PRESS BRIEFING BY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME

The World Food Programme (WFP), as the largest humanitarian agency in the world, had its hands full today, its Executive Director, James Morris, told correspondents today at a Headquarters press briefing on the humanitarian situation in Iraq.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF SOMALIA

Welcoming the recent findings of the independent Panel of Experts on persistent violations of the arms embargo on Somalia, fragmented by more than
12 years of conflict, Somalia’s permanent representative to the United Nations said today that the experts had identified a clear pattern of destabilizing violations, particularly by Ethiopia, under which no government, including his own, could adequately function.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY AUSTRALIA’S FOREIGN MINISTER

Australia wants the United Nations to have a significant role in the
post-conflict environment in Iraq, that country’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, told correspondents this afternoon at a Headquarters press conference.

PRESS CONFERENCE ON ‘POPULATION, EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT’

Not to be able to read and write was a tremendous “unfreedom”, and removing that obstacle in a way that broadened the individual, rather than narrowed his or her outlook, was critically important to personal satisfaction and to harmonious societies, Professor Amartya Sen, 1998 Prize Winner in Economics and Master, Trinity College, Cambridge, United Kingdom, said today at a Headquarters press conference.

PRESS BRIEFING BY SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT

Presenting the Council’s monthly work programme at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon, President of the Security Council for April,
Adolfo Aguilar Zinser (Mexico) stressed that it was essential to keep the Council deeply involved in the subject of Iraq, as well as other issues pertaining to the maintenance of international peace and security. 

PRESS BRIEFING ON IRAQ HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE

An element, that remained true in any conflict was that United Nations humanitarian assistance should be provided independently, impartially and under strict control by the Organization, correspondents were told at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon.

PRESS CONFERENCE ON BUSINESS FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT

An awfully good momentum had been started one year ago at the International Conference on Financing for Development, held in Monterrey, Mexico, but if good intentions did not turn into measurable actions, then everyone would lose out, Maria Livanos Cattaui, Secretary-General of the International Chamber of Commerce, said today at a Headquarters press conference sponsored by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

PRESS CONFERENCE BY NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS ON FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT

If the world’s richest countries were genuine in their stated desire to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, they needed to mobilize for the fight against poverty the same political will that was now manifest in fighting wars, correspondents were told at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon. 

PRESS BRIEFING ON CAMBODIA BY UN LEGAL COUNSEL

PRESS BRIEFING ON HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE FOR ERITREA

The current shortfall in funding for United Nations humanitarian aid to Eritrea could have catastrophic results, particularly if the war-torn nation’s current drought worsens, Simon Nbongo, United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Eritrea, told correspondents this afternoon at a Headquarters press briefing.