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United Nations Daily Highlights 96-05-23United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.orgDAILY HIGHLIGHTSThursday, May 23, 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 information revolution poses many challenges to the United Nations", Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali said in an address to the Fourth Annual World Conference of the Business Council for the United Nations, today. One of those challenges was "overcoming media selectivity", he added. Dr. Boutros-Ghali said that at the governmental level, media coverage could have a profound impact on the conduct of international relations, "information drives international relations". However, it was self evident that a media agenda existed. He pointed out that "selective news reporting" could have a detrimental effect on diplomacy. "Today, governments have to respond instantly to events". In democratic countries particularly, governments could not ignore the impact of TV coverage on public opinion. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali said that the United Nations was not immune to those pressures. The Secretary-General was concerned at the deteriorating situation in the Central African Republic, according to UN Spokesman Sylvanna Foa. "He condemns the military rebellion taking place in Bangui and supports the democratically elected institutions in that country", she added. Ms. Foa said that the Secretary-General had been in touch with a number of African leaders and had called President Ange-Felix Patasse. He had also requested relevant offices of the Organization to organize humanitarian assistance for people in need in Bangui, as a matter of urgency. To consider the situation of women migrant workers, a group of international experts will meet in Manila from 27 to 31 May. Violence against women migrant workers has been a growing concern of the international community. Last December, the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to convene a meeting with the participation of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women of the Commission on Human rights. The meeting, convened by the Division for the Advancement of Women on behalf of the Secretary-General, is expected to submit recommendations to the General Assembly for improving coordination among various United Nations agencies and for developing indicators as a basis for determining the situation of women migrant workers. "Formulation of Integrated Strategies for Poverty Eradication"; "Meeting Basic Human Needs of All"; and "Promotion of Self-Reliance and Community- Based Initiatives" are topics three experts panels will explore over a two- day meeting beginning today, at United Nations Headquarters. The panels are part of a special 10-day session of the Commission for Social Development to discuss how to implement the Summit's goals of attacking poverty, unemployment and social exclusion. The experts include authorities from a number of non-governmental organizations, academia and the United Nations system. Judges Claude Jorda and Fouad Riad of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia have decided to ask the Prosecutor to publicly display, during the trial, the evidence supporting the indictment against Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic. The trial will be held beginning 27 June and is expected to last until 5 July. The judges considered that a reasonable time had elapsed since the indictments were served in accordance with the Rules of the Tribunal. Sub-Saharan Africa's food security outlook was "precarious", according to a report of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The report points to the tightening of global cereal supplies and the shrinking of food aid availabilities as contributing causes. Balance of payments difficulties; scarcity of water; drought; and warfare also add to the problem, the report states. Forty per cent of the population, or some 210 million people in Africa, already suffer from malnutrition and undernutrition, according to the report. The World Food Programme (WFP) has sent about 20 million tons of cereal valued at $8 million into the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, where "the food supply situation has deteriorated more seriously than had been anticipated". Douglas Coutts of the WFP's North American Office has just returned from the country, where he tried to ascertain the coping mechanism people there used as the food situation worsened. He said "what we have seen is that people have started to consume very large quantities of traditional greens and herbs that they collect on the mountainside". He added that "it's not that these are unknown." What was significant, was the quantities in which these were consumed. WFP says "there is an urgent need to mobilize food imports, in the absence of which the consequences are likely to be devastating". 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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