United Nations Daily Highlights, 98-06-09

United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Tuesday, 9 June, 1998

HEADLINES

• Government leaders stress importance of international cooperation on second day of United Nations drug summit.
• Spokesman for top UN drug official refutes assertion that drug summit is well-intentioned but misdirected.
• International Court of Justice extends deadline in case brought by Paraguay against United States over death sentence.
• United Nations Secretary-General expresses concern about decision to restrict a political party in Tajikistan.
• President of Afghanistan appeals for end to outside interference in conflict in his country.
• United Nations Human Rights Commissioner urges Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to permit presence in Pristina.
• World Food Programme begins stocking food aid for displaced people and refugees from Kosovo.
• World Food Programme continues food distribution to some 100,000 internally displaced Rwandans.
• United Nations refugee agency says refugees from Sierra Leone continue to arrive in Guinea.
• UN Conference on Trade and Development says developing countries could target tourism to boost growth.
• World Health Organization adds new drugs for treatment of liver and lung flukes to list of essential drugs.

Presidents, Prime Ministers and senior officials from 150 countries are attending the United Nations special session on the world drug problem. The 3-day summit is considering the fight against the illicit production, sale, demand, traffic and distribution of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances and will propose new strategies to combat the problem.

Iran's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Kamal Kharrazi, said his government was engaged in a "full-scale war" to combat traffickers who used the country as a transit route to smuggle narcotics from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Europe. Iran used military operations against smugglers who had the latest military equipment including anti-aircraft missiles.

The country spent $400 million a year to control smugglers and another $400 million on demand reduction, including treatment, rehabilitation and social reintegration of addicts, he said. And these measures were carried out without help from donor organizations, he added. Many of Iran's harsh anti- drug measures benefitted consumer countries in Europe, some of whom did not meet their responsibilities and even criticized his Government for its strict stand towards illicit trafficking.

The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Basdeo Panday, said his country is fighting a battle to protect its sovereignty against takeover by drug barons. In 1995, he pointed out, the Government embarked on an aggressive plan to curb the illicit drug trade and regain control of its borders, territorial waters, streets and institutions.

The country was only seven miles from the South American continent and within easy reach of the major cocaine producing areas, he said. Traffickers exploited the unemployed for labour and as a consumer market. There was a dramatic escalation in the drug addiction rate, particularly among the young and resources were diverted away from more pressing developmental needs to deal with the eradication of drugs.

The Minister of Justice for Angola, Paulo Tchipilica said the consumption and trafficking of drugs in his country had become alarming. Because of insufficient control and the vulnerability of its land, sea borders and air space, Angola was essentially used as a transit route for drugs destined for Europe and certain African countries.

He said international assistance was urgently needed to acquire materials and train manpower, probably through a global programme, to help the poorer countries. Regional and bilateral cooperation must be reinforced to achieve integrated rural development as well as to solve the main economic issues that, in most cases, lay behind the drug problem.

A number of speakers called for a balanced approach to deal with the drug problem. Efforts to eradicate illicit crops and counter drug trafficking, they said, must be matched by equally vigorous efforts to reduce demand.

The Minister for Home Affairs for Myanmar, Colonel Tin Hlaing, said his Government was determined to eradicate poppy growing and opium production within 15 years -- a goal which would be achieved sooner with international assistance. Even countries with reliable resources, he noted found it difficult to resolve the drug problem and the donor community had a moral responsibility to support alternative development efforts. Insufficient funding, he added, was the Achilles' heel in the ambitious plan to eliminate illicit crops worldwide during the next 10 years.

The Minister also told the Summit that Myanmar's new approach to poppy eradication was aimed at winning over communities through short and long- term development projects. In 1997, he said, the Mongla region in the Eastern Shan state, an area right in the middle of the poppy growing region, was declared an opium free zone.

Pakistan was one of the biggest casualties of the narcotics problem with over 4 million addicts, the country's Permanent Representative to the UN Ahmad Kamal said. His Government's efforts were a showcase of how to tackle the problem of illicit cultivation. Pakistan involved the military in the fight to combat drug crime, raised its annual anti-drug budget by 20 per cent and introduced capital punishment for drug offenders. It was also moving towards adopting a comprehensive narcotics master plan.

According to the editorial, elements of the plan by UNDCP Executive Director Pino Arlacchi to reduce drug supply and demand worldwide were unrealistic and harmful. It says half the funding for the plan would come from drug-producing countries and the UNDCP would make partners of such unreliable governments as the Taliban in Afghanistan and the military in Myanmar.

Mr. Sandro Tucci said at a press conference in New York that the so- called unreliable funding from producing nations was, in reality, an ongoing plan by countries like Bolivia, which spent $500 million a year to reduce coca production, and Peru, which in two years reduced production by 40 per cent.

Afghanistan had made a clear agreement with Mr. Arlacci and was now providing evidence that its promises were not empty words, the Spokesman continued. Mr. Arlacci went to Afghanistan after the 1997/98 planting season. He stipulated that UNDCP projects would only be implemented if Afghanistan prohibited the use, production, and refining of opium poppies. He also asked them not increase production and to make an opium-free region in Kandahar in 1999.

The Taliban honoured the deal by issuing a proclamation prohibiting the production and refining of opium, except for what had already been planted, Mr. Tucci said. They burnt two tons of opium on 1 June, harvested from areas outside those already planted in 1997/98.

The Spokesman said UNDCP dealt with Afghanistan and Myanmar because they were the people growing opium and the alternative was to do nothing. He added that 80 per cent of the heroin produced in Afghanistan was shipped through the Balkan or southern Mediterranean routes to Europe, where there were many addicts.

Referring to the editorial's claim that where crop substitution was successful, drug cultivation simply moved next door, Mr. Tucci said cheap, satellite monitoring systems would allow the UNDCP to deal with governments to prevent this phenomena. He said he disagreed with the assertion that the drug summit's proposals were tilted toward attacking supply. For the first time, he noted, demand reduction was viewed as an equal partner for supply reduction.

The individual in question, Francisco Angel Breard, was executed in the United States on 14 April, just over a week after Paraguay instituted proceedings at the ICJ.

On Tuesday, the ICJ decided to extend the time-limits for written pleadings in the case. Paraguay will have until 8 October 1998 to file its documents, and the United States until 9 April 1999 to respond. This decision was taken by the Court's Vice-President, Judge Christopher G. Weeramantry, because its President is a national of the United States.

Paraguay contends that Mr. Breard was arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to death without the State of Virginia advising him of his right to assistance by the consular officers of Paraguay, as required by the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. Both the United States and Paraguay are parties to that treaty.

Paraguay also maintains that its consular officers were never notified by the United States of Mr. Breard's detention. According to Paraguay, its consular officers were notified by third parties more than two years after Mr. Breard's trial and sentencing.

Under the Vienna Convention's Optional Protocol -- ratified by Paraguay and the United States -- "disputes arising out of the interpretation or application of the Convention shall lie within the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice."

The Secretary-General conveyed his concern to President Emomali Rakhmonov of Tajikistan during a bilateral meeting with the Tajik leader.

Spokesman Fred Eckhard said the Secretary-General expressed "serious concern" that if enacted into law, this decision would remove one of the main pillars of the General Peace Agreement. Under the terms of that agreement, banned political parties are to be legalized following the public declaration by UTO that it was disbanding its armed forces.

The Secretary-General voiced the expectation that the Conciliation Commission established by President Rakhmanov would resolve this matter in the spirit of the General Agreement signed by the Tajik Government and the United Tajik Opposition, the spokesman said.

"This is not a civil war, it is an imposed war from outside," President Rabbani told reporters at United Nations Headquarters in New York. He said the Taliban was a new force, "very much made somewhere else and imposed on us" and questioned where they had come from, and who had helped train them. "I have always said that if there was no foreign interference in Afghanistan, there would not be any civil war in Afghanistan," said President Rabbani.

President Rabbani called on the neighbouring countries to cooperate in bringing peace and stability to Afghanistan. He said he had spoken to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif about the issue on 11 May. "I do trust the good intentions of Mr. Sharif, who is indeed intending to help to bring about peace and stability in Afghanistan," said President Rabbani.

The President painted a stark picture of life in Afghanistan since the Taliban entered Kabul. He blamed the Taliban for an increase in the cultivation and trafficking of narcotic drugs in the country. President Rabbani also said that the Taliban acted cruelly towards women, and that they had closed the doors of schools not just to women and girls, but also to men. "The schools were closed, universities were cut off, and the whole system of education was abandoned," he pointed out.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Mrs. Mary Robinson said that she was deeply disturbed by continuing violence in that region where more than 130 persons have reportedly been killed in violent incidents mostly in the area around Decani and Djakovica. "It is reported that 37 people were killed in the last four days of May alone," Mrs. Robinson added.

The Human Rights Commissioner said her office in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has reported that there was a "grave and worsening" human rights and humanitarian situation in that country. "There is a daily increase in reports of human rights violations including arbitrary arrest and abduction, and persons missing," she said. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has also received reports of arbitrary killings, shelling of villages by police forces, and attacks on police and military by armed Albanian groups, said Mrs. Robinson.

She noted that although her staff has been able to obtain firsthand reports from persons who have fled the violence, the areas most severely affected by the armed clashes have been inaccessible to international agencies for weeks.

According to Mrs. Robinson despite assurances which were given by Yugoslav officials that humanitarian agencies would be permitted into the affected areas, those agencies report that they are still being turned back by police.

Mrs. Robinson pointed out that the violence has spread to the Serbian- Albanian border, where, for the first time, Yugoslav government sources cited clashes with armed groups that the government said had entered from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

The Human Rights Commissioner expressed concern that Serbian authorities have not responded to her office's inquiries regarding the fate and whereabouts of persons allegedly held by Serbian police.

Stressing the need to have free and unimpeded access to information in order to address the causes and consequences of the crisis in Kosovo, Mrs. Robinson called on the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to allow her office to establish a constant presence in the province.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday that a three- truck convoy carrying 62 metric tonnes of high protein biscuits left Bosnia for Kosovo on Monday. The convoy is expected to arrive in Pristina on Thursday with food sufficient to feed about 5,500 people for one month.

The WFP has also begun to transport 500 tonnes of emergency food rations from Bosnia to Bajram Curry for the refugees who have fled to Albania. The food would feed 35,000 people for one month. The food agency is also dispatching two trucks with 47 metric tonnes of high protein biscuits from Pisa, Italy to Albania to meet the needs of approximately 5,000 refugees for one month.

In addition, WFP has stocked 1,000 metric tonnes of food, including wheat flour, pulses and vegetable oil in the region to be quickly transported to the needy.

Thousands of people have fled their homes in the Kosovo province in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia where Serb security forces have mounted a massive crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists. According to WFP, so far, about 7,500 refugees have been registered in Albania while up to 6,000 displaced people have sought shelter in Montenegro.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said that the distribution began last week in the prefectures of Gisenyi and Ruhengeri where 200 metric tonnes of food were provided to 25,000 people in four communes. The agency said that it will distribute a total of 1,200 tonnes of food aid over the next two months.

Access to the two prefectures had been limited by insecurity in the northwestern Rwanda, including frequent incursions by rebels. "Up to now, we've only been able to bring in small amounts of relief food to a few areas," said Gerard Van Dijk, WFP's Country Director for Rwanda. He said the food agency now hopes to reach more remote villages where reports indicate that displaced people are in urgent need of help.

According to WFP, the nutritional status of many Rwandans is deteriorating to "alarming" levels as a result of virtually no access to land for cultivation and little money, if any, to buy some of the little food available in local markets. "What's absolutely tragic is that this part of Rwanda has traditionally been self-sufficient, and at times even produced surpluses which were sent to other parts of the country," Mr. Van Dijk said.

WFP said that it is transporting all its supplies to the insecure region under military escort. Staff from other United Nations agencies such as the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the United Nations Children's fund are accompanying WFP to assess the additional humanitarian needs of the affected populations, the agency said.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that 6,000 new arrivals were counted during the first week of June.

UNHCR said that according to information reaching its staff in Guinea, fighting between rebel holdouts and the forces of the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) continued in large parts of eastern Sierra Leone. The agency added that the fighting might cause a new upsurge in refugee flows.

UNHCR noted that the mortality rate has been significantly reduced among new arrivals in the area of Gueckedou. However, the agency said, malnutrition is still one of the leading causes of death among the refugee population. Other main causes of death are diarrhoea and malaria, the United Nations agency added.

According to the refugee agency, many newly arriving children still suffer from malnutrition. 216 severely underfed children were brought to nutritional centres in recent weeks, said UNHCR, adding that 78 of those children were in acutely malnourished condition.

Developing countries today account for nearly 30 per cent of world tourism receipts. Tourism is the only major sector in international trade in services in which developing countries have consistently had surpluses, according to UNCTAD.

Experts from over 50 countries, international organizations, as well as companies and national associations are participating in the three-day meeting, which began on Monday.

In his opening address, UNCTAD Secretary-General Rubens Ricupero suggested that, in the light of structural and technological change in the world economy, tourism could replace the role of textiles and garments as a starting point for economic take-off in many developing countries. Those countries could exploit the potential of tourism to integrate into the international economy, rather than following the traditional path of industrialization, he said.

Growth through the export of traditional products, such as textiles, is today hampered by excessive competition and restricted market access, Mr. Ricupero pointed out. Moreover, for least developed and island- developing countries, tourism is one of the few options, if not the only one, for export-oriented development in the medium-term.

Francesco Friangialli, Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization, called for the establishment of a special regime covering national tourism offices abroad in order to facilitate their tasks. He said a common and internationally agreed definition of tourism was needed for statistical purposes and international negotiations. The World Tourism Organisation was working on such a definition, which will need the approval of the international community, he said.

According to UNCTAD, the positive economic impact of tourism is felt in terms of foreign exchange earnings, tax revenues, investment and job creation. These positive effects, however, can be counteracted by the remittance of foreign exchange earnings abroad, and by an inability to deal with the effects of man-made and natural disasters.

In its latest fact sheet, WHO says that the new drug is triclabendazole. The health agency said that it has also introduced zidovudine (AZT) into the WHO Model List of Essential Drugs for specific treatment of HIV- infected pregnant women in order to reduce mother-to- child transmission of the virus that causes AIDS. Several other drugs for the treatment of opportunistic infections have been added to the list, said WHO.

WHO describes essential drugs as those that satisfy the health care needs of the majority of the population and which should, therefore, be available at all times in adequate amounts and appropriate dosage forms. The agency says that the concept of essential drugs has been disseminated and promoted extensively at the country level by WHO Action Programme on Essential Drugs, and by disease control programmes in WHO, international and non- governmental organizations throughout the world and bilateral agencies.

The list of essential drugs is a model to guide countries and health services in developing their own national and local lists. According to WHO, such lists should be based on evidence, considering prevalent diseases, treatment facilities, training and experience of health personnel, financial resources, and genetic as well as demographic factors.

WHO says that in the preparation of its tenth Model List of Essential Drugs, priorities were to "fine tune" the list in the light of the latest evidence, to correct any major omissions and to address drug treatment issues for some of the major health priorities today, including the problem of antibiotic resistance, asthma and diabetes.

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

United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next Article