United Nations Daily Highlights, 97-10-20

United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Monday, 20 October 1997

HEADLINES

• Security Council extends UN Mission for Referendum in Western Sahara for six months.
• Security Council calls on Croatia to speed efforts to meet obligations before UN mandate ends.
• At Chicago World Trade Centre, Secretary-General says United Nations can play key role in globalized economy.
• United Nations Secretary-General says information and knowledge are at heart of struggle for tolerance.
• Secretary-General's Personal Representative opens third meeting of All- inclusive Intra-East Timorese Dialogue.
• Head of UN Environment Programme warns that islands might disappear from the map as a result of climate change.
• UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says recognition of human rights should not obscure massive violations.
• Indicted Rwandan will appear before International Criminal Tribunal on new charges of sexual violence.
• Soli J. Sorabjee is appointed as UN Human Rights Special Rapporteur for situation in Nigeria.
• General Assembly's budgetary committee starts discussing which State will pay what part of UN expenses.
• UN resources for development must be predictable and neutral, speakers tell Economic and Financial Committee.

Unanimously adopting resolution 1133 (1997), the Council endorsed the recommendation of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who reported that MINURSO should proceed with the implementation of a stalled United Nations plan to resolve the dispute between Morocco and the Frente Popular para la Liberacion de SaguĦa el-Hamra y del RĦo de Oro (POLISARIO) over the territory. Under the plan, the people of Western Sahara are to decide, through a referendum, between independence and incorporation into Morocco.

The Council also endorsed the Secretary-General's recommendation that the strength of MINURSO be expanded initially to include 32 identification staff and 36 civilian police officers to staff four identification centres. The operation should then be rapidly expanded to a maximum of nine centres with an estimated additional staff of 40 identification and 40 civilian police officers.

Under the terms of the resolution, the Council requested the Secretary- General to begin the identification of eligible voters in accordance with the Settlement Plan and the agreements reached between the parties with the aim of finishing the process by 31 May 1998. He was also requested to submit a detailed report on the plan, timetable and cost of holding the referendum.

Through its President, Ambassador Juan Somavia of Chile, the Council requested the Secretary-General to name a Special Representative as soon as possible and called on all parties to cooperate with the Special Representative throughout the implementation of the Settlement Plan.

In an interview with UN Radio, Ambassador Ahmed Snoussi of Morocco said that his Government was happy that a breakthrough in the impasse had finally been reached due to the skills of the Secretary-General's Special Envoy, James Baker III. "Thanks to Mr. Baker, we were able to reach an acceptable solution to both parties regarding the process of identification and other related issues", he said. "The United Nations, we think, will undertake all the necessary measures to proceed with identifying all those who qualify to be identified according to the criteria set out in the Settlement Plan. We hope the process will move smoothly without any obstruction."

The POLISARIO's Representative, Ahmed Boukhari, told UN Radio that there were three elements that had led to the breakthrough: the arrival on the scene of a new Secretary-General, who reached back into the Western Sahara file; the skills of Mr. Baker; and the holding, for the first time, of direct talks between the parties. Mr. Boukhari added that the implementation of the agreements would depend on the political will of both parties and the credibility of the Identification Commission.

In a statement read by its President, Juan Somavia (Chile), the Council noted with concern that there were still many outstanding issues of contention and non-compliance, and it called upon the Croatian Government to accelerate efforts to complete positive initiatives prior to the end of the current UNTAES mandate on 15 January 1998. The Security Council welcomed the Government's recent establishment of a programme of national reconciliation, but said the final assessment of that programme must await its full and prompt implementation.

At the same time, the Council called on the local Serb population in the region to take more active measures to participate in the reintegration process. It also noted the urgent need for all local government bodies in the region, particularly the City Council of Vukovar, to commence full normal functions immediately.

The Council called on the Government of Croatia to remove all legal and administrative barriers allowing the accelerated voluntary two-way return of displaced persons, including their right to choose to live in the region; and allowing the return of refugees. It also called upon Croatia to give immediate effect to recent decisions of the Constitutional Court regarding the Law on the Temporary Takeover and Administration of Specified Property. Reiterating its call for the Government to curb media attacks on ethnic groups, the Council urged further action to promote the safe return of owners to their homes and the resolution of the issue of lost tenancy rights, including ensuring access to reconstruction assistance.

Expressing agreement with the Secretary-General's view that Croatia could fulfil its obligations before the end of the mission's mandate, the Council voiced its expectation that the Government will build on progress made relating to agreements on education, reintegration of the judiciary, law on convalidation, recognition of pensioners services, and assistance to local governments and municipalities. Other positive developments noted by the Council were Croatia's increased cooperation with the International Tribunal on the Former Yugoslavia and its disclosure of documents to UNTAES relating to 25 war crimes cases.

In its statement this morning, the Council also endorsed the intention of the Secretary-General to retain the United Nations civilian police and military observers at their current level until the end of the current UNTAES mandate. It expressed concern about the behaviour of some officers of the Transitional Police Force and urged full cooperation with the efforts of UNTAES to improve the work of the Force.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan made this point during an address to the Chicago World Trade Centre on Monday devoted largely to the Organization's potential role in harnessing the dynamism of the globalized economy for the common good. He highlighted the contributions made by the United Nations to business, such as its work in defining the technical standards in shipping, telecommunication and postal services; helping countries privatize State enterprises; protecting copyrights; and targeting corruption. "We are often the principal, if not the sole, source of financial and technical support to many nations", he noted.

While noting that globalization has helped to generate a sustained period of economic expansion, he cautioned that globalization was not a panacea. "We must bear in mind that market forces do not always heed the United Nations imperatives of sustainability, equity, social justice and long-term thinking."

He urged decision-makers in the new global economy not to forget the developing world. "Much of the dramatic growth in the world today is led by countries from the South", he noted. "This offers you, business and corporate leaders, unprecedented opportunities. There is a clear link between profitability and raising living standards for the world's poorest nations."

The Secretary-General said the reform package now being debated by the Member States was aimed at creating "a culture of reform, so that the hallmarks of private enterprise -- agility, coherence and cost- effectiveness -- become part of the way we, too, do business".

Speaking at the Ninth Aspen Institute Communications Conference in Aspen, Colorado over the weekend, the Secretary-General stressed the universality of human rights, while acknowledging that there "is no single model of democracy, or of human rights, or of cultural expression for all the world". But for all the world, the Secretary-General added, there must be democracy, human rights, and free cultural expression.

"It is never the people who complain of human rights as a Western or Northern imposition. It is too often their leaders who do so. But as democracy advances across the globe, those leaders will not always have their way."

The Secretary-General said that one did "not need to explain the meaning of human rights to an Asian mother or an African father whose son or daughter has been tortured or killed. They understand it -- tragically -- far better than we ever will".

The Secretary-General stressed the importance of information in the global struggle for peace, development and human rights. He said that it was ignorance, not knowledge, that made enemies of men. "It is ignorance, not knowledge, that makes fighters of children. It is ignorance, not knowledge, that leads some to advocate tyranny over democracy. It is ignorance, not knowledge, that makes some argue that human conflict is inevitable. It is ignorance, not knowledge, that makes others say that there are many worlds, when we know that there is one. Ours."

The meeting is a follow-up to the two meetings which were also held in Austria in June 1995 and from March 1996. As in the past, these are closed meetings. They will continue until Thursday, 23 October.

The All-inclusive Intra-East Timorese Dialogue was initiated by the Secretary-General in 1995, within the framework of his good offices on the question of East Timor. The Secretary-General facilitates and provides the necessary arrangements for the Dialogue. The UN attends the proceedings without taking part in the discussions.

The Dialogue is not a parallel track to the tripartite negotiating process between Indonesia and Portugal under the auspices of the Secretary-General and does not address the political status of East Timor. It is a forum designed to complement the tripartite talks through the informal exchange of views amongst East Timorese of all shades of political opinion to explore practical ideas that might have a positive impact on the situation in East Timor and assist in the establishment of an atmosphere conducive to the achievement of a solution to the question of East Timor.

Speaking at the opening of the twelfth General Assembly of the World Tourism Organization in Istanbul on Monday, Elizabeth Dowdeswell asked delegates to "imagine your holiday brochures picturing beaches submerged, shore lines eroded, and ocean views not only through windows but in your basements as well".

Ms. Dowdeswell said that some of today's island destinations "might not just disappear from the tourist map, but from the geographic map altogether".

United Nations Associate Spokesman Juan Carlos Brandt told reporters that Ms. Dowdeswell's call was particularly timely as negotiators were meeting in Rome on Monday for the final set of negotiations before the December Kyoto Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. At that Conference, developed countries are expected, for the first time, to adopt binding targets and timetables for reduction of their greenhouse gas emissions.

The Executive Secretary of the Climate Change Convention has said that the success of the forthcoming Kyoto Conference rests on the decisions of industrialized countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

As Ministers and other senior officials from some 150 countries prepare to converge from 1 to 10 December on the Japanese city, Michael Zammit Cutajar, the Convention's Executive Secretary, said that "Kyoto will succeed if the industrialized countries take a bold lead and honestly confront the conflict between the short-term, defensive concerns of certain economic sectors and the broader economic and environmental interests of society at large".

A number of proposals for emissions reductions are already on the table. The European Union has proposed a 15 per cent cut in greenhouse gases by the year 2010. Japan proposes a 5 per cent reduction by 2008- 2012, with allowances for individual national targets to be lower than this. Members of the Alliance of Small Island States, which face the threat of rising sea- level, would like to see a 20 per cent reduction by 2005. The baseline for all these reductions would be 1990.

The gases are depleting the ozone layer and thus exposing life on earth to ultra-violet sun rays.

Opening the sixty-first session of the United Nations Committee on Human Rights in Geneva on Monday, Ms. Robinson said the current era was marked by intense human suffering. As the United Nations embarked on the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the fifth anniversary of the adoption of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, she said, "the challenges to the international community and to all of us to be more effective in promoting and ensuring respect for human rights is greater than ever".

The High Commissioner for Human Rights said that United Nations Secretary- General Kofi Annan was deeply and personally interested in human rights, and attached great importance to them as he worked to promote peace and security.

Ms. Robinson reiterated her vow to take a balanced and broad approach emphasizing civil and political rights, economic, social and cultural rights, the right to development, as well as women's and children's rights.

She said that the "difficult situation" in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Great Lakes Region as a whole continued to be an issue of immediate concern and emphasized the need to break the cycle of impunity when it comes to such massive violations of human rights.

Another situation of major concern, she pointed out, was Algeria. It was also disturbing, she said, that the Government of the Democratic Republic of Korea had decided to withdraw from the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The new charges are contained in an amended indictment which charges that Jean Paul Akayesu, who was Bourgmaster of Taba Commune, knew of and facilitated the commission of sexual violence, beatings, and murders of mostly Tutsi women who sought refugee at the Taba Bureau Commune.

"These acts of sexual violence, were generally accompanied by explicit threats of death or bodily harm. The female displaced civilians lived in constant fear, and their physical and psychological health deteriorated as a result of sexual violence, beatings and killings", the indictment states.

Akayesu was indicted on 12 February 1996. The earlier counts charge him with Genocide, Crimes against Humanity, and Violations of Article 3 Common to the Geneva Conventions. He was arrested in Zambia on 10 October 1995, and transferred to the Tribunal's Detention Facility in Arusha on 26 May 1996. His trial began on 9 January 1997 and was postponed on 24 May 1997.

Mr. Akayesu and another accused, Georges Anderson Rutaganda, were the first to appear before the Tribunal on 30 May 1996.

Mr. Sorabjee served as Attorney General for India in 1989-1990. From 1977 to 1980, he was the country's Additional Solicitor General and Solicitor General of India. The author of books and articles in the field of constitutional law and human rights, he is also a member of numerous professional and academic bodies and committees.

The position, established by a resolution of the Commission adopted earlier this year, calls for the Special Rapporteur to hold direct contacts with the authorities and the people of Nigeria and to report his findings to the Commission.

In that resolution, the Commission called on the Government of Nigeria to respect its obligations under international human rights treaties and "to ensure the observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including by respecting the right to life; by releasing all political prisoners, trade union leaders, human rights advocates and journalists currently detained; by improving conditions of detention; and by guaranteeing respect for the rights of individuals, including persons belonging to minorities."

Discussion over the method for determining the assessments tends to reveal stark geo-political and economic divisions. Various criteria are considered, which, together, it is hoped, will accurately reflect every Member State's real "capacity to pay" for the Organization's continued functioning. Considered together, those criteria result in the "United Nations scale of assessments".

The General Assembly's Administrative and Budgetary (Fifth) Committee will decide on a scale of assessments based on a report of the Committee on Contributions, an 18-member body which advises the Assembly on matters related to assessment. The Committee's report contains eight scales; one is based on the set of elements currently in use and the others reflect proposals put forth by States and groups of States, including Canada, Japan, Mexico, United States, European Union, and the "Group of 77" developing countries.

Seven of the proposed scales, including the current one, retain the 25 per cent ceiling, which has been in place since 1974, while one -- proposed by the United States, which is assessed at the maximum rate -- lowers the ceiling to 20 per cent. If the lower ceiling were accepted, two Member States -- Japan and the United States -- would be assessed at that rate. Some members of the Committee noted that such a situation would raise an issue of equity for both States.

According to a publication of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), entitled Assessing the United Nations Scale of Assessment: Is it Fair? Is It Equitable?, the maximum percentage ever assessed to one Member State was 39.89 per cent of the Organization's regular budget, charged to the United States from 1946 through 1949. The United States has been the highest-assessed Member State since the Organization's inception.

Calculation of a Member State's assessable income includes consideration of where its average per capita income, within a given period, falls in comparison to the world average. For countries with per capita income below the world average -- which is called the "threshold" -- adjustments are made to the scale. That relief is then absorbed by wealthier countries, according to provisions in each scale proposal.

A controversial issue is whether permanent members of the Security Council should be eligible for the low per capita income adjustment. Under the criteria of two proposals (Japan and United States), permanent members would not be eligible for such adjustments; under the remaining six proposals, they would. Of the Council's five permanent members, China and the Russian Federation would be affected by the proposal.

Speaking on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, he said current funding modality for core resources -- which are those not earmarked for specific projects -- was not generating adequate funds.

Individual United Nations agencies should explore new ways to attract voluntary contributions to their core resources, including new sources such as non-governmental organizations, corporations and private individuals, according to the representative of the United States, Shirley Hall. She stressed that developing countries must create a supportive domestic policy environment for development.

The representative of Guyana, George Talbot, said the United Nations, in cooperation with donor governments, aid agencies and major news networks, should resensitize taxpayers about the critical role of development. Such a campaign could also publicize the real costs and benefits of aid to developing countries and could lead to more assistance, he said.

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

United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next Article