Mr. Eliasson: Good morning. I just want to first announce that the General Assembly has adopted the Resolution establishing a Central Emergency Response Fund, and that will mean that we will achieve a very important outcome, a result of the Outcome Document and establish a Fund of half a billion dollars, $500 million to deal with the humanitarian crises around the world. We have far too many of them around the world, haven't we? From mudslides in Central America and the devastating hurricanes and the earthquakes in Pakistan and India and Afghanistan.
So, this is a sign of solidarity, a sign of us living on one earth together. And it is a sign that there is a positive movement, I hope, on implementing the Outcome Document. So I was very happy this morning that, in the General Assembly, the Secretary-General joined us in welcoming this decision of the General Assembly. Mr. Secretary-General, would you like to say a few words?
SG: Thank you very much, Mr. President. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I joined the President in expressing satisfaction with the action taken by the General Assembly this morning. I think with the establishment of the Fund, the United Nations, and particularly our humanitarian colleagues, led by Jan Egeland, who is here, will be able to act much faster in efforts to save lives.
In the past, without this Fund, we usually began collecting money when the crisis had struck. With the Standing Fund we will be able to begin operating immediately while we wait for contributions to come in. And as the President said, this is a sign of true solidarity and we will be able to assist in crisis situations which may not be on television screens, which may not be in strategic areas, but are no less pressing. So, I am very pleased with the action today.
Q: Mr. Secretary-General, or Mr. Eliasson, what is the basis of your confidence that you can really get to that $500 million figure by March when you want the Fund to become fully operational?
SG: It was announced last fall, and we have over $200 million already. Quite a lot of governments will come and contribute. We hope to launch it and begin operating it in March, and I am confident that, between now and March, the governments of the world will not be found wanting. They will pay up.
Q: Are you going to be targeting any specific governments? I know you specifically mentioned that the European Union countries had been especially generous. Are there specific donors that you are going to be targeting? Are you going to be taking specific steps between now and then to go out and get the rest of the money?
SG: Yes, there are other governments with capacity that we will be targeting. There is a large donor community out there. And we are also trying to bring in new donors from the Gulf and other oil producing countries.
Q: As I understand it, this move simply upgrades an existing mechanism, so how is that significant, and how are the existing mechanisms set up inadequate?
Mr. Eliasson: The difference is, first of all, size. I was the first Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and I am proud that Jan Egeland is one of my successors. We started with a $50 million fund, back in 1992. Now it is $500 million. It is going to be operational in March. Contributions are coming in; even during the debate, as you may have followed, there were commitments made. So, the difference is that we will have a larger Fund, but also that it will be more flexible. We will be able to act a bit more quickly, because very often, as has been the case for Jan Egeland, and me earlier, we had to wait for commitments before we could really start massive operations. Now we will be able to do that from the beginning, and not have to wait for individual commitments.
Q: Is $500 million enough on something like that?
Mr. Eliasson: $500 million is a good sum. It is ten times the present Fund. I hope it will be enough, but you know, look around the world the past year. The size of the needs are tremendous.
SG: It is important that it must be constantly replenished. As we draw down, we need to be able to replenish the resources. Hopefully contributions for crises will begin to flow in, and we will be able to replenish it. To explain what has happened this morning, imagine the New York Fire Department. If the Fire Department did not have its trucks and its fire houses, and the Mayor were to tell them, we will give you these resources and equipment when the fire strikes, you can imagine what would happen. This is the way we operate on a humanitarian basis, and I hope with this new arrangement we will be able to move faster and save lives, rather than start putting the fire engines and the fire houses together when the disaster has struck.
Q: With this type of Fund, where would the International Red Cross fit in?
Mr. Eliasson: Well, there are many actors. The United Nations is not alone, as a humanitarian actor. The United Nations has a central role. But I think what we need in the humanitarian field, and in many areas of work of the United Nations, is division of labour. There is very close cooperation between the United Nations and the Red Cross, both the ICRC and the Federation, and in fact they take part in inter-agency coordination. So I think that cooperation is working very well.
Q: You call this the first success story of the Outcome Document. Will there be more this year, and which ones will be next?
SG: I think I will defer to the President first.
Mr. Eliasson: Well, we will probably express different degrees of hope, that we will be able to finalize the work on the Peacebuilding Commission. I was proud to present last night a draft resolution to the Member States. They are now considering this, and I hope that we will be able to move to a decision early next week.
It is important that we send a message of continued implementation of the Outcome Document. This had the strictest timeline in the Outcome Document. We were supposed to be finished by the 31st of December. It is needed in several countries of the world, and in this situation, I think the General Assembly could send a very important message, namely to produce the Peacebuilding Commission next week.
SG: Yes, like the President I do expect additional successes. He has indicated the Peacebuilding Commission. I would expect the Members to make considerable progress, and they can on the Human Rights Council. I would expect them to make considerable progress on the reform of ECOSOC [the Economic and Social Council], and also on the development agenda. I would expect movement on the management front, on the Ethics Office. And I would also expect them to give us a budget we can operate with, by the end of the year. Thank you.
Mr. Eliasson: And we have six working days to do it! [laughter]
Q: Mr. Secretary-General, is there anything you want to say about the negotiations on the Lebanon resolution, because we won't see you. It's obviously going to be extended for another six months…
Q: …but probably not expanded…
Q: …not expanded immediately…they want you to study it.
SG: There is an agreement on the extension. On the extension for six months there is no disagreement. The question is the additional request from the government, both to help them set up a Court of international character, and to expand the mandate to investigate all the assassinations, beginning in October 2004. Here, very serious discussions are going on amongst [Security] Council members, and I believe by the end of the day, or sometime tomorrow we will have a better sense of which direction things are going to go. I may be asked to study these requests and make recommendations to the Council, and I would be prepared to do that.
Q: What is your feeling as of now, as you stand here, should the Commission really take on this expanded investigation?
SG: I don't want to jump ahead of the Council. They are in very tricky negotiations and discussions. But at least, as I said, there is agreement on the extension of the mandate.
Q: Any comment on the Iraq vote as you see it unfolding so far?
SG: I think it has gone very well so far. The violence seems to have subsided a bit, and from the reports we are getting, it has gone well. The indications are that there will be high voter turnout. That is not surprising because, for the first time the Sunnis will be participating fully, to the extent that they can, so we would expect higher turnout and I would hope that once the results are announced, and we have gone through appeals, everyone will accept the results of the elections, play by the rules, and that they will cooperate with each other and set up a national government as soon as possible.
Q: Mr. Secretary-General, one other pressing issue –Eritrea/Ethiopia. The Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping [Jean Marie Guéhenno] has been in Eritrea. The government has refused to talk to him. You have been asked to look at some options for the future, now that this group is withdrawing from Eritrea. What are the options, and how concerned are you about renewed war?
SG: Let me say that the troops were deployed for two specific reasons in my judgment. The first was to help with the demarcation of the border, and the second to assist in ensuring that conflict does not flare up again. The situation on the ground, the restrictions the Eritrean government has placed on our peacekeepers has made it impossible for us to operate as effectively as we would want to, and we have therefore decided to pull out as many of our peacekeepers as possible. We have temporarily redeployed them to Ethiopia, and we are going to assess the situation and look at our options. This could be a phase in other actions that the Council may want to take. But I would wait until later next week, when we give the options document to the Council to discuss this further.
Q: You met the new Eritrean Ambassador. Did you deliver a strong message to him?
SG: I gave him a very clear and a firm message for his authorities. Thank you very much.
Q: [inaudible question on a replacement for International Independent Investigation Commission chairman Detlev Mehlis]
SG: We are looking at candidates. We want to move as quickly as possible. You must understand, the kinds of people we look for are often either employed somewhere, and you need to make arrangements to get them out, and I had also indicated to you some of the candidates fell off. But we are making progress, and I would hope to name someone fairly shortly.
Q: Before the end of the year?
SG: Possibly. Somebody was asking, “Why is it taking you so long?” And I said, “The kinds of people we need are not standing on the corner of First Avenue and 42nd looking for a job, they just rush across when they get it.” [laughter]