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United Nations Daily Highlights, 96-11-14

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Thursday, 14 November 1996


This document is prepared by the Central News Section of the Department of Public Information and is updated every week-day at approximately 6:00 PM.

HEADLINES

  • Canada says it is not aim of multinational force to disarm intimidators in Zaire.
  • Disarmament and International Security Committee approves draft text calling for international agreement to ban land-mines.
  • Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee decides to ask General Assembly to convene 1998 Special Session on Drug Abuse.
  • States should avoid making wide reservations when ratifying international human rights treaties - Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee is told.
  • All States should benefit from international cooperation in exploration and use of outer space - Special Political and Decolonisation Committee says.
  • Private entities, not States, should be held responsible for transboundary harm they cause - Legal Committee is told.
  • United Nations appeals for humanitarian assistance to aid Tajikistan.
  • UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to meet in Geneva.
  • Experts on global mapping meet in California, United States.
  • UN Development Programme calls for setting up of new poverty- eradication fund for Arab region.


It was not the purpose of the multinational force envisaged for eastern Zaire to separate militias or intimidators in camps from other civilians who might wish to return to Burundi or Rwanda, the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Canada, Gordon Smith told UN correspondents on Thursday. He said the force was not aimed at disarming the intimidators.

The Deputy Minister said the humanitarian force, aimed at providing humanitarian relief to eastern Zaire, would go into the field with all the authority it requires and with robust rules of engagement. He said a voluntary trust fund had been set up to enable African countries to participate in the activities of the task force.

"Canada finds it absolutely essential that the international community find ways of dealing, in the next few hours, with the few remaining, essentially technical problems so that the force can be in the field and operate as soon as possible", he said.


The General Assembly would urge States to pursue an effective, legally- binding international agreement to ban the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel landmines, according to one of four draft resolutions approved by the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security).

By the text, approved by a vote of 141 in favour, to none against with 10 abstentions, the Assembly would urge all States to accede to the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemed To Be Excessively Injurious or To Have Indiscriminate Effects (Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons) and to the amended Protocol II to that Convention. It would also call upon all States to implement bans, moratoriums or other restrictions on the operational use and transfer of landmines.


The General Assembly would convene a special session in June 1998 to find new ways to combat drug abuse and illicit trafficking, according to the terms of a draft resolution approved by the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural).

The three-day session, which would be funded through the United Nations regular budget, would propose new strategies and specific measures to strengthen international cooperation on the drug problem. The Commission on Narcotic Drugs would act as the preparatory body for the special session and Governments would be invited to make extra-budgetary contributions to meet preparatory costs.


States should avoid making wide reservations when ratifying or acceding to international human rights treaties, the representative of Ireland told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) as it began discussing the implementation of human rights instruments.

Speaking on behalf of the European Union and associated countries, he deplored reservations aimed at excluding the applicability of core provisions of an instrument, or reservations that were otherwise contrary to the instrument's objective and purpose. Such reservations were unacceptable under treaty law and called into question a State's commitment to the human rights instrument.

The representative of Egypt said some States used human rights to pressure other countries and to achieve specific political objectives. He said there was a need to depoliticise human rights and recognise that other cultures viewed things differently.


International cooperation in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes should be carried out for the benefit and in the interest of all States, according to a declaration annexed to a draft resolution adopted by consensus by the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonisation).

The draft resolution on the Declaration on International Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space for the Benefit and in the Interest of All States, taking into account the needs of developing countries, was introduced by Austria, on behalf of the Working Group on International Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.

It said cooperation should be conducted in accordance with international law, including the UN Charter and the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies.


The cost of transboundary harm caused by a private entity should be paid by the party causing the harm rather than the State from which the activity was carried out, the representative of the United States told the Sixth Committee (Legal). She said the best way of reducing such transboundary acts was to hold the polluter itself responsible.

On a related theme, the representative of New Zealand said it was important not to undermine the "polluter pays" principle of current environmental law. The representative of Venezuela, however, said States should be held responsible for acts from their territory which affected other states, and that the consequences of such harm should be remedied.


The United Nations Department of Humanitarian Affairs has launched an appeal for US$22.2 million to meet urgent humanitarian needs in Tajikistan for the period 1 December to 31 1996 May 1997, the Spokesman to the Secretary-General Sylvana Foa announced today.

The real income of most families have shrunk to an average monthly salary of US$3, and 10 to 15 per cent of the population don't have enough money to meet the basic food needs, she said.

"Epidemics are rampant and about 350, 000 children under five years of age are affected by malaria and typhoid. The number of malaria cases in 1996 is estimated at over 120, 00 people. Maternal mortality has jumped to 120 deaths per 100, 000 live births and infant mortality is up to 45 deaths per 1, 000 live births", the Spokesman said.

The UN Consolidated Inter-Agency Donor Alert on Urgent Humanitarian Needs in Tajikistan, launched today, was prepared following an inter- agency needs assessment mission to Tajikistan last month.


The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights will meet in Geneva from 18 November to 6 December to review measures taken in the Dominican Republic, Portugal (Macau), Belarus, Finland and the United Kingdom (Hong Kong) to implement the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

The Covenant, which entered into force in 1976, recognises, among others, the rights to work, to form and join trade unions, to social security, to the widest possible protection and assistance for the family, to an adequate standard of living, to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, and to an eduction.

The countries coming before the Committee at this session are among 135 States parties to the Covenant. In acceding to the treaty, States agree to submit periodic reports to the Committee on how they give effect to its provisions.


A four-day seminar of experts on global mapping began Wednesday in Santa Barbara, California in the United States. The seminar is organised jointly by the United Nations Department for Development Support and Management Services (DDSMS), and institutions in Japan and the United States.

The event, being attended by 80 high-level experts from 23 countries, will prepare the "Santa Barbara Statement" and a report to be submitted to next year's special session of the United Nations General Assembly on Implementation of Agenda 21, the Programme of Action adopted at the 1992 Conference on Environment and Development.

The mapping of critical core data to support decision-making for sustainable human development is incomplete in many parts of the world, and non- existent in some developing countries. Even when data do exist, they can be difficult to find, and at times even more difficult to access.


A senior United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) official on Wednesday called on Arab States, international organisations and major donor nations to help set up a new poverty-eradication fund for the Arab region.

The proposal was made in Cairo by Saad Alfarargi, Director of UNDP's Regional Bureau for the Arab States, at the third Middle East/North Africa Economic Conference. The new fund, if established, would help governments in the region design and carry out policies aimed at tackling poverty, mainly by generating new income-earning opportunities for the poor.

The UNDP said it would contribute US$5 million to the fund. A large share of the fund, the Agency said, would be used to make small loans available to the poor to help them start-up or expand private business.


For information purposes only - - not an official record

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


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