United Nations Daily Highlights, 98-06-15

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Monday, 15 June, 1998

HEADLINES

• Secretary-General opens Rome conference to establish first permanent international criminal court.
• United Nations Security Council extends mandate of mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina until 21 June 1999.
• Former camp commander indicted for war crimes is handed over to International Tribunal for former Yugoslavia.
• Humanitarian airlift from Sarajevo to Tirana proceeds as scheduled over the weekend for refugees from Kosovo.
• The Secretary-General says he intends to hand over functions of police support group in Croatia to OSCE.
• Chief UN arms inspector and Iraq agree on new two-month timetable on priority disarmament issues.
• Top United Nations humanitarian official describes brutal treatment of civilians by rebels in Sierra Leone.
• United Nations appeals for almost $7 million to assist earthquake victims in Afghanistan.
• United Nations Development Programme says the number of Nepalese living in absolute poverty has nearly doubled.

Addressing delegates from 156 countries, the Secretary-General appealed to them not to flinch from creating a strong and independent court. While acknowledging the difficult negotiations delegates faced during the five- week conference, he reminded them that the eyes of the victims of past crimes, and the potential victims of future ones, were fixed upon them.

Mr. Annan said the ad hoc Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia were showing, however imperfectly, that there is such a thing as international justice. But they were not enough.

"People all over the world want to know that humanity can strike back -- that wherever and whenever genocide, war crimes or other such violations are committed, there is a court before which the criminal can be held to account; a court that puts an end to the global culture of impunity; a court where all individuals in a government hierarchy or military chain of command, without exception, from rulers to private soldiers, must answer for their actions," he said.

During the Rome conference, delegates will discuss a draft statute - - hammered out over the past two years -- which, when ratified, will officially establish the court. Several major issues are still unresolved, including what crimes the court will judge. There is agreement that it should have jurisdiction over crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes, but disagreement over whether to include the crime of aggression, attacks against UN personnel, acts of international terrorism and drug trafficking. Delegates will also have to decide how cases can be brought before the court and whether the Security Council can block its jurisdiction in certain cases.

Later, Mr. Annan told reporters that while it was important to come up with a court that would be accepted by as many States as possible, it was important for it to be strong and independent. Nobody, no unit and no organization, should be able to unduly influence what the court does, he said.

In resolution 1174 (1998) unanimously adopted on Monday, the Security Council, acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, also decided to authorize the continuation of the multinational Stabilization Force (SFOR) for a further period of 12 months.

The Security Council once again reaffirmed its support for the Peace Agreement and the 1995 Dayton Agreement on the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It called on all the parties to comply strictly with their obligations under those agreements and expressed its intention to keep the implementation of the Peace Agreement and the situation in that country under review.

The Security Council authorized Member States to take all necessary measures, at the request of SFOR, either in defence of SFOR or to assist the force in carrying out its mission. The Council said it recognized the right of the force to take all necessary measures to defend itself from attack or threat of attack.

The Council demanded that the parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina respect the security and freedom of movement of SFOR and other international personnel. It invited all States, particularly those in the region, to continue to provide appropriate support and facilities, including transit facilities, for the Member States participating in SFOR.

The Security Council once again underlined the important role the Republic of Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia could play in the successful development of the peace process in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It stressed that a comprehensive return of refugees and displaced persons throughout the region was crucial to lasting peace.

Mr. Brandt said Milorad Krnojelac was detained by international forces near the village of Foca, in eastern Bosnia. In 1992 and 1993, he was a commander of one of the largest detention camps for Muslim and non- Serb males in the former Yugoslavia.

Mr. Krnojelac has been charged both on the basis of his personal responsibility and as superior for the acts of his subordinates. The charges include seven counts of crimes against humanity, six counts of grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and five counts of Violations of the Laws of Customs of War. These include persecution, torture and beatings, willful killings and murder, unlawful confinement in inhumane conditions and enslavement.

The airlift of humanitarian relief aid is for refugees from Kosovo who have fled violence stemming from the clampdown on separatist Albanians by Serb authorities.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and its partners have organized a road convoy to carry the much needed emergency supplies to more than 10,000 refugees from Kosovo in northern Albania.

In a related development, a delegation of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has arrived in the area to investigate accounts of human rights violations in Kosovo.

The Support Group of 180 civilian police monitors was established by the Security Council in 1997 to continue to monitor the performance of the Croatian police force in the region.

In his report on the work of the Support Group, the Secretary- General says that the high ratio of one police officer per 75 residents within the region has made the overall security situation relatively stable. However, he adds, the high level of policing has not stopped ethnic intimidation. He says that incidents of intimidation have risen from 42 during the first four weeks of the group's operations to 54. He points out that most cases of intimidation have occurred in the north of the region where a great number of Croat displaced persons have sought to return.

According to the Secretary-General's report, there has also been an increase in the number of housing-related intimidations. These incidents generally involve attempts by Croat homeowners to evict Serb displaced persons temporarily occupying their houses under the terms of an agreement between the Croatian Government and the United Nations Transitional Administration Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES), says Mr. Kofi Annan. UNTAES was terminated on 15 January 1998.

The Secretary-General points out that core issues still remain unresolved, including the abolishment of discriminatory property laws and the establishment of effective mechanisms to allow owners to recover their property. He adds that as more Croat displaced persons return to their homes in the region, ethnically-motivated incidents might increase.

Mr. Kofi Annan says provided that the Government takes major steps to resolve these problems, that the return of Croat displaced persons to the region proceed without increased ethnic incidents and that police performance continues to improve, he intends to downsize the Support Group operation gradually to 140 civilian police monitors by the end of August and 120 by the end of September. The Secretary-General also says that he intends to submit a further report by mid-September detailing the arrangements for the termination of the mandate of the Support Group by 15 October.

At a press briefing in Baghdad on Monday, Richard Butler, the Executive Chairman of the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) described the new programme as "good news". He said he hoped that, with Iraq's full cooperation, he would be able to prepare a report for the Security Council in October when it next reviews its economic sanctions against Iraq.

UNSCOM must certify that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction have been dismantled before the sanctions which were imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait can be lifted.

Ambassador Butler and Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz agreed on the new timetable during talks over the weekend. They will meet again in Baghdad on 9 August to assess what has been accomplished and see what else needs to be done.

Speaking to reporters in Geneva after a three-day mission to Sierra Leone, Mr. Vieira de Mello described a pattern of amputations, lacerations, and maiming of civilians, including children. "Hands are cut off and ears and noses are amputated," he said. "There are no words to condemn this sort of practice and bestiality."

Mr. Vieiro De Mello said there were half a million refugees in neighbouring Guinea, mainly because rebels still controlled some parts of Sierra Leone. The number of internally displaced persons was increasing and the food situation was very serious and likely to get worse. Areas previously held by the rebels were totally devastated and the country's infrastructure needed rebuilding. "Investment in development and rehabilitation cannot wait for total peace. We cannot just give humanitarian aid now," he said.

The legitimate Government of Sierra Leone has been back in office in the capital, Freetown, since March and has re-established control over a large part of the country.

The Organization noted that in four months time winter will once again strike the "inhospitable part of the world." It said that while tents and tarpaulins might shelter people against the summer rains, they could not protect them against the sub-zero temperatures and heavy snowfalls.

The United Nations said it was therefore vital to start rebuilding houses at the first opportunity.

Agencies estimate that approximately 8,000 mud houses need to be reconstructed or repaired, a task which needs to start in the next few weeks because it takes two months for the mud to dry out properly.

Aid workers will provide equipment such as beams and shovels, as well as advice on basic techniques to help minimize damage from future earthquakes and landslides in the affected area. The United Nations said that money was also needed to repair roads and bridges and to upgrade the airstrip at Khawajar Ghar in the western part of the earthquake-stricken region.

According to Nepal's National Human Development Report (HDR) commissioned by UNDP, nine million people in Nepal, about 45 per cent of the country's population of 21 million live in poverty. The report adds that over half of the country's population is malnourished.

UNDP said it was not surprising that women suffer more than men. Devendra Raj Panday, head of the Nepal South Asia Centre which prepared the report said that reports by themselves served no purpose unless their suggestions were translated into government policy. "I hope that the government and its planners take note of the state of human development in the country," he said.

The report also revealed the sharp disparities in human development indicators among Nepal's many districts and regions, with Katmandu, the country's capital, faring the best, said UNDP.

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

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