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 start of the celebrations marking the sixtieth anniversary of the United Nations yesterday in Geneva and New York, the General Assembly's second High-Level Dialogue on Financing for Development, the resumption of the informal consultations of the General Assembly on the draft outcome document for the September summit, Geneva meetings, and other issues. Spokespersons for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Economic Commission for Europe, the World Health Organization, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Environmental Programme, the World Food Programme and the International Organization for Migration participated in the briefing.

Sixtieth Anniversary of Signing of UN Charter

Mrs. Heuzé said that the celebrations marking the sixtieth anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Charter on 26 June 1945 in San Francisco started yesterday in New York and in Geneva. At Headquarters, the preamble to the Charter was read out by UN tour guides at the General Assembly Hall. After that, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that over 60 years, where the United Nations could, "we have averted the scourge of war. Where we could not, we have sought to resolve conflict and build peace." He outlined the UN’s successes over the years, and also pointed to its failures. Copies of the Secretary-General's statement were available in the press room.

In Geneva, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Sergei Ordzhonikidze, chaired a meeting of the members of the Group of Western European and Other States. He also attended a concert by the Kayaleh Chamber Orchestra to commemorate the anniversary in the afternoon. It was followed by the inauguration of an exhibition of some 70 original works of art by contemporary international artists. Mr. Ordzhonikidze thanked the Member States and Permanent Missions to the United Nations Office at Geneva, especially those who had contributed a piece of original artwork representative of their respective countries to this exhibition, which also served as a reflection of the richness of our cultural diversity. He thanked the Swiss and Canton of Geneva authorities and the artists. The works of art would remain on show at the Palais des Nations until 24 October.

Second High-Level Dialogue on Financing for Development

Mrs. Heuzé said that in New York, the Secretary-General yesterday addressed the General Assembly's second High-Level Dialogue on Financing for Development.
In his statement, the Secretary-General said there was real momentum to eradicate poverty because the international community had banded together in a sustained and unprecedented effort to make poverty history.

The Secretary-General's statement was available in the press room, as were a number of other statements read out at the meeting, like those of the United Kingdom and France.

General Assembly to Resume Talks on Draft Outcome Document for September Summit

Mrs. Heuzé said that informal consultations of the General Assembly on the draft outcome document - the Declaration - for the 2005 World Summit, which would be held from 14 to 16 September in New York, would resume on Thursday, 30 June. These discussions would be held behind closed doors.

Geneva Activities

Mrs. Heuzé said this morning, the Conference on Disarmament was holding the second of four formal plenary meetings which Ambassador Wegger Strommen of Norway, the new President of the Conference, suggested be held to consider the four subject matters from the agenda of the Conference which were identified in the "food for thought" paper submitted by Ambassador Chris Sanders of the Netherlands. The first plenary on 23 June had discussed nuclear disarmament. The second meeting today was discussing fissile material cut-off, the third on 30 June would discuss outer space and the fourth on 7 July would discuss security assurances. So far this morning, there were 15 speakers on the list.

The Governing Council of the United Nations Compensation Commission would be holding its fifty-sixth session from today until 30 June 2005 under the Presidency of Ambassador Tassos Kriekoukis (Greece). A background press release had been issued and a roundup would be released on Thursday, 30 June. There would also be a press briefing at the end of the meeting on Thursday around 5 p.m.

The Director said the Secretary-General's Advisory Board on disarmament matters would be meeting in Geneva from 29 June to 1 July under the chairmanship of Ambassador Vicente Berasategui of Argentina. Currently, the Board had 22 members who were appointed by the Secretary-General and who served in their personal capacities. At this forty-fifth session, the Board would deliberate on two topics: challenges and opportunities at the regional level in the areas of weapons of mass destruction and conventional arms, and a review of disarmament machinery.

From 4 July to 5 August, the International Law Seminar would resume its work.

And from 11 to 29 July, the Human Rights Committee would be held in Geneva. The Committee would be taking up the reports of Yemen, Tajikistan, Slovenia, Syria and Thailand.

Human Rights

José Luis Díaz, Spokesperson of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour would be in Mexico tomorrow to take part in a seminar on UN reform and on OHCHR's Plan of Action. Mexico had brought together a so-called "Group of Friends" of UN reform, and the seminar was being held in this context. The seminar would take place from 30 June to 1 July. Tomorrow, the High Commissioner would hold meetings with the Foreign Minister of Mexico, with the human rights committee of the Mexican Congress and Senate, with various ministries, as well as with Mexico's human rights Ombudsman and representatives of the country's civil society.

Mr. Díaz said that from Mexico, the High Commissioner would be going to Tripoli, Libya, to take part in the African Union summit from 2 to 5 July. On 6 July, Mrs. Arbour would start a mission in West Africa, beginning with Abidjan in Côte d'Ivoire. More details on that trip would be available later.

Mr. Díaz said the two fact-finding missions which the High Commissioner had dispatched over the past few weeks to Togo and Kyrgyzstan had returned to Geneva and were preparing their reports to the High Commissioner. The reports would contain the conclusions and recommendations of the missions. There would be information on the outcome of those exercises in the coming days.

In response to a question on the threat of famine in Niger, Mr. Díaz said the journalist must have seen the statement issued by the Special Rapporteur on the right to food sounding the alarm on the situation in that country. OHCHR had not sent anyone to Niger specifically to look at that situation. Answering a question on the prevalence of "anti-White" racism, he said the Special Rapporteur on racism of the Commission on Human Rights was in Geneva and the correspondent could contact him directly for an answer to his query.

Other

Jean Michel Jakobowicz of the Economic Commission for Europe said the UNECE Energy Security Forum was today holding a High-Level Meeting on Energy Security in the Caspian Sea Region to consider the role of this region in enhancing global energy security. There would be a press briefing held at 2:30 p.m. today.

Christine McNab of the World Health Organization said available at the back of the room was a media advisory on the "3 by 5" progress report update. There would be a press briefing tomorrow, 29 June at 1 p.m. at the Palais des Nations. Both the report and the press conference were embargoed until 6 p.m. tomorrow afternoon Geneva time.

Ms. McNab said WHO would also be issuing a new Health and the Millennium Development Goals report, looking at the overall trends and at the probability that a lot of the health-related MDGs would not be met by 2015. There would be a briefing on the report at 2 p.m. on Friday, 1 July. Embargoed copies of the report were also available.

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said a press conference to be held at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow, 29 June, by Yvette Stevens, Director of the OCHA Geneva Office, and Toby Lanzer, Chief of the Consolidated Appeals Section, would provide a mid-year review of the consolidated appeal.

Michael Williams of the United Nations Environmental Programme said the Standing Committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) was meeting this week in Geneva. The World Wide Fund had issued a release urging this meeting to take certain action about African elephant ivory. In fact this meeting could not take any decisions on ivory, as the participants would be taking procedural and house-keeping decisions. Friday, 1 July marked the thirtieth anniversary of CITES entering into force so a press release would be issued at the end of the week. Next week, UNEP would be holding a preparatory meeting for the Basel Convention on Hazardous Waste. This meeting would also be on procedural issues.

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said available was a press release on refugees in Kenya. Despite agreements reached to resolve the conflicts in Sudan and in Somalia, the numbers of refugees in Kenya were not declining and WFP today appealed for $ 6.7 million to feed nearly a quarter of a million refugees in two northern Kenya camps until the end of 2005. WFP warned that maize, pulses, corn-soya blend and oil for rations would run out by October unless funding was received urgently.

Ms. Berthiaume said WFP today welcomed the departure from China of a ship carrying 270 tonnes of canned fish for Sri Lankan victims of the tsunami last December as another milestone in China's emergence as a multilateral aid donor.

Jean Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said a group of 5,000 internally displaced persons heading north to their homes in Western Bahr el Ghazal province were still several weeks away from reaching their final destination. Four IOM staff members accompanying about 1,500 of the most vulnerable IDPs in IOM trucks said the IDPs were very tired. A WFP food drop of a three-week supply of maize, sorghum, lentils and sugar for 3,000 people had boosted morale as some families had run out of food supplies.

Mr. Chauzy said that government and academia experts of ten countries were today attending a technical seminar in Algiers on remittances in the western Mediterranean, the role of information and banking systems on remittances and the contribution of migrants in the development of their home countries. In Egypt, a seminar to raise awareness on the challenges and opportunities which international migration posed for sending, receiving and transit countries like Egypt was held by the IOM regional office in Cairo in coordination with the Cairo Institute for Diplomatic Studies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs this week.