United Nations Daily Highlights, 98-07-10

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Friday, 10 June, 1998

HEADLINES

• Secretary-General, on eve of Latin American trip, says UN is ready to assist Colombia with internal problems.
• Secretary-General hopeful that Nigerian political prisoners will soon be free.
• Head of World Food Programme calls on international community to help end fighting in southern Sudan.
• United Nations appeals for humanitarian assistance to Guinea- Bissau.
• Committee on discrimination against women criticizes use of cultural exceptions to Convention.
• Head of UN Population Fund says population growth depends on education for women and the behaviour of men.

Mr. Annan said he had communicated this message to President-elect Andres Pastrana in a congratulatory message he had sent last week.

Earlier this year, the UN Commission on Human Rights had expressed its deep concern over the gravity and scale of violations of human rights reported to its office in Bogota, Colombia. The Commission had also expressed its preoccupation at the intensification of armed conflict in that country.

The Secretary-General made his comments on the eve of an 11-day official visit to five countries in Latin America. Colombia is not among the countries the Secretary-General plans to visit on this trip.

Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Guatemala and Mexico will host Mr. Annan on his second visit to the continent. Last year Mr. Annan met with government officials and UN staff in Santiago, Chile.

Among the topics which are expected to be covered by the Secretary- General during his meetings are economic issues and peace-keeping contributions. He also expects to meet with members of the private sector there.

In Mexico, the Secretary-General will also be talking to government representatives about the situation in the southern state of Chiapas, where a stand-off continues between government forces and the Zapatista National Liberation Army. The visit to Guatemala will include meetings with the staff of the United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA).

Asked if he had any preferences among Latin American countries seeking a seat in the Security Council, the Secretary-General said, on a lighter note, that "if we are talking about soccer, I may have an idea." Mr. Annan added that Security Council reform is a matter that is in the hands of the membership.

Mr. Annan said he had been in touch with the recently installed leader of Nigeria, General Abdusalam Abubakar, who is currently meeting with the Nigerian military council to finalize plans for return to civilian rule.

"I reminded him that it would help if all political prisoners would be released immediately," the Secretary-General said. "These measures would help to ease the tension and reassure the population."

The Secretary-General added that in his contacts with General Abubakar he has found that "he is serious, he is well-intentioned and he would want to move Nigeria on to democratic civilian rule."

Mr. Annan made his comments at a press briefing that covered a variety of issues. He also answered questions on the situation between India and Pakistan, United States arrears to the budget of the United Nations, Libya, Kosovo, Iraq, as well as his upcoming visit to five Latin American countries.

"The fighting in Sudan is perpetuating untold aguish among the millions of people we are trying to save, " said Catherine Bertini, in a press release issued by the food relief agency.

WFP is currently facing a shortfall of food from donor countries valued at $78.6 million. The agency is targeting assistance to 2.6 million people throughout Sudan, but the great majority of the civilian population in need of assistance is concentrated in the South.

In the last month, WFP has been forced to evacuate its food distribution teams from insecure areas or divert its food drop operations at least five times because of the intensity of the fighting. "Until there is peace, " Ms. Bertini said " our job in feeding the needy will continue to remain extremely difficult and many people will continue to suffer from malnutrition in southern Sudan."

The appeal requests $ 28.72 million to meet the vital needs of about 350, 000 civilians until December. The money would be used to provide food, water, basic sanitation and medical aid as well as seeds and agricultural tools for the new planting season.

In related news, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Mrs. Sadako Ogata, stated on Friday that borders with Guinea-Bissau must be opened to allow humanitarian aid to reach the displaced civilians. Mrs. Ogata said that the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) is ready to move supplies from Dakar, Senegal, within 24 hours as soon as the crossing points are opened.

Fighting between the government forces of President Joao Bernardo Vieira and the rebel army units of General Ansumane Mane erupted in early June.

Committee members singled out reservations to two articles of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women: one dealing with legal and administrative measures to eliminate discrimination, and the other on eliminating discrimination in marriage and the family.

A number of States, the Committee noted, justify reservations on the grounds that their national law, tradition, religion or culture is not compatible with the Convention principles. The Committee said these reservations were impermissible, and should be reviewed and modified, or withdrawn.

According to Sylvia Cartright, a CEDAW expert from New Zealand,"a reservation is something they should work towards removing, not something that should never be reviewed."

The Convention, which was adopted by the General Assembly in 1979, came into force in 1981. Countries that have ratified the Convention are legally bound to put the provisions into practice.

In her message for World Population Day, which is held yearly on 11 July, Dr. Sadik said that choice for women "depends partly on education," adding that "it depends crucially on the behaviour of men."

"Men -- as fathers, husbands, teachers and leaders -- must be prepared to acknowledge women's right to make choices, and to support the choices they make," Dr. Sadik said. "If women can choose, they will have fewer children with than their mothers did. Families will be smaller and population growth slower," Dr. Sadik said, noting that in 1999 the population of the world will be twice what it was in 1960.

In another statement issued for World Population Day, Klaus Töpfer, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said that "the population issue is not about numbers in the abstract. It is about human well-being -- present and future."

Mr. Töpfer said technology could come to the aid of policy-makers seeking to address issues of population and the environment. He specifically mentioned modern geographic information systems and the use of electronic overlay mapping to help identify "hot-spots" of harmful interactions between population and environment.

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

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