United Nations Daily Highlights 96-06-17

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Monday, June 17, 1996

HEADLINES

• Habitat II ends with leaders' commitment to improve living standards.
• Secretary-General expresses satisfaction as Disarmament Conference admits 23 new members; delegates urge restraint.
• Secretary-General to meet top officials of Federal Republic of Germany and to inaugurate new Headquarters of UN Volunteers in Bonn.
• United Nations at a crossroads, General Assembly President tells Women's International Forum.
• Three members of UN demining brigade injured in Angola.
• Some 49,257 UNITA soldiers registered in Angola, United Nations Spokesman says.
• Day of African Child celebrated at UN Headquarters.
• The first half of the 1990s witnessed period of educational recovery, says UNESCO.
• Conference to shed light on issues affecting cultural tourism.
• The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) sets up Committee to strengthen ability to detect violations.

Since adequate funding would be required to implement the Agenda, the leaders declared that they should mobilize financial resources at the national and international levels, including new and traditional finances from all sources.

Recognizing local authorities as their closest partners in implementing the Agenda, the leaders committed themselves to strengthening their financial and institutional capacities in accordance with conditions in individual countries. On the contentious issue of financing in the Global Plan of Action, Member States agreed to act on the questions of financing of development, external debt, international trade and transfer of technology to developing countries.

The success of Habitat II depended on the political will to translate the Declaration and the Agenda into concrete action, Conference President, Suleyman Demirel of Turkey, said in closing remarks read on his behalf.

The Secretary-General of the Conference, Wally N'Dow, noted that if every nation cut its military budget by 5 per cent, the world could address housing needs in an affordable manner.

The representative of Colombia, speaking for the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, said the Group welcomed the reaffirmation of the right to housing for all although the future of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements did not seem more certain.

Italy's representative, speaking on behalf of the European Union, said the European States would work with non-European States to help build international cooperation.

South Africa's representative, speaking on behalf of the African States, said that those countries' housing efforts should be helped by their development partners and that the Centre for Human Settlements should be strengthened.

The representative of Uruguay, on behalf of the Latin American and Caribbean States, said Habitat II's ideals should be concretized.

On behalf of the Western European and other States, the United States' representative said that the Agenda would be a great legacy for the Conference.

The representative of Sudan, speaking for the Group of Arab States, expressed satisfaction with the Conference's results.

Morocco's representative, speaking as a coordinator for the Arab Ministers, said Habitat II should mark a new era in which man would find a place to live in as a human being.

The representative of Romania, speaking for the Eastern and Central European countries, expressed his appreciation for the Conference's outcomes.

The 'City Summit' was opened by Secretary-General Boutros Boutros- Ghali on 4 June. In his address, he urged delegates to be inspired by the "Spirit of Istanbul' -- a spirit of learning from the past, from previous United Nations conferences and their programmes.

Dr. Boutros-Ghali has expressed pleasure and satisfaction with the development. Noting that the long-overdue decision was made possible by the spirit of compromise and accommodation displayed by all members of the Conference, he said the development enhanced the representative character of the Conference and better reflected the new political realities of today.

He remarked at the fact that the decision was reached as the Conference entered the final phase of the negotiation on a Comprehensive Nuclear Test- Ban Treaty and said that augured well for the future endeavours of the Conference.

The Secretary-General expressed his confidence that the newly- admitted members of the Conference would continue to make a valuable contribution to its work.

Meanwhile, a nuclear test carried by China on 8 June was the subject of concern of several member states at the Conference on Disarmament, presently taking place in Geneva. Representatives of Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, Mexico, Japan, Chile, the Republic of Korea, Norway, Sweden, Belgium and Mongolia said at a time when great efforts were being made to conclude negotiations on a comprehensive nuclear test-ban treaty within two weeks, the test was uncalled for.

China earlier announced a moratorium on tests by September, following one further test, however several speakers noted that they would have preferred to see the moratorium take effect immediately, without the final test. The representative of China, Sha Zukang, said it had not been easy for his country to adopt a moratorium, as it had conducted by far the fewest number of tests among the announced nuclear powers. Certain nuclear Super-powers, he said, had made unwarranted remarks about China's tests, which had been based on his country's legitimate security concerns. Sha Zukang called on those countries to focus instead on ensuring a successful conclusion of the current negotiations.

The General Assembly President noted that the changes had come with attendant consequences, including increase in education and women at work. He pointed out other changes that had occurred, such as the fall of the Berlin wall and the end of communism in the Soviet Union.

He said the resultant optimism announced the possibility of a multilateral approach to international relations; particularly the implementation of a system of collective security centred on the United Nations. Detractors of the Organization should not overlook the limitations within which it operates, including the fact that it has no army. Its budget, excluding peace-keeping operations, was $1.3 billion a year, about 4 per cent of that of New York City, he pointed out. The United Nations was definitely not too expensive.

The President of the General Assembly stated that "the United Nations is not guilty of excessive and unreasonable spending!" The critics of the United Nations were wrong, he added. They were grossly misinformed. The process of reform currently being undertaken was evidence that the Organization "had a future".

The Spokesman recalled that on 11 June, the Angolan Government had completed its quartering of its Rapid Reaction Police.

The Day of the African Child, 16 June, was founded by the Organization of African Unity in memory of the South African school children who were massacred in Soweto on 16 June 1976. While marking the past, it also provides governments, international agencies, media, artists and all concerned an opportunity to focus on Africa and celebrate its future, the children of Africa.

The UNESCO Director-General added that for the first time, the number of out-of-school children has decreased from an estimated 128 million in 1990 to 110 million today, far less than the projected figure of 148 million by the year 2000. He, however, cautioned that not enough is being done to reach the millions of children still out of school. "It is simply unacceptable that in Africa the number of out-of-school children, 6 to 11 years old, totals a staggering 39.3 million, two-thirds of whom are girls," Mr Mayor said. He called on countries to invest at least 6 percent of their GNP in education, noting that "the funds exist, it is a matter of priorities."

The conference, entitled, "Culture, Tourism, Development: Crucial issues for 21st Century," is expected to study the development of the tourism industry, which concerned 570 million international tourists in 1995, and to assist UNESCO in planning and defining its activities in this field. Organised by UNESCO, in cooperation with the International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism (IASET) and an American magazine, the meeting will also examine such questions as the impact of the growth of tourism on development in the Asia-Pacific region, tourism and cultural change, and governmental and intergovernmental action in the field of tourism.

The Committee, established by the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), at its meeting in Vienna, will be charged with defining areas of additional access by inspectors to information and to nuclear-related locations. "This latest and welcome step clearly provides the necessary momentum and reflects the desire of the IAEA member states...to reinforce the IAEA's ability not only to verify declared nuclear inventories and States'adherence to non- proliferation pledges, but also to detect indications of activity that could be indicative of a possible violation of such undertakings," IAEA Director-General Hans Blix said.

From the United Nations home page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.org

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