BACKGROUND RELEASE

COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS TO HOLD FIFTY-SEVENTH SESSION

AT PALAIS DES NATIONS 19 MARCH - 27 APRIL

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 15 March (UN Information Service) -- The Commission on Human Rights will hold its fifty-seventh session at the Palais des Nations in Geneva from 19 March to 27 April.

Security Council

4295^th Meeting (PM)

SECURITY COUNCIL HEARS CALLS FOR END TO VIOLENCE IN OCCUPIED TERRITORIES;

MANY SPEAKERS ALSO SUPPORT OBSERVER MISSION TO REGION

SECRETARY-GENERAL EXPRESSES HOPE THAT ALL PEOPLES CAN UNITE

IN CELEBRATING FULL DIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE

Following are remarks by Secretary-General Kofi Annan on laying the Foundation Stone for the Centre of International Mother Language Studies in Dhaka, Bangladesh:

MAJOR CHALLENGE:  HOW TO MAKE CIVILIZATION WORK FOR WORLD’S PEOPLE,

SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL TO INDIAN CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE FEDERATION

Following is the statement of Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in New Delhi on 15 March:

Resumed Fifty-fifth General Assembly

Fifth Committee

46^th Meeting (AM)

MANAGEMENT OF SECRETARIAT DEPARTMENTS, PROCUREMENT-RELATED ARBITRATION

AMONG ISSUES DISCUSSED IN ADMINISTRATIVE AND BUDGETARY COMMITTEE

GOVERNING COUNCIL OF UNITED NATIONS COMPENSATION COMMISSION

APPROVES AWARDS OF OVER $ 2.3 BILLION FOR COMPENSATION

GENEVA, 15 March (UN Information Service) -- The thirty-ninth session of the Governing Council of the United Nations Compensation Commission, under the Presidency of Ambassador Sverre Bergh Johansen of Norway, has today approved awards of $2,375,152,650 billion for compensation.

Security Council

4294^th Meeting* (AM)

SECURITY COUNCIL EXTENDS MANDATE OF MISSION IN ETHIOPIA AND ERITREA

UNTIL 15 SEPTEMBER 2001

Expressing strong support for the role played by the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) in the implementation of its mandate, the Security Council this morning decided to extend its mandate until 15 September 2001.

SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS FOR BREAK IN POLITICAL STALEMATE OVER ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

Following is a text of a statement titled “Sustainable Development: Humanity’s biggest challenge in the new century” made today in Dhaka, Bangladesh, by Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

It is a great honour for me to join you today.  My wife, my team and I have received a very warm welcome, and we thank you all for making us feel very much at home.

Resumed Fifty-fifth General Assembly                        GA/AB/3427/Rev.1*

Fifty-fifth General Assembly

Plenary

95^th Meeting (AM)

GENERAL ASSEMBLY ELECTS 14 JUDGES TO TRIBUNAL FOR FORMER YUGOSLAVIA

The General Assembly, in a day-long meeting today, elected 14 judges to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, in seven rounds of secret balloting.