ADVISORY/Human Development Report 2000 to be Launched in San Francisco On 29 June; Even Rich Countries Like the United States Can Do More for Human Rights, the Report Says.

News/Assignment Editors

ADVISORY...for Thursday (June 29)

--(BUSINESS WIRE)

The Human Development Report 2000 (HDR) will be launched in San Francisco on 29 June and argues that the protection and promotion of human rights are central to economic and social advancement in rich and poor countries alike. The report, the 11th in a series commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), will be launched in association with the Resource Center for the United Nations at the Presidio in San Francisco.

Jody Williams, the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her work on landmines, and Zephirin Diabre, Associate Administrator of UNDP, will inaugurate the report on Thursday, 29 June at 10:30 am in the Green Room of the War Memorial Performing Arts Center (401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco)--the site of the signing of the United Nations Charter in 1945. Members of the press are cordially invited to attend. The report will also be launched that day in dozens of world capitals.

This year's report examines the close relationship between human development and human rights and argues that bold new approaches are needed in the 21st century in political and economic governance for social justice and poverty eradication to be achieved. It says that economic and social security should be regarded as inalienable human rights, and as such should be vigorously protected and supported.

Even in rich countries like the US, which traditionally enjoy high levels of political and civil freedoms, the provision of basic economic and social security is far from taken for granted. In the US some 40 million people are not covered by health insurance, and one adult in five is functionally illiterate. On any given night, 750,000 people in the US are homeless.

A symposium "Rights without Borders: Challenge for the 21st Century," will take place at 6:30 pm, and will be held at the Commonwealth Club, 595 Market Street, 2nd Floor, Montgomery BART Station. Media are invited to this event as well. Panelists include Zephirin Diabre, William H. Draper III, Draper International, former UNDP Administrator, Julianne Cartwright Traylor, Chair, Amnesty International USA and James M. Cooper, Executive Director, McGill Center for Creative Problem Solving. Mei-Ling Sze, Anchor and Managing Editor of KTSF Cantonese News in San Francisco, will moderate the symposium.

For a press kit and interviews, please contact in San Francisco: Ted Everts, tel: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail] and in New York: Hilda Paqui, tel: [phone], e-mail [e-mail] or Sid Kane, tel: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]

An online newsroom for the report is available to journalists. For the password, journalists should e-mail [e-mail] and include their names and press affiliations. The site contains the full report and press kits in English, French and Spanish.