United Nations Daily Highlights 96-08-08

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Thursday, August 8, 1996

HEADLINES

• The Security Council highlights the importance of the forthcoming elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• UN Secretary-General calls for a meeting of regional organisations to assess the situation in Somalia.
• The World Health Organisation identifies Human papillomavirus as the major cause of cervical cancer.

"The Security Council expects the parties to increase their efforts towards the maintenance and further enhancement of conditions necessary to ensure democratic elections, as provided for in ... the Peace Agreement," the Council President said.

Noting that the continued lack of progress in transferring authority and resources to the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was a potential danger for the peace implementation process, the Council called upon the Federation partners to accelerate their efforts for the establishment of a fully functioning Federation which was an essential prerequisite for peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

On the issue of human rights, the Council noted, with particular concern, the conclusions of the report of the High Representative on the Implementation of the Human Rights Provisions of the Peace Agreement that the parties were not implementing their commitments in respect of human rights. "It condemns all acts of ethnic harassment, and calls upon the parties to the Peace Agreement to take immediately the measures identified in the report to stop the trend of ethnic separation in the country and in its capital, Sarajevo, and to preserve their multi-ethnic heritage."

Stressing that persons indicted by the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia who have failed to comply with an order to appear before the Tribunal may not stand as a candidate or hold any public office in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Council emphasised that any continued holding of such office is unacceptable.

The Council condemned any threat or act of violence directed against international personnel in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the obstacles put in the way of forensic investigations carried out by international organisations on the territory of the Republika Srpska as well as on the territory of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Results from two studies published on Wednesday in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute support the hypothesis that male carriers of human papillomavirus may play an important role in the development of cervical cancer in their wives. The studies, carried out by Drs. Nubia Munoz and F. Xavier Bosch at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), were conducted with colleagues in Spain, Colombia and the United States.

These results, according to the WHO, carry important implications for the prevention of cervical cancer which is the second most common cancer in women worldwide, and by far the most common in developing countries.

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

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