REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which provided information on the Secretary-General's report on small arms and light weapons, a meeting between OSCE, the Council of Europe and the United Nations on freedom of expression and the rule of law, Geneva activities and press conferences, human rights and other issues. Spokespersons and Representatives of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Economic Commission for Europe, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the World Trade Organization, the High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration participated in the briefing.

Secretary-General's Report on Small Arms and Light Weapons

Mrs. Heuzé said that a report by the Secretary-General on small arms and light weapons had been discussed in the Security Council yesterday. Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs Nobuyasu Abe presented the report, saying that negotiators were far from a consensus on an international instrument on identifying and tracing illicit small arms and light weapons. He hoped that Member States would muster enough political will to move forward. The Director recalled that the issue of such an international instrument had been the subject of extensive debates, and that the Swiss Government had presented several initiatives on this issue. The report of the Secretary-General was available in English and in French in the Documentation Centre and on the UN website on the Internet.

OSCE, Council of Europe and UN Meeting on Freedom of Expression and Rule of Law

The Director said that every year, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Council of Europe and the United Nations Office at Geneva held a meeting to discuss an issue of common interest. Today, Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, was in Strasbourg to participate in a high-level meeting on the theme "The rule of law". Two statements by the Director-General would be issued as press releases. In addition, a press release on the outcome of the meeting would be available later in the day which would also be released in Strasbourg and Vienna. Next year, this tripartite annual event would be held at the United Nations Office at Geneva at the beginning of 2006.

Geneva Activities and Press Conferences

Mrs. Heuzé said the second Preparatory Committee of the Tunis phase of the World Summit on the Information Society had started yesterday and would continue until 25 February. The Secretary-General had been asked to prepare two reports for the second phase of the Summit on Internet governance and on financial mechanisms to meet the challenges related to promoting investment in and the use of information technologies to enhance development in developing countries. The PrepCom would be considering the two reports. The report on financial mechanisms was already available on the UN website on the Internet, and the report on Internet governance would probably be available this weekend.

The Conference on Disarmament had yesterday held a public plenary and a press release in English and in French had been issued. The next plenary would be held at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 22 February under the Presidency of Ambassador Tim Caughley of New Zealand.

The Director said that journalists had been asking when the UNDP report on human development in the Middle East would be released, and she had received information that it would be issued around the beginning of April.

Mrs. Heuzé said the first UNDP human development report on Afghanistan would be released on 21 February. President Hamid Karzai had written the introduction to the report. Embargoed copies of the report and a press release would be available in the press room shortly.

Jean Fabre of the United Nations Development Programme said that this was UNDP's first human development report on Afghanistan. Journalists interested in contacting the author of the report could contact him for the number. The report and press release were embargoed until 2 p.m. Geneva time on Monday, 21 February. In response to questions about the hold-up of the human development report on the Middle East, Mr. Fabre said that the human development reports were published at the request of UNDP under the responsibility of the authors who belonged to the region which they wrote about.

There were a number of interesting press conferences being held next week, Mrs. Heuzé said. On 21 February at 11 a.m. in press room 1, there would be a briefing on the situation of children in Northern Uganda. The Director recalled that the United Nations and UNICEF had spoken frequently about the plight of children in Uganda who were abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army to work as child soldiers.

On 22 February, the Agha Khan, Chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network, and James Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank, would brief journalists at 2:30 p.m. in Room III on the Aga Khan expanding micro finance to reduce vulnerability of the poor. On the same day at 9:30 a.m., the French version of the Worldwatch Institute's publication State of the World 2005, would be launched in Room III. Participating in the briefing would be the President of the Worldwatch Institute, the President of Green Cross International, and the Director-General of UNOG.

On 24 February, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies would brief journalists at 10:30 a.m. in press room 1 on the launch of the global water and sanitation initiative.

Human Rights

José Luis Díaz, Spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said he had three announcements relating to the work of Special Rapporteurs of the Commission on Human Rights. There was a statement available from the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Leandro Despouy, in which he expressed serious concern about the situation of the judiciary in Ecuador. Mr. Despouy was reiterating his wish to undertake a visit to Ecuador in light of the serious crisis the Ecuadorian judiciary was undergoing. Mr. Díaz said that this was an unusual move as Special Rapporteurs usually conducted discussions on visits discreetly and then announced when a visit was arranged. The statement recalled that on 28 December 2004, the Special Rapporteur wrote to the Government following a move by Congress to replace 27 out of 31 Supreme Court judges with magistrates of its own choosing. This appeared to constitute grave interference by the executive and legislative into the judicial sphere and hence a violation of the independence of the judiciary, a principle recognized by article 199 of the country’s Constitution. Since then, the President of the Supreme Court, Ramón Rodríguez, had resigned over his disagreement concerning the nomination of the members of the National Council of the Judiciary, a body which exercised such essential functions as the establishment of a shortlist of three candidates from which the Congress must choose the country’s Chief Prosecutor.

The Special Rapporteur's statement said that since these urgent concerns were of significant magnitude and could affect, in an irreversible way, the independence of the judiciary in Ecuador, the Special Rapporteur’s letter of 1 February communicated his interest in conducting a visit to the country from 21 to 24 February 2005. On 7 February the Government of Ecuador, which had issued a standing invitation to all special rapporteurs and other independent experts of the Commission on Human Rights, responded positively to the request of the Special Rapporteur, but suggested dates for his visit from the first week of May 2005, for reasons of availability. Considering the gravity of the situation and recent developments, the Special Rapporteur had made it known to the Government his interest in undertaking a visit at an earlier date and was currently taking steps towards that goal.

Mr. Díaz said Yakin Ertürk, the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on violence against women, its causes and consequences, would be visiting Mexico from 20 to 26 February 2005 to gather first-hand information on the question of violence against women in the country. She would be visiting Mexico City, Chihuaha City and Ciudad Juarez as well as Ciudad de Puebla de los Angeles. Ciudad Juarez had been the scene of a series of murders of women, most of which had not been elucidated. Ms. Ertürk would present a preliminary assessment on her visit to the Commissioner on Human Rights in March-April 2005. A report containing her findings and recommendations would be presented to the sixty-second session of the Commission on Human Rights in 2006.

Mr. Díaz said that Sigma Huda, the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, would visit Bosnia and Herzegovina from 20 to 28 February 2005.
The Special Rapporteur was scheduled to go to Sarajevo and Bijeljina to gather first-hand information on the question of trafficking in the country. Ms. Huda will present a preliminary note containing her findings and recommendations to the next session of the Commission on Human Rights in March/April 2005.

Journalists would be receiving press releases on these issues shortly, he concluded.

Other

Jean-Michel Jakobowicz of the Economic Commission for Europe said that a press conference on the launch of the first 2005 Economic Survey of Europe would be held at 11:30 a.m. today, right after the briefing. He reminded journalists that the press conference as well as the 2005 Economic Survey of Europe and related press releases were embargoed until 00:01 gmt on Tuesday, 22 February. The survey covered the 55 members of the ECE which included the European countries, the members of the former Soviet Union, Canada and the United States.

Christine McNab of the World Health Organization said that there was a media advisory available on a virtual media briefing which would be held at 2 p.m. today on an outbreak of pneumonic plague in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. WHO was preparing to send a team to the centre of the outbreak in a diamond mine in the north of the country in a region which was unstable and had been cut off from humanitarian aid.

Ms. McNab said that round two of negotiations over the text of the International Health Regulations were taking place within a Working Group yesterday and today and then for all States parties from 21 to 25 February. The text was first reviewed in November and a lot of changes had been made. The revised text was now available. Next week's meeting would be going through the text article by article to look at outstanding areas which still lacked consensus. Most of the meeting would be closed. The draft text would be presented to the World Health Assembly in May.

Erica Meltzer of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said that today was the last day of the Tropical Timber Conference. They would not be finishing their work this session, and would resume for a third negotiating session in June. There would be a press briefing later this afternoon.

Lucie Giraud of the World Trade Organization said that next week, there would be, among other things, a trade policy review of Qatar on 21 and 23 February; a meeting of the Trade and Development Committee on 21 and 22 February; and agriculture negotiations and Algeria membership negotiations on 25 February.

Ron Redmond of the High Commissioner for Refugees said that a UNHCR team dispatched to Colombia's western province of Choco yesterday had confirmed that some 1,200 Afro-Colombians had fled into communities along the Bojaya River, fearing impending clashes between various armed groups massing in the area. The numbers of displaced seemed to be climbing. A two-person UNHCR team went to Bellavista in Choco to investigate reports of fresh displacement, evaluate the situation on the group and help coordinate humanitarian assistance with the municipal authorities and the Social Solidarity Network, the Colombian Government group responsible for providing assistance to IDPs. Mr. Redmond said Deputy High Commissioner Wendy Chamberlin was wrapping up her week-long mission to southern Sudan, Uganda and Kenya this weekend.

Asked about an article in the British Independent newspaper today which said that it had obtained a confidential copy of the inquiry report by the Office of Internal Oversight Services which would put new pressure on High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers to resign in relation to the sexual harassment case which the OIOS had investigated, Mr. Redmond said that it was obviously extremely unfortunate that this breach of confidentiality had occurred. He could not vouch for the accuracy of the report. He could only confirm that the High Commissioner had responded to questions by the newspaper which were included in the story. The Office of the Spokesperson in New York had previously said that the OIOS report was just one element of a process. He had nothing further to say on behalf of the High Commissioner.

Jean Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said that in Turkey, a major new campaign to combat the growing problem of human trafficking had been announced by the Government. IOM would implement the
$ 700,000 campaign in coordination with the Turkish Government. The campaign would include increased public awareness activities, stepping up training for law enforcement agencies and the provision of medical, psychological and direct assistance to trafficked individuals.

Mr. Chauzy said that IOM Deputy Director-General Ndioro Ndiaye was on a nine-day official visit to Gabon, Cameroon and Chad. In Sri Lanka, nearly two months after the tsunami that left half a million people homeless in Sri Lanka, efforts were ongoing to get people out of public buildings and into temporary shelters in five eastern and southern districts. And in Indonesia, IOM's counter-trafficking programme had begun providing direct assistance to vulnerable children by organizing a daily school bus service for children living in a camp for tsunami victims at Kreung Raya.