PRESS BRIEFING BY SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON RIGHT TO FOOD

In a world overflowing with riches, it is an absurdity that 100,000 people die every day from hunger-related diseases and that 815 million people were undernourished last year, Jean Ziegler, Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, told correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing this morning.

HEADQUARTERS PRESS BRIEFING ON REFUGEES BY NEW YORK OFFICE OF UNHCR

Developing countries that produced 86 per cent of the world’s refugees over the past decade also lead the world in granting asylum to refugees, according to the first annual Statistical Yearbook 2001, produced by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

HEADQUARTERS PRESS CONFERENCE ON HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN MYANMAR

Contact between the Myanmar Government and the leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD) had not yet led to a structured political negotiation on the future of the country, according to Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY COALITION TO STOP USE OF CHILD SOLDIERS

HEADQUARTERS PRESS CONFERENCE BY UNRWA

Absolute poverty, characterized by growing unemployment and limited opportunities for the education of Palestinian children, was rising rapidly and disastrously in the occupied territories because of the curfew and blockades imposed by Israel in those areas.  As a result of that situation, there was the fear that victims could be tempted into violent action.

PRESS CONFERENCE ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN SUDAN

There had been no significant improvement in human rights in the Sudan in the past year, but there was hope that the latest peace process would be “successful” -- defined as ending the war, negotiating power-sharing agreements and impacting the human rights situation, correspondents were told at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon. 

PRESS CONFERENCE BY SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON THE SITUATION

OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFGHANISTAN

HEADQUARTERS PRESS BRIEFING BY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS

Concerns that post-11 September anti-terrorism laws, policies and strategies had been used to undermine human rights across the world were evoked at a press briefing this morning by Hina Jilani, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Human Rights Defenders.

PRESS CONFERENCE ON 5OTH ANNIVERSARY OF UN GUIDED TOURS

A key objective in marking the 50^th anniversary of the United Nations tours was galvanizing the valuable network of former guides and encouraging them to continue to serve as “ambassadors to the public”, said Shashi Tharoor, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

HEADQUARTERS PRESS BRIEFING BY PRESIDENT OF SECURITY COUNCIL

Although it was not yet known when the issue of Iraq would be taken up by the Security Council, Council members generally believed that the issue should be handled as soon as possible, Council President Zhang Yishan, Deputy Permanent Representative of China, told correspondents this afternoon at a briefing on the Council’s programme of work for November.