United Nations Daily Highlights, 04-03-04

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

BY

FRED ECKHARD

SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

OF THE UNITED NATIONS

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Thursday, March 4, 2004

SECRETARY-GENERAL TO VISIT CANADA NEXT WEEK

On Monday, Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, is scheduled toleave for an official visit to Canada, accompanied by his wife, Nane.

While in Ottawa, the Secretary-General will meet with Prime Minister Paul Martin as well as other members of his cabinet, including the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Development and Cooperation. He will also hold a separate meeting with Canadas Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, and he will deliver an address to the joint Houses of Parliament.

During his stay in the Canadian capital, the Secretary-General will lay wreaths at the monument for UN Peacekeepers and the memorial for fallen Canadian humanitarian workers.

The Secretary-General will also have an opportunity to meet with the new High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour.

Prior to his departure, the Secretary-General will receive honorary degrees from the University of Ottawa and Carleton University.

The Secretary-General will be back at UN Headquarters on Wednesday.

U.N. SPECIAL ADVISER FOR

HAITI

HEADS TO REGION

John Reginald Dumas, the Secretary-Generals Special Adviser for Haiti, has left New York and is on his way to Jamaica, where he will meet with the Prime Minister, P.J. Patterson, who is also the head of the Caribbean Community, or CARICOM.

Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C. today, theres a meeting of the Group of Friends of the Secretary-General of the Organization of American States on Haiti. The meeting is open to all OAS member states, interested Permanent Observers and other interested states and international organizations. At the invitation of the OAS, representatives from the UNs Department of Political Affairs and Department of Peacekeeping Operations will attend the meeting which is aimed at sharing information on recent developments in Haiti.

Jan Egeland, the Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, is due to brief the Security Council in consultations tomorrow on the humanitarian situation in Haiti.

Asked about the nature of the appointment of the UNDP Resident Coordinator in Haiti as the representative of the international community on the Tripartite Council, the Spokesman said the appointment was a stop-gap measure. He reiterated that as soon as the Tripartite Council agrees on the appointment of a nine-person panel - which will select a government - the Resident Coordinator will withdraw and return to his development work. The Spokesman added that this Resident Coordinator is extremely experienced in these kinds of matters. He was asked to participate in the Council that had been recommended by CARICOM as part of their plan for getting Haiti out of its political crisis.

Because, at that time, we had no other person to send, and because this particular representative is particularly experienced in this area, the Secretary-General approved him taking on this responsibility, the Spokesman said.

Headded that the Secretary-Generals Special Envoy is on his way to the region, and will be taking over from the Resident Coordinator, and will represent the Secretary-General in all political matters regarding

Haiti.

.

SECURITY COUNCIL DISCUSSES EFFORTS TO FIGHT TERRORISM

The Security Council is holding an open meeting today on the subject: Threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts.

Under discussion is a letter dated 19 February from the Chairman of the Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee, Ambassador Inocencio Arias of Spain, to the Security Council President, which focuses on the revitalization of the Committee.

Ambassador Arias briefed members on the work of his Committee. More than 30 speakers were due to speak.

FOOD SECURITY IN

BURUNDI

REMAINS A MAJOR CHALLENGE

The Economic and Social Councils Advisory Group on Burundi says that ensuring food security remains a major challenge for that country, and that dependence on food aid should be gradually reduced through the promotion of self-reliance at the community level.

In a report, which is out today, the Advisory Group, which comprises six ambassadors on the Economic and Social Council, welcomes the recent progress in Burundis peace process. But it notes the enormous challenges in resettling refugees and internally displaced persons, and adds that

Burundi

faces a growing problem of violence against women and children.

The World Food Programme, meanwhile, today expressed concern that a surge in fighting in parts of Burundi over the past several weeks has prevented it from delivering food aid to thousands of people newly displaced to an area outside the capital, Bujumbura.

LESOTHO

WILL NEED INTERNATIONAL HELP FOR THIRD CONSECUTIVE YEAR

Hundreds of thousands of people in Lesotho will require international assistance for a third consecutive year due to the combined impact of another devastating drought and the worsening HIV/AIDS epidemic. That warning comes from James T. Morris, the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Humanitarian Needs in Southern Africa.

Morris is due to arrive in Lesotho on Friday, in a delegation which includes the Executive Directors of UNICEF and UNAIDS. They will meet members of the government as well as visit some of the worst affected areas.

Last month, the government of Lesotho declared a State of

Emergency

after it became clear that the country was heading for another year of severe food shortages.

AVERAGE OF 347 DAYS TAKEN TO RECRUIT STAFF FOR U.N. PEACEKEEPING

The Department of Peacekeeping Operations takes 347 days, on average, to recruit professional and senior staff much more time than the goal of 120 days for such recruitment, the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) says in a report that was released today.

The biggest challenge faced in the recruitment process, the OIOS says, is that managers had to review some 13,800 applications, received in response to 76 vacancy announcements issued during 2002. Because of a lack of a filtering mechanism in the computerized system used to process the applications, managers had to review every applicant although now, the report notes, advanced search features have been added to the computerized system.

In addition, the report notes that, out of 105 professional and senior candidates appointed in 2002, 35% were women, an improvement over the previous year, when the figure was 31%.

SECRETARY-GENERAL MAKES TWO HIGH-LEVEL APPOINTMENTS

The Secretary-General has decided on the following two high-level appointments: Elisabeth Lindenmayer of France will become Assistant Secretary-General, occupying the post of Deputy Chef de Cabinet in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General, while Angela Kane of Germany will be the new Assistant Secretary-General for General Assembly Affairs and Conference Management.

Asked about these appointments, the Spokesman said the promotions were based on the long and hard work the two had carried out as international civil servants with the United Nations.

NANE ANNAN TO MAKE OPENING REMARKS AT WOMENS DAY EVENT

Nane Annan will today give opening remarks at an International Womens Day luncheon hosted by the U.S.Committee for UNIFEM, the UN Development Fund for Women. Mrs. Annan will speak on the growing impact of AIDS on women, especially young women, which she says forces us to focus on the inequalities and power relations that exist between women and men.

Other speakers include Dr. Charlotte Bunch of the Center for Womens Global Leadership, and UNIFEM Executive Director Noeleen Heyzer.

Also, Mrs. Annan will tomorrow welcome children from Marin County, California, who have raised 7 million pennies through the Pennies for Peace-Making Change Work initiative, for mine action activities specifically geared toward children in Afghanistan. That will happen at 8:45 a.m. at the Peace Bell outside the building.

The money $70,000 worth of pennies has been handed over to the United Nations Mine Action Service.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

SENIOR ARAB JOURNALISTS TO MEET SECRETARY-GENERAL DURING U.N. VISIT: Throughout this week, the Department of Public Information has organized a program for eleven senior Arab journalists to receive briefings on the work of the United Nations, and today, Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette will talk to the group on UN reform. The Secretary-General is expected to meet with the Arab journalists tomorrow. The program of briefings was organized in cooperation with the Better World Fund and the UN Fund for International Partnerships.

UNICEF BEGINS MEASLES VACCINE CAMPAIGN IN CHAD: UNICEF and Chads Minister of Public Health today launched a campaign to vaccinate nearly 90,000 children, many of them refugees from Sudan living in eastern Chad, against measles, the biggest vaccine-preventable killer disease in the world. The campaign, which will also include the distribution of Vitamin A, aims to reach 86,4000 children, aged six month to 15 years. Around 50% of the children are from Sudan, and the 50% are indigenous children from the Sudan frontier region.

*The guest at the noon briefing was Hans Corell, who was retiring after 10 years of service with the UN as the Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and Legal Counsel.

Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

United Nations, S-378

New York, NY 10017

Tel. 212-963-7162 - press/media only

Fax. 212-963-7055

All other inquiries to be addressed to (212)

963-4475 or by e-mail to: inquiries@un.org

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