HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE NOON BRIEFING

BY FRED ECKHARD; SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS; UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Thursday, May 20, 2004


BRAHIMI MEETS RED CROSS REPRESENTATIVE IN IRAQ
The Secretary-General's Special Advisor, Lakhdar Brahimi, today met the representative in Iraq of the International Committee for the Red Cross, Pierre Gassmann. Their discussion focused on the situation of detainees being held in Abu Ghraib and other prisons and detention centers in Iraq. In this context, a number of issues were discussed including due process rights, the whereabouts of the detainees and the conditions of their detention.

Brahimi said he was concerned about the situation of the detainees and had raised these issues publicly, both in Baghdad and in his report to the Security Council last month. He urged the ICRC to engage with the new caretaker government to find solutions to all the outstanding problems regarding the detainees.