PRESS CONFERENCE BY INTERNATIONAL ACTION NETWORK ON SMALL ARMS

The United Nations First Biennial Meeting of States to consider the Implementation of the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects, had been a success, Rebecca Peters, Director of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), told correspondents at a press conference this afternoon.

PRESS BRIEFING ON ORGANIZED CRIME CONVENTION

The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime would enter into force on 29 September, Dimitri Vlassis, an officer with the United Nations Centre for International Crime Prevention in Vienna, said today at a Headquarters press briefing.

PRESS CONFERENCE ON SMALL ARMS SURVEY 2003

The 2003 edition of the Small Arms Survey proved that there was a direct link between the spread of small arms and economic underdevelopment, Peter Batchelor, Programme Manager of the “Small Arms Survey 2003”, told correspondents at the text’s launch this morning.

PRESS BRIEFING LAUNCHING HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2003

The “Human Development Report 2003” concludes that significant support was needed from the richer countries for the Millennium Development Goals to be met, David Stewart, co-author of the Report, told correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing today.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY SECRETARY-GENERAL’S SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR KOSOVO

The general support received from the Security Council this morning for the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) had been very encouraging, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Kosovo, Michael Steiner, told correspondents this afternoon during a press conference at Headquarters.

PRESS CONFERENCE ON SMALL ARMS MEETING

The issue of small arms and light weapons was a multidimensional one that should be tackled through global and regional harmonization, as well as by national initiatives, Ambassador Kuniko Inoguchi of Japan said at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

PRESS BRIEFING ON GLOBAL COMPACT

It was too early to say whether the United Nations Global Compact would be successful or not, as that was an ongoing experiment seeking to align non-State actors, including business, in support of United Nations goals, the Compact’s Executive Head, Georg Kell, told correspondents today at a press briefing upon the release of the Compact’s annual Report on Progress and Activities.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT

Once again, Africa –- particularly West Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Somalia, Central African Republic and Western Sahara –- would dominate the agenda of the Security Council, its President for the month of July, Inocencio F. Arias of Spain, told correspondents this morning at Headquarters.

PRESS BRIEFING BY SECRETARY-GENERAL’S SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE

FOR CHILDREN AND ARMED CONFLICT

The very grave humanitarian developments of the last several weeks in Liberia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo particularly affected children, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, told correspondents this afternoon during a press briefing at Headquarters.

PRESS BRIEFING ON PREPARATIONS FOR LANDLOCKED

DEVELOPING COUNTRIES CONFERENCE

At a Headquarters briefing on preparations for the first global conference aimed at the special problems of landlocked developing countries, Under-Secretary-General Anwarul Chowdhury told correspondents that of 30 such countries in the world, 13 were in Africa and 16 were classified as least developed.