United Nations Daily Highlights, 97-04-23

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Wednesday, 23 April 1997

HEADLINES

• United Nations Secretary-General is relieved to learn of the safe rescue of all but one of the hostages in Lima, Peru.
• United Nations Secretary-General says the Organisation can play a role in highlighting the needs of the developing countries to which little foreign direct investments are directed.
• Local authorities and citizens will be key players in the design of policies for sustainable development in the forthcoming urban century, United Nations Secretary-General says.
• Speakers at the current session of the Disarmament Commission highlight the contributions new nuclear-weapon-free zones can make towards disarmament.
• World Food Programme delivers relief food aid to Albania.
• United Nations Environment Programme launches new software package.

"He regrets that these efforts were not successful and that it was found necessary, in the end, to resort to force in order to bring this deplorable act of terrorism to a close", the Spokesman said.

In an address to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Tuesday, Mr. Annan outlined the geo-political changes that have altered the context of the work of the United Nations over the last decade. He told the meeting that the role of the United Nations must constantly be adjusted to the changing political realities.

"A new social agenda is needed to offer a resolute answer to those dangers that can only be met in global concert: intolerance and exclusion, drug- trafficking, terrorism, illegal arms-trading and environmental calamities," he said.

Noting that the new agenda was growing out of a number of global conferences sponsored by the United Nations over the last few years, Mr. Annan stressed that the priority must now be to ensure that the global conferences are followed up seriously and effectively, and that their findings are integrated into a coherent meaningful agenda which places economic and social issues within an overall concern for sustainable human development and peace and security.

Focusing on United Nations reform, Mr. Annan said that there was only one United Nations. "It can either be reformed and made to work as States want it to work; or it can continue to be the victim of unceasing criticism and ultimately be undermined", he said.

Earlier, the Secretary-General, in a message to the international communications roundtable at the Columbia University, in the United States, said new technologies were empowering community and civic action groups around the world and providing new channels by which the United Nations could reach out to vast numbers of allies in its efforts to build a better world.

He said that in view of the magnitude and diversity of its mandates, the United Nations has always been relying on the mass media to reach the peoples of the world with its central message of the advancement of peace and security, development, human rights and international cooperation.

The international roundtable, assessing the impact of increasing globalisation of information on promotion of peace, development, democracy and respect for fundamental freedoms in the twenty-first century, will conclude its deliberations on Thursday with the adoption of a report summarising its discussions.

In a message to the Organising Committee for the Joint United Nations/Tokyo Metropolitan Government World Conference on International Cooperation of Cities and Citizens, Mr Annan said rapid urbanisation was probably the most striking feature of development over the last few decades".

Meanwhile, the Organising Committee has agreed that the 1998 World Conference would be held in May 1998. The Committee agreed that the 1998 Conference would seek to promote deeper understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the various actors and stakeholders.

It acknowledged that, in an effort to effectively address the environmental and social problems facing cities and communities worldwide, it was essential to encourage citizens to collaborate across the globe.

The representative of Viet Nam said that the 1967 Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco), the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty (Treaty of Rarotonga), the African Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty (Treaty of Pelindaba) and the South-East Asia Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty (Bangkok Treaty) had raised the prospect of a nuclear-weapon-free Southern hemisphere. Those regional efforts should be supported by the nuclear- weapon States, he said.

Thailand's representative said that the adoption of the 1995 Bangkok Treaty had reaffirmed the obligations of the signatories under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), guaranteed the right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, and safeguarded the environment from nuclear waste. The representative of Mongolia noted that it had declared itself to be a "single-State", nuclear-weapon-free zone.

During its 1997 substantive session, the Commission will, among other things, consider guidelines on conventional arms control/limitations and disarmament.

It was the first WFP food relief convoy to deliver aid in Albania. The 9 trucks carrying 220 tons of wheat flour, left from the port of Durres, where WFP food commodities are stored under the control of the Multinational Protection Force. The food was off-loaded at three warehouses where immediate distribution took place.

The food is targeted at 4,430 destitute families affected by the collapse of the social welfare system. Each destitute family is entitled to receive a 50 kg bag of wheat flour, sufficient to cover the food needs for a two month period.

The newly created EST information collecting and disseminating tool called "maESTro" is fully compatible with UNEP's Global Resources Information database (GRID), and databases of NASA and others.

Announcing the launching of the new package, the agency said it was striving to encourage the establishment of partnerships and networks for the worldwide dissemination of comprehensive, reliable and easily accessible information on ESTs.

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

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