Press Release

Commission on the Status of Women                          

Forty-eighth Session                                       

14^th Meeting (PM)

UN AGENGY SAYS COUNTRIES AFFECTED BY BIRD FLU SHOULD NOT RESTOCK FLOCKS

TOO QUICKLY, AS VIRUS COULD STILL BE CIRCULATING

(Reissued as received.)

ROME, 11 March (FAO) -- Countries affected by the deadly avian influenza virus H5N1 should not restock their flocks too quickly to avoid the disease flaring up again, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned today.

FAO launches appeal for $4 million for haiti

ROME, 10 March (FAO) – The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) launched a $4 million appeal for Haiti yesterday for urgent farming inputs to restore agricultural production and improve the food security of the households worst-affected by the current crisis.

The crisis has further degraded an agricultural sector already weakened by years of poverty, the FAO said.  The agricultural sector faces:

Background Release                                         

HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE TO HOLD 80THSESSION IN NEW YORK

FROM 15 MARCH TO 2 APRIL 2004

TWO-DAY COUNTER-TERRORISM CONFERENCE BEGINS IN VIENNA

WITH A MINUTE OF SILENCE FOR MADRID VICTIMS

VIENNA, 11 March (UN Information Service) -- A counter-terrorism conference organized by the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna, began today with a minute of silence in honour of the victims of terrorist bomb attacks in Madrid earlier in the day.

COMMISSION ON NARCOTIC DRUGS MEETS IN VIENNA, 15 -22 MARCH

(Reissued as received.)

AMSTERDAM Conference Examines Links Between Reproductive Rights, Culture

Commission on the Status of Women                          

Forty-eighth Session                                       

13^th Meeting (AM)

CHALLENGES OF TODAY’S ‘GLOBAL VILLAGE’ –- FEAR, WANT, ENVIRONMENTAL DEGREDATION

MUST BE ADDRESSED TOGETHER SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL AT OTTAWA CEREMONY

Following are Secretary-General’s Kofi Annan’s remarks on receiving honorary degrees from CarletonUniversity and the University of Ottawa, in Ottawa on 9 March:

President Van Loon, Rector Patry, Distinguished Members of the Diplomatic Corps, Ladies and gentlemen,

SECRETARY-GENERAL PRAISES ‘STRONG AND INVALUABLE’ PARTNERSHIP

BETWEEN CANADA, UN AT OTTAWA WELCOME CEREMONY

Following are Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s remarks at a welcome ceremony hosted by the Governor-General in Ottawa, 8 March:

I am deeply moved by those kind words, and by this warm welcome.

Nane and I always look forward to visiting Canada, even though we don’t come here often enough.