HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE AND COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE RULE

ON COMPLAINTS OF VIOLATIONS FROM INDIVIDUALS

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 5 December (UN Information Service) -- Two independent human rights bodies have found violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT).

Fifty-eighth General Assembly

Plenary

69^th Meeting (AM & PM)

HUMANITARIAN SITUATION IN WESTERN SUDAN AMONG WORLD’S WORST AS INSECURITY

ESCALATES, SAYS UN EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR

SECRETARY-GENERAL’S HUMANITARIAN ENVOY FOR COTE D’IVOIRE TO BEGIN

NEW FOLLOW-UP, EVALUATION MISSION ON 7 DECEMBER

NEW YORK, 5 December -- Carolyn McAskie, the Secretary-General’s Humanitarian Envoy for the crisis in Côte d’Ivoire, will arrive in Abidjan on 7 December 2003 for a fourth follow-up and evaluation mission.

UN DRUG AND CRIME CHIEF DISCUSSES COUNTER-NARCOTICS EFFORTS

WITH VISITING FOREIGN MINISTER OF AFGHANISTAN

(Reissued as received.)

SECRETARY-GENERAL STRESSES IMPORTANCE OF STOCKTAKING IN MESSAGE

TO NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS MEETING IN GENEVA

Following is the message of Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the twenty-second General Assembly of the conference of non-governmental organizations in consultative relationship with the United Nations, delivered today in Geneva by Sergei Ordzhonikidze, Director-General, United Nations Office at Geneva:

NEWLY APPOINTED HIGH-LEVEL PANEL ON THREATS, CHALLENGES,

CHANGE TO MEET 5 - 7 DECEMBER

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

FAMILIES PLAY VITAL ROLE IN DEVELOPMENT, PEACE EFFORTS, SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS

AT LAUNCH OF TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF INTERNATIONAL YEAR

Following is the message of Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the launch of the observance of the tenth anniversary of the International Year of the Family (2004) today:

SECRETARY-GENERAL PRAISES CELEBRITY ADVOCATES AS ‘NEW KIND OF STAR’, SHINING LIGHT

ON HARDSHIP, INJUSTICE, IN REMARKS AT UNICEF GALA

Following are Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s remarks at the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Goodwill Gala in Beverly Hills on 3 December:

Thank you very much, Carol [Bellamy].

DAUGHTER OF WALT DISNEY, FOUNDER OF ‘ROOTS OF PEACE’ PRAISED BY SECRETARY-GENERAL

FOR THEIR GENEROSITY, COMMITMENT TO ANTI-LANDMINE CAUSE

Following are Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s remarks at a luncheon hosted by Diane Disney Miller and Heidi Kuhn, founder of the Roots of Peace, in Los Angeles, 3 December: