Prepared by News Services                            Reference Paper No. 42

 and Editorial Section and issued                        February 2003

 by Meetings Coverage Section, DPI

Background Release

COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION TO MEET

AT PALAIS DES NATIONS FROM 3 TO 21 MARCH 2003

Committee to Consider Reports of Côte d’Ivoire, Ecuador, Fiji, Ghana,

ANTI-PERSONNEL MINE TREATY’S FOURTH ANNIVERSARY COINCIDES

WITH FIRST DEADLINE:  ALMOST 30 MILLION MINES DESTROYED

GENEVA, 27 February (UN Information Service) -– The 131 States parties to the Convention banning anti-personnel mines will mark the treaty’s fourth anniversary of implementation on 1 March by celebrating the fact that they have destroyed almost 30 million landmines.

SECRETARY-GENERAL URGES POLISARIO TO ACCELERATE RELEASE

OF REMAINING PRISONERS OF WAR

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

SECURITY COUNCIL PRESS STATEMENT ON DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

Following is the statement to the press on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, delivered today by Security Council President Gunter Pleuger (Germany):

BELOW-REPLACEMENT FERTILITY EXPECTED IN 75 PER CENT OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

BY YEAR 2050 ACCORDING TO UN POPULATION REPORT

REAL TEST OF USEFULNESS OF CONFERENCES IS WHETHER THEY MAKE DIFFERENCE

IN PEOPLE’S LIVES, SAYS DEPUTY-SECRETARY-GENERAL

(Delayed in transmission.)

ILLICIT DRUG ECONOMY HINDERS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SAYS INTERNATIONAL

NARCOTICS CONTROL BOARD IN ANNUAL REPORT

(Delayed due to embargo.)

Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Ankara on Sunday, 23 February.

PRESS STATEMENT ON SANCTIONS BY SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT

Following is today´s statement to the press on sanctions by Security Council President Gunter Pleuger (Germany):

At its 4713^th meeting, held on 25 February 2003, the Security Council heard a briefing by the representative of Sweden, the State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Hans Dahlgren, on the results of the “Stockholm Process on the Implementation of Targeted Sanctions”.