United Nations Daily Highlights, 98-03-26

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Thursday, 26 March 1998

HEADLINES

• United Nations inspections of Iraqi presidential sites begin in Baghdad.
• Disarmament Conference adopts programme of work, breaking political deadlock.
• United Nations Secretary-General appoints members of Task Force on Environment and Human Settlements.
• UNICEF plans stepped-up drive to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV virus.
• United Nations refugee agency announces plans for new demining effort in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• El Nino-induced drought recedes but lower cereal harvest predicted in Southern Africa.
• Two UN development agencies join forces to boost investment in developing countries.
• Japanese youth donate 50 million yen to United Nations anti-drug efforts.
• United Nations Women's Guild sponsors Chernobyl children's visit to United States.

According to a United Nations spokesman, the inspectors began their work at the Radwaniyah Presidential complex, approximately 20 kilometre west of Baghdad. The inspection team was led by UNSCOM Deputy Chairman Charles Duelfer. According to a United Nations spokesman, the inspections "went well".

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, humanitarian officials met with members of the Iraqi Foreign Ministry to discuss the expanded "oil-for-food" programme. According to the spokesman, discussions are expected to continue later this week through the Joint Consultative Committee, a body that serves as a coordinating forum between the United Nations and the Government of Iraq on humanitarian issues.

According to the Declaration, agenda item 1 on the cessation of the nuclear arms race and nuclear disarmament was identified as being of "an extremely high priority." The President concluded that "the only way to move forward on the substance at this stage would consist in substantially increasing consultations regarding this item, under his authority by using all possibilities".

As part of its work programme, the Conference established an ad hoc committee to work this year on the issue of effective international arrangements to assure non-nuclear weapon States against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons. The group will negotiate with a view to reaching agreement on the issue, perhaps in the form of an internationally legally binding instrument.

The Conference also decided to appoint special coordinators to deal, respectively, with the following issues: the prevention of an arms race in outer space; a comprehensive programme of disarmament; and transparency in armaments. In addition, special coordinators were appointed to address a review of the Conference's agenda; expansion of its membership; and its improved and effective functioning.

Agreement on the work programme came as the Conference prepared to close the first part of its 1998 session, which will resume in mid-May. However, the proposal did not enjoy complete support from the membership. The representative of Canada questioned whether any real progress could be made on the issue of negative security assurances at this point, while the South African delegate said the decision represented the "lowest common denominator" and addressed solely procedural, rather than substantial, matters.

Other countries backed the decision with reservations. The representatives of India, Pakistan and Syria said the proposal did not reflect their national positions, especially regarding the priority they felt should be given to nuclear disarmament. The representative of Egypt also stressed that nuclear disarmament should receive priority attention, but said the decision at least allowed the Conference to begin concrete work.

The 17-member task force, chaired by Klaus Topfer, the newly appointed Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), will enhance the work of the United Nations in the area of the environment and human settlements.

The Task Force will evaluate the efficacy and effectiveness of existing structures and arrangements and recommend changes and improvements to enhance the work of the United Nations in this area. The Task Force will also optimize the work of UNEP as the "authority" in this area and as the principal source of environmental input into the work of the Commission on Sustainable Development.

The group is expected to submit its recommendations in June on reforming and strengthening United Nations activities in line with the Secretary- General's reform programme. The Secretary-General will subsequently submit the proposals to the General Assembly.

The Task Force is scheduled to hold its first meeting in New Delhi on 1 April 1998.

UNICEF said on Wednesday that the new treatment, described last month by the United States Centres for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention, will help expand the war against AIDS in developing countries.

The implications of the new treatment were discussed this week at a meeting in Geneva involving the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF. Representatives from developing countries and the donor community also participated in the meeting.

The new treatment, which involves using antiretroviral drug AZT at a cost of approximately $50 per treatment, can be used by women in late pregnancy, according to CDC. The treatment has been found effective in field trials in Thailand. The trials demonstrated that the simplified AZT regimen was effective in reducing the risks of transmission in late pregnancy and during childbirth, said UNICEF.

However, the United Nations agency cautioned that the trials did not show whether the regimen was also effective in reducing the risks of transmission from breast-feeding which is prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa. UNICEF is planning to combine the use of the treatment with the promotion of safer methods of infant feeding such as using affordable infant formula, using clean water and utensils.

A joint UNICEF/UNAIDS rapid assessment of the situation in sub- Saharan is currently underway to identify possibilities of incorporating the use of the simplified AZT regimen into existing programmes.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Thursday that it was training six teams of deminers from different ethnic groups to clear minefields in areas to which refugees are expected to return. The deminers, who will be deployed throughout the country, will also alert returnees to the danger they face from land mines.

The governments of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srspska have been under considerable international pressure to speed up demining. However, according to UNHCR, only one per cent of an estimated 75,000 land mines planted in 30,000 mine fields have been cleared since the end of the war two-and-a-half years ago.

UNHCR said that dozens of people had been killed and hundreds severely injured in mine accidents. Most of those people will remain physically handicapped and psychologically scarred for the rest of their lives, the United Nations agency said.

"Land mines, which kill and maim dozens of people each month, are a huge obstacle to return of refugees in Bosnia and Herzegovina" said Sadako Ogata, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Stressing that mines represented "the single most deadly heritage of the Bosnia war", Mrs. Ogata urged the international community to spare no efforts to support mine clearance.

In a special report on the crop production and food supply situation in Southern Africa, the two United Nations agencies said on Tuesday that fearing a possible severe drought caused by the El Nino, governments in the region had taken precautionary measures to ensure food production. Those measures included encouragement of early plantings of drought resistant crops, water conservation measures and the distribution of seed packs and other inputs.

FAO intensified its monitoring of the crop situation and WFP prepared a contingency plan in cooperation with the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the report said.

The report estimated that the countries of southern Africa would need to import a total of 4.7 million tonnes of cereals during the 1998- 99 marketing year and that the food need could rise, especially in Lesotho.

The memorandum, which aims to ensure cost effectiveness and optimal use of official development assistance, was signed in Geneva by UNCTAD Secretary- General Rubens Ricupero and UNIDO Director-General Carlos Magarinos.

The alliance harnesses the two organizations' strengths to maximize delivery of services and avoid duplication, as part of United Nations' efforts to pool the resources of its agencies.

While UNIDO will focus on advice and assistance on industrial sector issues and investment and technology promotion support, UNCTAD will concentrate on policy issues affecting investment promotion, including the regulatory and institutional framework for investment. These arrangements will also include the formation of new partnerships between the two organizations and the private sector of industry.

Areas for cooperation include the preparation of investment policy reviews and guides; development of regulatory frameworks for investment; organization of investment and technology forums and business gatherings; and the promotion of technological innovation.

The eight "young civic ambassadors" -- all students aged 16 or 17 - - were selected to donate the money on behalf of the Tokyo Drug Abuse Prevention Centre because they played leading roles in its 1997 fund- raising drive.

The Centre's contribution will go into a special fund to support the drug abuse prevention work of grass-roots non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in developing countries. Since 1994, the Tokyo Centre has donated $2.4 million to UNDCP, enabling it to provide grants to more than 150 NGOs.

On Thursday, the eight youth were briefed on various aspects of UNDCP's work. At a special ceremony on Sunday, UNDCP Executive Director Pino Arlacchi presented them with certificates of appreciation.

The children, four girls and four boys, range in ages from nine to 12 years old. They will be accompanied by a paediatrician and a translator.

Since 1994, the United Nations Women's Guild has worked in cooperation with, and given its financial support to, the Oncology Hospital in Minsk and the Children in Trouble Foundation of Belarus. Approximately 5,000 children are on waiting lists to participate in this programme.

The Women's Guild is a non-profit organization of women connected to the United Nations, its specialized agencies and diplomatic missions. For more than 50 years, Guild members have volunteered their time and effort to raise funds to help needy children in 170 countries around the world, including the United States.

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

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