INTERNATIONAL YOUTH ART COMPETITION LAUNCHED BY NGO AT PRESS CONFERENCE

The 2001 United Nations International Year of Volunteers was the theme of the Twelfth Annual International Youth Art Competition launched this morning at a Headquarters press conference. 

PRESS CONFERENCE BY UN POPULATION FUND

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) this morning presented Miss Universe, Lara Dutta, as its Goodwill Ambassador to India at a Headquarters press conference.

PRESS CONFERENCE ON INERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT RATIFICATIONS

In a few years time the 1998 Rome Conference on the establishment of the International Criminal Court would be seen as one of the most important legal conferences of the twentieth century, correspondents were told this afternoon at a Headquarters briefing concerning the Conference on the International Criminal Court Ratification in Lusophone Countries, which will be held in Lisbon, Portugal, from 19 to 20 February.

PRESS BRIEFING BY UNITED NATIONS VOLUNTEERS

There were 5,000 United Nations volunteers serving in approximately 139 countries worldwide but volunteerism was still one of the best kept secrets of the United Nations, the Executive Coordinator of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV), Sharon Capeling-Alakija, told correspondents this afternoon at a Headquarters press briefing.

PRESS BRIEFING BY UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR PEACEKEEPING

A revised concept of the United Nations presence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is to be presented to the Security Council at the end of this week, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, told correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing Monday afternoon. 

PRESS BRIEFING BY DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS ON SOCIAL PROTECTION

PRESS BRIEFING BY SECRETARY-GENERAL’S PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE TO AFGHANISTAN

He was still hopeful the Taliban may be persuaded to accept the Secretary-General as an impartial mediator to the Afghan conflict, despite its attitude to United Nations sanctions, the Secretary-General’s Personal Representative to Afghanistan, Francesc Vendrell, told correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY SIERRA LEONE

The Government of Sierra Leone did not trust President Charles Taylor of Liberia to carry out all the assurances he had given regarding the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), Sierra Leone’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Sama S. Banya, told correspondents at United Nations Headquarters today. 

PRESS BRIEFING ON WEST AFRICA BY ASSISTANT HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES

As the refugee situation in West Africa today was clearly the most serious in the world, the new United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, would leave on 10 February for that area on his first field mission, Soren Jessen-Petersen, Assistant High Commissioner, told correspondents today during the noon briefing at Headquarters.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY PRESIDENT OF RWANDA

"The international community needs to give us a commitment that if we withdraw from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it will help us to deal with the consequences of that action", Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.