Press Release

HUMANITARIAN PRINCIPLES OF CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS CONVENTION ‘TIMELESS’,

SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL, AS STATES PARTIES BEGIN GENEVA MEETING

Following is Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s message to the meeting of the States Parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, delivered by Sergei Ordzhonikidze, Director-General, United Nations Office in Geneva, in Geneva, 27 November:

FAO REPORTS SETBACK IN WAR AGAINST HUNGER

25 November 2003, Berlin/Madrid/Rome/Paris/Washington, DC (FAO) -- Hunger is on the rise again after falling steadily during the first half of the 1990s, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) annual hunger report.

MILAN CONFERENCE TO PROMOTE STRONGER NATIONAL ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE

BONN, 26 November 2003 -- The 188 Parties to the United Nations Climate Change Convention are meeting in Milan from 1 to 12 December to assess progress in addressing climate change, and to set the global agenda for the coming year.

SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS FOR REVERSAL OF DECLINE IN RATIFICATIONS OF AMENDED

PROTOCOL ON USE OF MINES, BOOBY-TRAPS, OTHER DEVICES

Following is the text of Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s message to the Fifth Annual Conference of the High Contracting Parties to Amended Protocol II to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons delivered in Geneva today, 26 November, by Sergei Ordzhonikidze, Director-General, United Nations Office in Geneva:

UN COUNTRY TEAM TACKLES ETHIOPIA MALARIA OUTBREAK AS DISEASE THREATENS

TO EXACERBATE HIGH MALNUTRITION RATES

WORST YET TO COME FOR AFRICA’S AIDS ORPHANS, REPORT WARNS AS UNICEF

URGES HELP FOR FAMILIES SUPPORTING GROWING NUMBERS

With 11 Million Children Already Orphaned,

Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland Face Biggest Increases, Says Agency

Fifty-eighth General Assembly

Third Committee

57^th & 58^th Meetings (AM & PM)

THIRD COMMITTEE APPROVES NINE DRAFT RESOLUTIONS ON SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT,

HUMAN RIGHTS, ADVANCEMENT OF WOMEN

Recorded Votes Taken on Texts Concerning INSTRAW,

Right to Development, UN Role in Promoting Democracy

REPUBLIC OF KOREA TO HOST MEETING ON DISARMAMENT, NON-PROLIFERATION

NORMS IN EAST ASIA FROM 3-5 DECEMBER

Fifty-eighth General Assembly

Fifth Committee

22^nd Meeting (AM)

BUDGET COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS 2003-2004 FINANCING FOR MISSIONS IN TIMOR-LESTE,

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO, LIBERIA

INVESTIGATION CLEARS UN OFFICE ON DRUGS AND CRIME OF ALLEGATIONS

OF CORRUPTION AND MISMANAGEMENT

(Reissued as received.)