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United Nations Daily Highlights 96-05-07United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.orgDAILY HIGHLIGHTSTuesday, May 7, 1996This document is prepared by the Central News Section of the Department of Public Information and is updated every week-day at approximately 6:00 PM. HEADLINES
The Security Council has called upon the parties in Liberia to immediately to cease fire and to return to Monrovia to a safe haven under the protection of the Military Observer Group of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOMOG). In a statement last night read by its President, Qin Huasun of China, the Council once again expressed grave concern at the deteriorating situation in Liberia that had forced the evacuation of personnel of the United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia (UNOMIL). The Council deplored the wanton killing and atrocities committed against civilians by the warring faction and stressed the importance of observing relevant resolutions and agreements, including the Abuja Agreement. The Council expressed its support for the efforts of the Economic Council of West African States (ECOWAS), including the role of ECOMOG, to bring the conflict in Liberia to an end. Meanwhile, ECOMOG reports that even though a cease-fire was announced at 12 noon Monday, shelling and exchanges of small arms fire as well as brutal human rights abuses against civilians continue throughout Monrovia. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Jose Ayala-Lasso yesterday began a one-week visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) to assess the status of the peace efforts with respect to human rights programmes. With the Paris agreement now being implemented, the High Commissioner said he wanted to make this trip, "to make direct contact with people on the ground, and to find additional models for cooperation to strengthen the peace process". At the London Peace Implementation Conference last December, the High Commissioner outlined key activities his Office could contribute to the peace initiative. This visit will allow him to assess the progress being made on those assignments. The goal of the High Commissioner's activities in the region is to help the people from the various countries strengthen their own programmes for the promotion and protection of human rights, so that there will be lasting peace even after the international forces are gone. As it began the work of its 1996 session, the Committee on Information yesterday commemorated World Press Freedom Day, which is observed each year on 5 May. Speakers paid tribute to the many journalists who risked their lives in their efforts to promote the free flow of information. In 1995, 51 journalists lost their lives in the line of duty, while 182 were imprisoned for doing their jobs, the Committee was told. In their honour, the Committee rose to observe a moment of silence. The Committee on Natural Resources must demonstrate its relevance to the follow-up decisions of recent UN conferences, said the Director of the Division for Environment Management and Social Development. She added that the financial crisis had affected the functioning of the UN Secretariat and would impact the expert committees of the Economic and Social Council. Women were still not sufficiently involved in the planning and management of water resources although they were the world's primary carriers, managers, end-users and family health educators, a representative of the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) told the Committee on Natural Resources as it began its third session yesterday. She urged the Committee to recommend that research and training on women and water resources be strengthened at all levels. Other representatives noted that the contraction in budgets hampered the activities of their organizations "even as new areas in mineral resource development had opened up". Globalization and economic liberalization in the absence of pro- active measures from the State to resolve inherited inequities would merely reinforce them, the Labour Minister of South Africa, Tito Mboweni, told the ninth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD IX), currently meeting in Midrand, South Africa. Mr. Mboweni said that the emergence of a democratic South Africa coincided with renewed efforts to promote regional cooperation in southern Africa. However, because of immense disparities between the countries in the subregion, in the absence of other policies to foster equitable development, liberalization alone might aggravate domestic and regional inequalities. South Africa was keen to promote regional integration which combined trade liberalization with industrial development, he added. Several speakers drew attention to the foreign debt problem of developing countries, particularly Africa. The Tanzanian Minister for Industries, Abdallah Omari Kigoda, said market forces left on their own were completely devoid of social justice. Requirements for and attempts towards a functioning market economy were among other issues discussed by speakers as the ninth session of the UNCTAD IX continued its general debate. Bjorn von Sydow, Minister for Trade of Sweden, stressed that governments had to create a political and legal framework based on the rule of law and the legal recognition of property rights, transparency and good governance as a necessary precondition for a functioning market economy. The Commission on Sustainable Development completed the work of its fourth session Friday by adopting 24 decisions. Among those - that the June 1997 special session of the General Assembly - which will review progress in implementing the commitments of Agenda 21 of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) and strategies for future years - should focus on practical decisions. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has opened Voices of Youth, a new interactive electronic forum for young people, on the World Wide Web. The Agency invites young people from all over the globe to visit the site and express their opinions on subjects such as children's rights, children in war, and children living in cities. The site (http.//www.unicef.org./voy.) presents the young user with information, photos and colourful graphics on today's global issues which affect children everywhere. UNICEF says it developed the forum as part of its education for development activities. The Agency says it is developing two other fora. The preliminary adoption of a draft Code of Crimes against the Peace and Security of Mankind and further progress on the matter of State responsibility will top the agenda of the forty-eight session of the International Law Commission, which began on 6 May and will continue till 26 May. The Code, as approved on first reading in 1991, covered 12 crimes, including apartheid, colonial domination, the recruitment and use of mercenaries and wilful and severe damage to the environment. For information purposes only - - not an official record From the United Nations home page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.orgUnited Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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