United Nations Daily Highlights, 98-04-13

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Monday, 13 April, 1998

HEADLINES

• Secretary-General welcomes agreement on Northern Ireland.
• UN technical experts conclude Iraq's information on its biological weapons programme is incomplete and inadequate.
• International Atomic Energy Agency reports "no immediate indications" of prohibited materials at Iraqi presidential sites.
• UN human rights expert reports that Iraq may have executed 1,500 people last year for political reasons.
• Lacking staff in Kosovo, Secretary-General says his reports on situation there will use other sources.
• Human Rights Committee recommends measures to promote civil and political rights in Cyprus, Finland, Uruguay and Zimbabwe.
• In Geneva, Commission on Human Rights expresses concern at growing racism and xenophobia against migrant workers.

"This accord is the result of not only the hard work and persistence on the part of the parties, but of the wisdom and spirit of compromise of their leaders," the Secretary-General said in a statement issued through his spokesman. "We all pray for faithful implementation that will bring peace at last to Northern Ireland," he added.

According to his spokesman, the Secretary-General spoke by telephone over the weekend to Prime Minister Bertie Ahern of Ireland and Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom to extend his warmest congratulations for achieving the historic agreement on Northern Ireland. He also thanked United States President Bill Clinton, as well as the United States Mediator, George J. Mitchell, for the instrumental roles they had played.

"It now is the duty of the leaders in Northern Ireland to show magnanimity by respecting the principles agreed to and by their commitment to the honest and effective implementation of the agreement, in order to bring enduring peace to their people," the Secretary-General said in a letter to Prime Minister Ahern dated 10 April.

The team of experts held a third technical evaluation meeting from 20 to 27 March in Vienna to examine all aspects of Iraq's biological warfare programme. The team's report has been forwarded to the Security Council by Richard Butler, the Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM).

The team found that Iraq's latest disclosure of its biological weapons programme contained major mistakes, inconsistencies and gaps in information. The disclosure did not provide a clear understanding of the current status of the programme or whether or when it was terminated. The organizational aspects of the programme were not clear and there was little confidence that its full scope was revealed. The existence of dormant or additional biological weapons programmes remained unresolved, the report concludes.

Security Council resolution 707 (1991), requires Iraq to submit a "full, final and complete disclosure" of its weapons programmes. Since May 1992, Iraq has submitted a series of disclosures to UNSCOM and, in 1995, acknowledged the existence of an offensive biological weapons programme. In September 1997, a panel of experts considered the then latest disclosure incomplete, inadequate and technically flawed.

At the Vienna meeting, the Iraqi delegation promised to improve its disclosure. The experts said that if the technical evaluation meeting resulted in a significant improvement in Iraq's declaration, that would be a positive outcome.

In its latest report to the Security Council, the IAEA indicates that Iraq has satisfactorily completed its undertaking to produce a consolidated version of its full, final and complete declaration on the country's clandestine nuclear activities. Iraq has also fulfilled its obligation to provide a summary of the technical achievements of its clandestine nuclear programme.

The IAEA stresses that, while focusing on ongoing verification and monitoring activities, it will continue to exercise its right to investigate any aspect of Iraq's clandestine nuclear programme. In particular, the Agency will follow-up on any new information and will destroy, remove or render harmless any prohibited items discovered through its investigations.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iraq, Max van der Stoel, points to "strong evidence" that since last August, hundreds of prisoners have been put to death as part of a "Prison Cleaning Campaign." Executions were reportedly carried out by shooting, hanging or electrocution, with relatives of the executed having to pay the value of the bullet used for the executions in order to recover the bodies. Some of the bodies returned to their respective families were said to display signs of torture.

Army deserters as well as Islamist activists continue to be subjected to the death penalty, according to the report. Iraqi law imposes life imprisonment and, in certain cases, death on anyone insulting the President.

The Special Rapporteur recommends that the Government of Iraq act immediately to bring an end to summary or arbitrary executions, arbitrary arrests and detention, torture and ill-treatment by members of security forces, disappearances of individuals, and forced relocations. He stresses that persons responsible for those acts must be brought to justice without delay.

Mr. van der Stoel has been unable to visit Iraq since 1992. His report is based on information received from governmental, intergovernmental and non- governmental sources, and by sending human rights monitors to neighbouring countries.

In a just-released letter to the Council President, the Secretary- General points out that the United Nations does not have the necessary presence in Kosovo to provide first-hand information on the situation in the area. Noting that the only United Nations staff in Kosovo are devoted to humanitarian assistance, the Secretary-General states that the Secretariat cannot independently report on the situation on the ground.

The Security Council had requested periodic reports on the situation in Kosovo when it imposed an arms embargo on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on 31 March. The arms embargo will remain in place until that country fulfils a number of obligations, including the commencement of a substantive dialogue with the leadership of the Kosovo Albanian community on political status issues.

In order to report to the Council on the situation in Kosovo, the Secretary- General says he will rely exclusively on the information and assessments of the Contact Group, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the European Union.

During its sixty-second session, which concluded in New York last Thursday, the Committee reviewed reports by those countries on their compliance with the Covenant, which entered into force in 1976. States parties are required to submit an initial report within one year of ratifying the Covenant and periodic reports every five years.

The Committee urged Cyprus to implement the Covenant's provisions more comprehensively and noted that a new domestic law did not completely exclude imprisonment for non-payment of civil debt.

While noting many advances in the fields of human rights in Finland, the Committee expressed concern about continued discrimination against minorities and immigrants there. It expressed deep concern about a law in Uruguay which, in a some cases, excluded investigations of past human rights abuses. The law prevented the Government from providing effective remedies to victims, the Committee said.

In reviewing Zimbabwe's initial report, the Committee noted efforts to curb attitudes and practices that impede women's human rights. The Committee recommended the establishment of mechanisms in Zimbabwe to integrate Covenant rights in law and practice.

At a meeting in Geneva last Thursday, the Commission invited Governments to research the causes and consequences of such violence. In a resolution adopted by consensus, the Commission asked Governments to implement penal and criminal sanctions to punish perpetrators of violence against women migrants. It also asked them to consider legal measures against intermediaries who deliberately encouraged clandestine movement of workers.

In other action, the Commission adopted resolutions on unilateral coercive measures, the illicit dumping of toxic waste, indigenous people and structural adjustment policies.

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

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