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United Nations Daily Highlights, 96-12-03United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.orgDAILY HIGHLIGHTSTuesday, 3 December 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 says the Organisation has been at the forefront of efforts to improve the lives of persons with disabilities throughout the world. In his message on the International Day of Disabled Persons, Tuesday, Dr. Boutros-Ghali said that in a continuing effort to build a just society for all, and in an common endeavour to fight poverty, all persons with disabilities should be active participants in society. "We cannot afford to lose what they can contribute to the general welfare. Let this Day be a celebration of accomplishments and an inspiration for further efforts by, and on behalf of persons with disabilities," the Secretary-General said. UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has told a special meeting of Parliamentarians for Global Action, Tuesday that the Organisation was working on many fronts to break the vicious cycle of marginalisation, under- development, poverty and security, the Secretary- General's Spokesman Sylvana Foa said today. The Secretary-General said "the actions of the UN were predicated on the principle that assistance to Africa was an investment and not a charity, and welcomed the initiatives being launched by the Parliamentarians for Global Action at the special session on Africa," according to the Spokesman. The UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs has today launched an appeal for $133 million for the 1997 Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for Afghanistan. The appeal covers the needs of numerous UN specialised agencies and non- governmental organisations (NGOs). The inter-agency appeal is intended for emergency relief for immediate needs in Afghanistan as well as assistance to meet the basic longer term needs of particular regions in that country for water, sanitation, agriculture, health and education. The Middle East peace process was the only path to security and peace for Israel, the Palestinians and the neighbouring States, the representative of Ireland, speaking for the European Union and Associated States, told the General Assembly as it considered the question of Palestine. To ensure further progress, the European Union has urged implementation of agreements already reached, notably the redeployment of Israeli troops from Hebron and the release of Palestinian prisoners, the representative said. Also addressing the Assembly, the Permanent Observer of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference said the peace process was today virtually at a stalemate and ministers of that Organisation had called upon the international community to compel Israel to cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, including Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan. Endorsing the outcome of the ninth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD IX, Midrand, South Africa), the General Assembly would welcome the Conference's far-reaching reforms, under the provisions of one of 24 texts adopted by the Second Committee (Economic and Financial). The UNCTAD IX reforms were geared toward adapting to new economic and institutional situations created by the process of globalisation, the conclusion of the Uruguay Round and the creation of the World Trade Organisation. By another text approved on the recommendation of the Economic and Social Council, States would pledge to deny the tax deductibility of bribes paid by any private or public corporation or individual of a Member State to any public official or elected representative of another country, under the provisions of a draft United Nations Declaration against Corruption and Bribery in International Commercial Transactions. The Secretary-General is requesting that the General Assembly appropriate $228.6 million gross for the period July 1996 to June 1997 for two peace- keeping operations in the former Yugoslavia, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) was told, as it considered the financing of a number of peace-keeping missions. The Secretary-General's reports on the financing of the operations, introduced by the United Nations Controller, Yukio Takasu, request $85.3 million for the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH), and $143.3 million for the UN Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES). The United Nations Compensation Commission estimates that if Iraq is able to commence selling oil in December under the terms of Security Council resolution 986 (1995), the Commission should begin receiving funds in late February or early March, with payments to claimants starting a month later. Under the terms of resolution 986, thirty per cent of the $2 billion in oil sales over six months would go to the Commission, which was set up by Security Council resolution 692 (1992) to receive claims from individuals, corporations and governments for damages resulting from Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. A call for the inclusion of a person under 25-years-old, representing a youth organisation, in every national delegation to the United Nations was one of a number of recommendations set out in the final document of the World Youth Forum, held in Vienna. The recommendations cover youth concerns including education and leisure, employment, health and drug abuse. More than 600 participants from youth organisations in 150 countries attended the Forum, which is the third such gathering organised by the United Nations. The first was the World Youth Assembly on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the UN in July 1970. The second took place in Vienna in 1991. A two-day International Conference on Illicit Trafficking in Stolen Vehicles began on Monday in Warsaw. The Conference focuses on the increasing theft and resale of automobiles and other vehicles. The theft and resale of vehicles is fast becoming big business for organised criminals, and the Conference aims at finding ways to shore up some of the key loopholes that are enabling the illicit trafficking to mushroom. 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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