United Nations Daily Highlights, 02-12-12

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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

Thursday, December 12, 2002

UN COORDINATOR FOR IRAQ INVITED FOR FIRST TIME TO VISIT BAGHDAD

The Spokesman noted in a statement that on Wednesday, the Permanent Representative of Iraq to the United Nations sent a letter to Yuli Vorontsov, High-level Coordinator for Iraq, informing him that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iraq would welcome his visit to Baghdad.

This is the first time the Coordinator has been invited to visit Iraq. No time has been set for the visit yet.

In response to questions on what Vorontsov would do, the Spokesman noted that he deals with the repatriation of missing Kuwaiti or third-country nationals, or their remains, and missing property seized by Iraq. To do his job effectively, Eckhard added, Vorontsov would need to visit Iraq, and it was therefore significant that he had not been invited by Iraq until now.

UNMOVIC TEAM WITNESSES TEST MISSILE LAUNCH IN IRAQ

A UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) team today attended a test launch of a short-range ballistic missile being developed by Iraq.

The test took place at a test range approximately 200 kilometers west of Baghdad. The missile is a modified version of a missile already owned by Iraq. The missile range falls within that allowed under the UN resolutions. The UNMOVIC team was able to examine the missile before launch to verify its configuration.

Meanwhile, another UNMOVIC team visited a pharmaceutical plant specializing in antibiotics.

Also today, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) teams conducted visits at five facilities, including an engineering plant, an electronics factory and a former nuclear site.

As for staffing, 28 inspectors from UNMOVIC arrived in Baghdad this afternoon, bringing the total of UNMOVIC and IAEA inspectors to 98. The breakdown of inspectors is 71 inspectors from UNMOVIC and 27 inspectors from the IAEA.

COMPENSATION COMMISSION APPROVES $181 MILLION IN AWARDS

Earlier today in Geneva, the UN Compensation Commission dealing with damages following the 1990 Gulf War approved awards totaling $181 million. The largest of those awards is for more than $100 million to Kuwait.

The next round of payments is scheduled for January 15, 2003. The amount to be disbursed on that date is projected at around $550 million, depending on the funds received during the next few weeks from the sale of Iraqi oil, under the oil for food program.

SPECIAL ADVISER ON CYPRUS CONTINUES TALKS IN COPENHAGEN

The Secretary-Generals Special Advisor for Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto continued his work in Copenhagen, as part of the intensive consultations going on regarding the revised proposal put forward by the Secretary-General.

Asked about de Sotos efforts, the Spokesman said it was hoped the parties would agree on the document on the table as a framework to begin serious and intensive negotiations on a final agreement. Under a worst-case scenario, it was hoped that such an agreement could be reached by the end of the Copenhagen meeting.

Should that fail, he added, the United Nations was prepared to continue seeking agreement on the framework, leading eventually to a final agreement.

Asked whether the Secretary-General would travel to Copenhagen, Eckhard said that there are no plans for him to go there.

ANNAN HAILS COMPLETION OF BOSNIA, PREVLAKA MISSIONS

After consultations today, in which it discussed draft presidential statements on Bosnia and Herzegovina, Prevlaka and Somalia, the Security Council began the first of two open meetings concerning UN peacekeeping missions that are wrapping up work in the Balkans this month.

The Secretary-General, speaking at that meeting, said it was a great pleasure to attend the meetings on the conclusion of the UN Missions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Prevlaka, both of which have successfully completed their mandates.

The end of the two Missions, he said, brought to an end an era of UN involvement in the former Yugoslavia, which has seen some of peacekeepings bitterest moments. But the Bosnia Mission, he added, broke new ground in the techniques of UN civilian police operations, while the Prevlaka Mission maintained a favorable situation for an eventual negotiated settlement.

Jacques Klein, the Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Bosnia, also spoke and noted the upcoming completion of the Missions work at the end of this month. He said the UN Mission was a success, adding, A mandate has been implemented. And there are visible signs that reform is at work.

Council President Alfonso Valdivieso of Colombia then read out a Presidential Statement expressing its deep appreciation to the work done by the United Nations in Bosnia, and welcoming the European Unions decision to send a police mission there to start work on January 1, 2003.

The meeting on Bosnia, which included speeches by the three-member Bosnian Presidency, was followed by one on the Prevlaka Mission, whose mandate will end on December 15.

The Secretary-General, in his final report on Prevlaka, which is out on the racks today, welcomed the protocol signed by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Croatia on December 10 on Prevlaka. He added that he intends to keep a small core staff for the UN Mission for a few days beyond December 15, to ensure the handover is conducted in a safe and orderly fashion, although that staff will not stay beyond the end of the month.

The Security Council, in a statement adopted after that meeting ended, welcomed the December 10 protocol on Prevlaka and the work of the UN Mission there.

SECURITY COUNCIL WELCOMES ELDORET DECLARATION ON SOMALIA

The Security Council, following its two open meetings on the Balkans, adopted a Presidential Statement on Somalia in an open meeting shortly after noon, in which it welcomed the declaration signed in Eldoret, Kenya, by the Somali parties as an important step towards the overriding objective of ending the violence and the suffering of the Somali people and bringing them the peace they so dearly deserve.

The Council requested the Secretary-General to continue putting in place, in a coherent manner, preparatory activities on the ground for a comprehensive post-conflict peace-building mission in Somalia, once security conditions permit.

This afternoon at 3:30, the Security Council has scheduled consultations on Burundi.

UN REVIEWING ACTIONS TO DEAL WITH HARSH AFGHAN WINTER

The United Nations is undertaking a quick review of winter support program in Afghanistan to see if there is a need to increase the winter package. Nigel Fisher, the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan, said in a press briefing today that the demand for winter support is much greater than expected.

The winter preparedness program covered about 2.1 million of the most extremely vulnerable Afghans. However, Fisher said, the Mission was learning from governors and others that, besides the poorest Afghans, we still have a lot of people who need emergency aid.

Fisher gave some details of the appeal for next years Transitional Assistance Programme for Afghanistan, which will be launched in Oslo on December 17-18. He said, We will tell the donors that less resources needed to come through the UN, more should go directly through the Government.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that the delivery of emergency winter supplies is continuing for 3,350 internally displaced families in Spin Boldak, following the deaths of 10 children. According to a health expert, the severe temperature drop, to 15 degrees below zero, seems to have been the primary cause of the deaths. Reportedly, this region of Afghanistan rarely experiences sub-zero temperatures even during the height of the winter.

The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) is carrying out a rabies control program in major Afghan cities, aiming to vaccinate more than 150,000 dogs. Rabies has been endemic in Afghanistan for many years, and the World Health Organization reports that rabid animals bite approximately 400 people throughout the country every month. The program is funded by Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

UN ENVOY URGES RESTRAINT AT MEETINGS IN LEBANON

Terje Roed-Larsen, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, met today with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud during a one-day visit to Beirut.

Accompanied by Staffan de Mistura, the Secretary-Generals Personal Representative for Southern Lebanon, Larsen discussed with the Lebanese authorities a broad range of issues concerning the situation in the region prior to briefing the Security Council on December 16 and the Quartet meetings scheduled to take place later this month.

Larsen urged all parties to show full restraint. He believed he saw eye to eye with the Lebanese authorities on the situation.

UN RIGHTS ENVOY CONCERNED ABOUT COTE DIVOIRE EXECUTIONS

The Special Rapporteur of the UN Commission on Human Rights on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Asma Jahangir, today expressed her serious concern about recent reports of extrajudicial executions, which are said to have taken place in Côte dIvoire.

The Special Rapporteur urged all parties in the conflict to refrain from carrying out extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. She also affirmed the absolute necessity of identifying perpetrators and of ensuring that they are held accountable in conformity with international standards.

ETHIOPIA, ERITREA RESUME MEETINGS ON MILITARY COORDINATION

The UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea reports today that the Military Coordination Commission (MCC) held its 14th meeting on Wednesday in Nairobi, Kenya, after an eight-month interlude. The meeting was described as amicable and positive in all respects.

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Legwaila J. Legwaila, commended the two parties on the progress achieved to date in the peace process and urged them to continue their efforts toward the culmination of that process.

He underscored the importance of this new implementation phase, which centers on the demarcation of the final border, and called on the Commission to take up its military supporting responsibilities in that regard.

Among the topics discussed by the Commission was the process of de-mining in support of demarcation. This task, at the request of the Boundary Commission, has been assigned by the Security Council to the UN Missions military de-mining assets with the consent of the Parties.

FRECHETTE OPENS INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF FRESHWATER LAUNCH

To raise awareness and action to manage and protect freshwater resources, the General Assembly proclaimed 2003 the International Year of Freshwater. The Year was launched this morning at a panel discussion at which Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette made opening remarks.

She said the year should not only raise awareness of the more than a billion people worldwide who lack safe drinking water and sanitation, but should serve as a platform for creativity and promote participation. She added that water problems should be a catalyst for cooperation rather than an issue of conflict.

In his message to mark the occasion, the Secretary-General said that the world must improve its stewardship of water resources. Let us use the knowledge and technology at our disposal, he said, and do our utmost to protect the worlds precious resources our lifeline for survival and sustainable development in the 21st century.

PARTIES TO CONVENTION ON HAZARDOUS WASTE MEET IN GENEVA

At the sixth meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal in Geneva today, Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, delivered a message on behalf of the Secretary-General.

The Secretary-General pointed out that the 150 million tons of hazardous wastes generated in a year worldwide was simply not sustainable. He added that the parties to the Convention and their partners in civil society should be commended for their efforts to address the challenge of reducing the risks from these substances, especially in developing countries.

Also at the meeting today, manufacturers of mobile phones will sign a declaration on the environmentally sound disposal of mobile phones. This is expected to be the first of many collaborations between various industry sectors and the Basel Convention in the next few years.

UN DRUGS CHIEF TO DISCUSS OPIATE ABUSE RISE IN CENTRAL ASIA

The Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, will discuss drug control and rising levels of opiate abuse on his first visit to Central Asia, when he attends a two-day meeting on sub-regional drug control cooperation that begins Friday in Ashgabad, Turkmenistan.

All the countries neighboring Afghanistan have suffered from rising levels of opiate abuse in recent years, with the prevalence rate in Central Asia estimated to be at 0.9 percent of the population above the age of 15 or about three times the global level of opiate abuse. The situation has had a dramatic effect on HIV/AIDS in the region, with data for last year suggesting that 88 percent of all newly-recorded HIV cases were related to drug abuse involving injections.

ICTY RULES ON LIMITS FOR COMPELLING REPORTERS TO TESTIFY

On Wednesday, the appeals chamber for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) set aside a subpoena for a reporter, Jonathan Randal of the Washington Post, to testify before the Tribunal.

In its judgment, the appeals chamber expressed the view that compelling war correspondents to testify before the Tribunal on a routine basis may have a significant impact upon their ability to obtain information and to inform the public. It set forth a criterion for such testimony to be compelled: that the evidence sought is of direct and important value in determining a core issue and cannot be reasonably obtained elsewhere.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette will make the keynote address at the opening ceremonies of the Harvard Model United Nations Conference taking place at the Boston Park Plaza hotel at 5:00 p.m. today. The Harvard Model United Nations attracts more than 2,000 students and faculty from around the world, who gather to represent countries in a simulation of the United Nations.

This morning, India and Nepal signed the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, bringing the total of signatories to 147. India, Poland and Lithuania signed the Protocol on firearms supplementing the same Convention, and India also signed the Protocols on trafficking in persons and on the smuggling of migrants.

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

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