MICHELE MONTAS is the Spokesperson for U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

The Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General and the Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly.

TV: UN WEBCAST TV VIDEO - 30 minutes

UN: UNITED NATIONS BRIEFING AND TV - QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: THURSDAY, 1/05/2008 (MaximsNews Network)

UNITED NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network / - 1 May 2008 -- Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary-General and UN Webcast TV Video.

**Questions and Answers

Question: What you indicated, the President of the Assembly is committed to the freedom of the press…

Spokesperson: That is correct.

Question: Would he be in favour of the subject of the difficulties facing the press being taken by the General Assembly and perhaps adopting a fresh resolution on the problems of journalists around the world?

Spokesperson: I will certainly convey this concern. He has talked to you on a number of occasions and I’ve mentioned this. In fact, during one of the first press conferences he had with you last year when he was still President-elect, on 24 May, transparency and access to information was one of the things that he talked about, all the more so, because, as you know, he also comes from the press, so to speak, as he has been in the private sector as a manager of one of the major European media conglomerates, the WAZ media group. So he’s very much close to press issues. But I’ll convey this special concern to him.

Question: Could you give us some more details on the President’s visit to Egypt and Turkey next week, as you mentioned?

Spokesperson: On Monday, I will give you all the details. But, one of the things that we do know, in Turkey, he’s going to have an address to Bilkent University and, of course, he’s going to have various official meetings while in Turkey and also in Egypt. In Egypt, one of the major events that he will have is an address to the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs. But, on Monday, I’ll give you all the details. First, it will be London and then Turkey and then Egypt.

Question: On a follow-up on press access, on this issue of the Host Country Committee, has there been…the non-UN press was excluded last Tuesday. Have you invited the Ambassador of Cyprus to come? I spoke to their Mission and they said, if they’re invited by you, they’ll come.

Spokesperson: Okay. I have not talked to them because I left it up to you to approach the Chair (of the Committee). But if you insist, I will convey this message.

Question: Given what you just said about this press freedom idea, the Cyprus Mission says there was no legal authority to exclude the press from that meeting. They were unable to provide any vote or document of the Committee on the Host Country saying the press should be excluded. But they said to have the press come in now would require a vote in the next session in June. Is it Srgjan Kerim’s position that the presumption is that General Assembly meetings are open unless the committees decided otherwise, or is the presumption is it’s closed?

Spokesperson: Several things. First, it goes back to what I mentioned. As far as the President is concerned, he is for access of information, open meetings, transparency. He has said that many times. At the same time, of course -- and we have said this -- that the President is very much governed by the rules and regulations of the General Assembly. He’s also very much guided by the wishes, desires of Member States.

So that’s one angle. The other angle is meetings themselves. Yes, as you’ve stressed, as we have said, meetings generally are considered open unless otherwise decided by Member States. This is what has been the case here. At least, that’s the way I understand it. So it’s basically up to Member States to decide whether they want to have a meeting closed or open.

Normally, it is open, as I said, unless otherwise indicated -- whether it’s indicated in the Journal as an informal consultation closed, or whether as it was indicated in the clarification from Ambassador Mavroyiannis that the Member States decided, maybe on the spot or maybe based on past practices, to have press excluded from that particular meeting or from a set of meetings.

But, as I said and as I promised, I will get back to the Cyprus Mission and try to get them to come to give you a brief exactly on this particular aspect of the Committee on Host Country Relations.

Thank you.

Labels: United Nations,  U.N., Secretary-General

 

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