Secretary-General

Noon briefing of 8 March 2005


HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SPOKESMAN'S NOON BRIEFING

BY MARIE OKABE
ASSOCIATE SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Tuesday, March 8, 2005

ANNAN: PROMOTING GENDER EQUALITY IS EVERYONE’S RESPONSIBILITY

  • Today is International Women’s Day.

  • In a message to mark the day, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that this year marks a milestone in the movement for gender equality and the advancement of women, with the 10-year review of the Beijing Conference and Platform for Action.

  • As a result of the conference, the world has recognized that gender equality is critical to the development and peace of every nation, the Secretary-General said, adding that that now, ten years on, there’s been tangible progress on many fronts, and women are not only more aware of their rights; they’re more able to exercise them.

  • He also urged the international community to remember that promoting gender equality is not only women’s responsibility – it is the responsibility of “all of us.”

  • In addition, the UN system has marked the day all over the world, from Iraq to Colombia, with various events.

  • These include, in Rome, the World Food Programme’s launch of a Catherine Bertini Award in honour of the agency’s previous Executive Director, and a conference in Moscow, organized by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for Afghan, Iraqi and Nigerian refugee women to discuss their return options and work opportunities – with a hairdressing contest as part of a training project to help them become more self-reliant.

  • Asked about how satisfied the Secretary-General is regarding women’s advancement in senior UN positions, the Spokeswoman said that the Secretary-General, in his recent comments, recognized that a lot had been achieved but more can be done.

  • Also, the Secretary-General made a statement at the 2005 Manager of the Year Awards presentation, today at Headquarters. The awards are organized by the Group on Equal Rights for Women in the UN, and are given to managers according to criteria which include the promotion of work-life balance and gender sensitivity.

U.N. ENVOY DISCUSSES LEBANON RESOLUTION WITH E.U. OFFICIALS

  • The Secretary-General Special Envoy for the implementation of resolution 1559, Terje Roed-Larsen, was in Brussels today as he makes his way to the Middle East.

  • While there, he discussed in detail the full implementation of the resolution with the European Union’s (EU) foreign policy chief, Javier Solana. Roed-Larsen said he would debrief Solana on his return from Syria and Lebanon.

  • Roed-Larsen also met with the EU’s Policy and Security Committee, on which the 25 EU Permanent Representatives sit. Roed-Larsen was assured that he has the full backing of the European Union for his difficult mission.

  • Asked whether Roed-Larsen would visit other Arab countries on his trip, the Spokeswoman later said that Roed-Larsen may make other stops in the region, but those have yet to be confirmed.

SUDAN: U.N. TEAM TO JOIN A.U.-LED ASSESSMENT OF DARFUR

  • The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations is dispatching a UN team to join an African Union-led assessment of peacekeeping requirements in Darfur.

  • The team will include experts in military and police planning, logistics and humanitarian assistance. They will make an assessment, as a matter of urgency, to determine what more is needed in order to improve the security environment in Darfur.

  • The Secretary-General mentioned this mission in his statement issued following his meeting with Security Council members on Sudan.

  • And on the humanitarian front, the UN’s Emergency Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland, will be the guest at the briefing tomorrow to talk about his four-day trip to Sudan.

  • Asked how many UN experts were going to Sudan, the Spokeswoman said it would be about 10 experts from peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance, who would be joined by their colleagues in the region. That team, she said, would travel on March 10 to assess the situation.

  • Asked how the team would report back, Okabe said that she understood that the African Union would be in the lead in putting out a combined report. The UN team, she added, would likely be in the region for a week to 10 days.

SECURITY COUNCIL BRIEFED BY WEAPONS INSPECTOR CHIEF

  • The Security Council was briefed this morning from Demetrios Perricos, the active Executive Chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC).

  • Perricos presented to Council members UNMOVIC’s 20th quarterly report.

  • The report touches on the issues of the continued monitoring of weapons sites in Iraq and also discusses the uncertain fate of biological “seed stocks.”

SECURITY COUNCIL WELCOMES POLITICAL PROGRESS IN SOMALIA

  • Late yesterday afternoon, the Security Council, reaffirming its commitment to a comprehensive and lasting settlement in Somalia, welcomed progress made in the Somali national reconciliation process, and took note of the need to expand the United Nations presence in that country, as proposed by the Secretary-General in his latest report.

  • The presidential statement was read out following a briefing in consultations by Winston Tubman, Head of the UN Political Office in Somalia.

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL VISITS BERLIN; SPEAKS ON U.N. REFORM

  • Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette is in Berlin today, where she is now speaking to the Friedrich Ebert Institute, which is celebrating its 80th anniversary as an organization promoting peace and human rights.

  • She thanked the Institute for the active and constructive support it has provided for the work of the High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change.

  • She noted that, a few weeks from now, the Secretary-General will place before Member States a report setting out proposals for far-reaching reforms of the international security system and for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. That report, in turn, will draw on the work of the High-Level Panel.

  • The Deputy Secretary-General also met earlier today with Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, with whom she discussed the UN reform agenda, the Millennium Development Goals, Sudan, sexual exploitation allegations in certain peacekeeping missions and the oil-for-food program.

  • She then participated in a roundtable discussion with some 70 officials from Germany’s Federal Foreign Office on “the UN in 2005: Challenges and Perspectives.”

  • She also addressed a roundtable discussion with representatives of civil society and the media, dealing with topics that included UN reform and peacekeeping reform.

ANNAN: WORLD SENSES MOVEMENT TOWARDS MIDDLE EAST PEACE

  • The long cherished dream of a vast majority of Israelis and Palestinians has been to live a normal life in peace and security. At long last, all of us can sense a newfound movement towards that dream.

  • Those remarks are part of a message from the Secretary-General to an international meeting being held in Geneva today, to discuss the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion on Israel’s separation barrier in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

  • The Secretary-General also urges both parties and the international community to refrain from any actions that would be detrimental to the Road Map.

PAKISTAN: U.N. DELIVERS SUPPLIES TO FLOOD-STRICKEN AFGHAN REFUGEES

  • The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has distributed 1,000 tents to Afghan refugees living in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province, who had been made homeless by heavy rains and flooding.

  • UNHCR says that some 50,000 of the 300,000 Afghan refugees living in Baluchistan have been affected by the bad weather, which has damaged houses and washed out roads. The refugee agency is continuing to monitor the situation and is on standby to provide assistance.

SOUTH ASIAN MEETING REFLECTS SUPPORT FOR GLOBAL COMPACT

  • The United Nations Global Compact began its first major regional meeting in South Asia today in Jamshedpur, India. The two-day Global Compact Regional Conclave in South Asia brings together more than 200 senior representatives of companies, civil society and the UN from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

  • In a message, the Secretary-General welcomed today’s meeting as a strong expression of support for the Global Compact, a voluntary corporate citizenship initiative based on universal values in human rights, labor, the environment and anti-corruption.

  • He says the meeting is also a contribution to the wider process of change and renewal at the United Nations.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

“FISTULA FORTNIGHT” REACHES 545 WOMEN: During the recent “Fistula Fortnight” campaign in Nigeria, initiated in part by the UN Population Fund, a total of 545 women were treated for obstetric fistula. For two weeks, national and international volunteer doctors joined forces to perform surgery on women suffering from the pregnancy-related disability. The campaign raised awareness in rural communities that treatment for the condition is indeed available.

DRUG COMMISSION’S SESSION GETS UNDERWAY: The 48th Biennial Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs began yesterday in Vienna and will run until 14 March. Speaking in Vienna, Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, addressed progress made in the global fight against illegal drugs, drug trafficking, and drug abuse. He also rejected the notion that strong drug control measures cannot coexist with policies designed to contain the spread of HIV/AIDS.

POST-TSUNAMI FISHERIES IN FOCUS THIS WEEK: Finding ways to responsibly rebuild fisheries in tsunami-struck countries is one of the issues being discussed by the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Committee on Fisheries (COFI), which is meeting this week at the Organization's Rome headquarters. Over 300 participants are attending the meeting, which runs through 11 March.

***The guest today was Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director of the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). She spoke about the gains women had made over the last decade, as well as the challenges ahead.