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

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 Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

**Statement on Alliance of Civilizations

I’ll start off with a statement from the Secretary-General.

“The Secretary-General is pleased to announce the launch of an initiative for an ‘Alliance of Civilizations’.  The initiative is intended to respond to the need for a committed effort by the international community to bridge divides and overcome prejudice, misconceptions, misperceptions, and polarization which potentially threaten world peace.

“Events of recent years have heightened the sense of a widening gap and a lack of mutual understanding between Islamic and Western societies.  The Alliance of Civilizations is intended as a coalition against such forces.

“The call for an alliance was initiated by Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of Spain, and co-sponsored by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey.  Both Governments will continue, as co-sponsors, to provide support.  Several other governments and organizations have expressed interest in joining them, and the Secretary-General hopes that more will do so.

“The Secretary-General is also bringing together a high-level group of eminent persons to guide the initiative.  The group is expected to present a report with recommendations and a practical plan of action in late 2006.”

We have the full statement available upstairs.

**Tsunami – Clinton

Former US President Bill Clinton, who is also the UN’s Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery, is currently in the Economic and Social Council Chamber where he is working to sustain the momentum of the tsunami relief effort.

In remarks to the Council a short while ago, he said that recovery in each country needed a customized response and would move at different speeds.  On the way ahead, he said that UN agencies, non-governmental organizations, donor and affected governments, and the corporate sector all needed to agree on who was going to do what, when and where.

President Clinton also highlighted the need for disaster risk awareness education and urged governments to keep their people informed about what was going on, when they could expect results, and how they could meaningfully participate in their own recovery effort.  We have a press release on President Clinton’s speech, as well as his remarks available upstairs.

**Tsunami Relief Effort

Speaking of the tsunami relief effort, the UN and its humanitarian partners are continuing their relief and recovery work in the Indian Ocean region.

As of the tsunami’s six-month anniversary, almost one month ago, more than 1.1 million displaced survivors had been sheltered; more than 1.7 million had received food aid; more than 1 million had been given daily drinking water; and more than 1.2 million children had been vaccinated against measles.

We have upstairs a fact sheet from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs with additional information.

**Security Council

A short while ago the Security Council held consultations on Somalia.  Council members were briefed by François Lonseny Fall, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia.  They also heard from the Chairman of the Sanctions Committee on Somalia, Ambassador Lauro Baja of the Philippines.  The Council then went into a formal meeting to adopt a presidential statement on Somalia.

Yesterday afternoon, the Council received a briefing on the Democratic Republic of the Congo from the head of the UN Mission in that country, Ambassador William Swing.

In a presidential statement afterward, the Council condemned “with the utmost firmness” the massacre of some 50 people, most of them women and children, on 9 July in the Kivu Provinces.  The Council requested that Swing establish the facts and report to the Council as quickly as possible, and called on the Congolese authorities to bring those responsible to justice.

Under “other matters”, the Council also heard a briefing on the Great Lakes region yesterday from the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for the Great Lakes, Ibrahima Fall.

**Secretary-General on UN Reform

Yesterday, as you know, the Secretary-General spoke to reporters after the luncheon with the members of the Security Council.  He said, in response to questions about the ongoing debate on Security Council reform, that we should not jump to conclusions, with discussions still at a very early stage.

He added that the Security Council could be more democratic and more representative, asserting, “There is a democracy deficit in the UN governance that has to be corrected.”  If we lecture to the world about democracy, he said, we should apply that lesson to ourselves.  His remarks were made available to you upstairs yesterday.

**Secretary-General on Benin/Niger

Also yesterday afternoon we issued a statement concerning the judgment of the International Court of Justice, delivered on Tuesday, concerning the border dispute between the Republic of Benin and the Republic of Niger.  The Secretary-General commends the two countries for resorting to the International Court of Justice for a peaceful settlement of their border dispute.  He notes with satisfaction their reaffirmation that they will respect and implement the judgment of the Court.

**Internet Governance

An independent working group will release today a report on Internet governance, the conclusions of which will be considered during the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which will be held in Tunis in November of this year.

The report proposes the creation of a global forum for dialogue among all stakeholders such as governments, the private sector and civil society, to address problems linked to Internet governance, including spam and cybercrime.  It also calls for the further internationalization of Internet governance.

The Secretary-General will today transmit the report to the Secretary-General of the World Summit on Information Society, Yoshio Utsumi.  The report, which has a strong focus on development, advocates a meaningful participation of developing countries in Internet governance and recommends ways to reinforce their capacities to use the Internet more efficiently.  We will have a press release and a report available later today.

**General Assembly

I have one announcement from the General Assembly President’s Office.  As most of you know, the African Union has tabled a draft General Assembly resolution on Security Council reform.  No date has yet been set for the debate on that draft resolution, or for further debate on the G-4 draft resolution.  Intensive informal consultations are continuing among Member States on that subject.  The General Assembly President Jean Ping will meet with G-4 Foreign Ministers late Sunday afternoon.  We don’t yet have a location or a precise time, but the GA President’s office should be able to inform you later today or tomorrow.

President Ping also plans to submit to the GA a revised draft outcome document for the September summit by next week, Friday, 22 July.

This afternoon the GA will hold a plenary meeting at 3 to consider several draft resolutions, among them one dealing with requests for exemption under Article 19 of the United Nations Charter.

Lastly, the Fifth Committee is scheduled to hold informal closed consultations tomorrow morning on the Capital Master Plan from 10 to 11 a.m.

**Correction

And now I have a bit of a personal note.  In the career of any spokesman there will always be a moment of great embarrassment.  This is my moment and I’m just glad it came early and I hope it won’t happen again.

When we told you two days ago that the Secretary-General was getting an operation on his right shoulder, I was wrong.  It will be his left shoulder.  I pledge in the months ahead that I will learn my left from my right.  And I am assured that both the Secretary-General and his doctors are aware that it is his left shoulder and that the mistake was here and not in the hospital.  On that note I will turn to you.

**Questions and Answers

Question:  The debate on United Nations reform seems to be a little haphazard.  I understand that first something comes to fruition, then they will debate it more formally.  Is there some sort of schedule being worked out so that we can formalize the process, so that we can follow it a little more regularly and closely as we get closer to the big debate in September?

Spokesman:  I think the debate and the discussion on United Nations reform is being led by the General Assembly President, Jean Ping.  I would urge you to stay in touch with his office and we, too, will try to get you more schedules.  But, obviously, this is an intense time of debate back and forth, so I think we all have to be on the alert and be ready to move when things do change.

Question:  I wanted to ask you about (Secretary-General) Annan’s meeting at 12:30 today.  If you could get a readout as to India’s Special Envoy to the Middle East?

Spokesman:  Sure, we will do that.  [The Spokesman later said that the meeting was a tête-à-tête, with no readout.]

Question:  Does he (the Secretary-General) have anybody in mind for this committee for the Spanish and the Turkish (prime ministers)?

Spokesman: As soon as we have a list of these eminent persons -– I am sure he is looking at candidates -- we will release that list.

Question:  They mentioned that they would hire very famous people.

Spokesman:  As soon as they are hired we will let you know.

Question:  The new initiative you just announced ... is that something different and distinct from the item currently before the General Assembly -- Dialogue Among Civilizations -- and how are the two going to be coordinated?

Spokesman:  It is a distinct initiative, but I think you will have to turn to the co-sponsors to see how they will go ahead.  But my understanding is that, obviously, while it is a new initiative, they are working closely together.  But I will try to get you more details on that.

Question:  Do you have any details about how much money has been put in that trust fund already and what exactly do they plan to do with it?

Spokesman:  No.  I will get you details on the money that has been collected.  [The Spokesman later said that no money had been collected so far.]

Question:  Will you tell us how many Member States are supporting this initiative and also do you expect that after the terror attacks in London you will get better support for this initiative?  How important is this project for dealing with this kind of extremism like the attacks in London, Madrid or the World Trade Centre in New York?

Spokesman:  The announcement is not linked in the calendar to the attacks in London.  You know this is an initiative that Prime Minister Zapatero and Prime Minister Erdogan have been working on for a long time.  But I think that any initiative that can help bridge understanding between civilizations, and especially between the Western world and the Islamic world, is very much a welcome one.

Question:  On the Internet governance, the United States has already rejected the United Nations’ proposal for globalization of the Internet.  Do you have any comment on that?  They said they will keep the domain of the Internet to themselves.

Spokesman:  I think you will see in the report that is going to be released this afternoon that it offers a range of proposals that are meant to be debated and discussed by the Member States in November.

Question:  It is my understanding that the Secretary-General prefers a vote before September on the Security Council.  Does he still prefer it, or has he changed his ideas after this...?

Spokesman:  As he said, he is watching this extremely closely, but these are still early days.  I think we will have a long, hot summer, all of us here.  But the Secretary-General strongly feels that this World Summit in September is an opportunity not to be missed.  But let’s wait and let this debate and these discussions among the Member States go on.

Question:  I would just like to follow up on that (Internet) question.  If the United States does not relinquish control over Internet domain, will that discussion at the United Nations be a fruitful talk?

Spokesman:  It will be a discussion among Member States.  The United States is a member of this Organization so let’s let the discussions go on, and I said the report does provide for various options.  But we will try to get you someone to come down here in the days ahead to brief you on that report, because it is a very important report.

Question:  Can we get someone down to explain the Alliance of Civilizations, maybe one of the key players?

Spokesman:  Sure.

Question: When we had that very big and very helpful thing on IT about a year or so ago when those guys from MCI, creators of the Internet and all those guys were here they kept saying that no one owns the Internet.  Has something changed and has the United States been doing something to try and dominate?

Spokesman:  No, it is not a question of ownership, it is a question of making sure that everyone has a say, through various options, in issues that involve the Internet -- from governance to cybercrime to spam.

Question:  There is still no way to block other people’s use of the air basically, is there?

Spokesman: (no answer)

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