United Nations Daily Highlights, 99-06-16

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Wednesday, 16 June, 1999

Latest Developments

HEADLINES

• Thousands of Kosovar refugees begin trek home -- UNHCR.
• Secretary-General says UN mission still needed to make peace process in Bosnia and Herzegovina self-sustainable.
• UN health agency says environmental tobacco smoke poses grave risk to children.
• Bill Gates foundation grants $10 million to UN multi- agency programme on reproductive health.

At the main Albanian border point at Morini, well over 10,000 people crossed back into Kosovo. Most people were travelling in their own cars or tractors and were headed for the town of Prizren. From the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the same phenomenon occurred, although the numbers were lower. Most of the refugees had been living with host families and were driving their own vehicles. Some had hired taxis in Skopje.

UNHCR staff are providing the refugees with mine awareness materials as they cross the borders. The UN agency has also established way stations on the road to Prizren to offer water and medical help to refugees who might need it. Staff from non- governmental organizations are patrolling the road to provide two- ropes to move broken down vehicles or tractors that might not make it under their own steam.

(Visit UNHCR's for in-depth coverage.)

In his latest report to the Security Council on the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH), the Secretary- General says that over the past three months the Mission has achieved significant progress in its efforts to establish the rule of law in the country. Its activities have been focused on reforming and restructuring the police, assessing the existing judicial system and monitoring and auditing the performance of police and other agencies involved in the maintenance of law and order.

The report emphasized that sustainable progress in police restructuring -- the Mission's central task -- hinges on "tangible" material support for the modernization of the country's police infrastructure.

Among positive developments, the report points to the fact that the authorities in Republika Srpska have, for the first time, agreed to the principle of multi-ethnic policing in their entity and to concrete benchmarks for making it a reality. The Secretary- General notes, however, that despite progress, the number of minority police officers remains "disappointingly low" and there is deep-rooted resistance to multi-ethnic policing among Bosnia and Herzegovina's dominating political forces.

The Secretary-General concludes that with continued persistent work by UNMIBH, as well as with financial and political support by Member States, the UN can make a decisive contribution to the peace process in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The study, "International Consultation on Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) and Child Health," says some 700 million child worldwide -- almost half of all children -- live in the home of a smoker.

According to the report, ETS can cause pneumonia, bronchitis, coughing, wheezing, worsening of asthma and middle-ear infections. The study also found that childhood exposure to tobacco smoke may contribute to cardiovascular disease in adults.

The findings were presented by WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland on Wednesday at London '99, the Third European Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health in London. The conference is billed as the largest European conference ever for health, environment and transport ministers.

In her speech, Dr. Brundtland also stressed that environmental action was a key factor for improving health conditions in Europe. "Focused investments in education, healthy work conditions, environmental sanitation and a safe water supply are extremely effective in improving health and well-being, as well as increasing productivity and economic growth," she said.

Environmental hazards are still a significant cause of disease despite Europe's remarkable progress in environmental conditions, Dr. Brundtland warned. Indoor air pollution is emerging as a major contributor to ill- health, causing primarily respiratory diseases, while outdoor air pollution accounts for 3 to 4 percent of premature deaths and disability in Eastern Europe.

Government ministers at the London Conference are expected to approve a Protocol on Water and Health; a Charter on Transport, Environment and Health; and a Declaration summarizing their intent to confront these issues in a coordinated manner.

The grant awarded by the William H. Gates Foundation is the largest private donation to the Geneva-based Special Programme of Research Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction (HRP) -- the only research programme in the UN system exclusively devoted to investigating sexual and reproductive health. HRP is a joint effort of WHO, the UN Development Programme, the UN Population Fund and the World Bank.

HRP's current research mandate is based on the priorities in sexual and reproductive health identified at two recent UN Conferences on population and development and women's issues. HRP conducts research into fertility regulation, maternal health, reproductive tract infections and planning and programming in reproductive health. The Programme also examines adolescent health and harmful reproductive practices.

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

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