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15 September 1999

The 28-member General Committee, chaired by Assembly President Theo-Ben Gurirab, is meeting at this moment, in Conference Room 3, to consider the organization of the work of the session, a draft agenda and the allocation of agenda items. The document setting out the proposals of the Secretary-General is: A/BUR/54/1 and Add.1. It lists 166 items from the provisional agenda, five supplementary items and an additional item requested by the Secretary-General, on the financing of the UN Mission in East Timor, for a total of 172 items.

One item on the supplementary list, item 171, has 30 speakers inscribed thus far. It is a request by 12 States that an item on Taiwan be included in the agenda of the session. It is titled "Need to examine the exceptional international situation pertaining to the Republic of China on Taiwan, to ensure the fundamental right of its 22 million people to participate in the work and activities of the United Nations is fully respected". With such a long list of speakers on whether to include that item alone, the General Committee meeting is expected to spill over into the afternoon, for a second meeting.

At yesterday’s first plenary meeting of the fifty-fourth session, the Assembly elected Mr. Gurirab, Foreign Minister of Namibia, as President. In his acceptance speech, the President highlighted seven challenges he said the international community faced as we enter the new millennium, namely, globalization as an imperative for the empowerment of people; sustainable development and the protection of the environment; the scourge of regional wars; the ever-deteriorating refugee crisis; the need for gender equality; the HIV/AIDS pandemic which has declared an unrelenting war on humanity; and the future of children in a globalized community. The President spoke at length about the plight of children in armed conflict, especially the phenomenon of child soldiers. He added his voice to laudable efforts towards making the twenty-first century one of love and security for every child in the world.

Elsewhere in his speech, the President called for the completion of the decolonization process in Africa, for respect for the will of the people of East Timor, and for Palestinian statehood. While supportive of UN reform, he insisted that it be carried out in a transparent and constructive way, arguing that the UN belongs to all its Member States, collectively and individually.

Also yesterday, United Nations membership increased to 188 Member States, with the admission of Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga. Congratulating and welcoming the new Members were the Chairmen of the five regional groups -- Botswana, Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Paraguay and Iceland, on behalf of the African, Asian, Eastern European, Latin American and Caribbean and Western European and other States, respectively -- the United States, as host country, Israel, and the Federated States of Micronesia, on behalf of the South Pacific Forum. The Presidents of Kiribati and Nauru, and the Foreign Minister of Tonga responded.

Also yesterday, the Assembly appointed the nine-member Credentials Committee: Austria, Bolivia, China, Philippines, Russian Federation, South Africa, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago and the United States. It elected the Chairmen of the Main Committees: Raimundo Gonzalez (Chile), Disarmament and International Security (First Committee); Sotirios Zackheos (Cyprus), Special Political and Decolonization (Fourth Committee); Roble Olhaye (Djibouti), Economic and Financial (Second Committee); Vladimir Galuska (Czech Republic), Social, Humanitarian and Cultural (Third Committee); Penny Wensley (Australia), Administrative and Budgetary (Fifth Committee); and Phasiko Mochochoko (Lesotho), Legal (Sixth Committee).

The Assembly elected, by acclamation, 21 Vice-Presidents: Algeria, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria and Seychelles (African States); Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Iran, Iraq, Tajikistan and Thailand (Asian States); Lithuania (Eastern European States); Bolivia, Cuba and Grenada (Latin American and Caribbean States); Iceland and Monaco (Western European and other States); plus the five permanent members of the Security Council (China, France, Russian Federation, United Kingdom and the United States).

No plenary meeting is scheduled for Thursday, the 16th. Instead, the President will hold a press conference at 11 a.m., here in Room 226.

Prior to his press conference, the Assembly President and Secretary-General Kofi Annan will address a prominent gathering of world religious and spiritual leaders at the third Annual Interfaith Celebration of Commitment to the Work of the United Nations.

Scheduled to begin at 8:45 a.m., at St. Bartholomew’s Church on Park Avenue at 51^st Street, the service marks the opening of the fifty-fourth session of the General Assembly. It also commemorates the Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World. Over 1,000 members of the diplomatic community, senior United Nations officials other invited guests and members of the public are expected to attend.

All correspondents are invited to attend the service and are requested to present their official United Nations ground passes for admittance. A Note to Correspondents is available. For more information, please contact Bill Haas in the Department of Public Information, at ext. 3-0353.

The third plenary meeting is scheduled to take place at 11 a.m. on Friday, 17 September, in Conference Room 3.

Question: Has the agenda item on the election of justices to the International Court of Justice been allocated to the Sixth Committee or the plenary as yet?

Spokeswoman: The General Committee was still going through its preliminaries when last I checked so they have not gotten to the allocation of items as yet.

Question: Who are the co-sponsors on the Taiwan project?

Spokeswoman: The 12 are Burkina Faso, El Salvador, Gambia, Grenada, Honduras, Liberia, Marshall Islands, Nicaragua, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Solomon Islands and Swaziland.