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 Stephane Dujarric, Associate Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon.  Our guest in a short while will be Kevin Kennedy, the chief of the humanitarian emergency branch in the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and he will be providing you the latest update on assistance to the countries affected by the Tsunami.

**Anniversary of Liberation of Nazi Death Camps

Starting off with a statement concerning the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camps:

“The Secretary-General is pleased to announce that a majority of Member States have now agreed to the request to convene, on 24 January 2005, a special session of the General Assembly to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camps.  This will be an important occasion, since the United Nations was founded as the world was learning the full horror of the camps, and is dedicated to doing everything in its power to protect human dignity and to prevent any such horror from happening again.  The Secretary-General calls on all Member States to give the session their full support.”

And, the statement is available upstairs.

**Security Council

Turning to the Council, Jan Pronk, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for the Sudan, is scheduled to brief the Security Council in an open meeting at 3:30 p.m., and we expect to provide you with embargoed copies of his briefing notes in about an hour.  The open briefing will be followed by consultations on the Sudan.  Then, Jan Pronk will brief you right here in 226, immediately following consultations.

**Iraq

Turning to Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq, today attended a meeting in Cairo, which brought together representatives of Iraq’s neighbours -- the Arab League, the Group of Eight industrialized nations, as well as permanent members of the Security Council.  The meeting is a follow-up to the meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh, which was held last November.  Qazi briefed the participants on the UN’s efforts to support the Iraqis through the transitional process, to which the UN has been providing technical support and strategic advice for the upcoming elections. 

**UNHCR/Iraq

Also on Iraq, the UN refugee agency reports that it is working with the Iraqi Government to help the people of Fallujah return home.  It has already given Iraqi authorities blankets, mattresses, tents, stoves and heaters, for distribution to the returnees.  According to the agency, many internally displaced persons say they intend to stay in their current locations until after this month’s elections, because of the tense security situation and the general lack of services.

More information is available in the UNHCR briefing notes, which we have upstairs.

**Mauritius Meeting

Turning to Mauritius, the Secretary-General, as you know, is in Mauritius today, where he will take part in the high-level segment of the International Meeting on Small Island Developing States on Thursday and Friday. 

In Mauritius today, the head of the World Meteorological Organization, Michel Jarraud, said that his organization was joining forces with the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, known as UNESCO, to ensure that tsunami early warning systems will soon become a reality in the Indian Ocean and other at-risk regions.  Meanwhile, as the Meeting went into its second day, delegates discussed draft language on a variety of issues, including climate change.

**Middle East

I have another statement here on the Middle East: 

“The Secretary-General has today forwarded a letter to the President of the General Assembly regarding the establishment of a register of damage relating to Israel’s construction of a barrier in the West Bank.  The letter sets out a framework for the register, the establishment of which was requested by the General Assembly in its resolution from an emergency session -- resolution ES-10/15, and the letter also outlines the next steps for the creation of the registry.”

**Security Council Resolution 1540

Turning to documents on the racks, today there’s a letter from the President of the Security Council, in which he takes note of the Secretary-General’s intention to appoint four experts to assist the work of the Security Council sanctions committee dealing with efforts to prevent non-State actors from acquiring weapons of mass destruction.

The Secretary-General has told the Council that he intends to appoint Volker Beck of Germany, Richard Cupitt of the United States, Roque Monteleone-Neto of Brazil and Victor Slipchenko of Russia to assist the Council sanctions committee, which is set up under resolution 1540.

**Guatemala/Human Rights Office

From Guatemala, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is set to establish an expanded presence in Guatemala this year.  High Commissioner Louise Arbour and Guatemalan Foreign Minister Jorge Briz Abularach signed an agreement on the matter yesterday at UN Headquarters during a brief ceremony.

The agreement will come into force following its ratification by the Guatemalan Congress, possibly this spring.  Under the accord, the High Commissioner will open an office in Guatemala to monitor how human rights are promoted and protected, as well as to give advice to the Government on how to best do this. 

**Haiti Mission/Elections Donations

Turning to Haiti, the UN Mission in Haiti, as well as the UN Development Programme and the Haitian Government and the Provisional Electoral Council, today signed an agreement on an important project to organize general elections in Haiti this year.  The agreement will provide the groundwork for the preparation of the elections.  And, we have more details upstairs in a press release from the mission.

**UNHCR

And, lastly, High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers is in Islamabad today, where he held a meeting with high-ranking Pakistani officials this morning, in which Pakistan and UNHCR formally agreed to conduct a census next month of all Afghans in the country.

On Wednesday, the High Commissioner will travel to Afghanistan, where he is scheduled to meet with President Hamid Karzai and several ministers in the newly appointed Afghan Cabinet.  Lubbers will also travel to Herat and Kandahar to visit an area where many newly returned refugees are living, as well as camps for internally displaced persons.

And that is it for me.  Do you have any questions?

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Yesterday, the Secretary-General was barred, if you will, from visiting certain parts of India by the Indian Government.  Do you have anything on that?  And, also a similar thing happened in Sri Lanka.

Associate Spokesman:  If I’m not mistaken, the Secretary-General did not travel to India.  I don’t have any background to the decision.  I’ll check for you, as well.

Question:  And, on the reform process, you said yesterday that you’re going to be doing some in-house work.  In concrete terms, what measures are you taking in view of the Volcker report?

Associate Spokesperson:  Well, you know, the report is not yet out.  But, as I said yesterday, we’re already looking at a number of issues to increase accountability, transparency, among other things, and when we’re ready to roll out that package, we will roll it out.  But, we are working in anticipation of some of the issues that may come out in Mr. Volcker’s concluding report.

Question:  How finalized will a tsunami previewing centre come out of Mauritius, if at all?  Or is it just being discussed, or are they actually making concrete plans for one yet?

Associate Spokesman:  In Mauritius, it’s still at the discussion stage.

Question:  Stephane, could you please brief us a little more on Mr. Qazi’s meeting in Cairo, and also do you think elections in Iraq will take place in 18 provinces or 17?

Associate Spokesman:  Again, I think as we’ve said a number of times from this podium, the decision on the election is wholly an Iraqi-owned decision, from the Independent Electoral Commission.  So, it is up to them to decide; we are there to give advice and to bring technical and logistical help.  And, that’s what we’re doing.  And, I’ll get you more on Mr. Qazi’s visit to Cairo.  I have more upstairs on that. 

Question:  Stephane, you will have something on this report about India?

Associate Spokesman:  Yes.  Come upstairs, and we’ll see what we can do for you.

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