United Nations Daily Highlights, 97-11-12

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Wednesday, 12 November 1997

HEADLINES

• Security Council imposes restrictions on Iraqis responsible for non- compliance with its resolutions.
• General Assembly calls upon Iraq to cooperate with International Atomic Energy Agency.
• General Assembly calls upon Secretary-General to implement reforms, taking into account views of Member States.
• At least 150,000 people have been displaced by floods in Somalia, according to United Nations.
• Special Rapporteur on human rights in Congo-Kinshasa says there is no democracy in the country.
• Political confrontation in Haiti could plunge country into "unprecedented political crisis", UN expert warns.
• Secretary-General's representative says international community must respond to challenges posed by world's 20 million internally displaced persons.
• UNESCO General Conference adopts Universal Declaration on genetic research which bans human cloning.
• UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says failure to implement Universal Declaration "shames us all".
• Organization of African Unity says separatist movement in Anjouan is a threat to peace.
• Ninety per cent of the United Nations development agency's resources go the low income countries.
• An official of UN Food and Agriculture Organization warns that world's food situation may be volatile in 1998.

By unanimously adopting resolution 1137 (1997), the Council -- acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations which provides for enforcement action -- decided that States shall, without delay, prevent the entry into or transit through their territories of all Iraqi officials and members of the Iraqi armed forces who were responsible for or participated in the instances of non-compliance with the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) monitoring the disarmament of Iraq.

The Security Council also decided to designate, in consultation with UNSCOM, individuals whose entry or transit will be prevented. It requested the Committee established by resolution 661 (1990) which monitors sanctions against Iraq to develop guidelines and procedures for the implementation of the measures set out in its resolution.

The Council further decided that the measures will end one day after the Executive Chairman of UNSCOM reports to the Council that Iraq is allowing the Special Commission inspection teams immediate, unconditional, and unrestricted access to any and all areas, facilities, equipment, records and means of transportation which they wish to inspect, as well as to officials and other persons under authority of the Iraqi Government whom the Special Commission wishes to interview.

The Council condemned the continued violations by Iraq of its obligations under the relevant resolutions to cooperate fully and unconditionally with the Special Commission. The Council also condemned Iraq's "unacceptable" decision of 29 October which imposed conditions on cooperation with UNSCOM, and its refusal on 30 October to allow two Special Commission officials to enter Iraq on the ground of their nationality.

The Council further condemned Iraq's denial on 3,4,5,6 and 7 November to sites designated by the Special Commission for inspection to weapons inspectors on the ground of their nationality, its implicit threat to the safety of the reconnaissance aircraft operation on behalf of UNSCOM, its removal of significant pieces of dual-use equipment from their previous sites, and its tampering with monitoring cameras of the Special Commission.

The Security Council expressed its firm intention to take further measures, reaffirmed the responsibility of the Iraqi Government to ensure the safety and security of the personnel and equipment of the Special Commission and its inspection teams, and reaffirmed its full support for the authority of the Special Commission under its Executive Chairman to ensure the implementation of its mandate.

The Assembly took that action by adopting a resolution which was the subject of two votes on separate paragraphs before being adopted by a vote of 151 in favour to one against (Democratic People's Republic of Korea), with five abstentions (China, Lao Democratic People's Republic, Syria, Lebanon, Viet Nam). The paragraph concerning Iraq was included by a vote of 114 in favour to 2 against (Libya, Sudan), with 18 abstentions.

Also by that resolution, the Assembly commended the Agency's work to implement the safeguards agreement between the IAEA and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. It also expressed concern about that country's non-compliance with the safeguards agreement, and urged it to cooperate fully with the Agency.

The Assembly acted without a vote to adopt the resolution, which stresses that the actions will be implemented with full respect for the relevant mandates, decisions and resolutions of the General Assembly, including in particular the 1998-2001 medium-term plan. The medium-term plan, which is adopted by Member States, is the Organization's principal policy directive.

The Assembly also decided it would continue to consider of the report.

"Today is an important moment in the history of the United Nations", Secretary-General Kofi Annan said, welcoming the text. "We will succeed in this endeavour because we must succeed. Now more than ever, the world needs a revitalized United Nations." Recalling that in opening the General Assembly's session he had called on States to make it the "Reform Assembly", he said, "Today, we have taken a major step in that direction. Let us now continue our efforts and complete the job by the end of this Assembly."

"In dealing with this agenda item, the General Assembly has broken new ground", its President, Hennadiy Udovenko of Ukraine, said. He described the resolution as the result of a truly collective effort fostered by a sense of pragmatism and respect for democratic procedures. "As we went about our business, we may not have made big headlines, but we certainly made great headway towards building a consensus, in part through compromise -- the essential instrument of multilateral diplomacy. In the process we have proven wrong the naysayers who often choose to see the Assembly's diversity as a detriment rather than the valuable asset that it is."

A situation report released on Wednesday by the United Nations Department of Humanitarian Affairs (DHA) says that the appeal has been launched on behalf of the Somalia Aid Coordination Body (SACB) which comprises United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations and donors.

DHA says that homes, crops and reserve stocks, buried underground in and around the Juba Valley, have been wiped out, and thousands are scrambling for their lives to higher ground. The Department warns that hunger, malnutrition, and diseases are expected to take a fatal toll, while lives are also threatened by the presence of landmines.

The affected population is in urgent need of relief supplies such as shelter, household items and health care.

The recent floods from the Shebelle River west to the border with Kenya and from the Ethiopian border south to the sea have dramatically affected the lives of up to 800,000 people.

In his report to the General Assembly on the situation of human rights in the former Zaire, Roberto Garreton says that the record of the first few months of the government of President Laurent-Desire Kabila "seems less than satisfactory".

According to the Special Rapporteur, none of the required conditions for democracy exist in the country. There is no respect for human rights, power is not vested in the Government by the people through free elections, there is no separation of powers, the laws are not enforced by the authorities, there is no equality before the law, the armed forces and police are not at the service of everyone, the courts do not perform their functions independently, political parties do not express themselves freely, and there is no freedom of the press, according to the Rapporteur.

Mr. Garreton, who was denied access to the country and declared persona non grata by the authorities, says that he compiled the report after interviewing and hearing reports from a number of organizations.

The report says that the new Government in Congo-Kinshasa has eliminated a number of human rights, including the civil rights to life, liberty, physical integrity. "A mentality of victors and vanquished has taken hold, aggravated by the widespread perception that the former include foreigners, a situation which causes a strong sense of humiliation."

The Special Rapporteur says that the Alliance of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL), has failed to advance the peace process. The country's armed forces are more sharply divided than before: between AFDL and former FAZ (Zairian Armed Forces) and between Rwandans and Katangans.

According to the report, the ethnic conflicts have not been settled, nor will they be settled until the State commits itself to a policy of reconciliation. In the renewed conflict in Northern Kivu, it points out, instead of acting as mediator, the State has aggressively taken the side of one of the ethnic groups.

The Special Rapporteur recommends among other things, that the Congolese Government immediately begin the process of building democracy with timetables for the holding of elections.

In his latest report, the United Nations independent expert on Haiti, Adama Dieng, says the human rights situation in the country has improved considerably, to the point where there are no longer massive instances of violations. There are "enormous but not insurmountable" obstacles to the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights. "They stem from the civilian and military dictatorships that for decades abused political and economic power."

Mr. Dieng further warns that deteriorating political and socio- economic conditions resulting from the possible withdrawal of the United Nations Transition Mission in Haiti (UNTMIH) and the International Civilian Mission in Haiti (MICIVIH) could have tragic consequences for the country's future.

Addressing the General Assembly's Social, Humanitarian and Cultural (Third) Committee, Mr. Dieng said that if the United Nations withdraws at the end of November, a formula would be needed for continuing assistance to the country "to avoid new explosions". "The risk is real that after the departure of the United Nations the demons of the past may return with their full set of evils."

Haiti's representative thanked the expert "for his excellent work", which she said gave a detailed view of the human rights situation. The problems involved in human rights were closely linked to the country's economic problems. The democratic Government, assisted by the international community, he said, was working to promote and protect human rights in Haiti. "The Government will no longer tolerate human rights violations."

Mr. Deng said that internally displaced persons had been uprooted from their homes and deprived of basic needs. They lacked international protection, and in the overwhelming majority of cases, the countries concerned lack the resources to help their internally displaced persons. Far too often, rather than being protected and assisted as citizens towards whom their is a recognized obligation, these victims tend to be viewed as the enemy, he said. "Falling as they do into vacuums of political and moral responsibility and lacking the clout to hold their governments accountable, to whom should they turn if not the international community to champion their cause?"

Setting out a number of recommendations in a report to the General Assembly's Social, Humanitarian and Cultural (Third) Committee, Mr. Deng said coordination was key to meeting the needs of internally displaced persons.

The Universal Declaration comprises 25 articles in seven sections. It establishes limits on intervention in the genetic heritage of humanity. The Declaration details the rights of individuals: prior consent to all research, treatment or diagnosis; protection against any discrimination based on individual genetic characteristics; confidentiality of genetic information; and the right to "just reparation" for damage sustained as a direct result of intervention affecting an individual's genome.

Article 10 of the declaration states that "No research concerning the human genome nor its applications should prevail over the respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and human dignity of individuals or, where applicable, groups of people."

The Declaration was elaborated by an international committee of experts. Concern over the ethics of genetic research has been generated by recent scientific discoveries of means to intervene in the genetic heritage of individuals. From in vitro fertilization to the production of the sheep "Dolly" by cloning an adult cell, the latest scientific advances according to the Declaration have upset the barriers and sent tremors through public opinion.

"We still have widespread discrimination on the basis of gender, ethnicity, religious belief or sexual orientation, and there is still genocide -- twice in this decade alone", said High Commissioner Mary Robinson. "There are 48 countries with more than one fifth of the population living in what we have grown used to calling

In an address at Oxford University titled "Realizing human rights: 'Take hold boldly and duly'", High Commissioner Mary Robinson said the debate on human rights must give more priority to current complex human rights issues, such as the right to development, the recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples, the rights and empowerment of people with disabilities, gender mainstreaming and issues of accountability in furthering those and other rights.

In a letter transmitted to the President of the Security Council by the Acting Permanent Observer of the OAU, Christopher Bakwesegha, the Central Organ of the OAU Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution criticizes the separatist movement in Anjouan, one of the islands of the archipelago of the Comoros.

The Central Organ reiterates its condemnation of the referendum held on 26 October which reportedly approved Anjouan's cessation from the Federal Republic. It calls on all Member States to declare the result of the referendum null and void.

In the view of the Central Organ, such a move would represent a "serious precedent, likely to be emulated elsewhere in Africa and undermine one of the most fundamental principles of the OAU, namely, that of territorial integrity".

The Central Organ strongly urges the Comorian parties to cooperate fully with the OAU and to refrain from any action likely to aggravate the situation and complicate efforts to find a peaceful and negotiated settlement with due regard to "the unity, cohesion and territorial integrity of the Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros".

At the session held on 6 November, the Central Organ encouraged the OAU Secretary-General in his efforts to reactivate the negotiating process and to prepare for the convening of an international conference. It also authorized the deployment of OAU military observers in the Comoros in order to avert a worsening of the situation and to restore a minimum level of confidence among the people of the islands. The deployment would also aim to establish a climate conducive to inter- Comorian negotiations.

During a live interview with United Nations Radio, Mr. Speth said the agency allocated ninety per cent of its resources to the poor countries where the average person has less than two dollars a day.

The Administrator, who responded to questions from reporters of seven international broadcasting networks, said that poverty was a combination of human deprivations. In a recent human development report, he added, his agency tried to develop an index of poverty across eighty countries. "We looked at illiteracy, malnutrition, early death, poor health care and poor access to safe water and we combined these into a single index."

He said UNDP has "very, very strong" programmes to deal with poverty around the world and through a network of over 130 offices. He added that the most powerful thing that one can do about poverty "if we had Mr. Turner's funding" is to identify a series of initiatives that can be carried out at the community level to empower the poor people of the community with access to livelihoods and access to family incomes. "The community-based development is what really works", he pointed out, adding that such development needs a strong government backing.

The Administrator said poverty has gone down dramatically in countries where programmes have been implemented at the local level and where local people have been organized and have identified their problems and their opportunities, and have been provided with micro-credit. That, combined with changes in government programmes that can give them "a little bit of a boost" has helped lessen poverty and empower communities with productive assets, the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme said.

Following a briefing on the 1997 report on the state of food and agriculture, issued in Rome on Wednesday, Jacques Vercueil told UN Radio that there has been a "fairly" positive global economic environment with growth at 4 per cent or more in 1997. That growth, he said benefitted both developed and developing countries.

"We find this positive because it, of course, means better income for the people, better capacity to purchase for more people, and also a good supportive climate for agricultural markets."

Still, he said that agricultural output growth for 1997 had decreased to 1.1 per cent in the world in general and 1.7 per cent in developing countries. The slowdown occurred in all regions. He said that in comparative terms this year's global output is better than last year's, which was already good. "So we don't consider it too dramatic that it slowed production."

This year's production of cereal has been marginally above the level of 1996, said Mr. Vercueil. "The point is that in 1997, the world production of cereals has been nearly equal to world consumption of food and feed. And therefore, this means that there was no capacity to rebuild world's grain stocks which had been depleted in the previous drop in production in 1994/95."

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

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