United Nations Daily Highlights, 97-10-30

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Thursday, 30 October 1997

HEADLINES

• Officers of United Nations Special Commission overseeing Iraqi disarmament are refused entry into Iraq.
• Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq says UNSCOM problems should not undermine humanitarian assistance.
• UN Secretary-General welcomes United Kingdom invitation to send representatives to Scotland for Lockerbie trial.
• Representative of Nigeria submits details of peace plan for Sierra Leone to Security Council.
• International conference concludes in Oslo by adopting plan to outlaw worst kinds of child labour.
• Human Rights Committee says States cannot denounce International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
• UN Secretary-General says the fight against HIV/AIDS is among world's most important challenges.
• UN Secretary-General says fight against leprosy is not over yet, but it is winnable.
• In General Assembly's Economic and Financial Committee, Member States disagree on convening conference on migration.
• Secretary-General's Special Representative says abomination of children in armed conflict continues.

United Nations Spokesman Fred Eckhard on Thursday said that the officers were in an aircraft which flew into Iraq from Bahrain. "When Iraqi officials became aware of the nationality of the United Nations staff on board the aircraft, they advised UNSCOM officials present at the airfield that the three officials who are of United States nationality would not be allowed to enter Iraq."

The Chairman of UNSCOM, Ambassador Richard Butler, instructed the officers to return with the aircraft to Bahrain.

Ambassador Butler has written a letter to the President of the Security Council informing him of this incident in Iraq which has been distributed to all Council members.

Briefing the press in Baghdad on Thursday, Mr. Falt expressed concern that the focus of the media might shift the spotlight away from the humanitarian situation in Iraq. He said that the Humanitarian Coordinator had indicated that despite recent events, the oil-for-food programme should continue normally in Baghdad and elsewhere. The programme allows Iraq, which is facing United Nations sanctions, to export its oil in order to purchase humanitarian supplies.

Mr. Falt said that the United Nations was very concerned about the delay in the arrival of wheat grain and the expected distribution of wheat flour throughout the country. As of 21 October, only 48 per cent of the required wheat grain had been milled, he added.

Mr. Falt said that several teams of the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as the United Nations Geographical observers have been deployed in various parts of Iraq.

The Spokesman of the Humanitarian Coordinator reminded the journalists that the announcement of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council regarding United States citizens working for the United Nations in Iraq only applied to UNSCOM personnel.

In a statement issued by his Spokesman on Thursday, the Secretary- General said that the dispatch of two representatives, as suggested by the United Kingdom, and the communication of their findings to the Libyan authorities, could assist in the implementation of Security Council resolutions on the matter.

The Spokesman's statement was issued in response to a letter dated 28 October from the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom informing the Secretary-General of his Government's invitation to send the observers in order to brief the Secretariat on the safeguards to ensure a fair trial, and to discuss how international observers may best be accommodated in court proceedings.

"Such observers would have full access to the suspects before and during the trial (if the suspects agree), would be able to witness all the court proceedings, and would be provided with administrative and reporting facilities", the Spokesman's statement said.

The Secretary-General has informed the members of the Security Council that he "proposes to accept" the United Kingdom invitation.

In a letter dated 28 October 1997, on behalf of Chief Tom Ikimi, the Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Ministerial Committee of Five on Sierra Leone, Ambassador Ibrahim Gambari of Nigeria forwarded to the President of the Security Council the texts of the communiqu‚ and peace plan for Sierra Leone hammered out by the Committee of Five and the delegation of Major Johnny Paul Koroma, the leader of the military Junta in Sierra Leone. The peace plan and the communique were issued at the conclusion of the meeting of the two delegations held in Conakry on 22 and 23 October.

The peace plan provides for the reinstatement of the legitimate Government of President Tejan Kabbah who was ousted in a military coup on 25 May; the immediate cessation of hostilities; cooperation of the junta with the ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG); disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of combatants; provision of humanitarian assistance; return of refugees and displaced persons; immunities and guarantees to the leaders of the coup d'‚tat; and modalities for broadening the power base in Sierra Leone.

In the communiqu‚ it "is recognized that Corporal Fodey Sankoh, as a leader of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), could continue to play an active role and participate in the peace process."

The meeting in Conakry reviewed the situation in Sierra Leone since the breakdown of negotiations between the Committee of Five and the representatives of the junta on 30 July. It recalled the ECOWAS decisions concerning the monitoring of sanctions and the embargo against the military junta in Sierra Leone, as well as the restoration of peace to the country by ECOMOG.

The four-day conference, which was convened by United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO), concentrated on the preparation of the Agenda for Action aimed at strengthening the role of governments and agencies in the fight against child labour.

The Agenda calls for, among other measures, a new ILO convention on child labour abuses.

The Committee's view is contained in its general comments on "issues relating to the continuity of obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights" adopted on Wednesday.

The comments were made in the wake of an announcement by the authorities of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea that it intends to withdraw from the Covenant, which it had acceded to in 1981.

In its comments, the 18-member Human Rights Committee said that since the Covenant did not contain any provision regarding its termination, and did not provide for denunciation or withdrawal, any proposal by a State party to do so had to be considered in the light of international law reflected in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties adopted at a United Nations conference in 1986.

The Committee reviews reports of State parties to the Convention on the situation of civil and political rights. On Thursday the Covenant resumed its session to consider a report submitted by Belarus.

The 53-article Covenant, which entered into force on 23 March 1976, protects such rights as the freedom of movement; equality before the law; the right to a fair trial and presumption of innocence; freedom of thought, conscience and religion; freedom of opinion and expression; peaceful assembly; freedom of association; participation in public affairs and elections; and protection of minority rights.

The Covenant prohibits arbitrary deprivation of life; torture, cruel or degrading treatment or punishment; slavery and forced labour; arbitrary arrest or detention and arbitrary interference with privacy; war propaganda; and advocacy of racial or religious hatred.

In a statement to the tenth meeting of the Committee of Co- Sponsoring Organizations of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) held in New York on Thursday, the Secretary-General said that he had "personally witnessed the devastating effects of the epidemic on countries of sub-Saharan Africa: the loss of a young, able- bodied workforce; the pressures on women who care for the sick; and now, infants infected with HIV and children orphaned by AIDS".

With the globalization of markets, countries benefit from new economic and trade opportunities, but as people move faster and more frequently, so does the AIDS virus, the Secretary-General pointed out.

The Secretary-General said the establishment of UNAIDS aimed to make the best use of United Nations resources through a coordinated response, and to address the many different dimensions of the epidemic. UNAIDS was jointly launched in January 1996 by the World Bank, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Many developing countries, especially in Africa, accorded high priority to the fight against the epidemic, the Secretary-General said. However, their national efforts were constrained by lack of adequate resources. He said that the United Nations system had a special responsibility to create a greater awareness among all those who could help mobilize resources.

Opening the exhibit "Quest for Dignity: A Victory over Leprosy/Hansen Disease" in New York, the Secretary-General said that there have been many successes since a cure for leprosy in the form of dapsone became possible in the 1950s. Some of those successes could be seen in the illustrations at the exhibition. Over the years, he added, newer and better drugs had evolved into the multidrug-therapy, or MDT, that is used today.

"MDT proved successful -- so successful that in 1991, Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) made a formal commitment to eliminate leprosy as a public health problem by the year 2000" by reducing the incidence to less than one case per 10,000 population. The Secretary- General said that the number of leprosy cases had plummeted from 12 million in the 1980s to an estimated 1.15 million today.

"Since time immemorial, people have feared leprosy. They did not understand what caused the disease, or how it progressed through the body", the Secretary-General said, adding that the victims were condemned to a lifetime of exclusion and isolation.

The exhibition on leprosy, the Secretary-General said, also tells the human story. "Far too many people with leprosy are still ostracized by their own communities; indeed by their own families."

"The title of this exhibition is Quest for Dignity. Victory over leprosy is within our grasp. Let us ensure that sufferers are accorded not only the proper medical treatment, but also the dignity that is the birthright of every person on this earth", Secretary-General Annan concluded.

Jean Graft of Luxembourg, who spoke on behalf of the European Union and associated States, said that, given the complexity of international migration and the divergence of experience on the issue, it should be examined within the United Nations system rather than in the context of a United Nations international conference.

The representative of the United States, Shirley Robinson Hall, said there was little that could be accomplished at a global conference on migration. Bilateral and regional discussions had shown themselves to be useful ways of dealing with migration issues, she added.

Felipe Mabilangan of the Philippines said it was important to build a process that would lead to a comprehensive, mutually satisfying and lasting resolution to the issue of international migration and development. If a defining moment was found that required all countries to gather together in an international conference to enable the full fruition of a process, the international community should have the courage to make it happen, he added.

Speaking for Belarus, Uladzimir Gerus said his Government supported the proposed convening of a United Nations conference on international migration and development. He stressed that international migration could be successfully dealt with only if there was a coordinated effort on behalf of the entire international community.

Olara Otunnu, Special Representative of the Secretary-General to Study the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, told the General Assembly's Social, Humanitarian and Cultural (Third) Committee on Thursday that whereas in traditional war, the killing of children was avoided to escape retribution by fate, today the social moral fibre has been destroyed and everything is fair game. Today, the aim of war was not just to tame but to humiliate, not just to rule but to annihilate, he said.

Mr. Otunnu recommended that traditional elements in society, such as the role of grandparents, had to re-emerge and help the society in crisis to regain its footing. The traditional elements must be brought into line with modern international instruments. That, he said, was the challenge of today: values had to be rebuilt at both local and international levels.

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

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