Secretary-General's press encounter with the Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson

Prime Minister: Mr. Secretary-General, Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to this press briefing. We have had a short discussion about, of course, tomorrow's incoming conference but also some other disputes. We discussed the situation in Europe, not least a discussion about Cyprus and the recent talks between the Secretary-General and [Turkish Prime Minister] Erdogan. We also touched upon the ongoing discussion about UN reform and the panel headed by [former Thai Prime Minister] Dr. Anand. Of course, we have also exchanged views on the situation in Iraq. That is mainly what we have discussed during our short meeting.

SG: Thank you very much, Mr. Prime Minister. I'm as usual very, very happy to be back here in Stockholm and to have the opportunity of exchanging views with you. You've heard from the Prime Minister what we discussed. And I also had the opportunity to thank him for the strong support Sweden has always given to the United Nations and its real belief in multilateralism and international cooperation.

We will take your questions.

Q: Will the United Nations be involved in Iraq, will you go there and help the Americans get out of their terrible situation?

SG: We had a very good discussion in New York on Monday where the coalition was represented by Mr. Bremer and Sir Jeremy Greenstock and of course, the Iraqi side was represented by Mr. Pachachi and six other members of the Iraqi Governing Council. And they did make a joint request to me that I send a team to Baghdad to determine whether elections are possible between now and June and if not to review the caucus system and other alternatives. We have used the time since then to conduct our own analysis, look at the documents and do some reflection and I expect to make a decision between now and Tuesday about our action.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, is it possible to prevent genocide in the future?

SG: I think the Conference tomorrow is an important one. Each time we have a moment to reflect on what has happened in areas of genocide, ethnic cleansing and gross and systematic abuse of human rights, to look back and to be able to have a vision for the future, is healthy. So I am very grateful to the Prime Minister and to Sweden for organizing this meeting. It was after World War II that we said 'never again'. But since then we have had several genocides [inaudible]. I hope tomorrow's meeting will give us an opportunity to reflect and think through what we as an international community can do to ensure that we don't experience future genocides and think through what we can do to stop or nip problems in the bud before they escalate to the level of genocide or ethnic cleansing. If you are asking me, if the world is at the point where genocide, ethnic cleansing, will not happen because we will be organized, we will be determined to move in quickly and stop it, I'm afraid I cannot give you a positive answer. But that does not mean that we should not try.

Q: How does this Conference link up with the International Criminal Court?

SG: I think the establishment of the International Criminal Court was an important development in international law. The Court and its creation plugged a missing link in international law and I think it sends the message out to perpetrators of crimes against humanity that they will be held to account and that impunity will not be accepted. So I think it is a very, very important development. I know there are debates in some countries as to whether the Court should be supported or not. I stand a hundred percent behind the Court. I think, it is in the interest of humanity and I believe that once the Court gets to work and it establishes itself, most countries will come to believe it is the way to go and even the ones who are reluctant today, I hope will come on board.

Thank you very much.