United Nations Daily Highlights, 96-11-14

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Thursday, 14 November 1996

HEADLINES

• Canada says it is not aim of multinational force to disarm intimidators in Zaire.
• Disarmament and International Security Committee approves draft text calling for international agreement to ban land-mines.
• Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee decides to ask General Assembly to convene 1998 Special Session on Drug Abuse.
• States should avoid making wide reservations when ratifying international human rights treaties - Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee is told.
• All States should benefit from international cooperation in exploration and use of outer space - Special Political and Decolonisation Committee says.
• Private entities, not States, should be held responsible for transboundary harm they cause - Legal Committee is told.
• United Nations appeals for humanitarian assistance to aid Tajikistan.
• UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to meet in Geneva.
• Experts on global mapping meet in California, United States.
• UN Development Programme calls for setting up of new poverty- eradication fund for Arab region.

The Deputy Minister said the humanitarian force, aimed at providing humanitarian relief to eastern Zaire, would go into the field with all the authority it requires and with robust rules of engagement. He said a voluntary trust fund had been set up to enable African countries to participate in the activities of the task force.

"Canada finds it absolutely essential that the international community find ways of dealing, in the next few hours, with the few remaining, essentially technical problems so that the force can be in the field and operate as soon as possible", he said.

By the text, approved by a vote of 141 in favour, to none against with 10 abstentions, the Assembly would urge all States to accede to the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemed To Be Excessively Injurious or To Have Indiscriminate Effects (Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons) and to the amended Protocol II to that Convention. It would also call upon all States to implement bans, moratoriums or other restrictions on the operational use and transfer of landmines.

The three-day session, which would be funded through the United Nations regular budget, would propose new strategies and specific measures to strengthen international cooperation on the drug problem. The Commission on Narcotic Drugs would act as the preparatory body for the special session and Governments would be invited to make extra-budgetary contributions to meet preparatory costs.

Speaking on behalf of the European Union and associated countries, he deplored reservations aimed at excluding the applicability of core provisions of an instrument, or reservations that were otherwise contrary to the instrument's objective and purpose. Such reservations were unacceptable under treaty law and called into question a State's commitment to the human rights instrument.

The representative of Egypt said some States used human rights to pressure other countries and to achieve specific political objectives. He said there was a need to depoliticise human rights and recognise that other cultures viewed things differently.

The draft resolution on the Declaration on International Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space for the Benefit and in the Interest of All States, taking into account the needs of developing countries, was introduced by Austria, on behalf of the Working Group on International Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.

It said cooperation should be conducted in accordance with international law, including the UN Charter and the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies.

On a related theme, the representative of New Zealand said it was important not to undermine the "polluter pays" principle of current environmental law. The representative of Venezuela, however, said States should be held responsible for acts from their territory which affected other states, and that the consequences of such harm should be remedied.

The real income of most families have shrunk to an average monthly salary of US$3, and 10 to 15 per cent of the population don't have enough money to meet the basic food needs, she said.

"Epidemics are rampant and about 350, 000 children under five years of age are affected by malaria and typhoid. The number of malaria cases in 1996 is estimated at over 120, 00 people. Maternal mortality has jumped to 120 deaths per 100, 000 live births and infant mortality is up to 45 deaths per 1, 000 live births", the Spokesman said.

The UN Consolidated Inter-Agency Donor Alert on Urgent Humanitarian Needs in Tajikistan, launched today, was prepared following an inter- agency needs assessment mission to Tajikistan last month.

The Covenant, which entered into force in 1976, recognises, among others, the rights to work, to form and join trade unions, to social security, to the widest possible protection and assistance for the family, to an adequate standard of living, to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, and to an eduction.

The countries coming before the Committee at this session are among 135 States parties to the Covenant. In acceding to the treaty, States agree to submit periodic reports to the Committee on how they give effect to its provisions.

The event, being attended by 80 high-level experts from 23 countries, will prepare the "Santa Barbara Statement" and a report to be submitted to next year's special session of the United Nations General Assembly on Implementation of Agenda 21, the Programme of Action adopted at the 1992 Conference on Environment and Development.

The mapping of critical core data to support decision-making for sustainable human development is incomplete in many parts of the world, and non- existent in some developing countries. Even when data do exist, they can be difficult to find, and at times even more difficult to access.

The proposal was made in Cairo by Saad Alfarargi, Director of UNDP's Regional Bureau for the Arab States, at the third Middle East/North Africa Economic Conference. The new fund, if established, would help governments in the region design and carry out policies aimed at tackling poverty, mainly by generating new income-earning opportunities for the poor.

The UNDP said it would contribute US$5 million to the fund. A large share of the fund, the Agency said, would be used to make small loans available to the poor to help them start-up or expand private business.

From the United Nations home page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.org

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