PRESS BRIEFING ON UN GOODWILL AMBASSADORS MEETING

The United Nations will be the location for a unique gathering next week of its celebrity advocates for the new millennium, Gillian Sorensen, Assistant Secretary-General for External Relations, told correspondents this afternoon at a Headquarters press briefing.

HEADQUARTERS PRESS CONFERENCE ON UN NEW AGENDA FOR DEVELOPMENT OF AFRICA

The United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s (UN-NADAF) had achieved disappointing results, Kwesi Botchwey, head of an independent expert panel reviewing the decade-long initiative, said at a Headquarters press conference this morning.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY PAKISTAN

PRESS CONFERENCE BY RWANDA

The insecurity emanating from the Democratic Republic of the Congo was the main reason Rwanda had intervened in that country, Patrick Mazimpaka, Special Envoy of the President of Rwanda in charge of the Great Lakes region, told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference today.

PRESS BRIEFING BY UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN’S FUND

A new report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) -- “Birth Registration - Right from the Start” -- estimates that 50 million births were not registered in the year 2000.  That posed difficulties regarding access to education and health care, as well as legal protection, Marta Santos Pais told correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon. 

HEADQUARTERS PRESS CONFERENCE BY PRESIDENT OF SECURITY COUNCIL

The Security Council continued to give special importance to the situation in Africa, Mikhail Wehbe (Syria), the current President of the Council,told correspondents today during a Headquarters press conference on the Council's programme of work for June.

PRESS BRIEFING BY HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS OFFICE

A review of humanitarian aid appeals had revealed that the major appeals, such as the one for Afghanistan, had not led to an overall increase in funding, but instead took money away from other appeals, correspondents were told at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY EUROPEAN UNION

The unanimous ratification by the European Union of the Kyoto Protocol to the Framework Convention on Climate Change provided momentum and leadership for international action on one of the most severe problems facing humankind, according to environmental officials from Union countries, who briefed correspondents at Headquarters this morning.

PRESS BRIEFING BY FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION

With hunger being as much a cause as an effect of poverty, getting rid of it was an essential first step in the quest for poverty alleviation and sustainable economic growth, correspondents were told at a Headquarters press briefing this morning.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF PAKISTAN

The root cause of the confrontation between India and Pakistan was Kashmir, Munir Akram, the new Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.  In the course of the press conference, Mr. Akram made it clear that Pakistan had never subscribed to a "no-first use" policy regarding nuclear weapons.