PRESS BRIEFING BY CHAIRMAN, PERMANENT FORUM ON INDIGENOUS ISSUES

As the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues concluded its two-week session this afternoon, it was expected to adopt a set of concrete recommendations to the United Nations system on important indigenous issues, the Chairman of the Permanent Forum said at a Headquarters press conference today.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

International press needed to inform the people about the plight of the indigenous people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, correspondents were told at a Headquarters press conference sponsored by the Secretariat for the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues this afternoon.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY INDIGENOUS PEOPLES CAUCUS

Indigenous peoples, who were symbiotically and spiritually related to the lands they inhabited, were being displaced at alarming rates, Leonor Zalabata, Human Rights Commissioner of the Tairona Indigenous Federation of Colombia, told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference this morning.

PRESS BRIEFING BY SPECIAL COORDINATOR FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS

The situation in the Middle East provided for a “ray of light and a glimmer of hope”, Terje Roed-Larsen, Special coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Personal Representative of the Secretary-General to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority, said this afternoon at Headquarters as he answered correspondents’ questions about his briefing to the Security Council yesterday.

PRESS BRIEFING ON LIBERIA

At a time when the world’s attention was focused on Iraq, the humanitarian and political situation in Liberia was getting desperate, Ali Muktar Farah, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in that country, told correspondents this afternoon at a Headquarters press briefing.

PRESS BRIEFING BY DEPUTY EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR

ON DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

PRESS BRIEFING BY INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION

The International Labour Organization’s (ILO) most comprehensive study to date on discrimination, entitled “Time for Equality at Work”, was launched at Headquarters this morning by Lee Swepston, Chief of the ILO’s Equality and Employment Branch.

PRESS BRIEFING BY UNITED KINGDOM ON WEST AFRICA SECURITY COUNCIL MISSION

The Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom, Jeremy Greenstock, briefed correspondents at Headquarters today on the upcoming Security Council mission to seven West African nations later this week and said the Council would today or tomorrow establish a new peacekeeping mission in Côte d’Ivoire.

PRESS BRIEFING ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION

The eleventh session of the Commission on Sustainable Development that concluded today had been a success, Nitin Desai, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, told correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon.

PRESS BRIEFING ON UNITED NATIONS FINANCIAL SITUATION

BY UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR MANAGEMENT

The United Nations’ aggregate cash balance at the end of 2002 was the highest ever; the level of unpaid contributions had dramatically decreased; and significant progress had been made in reducing debt to Member States, Catherine Bertini, Under-Secretary-General for Management, told correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon.