HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SPOKESMAN'S NOON BRIEFING
BY STEPHANE
DUJARRIC
SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK
Monday, September 26, 2005
KOFI ANNAN
ENCOURAGES SUPPORT OF NON-PROLIFERATION INITIATIVE
Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs Nobuyasu
Abu today read a
message on the Secretary-General’s behalf at the General Conference of the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
in Vienna.
In the message, the Secretary-General said that this
month’s World Summit was “a failure” when it came to dealing with disarmament
and nuclear non-proliferation. He encouraged all countries to support the
initiative of a group of States led by Norway to chart a way forward on those
issues.
The Secretary-General also welcomed the outcome of the
six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula, and voiced his continued hope that
there can be an outcome satisfactory to all parties concerning Iran’s nuclear
program.
The IAEA Conference also endorsed by acclamation a third,
four-year term for Director General Mohamed ElBaradei. ElBaradei, in a
statement to the Conference, outlined priorities for the coming years.
At the end of week-long meetings beginning 19 September,
the IAEA Board of Governors
adopted on Saturday a resolution on the implementation of
safeguards in Iran. The resolution finds that Iran’s failures and breaches
constitute non-compliance and calls on Iran to return to the negotiating
process. It was adopted by a vote of 22 in favor, one against and 12
abstentions.
Asked about the Secretary-General’s response to the
latest developments on Iran, the Spokesman said that the
Secretary-General has taken note of the developments over the weekend in the
IAEA concerning that country, and he will continue to monitor the situation.
ANNAN ALARMED BY
ESCALATING VIOLENCE BETWEEN ISRAELIS & PALESTINIANS
Over the weekend, the Spokesman’s Office issued a
statement saying that the Secretary-General was alarmed by the escalation
of violence between Israel and armed
Palestinian factions in recent days, which risks stymieing efforts to
seize the momentum generated by Israel’s withdrawal of settlements from Gaza
and the northern West Bank.
He said that all parties should be careful to avoid
proactive actions at this critical time, and must at all times take the
greatest care to avoid civilian casualties and observe international
humanitarian law.
ANNAN CONDEMNS ATTEMPTED KILLING OF
LEBANESE JOURNALIST
In a
statement, the Secretary-General strongly condemned the attempted
assassination of May Chidiac, a prominent and respected
Lebanese journalist. He called on the Lebanese Government to bring to
justice the perpetrators and instigators of this, and other, attacks and to
ensure an end to impunity.
He called on all parties in Lebanon to preserve national
unity during these critical days.
TOGO: U.N. TEAM INVESTIGATES HUMAN
RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in
Geneva has issued a report detailing the conclusions of a fact-finding mission
sent to Togo in June this year.
The 45-page
report is currently available in French only.
High Commissioner Louise Arbour dispatched the mission to
Togo to look into allegations of violations of human rights during the crisis
set off by the death of President Gnassingbe Eyadema
in February. The team was in Togo from 13 to 24 June and also visited Benin
and Ghana to interview people who had fled the violence in Togo.
IMPUNITY STILL
PREVAILS IN DARFUR, SUDAN
The Secretary-General’s Special Advisor on the Prevention
of Genocide,
Juan Mendez, spoke to reporters in Khartoum today at the end of his visit
to
Sudan.
Mendez noted that there is a strong sense in Darfur that
impunity continues to prevail.
He also said he perceived a significant disconnect
between the Government’s account of its actions to address Darfur’s problems
and its evaluation of the conditions there on the one hand, and the accounts
of Darfuris with whom he met during the course of his visit on the other.
He said he intends to report to the Secretary-General
with recommendations to protect civilians and prevent human rights abuses, to
promote conditions for the safe return of internally displaced persons and
refugees, and to offer some contributions towards the resolution of the
crisis.
ZIMBABWE: VISIT BY ANNAN WOULD HAVE TO
BE PROPERLY PLANNED
Asked about a report in a state-run newspaper in Harare
today which quotes Zimbabwean officials as saying that a visit by the
Secretary-General to that country had been aborted, the Spokesman noted that
some of the reporting from the Zimbabwean media about that matter was flawed.
The Secretary-General, the Spokesman reiterated, has
expressed his willingness to go to
Zimbabwe, but any visit would have to be properly planned, in terms of its
agenda and its aims. Contacts between the UN’s Department of Political Affairs
and the Zimbabwean Ministry of Foreign Affairs are ongoing, he added.
The Spokesman said, in response to a further question,
that the United Nations had not set any conditions or timeframe for such a
visit.
U.N. MISSION LOOKS AT HUMANITARIAN
CHALLENGES IN D.R. CONGO
Margareta Wahlstrom, the UN’s
Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, arrived today in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, where she will be leading an
inter-agency mission.
That mission will examine both
the humanitarian and developmental challenges confronting the country before
the UN country team issues its 2006 humanitarian action plan.
In other news, the Secretary-General appointed Haile
Menkerios of Eritrea as his Deputy Special Representative in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo.
GENERAL ASSEMBLY ENDS ITS GENERAL DEBATE
The
General Assembly’s General Debate
concluded Friday evening, with President Jan Eliasson
saying, “The extent to which we -- all of us in
this Assembly -- can muster a spirit of urgency and common purpose in the
coming days and weeks will ultimately determine whether the World Summit goes
down in history as a missed opportunity for the UN, or -- as I hope -- as the
start of the most substantial reform programme in the history of the
Organization.”
A total of 185 speakers took the floor during the Debate,
including 44 Heads of State or Government.
There are no formal meetings of the plenary until
Thursday, when it will take up the Report of the Secretary-General on the work
of the Organization.
The President is holding intensive bilateral meetings and
consultations to prepare his plan for implementation of the
Summit outcome.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
TSUNAMI EARLY WARNING FUND LAUNCHED IN THAILAND: A
regional trust fund to support
tsunami early warning arrangements in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia
was
launched today in Bangkok with a $10 million contribution from the
Government of Thailand. The fund, which will be managed by the UN Economic and
Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, will contribute to the broader UN
tsunami response by supporting a network of national and regional early warning
centres.
BIRD FLU STRATEGY STILL UNDER-FUNDED: The global
strategy for the control of bird flu remains largely under-funded, the Food and
Agriculture Organization
said today. The agency said that only $20 million had been pledged towards
the target of $100 million that was set when international agencies agreed upon
the global plan last May. Vaccination and stockpiling of drugs are also behind
schedule, the agency said.
UNITED NATIONS COMPLETES HUMAN RIGHTS TRAINING IN
TIMOR-LESTE: The UN Office in Timor-Leste (UNOTIL)
reports that it has completed a human rights training program for the highest
levels of government. The mission also says an international human rights
specialist will be assigned to the government, in addition to a UNOTIL human
rights specialist already working there.
ELIMINATION OF CHILD LABOR IN LATIN AMERICA WOULD
GENERATE BILLIONS:
Eliminating child labor in
Latin America
within the next 20 years could generate an estimated $340 billion in economic
benefit, the International Labour Organization
says. The benefits would come from children's improved access to education
and better health care. The study is based on data from 19 countries in the
region where an estimated 19.7 million children aged 5 to 17 currently work as
child laborers.
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