NOTE TO THE SECRETARY-GENERAL Your Press Conference Your annual end-of-year press conference ijl scheduled for this coming Wednesday morning. I understand Edward will be drafting some opening remarks for you. My office has prepared a list of possible questions that you may face from the press corps. Please let me know if you require further information on any of these. Stephana Dujarric 16 December, 2005 _J 860FHCE POTENTIAL QUESTIONS FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL'S 21 DECEMBER PRESS CONFERENCE Questions about the year ahead: You're nearing the end of your ten years at the helm of this organization. What will your focus be this coming year? Just about a year ago in this room, you described 2004 as an annus horribilis. This year you've born the brunt of the Volcker reports and you have seen the Member States fall short of your expectations at the September summit. How would you best sum up this year? What kind of a person would you like to see succeed you in your office? What do you think are the essential qualities for an effective Secretary-General? Do you have any thoughts to life after being Secretary- General? What do you see yourself doing once this job has finished? What was your worst experience in almost ten years as Secretary-General, professional as well as personal? And what was your most positive experience? What do you see as the main issues on the UN agenda in the next 5 years, and until 2015, when the MDGs are supposed to be achieved? DSG: Is her departure the start of a lame-duck administration? Can you assure us that the departure of your Deputy Secretary-General has nothing to do with the criticisms of her performance in the Volcker reports? Why were you willing to let her go now, while you refused her resignation following the Canal Hotel bombing in Baghdad? Were you disappointed with her work overseeing the Iraq Programme? UN reform and the budget: It's nearly one minute to midnight, and you still don't have a budget. How serious is this crisis? What will actually happen to the organization if there is no budget? Are you confident that you are going to get your budget at the end of the day? You've expressed annoyance with Ambassador Bolton's public remarks recently. How much of an obstacle is he in the UN reforms you would like to see realised? Are you disappointed at the relative lack of progress on your reform proposals? What needs to happen in the next few months for you to be satisfied with the reform effort? Which are the most urgent reforms? Is Security Council reform dead? Do you sense any serious will among the membership to expand the Council? What are you doing to make sure that the Human Rights Council you proposed does not become as watered down and ineffective as the existing Human Rights Commission? When are the long-due renovations on the headquarters building finally going to start? Iraq: With the successful holding of elections, do you think it is time for foreign forces in Iraq to be reduced? Are circumstances right for any wider return of UN staff to the country? Every few days, there are new reports of human rights abuses in Iraq, both by the government and the multinational forces. What can the UN do to respond more effectively to these problems? Oi1-for-Food: Was the $30 million of the Iraqi people's money you spent on the Volcker investigation truly worth it? It's clear that very few UN officials have been punished as a result of it. Have you recently spoken to your son about the Mercedes? Has he repaid the Ghanaian authorities? As the Volcker Committee comes to a close, the UN has been saying that it is negotiating regarding how to handle the committee's archives. Has there been any progress? Can the UN be trusted with these documents? It is clear that the real scandal at the United Nations was in the procurement department. Are you confident that Chris Burnham and OIOS can put an end to the corruption in that department? Do you feel that your reputation has suffered unfairly because of the oil-for-food scandal? What can be done to redeem the reputation of the United Nations? Iran: President Ahmadinejad continues to make statements that seem to threaten the very existence of Israel, as well as denying the Holocaust. How do you think countries should respond to his statements? Should action be taken against Iran by Member States, and by the General Assembly? Are you concerned that the talks between Iran and the European nations on its nuclear programme have not been making much progress? Syria/Lebanon: How close are you to picking a successor to Detlev Mehlis? Are you worried that the investigation will run aground if a successor isn't in place in Beirut soon? Have you been in touch with President Assad since Mehlis last briefed the Security Council? Are there any signs that Syria is going to improve its cooperation? The Security Council has asked you to explore the scope of a possible international tribunal. Do you think it's advisable to create such a tribunal? Do you think the investigators should start looking more closely at all the other assassinations in Lebanon? Mr Mehlis recently suggested they were all linked to the Hariri assassination; do you agree? Israel/Palestine: Does the violence among the Palestinian factions worry you about whether they can hold credible elections? Will UN assistance to the Palestinians continue if this violence keeps up? Sudan: We've had many reports and many fact-finding missions in Sudan, and we've also seen a weakened and under-funded African Union mission, but very little has changed on the ground in Darfur. People are still being killed and the political talks in Abuja are going nowhere. What can be done? Isn't it time for a fully equipped UN mission to take over in Darfur? Zimbabwe: The UN is not seen to be doing very much for what you have described as a humanitarian catastrophe in Zimbabwe. Are you still planning to visit Zimbabwe? Has there been adequate follow-up to Anna Tibaijuka's report? Ethiopia/Eritrea: Isn't it true that, in the face of Eritrean defiance, the UN simply backed down? What do the departures from Eritrea say about the effectiveness of UN peacekeeping? Are you going to recommend the termination of the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea? D.R. Congo: How much confidence do you have in the recent referendum on the constitution, given voter complaints that they do not know what the referendum actually contains? Do you really ever see a day when a UN Mission in DR Congo won't be needed? Haiti: The situation in Haiti appears to be spinning out of control. The climate of fear and insecurity is getting worse day by day. What can the UN Mission there do about this? It has its hands full and no one seems to think it has the resources to handle the job. Four postponements and counting: what do you think about Haiti's elections and its future? Cyprus: On Cyprus, you said in your last report that the time is not right to start up negotiations again. What are you waiting for, exactly? Sexual exploitation allegations: We haven't heard anything of late on the UN's ongoing response to sexual exploitation and abuse. Does that mean the problem is solved? Are the measures you put forward having any effect? Bird flu: You appointed David Nabarro as bird flu coordinator. But we haven't heard from him lately; are there any updates on what the UN is doing to control bird flu? Other: Next week is the one-year anniversary of the tsunami. Are you satisfied with what the UN was able to accomplish? What lessons have you learned? It was very clear that the US was not on board with the UN at the recent climate change talks in Montreal. What is your response to that? We saw the UN act very firmly with Carina Perelli. But we all know there have been and there are other cases of sexual harassment, notably Ruud Lubbers. Is the Perelli case the start of a zero-tolerance policy? How do you respond to her comments that she was hurt because of other officials' jealousy over her visible role in Iraq?.