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United Nations Daily Highlights 96-09-05United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.orgDAILY HIGHLIGHTSThursday, September 5, 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
Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, in a message to the Fifth Conference of Ministers of Information of Non-aligned Countries, has called for a substantive media coverage of the challenges and achievements of developing countries. He stated that Ministers of Information could help bring about such a change. The Secretary-General's message was read by Assistant-Secretary- General for Public Information, Samir Sanbar, to the Information Ministers meeting in Abuja, Nigeria. Expressing his concern about the issue of marginalisation in the world's press of the image of Africa and other developing regions, Secretary- General pointed out: "More recently, it is most often violence and bloodshed that attract the television cameras of the world." Conscious of the enormous influence of the media in an age of global communication, he stated that the United Nations offers its Member States support for the development of free and responsible media. He added that the United Nations has an important responsibility in this regard. "The United Nations must be the voice of those whose voices are not heard. I take it as my personal duty to draw the attention of the world's media to the true stories of the developing world," he said. Saeed Hassan, Charg‚ d'Affaires of the Permanent Mission of Iraq, has met UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali at Mr. Hassan's request, to inform him that attacks were continuing over the Iraqi capital and, in particular, over Baghdad's suburbs, the Secretary- General's Spokesman Sylvana Foa said today. The Iraqi Charg‚ d'Affaires indicated that he was instructed by his Government to seek an urgent meeting with the Secretary-General for that purpose and stated that he had conveyed a similar message to some members of the Security Council, the Spokesman added. The Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities has ended its four-week annual session in Geneva. A change in its role and working methods were extensively debated as human rights issues grow in complexity. The panel discussed the first part of an in-depth study on the situation of sexual abuse and slave-like practices during wartime and received a final report on the challenge posed to human rights by extreme poverty. Its expert members, delegations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) called for further attention to be paid to economic, social and cultural rights, expressing support for a world conference to combat racism. The Subcommission recommended that international forums such as the Conference on Disarmament should start negotiations on nuclear disarmament with the ultimate goal of eliminating weapons of mass destruction. The Subcommission also adopted resolutions on the state of human rights in Kosovo, Rwanda, Burundi, Iraq, Iran and the Israeli-occupied Arab territories and considered other issues such as the peace process in Guatemala, the violent clashes in Cyprus and the hostilities in Chechnya. Concerned at the consequences the international economic embargo was having on Iraq, it also appealed for more effective supply of food and medicines to civilians. On the subject of indigenous people, a recommendation was adopted to appoint Subcommission expert Erica-Irene Daes as Special Rapporteur to conduct a study of the problem of indigenous land rights. A team of the International Criminal Tribunal has arrived in Eastern Slavonia to investigate alleged massacre of civilians at Ovcara, near Vukovar, Secretary-General's Spokesman Sylvana Foa announced today. The digging of the mass grave is being coordinated by Dr. William Hagland, the forensics anthropologist for the Tribunal, and the actual digging is being done by Physicians for Human Rights, the Spokesman said. This is based on reports taken by the Tribunal from witnesses who said that on November, 20, 1991, the Yugoslav National Army emptied Vukovar hospital and moved 260 patients to their barracks. Some were released and some were killed. Three former Yugoslav National Army officers were indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal in Yugoslavia in connection with this case. The Ovcara mass graves were discovered in October 1992 and have since been protected by the UN Peace-keeping forces. The excavations are expected to take four to six weeks, according to the Spokesman. Malaysia and the United Nations will sign on Friday a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Stand-by Arrangements for UN Peace-keeping Operations, UN Spokesman Sylvana Foa said. Malaysia is now the fourth member state to sign such an MOU, after Jordan, Denmark and Ghana. This type of stand-by arrangement is designed to accelerate deployment of troops during the start of peace-keeping operations. Fifty-nine States have expressed willingness to participate in such stand-by arrangements, Ms. Foa stated. Malaysia in its Memorandum of Understanding pledges to provide a significant number of troops, including specialised units, within a short time-frame if called upon by the UN to help launch a new peace-keeping operation. Delegates at the joint UN International Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) Meeting/European NGO Symposium on Palestine, in Geneva addressed the question of "building NGO partnerships for a just and comprehensive settlement" in the Middle East. The delegates repeatedly expressed concern that the recently elected Israeli Government was hindering the peace process which was initiated two years ago and that greater violence could be the result. The Secretary-General of the of the Palestine Committee for NGOs and Director-General of the Arab and International Department of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Marai Abdul Rahman charged that extremist elements in Israel had gained a measure of influence, and that as a result Palestinians, too, were being pushed towards extremism. World Food Programme (WFP) officials have warned that roughly three quarters of a million Rwandan refugees in Goma, eastern Zaire, could face a serious food shortage owing to the impasse over the issue of a census in camps. Arrangements for the count had to be called off on Monday following an organised boycott by refugees. According to the WFP, donor countries were warning that they would not fund further food supplies to the camps until an accurate count of the refugees had been carried out. Donors and refugee countries needed a count so that food requirements could be accurately calculated, WFP said. Goma, the biggest of the Zairean refugee centres on the border with Rwanda, has some 727,000 refugees, according to the WFP. A successful head count was carried out in July and August among some 300,000 refugees in camps in Bukavu, eastern Zaire. 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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