Preparatory Commission for

International Criminal Court

28^th Meeting (AM)

FLEXIBILITY MUST BE CORNERSTONE OF ADMINISTRATION OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT,

PREPARATORY COMMISSION TOLD

Background Release

COMMISSION ON STATUS OF WOMEN TO MEET AT HEADQUARTERS, 6 – 16 MARCH;

THEMATIC ISSUES:  HIV/AIDS; GENDER, ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION

UNITED NATIONS TO SEND INTER-AGENCY MISSION TO WEST AFRICA

The Secretary-General has decided to dispatch an inter-agency mission to West Africa, from 6 to 26 March, led by Ibrahima Fall, Assistant Secretary-General, Department of Political Affairs.  The mission will visit Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION TO MEET

AT PALAIS WILSON FROM 6 TO 23 MARCH

Committee to Consider Reports of Algeria, Argentina,

Bangladesh, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Japan, Portugal and Sudan

(Re-issued as received.)

Committee on Inalienable Rights

of Palestinian People

256^th Meeting (AM)

MULTIPLE CRISES IN MIDDLE EAST REQUIRE ‘STATESMANSHIP AND VISION’,

SECRETARY-GENERAL TELLS PALESTINIAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE

CORRECTION

In Press Release GA/PAL/857 issued 1 March, the third paragraph on page 1a should read:

Also this morning, the Committee unanimously re-elected its officers:

ASIA-PACIFIC REGIONAL MEETING ON DISARMAMENT

IN KATHMANDU, 9 - 11 MARCH

NEW YORK, 2 March (Department for Disarmament Affairs) -– The Department for Disarmament Affairs, through its Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific, will convene the thirteenth regional disarmament meeting in Kathmandu from 9 to 11 March 2001.  The theme of this year’s meeting will be “Prospects for further confidence-building”.

Commission for Social Development

Acting as Preparatory Committee for

 Second World Assembly on Ageing

4^th Meeting (AM)

SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES MUST BE

REFLECTED IN ACTION PLAN, PREPARATORY MEETING FOR AGEING ASSEMBLY TOLD

SECRETARY-GENERAL ASKS UNITED STATES GEOGRAPHERS TO WORK WITH HIM TO TACKLE CLIMATE CHANGE PROBLEMS, ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Following is the text of an address made today by the Secretary-General to the Association of American Geographers:

SECRETARY-GENERAL DISMAYED AT OUTBREAK OF RENEWED FIGHTING IN BURUNDI

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

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CRISIS, SECURITY CRISIS, AND CRISIS IN CONFIDENCE IN MIDDLE

EAST MUST BE ADDRESSED SIMULTANEOUSLY, SECRETAY-GENERAL TELLS COMMITTEE

Following is the text of a statement made this morning by Secretary-General

Kofi Annan at the opening of the 2001 session of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People: