United Nations Daily Highlights, 03-12-02

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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

Tuesday, December 2, 2003

SECRETARY-GENERAL TO SPEAK IN LOS ANGELES ON MULTILATERALISM

Secretary-General Kofi Annan will address the Los Angeles World Affairs Council on the US role in the United Nations, and the importance of multilateralism, this evening. He flew to Los Angeles from New York this morning, and should be arriving later this afternoon.

His speech to the World Affairs Council contrasts the work done by the United Nations, with US support, over the second half of the twentieth century with the horrors of the first half, when humanity suffered two world wars.

UN RELIEF HEAD WARNS OF RISING TENSIONS IN COTE DIVOIRE

The UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland, today expressed concern about the rising tensions in Abidjan, Cote dIvoire, and warned that if that country lapses back into war, it will only compound the suffering of civilians. He urged all parties to bring an end to fighting immediately, to prevent a humanitarian crisis from worsening.

Meanwhile, a breakdown in law and order, particularly in the north, could jeopardize peoples ability to feed themselves. Egeland said that food is being grown, but farmers cant bring their goods to market and their customers have become to poor to buy them.

UNHCR NOTES RISE IN RUSSIAN ASYLUM APPLICATIONS

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) today reported a rise in asylum applications from Russians, the great majority of whom are believed to be Chechens, from this past July through September. More than 23,000 Russians applied for asylum in that period, compared to more than 21,000 Iraqis.

In its asylum statistics for that three-month period, UNHCR reports a slight increase in asylum applications, by 9 percent, from the period lasting from April until June.

Overall, asylum applications for the first nine months of this year is 21 percent lower in the European Union than during that same period in 2002.

UNHCR, in its briefing today, also drew attention to the grave difficulties that non-governmental organizations have faced in their refugee work in Iran.

SIERRA LEONE REPATRIATIONS FROM GUINEA ARE RESUMED

Repatriation to Sierra Leone resumed this weekend from Guinea after a three-month interruption due to the rainy season. A small convoy of 84 refugees is currently in transit towards the Kono district in eastern Sierra Leone.

The UN refugee agency is planning four more convoys of about 250 people each in the next two weeks, and many more in 2004 before the planned June cut-off date for official repatriations. Young people are being encouraged to take advantage of the current convoys to be in time for the beginning of the school year in Sierra Leone.

However, UNHCR that some 73,000 Sierra Leoneans are still scattered across West Africa, two and a half years after the official end of their civil war.

CAMEROON-NIGERIA COMMISSION TO ADOPT PLAN ON LAKE CHAD

The Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission is set to adopt its plan for the withdrawal and transfer of authority in the Lake Chad area and to address further cooperation between those two countries.

The Commission, which the Secretary-General set up to bring about the peaceful implementation of the International Court of Justices ruling on the border dispute between the two countries, is meeting today and Wednesday in Yaoundé, Cameroon. It is chaired by the Secretary-Generals Special Representative, Ahmedou Ould Abdallah.

UNEP WARNS THAT SNOW LEVELS MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR SKIING

The World Conference on Sport and Environment, organized by the International Olympic Committee and the UN Environment Programme, got underway today in Turin, Italy. As that event begins, UNEP has launched a study which concludes that due to global warming, the levels of snow falling in lower-lying mountain areas will become increasingly unpredictable over the coming decades. This in turn is expected to make many of the worlds ski areas unviable.

Speaking at the Conference, Klaus Toepfer, the UNEP Executive Director, stressed that while it is the poorest countries that are at greatest risk due to the effects of climate change, rich nations will also suffer economic upheaval if global warming is not tackled.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

SECURITY COUNCIL DISCUSSES PROGRAM OF WORK: The Security Council this morning held consultations on its program of work for December, under the Council Presidency of Ambassador Stefan Tafrov of Bulgaria.

UN LAUNCHES DISARMAMENT PROGRAM IN LIBERIA: The UN Mission in Liberia formally launched its disarmament program Monday with a ceremony in the capital, Monrovia, at which weapons were destroyed. Jacques Klein, the Secretary-Generals Special Representative, cut up the first weapon in the presence of Government and former rebel officials. Quoting from the Book of Isaiah, Klein said, They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks.

FORMER RWANDAN OFFICIAL CONVICTED OF GENOCIDE: A former mayor (or bourgmestre) of Mukingo, in Rwanda, was convicted Monday by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda for genocide and crimes against humanity, and sentenced to life in prison.

ANNAN WARNS OF PROBLEMS FACING AFRICAN CITIES: The Secretary-General says that UN statistics showing that between 40 and 70 percent of the urban population in Africa lives in slums should alarm us all. In a message to the Africities Summit, which is taking place in Yaoundé, Cameroon, today, he urges leaders to do their utmost to make African towns and cities places of opportunity and prosperity for all.

ANNAN EXTENDS ADVISER DEALING WITH HORN OF AFRICA: The Secretary-General recently informed the Security Council of the work his Special Adviser, Mohamed Sahnoun, has been doing in the Horn of Africa, especially in Somalia and Sudan. The Secretary-General, in an exchange of letters with the Council, has extended Sahnouns appointment until the end of December 2004.

HUMAN RIGHTS CHALLENGE OF SLAVERY PERSISTS: Slavery and slavery-like practices continue to be among the greatest human rights challenges facing the international community. According to UN human rights bodies, in a message on the occasion of the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, profits are still being made from the buying and selling of human beings and millions of people languish in conditions of servitude, serfdom or enforced prostitution.

U.N. BUDGET: Belize today paid more than $13,000 to become the 123rd Member State to pay its regular budget dues in full for this year.

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