REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the UN Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which provided information about the Secretary-General's comments on the report into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri; the Security Council meeting on Kosovo; further restrictions faced by UN peacekeepers in Eritrea; Geneva activities; the upcoming Ministerial-level meeting on the South Asia earthquake and efforts to bring aid to the victims; and other issues. Spokespersons for the World Food Programme, the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration, the World Bank, and the World Health Organization participated in the briefing, as did the Chairperson of the Human Rights Committee, Christine Chanet. Spokespersons for the International Labour Office and the United Nations Children's Fund were present but had no specific announcements.

Secretary-General's Comments on Mehlis Report on Lebanon

Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said Detlev Mehlis would today present to the Security Council his report into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday told reporters that this was the beginning of the process and not the end, and that the investigation would continue. "The investigator has done his work and his work is continuing. Then the magistrates and the judges will have to do theirs. And so, we have some way to go yet", Mr. Annan said. The mandate of the Mehlis team had been extended until 15 December.

Secretary-General Attends Security Council Meeting on Kosovo

Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Secretary-General had yesterday attended an open meeting in the Security Council on Kosovo. The Security Council was discussing a recent report by the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for reviewing the situation in Kosovo, Kai Eide, which concluded that the time had come to move to the next phase of the political process in Kosovo. A presidential statement issued by the Security Council said it supported the Secretary-General's intention to start a political process to determine Kosovo's Future Status. The Secretary-General was asked at a press encounter about his intention to appoint a Special Envoy to deal with status talks in Kosovo. He said he expected to make an appointment over the course of the week, and that “it is likely to be Martti Ahtisaari,” the former Finnish President.

Further Restrictions Faced by UN Peacekeepers in Eritrea

Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), whose peacekeeping operations were already being hampered by the ban on its helicopter flights, was now reporting restrictions on its land vehicle movements.
UNMEE was reporting an increase in restrictions to the freedom of movement of its patrols at the local level during the past two weeks, especially after dusk. In some areas patrols have indeed been warned "to confine their land vehicle movements to the main roads" in the 25-kilometre (16-mile) wide demilitarised buffer zone. The issue has been taken up at the Sector level and with the Eritrean Commissioner for Coordination with the Peacekeeping Mission. In both instances, officials had denied issuing any official orders to this effect. These restrictions, however, continued.

Asked how significant the most recent restriction was, the Secretary-General's Spokesman said that the UN Mission wanted to go wherever its patrols felt they needed to go. Noting the hard terrain in the area, he said that confining the Mission to main roads hampered its work. Asked about a letter from the Eritrean President questioning the UN’s authority on this issue, the Spokesman noted that the UN’s role was set by a Security Council mandate. The United Nations, he added, would continue to seek a response from Eritrea on why it persisted in restricting the UN Mission’s freedom of movement. Available in the Documentation Centre were documents related to these developments.

Geneva Activities

Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said celebrations marking United Nations Day 2005 had culminated in Geneva yesterday with a concert by the Suisse Romande orchestra at Victoria Hall. A number of events had been held in recent weeks in Geneva in cooperation with the Swiss authorities to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the United Nations, including an exhibition of photographs along the Quay Wilson entitled "We the peoples: families and development"; the "Diplomat for the day" event which brought 6,000 visitors to visit the United Nations; the Youssou N'Dour and Friends concert, United against malaria, which was attended by 8,000 persons and which raised money for the campaign to fight malaria, and a colloquium on the UN and its future at the Graduate Institute for International Studies which was followed in the evening by a public debate on the same theme at the University of Geneva.

The Director-General of UNOG, Sergei Ordzhonikidze, had expressed his deep thanks to the State Council of the Republic and Canton of Geneva, the Administrative Council of Geneva, and the public in Geneva. He said the contributions from the local, cantonal and federal authorities were a sign of Switzerland's ongoing efforts to protect the values and principles of the United Nations. Copies of the Director-General's statement delivered at the concert yesterday were in the press room.

South Asia Earthquake

Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said a ministerial-level meeting would be held tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. in Salle XIX to discuss the South Asia earthquake. Secretary-General Kofi Annan would be participating in the meeting. Informally, she wanted to advise journalists that the Secretary-General would probably have a stakeout in Salle XXI before the meeting started. The meeting was closed. Photographers and television crews would be allowed into the meeting hall, but they had to see Yvette Morris about special badges. Journalists could sit in the public gallery of Salle XIX and would not need any special accreditation.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Jan Egeland, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and the Emergency Relief Coordinator, would brief journalists during the meeting, but she could not specify at what time as there were 37 Member States on the speakers list so far. She would try to keep journalists updated on the proceedings of the meeting, and Mr. Egeland would come out and meet journalists when he could. All briefings would be held in Salle XXI.

Ms. Byrs said that so far, there were 278 persons participating in the meeting and 65 countries represented. There were already a number of senior officials, including ministers, who had confirmed their participation. Concerning the UN's Flash Appeal, the UN had now received $ 67 million in contributions and pledges of $ 35 million.

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said WFP was awaiting the donor meeting for the South Asia earthquake tomorrow because the funds so far were just not adequate. The lives of tens of thousands of persons were at risk because of the blocked roads, the snow and the serious shortage of funds. WFP had a critical window of just five weeks to pre-position food stocks to last six months for tens of thousands of people in the most remote areas that might be completely cut off by the onset of winter. WFP had so far received only about 13 per cent of its $ 56 million food appeal which targeted about one million persons until mid-April 2006. Available was a press release with more details.

Jennifer Pagonis of the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees said that with winter fast approaching and well over a million people reported homeless in Pakistan, UNHCR and its partners were speeding up the delivery and distribution of hundreds of tons of tents, blankets and other relief supplies from around the world. A NATO-UNHCR airlift from Turkey that had so far flown 22 sorties and approximately 250 tons of aid to Pakistan was due to get a boost today when a chartered Boeing 747 cargo jet joined the operation. In comparison to the NATO C-130 cargo planes, which carried about 10 tons, the 747 jumbo could carry 76 tons. This was a race against time and weather. The lack of funds was making planning very difficult. UNHCR had appealed for $ 22 million and had so far received only $ 4 million. It had already spent or committed $ 7.5 million. It was absolutely crucial to have these funds now.

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said Pakistan army helicopters would today begin to airlift IOM tents from Batagram to Alai, a remote district cut off by landslides triggered by the earthquake. The operation, scheduled to begin yesterday, had been delayed by a series of aftershocks that rocked the area on Sunday night, raising fears of further landslides and the possible need to evacuate up to 190,000 people. Aftershocks remained a major obstacle.

Human Rights Committee

Christine Chanet, Chairperson of the Human Rights Committee, said during this session, the Committee was examining the reports of four countries: Brazil, Paraguay, Canada and Italy. Also, the United States had been late in presenting its second and third periodic reports, but they had been received last week. During its consideration of the periodic reports of Canada and Italy, a main topic had been terrorism, including wide definitions of terrorism and the consequences. Indigenous issues had also been discussed with the Canadian delegation. The issue of "security certificates" had been discussed with the Italian delegation. The discussion with Paraguay had raised a number of different issues, including the Truth and Justice Commission of Paraguay. The report of Brazil had not yet been reviewed. She would be back at the end of the session to discuss the Committee's observations and recommendations to the reports.

Other

Patrick Reichenmiller of the World Bank Office in Geneva said as the world was assessing the outcome of the World Summit, and as countries were looking ahead to Hong Kong for the WTO-ministerial conference, a joint World Bank-UNDP seminar would be held on the World Bank's "World Development Report on Equity and Development" and UNDP's Human Development Report.

The seminar would be held from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. on 31 October in Salle XXII in which the authors of the two reports would speak to journalists.

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said the WHO Forum would be held from 27 to 29 October at WHO Headquarters during which hundreds of participants representing non-governmental organizations, UN agencies, donor countries, academics and research centres would meet to discuss their partnership with WHO and how to improve it.

Ms. Chaib said a media advisory would be sent out next week concerning the meeting from 7 to 9 November on the avian flu which would be open to the press. A lot of journalists were expected to attend the meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to review the current state of preparedness globally and to have input from the technical agencies.

Jennifer Pagonis of the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees said UNHCR wanted to say a special thanks to the OPEC Fund for International Development, which was providing a grant of $ 1.5 million to co-finance a project jointly developed by the Fund and UNHCR to provide a full spectrum of HIV/AIDS protection, prevention, care and treatment services to refugees in five central African countries and to prepare them for repatriation to their home countries. The OPEC Fund/UNHCR project would target some 670,000 people, three-quarters of them women and children, in camps in Chad, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said Government officials from 20 Caribbean countries were weighing the consequences of unmanaged migration against the benefits of properly managed migration at a regional seminar jointly organized by IOM and UNHCR. The four-day seminar began yesterday in Tobago.

Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier said the Economic Commission for Europe had today issued a press release on the release of a handbook entitled "Rural Households' Livelihood and Well-Being: Statistics on Rural Development and Agriculture Household Income". The handbook was prepared by the ECE in cooperation with FAO, OECD, Eurostat and the World Bank.

Mrs. Ponomareva-Piquier reminded journalists that there would be a press conference by UNICEF at 11:30 a.m. today to launch the UNICEF and UNAIDS Global Campaign to invigorate action for the millions of children affected by HIV/AIDS.