United Nations Daily Highlights, 98-11-02

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Monday, 2 November, 1998

HEADLINES

• General Assembly calls upon Iraq to immediately resume dialogue with International Atomic Energy Agency.
• Secretary-General says Iraq's non-cooperation with arms inspectors violates Security Council resolutions.
• United Nations may scale down its peacekeeping mission in Georgia due to security concerns.
• Meeting on United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change opens in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• United Nations system-wide coordination meeting ends with agreement to tackle globalization's challenges.
• General Assembly appeals for speedy relief effort to help victims of hurricane Mitch.
• Indonesia and Malaysia ask International Court of Justice for ruling on two islands in Celebes Sea.
• United Nations meeting on crime in Asia-Pacific region opens in Bangkok.

Acting on a resolution concerning the Agency's work, the Assembly voted 113 in favour to one against -- Democratic People's Republic of Korea -- with 8 abstentions.

Under the resolution, Iraq was called upon to cooperate with the IAEA in accordance with its obligation under the relevant Security Council resolutions and the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq and the Secretary-General on 23 February. The Assembly stressed that "greater transparency by Iraq would contribute greatly to the resolution of the few remaining questions and concerns."

By the same resolution, the Assembly expressed deep concern about the continuing non-compliance of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea with its IAEA safeguards agreement. That country was urged to cooperate fully with the Agency in the implementation of the safeguards agreement. The Assembly also urged the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to preserve all information relevant to verifying the accuracy and completeness of its initial report on the inventory of nuclear material subject to safeguards.

The Assembly urged all States to strive for effective and harmonious international cooperation in carrying out the work of the Agency; in promoting the use of nuclear energy and the application of the necessary measures to strengthen further the safety of nuclear installations and to minimize risks to life, health and the environment; in strengthening technical assistance and cooperation for developing countries; and in ensuring the effectiveness and efficiency of the Agency's safeguards systems.

The Assembly also welcomed the Agency's decisions to strengthen its technical cooperation activities, "which should contribute to achieving sustainable development in developing countries." In addition, it welcomed the measures taken by the Agency in support of efforts to prevent illicit trafficking in nuclear materials and other radioactive sources.

In another action on Monday, the Assembly decided to appropriate some $78.2 million for three United Nations peacekeeping operations for the period from 1 July 1998 to 30 June 1999, on the recommendation of its Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary).

Acting without a vote, the Assembly adopted resolutions on financing the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), the United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UNMOT) and the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP). For MINURSO, an additional amount of some $37.2 million gross ($34.4 million net) was appropriated; for UNMOT, approximately $12 million gross (about $11.1 million net); and for UNPREDEP, $29 million gross (approximately $28.2 million net).

Speaking to reporters as he entered United Nations Headquarters on Monday, the Secretary-General said that the Council was considering the matter and there would be further discussions during the week. The Secretary-General discussed the latest development in Iraq with Richard Butler, the Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) which is overseeing the elimination of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Executive Chairman of UNSCOM, Charles Duelfer, wrote to the President of the Security Council that UNSCOM's Baghdad Monitoring and Verification Centre had been orally informed by an Iraqi official on Saturday of the decisions taken by the Revolutionary Command Council and the Ba'ath Party. The UNSCOM official said that the Iraqi authorities had decided to suspend, stop or cease all activities of the Commission, including monitoring, and that the monitoring teams would not be allowed to conduct any activities.

Mr. Duelfer said that members of the Commission's monitoring teams were not requested to depart from Iraq and that UNSCOM's cameras and other equipment would remain in place and working, but visiting those cameras would not be allowed. As for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it would be allowed to continue its monitoring activities provided that they were independent from UNSCOM. Mr. Duelfer said that the Commission was not provided with a written text of these decisions.

Reacting to the latest development in Iraq, members of the Security Council on Saturday condemned the decision and said they considered it a flagrant violation of Council resolutions and of the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Secretary-General and the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq. Council members demanded that the Iraqi leadership immediately and unconditionally rescind the decision.

"Unless the parties take urgent measures to improve the security environment for the United Nations, I shall be obliged to draw down the strength of the Mission and to consider relocating United Nations personnel and facilities to more secure locations," the Secretary-General writes in a report to the Security Council issued on Monday. "Should UNOMIG be compelled to withdraw from Abkhazia, Georgia, the situation in the security and restricted weapons zones would almost certainly become more serious, and a return to open hostilities could not be excluded."

In the light of this, the Secretary-General urges Member States to use their influence with the parties to ensure that the security environment improves significantly. In the meantime, he recommends that the Security Council consider establishing a self-protection unit charged with guarding the Mission's static installations against both criminally and politically motivated attacks. Alternatively, he proposes increasing the number of internationally recruited security personnel to provide internal security to the Mission's installations.

The report also contains an appeal to the Georgian and Abkhaz sides to expand their relations at all levels of society in order to "create a network of contacts that could help to unblock the political stalemate regarding the two core problems -- the political status of Abkhazia and the return of refugees and displaced persons." The Secretary-General says that the fact that the Georgian and Abkhaz sides met in Athens in mid-October was "in itself, an achievement, considering that recent events brought both sides close to the brink of a full-fledged resumption of hostilities several times this year." He calls on them to implement in good faith the measures agreed upon at the Athens meeting.

"The Kyoto Conference on the Climate Change Convention was a high-profile event because for the first time industrialized countries adopted emission- reduction targets that are legally binding," said Michael Zammit Cutajar, the Convention's Executive Secretary. "In Buenos Aires, governments will try to establish the rules of the game for reaching these targets."

"These rules are critically important because they will affect the economic costs of cutting emissions over the next decade as well as the debate on future commitments for both developed and developing countries," he added.

High on the Buenos Aires agenda is the need to flesh out the Protocol's three "mechanisms," which are intended to help developed countries reduce the costs of reaching their emission-reductions targets.

The Buenos Aires conference will also review progress under the 1992 Climate Change Convention. It will work on devising practical steps for promoting the transfer of climate-friendly technologies to developing countries. Decisions are also needed on the role of the Global Environment Facility in financing Convention-related activities, the guidelines by which developing countries will provide information on their greenhouse gas emissions and national climate change programmes, and the actions needed to minimize the adverse impacts on developing countries of both climate change and policies to limit emissions. Another outstanding issue from Kyoto is that of "sinks", notably forests, which by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere help to reduce net emissions.

As of Monday morning, 1,357 delegates from 156 governments, 2000 members of 164 observer organizations, and more than 600 journalists have been registered to participate in the Conference.

Participants in the meeting of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC), which is chaired by the Secretary-General, committed themselves to a united effort to tackle development challenges arising from globalization and the adverse effects of the financial crisis.

In a statement released on Monday, Executive Heads of the United Nations Agencies, Funds and Programmes as well as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said they detected signs of hope that the world is beginning to emerge from the crisis, but added that it had the potential to worsen. They underlined that effects of the financial turmoil could be felt long after the crisis was over. Recent events, according to the statement, threatened to unravel much of the social progress achieved over the last 40 years. There was an urgent need, they said, to bring immediate help to those suffering acute hardship as a result of the crisis, but also to address long-term issues.

The Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Nitin Desai, told reporters on Monday that the meeting had recognized that "the social and human consequences of the crisis require an integrated response from the United Nations." He said the agencies concerned had agreed to help countries in or near crisis to establish the capacity to monitor the social and human impact. In addition, they had decided to work together with governments to foster institutional reforms and a social safety net.

In a related development, the United Nations Secretary-General and the President of the General Assembly on Monday expressed condolences to the victims of the hurricane and called for quick reaction by the international community.

In a statement issued by his Spokesman in New York, Secretary- General Kofi Annan urged the international community to show the "utmost generosity" in the aftermath of the hurricane, which has left thousands dead and several hundred thousand suffering throughout Central America.

The President of the General Assembly, Didier Opertti of Uruguay, said he had been greatly saddened by the loss of human life and extensive material damage caused by the aftermath of hurricane Mitch in Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. He too appealed to the international community to urgently and generously extend all necessary assistance to alleviate the grave consequences of this disaster.

In response to requests for international assistance from the governments of Honduras and Nicaragua, the United Nations has dispatched two teams to assist those countries in assessing the needs and coordinating relief operations.

They did so by notifying the Court of a Special Agreement which was signed between them on 31 May 1997 at Kuala Lumpur and which entered into force on 14 May 1998.

In the Special Agreement, the two countries request the Court "to determine on the basis of the treaties, agreements and any other evidence furnished by [them], whether sovereignty over Pulau Ligitan and Pulau Sipadan belongs to the Republic of Indonesia or to Malaysia."

They express the wish to settle their dispute "in the spirit of friendly relations" and declare that they will accept the Court's judgement as final and binding.

The meeting, which began on Monday, is sponsored by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. It focuses on ways of promoting the rule of law, combatting international crime, keeping pace with crime prevention techniques, and ensuring that justice is fair for all. Participants include leading government crime officials as well as representatives of non-governmental organizations and selected United Nations agencies.

The fight against transnational crime will figure high on the agenda, with special attention to issues such as extradition and mutual legal assistance, economic and financial crimes, money-laundering, corruption, trafficking in human beings, terrorism and giving technical assistance to countries in need.

The Bangkok meeting is the first in a series of four regional meetings that aim to collect input for the tenth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders, scheduled to take place in Vienna in April, 2000. Three other meetings will be held before the end of February: in Beirut, for the Western Asian region; in Kampala for Africa; and in San Jose for Latin America.

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

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