United Nations Daily Highlights, 99-03-03

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Wednesday, 3 March, 1999

HEADLINES

• Not daunted by setbacks, UN Secretary-General offers new ideas to enhance Africa's peacekeeping capacity.
• UN committee on arms embargo against Federal Republic of Yugoslavia reports lack of data on violations.
• Head of UN Iraq programme expresses concern at disruption of oil pumping in Iraq.
• International Court of Justice calls on United States to prevent execution of German national.
• UN agencies call criticism of Operation Lifeline Sudan "inaccurate and unbalanced".
• UN commission on status of women focuses on critical health issues, mechanisms for advancement.
• Saying global tobacco control saved lives, UN health agency calls on tobacco farmers to back its efforts.

In his report to the Security Council and the General Assembly on United Nations assistance to peacekeeping efforts by Africa's regional and subregional organizations, the Secretary-General notes that in recent years, there has been a rapid development within Africa of mechanisms to address conflict. The report notes that important regional and subregional initiatives have taken shape in response to the situations in Burundi, the Central African Republic, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea-Bissau and Liberia, among others, and the dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Pointing out that at present, 22 African countries are contributing almost 2,500 troops to UN peacekeeping operations, the Secretary-General says the numbers show clearly that enhancement of African peacekeeping capacity can help advance the cause of peace, not only in Africa, but around the world.

While noting that further progress in this area is impossible without the determination of the African States themselves, the Secretary-General underscores at the same time the crucial role of the support from non- African States. In this context, he welcomes the international community's renewed focus on Africa and stresses the need for the recently manifested political will, in part in the resolutions of the Security Council, to be translated into practical action.

Mr. Annan also suggests a number of additional steps to assist Africa, including the formation of a working group composed of African and non- African States directly involved in the provision of training assistance. Among other measures, he recommends provision of funds to allow African military officers to participate in short-term exchanges with UN peacekeeping staff and suggests that UN liaison officers could be deployed to regional organizations.

In a report to the Security Council, the Committee says that to date, it has received 53 replies containing a brief statement that the State concerned had adopted all necessary measures to comply with the embargo. With regard to the countries bordering the FRY, the Committee, which comprises all members of the Security Council, notes that only Croatia submitted, in December 1998, an interim report on an incident that occurred on its territory in contravention of the embargo.

All reports received so far relate to the flow of arms and funds to Kosovar Albanians, according to the Committee. Regarding press reports, the Committee says that with the exception of one dispatch on a possible violation by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, all other press reports deal with the flow of arms and funds to Kosovar Albanians.

The Committee urged governments to adopt a more proactive approach, especially with regard to their reporting on possible violations of the embargo and on actions to prevent such incidents.

Speaking to reporters following a briefing to the Security Council, Mr. Sevan said that the revenues from oil were already very low, almost $1 billion less than expected. He said that the interruption of the flow of oil was going to be detrimental to the implementation of the humanitarian programme which was already suffering from lack of funds.

Mr. Sevan told reporters that he had given the Security Council a technical report received from Saybolt, the company retained to provide monitoring and other services regarding Iraq's oil exports. Saybolt had reported that since Sunday the flow of oil through the pipeline between Kirkuk and Ceyhan in Turkey had stopped, as a result of the loss of a communications repeat station 125 kilometres away. The station had reportedly suffered damage as a result of a missile attack on 28 February.

Mr. Sevan clarified, however, that there had been no interruption in the loading since there was sufficient oil, about 2.4 million barrels, in storage in Ceyhan. He added that another 1.8 barrels of oil were expected to be loaded on Thursday while Iraqi technicians continued to expedite repairs to the communications station, which is about 125 kilometres away from Zakho in Iraq. If the pipeline was back in operation within the coming 24 hours, Saybolt had advised that the loading at Ceyhan would continue with only minimal delays.

Mr. LaGrand, a German national whose execution was scheduled to be carried out in Arizona today, was convicted, together with his brother Karl LaGrand of murdering a bank manager during a robbery attempt in 1982. Karl LaGrand was executed on 24 February despite appeals for clemency and diplomatic interventions at the highest levels by the German Government.

In its order, adopted unanimously, the Court requested the Government of the United States to inform it of all the measures taken in implementing the order. The Court also ordered the United States to transmit the order to the Governor of the State of Arizona.

Germany brought the case against the United States to the Court on 2 March in a dispute concerning alleged violations of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 24 April 1963 with the respect to the LaGrand brothers. In its application, Germany had maintained that "Karl and Walter LaGrand were tried and sentenced to death without being advised of their rights to consular assistance", as required by the Vienna Convention.

The Court found that the execution of Mr. LaGrand "would cause irreparable harm to the rights claimed by Germany." It nevertheless pointed out that the issues before it did not concern the entitlement of the federal states within the United States to resort to the death penalty for the most heinous crimes and recalled that its function was to resolve international legal disputes between states and not to act as a court of criminal appeal.

Operation Lifeline Sudan, which is a consortium of UN and 40 non- governmental organizations, was accused last week of responding slowly to last year's famine and criticized it for instances of food diversion.

In a joint press statement, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, said that OLS had been working -- against a backdrop of a 15-year civil war -- to save millions of lives by providing emergency food, medicine and access to clean water.

Taking issue with MSF's recent suggestion that OLS should cease functioning until a perfect system for access and distribution in Sudan was guaranteed, the UN agencies argued that the idea was "unrealistic". "The result may be better consciences for some, but for the people of southern Sudan the inevitable result would be further loss of life."

Increasingly, humanitarian aid was needed in most countries torn by civil and political conflict, the UN agencies said. "Issuing public statements of principle and halting aid to victims of conflict may seem sensible. But most of us do not have that luxury. We have no choice but to save lives wherever we can," said the statement.

The Commission, a subsidiary of the Economic and Social Council, is charged with monitoring implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which is an agenda for women's empowerment.

Pledging the commitment of her agency to making a difference to the health of women, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Gro Harlem Brundtland stressed that she was committed to making WHO a partnership organization, one which draws upon, and is nurtured by the comparative advantages of many interest groups. Addressing another vital issue, she said that the time had come, however, to focus beyond the sexual and reproductive health of women and view the different needs in the entire life-span. Dr. Brundtland also noted that women's health was not just about their health, but also about the women who worked in health at all levels.

Nafis Sadik, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund, said that many issues -- among them pre-natal sex and poor nutritional status, maternal mortality, adolescent reproductive health, and female genital mutilation -- had a major impact on the reproductive health and rights of women and girls. She called on members of the Commission to do whatever they could to influence their countries to address these issues.

At an expert panel discussion, Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), noted that although domestic violence, rape and other forms of sexual abuse were gross violations of human rights, they were not publicly discussed in most countries. Describing a global pattern of gender-based violence that has forced many women to contract HIV/AIDS, Dr. Piot said, "If we are to empower women and enhance their protection, we must especially make those heard who are living in the shadow of violence and AIDS."

In a press release covering a meeting of WHO representatives and a delegation from the International Tobacco Growers Association (ITGA), the Geneva-based agency said tobacco farmers must separate concern for their own livelihood from the public health impact of tobacco. WHO says tobacco kills more than 4 million people annually, a number expected to climb to 10 million within 30 years.

Dr. Derek Yach, head of WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative, told the delegation that the agency was not against tobacco farmers but it was committed to addressing the tobacco epidemic. According to WHO, tobacco multinationals are shifting their focus to developing countries, which will account for 70 per cent of the 10 million annual tobacco deaths by about 2020.

The ITGA's Richard Tate said tobacco growers, particularly in developing countries, were concerned about WHO's tobacco control initiative, adding that their concerns should not be confused with those of tobacco multinationals. He hoped WHO would keep tobacco farmers concerns firmly in focus during negotiations.

WHO Director-General Dr. Gro Harlem Bruntland has identified global tobacco control as one of her major priorities. The proposed framework convention would deal with a range of tobacco-related issues but would also ensure that individual countries are protected from the impact of multinational tobacco companies.

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

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