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United Nations Daily Highlights 96-08-26United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.orgDAILY HIGHLIGHTSMonday, August 26, 1996This document is prepared by the Central News Section of the Department of Public Information and is updated every week-day at approximately 6:00 PM. HEADLINES
UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has recommended that the General Assembly authorise an extension of the mandate of the United Nations component of the International Civilian Mission to Haiti (MICIVIH) until 31 December 1996. In a report to the General Assembly on the situation of democracy and human rights in Haiti, Dr. Boutros-Ghali said the overall human rights situation continued to improve. He, nevertheless, said the rate of improvement was slow and serious human rights violations were reported, including summary execution, deliberate shooting and ill- treatment or torture of suspects by the police. "The new police force's record in this respect is mixed and it urgently needs to strengthen disciplinary mechanisms and to initiate criminal proceedings against any of its agents suspected of involvement in grave human rights violations," the Secretary-General stated. Regarding the work of the International Civilian Mission to Haiti (MICIVIH), Dr. Boutros-Ghali said that the UN component of MICIVIH was reduced in February from 87 to 32 observers, adding that notwithstanding delayed budget appropriations and counterpart programmes, the activities of MICIVIH in the area of human rights promotion and civic education proved to be one of its most dynamic areas of activity. Noting that the full deployment of the new police force had been achieved and the conditions prevailing in prisons throughout the country had improved somewhat, the Secretary-General, however, stated that "practices contrary to international human rights principles, incidents of popular justice and lack of security for judges and police agents demonstrate the continued fragility of the existing or newly established institutions." He concluded that work remained to be done to further both the Government's and the international community's efforts to improve their functioning and to increase the public confidence that would be required if a democratic future was to be assured for Haiti. There had been a dramatic change in the international system since the end of the cold war, and some regions of the world suddenly lost their strategic interest in the bipolar conflict, UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali said in a message to the World Federation of United Nations Associations Congress held in Luxembourg. He said the international solidarity of States in the service of peace and development, could often be supported by national public opinion. "There lies the importance of your work and the responsibility of your associations, " he told delegates. Underlining the importance of democratization, the Secretary-General said democratization was a process that could be adapted to reflect the specificities and the goals of all societies and cultures. On the financial position of the UN, the Secretary-General said everybody was conscious of the financial crisis, but there was also "a political crisis whereby some are trying to weaken the bases of the authority, of the legitimacy of the United Nations, and hence of multilateral action. Now is the time to reaffirm, with all our strength and all our courage, our faith in the United Nations," he stated. The members of the Security Council have called on the warring parties in Afghanistan to renounce the use of force and settle their differences by peaceful means, through negotiation. In a letter to the Secretary-General, the Council members said they remained deeply concerned about the ongoing civil war in Afghanistan, its effects on the region and particularly, the suffering of the civilian population. The members of the Council said they were convinced that the main responsibility for finding a political solution to the conflict lay with the parties and that all states should refrain from interference. They were convinced that the United Nations must continue to play a central role in international efforts towards a peaceful resolution of the Afghan conflict. UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has expressed his condolences on the sudden death of Mr. Erskine Childers, the Secretary- General of the World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA). Mr. Childers died at the Federation's 50th anniversary Congress in Luxembourg on Sunday. Meanwhile, the WFUNA said in the five months of his service as Secretary- General of WFUNA, Mr. Childers threw himself into preparing for the 50th Anniversary Congress. "He died as he lived -in the service of the United Nations. His sudden death is a bitter tragedy for WFUNA which had planned a major programme of activities in which he was destined to play a key leadership role," the WFUNA said. According to the WFUNA, after a distinguished academic career, Mr. Childers entered into service with the UN where, as a result of his dedication and devotion, he rose to senior positions in the Organisation. "After his retirement, he continued to strive relentlessly for the ideals for which he had worked so hard," WFUNA noted. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has reiterated its readiness to contribute to the implementation of the peace accord in Bosnia and Herzegovina, from the prospective of the principles and objectives of the Convention. At the closing of its forty-ninth session, the Committee also expressed its serious preoccupations and fear that as a result of the actual deficiencies in the process of voter registration, practices of intimidation and other restrictions, the holding of elections might, under the present circumstances, reinforce patterns of ethnic segregation and division. During its three-week meeting, the Committee studied information about the implementation of the Convention in States whose regular reports were overdue, and looked at countries listed under its early warning and urgent procedures mechanism, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Liberia, Papua New Guinea and Rwanda. Israel was removed from that list of countries and requested to submit information through the regular reporting process. The Committee examined the measures taken by Bolivia, Brazil, Republic of Korea, India, Malta, China, Venezuela, Namibia, Zaire and Mauritius to combat bias. It also adopted a recommendation aimed at assisting the 147 States parties to the Convention to implement provisions of the Treaty related to the rights of refugees and persons displaced on the basis of ethnic criteria. The panel, the first created by the United Nations to review actions by States in fulfilling their obligations under a specific human rights agreement, studied reports from those countries on their compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Penalties for the crimes within the jurisdiction of the proposed international criminal court should be clearly defined in its statute, several delegations told the meeting of the Preparatory Committee on the Establishment of the International Criminal Court. Representatives discussed the death penalty, imprisonment,fines, disenfranchisement, confiscation, restitution to victims, and other penalties. Mexico said that the statute should specifically set out minimum and maximum penalties, along with the circumstances which might be taken into account in deciding on penalties. The representative of Ireland said that the draft did not present a coherent sentencing policy. The representative of the United States said that the court should have a broad range of penalties at its disposal, including fines, restitution and disenfranchisement. Delegations disagreed over the question of the court levying fines on convicted persons. Venezuela said that fines were inappropriate to the nature of the serious crimes outlined in the proposed court's statute. There is a growing awareness of the value of agreeing on national standards for place names, especially in states where more than one language is in common use or officially recognised, the Chairman of the UN Groups of Experts on Geographical Names, Peter Raper of South Africa said at the conclusion of the Group's eighteenth session in Geneva. The Group submitted a document bringing together, for the first time in that format, the names of each country in the world in its original national form, a romanized version and the country's official and short names in the working languages of the United Nations: English, French and Spanish. The document is being circulated for further comments and corrections and would be presented at the Seventh Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names, to be held in Tehran in September 1997. The Geneva meeting was attended by 90 experts representing 17 linguistic/geographical divisions from 45 countries. The Chairman of the Group noted with regret the absence of representatives of sub-Saharan African States and the small number from Latin America. However, he pointed out that their absence was largely due to a lack of resources. Bahamas has become the 86th member State to pay its assessed contribution of $217, 540 to the UN regular budget, the Secretary- General's Spokesman Sylvana Foa announced today. The UN, according to the Spokesman, is still owed $2.9 billion by member States, of which $2.1 billion is for peacekeeping budget and $0.8 billion for the regular budget. For information purposes only - - not an official record From the United Nations home page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.orgUnited Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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