Mr. Deiss: Mr. Secretary-General, ladies and gentlemen, it is of course a great honour for us to welcome the Secretary-General here in the residence of our Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva. We are here to celebrate a little bit this historic vote of 3 March of this year when the Swiss people and cantons decided that our country will become a full member of the United Nations. And my first aim was of course to thank Mr. Secretary-General for what he has done during the period preceding the campaign. He did not interfere in our decision, this we would not have accepted, but he is so credible to the Swiss that certainly, simply by his person and by his acting he convinced them, additionally to all others who tried to do it. So thank you very much for what you have done, because you always found the right words, the right sounds, in order to say that we would be welcome, but there was no interference of the Secretary-General. Just a few words on what will happen now for us to proceed to become members. There are a few weeks or days to go that the result will be officially confirmed, then our President will send the letter of application to the Secretary-General, and from him it will go to the Security Council, and then to the General Assembly. What we hope is that Switzerland will enter the United Nations at the beginning of the new General Assembly in September. I think that we have enough time to do this. Thank you, Mr. Secretary-General.
SG: Thank you very much Mr. Minister. Ladies and gentlemen, Let me in my turn thank you for the work you did yourself in this campaign, and to the Government and the people of Switzerland for voting to join the United Nations. As I told you Mr. Minister, you will be welcomed with open arms, not just by me, but open arms of people from 189 other countries. And so, you should feel very very welcome when you come there. Switzerland and the United Nations have had a long history and it is about time that we concretize this marriage, and I am happy that you are now full members and your voice and your vote and your participation will be much more effective now that you are full members. I think this morning I also had the opportunity of speaking before the Human Rights Commission and made a few remarks to some of you, so I would not want to make a long opening remark, and again Mr. Minister with your permission, we may take a few questions. But once again, let me thank you and your colleagues for the wonderful work you have done and also for bringing Switzerland into the United Nations after this very very long wait. But it was worth waiting. Thank you.
Q: Mr. Secretary-General, Mr. Foreign Minister, on behalf of the United Nations Correspondents Association, we would like to thank the Swiss Permanent Mission here for its hospitality. We always prefer to have press conferences with the Secretary-General of course in our own factory, the United Nations, but this is fine. If I may put the first question to the Secretary-General, there has been talk, also on the part of the Israeli Government, that when everything has settled down and when the withdrawal of the troops finally starts, that even Mr. Sharon has talked about a sort of a buffer zone between the two territories. In that case, would there be a scenario that you could envisage to put in a sort of a buffer force there, observers, peace-keepers, or whatever from the international community. If so, do you have any thoughts on what shape or form that could take? Thank you.
SG: I think it is patently obvious that the parties left to themselves cannot resolve this issue, that they do need help from a third party, and I am happy that Secretary of State Powell is in the region pursuing the search for peace. And you would also recall that on Wednesday, we met in Madrid, Secretary of State Powell, Foreign Minister Ivanov, Foreign Minister Pique, and High European Representative Solana and myself, to discuss this issue and give our support to Secretary Powell. I think what was significant and important at that gathering was the fact that we sent a message of unity, of solidarity, of action and purpose, that the whole world had agreed on a course of action which was also endorsed by the Security Council through this endorsement of the communiquT that was issued. If indeed we are going to help the parties, I think we need to be able to give them help not just on the political ground, but given the human suffering, the killing that is going on, on both sides, on the Israeli side and the Palestinian side, and given the fact that things are moving very rapidly, I think if we can help create a secure environment that will help calm the situation and have a positive impact on the killings, and at the same time -- as I said this morning -- give us the space for political and diplomatic negotiations, we should be able to perhaps help them resolve this [inaudible]. I am not talking in terms of a buffer zone, I do not know what Prime Minister Sharon has in mind when he talks about a buffer zone, I am talking about a force that will help create a secure environment to allow for assistance, to allow us to be able to end the killing and give us time for negotiations and diplomacy. Thank you.
Q: My question is to Mr. Deiss.
SG: You had a question this morning, why don't you let someone else do it, you had a quick question this morning.
Q: Sir, my question is for Mr. Deiss. My question Sir. Has Switzerland finished the revision of the actions it will take in its relations with the Israeli State like stopping military [inaudible] from Israel and boycotting products that come from outside the green line? Could you comment on what you are going to do?
Mr. Deiss: We gave a statement this week on the situation in the Middle East. What we did is to say that we will fulfill the actual contracts that are running, and that our administration has to report to the Government about future issues. So we have not completed this analysis.
Q: Mr. Secretary-General, this morning you spoke about having the Commission in the shadow of 11 September, an attack which you described that many had called a crime against humanity. But you also talked about the importance of not putting aside human rights in the attempts to prosecute and find terrorists. Do you have specific concerns regarding the United States' war against terrorism, i.e. the suggestion and plan for military tribunals and conditions at Guantanamo camp. Are there any steps in your mind to talk to administration officials about changes if you feel they are warranted?
SG: First of all, since 11 September, we have seen many Governments take initiatives in the name of counter terrorism. Some have gone beyond the line in terms of respect for human rights. I today offered a general discussion of the need to accept human rights, and the need for us to respect the primacy of the rule of law, arguing, basically saying that there is no trade-off between effective action against terrorism and human rights. And if we do that, in the long run, we will lose out. How much freedom and liberty do you give up for security and safety, and if you give up freedom and liberty for security, do you in the end have security? These are difficult and important questions that we should keep foremost in our thoughts. So my warning was really, generally to all who will be inclined to use the fight against terrorism to abuse groups or individuals, and that their rights must be respected, I think my statement was very very clear.
Q: Mr. Secretary-General, Sir, I want to go back to your statement this morning about the international force that you were recommending. Could you please tell us what form that force would take, particularly with regard to the fact that Israel has repeatedly rejected the notion of such an international force and has only called for a small American mission.
SG: Well, I have not discussed this issue with the Israelis, but we have to be very clear here. We have all seen what has been going on, and the number of people who have been killed on the Israeli side, and the number of people who have been killed on the Palestinian side and it continues. If we are going to help them, I think the third party has to step in and be a bit more assertive. And I would hope that both parties will see the wisdom in accepting a third party support. I think when one considers the situation and the attitude of the parties, the enmity is so deep, and mistrust is so deep, that even when you come up with an agreement, cease-fire and all that, you need a referee and a third party person to do it. And I think, we are going beyond the question of the parties being left to choose and pick, I don't want this, if they do not want it, then let them take steps to stop the killing, let them lead their people away from disaster and despair. But if they continue to do it and they are not able to stop it, I think we, as an international community, have some obligations. We could not sit back and wring our hands and then a year or so later, do a study and say what happened, where were we?
Q: M. le SecrTtaire gTnTral, il y a des situations dans le monde ....
SG: Je vous ai rTpondu ce matin ...
Q: Il y a des situations dans le monde .... comme celle qui prTvaut au Moyen Orient qui nous impose d'agir beaucoup plus que de parler et la situation au Moyen Orient, telle que l'a dTcrite M. Lakhdar Brahimi, est proche d'un crime contre l'humanitT. Et dans ce cas la je prTfFre donner la parole a quelqu'un qui agit, c'est un citoyen suisse qui se trouve actuellement dans le quartier gTnTral de M. Arafat ; lorsque je l'ai interviewT, il a voulu vous poser cette question : qu'attendent les Nations Unies pour essayer de faire appliquer le droit international ici, comme ils ont voulu l'appliquer dans d'autres pays. On reste dans une situation o· le droit international ici est complFtement dTniT, o· on prend prTtexte d'attentats terroristes pour rTprimer tout un peuple dans son ensemble, pour massacrer un peuple, car c'est ce qui se passe maintenant a JTnine et Naplouse. Et quels moyens veut se donner la communautT internationale pour essayer de parer a cette situation.
SG: Je crois que j?ai souvent parlT de cette situation. Ma position est trFs claire. Et le conseil de sTcuritT a votT trois rTsolutions derniFrement qui sont trFs importantes. Nous sommes en train de travailler avec les autres, Evidemment le mTdiateur que les deux parties ont acceptT sont les Etats-Unis. Donc on travaille avec les Etats-Unis pour pouvoir calmer la situation. Merci.
Q: Secretary-General, this morning you said the situation is very dangerous. Are you afraid that the conflict could spread outside the borders of Israel and the Palestinian territory?
SG: Yes, I have been concerned about that, and in fact, I have spoken often about my worry about the possibility of a second front on the Lebanese-Israeli border. In that context, I have been in touch with the leaders in the region, President Assad, President Lahood of Lebanon, and Prime Minister Hariri, as well as Foreign Minister Peres of Israel, doing whatever we can to keep the situation under control. So there is a worry, and we need to do all that we can to ensure that it does not spread, but we cannot take it for granted. *****