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United Nations Daily Highlights 96-09-03United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.orgDAILY HIGHLIGHTSTuesday, September 3, 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 expressed the hope that tension in the Persian Gulf would quickly subside so that the United Nations could get on with its work of alleviating the suffering which affected all segments of the Iraqi population, the Secretary-General's Spokesman Sylvana Foa said today. She said the Secretary-General was concerned over the impact of the latest events which clearly would adversely affect the implementation of the UN programmes of humanitarian assistance. Meanwhile, the Steering Committee for the implementation of the oil- for- food formula contained in Security Council resolution 986 met on Tuesday, the Spokesman said. She said the UN was going ahead with preparations, "but it's obvious to everyone that the implementation may have to be postponed until things calm down", the Spokesman said, adding that all UN staff were safe and accounted for. The World Food Programme has called upon the international community to ensure that promises made at the Beijing Conference last year for the advancement of women be kept. "One year after the Beijing conference on women, there is little tangible evidence that significant progress has been made by the international community," said Ms.Catherine Bertini, Executive Director of the World Food Programme. She appealed to governments, organisations and groups who made concrete commitments to women, to ensure that their pledges were being implemented. The Fourth World Conference on Women took place in Beijing in September 1995. The Conference produced the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, for which delegates voted unanimously. Under the Platform, governments promised to begin breaking down the barriers to women's advancement by revising laws and ensuring equal access to education, food, health and training. The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has commended the completion of the Southern Philippines Peace Process and offered support for the new Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development (SPCPD). In a message to Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos and the People of the Philippines, UNESCO Director-General Federico Mayor offered full support for the establishment of the Council, noting that the decision to designate the region as a special zone of peace and development reflected the intimate relationship between the two, since neither could be sustained without the other. The UNESCO message referred to the final agreement signed on Monday between the Philippines Government and the Moro National Liberation Front which created the SPCPD as a means of ending the long conflict in southern Philippines. The transitory new body, under the control and supervision of President Ramos, would promote, monitor and coordinate efforts to further peace in the area, and concentrating projects particularly in depressed regions. The Preparatory Committee on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court has decided to continue its discussions on the draft statute of the proposed court with a view to finalising the text by the end of April 1998. The discussions would be followed later that year by a diplomatic plenipotentiary conference to adopt a convention on the establishment of the first international criminal court. Established by a resolution of the General Assembly, the preparatory Committee was charged with preparing a widely acceptable consolidated text of a convention for a permanent international criminal court. It would then be considered by a conference of plenipotentiaries. A worldwide campaign capable of benefiting some 40 million people affected by epilepsy would be launched jointly by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE). The ILAE is an international non-governmental organisation with 52 national Chapters in both developed and developing countries. In its initial stage, the campaign would be aimed at increasing public and professional awareness of epilepsy as a treatable brain disorder in order to change attitudes and dispel ignorance and myths. The ultimate objective of the initiative, according to the WHO, was improved treatment, services and prevention of epilepsy worldwide. A recent WHO study said eighty five per cent of the people affected by epilepsy lived in developing countries where the majority had little or no access to treatment. The study noted that epilepsy was the world's most common serious brain disorder which affected approximately one in every 150 people worldwide. The prevention of epilepsy was possible through improved prenatal care, safe delivery, control of fever in children, reduction of brain injury, and control of infectious and parasitic diseases, the WHO said. A three-day combined International Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Meeting and European NGO Symposium on the question of Palestine was meeting at the UN Office at Geneva. The meeting with the theme "Building NGO partnerships for a just and comprehensive settlement of the question of Palestine" was being convened under the auspices of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. It was aimed at promoting the contribution of NGOs to heightening international awareness and fostering support and assistance to meet the needs of the Palestinian people. Approximately 200 participants and observers were attending the meeting with experts from different regions, including Palestinians and Israelis. The discussions were focusing on various aspects of the question of Palestine, with particular reference to the recent developments in the peace process, the key to issues of a just and comprehensive settlement, and the intensification of action by NGOs. With the Convention to Combat Desertification expected to enter into force in a few months, officials from over 100 governments were meeting at the UN headquarters to launch a two-week negotiating session. The ninth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee would address a series of practical issues vital to the global battle against drylands degradation. Those issues needed to be settled so that the Conference of the Parties (COP) could start to oversee the Convention's implementation in 1997. Only 11 more ratifications were needed to meet the threshold of 50, which starts the three-month period for entry into force, after which parties would be legally obligated to start carrying out their commitments. One of the major issues to be debated was the Global Mechanism intended to support the Convention's implementation by promoting actions that helped mobilise and channel substantial financial resources to affected developing countries. 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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