REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which also heard from Spokespersons for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Refugee Agency, and the World Meteorological Organization. Also present were representatives of the UN Children's Fund, the World Health Organization, and the UN Population Fund.

Iraq

Ms. Heuzé said that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon would be in Egypt this week where he and the Prime Minister of Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki, would co-chair the launch of the International Compact with Iraq on 3 May in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. The International Compact was an Iraqi initiative co-sponsored by the United Nations. It sought to consolidate peace in the conflict-torn country and pursue political, economic and social development over the next five years.

The Secretary-General attached great importance to the International Compact, Ms. Heuzé stressed, and considered that process to be one of the most critical means of helping Iraq to build a "secure, unified, federal and democratic nation, founded on the principles of freedom and equality, capable of providing peace and prosperity for its entire people".

Ms. Heuzé said that the Secretary-General would also attend a meeting of the foreign ministers of the expanded Iraq neighbours, representatives of the permanent members of the Security Council and members of the G-8 countries.

Kosovo

On Kosovo, Ms. Heuzé observed that the Security Council had wrapped up its mission to the Balkans. After visiting Brussels and Belgrade, the mission had arrived in Kosovo, where its head, Belgian Ambassador Johan Verbeke, had spoken to the press. In that encounter yesterday, Mr. Verbeke had said that the Security Council delegation had seen in Kosovo a willingness to build a strong multi-ethnic society. Asked about divisions in the Council over Kosovo, the head of the mission had said that there was enough potential for mutual confidence and cooperation to move towards the international community’s collective aim for Kosovo – namely, a multi-ethnic society where everybody was at ease. Mr. Verbeke had also said that there were no firm deadlines in the status process. The Mission had also met with Martti Ahtisaari, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Future Status Process for Kosovo, in Vienna.

Security Council

Yesterday, the Security Council had decided to extend the mandates of two peacekeeping missions – for Sudan and Western Sahara – which had been otherwise set to expire by the end of the day, Ms. Heuzé said. Both missions would now be extended by six months, until the end of October.

Ms. Heuzé recalled that yesterday had been the last day of the United Kingdom presidency of the Security Council. The United States was assuming the Council’s rotating presidency for the month of May today.

Secretary-General’s Statement on World Press Freedom Day (3 May)

Ms. Heuzé said available in the press room was the statement of the Secretary-General on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day (observed on 3 May). In that statement, the Secretary-General said that it was the job of the United Nations to be an unflinching defender of press freedom and of the women and men whose talent and dedication brought it to life. He expressed alarm that journalists themselves had now become targets, not just in the midst of armed conflict, but also in pursuit of stories on corruption, poverty and abuses of power. The Secretary-General highlighted his concern over the abduction of BBC journalist Alan Johnston, whose coverage of issues relating to the Middle East and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict had rightly earned worldwide respect, and appealed again for Alan Johnston’s immediate and safe release. In conclusion, the Secretary-General had observed that "Attacks on freedom of press are attacks against international law, against humanity, against freedom itself – against everything the United Nations stands for."

The statement was available in French and English.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Heuzé recalled that two human rights treaty bodies had opened their three-week sessions in Geneva yesterday. The Committee against Torture would begin its consideration of the report of Denmark, on measures that country had taken to prevent and punish acts of torture, on the morning of Wednesday, 2 May. On Thursday, 3 May, it would take up the report of Luxembourg; on Friday, 4 May it would begin consideration of the report of Italy; on Monday, 7 May it would begin its consideration of the report of the Netherlands; on Tuesday, 8 May, it would commence consideration of the report of the Ukraine; on Wednesday, 9 May it would examine the report of Japan; and on Thursday, 10 May it would took at the report of Poland. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was this morning taking up the report of Nepal; on Wednesday, 2 May it would begin its consideration of the report of Hungary, which it would also consider during the course of Thursday, 3 May; on Friday, 4 May the Committee would consider the report of the Netherlands (Antilles); on Monday, 7 May it would take up the report of Finland; and on the afternoon of Tuesday, 8 May, the Committee would begin its review of the report of Latvia.

Human Rights

José-Luis Diaz of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) gave a short briefing on the High Commissioner's ongoing visit to Central Asia, which had begun on 24 April with a visit to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Yesterday, the High Commissioner concluded her visit to Kazakhstan, where she had met with a number of senior officials, including the Prime Minister. She had also met with representatives of international and regional organizations, including UN agencies and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The High Commissioner, among other things, had emphasized the need to strengthen the independence of the judiciary and had encouraged the Government to consider the establishment of a strong and independent national human rights institution.

Notes on the various legs of the High Commissioner's trip to Central Asia had been sent to journalists, Mr. Diaz said. He was also working to arrange a briefing with journalists on the High Commissioner's trip at the Palais des Nations on Monday, in press room 1.

Later in the morning, Mr. Diaz said, a joint statement by a number of human rights rapporteurs on the hostilities in Somalia would be distributed.

Yesterday, Mr. Diaz had sent journalists an information note concerning the visit of Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Pornography Juan Miguel Petit to Mexico. That visit would take place from 4 to 14 May 2007. Mr. Petit would report to the Human Rights Council on that visit and other activities, at which time he would also hold a press briefing for journalists.

Iraqi Refugees

Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that on Monday UNHCR had signed an agreement with the Syrian Government to provide the country's Ministry of Health with $2.06 million for the rehabilitation of public hospitals in Damascus, capacity-building for medical staff and the provision of new medical equipment. That amount was in addition to 11 ambulances that UNHCR was delivering to the Ministry of Health, the Syrian Red Crescent and the Palestinian Red Crescent.

The agreement – the fourth between UNHCR and the Syrian Government, Ms. Pagonis pointed out – was part of UNHCR's commitment to support Iraq's response to the Iraqi refugee crisis. Since the beginning of the year, UNHCR had committed a total of $9.6 million in such agreements, with the funds going, inter alia, to rehabilitate schools and build new ones; to construct a new hospital in Damascus; and to provide food to Palestinian and Iraqi refugees.

Other

A journalist asked about the status of a complaint brought against the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) by a former staff member regarding the allegations WMO itself had filed in 2003 with the Swiss authorities following an internal audit regarding mismanagement of funds.

Carine Richard-Van Maele of WMO said that: “neither the Organization nor those concerned were officially informed, but we learned that the former staff member had lodged a complaint with a tribunal in New York. The complaint is essentially twofold, arising out of Ms. Veiga’s disagreement with her dismissal and allegations of corruption. The former aspect is the subject of a series of appeals initiated by Ms. Veiga, for which the ILO Administrative Tribunal is fully competent in accordance with the headquarters agreement with Switzerland”.

“As to the allegations of corruption, WMO itself brought the case of fraud before national law enforcement authorities and is determined to respect its obligations, including the one not to divulge any information that is subject to investigation or to administrative appeals. WMO has therefore kept out of this media campaign. WMO has full confidence in the competent legal authorities and wants them to be given any new information that may further the inquiry. There is nothing in the lawsuit filed in the US that was not known two years ago in 2005 when WMO Executive Council considered the report of the internal auditor. Again in 2006, WMO's External Auditor, the Organization's Audit Committee and the Executive Council considered similar allegations and came to the conclusion that they were baseless.”
Further details are to be found in WMO's communiqué of 28 January 2007 http://www.wmo.int/web/Press/WMOCommuniqueEnglish_28.01.07.pdf