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United Nations Daily Highlights 96-09-30United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.orgDAILY HIGHLIGHTSMonday, September 30, 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
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Namibia, Theo-Ben Gurirab has called on the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu and the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat to engage in "urgent one-on-one meeting and joint action, which ought to be routine, to end the vicious cycle of violence". Addressing the General Assembly during second week of general debate, Mr. Gurirab said the first step in that direction was the immediate cessation of creating new settlements and termination of the reconstruction work in the old city of Jerusalem. On the issue of Western Sahara, Mr. Gurirab called for the early holding of a UN-sponsored referendum in which the authentic Saharawis would be able to express their unfettered will and assume their destiny. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, Ali Alatas said Israel must be prevailed upon to honour the 1993 Declaration of Principles and its subsequent agreements and to resume negotiations on the remaining issues and the final status of the occupied territories, including Jerusalem. Focusing on various regional conflicts, Mr Alatas told the Assembly that it was incumbent upon the international community to ensure the unity and territorial integrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina as a multicultural, multi- ethnic and multi-religious society. Echoing the views expressed by Indonesia, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic said the international community should not ignore the fact that the election results in Bosnia and Herzegovina re- confirmed ethnic divisions of the country. "The international community should therefore remain alert and continue in its peaceful engagement by committing necessary troops and by exerting political pressures on all parties to keep the pace of the Dayton peace process", he said. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, Robaina Gonzalez told the Assembly that fifty one years after the creation of the United Nations, "instead of seeing wealth and development from the North to the South, we see instead, the growing threat of underdevelopment moving from the South to the North". He cautioned that if the world did not manage to reverse that situation collectively and by sharing the burden by improving living conditions in the developing countries, no one would be able to stop the waves of migrants. The Deputy-Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Tansu Ciller supported the implementation of the oil-for-food formula on Iraq. She said Security Council resolution 986, when implemented, would alleviate the suffering of the Iraqi people, while also bringing a limited relief for Turkey. She said Turkey was now at the forefront of countries which had been directly and most adversely affected by the sanction regime. "In fact, the heavy toll we have been required to pay has long exceeded our ability to sustain the financial strain on our economy any longer", she said. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Australia, Alexander Downer called for improvements in the effectiveness of UN sanctions. He told the Assembly that Australia recognised that the Security Council's use of collective sanctions continued to be an important and, at times, a contentious enforcement measure. He maintained that the Council should resist pressure to embark upon missions before it had completed adequate preparations, developed a focused sense of the mission's goals, and agreed on a clearly articulated mandate. "It has become clear that many conflicts are intractable. Experience has taught us that it is difficult to reach agreement on suitable approaches, and to find enough resources, particularly in the area of peacekeeping", he noted. The Security Council on Saturday called for the immediate cessation and reversal of all acts which had resulted in the aggravation of the situation, and had negative implications for the Middle East peace process. In adopting resolution 1073 (1996), by a vote of fourteen in favour, with one abstention (United States), the Council expressed its deep concern about the tragic events in Jerusalem and the areas of Nablus, Ramallah, Bethlehem and the Gaza Strip, which resulted in a high number of deaths and injuries among the Palestinian civilians. It expressed concern about the clashes between the Israeli army and the Palestinian police and the casualties on both sides. The Council called for the safety and protection of Palestinian civilians to be ensured, and for the immediate resumption of negotiations within the Middle East peace process on its agreed basis, and the timely implementation of the agreements reached. In another action Saturday, the Security Council called for the immediate cessation of all armed hostilities and urgently called on the leaders of the Afghan parties to renounce the use of force, to put aside their differences and to engage in a political dialogue aimed at achieving national reconciliation. Concerned at the violation of the United Nations premises in Kabul and expressing dismay at the brutal execution by the Taliban of former Afghan President Najibullah and others who had taken refuge there, the Council demanded that all parties fulfil their obligations and commitments on the safety of UN and other international personnel in Afghanistan. In a statement read out by its President, Alfredo Lopes Cabral of Guinea- Bissau, the Council reaffirmed its commitment to Afghanistan's sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national unity, and called on all States to refrain from interfering in its internal affairs. It called on all Afghans to cooperate fully with the United Nations and associated bodies, as well as with other humanitarian organisations and agencies. UN Secretary-General Boutros-Boutros-Ghali has welcomed the entry into force of the Convention to Combat Desertification. In a statement, announcing the fiftieth ratification of the Convention, he said a vision of international solidarity for the sustainable development of arid lands was now turning into commitment for concrete action. "Given the gravity of the problems arising from desertification, I believe that the entry into force of the Convention will be a turning point in our efforts to deal with them", the Secretary-General noted. He said desertification puts at risk the livelihood of more than 1 billion people, and about 135 million may be in danger of being driven from their land. "I am delighted to confirm today that the efforts of the international community are bearing fruit so that now the implementation of the Convention to Combat Desertification can begin", he concluded. UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali today welcomed progress made on goals set at the 1990 World Summit for Children. He said he was pleased to report that mid-decade reviews in some ninety countries indicated that sixty per cent were on track to reach the overall goal of child survival or were within striking distance of that goal, and indicated that the fact that levels of achievement varied between countries could not reduce enthusiasm for the overall process. In terms of what kind of progress was made, the UN Secretary-General stated that it was estimated that a million fewer children under the age of five will die this year than in 1990 -- a figure that could have been twice as great had all the mid-decade goals been achieved in all countries and communities. He added that, every year, about 80 per cent of the world's children were immunized against the major diseases of childhood before their first birthday. "This is not the time to falter. We must sustain the progress we are highlighting here today. We must accelerate our efforts to reach the goals for the year 2000. This will require further integration of global commitments into national plans, strategies and programmes. It will require continued commitment and support from the donor community," Dr. Boutros- Ghali said. UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali stressed the right of older persons to a productive life in a message for the 1996 International Day for Older Persons, 1 October. He said that in order to support the fundamental right of older persons to a productive and economically secure life, a comprehensive Plan of Action on Ageing had been introduced. The Plan recommended measures to be taken by Member States in all relevant fields such as education, employment, the environment, health and social welfare. "Today, the political and intellectual contribution to society of older persons is demonstrated every day and on every continent. But for a growing number of people, poverty and discrimination all too often render participation and an active older age impossible. All too often, older persons are excluded, ignored and forgotten," he added. A panel discussion on the theme "Challenges to older peoples' economic security around the world" will be held at Headquarters on Thursday, 3 October. The day's observance is a recognition of the ageing of the world's population and the economic as well as social challenge caused by the demographic shift. The President of the fifty-first session of the General Assembly, Razali Ismail of Malaysia urged support for the marginalised, at a dinner in his honour hosted by the Foreign Ministers of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). He indicated that the relationship between consumers in the developed world and the producers of the developing world was real and intimate. "If we believe in the interconnectedness of peace and human security, we must refashion national interest and our behaviour so that it is not at the expense of others, especially the marginalised. The bonds between peoples across boundaries must be reinforced. The welfare of the planet and the human person will depend on the speed at which we put these universal values into practice," he stated. He also said that the reason ASEAN countries continued to score highly on virtually all the global economic and development indicators was not because of sound policies alone, adding that it was also the result of "the ASEAN spirit of cooperation." The Provisional Election Commission for Bosnia and Herzegovina has met and agreed to certify the results of the 14 September elections for the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the House of Representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Presidency of Republica Srpska, the National Assembly of Republica Srpska, and the 10 Cantons of the Federation, the Head of Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ambassador Robert H. Frowick said in a statement. The decision to certify elections directly confers upon each successful candidate the legal right to claim and to hold the public office to which he or she has been elected, indicated the statement. The decision had been based on objective evidence, including actual results, tabulations, reconciliations, allocation of seats and decisions on complaints and appeals, while subjective evidence included consideration of reports from all sources on the results. "Standards of free and fair elections, as generally understood in long- standing democratic societies, simply cannot reasonably be applied in Bosnia and Herzegovina at this stage of its history. The OSCE Mission has, however, been able to orchestrate what is generally regarded by the international monitors and the Provisional Election Commission as a reasonably democratic electoral process, one in keeping with internationally accepted practices of eligibility, access, participation, and transparency - - elections which have reflected the will of the people," Ambassador Frowick stated. The work of the International Criminal Tribunal exhuming bodies at Pilice, which is the fourth site to be exhumed in Eastern Bosnia, ended last week, the Spokesman for the Secretary-General Sylvana Foa said. There were four hundred to five hundred bodies that have been exhumed at the four sites all together, although the exact count is difficult to make as not all the bodies were intact, she pointed out. The exhumation work in Eastern Bosnia will be suspended until next Spring because of the winter. About 200 university professors, students and conservation specialists will meet at a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)-organized seminar that begins 2 October in Valencia, Spain to establish a university network to protect cultural heritage. The goal of the five-day Forum UNESCO/University and Heritage seminar is for university professors and students throughout the world to share their expertise in disciplines related to heritage: archaeology, architecture, urban development, the fine arts and computer technology. Participants will seek to mobilise universities to work jointly, and will eventually establish hubs of students and teachers to act as focal points to co- ordinate and implement joint activities. "One of UNESCO's major tasks, as an institution with an intellectual and ethical vocation, is to ensure the conservation and protection of works which people have bequeathed to history," UNESCO Director-General Federico Mayor said. "By joining forces in a desire to co-operate on joint projects for the protection of heritage and the environment, universities can play their legitimate role in giving new impetus to the forces of development." 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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