United Nations Daily Highlights, 98-06-18

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Thursday, 18 June, 1998

HEADLINES

• Security Council expresses concern at fighting in Guinea Bissau.
• Diplomatic conference in Rome debates jurisdiction and independence of international criminal court.
• Humanitarian Coordinator says despite hopeful signs, malnutrition remains a problem in Iraq.
• United Nations seminar on economic situation in Asia ends with calls for stricter supervision of banks.
• United States ambassador to United Nations says he will leave a great institution that has reformed itself.

The President of the Council, Ambassador Antonio Monteiro of Portugal told reporters outside the Council chamber that the Council appealed to the international community to help Guinea Bissau "in this difficult moment."

The Security Council said it supported the mediation efforts of Foreign Minister Sedat Jobe of the Gambia and others involved in trying to end the fighting between mutineers and government forces.

Ambassador Monteiro said the Council hoped that the fighting would be over soon and constitutional order re-established in Guinea Bissau.

The five-week conference, which began on Monday, is negotiating a draft statute for the proposed court and delegates must decide what crimes the court will judge. So far, there is broad consensus that it should have jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The conference is debating whether to include other crimes such as aggression and crimes committed during internal conflicts.

Bangladesh's delegate, Muhammad Zamir, urged the Conference to consider bringing the dangers of nuclear proliferation within the purview of the court's statute. He also said systematic sexual violence and gender crimes committed during armed conflicts should be considered. Nigeria's Attorney General and Justice Minister, Abdullahi Ibrahim, also proposed that the use or threat to use nuclear weapons, land mines and other weapons of mass destruction be considered as war crimes.

Barbara Bedont from the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom said a provision in the court's statute lists chemical weapons but excludes landmines, blinding laser weapons and nuclear weapons. This would create an "absurd" result, she said, whereby, the court would have jurisdiction if someone killed a civilian with a poisoned arrow or dum- dum bullet, but would be unable to act if the person incinerated a 100,000 civilians with a nuclear weapon.

The Thai delegate, Samboon Sangiambut, proposed that illicit drug trafficking be a crime. He said even when countries cooperated to fight drug smuggling, it was not enough to combat it. However, the Malaysian representative, Ramanathan Vangadesan, said so-called treaty crimes, including terrorism, crimes against UN personnel and drug trafficking should be best left to national courts to deal with.

Governments are also divided on how much say the Security Council should have in the work of the proposed court. The Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, Iuvi Ushakov, said his Government could not accept attempts to establish a court separate from the Security Council.

The United States also wants the Security Council to play a key role in deciding what crimes and which defendants are prosecuted. Yesterday, Ambassador Bill Richardson said, "this court cannot and should not address every crime that goes unpunished, no matter how horrific or atrocious it may be."

However, the Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, cited broad support for an independent, effective, impartial court. An insistence by the United States on a 100 per cent, iron-clad guarantee that its citizens could not be brought before the court would destroy its universality, he said. Governments should not capitulate to a minority of recalcitrant States, some of which will not ratify the statute in any event. They should reject any proposals that would seriously weaken the court's independence.

Briefing reporters in Baghdad on the implementation of the oil-for- food programme, Mr. Halliday said that the implementation of the first three phases of the programme have resulted in some improvement in such aspects of life as nutrition, health, water and sanitation, education and food production. "In some cases, we are no longer witnessing a further deterioration while others may have begun to improve slightly," he said.

However, Mr. Halliday pointed out, there had not been a marked improvement in such areas as access to animal proteins, potable water and good sanitation. That is why malnutrition remained a problem in Iraq, he said.

Citing a recent nutritional survey of children under five years of age conducted by United Nations agencies, Mr. Halliday said that more than a quarter of Iraqi children were still suffering from chronic malnutrition. Nearly a tenth of the children surveyed, he added, suffered from acute malnutrition and a quarter were underweight. A similar survey a year ago showed essentially the same result, he said.

During the two-day meeting, attended by over 100 representatives from 29 Asia-Pacific countries, experts also discussed the creation of a World Financial Organization to oversee and ensure sound international financial flows. They agreed to cooperate on financial sector regulation, common standards and sharing of information.

The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and the International Monetary fund had invited officials from Finance Ministries and Central Banks in Asia to discuss management of capital flows needed to bring Asia's economies back on track.

In a written message to the seminar, United Nations Secretary- General Kofi Annan said the real threat was social strife, a breakdown of law and order and loss of self-esteem.

He called for suggestions on how to preserve the benefits of open financial markets while trying to prevent crises like the current one.

Speaking to journalists at United Nations headquarters following a meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Ambassador Bill Richardson said that he had been given a new assignment of Secretary of Energy in the United States government.

United States President Bill Clinton appointed Richard Holbrooke as the country's representative who will take over from Bill Richardson. Mr. Richardson said he would still be at the United Nations for about two months pending confirmation by the Congress of the United States.

Mr. Richardson said he liked his job at the United Nations because he was dealing with the Secretary-General "who is a human being" and because the United Nations "is an important forum not just for the United States but for the world."

Ambassador Richardson said that the most lasting impression of the Organization was seeing the Secretary-General come back after his mission to Iraq where he averted a confrontation over Iraq's reluctance to allow United Nations weapons inspectors to enter certain sites.

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

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