The Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) had become an effective and meaningful component of the United Nations system, Karl Paschke, Under- Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services, told a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon.
At a Headquarter press briefing this afternoon, Richard Butler, Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission, set up under Security Council resolution 687 (1991) to monitor the disarmament of Iraq, announced that all the Commission's operations in Iraq would be temporarily suspended.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) had a major opportunity to prevent children in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from falling victim to a disastrous famine, Omawale Omawale, the Fund's Special Representative in Pyongyang told a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon.
At a Headquarters press conference this afternoon, Sir John Weston, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom, told correspondents his Government had invited international observers to examine the Scottish judicial system and to discuss the arrangements for a trial of the two Lockerbie suspects in Scotland.
Christine Umutoni, Assistant to the Ministers in the Office of the President of Rwanda, told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference this morning that the genocide in her country had changed its population; women now accounted for 70 per cent of the population. However, due to tradition, women had no tools to deal with the responsibilities of their new roles.
At a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon, Pino Arlacchi, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna and Executive Director of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP), announced that the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan had banned the cultivation, use and trade in opium.
Vigils will be held worldwide tonight to protest the failure of some States to pay their United Nations dues, representatives of four non- governmental organizations (NGOs) told correspondents this afternoon at a press conference at United Nations Headquarters. In New York City, the protest would be held at 6:15 p.m. at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza.
