United Nations Daily Highlights, 96-11-08

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Friday, 8 November 1996

HEADLINES

• UN Secretary-General says he is profoundly concerned about serious humanitarian situation in eastern Zaire.
• United Nations Report on Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, released.
• Speakers decry protectionism in the guise of subsidies, environmental protection and labour rights as Economic and Financial Committee discusses trade and development.
• Disarmament and International Security Committee decides to ask General Assembly to encourage and support efforts by Russian Federation and United States to reduce nuclear weapons.
• There is disturbing degree of complicity and acceptance of racial intolerance - Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee is told.
• Special Political and Decolonisation Committee says it will ask General Assembly to express concern at proposal to further reduce budget of Department of Public Information.
• Secretariat must act to streamline peace-keeping operations and liquidate completed missions - Administrative and Budgetary Committee hears.
• Notion that criminal responsibility should be attached to States rather than individuals does not serve any useful purpose - Legal Committee is told.

She said the Secretary-General, in a letter to the President of the Security Council on Thursday, had told the Council that the best option available at this stage was for a Group of Member States to decide to establish a multinational force under the authority of the Security Council.

"The Secretary-General strongly appeals to Member States, which are in a position to do so, to contribute to it in whatever way possible. Needless to say that any action mandated by the Security Council would be implemented in close consultation with the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and the countries of the region", the Spokesman said.

She said the United Nations and its humanitarian agencies, as well as relief non governmental organisations have, for the past several months rendered invaluable service by distributing food and other necessities to the needy, often against heavy odds in extremely dangerous circumstances.

"To his regret, however, the Secretary-General was obliged to authorise the temporary relocation of the international staff to neighbouring countries for reasons of safety and security", the Spokesman said, adding that those staff would return as soon as security conditions permitted.

The Spokesman noted that the Secretary-General was confident that the international community would not fail to discharge its moral obligation to rescue those affected and to take immediate action to put an end to the hostilities in the Great Lakes region.

In a statement on Friday, Ms. Machel said whatever the causes of modern-day brutality towards children, the time has come to call a halt. "It is unforgivable that children are assaulted, violated, murdered, and yet our conscience is not revolted nor our sense of dignity challenged," she said.

She said the recommendations contained in the report were practical and achievable. "We simply need to have the will to make them happen. The alternative, to do nothing, is unthinkable. For the sake of future peace, we must invest in the protection of children today," Ms. Machel said.

The report attacks the global complacency and cynicism which had allowed 2 million children to die in armed conflicts in the past decade, and three times as many to be seriously injured or permanently disabled.

It calls for a global campaign to stop the recruitment of children under the age of 18 into armed forces and to ensure that all forces demobilise those under 18 years of age immediately. The report urges all countries to support the speedy adoption of the draft optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, raising the minimum age of recruitment and participation in the armed forces to 18 years.

The report calls for the appointment of a Special Representative of the Secretary-General to monitor progress on the recommendations and to keep the whole issue high on the international agenda.

If its recommendations are adopted by the Member States, the Report would form the framework for future action to safeguard children caught up in conflicts.

The draft resolution was introduced by United States Senator Clayborne Pell, who said that it pointed to a step-by-step approach to nuclear disarmament, which was multilateral, regional, bilateral or even unilateral.

Once the Treaty on further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START II) was implemented, Russian and American strategic arms would be reduced to about one-third their pre-START levels, he said. Once START II was ratified, the respective Presidents of the two countries were committed to discussions on further reductions, he noted.

By the terms of a draft on the establishment of a nuclear-weapon- free zone in the Middle East, the Assembly would urge all parties to consider the urgent steps required for its establishment.

It would call upon all countries of the region to place their nuclear activities under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards, and would stress the importance of rapid progress in the Middle East peace negotiations.

Other drafts introduced included a draft on the risk of nuclear proliferation, a draft calling upon the States parties and signatories to the treaties establishing nuclear-weapon-free zones in Latin America and the Caribbean, in the South Pacific, South East Asia and Africa.

The representative of Venezuela said a rigorous analysis of environment and trade was required, particularly in circumstances when norms and precepts of an environmental nature were used for protectionist purposes in the area of international trade. Uruguay also called for eliminating discrimination and establishing a rule-based system of international trade.

The representative of Iran agreed and said the imposition of coercive economic measures and approval of domestic legislation with extra- territorial implications by some developed countries was contrary to the provisions of the United Nations Charter, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) commitments and international trading rules.

The Committee was told by the Secretary-General for the South Pacific Forum that its member countries had chosen to benchmark their trade and investment reforms against standards set for WTO membership. As a first step, they had focused on improving the transparency of investment regimes in the region and were collaborating to improve mechanisms to identify fraudulent financial operations, to combat international drug trafficking and to develop a common approach to weapons control, he said.

Earlier, the Secretary-General of UNCTAD, Rubens Ricupero told the Committee that ninety per cent of reform within the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) was complete and its intergovernmental machinery had been drastically reduced to three commissions from an earlier total of more than ten. He stressed that any extension of multilateral trade disciplines must be a conscious decision of the international community taken with emphasis on the development perspective and the need for balanced and equitable approaches.

There was a disturbing degree of complicity, and perhaps even acceptance of racial intolerance and discrimination in the world today, the representative of India told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural.

Noting that rightist or ultra-conservative political groups or parties had gained ground, notably in the Western world, she said weak laws defining discrimination, lax enforcement and inadequate sentences for racially motivated crimes in industrialised countries did not help to uproot the problem.

Algeria said the mass media and the technology of the Internet have recently facilitated the dissemination of xenophobic, racist and neo- facist views.

The text on United Nations public information policies and activities, was one of two draft resolutions recommended by the Committee on Information and approved without a vote. The draft would have the assembly request that the DPI review its publications to ensure cost- effective production and that each fulfilled an identifiable need.

The Assembly would ask that when draft resolutions arise with information mandates, other than texts recommended by the Committee on Information, costs be identified for the DPI, including estimated man- hours, printing, publishing and material expenditures.

By the terms of that draft, the Assembly would reaffirm the importance of the UN Information Centres, particularly in developing countries and countries in transition, request continued integration of information centres with other UN field offices, whenever feasible; and note the impact of new technologies on the fulfillment of the objectives of the centres.

While encouraging the DPI to utilise new information technologies, the Assembly would underline the continued importance of the use of traditional and mass media channels for disseminating information.

Member States would be invited to submit ideas on how to develop communication infrastructures and capacities in developing countries, and the Secretariat would be asked to ensure the involvement of the DPI in the planning of peace-keeping and other field operations.

Assistant Secretary-General for Public Information, Samir Sanbar, addressing the Committee as it concluded its discussion, reviewed several issues raised by delegations. He said studies of the workings of UN Information Centres and of Dag Hamarskjold Library were continuing, future public information efforts relating to decolonisation were being planned, and efforts continued to fulfil the UN information mandate relating to the question of Palestine.

On the use of new technologies, Mr. Sanbar said that although the UN was on the road to the information super-highway, it was steadfastly committed to reaching the mainstream audience. "While looking to the future, the United Nations information system would keep its feet solidly on the ground", he said.

Speaking on death and disability benefits for peace-keepers, Nepal's representative questioned the rationale that would have the United Nations opt for a self-insurance scheme, and sought clarifications from the Secretariat.

The representative of Pakistan said that death and disability payments should be made quickly to soldiers and their survivors, and uniform criteria applied in paying death and injuries benefits.

The concept of State crimes confused, rather than clarified the analysis of particular situations and should be deleted from the draft, the representative of the United States told the Committee. He said it was both inappropriate and unproductive for the Commission to weave new rules on supposed crimes by States into the law on State responsibility.

The representative of the Czech Republic called for a mechanism to be established that would obviate the need for counter measures by injured States. He, however, said that until the international community was ready to take that step, a specific framework must be put in place governing countermeasures, in order to prevent their abuse.

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