United Nations Daily Highlights, 98-11-09

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Monday, 9 November, 1998

HEADLINES

• Secretary-General says he expects confirmation from parties on initiative to break Western Sahara deadlock.
• United Nations-sponsored Partners for Development meeting opens in Lyon with calls for assistance to poor nations.
• Despite financial crisis, direct foreign investments remain unchanged in Asia, according to United Nations economist.
• Camp for Sudanese refugees in Central African Republic comes under attack.
• At meeting on climate change, civic groups call for more action, less trading, in reducing emissions.
• Pop star Elton John donates concert proceeds to World Health Organization fight against Hepatitis B.
• United Nations human rights official says seminar on Islam can contribute to dialogue among civilizations.
• United Nations humanitarian office appeals for relief assistance to flood- stricken Ukraine.

The Secretary-General made his remarks in Laayoune in a address to the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). The referendum, now scheduled for December 1999, aims to provide the people of Western Sahara with the choice between independence or integration into Morocco.

The procedures for breaking the deadlock, which were approved by the Security Council in late October, call for having all members of three "contested tribes" identified in the coming weeks. The appeals process for all other tribes which have already been identified would be conducted simultaneously.

"This is a crucial time for our efforts in Western Sahara, a time when we must redouble our efforts to bring to conclusion the challenge of settling this long-lasting dispute," the Secretary-General told MINURSO. But he also acknowledged that political resolve must come from the parties themselves. "We cannot impose from abroad the necessary will, nor the courage to make the hard choices, nor the critical recognition among the parties that a common fate obliges them to make a real peace."

The Secretary-General said the United Nations would keep trying to help the parties find a solution, but added that both knew that the United Nations could not stay indefinitely, "no matter how willing we may be to help them resolve their differences."

Mr. Annan said the operation in Western Sahara had not been easy. If it had, "the referendum would have taken place in 1992, within a year after the establishment of MINURSO."

The Secretary-General emphasized that the delay was not due to any lack of initiative or commitment on the part of MINURSO. Among its successes, the Mission had helped to maintain a seven-year ceasefire after 15 years of fighting. Demining had also begun, while applicants from 85 Saharan tribes had been identified.

"I look forward to the day when this issue is resolved and no peacekeeper or peacemaker is needed," said the Secretary-General. "That is the day when we can declare victory, not for one side or the other, but for peace itself."

French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin said least-developed countries should benefit from waivers to facilitate their access to developed countries' markets. He called for emphasis on social well-being, for aid to countries with heavy foreign-debt burdens, and for a more stable international financial and monetary framework.

UNCTAD Secretary-General Rubens Ricupero said most development aims could only be achieved with the help of civil society and the private sector. While true energy of a society came from the private sector, international aid was also necessary, he added.

Raymond Barre, the Mayor of Lyon, expressed the hope that international institutions and banks could establish means and rules that would ensure economic stability without jeopardizing the free circulation of goods.

In a message to the Conference, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said it was "an example of the new United Nations in action: an organization that is open as never before to the involvement of the private sector, non-governmental organizations, academic institutions and others among the increasingly robust forces of civil society."

Introducing the 1998 World Investment Report compiled by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Georg Kell, an economist in the Office of the United Nations Secretary-General, told reporters that the five economies mostly affected by the financial crisis in South-East Asia had shown a remarkably stable trend in that foreign direct investment (FDI) remained unchanged for the group as a whole. He added that although for some countries FDI went down, in others it increased tremendously.

Mr. Kell also outlined the trends of FDI in Latin America and Africa. He said that Africa continued to be marginalized attracting slightly less than $5 billion. He said that Nigeria and Egypt accounted for nearly fifty percent of the inflows of FDI. However, Mr. Kell pointed out, there were also some very good performers with countries such as Botswana, Tunisia, Ghana, Mozambique and Uganda succeeding in attracting considerable foreign direct investments.

Regarding Latin America, Mr. Kell said that the region was "the star performer" in 1997 with an absolute record of $58 billion inflow. Brazil attracted the bulk of the inflow which amounted to $16 billion, followed by Mexico which got $12 billion and Argentina with $6 billion.

According to UNCTAD's report, the FDI numbers tell a now familiar story since 1985. With only one interruption, in 1991, year after year the volume of FDI flows has risen since 1985. World FDI inflows gained by 19 per cent in 1997, to US$400 billion, and world FDI outflows increased by 27 per cent to US$424 billion. UNCTAD projects that they may rise to between US$430-440 billion this year.

He said that reports from the field were still sketchy and that some casualties had been reported in this incident.

Spokesman Fred Eckhard said that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had appealed for assistance from the Government to protect the sprawling settlement which has very little security.

Developed countries had agreed to an overall 5 per cent cut in emissions when they met at the Third Conference of the Parties in Kyoto, Japan, last year. Under a trading mechanism, countries can "buy" emissions credits from other States that have come in below their targets. The buying States can then claim that they are legally reaching their reduction targets, while allowing their emissions to grow.

Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Russia and the United States support this system, according to a United Nations Radio report from Buenos Aires. But non-governmental organizations (NGOs) want ministers arriving to Buenos Aires for the high-level segment later this week to pledge to make only sparing use of the emission trading mechanism.

Andrew Kerr, a representative of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), told United Nations Radio that an appropriate limit on trading would bring the greatest economic benefits in the medium-term. He said that WWF's analysis showed that the most environmentally beneficial and economically efficient formula would be to have some 70 per cent of targets reached through national action, "and for the rest of the other 30 per cent, sure, let's have some trading, but not have an unlimited free-for-all."

WWF made a theatrical presentation at the Conference on Monday to dramatize the credit bartering system between developed and developing countries.

At a brief ceremony on Friday, WHO Director-General Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland thanked the star and said that Hepatitis B could be virtually eliminated if children were given one of the most "effective and safe vaccines that has ever been developed."

By way of awareness raising, Elton John distributed a letter at his concert which compared Hepatitis B to HIV/AIDS. "They are both highly infectious, placing us all at risk whether we live in the developing or industrialized world," he wrote, noting that both were transmitted by blood, sexual contact, or contaminated needles.

Unlike HIV/AIDS, the hepatitis B virus can spread from child to child, and this is a major way the virus gets transmitted in developing countries, according to WHO. Since 1991, the agency has been promoting the use of Hepatitis B vaccine as part of national immunization programmes in all countries. Its goal is to reduce by 80 per cent the incidence of Hepatitis B in children by the year 2001.

Opening a seminar in Geneva, High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson said that an important element in building this global civilization was dialogue and discussion between religions. She noted that Islam had made immense contribution to the richness of the human experience, through the sciences, literature, art and the profound belief of the Muslim religion.

Ms. Robinson also noted that Islam was the religion of 20 per cent of the human family spread across the whole globe and expressed through many cultures. "It has shown itself to be universal in nature and has the dignity of the human person, tolerance and equity at the core of its message," she added.

The two-day Seminar on Enriching the Universality of Human Rights: Islamic Perspectives on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has brought together some twenty experts in Islamic law and human rights and a number of observers including representatives of governments, non- governmental organizations and the public.

The three major themes selected to structure the discussion are "Islam, the principle of non-discrimination and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights"; "Islam, civil and political rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights"; and "Islam, economic, social and cultural rights and the universal Declaration of Human Rights".

In its first situation report on Ukraine, OCHA says that the country's government on Saturday requested the United Nations to launch the appeal following heavy rains in Western Ukraine which have flooded more than 100 towns and villages affecting 400,000 people. Approximately 3,000 people have been evacuated from the affected areas and two casualties have been reported.

Quoting Government sources, OCHA says that a total of 107 small towns and villages and two cities in the Zakarpattia region and eleven settlements in the Lviv region have been flooded. OCHA reports that major floods also hit Tjachev, Rahiv, Vinogradiv, Mukachevo, Khust, Perechin, Svaljava, Irshava and Uzhgorod regions of the Transpartian province.

According to OCHA, floods and landslides have damaged roads, railways and electricity in the affected region and several villages in remote areas have become unreachable by road. OCHA warns that the situation remains precarious as national meteorologists anticipate more rain with peak of floods still to come.

OCHA says that its representative is working with the Ukrainian Government in Kiev in order to compile a detailed map of the affected zone. OCHA adds that it has activated its emergency response system and is closely coordinating with the Permanent Missions of Ukraine in Geneva and New York. OCHA says that it is prepared to serve as a channel for cash contributions for immediate relief needs and has requested donors to inform it of relief missions, pledges or contributions and their corresponding values by item, in order to coordinate the provision of relief assistance to Ukraine.

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

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