United Nations Daily Highlights, 03-10-03

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

OF THE NOON BRIEFING

BY

HUA JIANG

DEPUTY SPOKESWOMAN

FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Friday, October 3, 2003

SECURITY COUNCIL BRIEFED ON COTE D'IVOIRE, SUDAN PEACE PROCESS

The Security Council began consultations today with a briefing under other matters by Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast on developments in the Sudan Peace Process.

Security Council members had received the text of the Framework Agreement on Security Arrangements recently signed between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement, which the Secretary-General had welcomed on September 25.

The Council then heard a briefing by the Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Cote dIvoire, Albert Tevoedjre, on the status of implementation on the Linas-Marcoussis Agreement and recent developments.

France also briefed on the forces of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and France in the country, in accordance with Security Council resolutions on Cote dIvoire.

[Following the consultations, Security Council President, U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte, read a press statement on Cote dIvoire in which the Council expressed concern that implementation of the Linas-Marcoussis Agreement had been slowed and that sporadic violence had erupted. Council members also urged all Ivorian parties, in particular the Forces Nouvelles, to take all necessary measures to restore confidence. They also urged all Ivorian parties to implement fully, quickly and faithfully the Linas-Marcoussis Agreement, which is the only way of ensuring the recovery of Côte dIvoire and bringing about national reconciliation.]

UNDP: IRAQI RECONSTRUCTION NEEDS REACH $36 BILLION OVER FOUR YEARS

According to needs assessment missions undertaken in Iraq soon after major combat ended, the overall stock of reconstruction needs over the period 2004-2007 is on the order of $36 billion. In addition, the Coalition Provisional Authority has separately estimated that there are some $20 billion needed in critical sectors, including security and oil.

These missions were done by the UN Development Group and the World Bank Group with assistance from the International Monetary Fund. The results will be used at the Donor Conference in Madrid on October 23-24, 2003. This conference will seek funding from the donor community to address priority reconstruction and rehabilitation needs, focusing on both urgent and medium-term needs for supporting sustainable development.

According to the findings of the missions, needs Iraqs overall reconstruction needs today are vast and are a result of years of neglect and degradation of the countrys infrastructure, environment and social services. Economic. In addition, the assessment notes that not all of the identified needs may require external financing. Already in 2004, about $1 billion of these needs are covered by ongoing contracts under the UN oil-for-food program.

The Assistant Administrator of the UN Development Programme, Julia Taft, will be the guest at Mondays noon briefing to go over these numbers with journalists.

UN LIBERIA ENVOY CALLS ON PARTIES TO RESPECT CEASE-FIRE

The Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Liberia, Jacques Klein, in a statement issued late Thursday said the UN Mission in that country deplores the events of the first of October and strongly reminds all parties to observe the ceasefire and desist from engaging in any acts which might derail the peace process.

The mission emphasized that it will not tolerate any unilateral importation of weapons into Monrovia and areas in which it is deployed, adding that any such actions will be met with swift response.

Meanwhile on the humanitarian front, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that after a one-day halt, it was resuming activities to ease conditions in camps for the internally displaced people (IDPs) in Monrovia.Relief efforts in the IDP camps and the inter-agency initiative to look into the security situation in the Liberian countryside were halted on Thursday, but UNHCR reported today that the situation has now calmed in the capital, where UN peacekeepers are patrolling the streets.

CHILD SOLDIER REHABILITATION CENTER OPENS IN SRI LANKA

In Sri Lanka, the UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) opened the first of three rehabilitation centres for child soldiers today.

As a first step, 49 former child soldiers, released by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), were placed in a transit centre in the severely war-torn north east of the country. Two other centres will be opening in the coming months.

This initiative stems from the fifth round of the peace talks between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE during which UNICEF was requested to assist more than 50,000 children affected by the conflict.

SOUTHERN AFRICA: FUNDING CRISIS THREATENS TO UNDERMINE RELIEF/RECOVERY

The Secretary-Generals Special Envoy for Humanitarian Needs in Southern Africa, James T. Morris, today warned that serious funding shortages are threatening to undermine relief and recovery efforts of the United Nations for millions of people in southern Africa, as well as to destroy the fragile gains made over the last 12 months.

A humanitarian tragedy was averted in southern Africa last year but the crisis is far from over, said Morris. Millions of people across the region are still dependent on aid for their survival. But so far, the donors response has been alarmingly slow and without their additional help many crucial projects will have to be scaled back or shut down.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

HUMAN RIGHTS IN IRAQ REPORT: Published today is the interim report to the General Assembly by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iraq, Andreas Mavrommatis. In the report, he explains that he had secured the agreement of the Coalition Provisional Authority to travel to Baghdad in late September. The terrorist attack on the UN headquarters on August 19 has forced him to delay his trip. Those tragic events, he says, have redoubled his determination to do everything possible within his mandate to ensure that democracy in Iraq is firmly entrenched in a culture of human rights.

EMERGENCY AID TO SUDANESE REFUGEES IN CHAD: UNHCR has launched a supplementary appeal for $16.6 million for emergency assistance to more than 65,000 Sudanese refugees who have been living under desperate conditions in eastern Chad.

STATE OF THE WORLD POPULATION 2003: The UN Population Fund today made the embargoed report State of World Population 2003 available, which stresses the need to protect the reproductive health of the largest-ever generation of adolescents worldwide. The agency will launch its new report next Wednesday, however before then, journalists may access the embargoed report and related materials a summary, press releases, charts and photos on their website by requesting a password online.

WOMEN AT SEA: Between 1 and 2 percent of the worlds 1.25 million seafarers serving on some 87,000 ships are women, and they face tough working conditions including discrimination and sexual harassment, according to the International Labour Office (ILO)

ANNAN'S MESSAGE TO INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION: The Secretary-General, in a message delivered today in Geneva, congratulated the Inter-Parliamentary Union on the inauguration of its new headquarters, the House of Parliaments. He noted that the UN postal authority already issued a stamp earlier this year depicting the House of Parliaments, and added that, after the Houses image has been mailed around the world, I hope that the work done in and through this House will be felt all around the world as well.

THE WEEK AHEAD AT THE UNITED NATIONS

Saturday, October 4

The Department of Public Information is sponsoring a meeting of more than 800 members of Rotary International at UN Headquarters.

Sunday, October 5

Today is World Teachers Day.

Monday, October 6

The Security Council will hold consultations on Iraq at 3:30 p.m.

The mandate of the UN Iraq-Kuwait Observer Mission expires.

UN-Habitat will release the Global Report on Human Settlements: The Slum Challenge. Today is also World Habitat Day, with the theme of Water and Sanitation for Cities.

The Secretary-General will issue a message for a service organized in New York by the Joint Commission of Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches.

The guest at the noon briefing will be UN Development Programme Assistant Administrator Julia Taft, who will discuss the upcoming reconstruction conference for Iraq.

Tuesday, October 7

The Secretary-General is expected to meet with African American civil society leaders at a luncheon. He is also expected to speak at a U.S. Council for International Business event honouring Chad Holliday, the Chief Executive Officer of Dupont.

At 11:00 a.m., General Assembly President Julian Hunte is scheduled to give a press conference.

At 12:30 p.m., U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte, who is Security Council President for the month of October, is scheduled to give a press conference.

Wednesday, October 8

The Security Council will hold an open briefing in which it will hear from Judge Theodor Meron, President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and from Paddy Ashdown, the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Secretary-General will issue a message to the 15th meeting of the Consultative Group on Bolivia, which is meeting in Paris. He will also issue a message to mark the International Day of Disaster Reduction.

At 11:00 a.m., the UN Population Fund will give a press conference to launch its State of the World Population report for 2003.

Thursday, October 9

The Security Council has scheduled consultations on Liberia and an open briefing on the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda.

Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette will speak at a roundtable discussion organized by the International Crisis Group on key issues in conflict resolution.

Today is World Post Day.

Friday, October 10

Today is World Mental Health Day.

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