REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the biweekly press briefing, which informed correspondents about the Secretary-General’s visit to the Middle East, the programme of ECOSOC, and the meetings in Geneva of the Commission on Human Rights and the Conference on Disarmament.

Spokespersons of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) also participated in the briefing. Spokespersons from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and World Health Organization also attended but had no announcements to make.

Secretary-General in the Middle East

Ms. Heuzé opened the briefing by informing journalists that on Sunday, the Secretary-General had met Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. They had discussed the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, including Israel’s disengagement and plans to close 24 settlements. Yesterday, Mr.Annan had met in Ramallah with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. They had discussed Israeli disengagement from Gaza, economic reconstruction and the progress made by the Palestinian Authority.

Asked by a reporter about the Israeli separation barrier, Mr. Annan said that he had discussed with President Abbas the possibility of a UN register, which would list damage claims arising from the barrier.

The Secretary-General had also met with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei and Foreign Minister Nasser al-Kidwa. Earlier in the day, he had addressed the staff of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), and paid farewell to its Commissioner-General, Peter Hansen. The remarks of the Secretary-General thanking Mr. Hansen for his “unflagging energy, commitment and leadership” were available to journalists, said Ms. Heuzé.

Today, the Secretary-General would be inaugurating the new Holocaust History Museum at Yad Vashem, Jersusalem. The text of his statement was available under embargo in English and French until 6.00 p.m. Jerusalem time.

Geneva activities

Turning to meetings in Geneva, Ms. Heuzé recalled that yesterday, the 61st session of the Commission on Human Rights had got underway but another noteworthy event had also taken place, the ceremony to launch the Digital Solidarity Fund. The Fund was a voluntary and complementary financing mechanism to supplement existing financial mechanisms for information and communication technologies. The initiative had come out of the first phase in Geneva of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in December 2003.

Director-General’s programme

Ms. Heuzé outlined the schedule of Mr Sergei Ordzhonikidze, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, who yesterday had attended the opening of the Commission on Human Rights. He then participated in the launch of the Digital Solidarity Fund in the presence of three heads of State: President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, President Olusegun Obasanjo, President of Nigeria and Chairman of the African Union, and President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, President of the Algerian Republic. He had also delivered the Secretary-General’s message on the occasion of the launch. That message was made available yesterday.

The Director-General later participated in the current session of the Conference on Disarmament, where the Foreign Minister of Canada had made a statement. Mr. Ordzhonikidze also met the First Vice-President of the Government of Spain for an exchange of views. After that meeting, the Director-General and the Vice-President, together with the High Commissioner for Human Rights opened the exhibition entitled “Protected Art”, which commemorated the assistance lent by the League of Nations to Spain by sheltering major works of art during the Spanish Civil War.

The Director-General then met Mr. Vartan Oskanian, Foreign Minister of Armenia, to discuss the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, UN reform and the participation of Armenia in the various UN agencies and programmes.

Today, 15 March, the Director-General would be meeting Mr. Borys Tarasyuk, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Mr. George Iacovou, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cyprus.

Also today, Mr. Sergey M. Mironov, Chairman of the Council of the Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, would be paying an official visit to the Director-General, who would host a luncheon in his honour for the delegation. Mr. Mironov would take a VIP guided tour of the Geneva UN Office and at 1.15. p.m. he would be giving a press conference in room III.

Conference on Disarmament (CD)

So far, six speakers had been inscribed on the list of speakers Conference on Disarmament (CD). The list was available in the press room, said the Director.

Five Ministers of Foreign Affairs were to speak namely, Mr. Manuel Rodriguez of Peru, Mr Erkki Tuomioja of Finland, Mr Bernard Bot of the Netherlands, Ms. Laila Freivalds of Sweden and Mr. Borys Tarasyuk of the Ukraine. Ambassador Naela Gabr of Egypt would also be addressing the CD on behalf of the Group of 21. Other speakers could well take the floor, added Ms. Heuzé.

On 17 March, the CD would also see the participation in open session of three Ministers of Foreign Affairs, namely of Kazakhstan, Slovakia and Poland. The Parliamentary Secretary of the Minister of Foreign Affairs would be speaking too.

ECOSOC

Ms. Heuzé moved to the holding of the regular session of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which would normally have taken place in Geneva in July 2005 but was scheduled exceptionally in New York this year. Tomorrow, the body would meet in New York for two days of informal consultations (16-17 March) on the progress made towards the realization of the Millennium Development Goals.

OCHA press conference

Ms. Heuzé confirmed that Jan Egeland, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, would be giving a press conference at 1.00 p.m. tomorrow 16 March, on humanitarian situations in different regions.

Human rights

Commission on Human Rights

David Chikvaidze, Media Liaison Officer for the 61st session of the Commission on Human Rights, told journalists that 27 dignitaries were on the list of speakers for today as the high-level segment of the Commission on Human Rights continued; of these 14 were Foreign Ministers, including the Foreign Minister of Slovenia, who was also the Chairman in Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Two Deputy Foreign Ministers and seven Ministers of Justice and/or Human Rights were also on the list, as well the Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

As from 18 March, the Commission would be moving to room XVII in the E building. The session would begin item 4, the Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and follow-up to the World Conference on Human Rights. Ms. Arbour would be taking questions following her statement. The Commission would also begin consideration of item 5, the right of peoples to self-determination and its application to peoples under colonial or alien domination or foreign occupation. Under item 5, Ms. Shaista Shameem, Special Rapporteur on the use of mercenaries, would be kicking off the interactive dialogues with the Commission as the first speaker to do so.

A journalist asked if a report on Iraq would be forthcoming, as initiated by the 60th session of the Commission at the behest of former Acting High Commissioner Bertrand Ramcharan. Mr. Chikvaidze said he would check.

Asked when the list of draft resolutions would be coming out, Ms. Heuzé said it was too early as yet but the Commission was free to bring any matter to before the body. Mr. Chikvaidze would be making the draft resolutions available as they appeared.

Jose Luis Diaz, Spokesperson for the High Commissioner for Human Rights, was questioned about the High Commissioner’s reaction to the human rights film festival (FIFDH) currently taking place in Geneva. Mr. Diaz said that Ms. Arbour had participated in the opening of the festival and was following it with interest. Ms. Heuzé added that some filmmakers had offered to hold screenings for journalists and she would try to arrange that for them.

A journalist said that yesterday the Government of Peru had made a proposal of the reform of the Commission, whereby 53 experts would sit at the body instead of States. What was the reaction to the idea? he asked. Mr. Diaz said the idea was one of many being proposed in relation to reform of the Commission. It was not actually a new idea and went back to the inception of the Commission in 1946 when it was proposed that experts, and not necessarily ambassadors, as was the case now, would represent their countries at the panel. The upcoming report of the Secretary-General following on the report of the High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change would serve as the stance of the UN on the matter of Commission reform, so it would be best to wait for that document before commenting on specific proposals. He thought the debate on reform would take shape upon release of that report. Ms. Heuzé added that the High Commissioner would then be in a position to speak on the issue and that the Secretary-General would probably be available to discuss the issue. UNIS would probably ask Mr. Annan to give a press conference in that connection during his visit to Geneva.

Other

The World Food Programme announced that the agency had delivered 1.6 million tons of food to Darfur/Sudan in February 2005, an increase of 34 per cent over the aid provided in January. Security problems dogged operations to reach 2 million people in the province, as did theft and sabotage of supplies, for example, on 7 March, an aid convoy had been attacked but all six personnel, one of whom was injured, were now free. 25 million tons of food needed to be delivered before the start of the rainy season.

Turning to Burundi, the spokesperson said that after ten years of civil war, hopes that the country was on the road to peace were being dashed and food insecurity was worsening. All 7.6 million inhabitants of Burundi suffered from chronic food insecurity and 68 per cent were under threat of having no food at all.

Finally, turning to Uganda, she said the US Ambassador to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture in Rome, Tony Hall, as well as WFP and USAID officials, would be going to that country to visit the northern Gulu district. Ms. Heuzé said that journalists had been invited to join them and could contact UNIS or WFP if they were interested. The itinerary included a visit to a camp for the internally displaced ( IDP), a reception centre for formerly abducted children and an HIV/AIDS clinic. Also included was a meeting with leaders of the Acholi tribe, which had been a key broker between the Lord’s Resistance Army and the Ugandan government.

UNHCR announced that the agency had signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Council of Europe (COE) Development Bank, which among other things would help bring a swift end to the protracted effort to provide individual accommodation for around 850 displaced people who are still living in official collective centres in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The MOU covered two important areas that are already proving immensely beneficial to some of the people who, 10 years after the Dayton Agreement, had still not found a permanent solution to their displacement in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as in Serbia and Montenegro.

Also, Wendy Chamberlin, Acting High Commissioner for Refugees, was tentatively scheduled to make a trip to Sudan and Chad next week to see first-hand UNHCR’s work for IDPs.

Finally, IOM announced the holding of a regional meeting on counter-trafficking in the Caribbean. Some 75 regional governments, NGOs and international organizations would be attending.


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