United Nations Daily Highlights, 97-06-05

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Thursday, 5 June 1997

HEADLINES

• With pledges of action for "For Life on Earth", World Environment Day is observed in over 100 countries.
• Israel would pay for damages at UNIFIL Headquarters at Qana, under draft resolution introduced by Group of 77.
• UN reform Coordinator says the process should be unrelated to the issue of the US Congress withholding funds.
• Head of the UN department of peacekeeping operations concludes an assessment visit to the former Yugoslavia.
• Russian Foreign Minister tells disarmament conference in Geneva his country's goal is complete ban on anti-personnel landmines.
• Head of ILO calls for the strengthening of the standard-setting function of the UN labour organization.
• UN sets up a coordination unit to monitor the situation in Freetown.

In his message on the occasion, President of the General Assembly Ambassador Razali Ismail of Malaysia stressed that the key to arresting the inevitability of a deteriorating environment lay in adopting a substantially different manner of thinking and altering individual behaviour. "And this we need to do in all our guises -- as representatives of governments, scientists, consumers, members of the media, taxpayers, shareholders, workers, parents and children", said Ambassador Razali.

The theme was also echoed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who said that the quest for a healthy environment was a never-ending process. "It is an attitude. A way of life", said the Secretary-General. Noting that in less than three weeks, world leaders and concerned citizens would gather in New York to assess progress since the landmark Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Mr. Annan urged nations to rededicate themselves to protecting the global environment as a central element of peace development and the eradication of poverty.

This year's observance has special significance for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) which was established 25 years ago as the result of the landmark United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm. After the Conference, the UN General Assembly designated 5 June as World Environment Day.

Elizabeth Dowdeswell, UNEP's Executive Director, used the occasion to call for joint action in the face of formidable environmental problems. "Let us consider carefully the action which each of us must take and then address ourselves to our common task of preserving all life on earth in a mood of sober resolution and quiet confidence", said UNEP's Executive Director.

As the United Nations programme responsible for coordinating activities of the Day, UNEP each year selects a city to be the main venue for the international celebrations. This year, that special event took place in the Republic of Korea, culminating with the presentation of UNEP's 500 awards to 21 environmentalists, from every corner of the world, who had made outstanding contributions to the protection of the environment.

A series of commemorative events also took place at UN Headquarters in New York, including an expert symposium which featured video messages from the Prime Minister of Sweden and the President of the Republic of Korea.

A resolution on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), introduced by the representative of Tanzania in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), would have the General Assembly ask Israel to bear about $1.7 million outstanding costs of the incident.

Introducing the text on behalf of the Group, the representative of Tanzania said the draft have to be voted on Friday, should the Committee's ongoing consultations fail to produce a consensus.

Mr. Strong said it was important that the distinctive nature of organizations such as the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) be strengthened and maintained but there was a question whether this should be a pretext for complete independence and autonomy.

Asked about the likely impact of reforms on UNICEF, Mr. Strong stressed that no recommendation he would make would do anything but strengthen and improve the UN children's agency. He said agencies like UNICEF and others were understandably protective of their autonomy but should understand that the world community expected them to act more as members of the same family.

On Wednesday, Mr. Miyet met with Croatian President Franjo Tudjman and Foreign Minister Mate Granic. According to a spokesman for the UN Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES), one of the key issues discussed was the return of refugees and displaced persons to their pre-war places of residence. In reviewing all the aspects of peaceful reintegration of the eastern Slavonia area, Mr. Miyet emphasized very strongly the need for an effective, safe and secure programme of return of displaced persons in both directions.

With regard to chemical weapons, Mr. Primakov hailed the development of the global convention on the prohibition of chemical weapons as a major achievement of the Conference on Disarmament. He informed the Conference that deputies in Russia's State Duma had expressed their intention to complete ratification of the Convention as early as this autumn.

In an opening statement to the plenary meeting of the 85th International Labour Conference in Geneva earlier this week, Mr. Hansenne called on the conference to adopt a "solemn declaration reaffirming the universal respect of all its Members for fundamental workers' rights, whether or not the relevant Conventions have been ratified".

The current session of the Conference is expected to adopt the ILO's programme and budget for the period 1998 - 99. Also on the agenda is a proposal to amend the Constitution of the labour organization to enable the Conference to abrogate Conventions that it would judge to be out of date.

Meanwhile the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has reported that over 14,000 new refugees had been registered at Forecariah in Guinea by 3 June. The UN humanitarian agency said many of these had fled earlier violence in the northern province of Sierra Leone.

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

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