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United Nations Daily Highlights, 99-03-08United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.orgDAILY HIGHLIGHTSMonday, 8 March, 1999This daily news round-up is prepared by the Central News Section of the Department of Public Information. The latest update is posted at approximately 6:00 PM New York time. HEADLINES
To mark International Women's Day, the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and other UN agencies hosted a global videoconference on Monday to showcase strategies to eliminate violence against women. The videoconference, which linked the UN General Assembly Hall in New York with Mexico City, Nairobi, New Delhi and Strasbourg, addressed such issues as domestic violence, dowry deaths, honour killings, female genital mutilation, trafficking in women and girls and wartime violence directed at women, including rape and forced prostitution. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said violence against women was perhaps the most shameful human rights violation and the most pervasive. It knew no boundaries of geography, culture or wealth. "As long as it continues, we cannot claim to be making real progress towards equality, development and peace," he said. UNIFEM Executive Director, Noeleen Heyzer said gender-based violence devastated lives, fractured communities and impeded development in every nation. UNIFEM campaigns, she said, had been pivotal in creating favourable environments for breaking the silence about gender violence and engaging men in ending it. It had also initiated changes in policies and legislation and provided protection services and justice when violence occurred. The Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Nafis Sadik, called for governments, civil society and non- governmental organizations to work to end all violence against women. Dr. Sadik said it was time for everyone to take a stand to eradicate the culture of silence on violence against women. "We must promote zero tolerance of violence against women everyone," she added. Meanwhile, in Geneva, Juan Somavia, the Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO), pledged to step up the agency's commitment to gender issues. "I intend to give high priority to ensuring that ILO is counted among the most progressive organizations in the field of gender equality," he said. Two UN agencies warned on Monday that women and girls were becoming the main victims of HIV/AIDS in the developing world. The heads of United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in messages to mark International Women's Day drew attention to the impact of the pandemic on women and girls. Carol Bellamy, UNICEF's Executive Director, said what was once a predominantly male disease had become a heterosexually-spread pandemic which was consigning tens of millions of girls and women to a cruel death due to AIDS. The spread of HIV/AIDS among girls and women was taking place in a pervasive gender-based discrimination. The HIV/AIDS crisis, she said, was compounded by the fact that girls and women run a greater physiological risk than boys and men of contracting HIV from infected partners. UNDP's Executive Director James Gustave Speth, said the grim statistics showed that more and more women were being infected with HIV/AIDS as a result of coerced relations and an estimated 9 out of 10 new HIV infections were a result of such relations. Mr. Speth said violence against women was on the rise, with most of it occurring in families and significant share resulting from "trafficking" of female family members. Women refugees, migrant workers, and others affected by economic crises were particularly vulnerable to those abuses. The United Nations Special Advisor on Gender Issues on Monday expressed regret that a Canadian representative from a non-governmental organization (NGO) was denied permission last week to address a panel on women's health. Speaking before the Commission on the Status of Women at UN headquarters in New York, the Special Advisor, Angela King, said she realized how much of a struggle it was for non-governmental organizations to speak freely. She had instructed her staff to ensure the situation did not happen again. Ms. King said if the Commission wished, the Division of the Advancement of Women would welcome hearing statements by the representative, Losang Rabgey, of the Transnational Radical Party, as well as by other designated NGO representatives of the Health Caucus. The next round of talks on East Timor will begin on Tuesday at United Nations headquarters in New York. During the talks, Foreign Ministers Ali Alatas of Indonesia and Jaime Gama of Portugal will meet with Secretary-General Kofi Annan. They will also meet with Jamsheed Marker, the Secretary-General's Personal Representative for East Timor. Rebel forces had been pushed out of the Sierra Leone capital of Freetown and were being pursued in the rest of the country, according to Francis Okelo, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Sierra Leone. Mr. Okelo was speaking to the press on Monday after briefing the Security Council on the situation in Sierra Leone. He said as a result of very effective action by ECOMOG, the West African peacekeeping force, the situation in Freetown had stabilized to the point where he was recommending the return of UN staff who has been relocated to neighbouring Guinea during the fighting. The international community should provide assistance to deal with Sierra Leone's acute humanitarian problems, said Mr. Okelo. The planting season had been interrupted because of the fighting and there were shortages of food, medicine and shelter. Rebel forces were responsible for more than 90 per cent of the looting, killing, amputations and destruction of property and businesses. Any human rights violations by Government security forces or ECOMOG had been promptly investigated and action taken. Pino Arlacchi, the Executive Director of the UN Office of Drug Control and Crime Prevention has canceled a visit to the "demilitarized zone" in Colombia following the discovery of the bodies of three murdered US citizens. Mr. Pino Arlacchi said in Bogota on Monday that he took the decision pending further clarifications on "the barbaric and revolting murder" of the US citizens whose bodies were found in Rio Arauca. The Executive Director was scheduled to visit the municipalities of San Vicente del Caguan, Macarena, Uribe Vista Hermosa y Mesetas, to meet with campesinos, local authorities and representatives of the guerilla movement known as FARC. He will meet with President Pastrana before returning to Vienna on Tuesday. 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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