SOCIETY OF WEALTHY ISLANDS SURROUNDED BY SEA OF POVERTY UNSUSTAINABLE,

SAYS SOUTH AFRICA'S PRESIDENT, OPENING JOHANNESBURG WORLD SUMMIT

UNEP Executive Director, Summit Secretary-General Also Speak;

Summit Plenary Focuses on Health, in First of Partnership Sessions

(Received from a UN Information Officer.)

WORLD'S FUTURE COULD BE IRREPARABLY UNDERMINED WITHOUT IMMEDIATE ACTION

ON OVERUSE OF RESOURCES, JOHANNESBURG SUMMIT TOLD

Partnership Plenary Examines Biodiversity/Ecosystem Management

(Received from a UN Information Officer.)

Committee on Elimination of                                        WOM/1363

Background Release

WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT MEETS IN JOHANNESBURG;

AIM:  IMPROVE LIVES WHILE PRESERVING EARTH’S RESOURCES

Expected to Draw More Than 100 World Leaders

                                                                  AFR/454

SECRETARY-GENERAL WELCOMES ANNOUNCEMENTS OF COMMITMENTS

MAJOR-GENERAL PUONTI APPOINTED CHIEF MILITARY OBSERVER IN UNITED NATIONS

MILITARY OBSERVER GROUP IN INDIA AND PAKISTAN

Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced today the appointment of Major-General Pertti Juhani Puonti of Finland as Chief Military Observer in the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP).

                                                                  SC/7488

                                                                  AFR/453

Committee on Elimination of

Discrimination against Women

585^th Meeting (AM)

GREECE DESCRIBES WIDE RANGE OF LEGISLATION PROMOTING GENDER EQUALITY

AS ANTI-DISCRIMINATION COMMITTEE CONTINUES EXCEPTIONAL SESSION

CORRECTION

In Press Release WOM/1361 issued 19 August, the next to last paragraph on page 11 should read:

SECRETARY-GENERAL REPLIES TO CAMBODIAN PRIME MINISTER’S LETTER

ON TRIAL OF KHMER ROUGE LEADERS

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

Today, the Secretary-General wrote to Mr. Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia, on the issue of the trial of the Khmer Rouge leaders.  The letter was in response to a letter from the Prime Minister to the Secretary-General.