PRESS BRIEFINGONLIBERIA’S HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION

Although security had improved greatly since the deployment of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), very serious remaining concerns must be addressed if the Accra Peace Agreement was to be successfully implemented, Charlotte Abaka, Independent Expert on the human rights situation in Liberia, said at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY WOMEN’S ANTI-DISCRIMINATION COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSON

In a statement issued today, the Women’s Anti-Discrimination Committee urged Iraq’s new Interim Government to ensure gender equality in the country, particularly in its laws, reconstruction efforts and upcoming electoral process, the Chairperson of that body told correspondents at Headquarters today.

PRESS BRIEFING BY SPECIAL ADVISER ON AFRICA

International support for the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) -- the continent’s development way forward -- would be boosted by an international panel of eminent economists, development practitioners and academics just appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, his Special Adviser on Africa, Ibrahim Gambari, told a Headquarters press briefing today.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY PRESIDENT OF CHILE

Chile was showing itself capable of shouldering its international obligations, the President of Chile, Ricardo Lagos, told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon, outlining his country’s role in restoration of peace and stability in Haiti.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY PRIME MINISTER OF ROMANIA

The international community should draw up parameters to guide future partnerships between the United Nations and regional organizations in preventing, managing and resolving conflicts, Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

PRESS BRIEFING ON 2004 HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT

Enormous advances in cultural freedoms and individual rights were perhaps unprecedented in human history, but the struggle for human identity in many cultures was still leading to conflict in today’s integrated yet divided world, Hafiz Pasha, Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific told correspondents today.

PRESS BRIEFING ON DISASTER-REDUCTION INITIATIVES

In 2003 alone, over 70,000 people perished in some 700 disasters that affected 600 million men, women and children and caused $65 billion in damages, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland told correspondents this afternoon at a Headquarters press briefing. 

PRESS CONFERENCE ON REGIONAL INTEGRATION IN AFRICA

A vision was needed of how to combine the pragmatism of regional integration with the complexity of the African continent, the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa told correspondents today, upon the launch of the first-ever continent-wide assessment on such integration efforts.

PRESS BRIEFING ON SOMALIA

Without a real central government, police force or transport network, Somalia, nevertheless, supported a few vibrant business sectors and promising education centres; and with its committed diaspora, the war-torn country was showing signs of recovery, a senior United Nations humanitarian official said today.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY PALESTINE’S PERMANENT OBSERVER

    The debate over the wall, which was destroying the life and future of the Palestinian people and making the two-State solution impossible, was over, the Permanent Observer for Palestine declared today at a Headquarters press conference, following the issuance Friday of a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that the barrier violated international law and should be dismantled.