United Nations Daily Highlights, 99-06-07

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Monday, 7 June, 1999

Latest Developments

HEADLINES

• United Nations agencies continue intense planning for return of Kosovo refugees.
• 20th anniversary of key international women's rights treaty marked as its monitoring body opens session.
• UN report on human rights situation in Haiti paints a mixed picture in wake of recent political crisis.

UNHCR and other UN agencies will convene meetings on Wednesday with private relief agencies and donor countries. Once security is assured, UNHCR and its partners will need to go into Kosovo quickly to assist internally displaced persons and prepare for the return of hundreds of thousands of refugees, according to the agency. Detailed planning is under way on such key issues as shelter, food, logistics, health and community services. UNHCR also said that a mass information campaign would be launched to inform refugees about return and assistance as well as the risk of land mines, unexploded ordnance and booby-traps.

Another matter of concern for UNHCR is the situation of Serbian civilians in Kosovo once Yugoslav forces withdraw. The agency said the right of Kosovo Serbs to remain in their home areas must be safeguarded as ethnic Albanians return to the devastated province.

Meanwhile, as rockets and mortar rounds fell in northern Albania and fighting continued between the Yugoslav army and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), UNHCR evacuated more than 800 refugees from Krume near the border to safer areas.

In the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, around 800 people have crossed into the country over the past three days amid artillery and mortar fire heard from the Kosovo side of the border, according to UNHCR. The new arrivals say Serb forces are continuing a campaign of violence in major cities inside Kosovo, evicting residents at gunpoint, looting and burning houses. Refugees from Pristina, Gnjilane, Kosovska Kamencia and Pec reported that the number of paramilitary and police forces had even increased despite the announcement in Belgrade that it would withdraw the military and police from Kosovo.

Ms. Frechette was addressing the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), an expert body monitoring the implementation of the Convention on All Forms of Elimination of Discrimination Against Women -- the only UN human rights treaty that deals exclusively with women's rights.

As it began on Monday the second of its two annual sessions, the Committee held a special commemorative ceremony to mark the 20th anniversary of the Convention's adoption.

In her opening address to the Committee, the Deputy Secretary- General said most of the world's poor and illiterate were women and their work in subsistence farming and family enterprises, which provided no health benefits or social security, was ignored in conventional statistics, such as gross national product and social security. Women were also deprived of basic health rights, as indicated by shocking maternal mortality rates in so many countries, she said.

During the current three-week session, the Committee will evaluate progress made by seven States parties to the treaty. Countries that have ratified or acceded to the Convention are legally bound to put its provisions into effect. They are also committed to submit national reports on measures taken to comply with their treaty obligations.

The Committee, which is composed of 23 experts serving in their individual capacity, will review initial reports of Georgia and Nepal, the combined initial and second reports of Belize, as well as various periodic reports of Chile, Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom. In addition, the Committee will hear country- specific information from non-governmental organizations.

Describing some of the disturbing developments, the report says that the general human rights climate had been worsened by the wave of sometimes violent protests and demonstrations and by the heightened sense of insecurity springing from an increase in threats and acts of intimidation. The Secretary-General also points to the continuation of what he describes as "the worrisome trend" of police involvement in crime, including drug trafficking.

The reports notes, however, that despite these setbacks broad respect for the fundamental freedoms of expression, assembly and association has been maintained. The policing of demonstrations and protests has largely been carried out in a professional manner with few reported abuses, while prison guards have also shown improved respect for the right to physical integrity of detainees, according to the report.

The report has been submitted following a December 1998 resolution of the UN General Assembly which renewed the mandate of the United Nations component of the International Civilian Mission in Haiti (MICIVIH), undertaken jointly with the Organization of American States (OAS).

MICIVIH provides institutional assistance, especially to the judiciary, supports the promotion and verifies the observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms. MICIVIH and the UN Civilian Police Mission in Haiti (MIPONUH), which has been extended through December 1999, have separate mandates which complement each other.

Given the adverse consequences of the protracted crisis and the existing situation in Haiti at this mid-term review of MICIVIH's mandate, the Secretary-General says it is "apparent that much still remains to be accomplished with regard to strengthening of state institutions and civil society organizations, essential elements of the exit strategy of the Mission."

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

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