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United Nations Daily Highlights, 97-03-11United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.orgDAILY HIGHLIGHTSTuesday, 11 March 1997This 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 strongly condemned the involvement by West Mostar, police officers in western Bosnia in the violent assault against a group of civilians on 10 February. In a Presidential statement Tuesday, Council President Ambassador Zbigniew M. Wilosowicz of Poland said the Council also condemned the failure of the local police to provide protection to civilians subject to inter-ethnic attacks which occurred throughout Mostar both before and after the incident on 10 February. It stressed the importance it attaches to preventing such incidents in the future. "The Security Council takes note of the announced suspension of some of the police officers identified in the UN-IPTF report but remains deeply concerned by the failure to date of the responsible authorities to take all the necessary steps to implement the conclusions drawn from that report" the Council President said. He said the Council strongly condemned attempts by the authorities to place conditions upon the arrest and prosecution of the police officers identified in the United Nations International Police Task Force (UN-IPTF) report as having fired upon the group of civilians. The Security Council demanded that the responsible authorities, notably in West Mostar, immediately implement the conclusions drawn from the UN-IPTF report, and in particular suspend all relevant police officers and arrest and prosecute them without further delay, the Council President said. General Assembly President Ambassador Razali Ismail of Malaysia has called on the Working Group on Security Council Reform to begin another phase in its deliberations with the aim of reaching a conclusion to its work. He said Member States could still maintain their position but that the full membership should be allowed to see and consider the complete picture, and be able to pronounce on what is offered. The Assembly President said his approach to the reform of the United Nations was predicated on the need to rectify long standing imbalances, to simplify the Organisation's structure and working methods, and to clarify roles and relationships. "In relation to this working group, we are looking at rectifying long- standing imbalances in the composition and decision-making process of the Security Council which will serve to enhance its credibility, legitimacy and authority in a rapidly changing and increasingly demanding world", he stated. United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan was presented on Tuesday with a letter from Pope John Paul II by Archbishop Martino of the Holy See. In the letter, the Pope said the deplorable deterioration of the situation in Zaire compelled him to express his deepest concern. He said he was confident of the possibility of the international community making a concerted effort to avoid yet more tragic developments. "The fighting which is unfolding in the eastern part of the country is once again plunging the people there into a human drama before which the leaders of the nations cannot remain unfeeling," the Pope said. Meanwhile, relief agencies and programmes are now returning to east- central Zaire, according to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General, Fred Eckhard. "The first flight carrying relief supplies to Tingi-Tingi is scheduled for Wednesday. UNHCR is taking 12 tonnes of non-food items such as plastic sheeting, jerry cans, blankets and medicines to Ubundu from Kisangani by rail," the Spokesman said. He said the people were weak and in pain and could only walk one or two kilometres a day. The City of New York has approved a plan to compel the payment or adjudication of all parking summonses on diplomatic vehicles, to enter into effect on 1 April, the representative of the United States told the Committee on Relations with the Host Country. Under the plan parking summonses on diplomatic vehicles would no longer be dismissed automatically. Diplomatic immunity was not a license to disregard the laws of the host State, the United States representative told the Committee. The operation of a motor vehicle in the United States by diplomatic personnel was not a right, but a privilege that might be withdrawn in cases of abuse, he said. Under the plan, dedicated parking spaces would be allowed to each mission, and a special hot line activated to assist diplomats on parking and enforcement issues. The representative of the Russian Federation was among many delegations raising concerns about the proposed arrangements and the unilateral manner of its introduction. He said the idea that the registration of diplomatic vehicles might be canceled for a failure to pay parking tickets was a cause of great concern. As was the proposed 1 April date for implementation. Acting on a proposal by the Russian Federation, the Committee subsequently decided to establish an open-ended working group on the matter. It would work closely with the host country and the United Nations Legal Counsel and report to the Committee "in a reasonably short time", the Committee Chairman said. The World Health Organisation (WHO) considers the use of cloning for the replication of human individuals to be ethically unacceptable as it would violate some of the basic principles which govern medically assisted procreation, according to the Director-General of WHO, Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima said. Dr. Nakajima said the recent announcement of the successful cloning of an adult sheep by a team of scientists in Scotland "has raised great interest and also great concern in all sectors of society". The Director-General said that in 1992, the Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction (HRP) stressed that "there is a universal consensus on the need to prohibit extreme forms of experimentation, such as human cloning, interspecies fertilisation, the creation of chimeras and, at present, alteration of the germ-cell genome." "WHO would like to propose that these guiding principles should serve as a starting point for the public debate required at national and international level to establish the necessary norms and safeguards", Dr. Nakajima said. He pointed out, however, that opposition to human cloning should not lead to an indiscriminate ban on all cloning procedures and research. A three-day conference to foster better understanding between the Western and Islamic worlds, held under joint presidency of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Director-General, Federico Mayor and Emma Nicholson, the founding President of AMAR International Charitable Fund (AICF), at UNESCO Headquarters ended on March 7 with agreement to pursue dialogue. At the conclusion of the conference, Ms. Nicholson, who is a member of the British Parliament, pledged to continue seeking to improve understanding through the series of meetings, European and Islamic Civilisation: A Permanent Space for Dialogue. She said that the next conference, the fourth in the series would "probably be held in Pakistan in December". "I am convinced that building such a space for dialogue is the most important action to fulfil our mission to build peace through education, science, culture and communication," Mr. Mayor said. "Only to the extent that we can persuade people at all levels that dialogue is feasible, that encounters are possible, can we build peace in the minds of men and women," he said. The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE) says it is setting up a monitoring system within the framework of its Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents. The Commission said in a statement Monday that teams of experts would systematically check industrial installations that pose risks to people or to the environment. "They will verify compliance with international safety norms to protect both the workers and the local residents, regardless of whether they live in the country of the plant or across the border, the statement said. 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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