United Nations Daily Highlights, 98-05-29

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From: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.org

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Friday, 29 May, 1998

HEADLINES

• Security Council strongly deplores nuclear tests conducted by Pakistan on Thursday.
• Director-General of International Atomic Energy Agency "deeply regrets" Indian and Pakistani nuclear tests.
• Head of UN peacekeeping operations talks about future directions on fiftieth anniversary of first UN mission.
• Deeply concerned about lack of functioning Government in Haiti, Secretary- General urges compromise.
• UN refugee agency calls house burnings by Abkhaz forces in Georgia "a blatant act of ethnic cleansing."
• UN staff in Guinea say refugees from Sierra Leone have been "deliberately maimed" by deposed junta.
• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees urges Greece not to deport Iraqis seeking asylum there.
• International Narcotics Control Board concludes confidential review of compliance with drug treaties.
• Brazilian football star joins United Nations HIV/AIDS campaign for young people.
• Tobacco a major threat to the rights of children, says the Executive Director of UNICEF.
• UN Food and Agricultural Organization signs agreement to help countries combat desertification.
• United Nations health agency says starting materials for pharmaceutical products may be contaminated.
• Physicists meeting in Paris stress need for responsible behaviour in selecting scientific research to be pursued.
• United Nations publishes Demographic Yearbook 1996, which focuses on mortality.

In a statement read by the President of the Security Council, Ambassador Njuguna Mahugu of Kenya, the Council reaffirmed its Presidential statement on the Indian nuclear tests of 11 and 13 May. It strongly urged India and Pakistan to refrain from any further tests.

The Council said that testing by India and then by Pakistan is contrary to the de facto moratorium on the testing of nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, and to global efforts toward nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. It also expressed its concern at the effects of this development on peace and stability in the region.

The Security Council reaffirmed the crucial importance of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). It appealed to India and Pakistan, and all other States which have not yet done to, to become parties to the NPT and the CTBT without delay or conditions. The Council also encouraged India and Pakistan to participate, in a positive spirit, in the proposed negotiations with other States for a fissile material cut-off treaty in Geneva with a view to reaching early agreement.

The Security Council called on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and to take immediate steps to reduce and remove tensions between them. The Council reaffirmed that the sources of tension in South Asia should be reduced and eliminated only through peaceful dialogue and not by the use of force or other military means.

The Council urged India and Pakistan to resume the dialogue between them on all outstanding issues, including all those that the parties have already discussed, especially concerning peace and security in order to remove the tensions between them and to enhance their economic and political cooperation. It called on the two countries to avoid any steps or statements that could lead to further instability or impede their bilateral dialogue.

The Secretary-General met on Friday afternoon with the five Permanent Members of the Security Council, at their request, in order to discuss the serious situation caused by the nuclear tests conducted by India and Pakistan, which have major implications for the entire international community. They explored what steps the international community, and in particular the five Permanent Members of the Council, could take in the circumstances and they agreed to remain in close contact on the matter.

"Such tests could lead to a dangerous nuclear arms race and call into question the basic principles of non-proliferation -- developed over the last three decades and reflected in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) adhered to by 186 States -- namely to freeze the number of weapon- States and move towards nuclear disarmament," said Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei.

Mr. ElBaradei expressed the hope that both States would exercise the utmost restraint and commit themselves to the course of action supported by the international community. This requires no nuclear tests, no additional weapon States, and a concrete programme to reduce and ultimately eliminate nuclear weapons with universal adherence to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test- Ban Treaty and a treaty prohibiting the production of nuclear material for weapons purposes.

The IAEA Director-General expressed the firm belief that global and regional accommodation and d‚tente -- rather than the acquisition of nuclear weapons -- is the path to peace and security.

The Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Bernard Miyet, was speaking in New York at a press conference on the fiftieth anniversary of the first UN peacekeeping mission in 1948. He said mediators have more power when the parties to a conflict know the Security Council has given the UN the means to implement a peace agreement.

During his press conference, Mr. Miyet touched on several issues, including the successes and failures of various UN peacekeeping operations and the dangers faced by UN personnel. He described the new operation in the Central African Republic as a positive sign that the UN, the international community and Western countries are still willing to participate in peacekeeping operations in Africa.

He was asked about the role of the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), which was set up in January 1949 to patrol both sides of the border between the two countries. So far this year, he said, 1,400 casualties have been reported in the region, indicating that tensions remained high. He described it as "one of the bloodiest regions we are involved in", but stressed that the latest field reports did not indicate any abnormal troop movements or flare-up of hostilities.

Since the Cold War, perhaps too much was asked of the UN when it lacked the necessary tools, he continued. Nevertheless, he said, it had "performed miracles", given its resources compared with such organizations as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). There was a lot of focus on Somalia, Rwanda and Bosnia, he said, and little on the "remarkable achievements" by the UN in such countries as El Salvador, Guatemala, Mozambique and Namibia, where he doubted people saw UN efforts as a waste of time or resources.

After the failures in some countries, he said, there was a theory that UN peacekeeping should be restricted to small-scale, non-risky operations when a peace plan was in place. It was important to consider some facts. For example, the UN forces in Bosnia were replaced by a NATO- led operation only after the parties agreed to a peace plan. At the same time, the UN was asked to send 7,500 troops into Eastern Slavonia and Croatia to carry out a very complex and difficult operation. Two years later, in Eastern Slavonia, the objectives of peaceful reintegration had been achieved. And in Bosnia, even with a strong and effective NATO presence, the situation remained difficult.

In reply to a question about dangers faced by peacekeepers, Mr. Miyet said lessons had been learned from the UN operation in Bosnia. Sometimes, as in Georgia recently, personnel were taken hostage by bandits, not because of political reasons. He also said he was looking for new ways to protect personnel such as military observers or civilian police. For example, in Haiti when the military left, a new rapid reaction police force was set up to help UN workers in difficult situations. He intended to ask the Security Council to provide protection during big peacekeeping operations.

There have been 49 UN peacekeeping operations over the last fifty years. Currently, 14,500 personnel, including troops, military observers and civilian police, are serving in 17 different peacekeeping missions around the world.

Haiti has been without a Prime Minister since June 1997, and with a virtually paralysed Parliament since this January. Efforts to break the deadlock have been largely unsuccessful. "Haitian political leaders must quickly take concrete steps to end the political deadlock, both with regard to the installation of a new government and the holding of free and fair elections to be organized by a new, credible Professional Electoral Council, so that the country's fragile democracy can be consolidated and pressing national issues resolved."

The report warns that the political crisis is having a destabilizing effect on Haiti's fledgling democracy, while also harming economic activity and jeopardizing international assistance. According to World Bank estimates, Haiti remains the poorest country in the western hemisphere and one of the poorest in the world. Per capita income is only $250, and 80 per cent of the rural population lives in poverty. The situation, far from improving, has been deteriorating over the past decade. While the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and others are working to remedy the situation, financial constraints have severely hampered their efforts.

The Secretary-General reports progress in modernizing the Haitian National Police, but also expresses concern about continuing reports of human rights violations, corruption and misconduct. "While effective, National Police involvement in restoring public security during civil unrest in Limonade and Milot in March gave rise to concern that there had been some excessive use of force, including the ransacking of a radio station." The Secretary- General says that such incidents underline the need for a special magistrate to investigate police abuses.

The Haitian National Police has achieved some success, particularly in the area of high-profile anti-gang operations, including against drug- related crime. According to the report, four separate drug seizures at the airport yielded more than 650 kilograms of cocaine.

"Professionalizing the police has to be complemented by a functioning judicial system, for if the Haitian National Police is to function effectively, it must do so within the context of a credible judicial system, " writes the Secretary-General. "I therefore again urge the Haitian authorities to move forward expeditiously in the area of judicial reform and call on the international community to provide the necessary assistance in that regard."

Speaking to reporters in Geneva on Friday, UNHCR Spokesman Kris Janowski expressed the agency's outrage over the house burnings, which were apparently carried out to prevent ethnic Georgians from returning to Abkhazia.

At least 20,000 civilians have fled fighting between Abkhaz and Georgian forces in the Gali region over the weekend. UNHCR is providing them with blankets, mattress and stoves, while other agencies are providing food.

UNHCR had been assisting some 150,000 vulnerable people who were displaced in Georgia, as well as supporting the reintegration of returnees in Abkhazia with reconstruction and agricultural materials. "Now almost all of those who had returned have fled once again," said Mr. Janowski.

Some 282,000 Georgians fled Abkhazia after the civil war broke out there in 1992. Despite the absence of a political settlement, between 35,000 and 45, 000 had returned to Gali after the fighting stopped one year later. More than 200,000 displaced people from Abkhazia remain scattered throughout Georgia.

Addressing reporters in Geneva, Mr. Janowski said his agency had documented 32 cases of refugees who had been deliberately maimed by the deposed junta forces in Sierra Leone. They had cut off the victims' fingers, arms and ears in a effort to intimidate the local population. According to the survivors, many more victims of maiming had died in their home country as they tried to travel to the Guinean border.

Mr. Janowski painted a chilling picture of the pattern of atrocities committed by the junta forces. "Upon arrival in a village day or night, the junta soldiers round up the entire population. Some men are forcibly conscripted, others are killed instantly. Children are recruited as soldiers and women are abducted for sex. In some cases, a man or a woman is selected from the group. They are told to put their arm against a tree stump. The junta member then hacks off the hand of the victim." According to UNHCR staff who witnessed the results of these crimes and spoke with survivors, some people had suffered the loss of both hands, while others had their ears cut off. "In addition to these clear cases of torture, many more refugees bear gun-shot wounds," said Mr. Janowski.

Since the beginning of the year, some 188,000 refugees have arrived in Guinea fleeing fighting in Sierra Leone. "Our field staff in the border area report that the pace of new arrivals has slowed but that victims of atrocities in Sierra leone continue to trickle across the border," Mr. Janowski said.

The agency is concerned about reports that some 50 Iraqis who had landed on the Greek island of Karpathos are being threatened with return to Turkey. UNHCR wants Greece to allow the Iraqis to apply for asylum should they so wish.

Two Iraqi families have already been sent back to Turkey, despite the fact that their family members were registered as asylum-seekers in Greece, according to reports received by the agency. "We have further reports that other Iraqis have been rounded up and are awaiting deportation," said UNHCR Spokesman Kris Janowski.

"We strongly appeal to the Greek authorities to stop summary deportation of these people, some of whom may be fleeing persecution and may also be in need of protection," Mr. Janowski said. He noted that UNHCR did not consider Turkey a safe country for asylum seekers because of its asylum procedures.

The Board, a thirteen-member independent body in charge of monitoring the implementation of the United Nations drug control treaties, reviewed the world drug situation during its recent session. Established in 1968 as a quasi-judicial organ of the United Nations, the INCB is mandated to monitor the compliance of Governments with the following three main treaties: the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances and the 1988 United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.

During its two-week session, the Board took a detailed and confidential look at how Governments had been living up to their obligations under those three treaties. The Board also decided to take strong action against those Governments that have been identified as consistently not honouring those obligations.

The Board also made confidential assessments of the drug control situation during at the country level during the review of the missions since its last session in November 1997. The missions included visits to Belize, C“te d'Ivoire, Gabon, Israel and the Palestinian Autonomous Areas, Myanmar, the Russian Federation, Suriname, Thailand and the United Kingdom.

Ronaldo Luiz Nazario de Lima, better known simply as "Ronaldo", will become a Special Representative for the UNAIDS 1998 campaign, entitled, "Force for Change: World AIDS Campaign with Young People", which was launched in Moscow last April.

The 21 year-old Brazilian born Ronaldo, who plays for the club Internazionale FC of Milan, said, "As a young person, I am very aware of the threat of this virus, and I believe I can play an important role in standing up to this threat. When I play to win, I play safe!" A poster signed by Ronaldo and carrying the "Play Safe" message has been contributed to the Campaign.

Of the 30 million people infected with HIV or AIDS, at least a third are young people aged 10 to 24 years. The Campaign aims to promote the involvement of young people in community action on HIV/AIDS, increase their access to appropriate education and prevention tools, including condoms, and to strengthen support for young people who are already infected by the disease.

Ronaldo will be playing for his native Brazil in the upcoming World Cup in France.

UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said the observance of World No- Tobacco Day on 31 May should mark the beginning of a global drive to halt the spread of tobacco-related illness.

"There is no cause of premature death more preventable than the use of tobacco," she said. "UNICEF condemns the calculated shift of the tobacco market from its shrinking consumer base in industrialized countries to the vast, predominantly young populations of the developing world." The tobacco industry's actions are a description for global health catastrophe, especially for children and women, who are the prime targets for tobacco advertising and promotion, she added.

Ms. Bellamy described tobacco as a major threat to child rights. She called for an urgent effort to develop a worldwide strategy to treat tobacco products commensurate with the harm they cause, beginning with prohibitions on all direct and indirect tobacco advertising and associated promotional activities aimed at children and young people.

According to the Memorandum of Understanding, which was signed on Friday in Rome, FAO and IFAD will collaborate to help countries implement the Convention to Combat Desertification. The efforts will be aimed at countries, particularly in Africa, that are experiencing serious drought and desertification. The effort will draw on FAO's expertise as a technical assistance agency and IFAD's as a multilateral financing institution.

The agreement encourages cooperation on work for sustainable dry land development and on guidelines to help fight desertification. The two organizations will also prepare data bases, maps and information systems at the local, national, regional and global level to help non- governmental organizations and rural peoples' groups.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said that along the distribution and trade chain, there are many opportunities for the type and quality of the materials to change. As a result, the agency said the materials can become contaminated, resulting in unsafe pharmaceutical products with grave dangers for the patients who use them.

WHO said that the most documented example of contamination is the incorporation of diethylene glycol (DEG) into pharmaceutical preparations. According to WHO, ingestion of DEG may affect the nervous system, liver and kidneys and can lead to death though kidney failure. The latest large-scale, well-documented instance of this was in Haiti in 1996, where some 100 children died after taking contaminated cough syrup, said WHO.

Recognizing the need for international action to prevent such accidents in the future, WHO convened a meeting of experts at its headquarters in Geneva from 25 to 27 May to address this issue. The experts came from 15 countries in various sectors connected with pharmaceuticals.

They recommended that the manufacturing of starting materials should be covered by an authorization from the competent health authority, requiring good manufacturing practice. They also recommended that health authorities should closely monitor the transshipment of starting materials by installing a system of good distribution practice such as requiring traders and agents to hold an authorization from the local government. The experts also recommended that WHO itself should actively develop a list of critical inactive starting materials and provide a systematic way of naming, cataloguing or registering such materials.

Furthermore, the experts recommended that each manufacturer or country should have testing facilities for analysis of starting materials and final pharmaceutical products. Where no such analysis is possible, they added, WHO should advise developing countries to use formulations in essential drugs with ingredients for which they have appropriate testing facilities.

The experts stressed that whereas every party in the chain has his or her own responsibilities, the final responsibility remains with the manufacturer of the final product.

The scientists were concluding a three-day international Symposium entitled "Niels Bohr and the Evolution of Physics in the 20th Century." The symposium, had been organized by the Niels Bohr Institute of Copenhagen and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The gathering, which brought together some 200 participants, most of whom were physicists, paid tribute to the Danish physicist, Niels Bohr who is considered the father of quantum physics.

It ended with a round-table debate which focused mainly on the growing estrangement of large segments of the population from the sciences and science education despite progress the sciences have brought to people's daily lives; scientific thought - by definition critical and individual - as an agent for democracy; the role of sciences in developing countries and international scientific cooperation.

Steven Weinberg the 1979 Nobel Prize Laureate was one of the 15 leading physicists who made presentations during the round-table debate. He addressed the ultimate goal of physics: the search for "a law of everything" that would combine all known particles and forces in a single theory and a single equation to explain the world.

Another participant, Professor Jens Jorgen Gaardhojc of the Niels Bohr Institute stressed the importance of physical research on everyday life in this century. Not only has it led to unprecedented technological progress, it has also changed the grasp of history, extending it a few thousands to billions of years, he said. He added that science has also made it possible for people to wreak destruction on an unprecedented scale. That was an issue tackled by the participants who said that it was impossible to restrict research without stifling progress.

The symposium also awarded the Niels Bohr Gold Medals to four physicists for their important achievements in basic science and for their efforts to narrow the gap between science and society. The recipients were Sivarmakrishna Chandrasekhar of India, Vitaly L. Ginzburg of Russia, and Walter Kohn and Alexander Polyakov of the United States.

According to the new publication, women's life expectancy at birth now exceeds 80 years in 15 countries, up from two countries in 1985. Life expectancy for women in 60 countries or areas around the world is 75 years or more up from 22 countries in 1980. Life expectancy for men exceeds 70 years in 49 countries -- 16 more countries than in 1985.

Between 1987 and 1996, the infant mortality rate declined markedly in some countries in Asia and the Americas, the Yearbook reports. For example, in Cuba, infant mortality decreased from 13.3 per 1,000 live births to 8.0. In Armenia, the rate dropped from 22.8 to 15.1, while in Singapore, the decrease went from 7.4 to 3.8.

Declines in mortality were registered on every continent, as measured by lower infant mortality and increased life expectancy. But life expectancy in Africa is still lower than in other parts of the world. Only African women in Cape Verde, Mauritius, Seychelles and Tunisia have an expectation of life at birth that exceeds 70 years, according to the Yearbook.

The Yearbook contains 21 statistical tables on induced abortion, foetal, perinatal and infant mortality; and on death by age, sex, rural/urban residence, marital status and cause of death. Detailed data on life expectancy and other related statistics are also provided.

From the United Nations home page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.org

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