Press Release

FIRST SESSION OF COMMITTEE ON PROTECTION OF RIGHTS

OF MIGRANTS IN GENEVA FROM 1 TO 5 MARCH

Committee to Elect Bureau, Establish its Rules of Procedure,

Draw Up General Guidelines on Reports to be Submitted by States Parties

(Reissued as received.)

BIOSAFETY PROTOCOL NOW OPERATIONAL AS GOVERNMENTS AGREE

ON DOCUMENTATION RULES FOR GMO TRADE

(Reissued as received.)

Economic and Social Council                                

2004 Organizational Session                                

6^th Meeting (PM)

RELIEF SUPPLIES BEING STOLEN FROM RECIPIENTS IN SUDAN

NEW YORK, 27 February (OCHA) -– Internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sudan’s Darfur region report that armed militias are robbing them of the aid they have received from United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations.

UNCTAD STUDY ON AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT CALLS FOR EASING

BURDEN OF COMMODITY DEPENDENCE

UN CONDEMNS DELIBERATE AND CONCERTED ATTACK

ON AID WORKERS IN SOUTHERN SUDAN

UN REPORT SAYS THOUSANDS IN SOMALIA THREATENED BY FOOD SHORTAGES

NEW YORK, 27 February (OCHA) -- More than 200,000 people in Somalia's northern and central regions face extreme food shortages due to a prolonged drought considered the worst in 30 years, a new report has warned.

REGIONAL WORKSHOP IN TURKEY ADDRESSES TERRORISM, ORGANIZED CRIME

(Reissued as received.)

VIENNA, 26 February (UN Information Service) -- As a result of a close cooperation between Turkey and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), a “Regional Workshop for Central Asia and the Caucasus on International Cooperation against Terrorism and Transnational Organized Crime” took place from 23 to 25 February 2004, in Antalya, Turkey.

HUNGARY WORKS WITH UNODC ON NATIONAL CRIME PREVENTION STRATEGY

(Reissued as received.)

VIENNA, 26 February (UN Information Service) -- Hungary’s new National Strategy for Social Crime Prevention was the focus of a half-day workshop organized here yesterday by the Hungarian Ministry of Justice and the Vienna-based United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

SECRETARY-GENERAL SADDENED BY TRAGIC DEATH OF PRESIDENT

OF FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

The Secretary-General learned with deep sadness of the tragic death of the President of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Boris Trajkovski, and members of his delegation in a plane crash today.