United Nations Daily Highlights, 01-08-01

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

BY FRED ECKHARD

SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

OF THE UNITED NATIONS

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK Wednesday, August 1, 2001

COLOMBIA ASSUMES SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENCY

Colombia today assumed the rotating presidency of the Security Council for the month of August. There are no meetings scheduled today, as Ambassador Alfonso Valdiviezo is spending the day in bilateral consultations with the other Council members on its program of work.

On Thursday, the Council will hold an open debate on small arms, at which the Secretary-General will speak. The debate will be chaired by the Foreign Minister of Colombia, Guillermo Fern&aacute;ndez de Soto.

RIGHTS COMMISSIONER VOICES DISMAY AT NABLUS KILLINGS

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson expressing her deep dismay on Tuesday over the escalating violence in the occupied territories following an Israeli attack in the town of Nablus which left at least eight dead, including two children.

"This daily violation of the right to life must stop," she said, while recalling her recommendation, made following her visit to the region last November, for the dispatch of international monitors to the area.

TRIBUNAL ISSUES TEN-YEAR SENTENCE TO FORMER POLICE CHIEF

On Tuesday in The Hague, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) sentenced Stevan Todorovic, a former Bosnian Serb police chief who last year pleaded guilty to persecution as a crime against humanity, to 10 years in prison.

Presiding Judge Patrick Lipton Robinson said that Todorovic's crimes -- including the beating, murder and sexual assault of non-Serb civilians in the municipality of Bosanski Samac -- were "particularly grave." However, Judge Robinson also noted that his guilty plea and subsequent cooperation in testifying against other suspects, as well as his expressed remorse, were mitigating factors in his sentencing.

Todorovic has already served more than two years and ten months in detention, and will be credited for time served.

ANNAN SEEKS PAYMENT OF $582 MILLION BY UNITED STATES

Asked about Secretary-General Kofi Annan's response to the continued US arrears, the Spokesman noted that the Secretary-General has met with leaders of the US Congress, and has spoken recently with Representative Henry Hyde, who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee, on that issue. He inquired why a package of $582 million had not arrived despite an agreement meeting key US demands last December.

The Secretary-General told Hyde that, if President George W. Bush comes to the General Assembly at its plenary in September, it would be good if the US arrears payment had come in by then.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Asked about the report by Under-Secretary-General for Management Joseph Connor on the videotape made after the abduction by Hezbollah of three Israeli soldiers last October, the Spokesman said that Connor presented a draft of the report to the Secretary-General on Tuesday afternoon. The Secretary-General is reviewing the document and will make a decision soon on the next steps.

In response to a question, the Spokesman said the Secretary-General had met with several Arab Ambassadors on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the situation on the ground in the Middle East. The discussion did not touch on the Lebanon videotape.

The International Labour Organization's International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) will be working with the US Agency for International Development on the child labour portions of a survey on labour practices in five West African cocoa growing countries. The International Programme will provide technical and training expertise for the survey, beginning in September, which involves Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, and Nigeria.

The United Nations Postal Administration today issued a set of six commemorative stamps and three prestige booklets in the World Heritage Series featuring heritage sites in Japan.

Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

United Nations, S-378

New York, NY 10017

Tel. 212-963-7162

Fax. 212-963-7055

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