Background Release

WOMEN'S ANTI-DISCRIMINATION COMMITTEE HOLDS EXCEPTIONAL SESSION

IN NEW YORK FROM 5 TO 23 AUGUST 2002

CEDAW to Review Reports of 11 States Parties

An exceptional session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) will take place at United Nations Headquarters in New York from 5 to 23 August 2002.

SECRETARY-GENERAL URGES ISRAEL NOT TO TAKE ACTIONS

'INCONSISTENT WITH INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW'

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

SECRETARY-GENERAL REITERATES UN COMMITMENT TO ASPIRATIONS

OF LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

Following is the message of Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the Ministerial Meeting of the Least Developed Countries, to be delivered by Anwarul K. Chowdhury, High Representative of the Secretary-General for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, in Cotonou, Benin, 5 August:

AFGHANISTAN:  LOCUST-CONTROL CAMPAIGN SUCCESSFULLY CONCLUDED

HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERNED BY SCHEDULED EXECUTION

OF TWO JUVENILE OFFENDERS IN UNITED STATES

GENEVA, 1 August (UN Information Service) -- United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson has expressed her deep concern at the scheduled executions in Texas of T.J. Jones and Toronto Patterson, respectively, on 8 and 28 August 2002 for crimes they committed when they were 17 years old.

FOLLOWING HEBREW UNIVERSITY BOMB ATTACK, SECRETARY-GENERAL REITERATES

CONDEMNATION OF ‘ALL SUCH ATTACKS’ AGAINST CIVILIANS

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

The Secretary-General is appalled by today's bomb attack at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in which seven people were killed and more than

PRESIDENT OF UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL AND CHAIRMAN

OF MILITARY STAFF COMMITTEE IN AUGUST

In accordance with the principle of alphabetical rotation, the following are the President of the United Nations Security Council and Chairman of the Military Staff Committee for August:

Security Council

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS OF UNITED NATIONS BODIES IN AUGUST 2002

The following is a tentative list of United Nations meetings scheduled to be held in August, including major meetings of intergovernmental organizations related to the United Nations:

Meetings continued from previous month:

24 June-2 August      United Nations Administrative Tribunal, Geneva

2001 UNITED NATIONS DISARMAMENT YEARBOOK RELEASED

The 2001 United Nations Disarmament Yearbook was released yesterday and a copy was presented to the Secretary-General by Jayantha Dhanapala, Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs.  The Yearbook describes developments in the field of disarmament in the United Nations during the year 2001.  The contents include:

HUMAN RIGHTS ENVOY FINDS MORE HUMANE APPROACH TO ILLEGAL

IMMIGRATION IN AUSTRALIA ‘WOULD BE DESIRABLE’