United Nations Daily Highlights, 01-07-13

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From: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.org

BRIEFING

BY FREDERIC ECKHARD

SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK Friday, July 13, 2001

(Press "Ctrl

Transcript available at the end of the day, searchable back to 1996

ANNAN CONCLUDES VISIT TO GERMANY

The Secretary-General concluded his official visit to Germany today, collecting a pledge from German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder for $131 million to the Global AIDS and Health Fund.

He began his day with a breakfast with German President Johannes Rau. He then went to the Freie Universitat, Belin's largest university, where he received an honorary degree and delivered an address on racism.

"Intolerance is a many-headed monster," he told the students. "Its victims are diverse, and include women, migrant workers, indigenous people, minorities and those whose political views are deemed objectionable."

He closed by reading a few lines from a poem by a 14-year-old Berlin schoolgirl.

"They attack foreigners, punks, the disabled and Jews,

One day, soon, they will attack me and you.

That's why each of us must look deep inside,

At what our surface is trying to hide.

For if we do not know what's in here,

Can any of us walk the streets without fear?"

The Secretary-General concluded, "This schoolgirl challenges all of us, throughout the world, to act. I hope that all of you, in the spirit of this free university, will be involved personally in rooting out the evil of intolerance." The full text is available in my office.

He then met with the Chancellor. At a press encounter afterwards, the Chancellor announced his pledge to the Global Fund. The two also took questions on the fight against AIDS, the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change, the G-8 Summit, the Small Arms Conference and the Middle East. The transcript of that encounter is available in my office.

After lunch with the Chancellor, the Secretary-General met with Paliamentarians to discuss the Middle East and the Balkans. His talks with the Economic Minister, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul included AIDS and the Millenium Summit follow up. His last appointment for the day was with former Federal President Richard von Weizsacker.

He left Germany for Geneva, where he will address the high-level segment of the Economic and Social Council on Monday.

In response to a question on Germanys contribution to the Global AIDS and Health Fund, the Spokesman said that it was not clear if there were any conditions attached to the contribution, but that it would probably be discussed at the upcoming G-8 Summit. He added that the total of the Fund stood at $975 million at present.

SMALL ARMS CONFERENCE WRAPS UP FIRST WEEK

The United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects ( Small Arms Conference) heard 30 speakers this morning in the last meeting of the Ministerial segment. Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme ( UNDP), was the last speaker. There are some side events organized by NGOs today. The National Rifle Association is planning a technical briefing on weapons of war and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) will launch various publications of the IANSA Womens Caucus. On Monday, the Conference will hear representatives of NGOs, including IANSA and NRA. A revised draft Programme of Action, the main conference document, is expected to be issued on Monday morning. All the plenary meetings from Monday afternoon on are expected to be closed for negotiation. The closing meeting on the last day, Friday, 20 July, will be an open meeting.

SECRETARIAT RESPONDS TO IRAQI ALLEGATIONS

Benon Sevan, Executive Director of the Iraq Programme, briefed the Security Councils 661 Committee yesterday and provided Committee members with clarifications on a number of questions raised by Riyadh Al-Qaysi, Under-Secretary in Iraq's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Al-Qaysis allegations against the Secretariat were made during his speech in an open meeting of the Security Council held on 28 June.

Sevan, who provided details on issues ranging from administrative and banking matters to keeping the Government of Iraq informed on UN operations in three northern governorates, said that he felt obliged to make his statement because he did not wish his silence to be misinterpreted as a agreement with was said by Mr. Al-Qaysi.

I owe it to my colleagues, both at Headquarters and in particular to those in the field, he said, adding that some of my colleagues have made the ultimate sacrifice in losing their lives while working with the humanitarian programme, the objective of which is to serve the Iraqi people.

30,000 EAST TIMORESE PARTICIPATE IN CONSTITUTIONAL HEARINGS

More than 30,000 East Timorese have turned out over the past month at more than 200 Constitutional public hearings. These hearings aim at soliciting the views of the population on what should be considered by the future Constituent Assembly when drafting East Timors first Constitution. Peter Galbraith, Transitional Cabinet Member for Political Affairs, said that By any standard this is an amazing public participation that shows just how committed the East Timorese are to being involved in their own future.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

In response to questions on the UNIFIL videotape, the Spokesman said that as far as he knew, there were only two copies of the tape in existence. The original is in the force commanders safe and the copy was brought to New York. The Secretary-General asked Under-Secretary-General Joseph Connor to begin the investigation as soon as possible. Terms of Reference have been drawn up and were approved by Secretary-General yesterday. They are broad enough to include some of the recent allegations. The Secretary-General wants to know what the facts are and the Terms of Reference are broad enough to allow for that. In response to a question on the status of the application to the Liberia Sanctions Committee by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Liberia, Monie Captan, to travel, the Spokesman later said that permission to travel had been denied to both Mr. Captan and the Minister of Finance, Nathaniel Barnes.

THE WEEK AHEAD AT THE UNITED NATIONS

Monday, July 16

The United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in all its Aspects continues through Friday.

The High Level segment of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) begins today through Wednesday in Geneva. The theme is Sustainable Development in Africa and the Secretary-General will address the gathering.

The World Health Organization ( WHO) will launch its report Small arms and global health at a panel discussion on The role of Public Health in preventing armed violence in Conference Room 8 at 3:00 p.m. There will be a briefing in the UNCA room by the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC) at 11:00 a.m.

Tuesday, July 17

The Security Council will hold closed consultations on Burundi. General meeting on cooperation between the representatives of the secretariats of the United Nations system and the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States and its specialized organizations begins today through Thursday in Vienna. The United Nations International Meeting on the Question of Palestine with the theme: "The Road to Israeli-Palestinian Peace" begins in Madrid and ends tomorrow. The second Ministerial Meeting on International Environmental Governance, organized by United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP), in Bonn. There will be a press conference in Madrid, Spain, by the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs of Spain, Mr. Juan Carlos Aparicio, to launch the World Assembly on Ageing, which will take place in Madrid in April 2002. There will be a briefing in the UNCA Club on the Racism Conference at 11:00 a.m.

Wednesday, July 18

The Security Council will hold closed consultations on the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There will be a briefing in the UNCA room by Scott Ritter at 10:00 a.m. AT 2:00 p.m. there will be a briefing by the Fund for Peace in Room 226 on arms brokering.

Thursday, July 19

The Security Council will hold closed consultations on the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan. The sixth Conference of the Parties to the UN Climate Change Convention ( UNFCCC) will resume in Bonn. The first part of the session took place in November 2001 in The Hague. The High-Level Segment will begin on Thursday evening, 19 July, and last through Sunday, 22 July. The entire session will run through Friday, 27 July. There will be a briefing in the UNCA room at 10:30 a.m. on the World Health Organization and Tobacco.

Friday, July 20

At 11:15 a.m. there will be a briefing Room 226 by the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women ( CEDAW). At 12:45 p.m. there will be a briefing by the Chairman of the Small Arms Conference, Ambassador Reyes. At 2:00 p.m. there will be a briefing in Room 226 by IANSA on small arms. At 2:15 p.m. there will be a briefing in Room 226 by Michel Rocard on Small arms. At 2:45 p.m. there will be a briefing in Room 226 by the Eminent Persons Group.

Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General United Nations, S-378 New York, NY 10017 Tel. 212-963-7162 Fax. 212-963-7055

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