United Nations Daily Highlights, 02-12-06

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

OF THE NOON BRIEFING

BY FRED ECKHARD

SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS

UN

HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Friday, December 6, 2002

ANNAN REACTS TO ISRAELI ATTACK THAT LEFT 10 DEAD, INCLUDING UN WORKERS

A

statement said that Secretary-General Kofi Annan was gravely disturbed by the Israeli military attack in the Bureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip early this morning. The attack during one of the most important Muslim holidays, Eid al Fitr, left 10 Palestinians dead. Most of those killed were civilians -- including two staff members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

The Secretary-General extended his deepest condolences to the families of the victims of this attack.

He deplored the loss of innocent civilian life and has repeatedly urged Israel to refrain from the excessive and disproportionate use of deadly force in civilian areas. He reminded the Government of Israel of its obligations as an occupying power to protect the civilian population, and urges them ensure that the Israeli Defence Forces behave with greater restraint and discipline and in conformity with international humanitarian law.

The Secretary-General stressed that only a political solution offers the two parties a viable way out of the current conflict and the possibility of real security for both sides.

One of the UNRWA employees killed in the attack was Osama Hassan Tahrawi, a 31-year-old school attendant at the local UNRWA school. Initial reports indicate that he was killed by a rocket fired from a helicopter while he was standing in his yard watching the military operation, and that he was killed with another six friends and relatives.

UNRWAs field staff reported that he was not armed and had no connection either with any militant organization or with the families whose homes were being targeted during the incursion.

The other staff member who was killed was Ahlam Riziq Kandil, a 32-year-old teacher. Reports received by UNRWA indicate that she was hit while in her home. She died from her injuries after being taken to hospital.

Their deaths come just two weeks after another UNRWA worker, Iain Hook, was killed by an Israeli soldier in Jenin camp.

Peter Hansen, the Agencys Commissioner-General, said, The tragic death toll for UNRWA staff has now risen to five people in the course of this year. This loss of civilian lives, of people working for a humanitarian UN Agency, is completely unacceptable. mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;mso-fareast-language: He added that UNRWA will carry out a detailed inquiry into the deaths.

UN RECEIVES RESPONSES ON CYPRUS INITIATIVE FROM BOTH PARTIES

By the end of the day on Thursday, the United Nations had received papers from both Cypriot parties in response to the Secretary-Generals initiative of November 11 to provide a basis for agreement of the Cyprus problem.

Earlier today in Nicosia, the Secretary-Generals Special Advisor on Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto, met with the Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos Clerides.

Afterwards, de Soto said to journalists, We are entering a new and intensive phase of talks and consultations. He added that during this phase he would not be talking to the media and would ask both leaders to do the same.

De Soto then met with Ergun Olgen, the political advisor of Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, at de Sotos offices in the UN headquarters area in Nicosia.

Asked about the next steps, the Spokesman said that de Soto would be the principal go-between dealing with the parties as the United Nations tries to incorporate the two sets of comments with the Secretary-Generals proposal and come up with a unified text by December 12. For now, he added, the Secretary-General has left this important task to de Soto.

SECURITY COUNCIL DESIGNATES UNMOVIC AS DEPOSITORY OF IRAQ DECLARATION

The Security Council met in closed consultations this morning to discuss the quarterly report from Hans Blix, the Executive Director of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), with a briefing by Blix. Council members also discussed the weekend handover of the Iraqi declaration to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), UNMOVIC and the Security Council in accordance with Resolution 1441.

[Security Council President, Ambassador Alfonso Valdivieso of Colombia, told reporters that Council members decided to make UNMOVIC the depository of the declaration, and asked UNMOVIC and the IAEA to review it immediately with their experts and from the standpoint of existing international treaties. The Security Council plans to meet next week to decide on the further handling of the declaration, he said. The document will not be available for some days until this procedure is carried out, he added.]

UNMOVIC officials expect that the Iraq declaration will be handed over Saturday in Baghdad to representatives of the IAEA and UNMOVIC.

SECURITY COUNCIL TO CONSIDER STATEMENT ON AFGHANISTAN

Friday afternoon, the Security Council has scheduled consultations to discuss Afghanistan, to consider a draft statement by the Council, one year after the Bonn agreement.

On Wednesday evening, the Security Council extended the humanitarian oil-for-food program that allows Iraq to use part of its crude exports to purchase relief aid for an additional 180 day-period. The resolution, adopted unanimously, also decided to consider necessary adjustments to the so-called Goods Review List and the procedures for its implementation, for adoption no later than 30 days from the adoption of the resolution.

IRAQIS TOP APPLICATIONS FOR ASYLUM, UNHCR SAYS

Statistics on asylum applications in 29 industrialized countries for the first nine months of this year show that the top country of origin of asylum seekers from January to September this year was Iraq, with over 36,000 applications, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The next largest country of origin is the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Other major countries of origin, each accounting for more than 10,000 asylum claims, were Turkey, Afghanistan, China, the Russian Federation, India and Colombia. Applications from Afghans showed the largest decrease compared to the same timeframe last year.

IRAQ COMPENSATION COMMISSION TO MEET NEXT WEEK

The UN Compensation Commission dealing with Iraq will hold of its 46th session next week in Geneva. During the session, which will run from December 10-12, the Commissions Governing Council will consider a number of reports and recommendations of the panels of Commissioners concerning claims filed by individuals, corporations, and Governments. It will also discuss issues relating to the processing and payment of claims.

This will be the last session under the Presidency of Ambassador Sverre Bergh Johansen of Norway. As of January 1, the five new members of the Security Council will join the Governing Council and a new President will be elected by the Governing Council at that time.

TIMOR-LESTE VIOLENCE WAS PLANNED, UN ENVOY SAYS

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Timor-Leste, Kamalesh Sharma, stated that the violence that unfolded this past Tuesday appeared to be part of a planned attack against selected targets throughout Dili, and it would be thoroughly investigated by the UN Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMISET), in parallel with inquiries of the Government and the Parliament.

The situation in Dili remains calm. Two Timorese had died in the violence, two were critically injured and some 20 others sustained less serious injuries.

Sharma met again yesterday with Timor-Leste President Xanana Gusmão and with Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri to assess the security situation and to review the necessary corrective measures that need to be applied in the medium- and longer-term.

Sharma said that UNMISET is committed to discharging its mandate of assisting in the development and strengthening of the Timor-Leste Police Service. He added that appropriate deployment of security forces, including Peacekeeping Forces, would continue throughout Dili as required.

Asked about who was responsible for security in Dili, the Spokesman noted that Timor-Leste is now an independent country, and that UN peacekeepers cannot act unless they receive a request from the sovereign Government.

ANNAN NOTES SUCCESSES, CHALLENGES AS UN MISSION IN BOSNIA NEARS END

The Secretary-Generals final report to the Security Council on the work of the UN Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which ends on December 31, says that the Missions landmark project to minimize police interference in political work has been completed, and that it has helped to lay the foundation for post-war recovery and development.

The report includes the Missions accomplishments, among them the setting of secure conditions that have encouraged the return of more than 250,000 refugees to their pre-war homes. A high standard of security throughout the country has been established, the report says.

However, the Secretary-General says, key challenges lie ahead, most importantly the full establishment of the rule of law. Corruption, organized crime and political obstruction still hinder economic development and regional integration.

The report will be discussed next Thursday when the Security Council holds an open meeting on Bosnia, which the Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Bosnia, Jacques Klein, and the three members of the Bosnian Presidency and prime minister are all expected to attend.

UNHCR SAYS SOME 45,000 REFUGEES UNREACHABLE IN COTE DIVOIRE

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that fighting in Côte d'Ivoire has driven more than 30,000 people from the country over the past week with most fleeing to Liberia and Guinea.

In another alarming development, UNHCR has lost contact with more than 45,000 mostly Liberian refugees in western Côte d'Ivoire. Telephone lines have been cut and access to the fighting zone is barred. Sketchy reports indicate that many Liberian refugees are now headed home fleeing the violence.

BELLAMY WARNS OF MALNOURISHED CHILDREN IN HORN OF AFRICA

In Addis Ababa today, the Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Carol Bellamy, warned that drought-related illnesses were severely affecting the population. She said that UNICEF-supported feeding programs in Ethiopia and Eritrea were already seeing hundreds of severely malnourished children and that, as people migrated from parched lands, the numbers would increase.

These are the first signs of a creeping disaster, she said. We can expect to see a lot more malnutrition if the situation doesnt change, and if more assistance for food, health and water supplies doesnt arrive.

UNICEF says that air shipments to boost its existing humanitarian programs have already started arriving and a campaign targeting 600,000 children to provide measles vaccinations and Vitamin A began last month.

SECRETARY-GENERAL PRESENTS CANDLELIGHT AWARD

The Secretary-General today presented the Candlelight Award, on behalf of the New York-based non-governmental organization Carriage House, to two international luminaries who are also friends of the United Nations: businessman Maurice Strong and Jim MacNeill, a main author of the report Our Common Future.

He said that, thanks to those two men, governments and grass-roots organizations alike now understand, more than ever, that fighting poverty and protecting the environment are two sides of the same coin.

This Sunday, the Secretary-General will speak at the annual dinner of the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute for Science, and he will celebrate the legacy of Chaim Weizmann, as both a scientist who believed in the ability of science to unify mankind, and as a statesman whose Institute continues to spread the benefits of its research to Israels neighbors.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

According to an update of the Southern African humanitarian crisis, farmers and food security specialists in the region are concerned that the lack of rain in the current planting season could mean another bad harvest. In South Africa, the biggest exporter in and to the region, there had not been enough rain to plant the important crops of maize, wheat, sunflower, sorghum and soy. James Morris, the Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), told the Security Council this week that 38 million Africans are at risk from an unprecedented hunger crisis in the region.

On Monday, Deputy Secretary-General Louis Fréchette is scheduled to travel to Washington, D.C, where she will be the dinner speaker at the annual CEO retreat of InterAction, a conglomerate of U.S.-based international development and humanitarian non-governmental organizations. During the day, she will have a number of bi-lateral meetings with U.S. Government officials.

UNICEF today announced a partnership with a new organization, Cultural Olympiad, aimed at giving over one million children a better chance to grow up free from disability and disease. Cultural Olympiad will donate $7 million to UNICEFs global immunization campaigns and in exchange, UNICEF's 2003 holiday cards will have sports and cultural themes.

Human Rights Day will be observed next Tuesday, and, in advance of that event, the Department of Public Information is hosting today, for the fifth consecutive year, a student conference on human rights, to discuss the theme, Human Rights and Sustainable Development: A Better Future for All.

High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira de Mello issued a message for Human Rights Day, in which he says that it is appalling that impunity for gross human rights violations is so rampant and calls for all to work together to ensure the success of the International Criminal Court.

The World Health Organization today launched a cartoon booklet called The Right to Health. The book is designed to reach children and adolescents and is one of the tools WHO is using to raise awareness of the right to health and features a teacher in a classroom interacting with children from Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe.

The Sixth Meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Basel Convention on the Trans-boundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal will begin in Geneva on Monday. The meeting will consider a strategic plan to run to the year 2010 to provide actions to protect human health and the environment from hazardous wastes. The meeting is also expected to adopt technical guidelines for the disposal and recycling of lead-acid batteries, plastic wastes, biomedical and healthcare waste and obsolete ships.

As the Muslim world celebrates Eid ul-Fitr, 26 refurbished public bathhouses known as hammamat opened this week in Kabul, Afghanistan, as part of a UN Development Programme (UNDP) project to repairs damages to a total of 30 bathhouses, particularly to the womens sections, dating from the period of Taliban rule.

THE WEEK AHEAD AT THE UNITED NATIONS Sunday, December 8 Today is the deadline for Iraq to comply with Paragraph 3 of Security Council Resolution 1441, on providing a declaration concerning weapons of mass destruction.

The Secretary-General is scheduled to pay tribute to Dr. Maxine Singer at an event organized by the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science.

Monday, December 9 The Secretary-General will mark the 20th anniversary of the signing of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The Security Council has scheduled consultations on Georgia and on Kosovo.

Tuesday, December 10 The Security Council is planning to hold an open meeting on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, at which the Secretary-General will speak. It has also scheduled its monthly luncheon with the Secretary-General. Today is International Human Rights Day.

Wednesday, December 11 There will be a ceremony to mark the fifth anniversary of the UN partnership with the UN Foundation, at which the Secretary-General will speak. At 12:30 p.m., Tim Wirth of the UN Foundation and Ted Turner will speak to the press about the fifth anniversary.

Thursday, December 12 The Security Council has scheduled open meetings on the UN Missions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Prevlaka. After the meeting on Bosnia concludes, the three members of the Bosnian Presidency and the Prime Minister will speak to the press.

At 11:15 a.m., Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Nitin Desai and other speakers will hold a press conference to launch the International Year of Freshwater.

Friday, December 13 The Deputy Secretary-General is expected to speak at a ceremony on the launching of the International Year of Freshwater, and she will also attend the Harvard Model UN Conference. The Security Council intends to hold an open briefing, followed by consultations, on Afghanistan. The Security Council mission to Kosovo and Belgrade, led by Ambassador Ole Peter Kolby of Norway, is scheduled to depart from New York. Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General United Nations, S-378 New York, NY 10017 Tel. 212-963-7162 - press/media only Fax. 212-963-7055

All other inquiries to be addressed to (212) 963-4475 or by e-mail to: inquiries@un.org

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