United Nations Daily Highlights, 02-06-06

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

OF THE NOON BRIEFING

BY

STEPHANE DUJARRIC

ASSOCIATE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

OF THE UNITED NATIONS

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Thursday, June 6, 2002

ANNAN BEGINS GENEVA VISIT

The Secretary-General concluded his visit to Moscow last night, with a dinner with the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, Valentina Matvienko. He arrived earlier today in Geneva and in the afternoon, he met privately with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Ruud Lubbers.

He was later joined by his wife Nane, who was to accompany him this evening to an awards dinner, where he will be given the title of Bourgeoie dhonneur de Geneve by the President of the State Council of the Republic and Canton of Geneva, Micheline Calmy-Rey.

SECURITY COUNCIL HEARS BRIEFING ON IRAQ

The Security Council met this morning in consultations starting 10 a.m. on Iraq during which they heard a briefing by Hans Blix, Executive Chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC). He presented the ninth quarterly report of UNMOVIC, which came out earlier this week.

Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock of the United Kingdom then briefed on his visit to Europe, including his participation in the Symposium on Combating International Terrorism held this week in Vienna.

The Council President, Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe of Syria, then raised the most recent developments in the Middle East and discussions followed.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO: ANNAN APPOINTS NEW ENVOY

Wednesday afternoon, following a meeting in closed consultations, Council President Wehbe read out a presidential statement in which the Security Council strongly condemned the acts of intimidation and public statement targeted to members of the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC), in a particular the attempts by the Congolese Rally for Democracy known as RCD-Goma to ban the head of the UN mission, Amos Ngongi.

In the statement, Council members expressed their support for the newly-appointed Special Envoy of the Secretary-General Mustapha Niasse.

In a letter to the Council, the Secretary-General said he would appoint the former Senegalese Prime Minister who has already served as UN Envoy for the DRC in 1999 to assist the parties to reach an all inclusive power sharing agreement. Niasse will work in consultation with the Organization of African Unity and the Facilitator of the Inter-Congolese Dialogue.

In the DRC today, Lena Sundh, the Deputy head of the UN mission in the country was in Goma today. She met for over two hours with RCD-G officials. The meeting took place in a positive atmosphere. The RDC-G leadership said they guarantee the safety of UN personnel. Sundh is on her way back to Kinshasa.

ESTABLISHMENT OF AFGHAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION WELCOMED

High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, in a statement issued today, welcomed the signing in Kabul of a decree establishing the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission.

This historic step is an important milestone in the implementation of the Bonn Agreement, signed only six months ago, she said.

UN MISSION IN SIERRA LEONE NOTES CONCRETE STEP IN RECONSTRUCTION

The Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Governance and Stabilization in Sierra Leone, Alan Doss, has commissioned the rehabilitated district offices in the eastern district of Kono and a police station in Blama, near the eastern town of Kenema.

The Kono district offices were rebuilt by recently disarmed ex-combatants with funds provided by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the National Commission for Social Action (NACSA).

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony in the diamond town of Koidu, Doss, said the project was a concrete and tangible step in national reconstruction.

He said the restoration of Government authority in areas previously occupied by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) was an important but first step in rebuilding communities; reconciliation is the next step along the road to a prosperous future.

UN GROUP CONCERNED OVER CONDITIONS IN AUSTRALIAN ASYLUM CAMPS

At a press conference today, the head of UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Justice Louis Joinet, expressed his concern on the conditions in Australias camps for asylum seekers.

Joinet, who is visiting Australia on the invitation of the government, highlighted concerns about the detention of children, the disabled and the elderly. He also said the most delicate issue was what he called the collective depression syndrome.

We believe that the syndrome may be attributable to the fact that detainees live day in, day out with an agonising uncertainty, he said.

The UN Working Groups visit was mandated by the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNHCHR) and it has visited five detention centres. Apart from talking to government officials and non-governmental organizations, the members have interviewed several hundreds detainees.

The final report from the group will be made public during the 59th session of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to be held in March 2003.

UN EXPERT EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER ARRESTS IN ZIMBABWE

The UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Dato Param Cumaraswamy, expressed his deep concern over the arrest of Zimbabwe law society officials.

In a statement issued today, Cumaraswamy says that he believes that the leaders of the Law Society have been arrested for expressing their associations concerns over the deterioration of the rule of law in Zimbabwe.

The Special Rapporteur has previously expressed very grave concerns over the deterioration of the rule of law in Zimbabwe. He says: This latest arrest and detention further reflects the continuation of the systematic attacks on the independence of judges and lawyers by the Government and its agencies.

PARTNERSHIPS HIGHLIGHTED AT BALI MEETING

In Bali today, the discussion at the Ministerial Segment of the Preparatory Committee Meeting for the World Summit on Sustainable Development centered on partnerships. In the morning session, speakers stress that partnerships should not be a substitute for government action in promoting sustainable development. The need to promote partnerships in the acquisition and use of modern technology in developing countries was the focus of the afternoon session.

The UN Development Programme (UNDP), in collaboration with the Government of Indonesia, presented Capacity 2015 to the Ministerial Segment. Capacity 2015 will provide a service-oriented platform to address a wide range of capacity development needs.

Deputy Secretary-General, Louise Fréchette continued her visit to Bali today, holding several bilateral meetings with heads of delegations. In the evening, she participated in an event organized by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) for the political launching of the Global Environmental Outlook 3.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

The United Kingdom today became the 81st Member State to pay its 2002 regular budget contribution in full with a payment of more than $61 million.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has taken the fight against child labour one step further by deciding to mark June 12 of every year as the World Day Against Child Labour. According to the ILO, one in every six children aged between 5 and 17, or around 246 million children, are involved in child labour. The importance of the issue was highlighted at the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children in May, which devoted an entire section of its final report to combating child labour.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced that the 15 European Union countries and the European Commission today signed in Rome the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, raising the number of countries that have signed the treaty to 26.

An exhibit of toys made by African, Asian and Latin American children from discarded material and trash will open at 6 p.m. this afternoon in the Visitors Lobby at UN Headquarters. The exhibit, supported by the UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Department of Public Information, was put together by the Christian Childrens Fund, which said the purpose of encouraging children to create toys was a means of building healthy minds and bodies.

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