United Nations Daily Highlights, 98-06-22

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Monday, 22 June, 1998

HEADLINES

• Secretary-General recommends UN peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic be extended until 15 September.
• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees warns of impending outflow of people from Guinea-Bissau.
• Human rights violations persist in Guatemala, but fewer are politically motivated, UN mission reports.
• UN-sponsored conference on children affected by armed conflict opens in London.
• Experts who monitor treaty to protect women's rights meet at United Nations headquarters in New York.
• United Nations refugee agency and International Committee of Red Cross say they face new risks.
• UN report says earth's ozone shield could recover in 50 years if Montreal Protocol is fully implemented.
• Italy's Ambassador says reform of Security Council must not be piecemeal and must enjoy overwhelming support.

In his report to the Security Council, the Secretary-General says that if preparations for elections are in place before the mandate expires, he would submit detailed recommendations on possible UN involvement in the electoral process. Until then, MINURCA would continue to provide advice and technical assistance to electoral bodies, he says.

According to MINURCA, 90 to 100 days are needed to prepare for credible elections. The Secretary-General says he might recommend the deployment of UN troops in key locations outside the capital Bangui to protect electoral observers. In the meantime, he recommends that the MINURCA conduct reconnaissance missions and provide security escorts outside the capital to support UN humanitarian activities and assess the situation.

The Mission, which began operations on 15 April, has helped to maintain a secure and stable environment in Bangui and contributed to regional peace and security, the Secretary-General says. However, he says, the country's political climate is permeated by division and distrust, and national reconciliation and security are still fragile. Urgent action is needed to restructure the defence and security forces, organize free elections and for economic and social recovery. Without decisive domestic efforts and external support, the Secretary-General warns, the country might well return to instability and serious violence.

MINURCA took over from regional peacekeepers, the Inter-African Mission to Monitor the Bangui Agreements (MISAB). It has been supervising and controlling weapons collection and also supports UN humanitarian activities throughout the country.

The last international UNHCR staff member left the capital of Bissau on 16 June. Most of the city's residents have fled, and groups of civilians numbering in the tens of thousands are without food, drinking water or health care in the country's interior, according to UNHCR.

Mrs. Ogata warned that the situation could result in famine, refugee outflows into neighbouring countries, and threats to the safety of some 5, 000 Senegalese refugees who have been living in Guinea-Bissau since 1992.

UNHCR staff have registered several hundred refugees from Bissau who arrived in Senegal by boat.

Ms. Ogata appealed to regional heads of State to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Guinea-Bissau. "Already, many tens of thousands of men, women and children have fled the capital," she said in a recent letter to the Presidents of Guinea-Bissau, Senegal and Guinea.

Among those murdered was Reverend Juan Jose Gerardi, auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Guatemala and Coordinator of the Archdiocese Human Rights Office. His death came two days after he submitted a report providing an account of the human rights violations that occurred during 36 years of internal armed conflict in Guatemala.

The United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA) urged the authorities to redouble their efforts to "overcome the traditional shortcomings of the judicial investigation system" and fully assist in the investigation of Bishop Gerardi's death "in order to promote confidence in the possibility of halting impunity."

According to MINUGUA's latest report, released on Monday, despite the grave nature of rights violations, they are "not generally characterized as being politically motivated or in response to government instructions to commit and conceal them." On the other hand, there has been a continuing high level of criminal violence and a feeling of insecurity on the part of citizens.

Overall, there has been a decline in alleged violations of the right to individual liberty, due process and freedom of association and assembly, but complaints concerning the right to life, integrity and security of person, and freedom of movement and residence are on the rise.

The symposium was opened by the Special Representative of the Secretary- General on Children in Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, who stressed the need to find ways to make a difference on the ground, and called on governments to make this part of their agendas. Separate working groups met in the afternoon to tackle the questions of advocacy, rehabilitation, protection and standards as they relate to war- traumatised children.

The purpose of the symposium, according to Ahmad Fawzi, the Director of the United Nations Information Centre in London, is to generate "greater support for the rights, protection and welfare of children all over the world who are caught up in the horrors of war, or who are forced to give violent expression to the hatreds of adults." Mr. Fawzi called on participants to identify concrete steps which governments could take to help Mr. Otunnu fulfil his mandate.

The two-day symposium is being organised by the United Kingdom's Department for International Development, with the collaboration of the United Nations Office of the Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict, the United Nations Information Centre in London and the United Kingdom National Committee for the United Nations Children's Fund.

Angela King, the Secretary-General's Special Adviser on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women, was speaking on Monday before the 23-member expert body which monitors implementation of the Convention. She said there was evidence of increased commitment to women's human rights within the UN system. However, she warned of the need to guard against complacency and to bridge the gap between ratification and implementation of the Convention.

During its three-week session, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women will hear reports from South Africa; Slovakia; Nigeria; Panama; the United Republic of Tanzania; New Zealand, Peru and the Republic of Korea.

The Committee is the only UN human rights treaty-monitoring body to deal exclusively with women. It monitors implementation of the Convention which came into force in 1981. Countries that have ratified or acceded to the Convention are legally bound to put its provisions into practice and report periodically on compliance.

In a statement released on Monday, UNHCR and the ICRC said new risks have emerged from the changing face of armed conflict, which is marked by the proliferation of undisciplined armed groups. Many humanitarian operations are taking place in areas where law and order has entirely broken down, and organized crime and banditry threaten relief efforts. The statement points out that aid workers face increased risks when they are perceived as having witnessed war crimes or crimes against humanity.

The result is a threat to both the integrity of humanitarian operations and to the aid workers themselves. "Unfortunately, the people who brave danger and hardship trying to help others more and more frequently become victims of violence themselves," said High Commissioner Sadako Ogata, adding, "There must be a limit to how much we can take."

ICRC President Cornelio Sommaruga stressed the urgent need to strengthen respect for international humanitarian law. "Particularly the civilian population is now often the target of military operations," he said.

The past few years have seen a sharp increase in attacks against humanitarian workers throughout the world, who have been operating in war zones where law and order has broken down. As a result, both UNHCR and the ICRC have stepped up security procedures in the field and are watching carefully for signs of stress and trauma among their field staff.

A report released on Monday by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) confirms the effectiveness of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. The report, entitled, "Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion -- 1998", was prepared by more than 200 scientists from around the world and was reviewed earlier this month by 77 scientists from 27 countries.

While welcoming the report's findings, UNEP Executive Director Klaus Topfer cautioned against complacency. The use of economic instruments has played an important role in the phase-out of ozone-depleting chemicals achieved so far by the industrialized countries, he said. The developing countries, due to begin their phase-out next year, could speed up the process by using these instruments in addition to faster implementation of projects sanctioned by the Montreal Multilateral Fund, so far at a cost of $740 million, he said.

The Secretary-General of WHO, G.O.P Obasi, said the agency's global network of stations is detecting lower rates of increase in bromine and a decline of chlorine concentrations from ozone-destructive substances in the troposphere, as a result of the restrictions made by the Montreal Protocol. Firm signs of ozone recovery, he said, might not be detected for 20 years, due to natural atmospheric and ozone variability. He urged governments to continue to expand their atmospheric monitoring and research.

In a statement to the open-ended working group on the question of equitable representation on and increase in membership of the Security Council, Ambassador Fulci challenged the "phased" approach to Council reform, which would break up the issue into various parts for consideration at different stages. "The piecemeal strategy is an attempt to get the bandwagon rolling, to convey the misleading impression that the enlargement of the oligarchy is inevitable," said Ambassador Fulci.

Mr. Fulci also stressed that any effort to reform the Council must enjoy overwhelming support. He questioned those who proposed that anything less than a two-thirds majority would suffice on any measure that would establish new, irreversible permanent seats on the Council. "We are talking about giving an enormous, absolute, permanent power to a few selected nations who would become ipso facto unaccountable to the General Assembly, with the risk of transforming all other members of our Organization into permanent spectators," he said.

Italy was not stalling and certainly did not favour the status quo, Ambassador Fulci stressed. "No, we more than others are against the status quo, but we are equally against replacing the status quo with an even more exclusive and elitist Security Council, one based on privilege and the construction of a caste system in the UN reminiscent of ancient empires: an outcome that we will continue to fight to the very end with all our strength," he concluded.

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

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