United Nations Daily Highlights, 98-12-04

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Friday, 4 December, 1998

HEADLINES

• Security Council members demand that UNITA allow United Nations personnel to leave Andulo and Bailundo.
• Secretary-General urges Jonas Savimbi to cooperate in withdrawal of UN peacekeepers from UNITA strongholds.
• General Assembly acts on disarmament and international security issues.
• General Assembly adopts series of resolutions on nuclear weapons.
• UN refugee agency says "slowly but surely" people return to parts of Kosovo.
• International Court of Justice declares that it has no jurisdiction in fisheries case brought by Spain against Canada.
• United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations seek over $24 million to help Tajikistan.
• United Nations Department of Public Information expands ties with non- governmental organizations.

In a statement read to the press on behalf of the members, Council President Jassim Mohammed Buallay of Bahrain expresses grave concern for the safety and security of MONUA personnel in Andulo and Bailundo. The Council noted that the Secretary-General had said that the UNITA leadership in Bailundo has refused to provide the necessary clearance for United Nations aircraft to land in Andulo and Bailundo to evacuate these personnel.

According to Ambassador Buallay, the Council holds the President of UNITA, Mr. Jonas Savimbi, personally responsible for the safety, security and freedom of movement of the MONUA personnel.

"The Security Council deplores the deterioration of the situation in Angola and urges that there be no further escalation of hostilities," said Ambassador Buallay. "It reiterates that the primary responsibility for the deterioration in the peace process lies with the leadership of UNITA in Bailundo." The Council called on UNITA, as well as the Government of Angola, to exercise the utmost restraint so as not to endanger the lives of MONUA personnel as well as civilians.

In a statement issued by his spokesman on Friday, the Secretary- General called on Dr. Savimbi and the leaders of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), to cooperate fully and immediately with the United Nations Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA) in the withdrawal of United Nations peacekeepers from Andulo and Bailundo. Almost one month ago, in view of the dangerous deterioration of the security situation in the central region of Angola, the United Nations decided to temporarily relocated the two MONUA teams deployed in the UNITA strongholds. This decision was made in consultation with the Security Council which was fully briefed about the reasons behind the proposed relocation.

So far, despite persistent efforts of his Special Representative and the Force Commander of MONUA, the UNITA leadership in Bailundo had refused, under various pretexts, to provide the necessary clearance for United Nations aircraft to land in Andulo and Bailundo in order to evacuate MONUA personnel, the statement said. "Any restrictions on the freedom of movement of the United Nations personnel is intolerable and violates UNITA's obligations under the Lusaka Protocol," the Secretary- General added.

The Secretary-General emphasized that the task of relocating United Nations personnel from the two locations had acquired additional urgency with the recent intensification of military operations around the two sites. He appealed to all concerned, including the Government of Angola, to exercise the utmost restraint so as not to endanger the lives of United Nations personnel as well as civilians and avoid further deterioration of the situation on the ground.

Among its resolutions, the Assembly renewed its call to all States to strictly observe the principles and objectives of the 1925 Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gasses, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare. It also called upon all signatory States that had not yet ratified or signed the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction to do so without delay. It urged all States parties to meet their obligations under the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction.

In a series of other texts, the Assembly dealt with the questions of the peaceful use of outer space, guidelines for international transfers of dual- use goods and technologies with military applications, and measures to ensure that scientific progress was applied to international security and disarmament without detriment to the environment.

According to a text on transparency in armaments, the Assembly called on Member States to provide the Secretary-General annually the requested data for the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms. In a related resolution, the Assembly urged States to submit their views to the Secretary-General on the further development of the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms in order to increase transparency related to weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons. It also recommended the guidelines for objective information on military matters to all Member States for implementation, and called upon them to report annually, by 30 April, to the Secretary-General, their military expenditures for the latest fiscal year for which data were available.

By the terms of one of three texts on small arms, the Assembly decided to convene an international conference on the illicit arms trade in all its aspects not later than 2001. It requested the Secretary- General to hold broad-based consultations on the magnitude and scope of the illicit arms trade; possible measures to combat it; and the role of the United Nations in collecting, sharing and disseminating information on the matter.

The Assembly decided to give urgent consideration to conventional arms control and requested the Conference on Disarmament to consider the formulation of principles that could serve as a framework for regional conventional arms control agreements.

Under one of two resolutions on the landmines issue, adopted without a vote, the Assembly called upon States to become parties to key international agreements prohibiting the use of these weapons.

Among the other issues, the Assembly reaffirmed its support for the promotion of confidence-building measures in order to ease tensions and conflicts in Central Africa and called on all States of the Mediterranean to adhere to all the multilaterally negotiated instruments related to disarmament and non-proliferation. It also stressed the particular relevance of the deliberations in the 1998 substantive session of the United Nations Disarmament Commission concerning guidelines on conventional arms control/limitation and disarmament as a useful basis for further deliberations.

The Assembly strongly deplored recent nuclear tests in South Asia while noting that the countries concerned had declared moratoriums on further testing and had expressed their willingness to enter into legal commitments not to conduct any further nuclear tests. It reiterated the need for such legal commitments to be expressed in legal form, by signing and ratifying the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). The resolution was adopted by a recorded vote of 118 in favour to 9 against (Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, India, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Zimbabwe), with 33 abstentions.

In related action, the Assembly decided to include an item on the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in the provisional agenda of its next session. By another resolution, the Assembly called for a review of nuclear doctrines and for immediate and urgent steps to reduce the risks of unintentional and accidental use of nuclear weapons.

The Assembly called upon the nuclear-weapon States to demonstrate an unequivocal commitment to the speedy and total elimination of their nuclear weapons, according to a resolution on the need for a new agenda towards a nuclear-free world. In another call upon nuclear-weapon States, the Assembly urged them to immediately stop the qualitative improvement of nuclear warheads and their delivery systems and, as interim measures, to immediately de-alert and deactivate their nuclear weapons.

The Assembly also called on all States to redouble their efforts to prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons. The Russian Federation and the United States were urged to reduce their nuclear weapons on the basis of existing agreements in order to contribute to the ultimate goal of eliminating those weapons.

By a resolution on the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice regarding the legality of nuclear weapons, the Assembly underlined, once again, the Court's unanimous conclusion that there existed an obligation to pursue in good faith and conclude negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament under strict and effective international control. The Assembly also reiterated its request to the Conference on Disarmament to commence negotiations on an international convention prohibiting the use of nuclear weapons under any circumstances. It appealed to all States, especially those with nuclear weapons, to work actively towards a legally binding international instrument on security assurances to non-nuclear- weapon States against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons.

Resolutions dealt with nuclear-weapon-free zones, including one by which the Assembly invited Member States to cooperate with Mongolia in strengthening its nuclear-weapon-free status.

By the terms of another nuclear-related text, the Assembly, noting that Israel remained the only State in the Middle East not party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), called upon that State to accede to the Treaty without further delay and not develop, produce, test or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons.

Welcoming the fact that there are currently no nuclear weapons stationed in Central and Eastern Europe, the Assembly urged all concerned States to continue making it possible to have no intention, no plan and no reason to deploy nuclear weapons on that territory.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in Geneva on Friday that slowly but surely, people were returning to their villages in central and western Kosovo, but the town of Malisevo, which has a large presence of security forces, remained empty. The town, whose 3,000 residents were forced to flee in July, had become a symbol of fear among the displaced people of Kosovo and a stark reminder that all is not well in the Serbian province, said UNHCR. According to the United Nations refugee agency, many of the houses in Malisevo are habitable, but the residents are not returning because they fear the large police presence there.

UNHCR, together with diplomatic missions and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), is pressing the government to reduce the presence of its security forces in Malisevo to allow people to return. The United Nations refugee agency added that the departure of the security forces would also facilitate the start of repair work on the town's electrical facilities which distribute power to large parts of western and southern Kosovo.

With aid convoys operating out of four locations, UNHCR hopes to increase the number of aid deliveries per week to over 150 trucks. Last week, UNHCR led 120 trucks.

The case was initiated by Spain on 28 March 1995 after a Canadian patrol boat, on 9 March of that year, boarded a fishing boat on the high seas called the Estai which was flying the Spanish flag. Spain maintained that Canada had violated the principles of international law which enshrine freedom of navigation and freedom of fishing on the high seas, and had also infringed the right of exclusive jurisdiction of the flag State over its ships on the high seas.

For its part, Canada argued that the Court lacked jurisdiction to deal with the case because in May 1994, Canada had deposited a declaration with the United Nations Secretary-General containing a reservation on the Court's jurisdiction. The reservation stated that the ICJ had compulsory jurisdiction over all disputes except those concerning conservation and management measures taken by Canada with respect to vessels fishing in the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization's Regulatory Area.

The Court concluded that the dispute did concern conservation and management measures taken by Canada with respect to vessels fishing in the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization's Regulatory Area. Therefore, the dispute came within the terms of the reservation contained in Canada's declaration. The Court consequently concluded that it had no jurisdiction to deal with the merits of the case.

While rehabilitation of the country and reintegration of returning refugees and internally displaced persons are the main priorities of the Government and the international community, significant emergency requirements remain to be met. The upheavals since 1992 have left a large portion of the population vulnerable; at present some 80 per cent of Tajiks live below the poverty line. With the Government finding it difficult to provide a social safety net, United Nations agencies and NGOs are continuing to fill the gaps.

Given the fragile political and security situation in Tajikistan, the United Nations and NGOs have developed a common humanitarian action plan which aims at sustaining current levels of food security, access to potable water and access to health care. Facilitating safe return and reintegration of returnees and ex-combatants are also vital components of the common plan.

All the organizations have strong public information outreach, the principal criterion used by the Committee in making its decision, according to DPI. The newly associated NGOs include one from Asia; eight from Europe; one from the Middle East; and 19 from the United States. They represent a diverse range of interests, including the rights of indigenous and disabled people, women and youth, human settlement and disarmament. Several of the NGOs conduct research and promote education on peacekeeping, conflict resolution and reconciliation.

Organizations eligible for association with DPI must share the ideals of the United Nations Charter, operate solely on not-for-profit basis, and demonstrate an interest in United Nations issues. In addition, they must have a proven ability to reach large or specialized audiences with well- developed information programmes, as well as the commitment and means to disseminate information about the United Nations.

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

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