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United Nations Daily Highlights 96-06-07United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.orgDAILY HIGHLIGHTSFriday, June 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 Secretary-General has arrived in Geneva last night, according to UN Spokesman Sylvana Foa. During discussions with Under-Secretary- General Vladimir Petrovsky on developments regarding the Conference on Disarmament, the Secretary-General said there was "an urgent need for Member States to demonstrate that they have the political will and diplomatic skill, flexibility and determination to make the necessary compromises to achieve this historic treaty". Negotiations on the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty were at a critical stage and all concerned should show flexibility, he added. A UN Spokesman has said that Mr. Boden Dzovanovic, a prominent member of the Serb Sarajevo Democratic Initiative in Bosnia, was arrested by Federation Police on suspicion of having committed war crimes. The Spokesman emphasized that Mr. Dzovanovic has not been charged of those crimes yet and was not among those charged by the International Criminal Tribunal of War Crimes. The arrest contravened earlier understandings that such persons should not be detained, if they have not been charged by the Tribunal, the Spokesman added. Six hundred thousand women "die in pregnancy and childbirth each year", according to a UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) report Progress of Nations issued today. One thousand six hundred women, some of them in their teens, die every day during pregnancy or childbirth. "And these deaths are readily preventable", the report notes. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali during the opening session set the tone of the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), which concluded its first week of activity today. He called for the Habitat Agenda, "our vision of the future", to be the prevailing spirit in Istanbul. Throughout the week, representatives called for urgent attention to the needs of the vulnerable sectors of society and to the relationship of rural needs to urban problems; for greater emphasis on the role of local authorities in meeting housing needs; for international cooperation and the provision of more resources for human settlements, according to a UN report from Istanbul. Welcoming the focus of the conference on partnership, Ambassador Priscilla Williams of New Zealand, said today local governments had a crucial role to play in the fulfilment of Habitat's Plan of Action. It was essential that central and local governments recognized and cooperated with all parties, including vulnerable groups, women, indigenous people, new migrants, youth and the disabled in pursuit of the goal of providing healthy, safe and peaceful cities. The Government of India had taken several policy initiatives for poverty alleviation, said the representative of that country. K. S. Sharma, the Minister of Urban Affairs, stressed that poverty trapped the urban poor in a downward spiral of degraded existence. Meanwhile, Kenya's Minister of Public Works and Housing, Jonathan Ng'eno, pointed to the importance of implementation and follow-up of the Habitat Agenda. "The international community should make new commitments to provide new and additional resources to developing countries to supplement national efforts", he said. Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima, said his Agency's main concern was to ensure access to reliable health care and services of good quality for all, particularly the most deprived. Dr. Nakajima noted that cities brought together vast numbers of people and provided economic opportunities. However, they also provided "breeding grounds for a multitude of disease vectors", he said. Judge Cassese, President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia yesterday held meetings in Sarajevo with Prime Minister Muratovic and Minister of Justice of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr. Tadic. According to a report from the Tribunal Headquarters, ways of improving the implementation of the Tribunal's Statute in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina were among the topics discussed. Continuing on his visit to the relevant capitals in the territory of the former Yugoslavia for the purpose of establishing high-level contacts before the Florence mid-term conference on the Dayton Accord, President Cassese also met with several senior officials. The talks focused on the cooperation of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) with the Tribunal. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has announced that a funding crisis threatens to disrupt its programmes in the Caucasus. Some 250,000 refugees and displaced persons in Georgia and Azerbaijan and over 800,000 displaced people from Chechnya in the Russian Federation, benefit from the programmes. UNHCR had requested US$16 million to cover its 1996 operations to help the most vulnerable and needy displaced families in both countries. To date, it has received US$3 million. The Agency says it is down to less than $10,000, for the operations in Azerbaijan; less than $20,000 for Georgia; and only $250,000 is left for the people displaced from Chechnya. The forty eighth volume of the United Nations Yearbook, covering the 1994 activities of the organisation was published today. Announcing the publication of the Yearbook, the UN Department of Public Information said the 1,564 page volume is the most current, comprehensive and authoritative publication on the work of the United Nations. The 1994 Yearbook consists of 54 chapters divided into six parts: political and security questions; regional questions; economic and social questions; legal questions; administrative and budgetary questions; and intergovernmental organisations related to the United Nations. Fully indexed, the 1994 Yearbook contains detailed information on the UN meetings, activities and resolutions. Other areas covered in the Yearbook include, among others, accounts of the role played by the organisation in- the effort to prevent or settle internal conflicts, safeguarding international peace and security, the peace initiatives in the Middle East and Southern Africa, humanitarian and human rights activities and a review of the world economy in 1994. The Yearbook is available worldwide at a retail price of US $150. 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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