Press Release

TREATY ON BIODIVERSITY TO BECOME LAW

ROME, 31 March (FAO) -- Twelve European countries and the European Community have ratified the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, triggering the 90-day countdown to the Treaty's entry into force, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced today.

RETURN VISIT OF SPECIAL ENVOY TO ERITREA

ASMARA, Eritrea, 30 March (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) -– Martti Ahtisaari, the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the Humanitarian Crisis in the Horn of Africa, arrives in Asmara, Eritrea, on 31 March 2004 for a two-day visit.  Mr. Ahtisaari’s mandate was recently extended for six months.

NORTH-EAST ASIAN DUST AND SAND STORMS GROWING IN SCALE AND INTENSITY;

UNEP WARNS OF ‘THE GLOBALIZATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS’

(Reissued as received.)

JEJU/NAIROBI, 31 March (UNEP) -- Dust and sand storms are plaguing North-East Asia nearly five times as often as they were in the 1950s, environment ministers from around the world learned today.

THROW AWAY SOCIETY NEW THREAT TO ISLAND PARADISES

(Reissued as received.)

JEJU/NAIROBI, 30 March (UNEP) -- Urgent international assistance is needed to help small island States deal with a rising tide of rubbish and wastes.

SIXTH MEETING OF UN ICT TASK FORCE EXAMINES ONGOING ACTIVITIES,

FOLLOW-UP TO WSIS, ADOPTS 2004 BUSINESS PLAN

NEW YORK, 30 March (UN DPI) -- The sixth meeting of the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Task Force concluded on Saturday, 27 March, with a review of the Global Forum on Internet Governance and the adoption of the Task Force’s Business Plan for 2004.

SPECIAL RAPPORTEURS ON RIGHTS TO HEALTH, EDUCATION PRESENT FINDINGS TO COMMISSION

Call for Greater Attention to Sexual

And Reproductive Health, End to Fees for Primary Education

(Reissued as received.)

Security Council                                           

HUMANITARIAN SITUATION WORSENS IN DARFUR, SUDAN

New York, 30 March (OCHA) -– Civilians in Darfur, Sudan, who continue to be attacked by armed groups, also now face shortages of water and outbreaks of communicable diseases such as measles.

UN COUNTER-NARCOTICS CHIEF APPEALS FOR GREATER ASSISTANCE TO AFGHANISTAN

(Reissued as received.)

BERLIN, 30 March (UNODC)  —  A call for more resources to counteract the growing drug problem in Afghanistan was issued today prior to an international meeting in Berlin by Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

SECRETARY-GENERAL STRONGLY CONDEMNS TERRORIST BOMBINGS

IN TASHKENT, UZBEKISTAN

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan: