PRESS CONFERENCE ON G-8 CONTACT GROUP ON FOOD SECURITY IN AFRICA

The Group of Eight (G-8) Contact Group’s ministerial-level meeting on food and security in Africa had been held to give momentum to the search for solutions, rather than to replace those who were already working in the field, Pierre-Andre Wiltzer, Minister for Cooperation of France, said today at a Headquarters press conference.

PRESS BRIEFING BY SECRETARY-GENERAL’S REPRESENTATIVE FOR GUINEA-BISSAU

Guinea-Bissau may be a very small country, but it has the potential to cause considerable instability in that region of fragile economies and fragile political systems, the Representative of the Secretary-General for Guinea-Bissau, David Stephen, said today at a Headquarters press briefing.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

At a Headquarters press conference today, four members of the European Parliament in New York to convey a “message of peace to the American people”, said the Parliament’s support for peace in Iraq was both about averting a war and charting an independent European foreign policy. 

PRESS CONFERENCE BY SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT

The most “delicate question” currently before the Security Council -– that of Iraq –- would be taken up in an open morning meeting on 7 March, this month’s President of the Council, Mamady Traore, Permanent Representative of Guinea, said this afternoon at Headquarters as he briefed correspondents on the programme of work.

PRESS BRIEFING ON ANNIVERSARY OF ANTI-PERSONNEL MINE CONVENTION

Under the 1999 mine-ban treaty, 30 million anti-personnel mines had been destroyed by 55 countries, and 44 of the 45 countries that had pledged to eliminate their stockpiles by the treaty’s fourth anniversary had done so, correspondents were told at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon.

PRESS BRIEFING BY POPULATION DIVISION

“HIV/AIDS is a disease of mass destruction”, the Director of the United Nations Population Division said today at a Headquarters press briefing describing the key findings of the “2002 Revision of the official United Nations population estimates and projections”.

PRESS CONFERENCE ON SANCTIONS BY SWEDEN

Sanctions offered a peaceful approach to addressing global conflicts, when words were not enough but military action was not desirable, Hans Dahlgren, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Sweden, said today at a Headquarters press conference.

Not for use before

7 p.m. (EST) Tuesday, 25 February

PRESS BRIEFING BY PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL BOARD

Long-term economic development was not feasible when an effective drug control system was absent or lacking, the President of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), Philip Emafo, said today at a Headquarters press briefing. 

NGO PRESS CONFERENCE ON HUMANITARIAN SITUATION IN IRAQ

Iraq’s public health and food distribution system would collapse in the event of a military intervention there, causing a humanitarian crisis far beyond the capacity of the United Nations and relief agencies, according to a report by the New York-based Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR), released at a Headquarters press conference this morning.

PRESS BRIEFING ON HUMANITARIAN PREPARATIONS FOR IRAQ

                The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Kenzo Oshima, this afternoon reiterated the Secretary-General’s belief that inspections can work and that all avenues should be explored to find a peaceful solution to the current crisis over the country’s disarmament question.