to assist some 17 million people -- including refugees, asylum seekers, returnees, and internally displaced persons.  And we have a press release on that.

**Malaysia

The UN Refugee Agency will, next week, begin to send mobile registration teams to jungle camps in Malaysia to document hundreds of refugees, ahead of an expected crackdown on illegal migrants, and others known as “people of concern,” early next year.

Among the 28,000 people to whom UNHCR seeks to provide documentation are some 10,000 Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar.  The Malaysian Government earlier had said that it would grant the Rohingyas temporary stay permits, as a humanitarian gesture.  And we have more details in today’s briefing notes from Geneva.

**Cambodia

A six-member UN team wrapped up discussions in Phnom Penh with the Government of Cambodia today on a budget for the Extraordinary Chambers that will try people for crimes committed during the Khmer Rouge’s rule in that country.

The United Nations and the Cambodian Government agreed on a budget of $56 million for the Chambers, and they also agreed on the premises and infrastructure for the trials.  The UN team, led by Mohammed Said, will now return to New York to brief officials here on the budgetary talks.

**Press Conferences Today

Following the noon briefing today, the Mission of Slovenia will be hosting a press conference to present a global appeal by world leaders on human rights learning towards peace, development and human security.  Speakers will include Shulamith Koenig, recipient of the 2003 UN Award for outstanding achievement in the field of human rights, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Danilo Türk, and Minar Pimple of the People’s Movement for Human Rights Learning.

And then at 4:45, a group of African Ambassadors led by Ambassador Roble Olhaye of Djibouti will hold a press conference in this room following their meeting with the Secretary-General.

**The Week Ahead at the United Nations

And for your coverage of the UN next week we have The Week Ahead for you available in my office.

Yes, Evelyn?

**Questions and Answers

Question:   (Inaudible)...press conference on a Friday you don’t get too much air time or anything else.  On Cambodia, is there anyone left to try?  Look how many years it’s been?  Are there still suspects alive?  I mean, Khmer Rouge atrocities, their leaders?

Spokesman:  We’ll have to leave that up to the Tribunal to decide who they would bring before them.  Yes?

Question:   Do you have any count of the Moslems who are in Israel and Myanmar and India?

Spokesman:  For any more details on that, I’d refer you to the UNHCR briefing.  We have the briefing notes available in my office.  Yes, Bill?

Question:   Did the Secretary-General have any reaction to Ambassador Danforth’s remarks expressing a vote of confidence on him yesterday?  And also, is there anything further on the Secretary-General’s end of the year press conference?

Spokesman:  Of course, he welcomed that statement.  He has a long record of working well with the United States Government and he expects to continue to do so on a broad range of important issues.  I’d just mention a few at the top, Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan, UN reform.  So, yes, he welcomed that statement.

On the year end press conference, there will be some travel between now and the end of the year.  We’re not ready to announce the details just yet.  But, maybe on Monday.  So, it’s not clear yet whether he can have his year end press conference by year end or maybe early in the New Year.  So, that decision hasn’t been made yet.  Evelyn?

Question:   Yes, also on the SG.  The EU has invited him Friday, next Friday, I think.  Is he going to go to that?  Is that part of his travel?  And has he in the last month, let’s say, two weeks, spoken to anyone in the U.S. administration above the level of Danforth?

Spokesman:  We’re not ready to announce the specific travel plans, but I can confirm that the European Union did invite him to their summit in Brussels at the end of next week.  He has -- in the last month, did you say?  I can’t really tell you -- he has probably spoken to the Secretary of State three or four times in the last month.  If you come to my office afterwards I’ll look at the log and give you a more specific number.  Colin Powell is his principal contact in the administration.  I can’t recall any other phone calls, but then I’d have to look at the log again, if you come to my office afterwards.  Yes, sir?

Question:   Has the Secretary-General received any expression of general support from the Bush administration along the lines of what Ambassador Danforth said yesterday?

Spokesman:  Well, I think, if you listened to the Ambassador’s response to a question, he said he was speaking on behalf of the State Department and the White House.  A question was specifically put to him, “Are you speaking for yourself or for the State Department and the White House?”  And his reply, if you check the transcript, was “the latter”.  So, we saw that as an official expression of U.S. government policy.  Yes?

Question:   Had the Secretary-General asked for such a statement?

Spokesman:  No, we were not even aware until the last minute that it was going to happen.  Yes?

Question:   On Darfur, after the Security Council meeting and the big gathering in Nairobi, it seems that nothing has moved forward.  Will it be correct to say that heading towards the failure all the efforts that were made and so forth have ...(inaudible)... Pronk’s ...statements?

Spokesman:  Well, I mentioned to you now that the upcoming talks could be heading for failure, if there isn’t more restraint shown by both sides.  There not only hasn’t been progress, there’s been regression and it’s hard to see where this thing can end up.  So, I think as far as the Security Council and the international community as a whole goes, they’ll be putting as much pressure as they can on these various parties -- the Government and the various rebel groups -- to get it together, and honour the ceasefire, negotiate seriously and in good faith, get an agreement on north-south and then get an agreement on Darfur and then keep the fire from spreading anywhere else in the country.

Okay.  Djibril, do you want to come up?

Spokesman for General Assembly President

Good afternoon.

Today is Human Rights Day and, in that conjunction, the General Assembly dedicated this morning’s plenary meeting to reviewing the achievements of the United Nations Decade of Human Rights Education, which is from 1995 to 2004.

In connection with this item the General Assembly had before it a note by the Secretary-General of the United Nations circulated in document A/59/525 and a draft resolution entitled “World Programme for Human Rights Education”, also issued as document A/59/L.43.

For your background, the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna considered "human rights education, training and public information essential for the promotion and achievement of stable and harmonious relations among communities and for fostering mutual understanding, tolerance and peace".  And the same declaration further called "on States and institutions to include human rights, humanitarian law, democracy and rule of law as subjects in the curricula of all learning institutions in formal and non-formal settings".

The President of the General Assembly addressed the Plenary this morning and he said:  “Indeed, it is important to educate and sensitize people on issues relating to human rights, as well as to promote respect, equality, cooperation and understanding between individuals and among nations.  This is a long process which, like all education, occurs all life long.

“On the one hand, by establishing legal instruments in relevant United Nations organs, we have committed to ensure in our respective countries not only education in general, but also education about and for human rights.

“On the other hand, we have always highlighted the importance of human rights education in various United Nations fora, in the General Assembly and at the Commission on Human Rights, as well as during many international meetings.  We, therefore, have adopted many international programmes of action, such as the World Public Information Campaign on Human Rights and the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education, whose Plan of Action calls for the elaboration and implementation of global, effective and sustainable strategies for human rights education at the national level.”

The President of the General Assembly also issued a statement, which is available to you as of today.  And the statement, among other things, reiterates the fact that this year the focus is on human rights education, because this is essential to undertaking to fully achieve the purpose and goals of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the ideals embodied in the Millennium Development Goals and the twin purposes of the United Nations, namely ensuring and promoting development, as well as peace and security.

This afternoon the General Assembly will take up the report of the Fourth Committee.  That Committee, as you know, deals with Special Political and Decolonization.

As part of Human Rights Day, an exhibit will open in the north-east gallery of the General Assembly Visitors’ Lobby at 6 p.m. this evening.  And the exhibit is entitled “Lest We Forget:  The Triumph Over Slavery”.  And this enlightening exhibition offers an inspiring look at the cultural, political, economic and social practices that enslaved Africans developed while enduring the dehumanizing conditions of slavery.  It will be open through 20 January 2005.

That’s all I have for you.  Any questions?

Yes, Evelyn?

Questions and Answers

Question:   I’m finding this an incredible debate.  Listening to it and listening to your very concise presentation, because this has been a very bad year for human rights in the UN.  I mean, the Human Rights Commission doesn’t really function, the Third Committee doesn’t function, the South believes that... the South has a motto that if you don’t talk about violations in my country, I won’t talk about yours, and the North doesn’t think freedom for migrants are human rights.  So, I don’t find this crisis being a (Inaudible) crisis.  That the UN has stalemated on the issue.  The Third Committee was disgrace this year.  If Sudan isn’t a human rights violation -- both the Government and the rebels -- then nothing is.  And the Human Rights Commission is just as bad.  I mean, you know.  So, don’t talk about any specific violations.  Just do education, in general.  And I find, you know, except for the conventions where they get specific, this is just... Why is this not being addressed?  The Secretary-General’s High-Level report addressed it.  I think the recommendation they gave was the wrong one, but at least they addressed the issue.

Spokesman for General Assembly President:If you look at the statement issued by the President of the General Assembly, it deals with those two issues.  One, there have been quite a few islands of hope during 2004 whereby the United Nations, the international community, made sure that any country, any peoples, or any groups that blatantly violate the rights of people, that those countries have the spotlight shone on them.  And I think that it’s not correct to equate the fact that the Committee postponed the discussion on the Sudan to...(Interrupted).

Question:   Even with so many killed, and Zimbabwe.  You would … (Interrupted).

Spokesman for General Assembly President:Yes.  Let me just finish.  Maybe I’ll listen to you.

Question:   I am sorry, go ahead.

Spokesman for General Assembly President:To equate that with a lack of response on the part of Africa, on the part of the international community, regarding the situation in the Sudan, because you’re an old hand in that area.  I mean, I don’t want to take up too much of your time, but you know that there have been vigorous actions in this connection.  But in international diplomacy, at any one point, the United Nations has to see which is the effective way of bringing about effective change.  Just because the UN is not coming here and giving press conferences every day about what’s going on, for instance, in Darfur, does not, and should not, be interpreted as the UN not doing anything or the Africans not doing anything.  I personally have followed this and know that this has been the case.  But what was behind the postponement was that certain countries felt that, when it came to human rights, there can be no double standards.  So, that the finger-pointing exercise -- I am interpreting to you as the Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly -- the finger-pointing exercise, if it is to be undertaken, has to be undertaken systematically.  Not only with countries in the South, but also with countries in the North. 

So, vigorous action is being taken, vis-à-vis the situation in the Sudan and elsewhere.  But it does not take away from the point that you made, which is the second part of the President’s statement, that is, grave violations of human rights continue around the world.  And he insisted that it must stop.  But, we also have to deal with the other issues that concern the right to life, such as the fight against HIV/AIDS and other kind of issues.

I am sorry.  Go ahead again, Evelyn.

Question:   No, I agree with you, it’s just that the UN (inaudible) the African Union was doing more than anyone else.  The General Assembly is doing nothing, the Human Rights Commission -- the countries, as compared to the staff of the Human Rights Commission -- is trying to deny the situation exists, for the reasons you said.  One can agree or disagree with them.  But I will look at the General Assembly President’s statement.

Spokesman for General Assembly President:Yes?

Question:   You have said that the Third Committee did not take action on, or postponed condemnation of the Sudan, because it did not want to single out one actor when there were other actors also committing human rights violations.  If that is so, how come there have been so many General Assembly resolutions against Israel?

Spokesman for General Assembly President:Again, I would like to refer you to the transcript...(Interrupted).

Question:   I don’t want a transcript!  How come?

Spokesman for General Assembly President:I’d like to refer you to the transcript of what led the countries to postpone the review of the situation in the Sudan and in Zimbabwe.  And off the top of my head, I can tell you that the representative of South Africa, who was speaking on behalf of the African Group, he said that...  He said two things, which I remember.  One, that it should be systematic in terms of dealing with these countries, North and South.  And second, that this finger-pointing exercise has somehow had a negative impact on the work of the Human Rights Commission in Geneva.  As to the issue on Israel, obviously that is a separate matter, which I am not able to comment on at this moment.  But, we can provide you with information on it. 

Yes, Evelyn?

Question:   I listened too, very carefully, and I tended...(inaudible), and of South Africa is “don’t touch Zimbabwe, so don’t touch Sudan.”  So,...

Spokesman for General Assembly President:That’s your opinion.

Question:   All right, I mean, you know!  It’s pretty damn clear if you listen to speeches opposing them and so forth.  I don’t think this was postponed.  I think this was killed..., (Interrupted)

Spokesman for General Assembly President:Anyway, that’s your opinion.

Question:   ... for the reasons you said.  For the reasons you said.  But, it’s also...  it’s just a shame that it had to be South Africa, which is going through it’s own turmoil, that made the speech, mainly because of its neighbour.  And everything is political -- from the North and from the South.  I mean, we shouldn’t act like it’s a lost...(Inaudible).

Spokesman for General Assembly President:Next question, please?

Question:   Djibril, what is the Human Rights Commission position regarding Abu Ghraib, and GuantanamoBay in the United States?

Spokesman for General Assembly President:I didn’t get the first part of your question.

Question:   (Inaudible)...today the issue is prisoner abuse.  Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and then GuantanamoBay.  Even as late as two weeks ago, the New York Times, it said that in GuantanamoBay there has been this ... (Inaudible).

Spokesman for General Assembly President:The United Nations being an intergovernmental body can only look at issues which are brought to its attention by Member States.  So, you have to look at those questions that you raise within that framework.

Yes? 

Question:   What power does the Legal Department have to implement something or not to implement something?  Any power?

Spokesman for General Assembly President:As a student of the United Nations -- here I am speaking in my personal capacity -- I think that the United Nations has a moral authority which is bigger than the authority of any army.  And I worked for ten years as an officer in United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and in my days in UNICEF, I saw the low, morally, in terms of the protection of children.  The bar has now been raised high, so that any country violating those rights is identified in such a way that is more powerful than any kind of arms.  After all, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was just a piece of paper when it was written.  And then it became what it is today, and that’s why we’re talking about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Human Rights Day.

So, the power of the United Nations is not just to try and bring a physical army to confront the situation, but to have moral authority in today’s world, so that anybody who is blatantly violating rights would be brought to account in a very effective way.

And I remember also -- again, I am just digressing a little bit, but if you allow me -- there were times in Africa when violations of human rights would be regarded as the purview of individual States, and that there should not be interference by other States.  I sat through Organization of African Unity (OAU) missions or OAU meetings when they would say, you know, “this is interference”.  All of that has changed.  Any issue or violation in any part of Africa, or in any part of the world for that respect, is a concern to everybody.  And again, I am mentioning this in my personal capacity.

Question:   Why then can’t the Security Council take this issue and as they do propose things against nations, at the same time they can use the justification of human rights.

Spokesman for General Assembly President:I don’t know, your question is too general for me to answer.  I don’t understand it.

Question:   I mean that the power stays with the Security Council, right?

Spokesman for General Assembly President:Okay.

Question:   So, why can’t the Security Council take on this issue, as well?

Spokesman for General Assembly President:Again, that’s very broad because, you know more than I do, that the whole issue of the reform of the United Nations is to try to bring the United Nations, including the Security Council and the commissions into the twenty-first century.  You’ve seen the Secretary-General’s presentation a few days ago of the High-Level report on this issue.  So, the issue of the reform of the Security Council, but also the reform of the General Assembly and other organs, is within this framework of really making the UN more adaptable to the twenty-first century.

Okay?  Thank you.

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