United Nations Daily Highlights, 00-07-26

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

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE NOON BRIEFING
BY FRED ECKHARD
SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

• This morning, Secretary-General Kofi Annan opened a meeting with representatives of nearly 50 transnational companies, and leaders of labor and civil society organizations, to discuss his Global Compact. The Compact urges business leaders to promote and apply nine principles pertaining to human rights, labor standards and the environment.

• Opening the high-level meeting, the Secretary-General said he hoped today's session would send out a clarion call to others, so that other businesses, unions and civil society organizations can join in a truly Global Compact.

• What is necessary, he said, is "to ensure that the global market is embedded in broadly-shared values and practices that reflect global social needs, and that all the world's people share the benefits of globalization."

• An executive summary of the meeting noted that the companies present today have pledged to advocate the Compact and post on the Global Compact web site (www.unglobalcompact.org) specific examples of the progress they have made in implementing its principles. The companies also intend to join with the United Nations in partnership projects to assist developing countries.

• The Secretary-General talked to reporters afterward about the high-level meeting on the Global Compact.

• Asked whether corporations could use the United Nations to improve their image, the Secretary-General said that "nobody is creating a sham operation here." There will be transparency in the participation by businesses in support of the Global Compact. "The trade unions are involved, (and) civil society is involved" in monitoring the progress made in upholding the nine principles of the Global Compact, he said.

• He said that if corporations believe in those values, they should plug them into their operations, adding, "You don't have to wait for laws to do some of these right things," such as allowing unions and decent wages, combating pollution and prohibiting child labor. "Companies have great influence, great reach and they can set very good examples," he said.

• He said that the United Nations was working with corporations in appreciation of the influence and reach they have. "Some believe that one should not engage companies," he acknowledged, but added, "The companies are part of our reality … I think it's important that we engage with them, that we work with them, to improve conditions."

• Asked whether the United Nations might in the future not contract business from companies that do not abide by the Global Compact principles, the Secretary-General said, "I don't think that is a bad suggestion at all," and added it might be explored. He said that the United Nations in general tries to "stay away from companies that are acting in a manner that goes completely counter to our own practices. However, he added, some companies may try to improve their own practices.

• He said that the United Nations was trying to implement values that already have been negotiated and agreed to by businesses. "We are not trying to create a new code of conduct," he said, but to put teeth into existing standards.

• He noted the work done recently by the United Nations and corporations on limiting the sale of diamonds originating from Angola and Sierra Leone, saying it "gives an indication on what corporations and the United Nations can do" to avoid doing business with war profiteers.

• The Secretary-General noted, "The public also has choices." He argued, "We make choices by our individual purchases. As the world becomes much more open, this is also a very powerful tool."

• Asked about the low level of participation by African companies, he noted that the process has been a voluntary one. Also, he said, although most of the countries participating today may not be based primarily in Africa, many are doing business in Africa.

• In Lebanon today, the Secretary General’s Special Envoy, Terje Roed Larsen, along with the Deputy Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Gen. James Sreenan, once again toured the withdrawal line in Southern Lebanon.

• Following this inspection, conducted by air and by road, the two met with the head of the Israeli army’s northern command, Gen. Gabriel Askanazi, for more than two hours. Larsen said afterwards that he had received a strong commitment from the Israeli side that it would immediately begin to rectify any violations that had been found today. Furthermore, it agreed to fix any future violations reported to them by UNIFIL.

• A number of UN teams are still at the withdrawal line and are expected to report back shortly on any other problems that may have been found. Larsen remains cautious, but he still hopes to be in a position to report back tonight to Lebanese President Emile Lahoud that all the outstanding violations have been resolved.

• If this is the case, deployment of UNIFIL units, as well as Lebanese Government security forces, can commence either late tonight or Thursday.

• The Secretary-General will leave this Friday evening for Ghana, where he will be greeted on Saturday morning by President Jerry Rawlings, the First Lady of Ghana and other officials.

• On Tuesday he will begin his first official visit to his home country as Secretary-General.

• He will lay a wreath at the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum and call on President Rawlings. In the evening, at a banquet hosted by the President, he will receive Ghana's highest national honor, the Companion of the Order of the Star of Ghana, Civil Division.

• On Wednesday, he will break ground for the construction of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre at the Staff College of the Military Academy. That afternoon, he will receive an honorary degree by the University of Ghana.

• Starting Thursday, the Secretary-General, his wife and his two children will begin a week's holiday in Ghana.

• This morning, Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fr&eacute;chette opened the Security Council's open debate on children and armed conflict by asserting that "the abuse of children in armed conflict, as everywhere, is unacceptable. We can and we must do much more to make our world safer for all of them."

• She noted that the optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child dealing with children in armed conflict has finally been adopted and opened for signature. Also, child protection advisers have been deployed in Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, the Deputy Secretary-General added, "the task ahead is still enormous."

• Olara Otunnu, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, then presented the Secretary-General's recent report on that topic.

• Otunnu noted that in recent years, public awareness of the problems children face in armed conflicts has risen, but he added that countries should make any assistance to parties to armed conflict contingent on their adherence to standards to protect children.

• Carol Bellamy, the Executive Director of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), urged the Security Council to consider supporting education efforts for traumatized children and demobilization programs for child soldiers, among other measures.

• The Security Council's open debate today, in which 36 speakers have been inscribed, will not include the adoption of a Presidential Statement or resolution. However, the Council is considering a draft resolution on children and armed conflict, which it may discuss over the coming week.

• In Geneva today, UN humanitarian agencies criticized the international community for not doing enough to save lives and provide hope for 35 million people in the most vulnerable regions of the world.

• Of the $2.2 billion appealed for by the United Nations for humanitarian crises around the world for the year 2000, only 36.6 percent of the required needs have been met. At this time last year, donor response was just below 50 percent.

• Funding in response to the appeals range from a paltry 8.6 percent for Uganda to 48.5 percent for the Northern Caucasus and 52.4 percent for the Great Lakes Region.

• While Southeastern Europe so far has attracted contributions for $225 for every person in need, Sierra Leone received only $18 and Somalia $11.

• Disparities were recorded among the UN agencies. The World Food Programme (WFP) has received 48.6 percent of its requirements, whereas the World Health Organization (WHO) has only received half of the amount, or 22.7 percent.

• Assistant Emergency Relief Coordinator Ross Mountain appealed to the governments represented at a review session in Geneva to do more to resolve the alarming cash flow problem faced by all humanitarian agencies and to correct the slowing trend of humanitarian assistance, a phenomenon which is even less justified at a time when world economies are expanding.

• On Thursday in East Timor, the Secretary-General's Special Representative, Sergio Vieira de Mello and UN Force Commander Lt. Gen. Boonsrang Niumpradit will attend a memorial service in honor of Private Leonard William Manning of New Zealand, who was killed near the West Timor border on Monday. The service will take place in Motael Church in Dili.

• Today, the body of the 24-year-old soldier was returned to New Zealand after being flown from Darwin, Australia.

• UN Police are coordinating the investigation into his killing, and the New Zealand contingent to the UN peacekeeping force is also investigating.

• The threat level in Suai is assessed by the United Nations as "medium," as it has been for months. The UN peacekeeping force regards the shooting incident as an isolated case.

• The Secretary-General's report to the Security Council on East Timor is expected to be issued as a document on Thursday.

• Asked about the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Spokesman said the Mission "has met repeated obstacles to its deployment from the beginning," including problems in the inter-Congolese dialogue and the denial of the right to deploy armed UN peacekeepers. "This is a mission that appears to be blocked on just about every front," he said. The Secretary-General will be meeting all week with his senior advisers to review the situation, after which he will report to the Security Council.

• Maj. Gen. Vijay Kumar Jetley, Force Commander for the UN mission in Sierra Leone, is arriving in New York later today and will be the guest at the Thursday noon briefing. Among the meetings he has scheduled is one with the Secretary-General, another with troop contributors, and a town hall meeting with a group of Sierra Leoneans on Thursday evening.

• Late Tuesday, the Secretary-General approved a distribution plan for Phase VIII of the "oil-for-food" program for Iraq. A summary of that plan will be available on the Office of the Iraq Programme's web site.

• Carlos Fort&iacute;n, the Deputy Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), will launch the UNCTAD report on capital flows and growth in Africa at a press conference on Thursday at 11:15 a.m.

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