United Nations Daily Highlights, 97-04-03

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Thursday, 3 April 1997

HEADLINES

• UN High Commissioner for Refugees still awaits a response from Zairian rebel forces for the repatriation of refugees in eastern Zaire.
• Resolution on death penalty calls on States to restrict offenses and suspend executions with a view to abolish it.
• Elections Commission in Liberia formally inducted.
• Some 57 former combatants of Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca has begun training at Police Academy.
• Iraq Sanctions Committee approves additional points of understanding.
• United Nations expert on missing persons in Former Yugoslavia resigns in protest against "lack of political will."
• Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women presents report on violence in the community.
• Forum to discuss possible targets and measurements to address problem of global biodiversity loss.
• Expert group concludes meeting on global economic prospects; notes growing importance of trade.
• Convention on International Civil Aviation remarkably resilient after 50 years.
• UN Narcotics Commission sets agenda for special session of General Assembly on drugs.

AFDL has still not responded to a request sent in writing to its leader, Laurent Kabila on 29 March, requesting that refugees be repatriated by air and/or by land via Kisangani, rather than by land alone via Ubundu, as reportedly decided by Mr. Kabila last week, according to the Spokesman.

Among these refugees, there are genocidal killers, which are a minority, the Spokesman noted, pointing out that the majority of those refugees in eastern Zaire were innocent women and children. "We called on Mr. Kabila to let the relief organisations do their work, and to stop the killing of these people, which has been going on for the last several months," the Spokesman for the Secretary-General said.

The situation has stabilised as a result of the AFDL allowing the relief organisations access to these people and to stabilise the temporary camps where they are staying, the Spokesman noted. Until there is a comprehensive evacuation and stabilisation plan approved, there will not be an adequate response to the humanitarian need, he added.

According to UNHCR, practically all Rwandan refugees to whom the agency has had access have expressed their wish to return. Their physical condition is very poor and their options limited, but given the de facto separation from the "intimidators," this wish is likely to be sincere and valid, the agency said in a statement.

It also calls upon the States parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that have not yet done so, to ratify the optional protocol of this Convention and of the abolition of the death penalty.

The role of the Elections Commission is to ensure that elections are conducted on 30 May as planned, the Spokesman noted, pointing out that it is expected than the electoral law will be promulgated within ten days to two weeks. To assist the electoral process, the UN has increased the number of electoral officers and it is in the process of dispatching a larger number of electoral monitors, he added. There are ninety-two United Nations military observers deployed throughout Liberia.

"The issuing of letters of credit for humanitarian goods contracts will continue to be based on the availability of funds in the Iraq Account," according to the Security Council Committee, which is working with the Department for Humanitarian Affairs and relevant agencies to ensure that the process of considering contracts for export of goods to Iraq is responsive to the most urgent humanitarian needs of the Iraqi population.

Mr. Nowak said there had been a lack of international and national support for his urgent call for excavation of mass graves and exhumation and identification of the remains. If the international community wished to tell the women of Srebrenica or other families of missing persons the truth and facilitate decent burials of their loved ones, then it should take the lead by organising such exhumations with the assistance of Bosnian and international teams of forensic experts, he urged.

The expert said that in Bosnia and Herzegovina, some 20,000 persons were still missing, most of them Bosnian men of Muslim origin victims of "ethnic cleansing" operations carried out by Serb paramilitary groups and Bosnian Serb forces. Some 5,000 persons remained missing in Croatia, he added.

The present report makes recommendations in the area of rape and sexual harassment, which is based on her research and visit to South Africa. The Special Rapporteur has made two other field visits: to Brazil on the issue of domestic violence, and to Poland on trafficking of women from Eastern to Western Europe.

The report calls for comprehensive legislative amendments by governments to sensitise the criminal justice system, especially the police, the judiciary and the prosecutors. It also urges governments to engage in a partnership with non-governmental organisations (NGOs). According to the Special Rapporteur's findings, a positive relationship between the police and these organisations could be effective in addressing the issue of rape and domestic violence.

The first report related to discussions on the preliminary issues concerned with violence against women, while the second dealt with violence in the family, especially domestic violence. Next year's report, if her mandate is renewed, will deal with violence by the state and during times of armed conflicts.

The meeting of the Global Biodiversity Forum (GBF) involves about 100 participants from over 30 countries, including representatives from 25 Governments, key intergovernmental organisations - such as the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank - and leading non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and scientific institutions.

The Forum will focus on a range of biodiversity indicators and targets that could be used by the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity to develop more effective national implementation reports and to measure and achieve tangible progress in implementing the Convention. The meeting is convened in response to decisions of the November 1996 meeting of the Convention Parties in Buenos Aires, which encouraged Parties to set measurable conservation and sustainable use targets.

A presentation by the Secretariat noted the strong relationship during the last decade between world trade growth and world economic activity, as world exports rose twice as fast as world production. The factors involved in this rapid expansion of world trade in an apparent slowdown in trade growth in 1996 were analysed, notably the role of price and the effects of income on the external sector in Europe during 1996.

"The Convention has proved remarkably resilient during its first half century by providing a sufficiently flexible framework to enable ICAO to fulfill successfully its responsibilities in a constantly and rapidly changing global context," explains Dr. Assad Kotaite, President of the Council of ICAO since 1976 and associated in an official capacity with the Organisation since 1953.

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

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