ARCHIVES
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY MARIE OKABE
ASSOCIATE SPOKESMAN FOR THE
SECRETARY-GENERAL
OF THE UNITED NATIONS
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Monday, July 12, 2004
ANNAN NAMES SENIOR PAKISTANI DIPLOMAT
AS U.N. ENVOY IN IRAQ
Secretary-General
Kofi Annan has informed the Security Council of his intention
to appoint Ambassador Ashraf
Jehangir Qazi of Pakistan as his Special Representative for
Iraq.
The
Secretary-General reviewed a number of candidates, and considered a short-list
of three highly qualified persons, the other two being
Mr. Surin Pitsuwan,
former Foreign Minister of Thailand, and
Mr. Salman Haidar, former Foreign
Secretary of India.
After
extensive consultations, the Secretary-General selected Mr. Qazi, who
currently serves as the Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States.
Mr. Qazi has
had a distinguished career in Pakistan’s foreign service, and has previously
served as Ambassador to Syria, the German Democratic Republic, the former
Soviet Union and then the Russian Federation, the People’s Republic of China,
and as High Commissioner to India. Mr. Qazi
was born on 2 April 1942.
Asked when the Special
Representative would go to Iraq, the Spokeswoman said that President Pervez
Musharraf had agreed to release Qazi from his responsibilities as Ambassador
very quickly.
After that first step,
she said, Qazi should be in position in the next week or two to come to New
York for debriefing and consultations. She added she could not yet give a
timetable for when he would be deployed in Baghdad.
She noted that the
Secretary-General had stressed that he was appointing a Special Representative
who would be based in Baghdad, to handle the political and humanitarian tasks
needed in Iraq.
Asked about whether it
was safe for UN international staff to return to Baghdad, the Spokeswoman said
that the United Nations was monitoring the security situation, to determine
whether circumstances would permit the return of staff. Among the
considerations being examined was whether sufficient security for UN personnel
would be provided.
On that issue, she
confirmed, in response to another question, that Pakistan was among the
countries that had discussed with the United Nations and the United States the
possibility of providing its forces to protect UN personnel.
Asked how the appointment
was made, the Spokeswoman said the United Nations did not discuss specific
reasons for appointments, and added that the Secretary-General had felt that
he had three highly qualified candidates. After intensive discussions, a
decision was made.
CHILEAN DIPLOMAT
NAMED AS SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR HAITI
The
Secretary-General has informed the Security Council of his intention to
appoint Juan Gabriel Valdes of Chile, as his
Special Representative and Head of the UN Mission in Haiti.
Valdes,
a former Permanent Representative to the United Nations for Chile,
is currently serving as Chile's Ambassador to Argentina.
He
has
also served as his
country’s foreign minister.
ANNAN
APPOINTS
FIRST U.N.
ADVISOR ON PREVENTION OF
GENOCIDE
The
Secretary-General today informed the Security Council of his intention to
appoint Juan Méndez of Argentina as his first Special Adviser on the
Prevention of Genocide.
As the
Secretary-General
made clear this year, he set up the post of Special Adviser to
collect existing information on massive and serious violations of human rights
and international humanitarian law of ethnic and racial origin, that could
lead to genocide.
The Special
Adviser would act as an early warning mechanism to the Secretary-General and
Security Council to bring to their attention potential situations that could
result in genocide, and make recommendations to the Council on how to prevent
genocide.
Juan Méndez
is currently President of the International Center for Transitional Justice.
He previously worked for 15
years for Human Rights Watch, concentrating on human rights issues in the
Western hemisphere.
ANNAN CALLS FOR
STRONGER LEADERSHIP TO FIGHT
AIDS
The
Secretary-General
opened on Sunday evening the
15th
International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, saying that
the world is not on track to begin reducing the scale and impact of AIDS by
2005. He urged leaders to scale up infrastructure to support both treatment
and prevention; to empower women and girls to protect themselves against the
virus; and to provide stronger leadership at every level to fight the disease.
Earlier in
the day, he
told the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Meeting on HIV/AIDS that AIDS is “far
more than a health crisis,” but is “a threat to social and economic
development as a whole.”
Today, the
Secretary-General conferred with his regional special envoys dealing with AIDS
and also met with the Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,
Tuberculosis and Malaria.
He also
visited the UN Building in Bangkok and met with staff there, telling them that
the United Nations has a future “if it adapts and changes,” and adding about
the UN’s future, “If I were a doctor, I would say you are in reasonably good
health but you must remain active and exercise.”
The
Secretary-General and Nane Annan visited an AIDS ward and talked with several
patients there, accompanied by the Thai Health Minister.
The
Secretary-General has also held several bilateral meetings with foreign
ministers while in Bangkok. Sunday, he met with the foreign ministers of
Australia, Timor-Leste and Thailand. He
also spoke to
reporters.
In a statement issued in
NANE ANNAN VISITS CENTER FOR VICTIMS
OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING
In a separate
program, Nane Annan visited a center housing 550 girls and women who have been
trafficked from within Thailand and surrounding countries.
She spoke with them
as they demonstrated vocational skills they had learnt at the centre, such as
cooking, fruit carving, painting, basket-weaving, foot massage and dancing.
Mrs. Annan
encouraged the young women to focus on developing their skills and education
so as to enable them to be strong and stand up for themselves.
The Kredtrakarn
Protection and Occupational Development Centre also provides shelter, food and
medical care, as well as psychosocial rehabilitation, family tracing and
repatriation. It is supported by
the United Nations Inter-Agency Programme on Human Trafficking for the Greater
Mekong Area.
UN REPORTS PROGRESS ON HUMANITARIAN
ACCESS IN DARFUR
Since the
United Nations and the Government of Sudan signed their recent joint
communiqué, progress has been reported in humanitarian access, according to
the
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
As promised
by the Sudanese Government, the situation concerning visa restrictions and
limitations on movement has improved, and the import of humanitarian supplies,
vehicles and communications equipment, has been made easier.
However,
local government authorities in North and West Darfur are still requiring
travel permits.
Also,
although more Non-Governmental Organization’s (NGO) have been going to Darfur,
the Sudanese Government’s 90-day registration plan is discouraging NGOs from
building up large asset bases, since it is possible that their permits might
not be extended.
Security
around current Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) settlements remains
worrisome as the decreasing supply of firewood around IDP camps has forced
women to venture further out to collect it.
Over the past
week, a number of rapes and gang rapes were reported. The Sudanese Government
has supplied police outside some settlements, but vastly increased numbers are
needed.
Despite
Government encouragement of IDPs to voluntarily relocate and return to their
areas of origin, the vast majority of the IDP population has maintained that
they are not ready to move until increased security is provided at their
return locations.
ANNAN UPDATES SECURITY COUNCIL ON
WORK OF IRAQ MONITORING BOARD
In a
letter to the Security Council, the Secretary-General forwarded an update
on the work of the International Advisory and Monitoring Board for Iraq. (IAMB)
The IAMB was
created last year by resolution 1483 as an audit oversight body for the
Development Fund for Iraq which holds the proceeds of petroleum export sales
from Iraq, as well as remaining balances from the UN Oil-for-Food Program and
other frozen Iraqi funds.
The update
reviews the work of the Board to date. It also outlines a number of areas of
concerns in the way the Coalition Provisional Authority has managed the fund.
These concerns rose as a result of the work of the international auditing firm
of KPMG, which was hired by the Board.
Those areas
include controls over the extraction of oil, bartering and the awarding of
sole sourced contracts.
The IAMB
expects to receive in mid-July the final audit covering the period from its
inception through December 31st, 2003. The audit for the first six
months of this year will be received in September. The audits will be made
public.
U.N.
MIDDLE EAST ENVOY CONDEMNS KILLING OF PALESTINIAN CIVILIANS
[In statement released in Jerusalem, the
UN Special Co-ordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Terje Roed Larsen
condemns the killing of Palestinian civilians that had taken place in the West
Bank and the Gaza Strip over the past few days.
Larsen is particularly
disturbed by the killing of 70 year old wheelchair bound Mahmoud Halfalla in
Khan Yunis this morning. He sends his sincere
sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and calls on the
Government of Israel to abide by its obligation under international
humanitarian law to avoid the use of disproportionate force in densely
populated areas and to protect the civilian population.]
On Tuesday, the
Security Council has scheduled an open briefing, followed by consultations on the
Middle East.
Larsen is expected to brief the Council on recent developments.
U.N. AGENCIES TO REBUILD HOUSING IN
GAZA
Two UN
agencies and the Palestinian Authority yesterday signed an agreement that will
pave the way for the UN to build replacement homes in Rafah in the Gaza. These
will be built on land donated by the Palestinian Authority.
Funding for
the project, run by the
UN Relief Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and the UN
Development Programme, was contingent on the Palestinian Authority donating
the land.
Peter Hansen,
UNRWA's Commissioner-General said this agreement now allows his agencies to
move on quickly to the most important task in hand - that of translating the
concern of the international community for the people of Rafah into bricks and
mortar.
According to
UNRWA, over 22,000 people have lost their homes to Israeli demolitions in the
Gaza Strip, since the beginning of the current strife. Almost three quarters,
over 15,000 people, are those who have lost their homes in Rafah.
U.N.
ENVOY
IN AFGHANISTAN
OUTLINES CHALLENGES IN HOLDING ELECTIONS
The head of
the
UN Mission in Afghanistan, Jean Arnault, told the press in Kabul yesterday
that many things have to be done before the October 9 elections for President,
and next April’s legislative and local elections.
Among the
tasks still to be done are the setting of district boundaries and, prior to
the April elections, the preparation of credible population figures for all
districts and provinces.
Noting the
Sunday attack in Herat, in which at least four female registration officers
were killed, Arnault stressed, “The time for the arrival of the international
forces is now, not in four months from now.”
REFUGEE FLOW FROM DR CONGO HAS
SLOWED
In
Burundi, continued fighting between the Burundian Army and anti-Government
forces has displaced tens of thousands of civilians.
Near Bujumbura, cases of severe malnutrition among IDPs are increasing.
Meanwhile, the Office of the
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
reports that the refugee flow
from the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC) to Burundi
has
slowed considerably. That
was accompanied by an increase in unfacilitated returns to the DRC.
However, UNHCR
notes that while calm had been returning to eastern DR Congo, conditions
aren’t yet suitable to begin facilitated repatriations.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS:
SECURITY
COUNCIL: There are no
meetings or consultations of the
Security Council scheduled for today. The Security
Council’s
report on its recent mission to West Africa was published today. The mission
led by British Ambassador to the United Nations, Emyr Jones Parry,
visited
Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau and Guinea.
It focused on
issues such as the link between security and development and importance of an
active approach to conflict prevention.
COTE D’IVOIRE:
The UN Children’s
Fund (UNICEF)
reports that the majority of towns and villages in Cote d’Ivoire lack safe
drinking water. This is due to the overexploitation of existing
infrastructures, insufficient production capacity in urban areas, and
maintenance difficulties due to lack of spare parts and personnel
SPAM:
The
International Telecommunication Union ended its meeting last week on ways to
fight unsolicited commercial email – also known as SPAM – with general agreement
that there is no “silver bullet” to curb the problem. The Geneva meeting
was designed to launch a global
effort that can ultimately lead to the eradication of spam. There a large
consensus on the need to adopt a multi-track approach incorporating strong
legislation combined with technical solutions, consumer education, industry
self-regulation and international cooperation. The
meeting was part of preparations for the second phase of the
World Summit on the Information Society.
MINES:
This coming Thursday,
the
UN Mine Action Service is sponsoring
a panel discussion on goals and
expected outcomes of the upcoming
Nairobi Summit for a Mine Free World, which will bring together world
leaders, top UN officials, and key players in the movement to ban landmines on
the fifth anniversary of the entry into force of the Ottawa Convention on
antipersonnel mine-ban treaty.
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