United Nations Daily Highlights, 02-05-08

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

OF THE NOON BRIEFING

BY

FRED ECKHARD

SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Wednesday, May 8, 2002

ANNAN OPENS UN CHILDRENS SUMMIT

Secretary-General Kofi Annan this morning opened the General Assembly Special Session on Children, saying that the gathering was about the future of humanity. He said, there is no issue more unifying, more urgent or more universal than the welfare of our children.

The Secretary-General pointed out that this was the first time that children themselves had the opportunity to speak as such an event and urged the adults to listen attentively to them, adding, To work for a world fit for children, we must work with children.

He went on to say that the adults of the world had failed children and that they should be made to pay for our failures. Who among us, he said, has not looked into the eyes of a disappointed child, and been humbled? The children in this room are witnesses to our words. They and their peers in every land have a right to expect us to turn our words into action, and to build a world fit for children.

[The special session of the General Assembly, the UN's main legislative and deliberative body, is bringing together some 60 heads of State and government and some 6,000 participants including children. The three-day session, which will review progress made for children since the landmark 1990 World Summit for Children, marks the first time that young people are part of government delegations and will present their case themselves to the Assembly.]

The Secretary-General will address the plenary meeting of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) on children.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Security Council held an open meeting on children and armed conflict and issued a presidential statement, which strongly condemned the targeting and use of children in armed conflicts

MIDDLE EAST: ANNAN CONDEMNS SUICIDE BOMBING

A statement was issued Tuesday night, which said the Secretary-General was appalled by the suicide bomb attack that took place earlier that day in the town of Rishon Letzion in Israel in which at least 16 people were killed and many others wounded.

The Secretary-General reiterated in the strongest possible terms his utter condemnation of all indiscriminate terrorist attacks against civilians. Such attacks are morally repugnant and only set back the prospects for a peaceful settlement. The Secretary-General extended his heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims of this despicable act and to the Government of Israel.

The Secretary-General's Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Terje Roed Larsen, also issued a statement expressing his dismay and disgust at the attack, and calling it a cynical act, which is both illegal and immoral. That statement is also available upstairs. High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson also condemned the attack, calling on the Palestinian Authority to bring those responsible to justice.

Larsen today met in Ramallah with Abu Ala, the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and is conducting other talks today with Palestinian officials.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY CALLS FOR REPORT ON JENIN REFUGEE CAMP

The General Assembly has requested, in a resolution, that the Secretary-General present a report, drawing upon the available resources and information, on the recent events that took place in Jenin and in other Palestinian cities.

On the basis of this resolution, the Secretariat will review available information. It will also request the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority to provide information.

The report will be prepared by the Secretariat.

The scope of the report called for in the General Assembly resolution covers Jenin and other Palestinian cities. This is broader than the scope called for by Security Council Resolution 1405 which specified only recent events in the Jenin refugee camp.

"We hope that the parties will cooperate fully with us as we prepare this report," the Spokesman said. "We will prepare the report as expeditiously as possible, bearing in the mind that we will need to gather and review all available information, and that we hope that the parties will provide us with information."

When asked about the composition of the team to produce the report, the Spokesman said it was a Secretariat team and that Department of Political Affairs (DPA) would take the lead. The team would be composed primarily of personnel of DPA. It would include at least one person who had been assigned to the fact-finding team in Geneva. He said the team would use all information available, including information gathered by the fact-finding team before it was disbanded.

SECURITY COUNCIL REVIEWS IRAQ SANCTIONS RESOLUTION

A draft resolution on Iraq regarding a "goods review list" is being discussed at the experts level of the Security Council today.

As of midday, no meetings of the Security Council had been scheduled.

ANNAN REGRETS U.S. DECISION NOT TO RATIFY CRIMINAL COURT STATUTE

The Secretary-General has circulated to Member States the text of the letter from the United States received on Monday in which it declared it had no intention of ratifying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and therefore has no legal obligations as a signatory.

The Secretary-General regrets this decision.

Still, with 66 Member States having ratified the Statute, the court will become a reality on the first of July.

Its creation is a long-term investment in international justice. The Secretary-General hopes that, in time, the United States will see it to be not only in its interest, but in the global interest to support the new court and actively participate in it.

The Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Dato' Param Cumaraswamy, issued a statement today expressing his deep concern at the US action in "unsigning" the ICC. Responding to concerns that the Court may not be accountable, he asserts, the ICC cannot be a rogue actor. It is bound by its statute and the law and members of the Court can be removed in the event of proven misconduct.

ANNAN TO ATTEND EAST TIMOR INDEPENDENCE CELEBRATIONS

More than 80 nations have so far accepted invitations from the Secretary-General and East Timors Second Transitional Government to send delegations to the Independence Ceremony.

The ceremony, which will be held on May 19-20 on the outskirts of Dili, will launch East Timor as the first new nation of the millennium.

The Secretary-General and the UN General Assembly President Han Seung-soo will join up to 200,000 East Timorese at the ceremony. They will address East Timor during the final minutes of the UNs two-and-a-half-year transitional administration. At midnight, the Secretary-General will hand over power to Parliament President Francisco Lu-Olo Guterres.

The next morning, the Government of East Timor will be sworn in, and the National Parliament elected in August 2001 to draft a Constitution will hold its inaugural session.

WFP DISTRIBUTES FOOD AID TO NEWLY OPENED AREAS OF ANGOLA

The World Food Programme (WFP) says it has started distributing food aid to thousands of severely malnourished people who are being discovered in areas of Angola now open to aid workers after last month's peace agreement was signed between the Government and UNITA.

To avoid the fighting, they have been hiding in the countryside for the past four years, and many were dying of hunger-related diseases, according to WFP.

CESSATION OF REFUGEE STATUS FOR ERITREANS DECLARED

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announces that it is ending refugee status for all Eritreans who fled their country as a result of the war of independence or the recent border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

The world-wide cessation will take effect on December 31 and will affect hundreds of thousands of Eriteans in neighbouring countries.

AFGHAN REFUGEES RETURNING HOME FACE URGENT NEEDS

The High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers hails the return of more than 500,000 Afghan refugees since the UNHCR began helping Afghans homewards nine weeks ago, but warns that more must be done inside the war- and drought-ravaged country to ensure the sustainability of the returns.

In response to a question on whether the fighting along the border with Pakistan was affecting returns, the Spokesman later said that UNHCR is cautioning Afghan refugees from returning to some areas deemed insecure primarily along the Pakistan border region from Paktika province down toward Kandahar, as well as some parts of northern Afghanistan.

FIGHTING IN LIBERIA CAUSES NEW DISPLACEMENTS

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that in Bong County, Liberia, fighting between government forces and alleged dissidents has caused an estimated 3,000 internally displaced persons to flee the town of Weinshu.

The 29,000 displaced persons who had recently registered at camps near the town of Gbarnga are believed to be on the move again as well.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

In response to questions regarding the next round of talks between the United Nations and Iraq, the Spokesman said there were no dates to discuss at this time, and that the rough time frame that had been previously mentioned was within a month of the last round, or roughly by the end of this month. He also said that a venue had not been set.

The World Health Organization (WHO) released a new formula for Oral Rehydration Salts. Gro Harlem Brundtland, the Director-General of WHO, launched the new formula in New York, saying that Oral Rehydration Therapy was one of the great public health successes of our time. The new formula will reduce the severity of diarrhoea and vomiting and the need for costly intravenous fluid treatment.

Most of Mogadishus 1.2 million people will be affected by the suspension of humanitarian activities in the Somali capital due to the kidnapping of a staff Member of the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP), according to OCHA. A Polio vaccination campaign of the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) has been suspended, affecting all the children who would have benefited from receiving the vaccine.

The Secretary-General announced in a letter that he will replace one member of the group monitoring implementation of measures against the Taliban and Al-Qaida organization. He replaces Michael D. Langan of the United States with Victor D. Comras of the United States. [Langan had resigned from the group for personal reasons, according to the letter.]

The Special Rapporteur on the question of the use of mercenaries, Enrique Bernales Ballesteros, is visiting El Salvador and Panama on an official mission, at the invitation of the Governments of both countries. He will be in El Salvador from May 5 to 8, and then travel to Panama City from May 8 to 11.

Venezuela deposited its instrument of ratification for the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child of the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography bringing the number of parties to 24. This Protocol was also signed this afternoon by Croatia, Micronesia and Sri Lanka, bringing the number of signatories to 99.

The Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict was signed this afternoon by Croatia and Micronesia and now has 104 signatories.

Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General United Nations, S-378 New York, NY 10017 Tel. 212-963-7162 - press/media only Fax. 212-963-7055

All other inquiries to be addressed to (212) 963-4475 or by e-mail to: inquiries@un.org

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