United Nations Daily Highlights, 97-04-08

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Tuesday, 8 April 1997

HEADLINES

• The Security Council submits to the General Assembly for approval nineteen nominations of judges of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
• The United Nations Secretary-General asks the Security Council to approve the suspension of the reduction of military component of the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
• The General Assembly President says the declaration by the Non- Aligned Movement on Security Council reform underlines the complexity of the issues involved in reforming the Council.
• The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Rwanda calls for an international conference on peace, security and development in the Great Lakes region.
• The flagrant violations of basic human rights are the most serious threats to the peace process in Bosnia, the Commission on Human Rights is told.
• The Government of Lebanon should ensure full implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Human Rights Committee says.
• An international meeting in Moscow is to address rapidly escalating drug problem in the Russian Federation.
• UNESCO is seeking a meeting of Israeli and Palestinian educators, scientists, artists and intellectuals on their role in the peace process.

The judges who serve a term of four years are elected by the General Assembly from the list submitted by the Security Council.

In a letter to the President of the Security Council, the Secretary- General said recent developments in Albania and the resulting situation of lawlessness in certain parts of the country have demonstrated that stability in the Balkan region remained extremely fragile.

"The position of the Foreign Ministers does not pose difficulties to discussions on the proposals contained in the paper at the next meeting of the open-ended Working Group on Security Council reform later this month", he said.

Ambassador Ismail said the proposals try to address some of the problems the Foreign Ministers have highlighted, including the need for democratisation, non-selectivity in the expansion of Council membership, veto and working methods.

"Given the points strongly emphasised by NAM, much work needs to be done on various aspects of the paper and all countries and groups would be expected to make the necessary adjustments to their basic positions in order to achieve a collective position", he said.

Addressing a press conference in Geneva together with Special Rapporteurs on Zaire and Burundi, Mr. Degni-Segui said the situation in the three countries was interlinked. The Special Rapporteur on the situation in Zaire, Mr. Roberto Garreton emphasised that peace cannot succeed without a firm basis which addressed the problem of national ethnic tensions.

Mr. Garreton, who earlier called for an International Commission of Inquiry to investigate mass grave sites in eastern Zaire, said he believed that such a Commission should fall under the special procedures of the Commission on Human rights.

The Special Rapporteur on Burundi, Mr. Sergio Pinheiro said the warring parties in Burundi were attempting to convince the world that they were winning the war. He said that since July 1996, he had not noticed any serious effort to find a peaceful solution.

He said the situation would remain unchanged until all those indicted for war crimes were arrested and brought before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Hague.

Lack of political will and resolve to implement the most crucial aspects of the Peace Agreement had created an extremely sensitive situation and the growing frustration of the people would inevitably lead to conflict if their safe and orderly return was not secured soon, Mr. Zivalji said.

The Commission also heard from Francis M. Deng, Representative of the Secretary-General on internally displaced persons, who said that governments were generally acknowledging their primary responsibility to protect and assist such people, but needed to put more emphasis on human- rights concerns.

As the Committee was concluding its examination of Lebanon's compliance with the Covenant, the expert from Australia Ms. Elisabeth Evatt said full respect for human rights must be a building block for Lebanon , as it now moved forward.

Calling for a positive dialogue between the Government and human rights non- governmental organisations, she cited a wide-range of specific concerns, including: the extensive use of military courts to try civilians; the length of pre-trial detention; the allegations of mistreatment which were not acknowledged; prison conditions; bans on demonstrations; invasions of the right to free expression; and the extent of acknowledged discrimination in law and in practice. A comprehensive plan was needed to tackle each of those problems, she said.

An expert from Egypt, Omran El-Shafei said the situation in Lebanon had now been turned around, and there was now a need for new legislation in line with the Covenant. There did not seem to be true cooperation between the Government and Lebanese non-governmental organisations active in the field of human rights. The Committee had been unable to ascertain whether the courts in Lebanon applied the provisions of the Covenant, he said.

In his final statement, Nabil Maamari, Adviser in the Foreign Ministry of Lebanon and leader of the delegation, expressed regret that the report and his answers had not been very detailed. He said the comments and recommendations of the expert members of the Committee would be transmitted to his Government.

At the same time, Giorgio Giacomelli, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna, will pay an official visit to Moscow. Participants from more than 20 countries will plan an international response aimed at stemming the escalation of the drug threat within Russia and its effect on other countries.

The Conference will focus on efforts to assist the Russian Government in combating groups engaged in drug trafficking and those involved in a wider range of drug-related criminal activities.

Participants will also address the new alliances being forged by international drug cartels, particularly the movement of russian mobsters into eastern and central Europe, and an influx of cartels from other countries, including Colombia and Nigeria, into Russia.

The meeting would be a follow-up to the one held in Granada, Spain, in September 1993 which UNESCO organised to give impetus to the peace process that was started in Oslo. Although no precise date was given, Mr. Mayor said he hoped to hold the "Granada II" meeting as soon as possible.

The Director-General called on leaders of all sides in the Middle East to listen to the voices of the region's youth. "I ask the leaders to ask their young people how much they value peace. Absolutely, the majority will say they want peace, that they have already paid the terrible price of violence and conflict", Mr. Mayor said.

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