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HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SPOKESMAN'S NOON BRIEFING

BY MARIE OKABE

ASSOCIATE SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

SPECIAL SESSION ON NAZI DEATH CAMPS

 AN EXPRESSION OF U.N.’S COMMITMENT TO FIGHT GENOCIDE



Secretary-General Kofi Annan, at a


press conference
today, said
that the commemoration next Monday, January 24, of the
60th anniversary of the
liberation of the Nazi death camps
will have "profound significance."

 

The Secretary-General said it is essential to all of us to remember,
reflect on and learn from what happened 60 years ago.

 

He warned, "The evil that destroyed six million Jews, and others, in
those camps is one that still threatens all of us today."

 

The Secretary-General added that the session should be seen as an
expression of the commitment to build a United Nations that can respond
quickly and effectively to genocide and other serious violations of human
rights, work which, he said, is still far from complete.

 

The Secretary-General was joined by the President of the General Assembly
and the permanent representatives of the countries which sponsored the
resolution, namely Israel, Australia, Canada, Russia, New Zealand, the
United States and Luxembourg, appearing on behalf of the European Union.

 

The Special Session will get underway at 10:00 a.m. on Monday.

 

In conjunction with the Special Session, there are two exhibits in the
public entrance two the building. One is called "Auschwitz – the depth of
the Abyss", which is a collection of photographs and paintings from the
Auschwitz and Majdanek camps. The other is called "Afterwards, it’s just a
part of you" and is an exhibit of photographs taken by youth groups who have
visited what remains of the death camps. It also includes their written
recollection of their visits and talks with survivors.

 U.N. AGENCIES TACKLE LIVELIHOOD LOSS IN TSUNAMI-HIT AREAS


U.N. agencies are continuing their relief efforts in


tsunami-affected countries,
with the loss of survivors’ livelihoods becoming an increasingly important
issue.

 

According to the International Labour Organization (

ILO),
some 600,000 people in the hardest-hit regions of Indonesia may have lost
their sole source of income. And Sri Lanka’s total number of unemployed may
have temporarily risen by 55 percent or more.

 

The ILO has therefore


called for
job creation strategies to be integrated
into the humanitarian response. The strategies’ main elements would include:
reconstruction of employment-intensive infrastructure; social finance
schemes and employment-friendly investments; and projects aimed at
protecting vulnerable groups who have lost work, such as young people,
women, and migrant workers.

 

The Food and Agriculture Organization (

FAO)
said
today that rehabilitation of severely affected mangroves would help speed up
the recovery process. Mangroves contribute directly to rural livelihoods by
providing timber, poles, fuel and thatch, as well as spawning grounds and
nutrients for fish and shellfish.

 GLOBAL EARLY WARNING SYSTEM LAUNCHED AT KOBE CONFERENCE


UN experts

decided
today to create a global early warning system to reduce the impact of
natural hazards on vulnerable communities.

 

Launched on the second day of the


World Conference on Disaster
Reduction, in Kobe, Japan, the new
International Early Warning Programme will bring together a host of
organizations, rely on a wide information flow, and emphasize the importance
of community education about disaster preparedness.

 

Working with the International Early Warning Programme will be the UN
Environment Programme, which is


calling
for greater integration of environmental issues into disaster preparedness
and response, and the World Food Programme, which says that one third of its
beneficiaries are victims of natural disasters.

 SECURITY COUNCIL URGES STATES TO REPORT ON EFFORTS TO
DEFEAT TERRORISM


There are no meetings or consultations of


the Security Council
scheduled for today.

 

Tuesday afternoon, the Security Council wrapped up an


open meeting
on the work of the
Counter-Terrorism Committee by
issuing an urgent call to States to report to the Committee on their
national efforts to defeat terrorism.

 

The Council, in a


Presidential Statement, noted that
75 Member States had not yet reported to the Committee on those efforts.



U.N. ENVOY DISCUSSES FUTURE PEACE SUPPORT MISSION


The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for


Sudan,
Jan Pronk, today completed a two-day trip to Rumbek, the provisional capital
of southern Sudan.

 

Pronk met with senior staff of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and
Army (SPLM/A), to discuss the future peace support mission, and the
continuing preparations for its deployment. He also discussed the same
issues with the UN Country Team staff who are deployed in the South.

 

Pronk is planning to return to Rumbek at the end of this week to meet
with John Garang, the Movement’s head.

 

The Special Representative has now proceeded to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,
where he will discuss current and future cooperation between the UN and the
African Union once the full peace support mission has been deployed. 

 

The overall security situation in Darfur has been relatively calm over
the past two weeks, reports the UN mission in Sudan. Cases of general
lawlessness and banditry in the states, however, remain quite frequent.



COTE D’IVOIRE: SITUATION REMAINS "VERY TENSE"


The Secretary-General said that West Africa continues to face daunting
challenges, with the situation in


Cote d’Ivoire
remaining very tense, as some actors there have been unwilling to make the
necessary compromises for peace.

 

In

a message
to the summit meeting of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS),
which is taking place in Accra, Ghana today, the Secretary-General adds that
the situations in
Liberia and Guinea-Bissau also
warrant sustained attention, especially reform of the security sector and
the reintegration of former combatants.

 UNITED NATIONS PROVIDES AID TO CONGOLESE REFUGEES IN
UGANDA


The

UN Office of
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) has begun
providing emergency aid to Congolese refugees fleeing to Uganda to escape
fighting in the eastern
Democratic Republic of the Congo.

 

A UNHCR team has met with local authorities to set up a plan of action,
and another team is preparing the logistics of transferring refugees away
from the border to a settlement.

 

At the end of last week, there were about 20,000 new refugees in western
Uganda.



UNITED NATIONS AWAITS VOLCKER COMMISSION FINDINGS


Asked whether U.S. businessman Samir Vincent had met with UN officials in
1996, the Spokeswoman said that Vincent’s activities are being examined by
the Independent Inquiry Committee headed by Paul Volcker, and, as long as
his case is being examined, the United Nations would be unable to comment on
specific details of that case.

 

Asked who was in charge of matters relating to the oil-for-food process
in 1996, she noted that Boutros Boutros-Ghali was Secretary-General at that
time. Kofi Annan was Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping.

 

In response to a question about who was in charge of the Oil-for-food
humanitarian programme in 1996, she later said that Gultiero Fulcheri of
Italy succeeded Mohammed Zejjari of Algeria as the UN Humanitarian
Coordinator in Iraq, according to the timeline available on the


Oil-for-Food website.
And she noted that, at that time, the Oil-for-Food Programme was
administered by the UN’s Department of Political Affairs and the Department
of Humanitarian Affairs (the predecessor of the Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs).



OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

UNITED NATIONS. CONFIDENT IN TECHNICAL PREPARATIONS FOR IRAQI ELECTIONS:
Asked whether the United Nations has confidence that the technical preparations
for the Iraqi elections are sufficient, the Spokeswoman said that it did, and
she noted that the Secretary-General had said so in


comments he made to the press
on Monday.

 Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

United Nations, S-378

New York, NY 10017

Tel. 212-963-7162 - press/media only

Fax. 212-963-7055



All other inquiries to be addressed to (212) 963-4475 or by
e-mail to: inquiries@un.org

 

 
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