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,

**High-level Panel

The Secretary-General today is meeting with regional groups of Member States to move forward the discussion on the report by the High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change.

He met this morning with the African and then the Asian States.  And this afternoon, he will hold a meeting with the Group of West European and Other States.

As he told the General Assembly last week, the Secretary-General intends to submit his review of the implementation of the Millennium Declaration to the Assembly next March.

That review, he said, will draw heavily on the ideas in the Panel's report, as well as on the discussions the Member States will hold over the coming months, including the ones taking place today.

**Security Council

This morning, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, presented to the Security Council the Secretary-General’s latest report on Iraq.

He told Council members that upcoming elections present a test of the new political order and the transition process in Iraq.  There is no alternative to a free and fair election, he said, and that’s why it’s so important that Iraqis make every effort to participate in the balloting –- despite the challenging security situation.  He went on to say that those who opt out, or undermine, the elections do neither themselves nor their country any favour.

Qazi reported said in multiple contacts with the Interim Government, the UN has stressed the need to reach out to the widest possible range of Iraqi opinion since an inclusive process is the best guarantee for a successful transition.  Qazi stressed that the balloting will require a conducive political and security environment, including the participation of all sectors of society and all areas of the country.

Political outreach within Iraq, as well as growing regional cooperation with respect to Iraq, offer the best prospect for an improved situation in the country.  Qazi said he is optimistic that the Interim Government and the people of Iraq are willing and able to successfully negotiate the transition to a united, democratic and prosperous Iraq.

In his report, the Secretary-General writes that, despite the prevailing circumstances, which limit the UN’s presence in Iraq, the Organization has been able to deliver effective support for Iraq’s transition, notably by ensuring that electoral preparations are in place and by coordinating humanitarian and reconstruction assistance.

Council members also heard from Ambassador John Danforth of the United States, who reported on the work of the Multinational Force in Iraq, as he is required to do under resolution 1546.

The members have now moved to closed consultations to continue their discussion on Iraq.  Qazi will be here in 226 once those consultations have ended.

**Security Council -- Afternoon

At 3 p.m., the Security Council has scheduled consultations on the UN Disengagement Observer Force in the Golan Heights and also on Cote d’Ivoire and other matters.

On Cote d’Ivoire, Special Representative Albert Tevoedjre is planning to brief.

**MONUC/Kanyabayonga Fighting

The UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is appealing for calm and an immediate end to hostilities, following reports of fighting between armed groups in the locality of Kanyabayonga, in the province of North Kivu.

The reports say that the armed groups are made up of different ex-military components of the Armed Forces of the DRC.

The UN Mission is calling on the DRC’s Transitional Government to clarify the confusion on the ground in North Kivu.

It adds that it has information about a distribution of arms to civilians in North Kivu, and it calls on the parties that may be responsible for this to immediately end these arms distributions –- and says that they’ll individually be held accountable for the consequences of their actions.  We have more on that upstairs.

**Sudan -- Pronk

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for the Sudan, Jan Pronk, has issued a statement deploring the deaths of two national staff of Save the Children, who were killed in South Darfur over the weekend while travelling in a convoy in an area where the group operates a feeding centre and medical clinics.

Saying the brutal action should be condemned in the strongest terms, Pronk calls on all parties to respect the principles of international humanitarian law, most notably the fact that humanitarian workers are neutral and impartial.

He reminds the Government of the Sudan of its responsibility to protect the safety and security of humanitarian workers in the Sudan.

Pronk has arrived in New York and is scheduled to be our guest at the noon briefing tomorrow.

Meanwhile, on the ground, the Deputy Special Representative for Humanitarian and Development Affairs for the Sudan, Manuel Aranda da Silva, is in El Geneina in West Darfur to discuss with agency workers how better to protect civilians there.

**Missing Property

Out on the racks is the Secretary-General’s latest report on the issue of the return by Iraq of Kuwaiti property and repatriation of missing Kuwaitis and third-country nationals.

The Secretary-General says there has been some progress on the return of Kuwaiti property seized by the former Iraqi regime.  On 21 November, some 3,000 books belonging to the National Library of Kuwait were returned by the current Iraqi Government.

The UN’s High Level Coordinator on this issue, Ambassador Yuli Vorontsov, witnessed the return.  He said that this demonstration of good intentions by Baghdad would be followed by the discovery and return of the Kuwaiti archives, which represent the memory of the country.

In the report, the Secretary-General also notes that the remains of Kuwaitis and third-country nationals continue to be repatriated to Kuwait.

**Liberia Sanctions

Out on the racks today is the latest report prepared by the Panel of Experts on Liberia, submitted to the Security Council by Pakistani Ambassador Munir Akram in his capacity as Chair of the Liberia Sanctions Committee.

The report reviews the sanctions in place, which range from an arms embargo, a travel ban on individuals and the embargo of rough diamonds and round logs and timber products stemming from Liberia.

It also reviews the status of the freezing of funds and economic resources of former Liberian President Charles Taylor and his family.

The Council is expected to review Liberia sanctions in consultations next Tuesday.

**AIDS

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) emphasized the importance of committing religious leaders to the fight against AIDS, at a historic three-day meeting on AIDS that began Saturday in Cairo.

UNDP organized the meeting under the auspices of the League of Arab States, and underscored the importance of having religious leaders and civil society act immediately to head off an AIDS crisis in the Arab world.

Dr. Khadija Moalla, UNDP’s AIDS Regional Programme Coordinator in the Arab world, said, “Today the region still has the golden opportunity to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS.  Tomorrow will be too late, as it has been in other parts of the world”.

**Afghanistan

On Afghanistan, some 2,600 families in Afghanistan will receive assistance packages to help them deal with the harsh winter, the UN Mission in that country says.  The Mission says that the UN Refugee Agency and four non-governmental organizations will distribute plastic sheeting, lanterns, blankets and quilts and other household items to vulnerable families in four Afghan provinces.  We have more details in yesterday’s briefing notes from Kabul.

**Secretary- General Statement –- Ukraine

We issued a statement late on Friday, stating that the Secretary-General was very pleased to learn of the Ukrainian Parliament’s decision to approve legislation that will allow for a re-vote of the presidential run-off election to go forward on 26 December.  And if you missed it, we still have copies upstairs.

**Secretary- General Report –- Women and Migration

Out on the racks today is a report by the Secretary-General entitled “World Survey on the Role of Women in Development:  Women and International Migration”.

Among other things, the report notes that many national migration laws discriminate against women, that refugee women and girls face particular problems regarding their legal and physical protection, and that female immigrants have higher unemployment rates than males and native-born populations.

The report also sets out recommendations to improve the situation of migrant, refugee, and trafficked women.  Those recommendations include ratifying and implementing the appropriate international legal instruments, and launching education programs to inform migrant women of their rights.

**WFP/China Contributions

James T. Morris, the Executive Director of the World Food Programme, is calling on China to become a bigger contributor to its activities.  Morris, who’s currently in China, isn’t looking for bigger contributions solely through food and financial aid –- he’s also targeting China’s expertise in this area, as it’s been successful on a national level.  Morris is due to give a press conference there on Tuesday.

**UNICEF/WHO/Togo Campaign

In a landmark campaign, the children of Togo are to receive four life-saving interventions at once.

The campaign, launched today, intends to reach 1 million children under five with vaccines to prevent measles and polio, mosquito nets to prevent malaria, and deworming tablets.

We have more on this upstairs in a press release from UNICEF and the World Health Organization.

**UN TV

Finally, the UN TV programme “World Chronicle” will be seen today.  The topic will be HIV/AIDS, the guest will be Desmond Johns, Director of the UNAIDS office here.  And you can see it on in-house television channels 3 or 31 at 3:30 p.m.

That’s my report.  Yes, Laura?

Questions and Answers

Question:  I have two questions, Fred.  The first one is, you said that the Secretary-General is going to be meeting with regional groups.  Is he going to be meeting with the Arab Group or are they lumped into the Asian Group?

Spokesman:  The Arab world is part of Asia.  It’s part of the Asian group.

Question:  And the other question is, the Secretary-General’s meeting with Tom Lantos, this afternoon at 2:30, do you know what they’re going to be discussing?  And specifically, are they going to be discussing the Darfur report?

Spokesman:  I have no idea.  We’ll try and get a readout for you.  Yes?

Question:  Over the weekend there were several newspaper reports that Mr. ElBaradei the IAEA chief; the United States has been eavesdropping on his phone conversations as a political instrument to force him to make certain decisions on Iran, or ...(inaudible) reports during the Iraq resolution crisis that the Secretary-General’s phones were being tapped by British intelligence.  Has any protest been launched to the United States Government or any investigation been launched by the UN?

Spokesman:  When you’re asking “has an investigation been launched” are you talking about the IAEA complaint or the...(Interrupted)?

Question:  The IAEA complaint, number one.

Spokesman:  Well, you have to check with them.  I saw their spokesman made a statement this morning.  But I would refer you to the IAEA for their reaction to that.

On the second, the allegations that there was eavesdropping of the Secretary-General’s telephone conversations, we have nothing to add to what we’ve already said, which he said himself, that if this is true, it would be restrictive of his exchanges by telephone with world leaders who expect to speak to him in confidence when they pick up the telephone.

Question:  It seems that there is something of sort of a pattern that whenever there is an issue to be posed, this is what the United States and Great Britain do.

Spokesman:  This is an allegation and we don’t have anything more to say about it.  Bill?

Question:  In his remarks to the Security Council earlier, the ambassador from Iraq suggested, or he said, a couple of things critical of the UN, suggesting in one case the phrase “as circumstances permit” was being used as a mantra to justify insufficient presence on the ground.  More pointedly, he said “the preferred mode of interaction with Iraqi officials seems too often to be video conferencing or telephone calls from outside Iraq”.  Has the UN any response to that criticism?

Spokesman:  I suggest you put that question to Mr. Qazi when he comes here.  The “as circumstances permit” language was something that the Secretary-General insisted that the Security Council include in the resolution to give him the freedom to assess the security situation and to commit international staff to Iraq only as the security situation permits.  And he continues to insist on that.  And I don’t think, in fairness, we can say that we’re hiding behind it.  I think we’re saying that we’re looking very closely after the safety and security of our staff after the horrendous events of the bombing in Baghdad.  Your other question, I’m sorry, was?

Question:  That was it.

Spokesman:  Okay.  Yes, David?

Question:  Some would put it under housekeeping; I tend to think it’s a little bit more important than that.  The announcement at the beginning of the briefing of the meetings with the regional groups is something, up until you announced it here, is not on his printed schedule nor is it on his electronic schedule.  Some of us, as you know, are covering this quite closely.  And especially for television, it’s quite important to know beforehand so at least we have the opportunity to request a photo opportunity.

That being said, can we get a photo opportunity of either the meeting that’s ongoing now at the end of it?  And can we request standing requests for photo opportunities for the rest of these meetings?

Spokesman:  Well, for whatever reason, they did not want a photo opportunity of that meeting.  Whether it was because of the constraints of time or not, I don’t know.  But we’ll be happy to forward your request to them.  I don’t know whether a change could be made, if one would be made by the end of the meeting that’s ongoing now.

Question:  In fact it’s up now with the Qazi thing.  The other thing is it’s not on his public schedule.  Are these considered internal meetings or is there a reason they are not on his public schedule?

Spokesman:  I’d have to find out why they did it that way.  I honestly don’t know.

Okay, Djibril, do you want to come up?  Mr. Qazi isn’t here yet.

Spokesman for General Assembly President

Good afternoon,

On Friday the General Assembly took up reports of the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization).  The General Assembly also adopted 24 resolutions and four decisions on a wide range of agenda items.  Those items include decolonization, information, mine-action assistance, peacekeeping operations, the effects of atomic radiation, the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), and Israeli practices in the occupied Arab territories.

The Assembly also adopted, without a vote, three plenary-generated texts entitled “Assistance to the survivors of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, particularly orphans, widows and sexual violence”, “Cooperation between the United Nations and regional and other organizations”, and “Cooperation between the Organization and the Council of Europe”.

Five of the texts recommended by the Fourth Committee related to the work of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the OccupiedTerritories.  Four others focused on the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

By a recorded vote of 167 in favour, 1 against, with 11 abstentions, the Assembly adopted a draft resolution on assistance to Palestinian refugees, by which it extended UNRWA’s mandate until June 2008, and called on all donors to make the most generous efforts possible to meet the Agency’s anticipated needs.

Adopting a text on the Agency, the Assembly expressed its appreciation for UNRWA’s tireless efforts under increasingly difficult conditions.  It also called on Israel to take measures to protect UNRWA personnel and facilities, to cease obstructing its work, and to compensate the Agency for damage to its property.

Action on other UNRWA-related drafts was also taken.

By a text on “Information in the service of humanity”, also adopted without a vote, the Assembly urged all countries, the United Nations system and all others concerned to cooperate in reducing disparities in information and communication capacity.  It also condemned attacks against journalists and urged support for the training of journalists from developing countries.

On decolonization issues, the Assembly adopted a resolution on the implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.  By that action, it called upon the administering Powers to cooperate fully with the Special Committee on Decolonization to finalize, before the end of 2005, a case-by-case work programme that would enable the peoples of the Non-Self-Governing Territories to exercise, fully and as soon as possible, their right to self-determination, including the option of independence.

In another action, the Assembly adopted a resolution on the question of Western Sahara.  By that action, it underlined Security Council resolution 1495 (2003), expressing the Council’s support of the peace plan for the self-determination of that Territory’s people as an optimum political solution, on the basis of agreement between the two parties to the Western Sahara dispute.  Also by that text, the Assembly continued to support strongly the Secretary-General’s efforts to achieve a mutually acceptable political solution to the dispute.

Among the draft resolutions that the Assembly adopted without a vote was a  text on small-island Non-Self-Governing Territories, by which the Assembly reaffirmed that there was no alternative to the principle of self-determination in the process of decolonization.  It called upon the administering Powers, in cooperation with the territorial governments, to facilitate the political process in Territories under their jurisdiction through education and other means.

Acting again without a vote, the Assembly adopted a text on Tokelau, by which it welcomed the substantial progress made in the past year towards the devolution of power to village councils.  The General Assembly also acknowledged the continuing assistance that New Zealand, the administering Power, had provided for promoting self-government in the Territory.  Also adopted was a resolution on New Caledonia and a decision on Gibraltar.

Resolutions on the effects of atomic radiation and international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space were adopted by the General Assembly, which decided to include “Assistance in mine action” in the provisional agenda of its sixtieth session.

The General Assembly will reconvene at 3 p.m. on Wednesday 15 December to discuss the role of diamonds in fuelling conflict.  It is also expected to take action on a number of outstanding draft resolutions.

Finally, on the dates of the closing of the current session of the GA and Committees.

General Assembly President Jean Ping informed delegations that the closing date of the fifty-ninth session had been pushed back from 14 December to Monday 20 December.

As you know, the First Committee and the Fourth Committee have already presented their reports to the General Assembly and their reports have been reviewed.

We expect the Third Committee to present its report on 20 December 2004.  The Second Committee is expected to present its report to the General Assembly on 14 December 2004.  Of course, we’re mentioning these dates to facilitate your work.  They have not been finalized.  And we do not have a date yet for the completion of the work of the Fifth Committee.

President of the General Assembly’s programme for the day.

He had a series of consultations with delegations as part the preparations for next year’s High-Level segment.  These consultations include this morning the Permanent Representative ofEl Salvador, as well as four ambassadors from Germany, Brazil, India and Japan.

He is meeting this afternoon with Her Excellency Ms Yoriko Kawaguchi, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister of Japan.  And that will be from 3 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in his office.

And we’re arranging, in light of the earlier caution, we’re just making sure that we arrange, as has been the case in the past, a photo opportunity of this meeting with the President.

That’s all I have for you.  Questions?

Questions and Answers

Question:  This meeting between the G-4, Mr. Kawaguchi’s, for what is it?  For the same reason?  To press them for a seat in the Security Council or to move forward on this question of veto power?  What is the reason for this second meeting to take place within a period of...(Inaudible)?

Spokesman for General Assembly President:  The meetings started with the Permanent Representative of El Salvador this morning.  And then he went on with the four ambassadors.  As I said, this is part of a round of consultations that the President is undertaking and other regions will also be consulted in the near future.

Question:  Are they countries who are opposed to any expansion in the permanent slots on the Security Council?

Spokesman for General Assembly President:  It was not a specific discussion on the Security Council per se.  It was more a discussion on the preparation of next year’s High-Level segment.

Okay, thank you.

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