United Nations Daily Highlights, 97-07-10

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

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Thursday, 10 July 1997

HEADLINES

• First Prime Minister of Cambodia confers with United Nations officials in New York, calls for sanctions against new Government.
• Security Council reviews sanctions against Libya reaching no agreement on their modification.
• United Nations launches an emergency appeal to assist Palestine refugees in Lebanon.
• NATO-led force in Bosnia-Herzegovina informs the United Nations of the detention of a suspected war criminal and the death of another in that country.
• Economic and Social Council takes up the issue of equality for women.
• Women's anti-discrimination committee hears a call for world conference on "men and power" as part of effort to promote gender equality.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Mr. Norodom Ranariddh asserted that he came to the United Nations as First Prime Minister of the Royal Government of Cambodia because he had been elected by the people of Cambodia in elections organized and supervised by the United Nations.

Characterizing his ouster by Second Prime Minister Hun Sen last week as a coup d'etat, Prince Ranariddh urged all "peace-loving countries not to recognize a new regime coming out from such a coup". Prince Ranariddh said that in discussions with United Nations officials, he had requested that the issue of Cambodia be inscribed on the agenda of the Security Council and that economic sanctions be imposed against the country.

Earlier in the day, Prince Ranariddh met with the President of the General Assembly Ambassador Razali Ismail of Malaysia. The Assembly President assured the Cambodian leader that the UN would be behind the efforts to maintain the integrity of Cambodia. Mr. Razali said every effort must be made to restore the former situation in the context of national reconciliation. Prince Ranariddh also met separately with the President of the Security Council and the UN Secretary-General to discuss the situation in his country.

Speaking to the press after Council consultations, the Council President Ambassador Peter Osvald of Sweden said that during a wide- ranging debate Members of the Council presented a number of views and referred to several documents, including a letter from the League of Arab States and the Organization of African Unity, and a letter from the Permanent Representatives of France, the United Kingdom and the United States. "After hearing all the opinions expressed in the course of consultations, I concluded that there was no agreement where the necessary conditions existed for modification of the measures of sanctions established in paragraphs 3-7 of Resolution 748 of 1992", the Council President said.

The measures which were imposed by the Council against Libya in 1992 include, among other things, a ban on air flights, prohibition of sale of arms and related materials, and a reduction of staff at Libyan diplomatic missions and consular posts.

The appeal was launched by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which is virtually the sole provider of health, education and relief and social services to the Palestine refugees registered by the agency in Lebanon.

Speaking at a press conference in Geneva, Peter Hansen, the UNRWA Commissioner General, stressed the urgency of the appeal for special funds and the need for prompt action by the international community. He said that the socio-economic conditions of the Palestine refugees had worsened, with at least 40 per cent of them being unemployed since they faced restrictions in the local job market. The head of the UN relief agency stressed that rising needs among the refugees, combined with the agency's severe financial constraints, were a recipe for frustration and misery.

In a separate action in the vicinity of Prijedor, indicted war criminal Simo Drljaca, a former police chief in Prijedor, was killed when SFOR soldiers returned fire in self-defense, the Spokesman said. "Both Drljaca and Kovacevic are indicted by the Hague Tribunal for complicity and genocide against the Bosnian Muslims and Croats in the municipality of Prijedor during the period 29 April 1992 and 31 December 1992", the Spokesman stated.

On Wednesday, a panel which included heads of UN development agencies told the 54-member Council that they were concerned about the effects of the United Nations reform process on gender issues and women's employment levels. The panellists said that efforts to hire women for United Nations agencies and activities also had to accommodate demands for regional representation and depended, to some extent, on the candidates proposed by various countries. They said recruitment "freezes" were hindering hiring and promotions of all types, but that in general representation of women at professional levels and in promotion was improving.

Following the panel discussion, country delegates called for increased resources for women's development and expressed concern at the under- representation of women in decision-making at the highest levels within the United Nations. They urged that the number of women be increased, especially in the fields of peace-keeping and economic and social development. A number of delegations agreed that mainstreaming the gender perspective within the United Nations would encourage national governments to follow suit.

The UN Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women is currently meeting in New York to examine reports from individual countries on measures to give effect to the provisions of the Convention on the elimination of discrimination against women.

The call for a world conference on "men and power" came in a statement by the Director of Luxembourg's Ministry for the Advancement of Women who said that change in attitudes towards women required deep awareness on the part of men of their responsibilities.

Responding to Luxembourg's proposal to hold a world conference on men and power, experts emphasized the need for women to mobilize to make men understand their ability to take over from them. They stressed that men in leading positions should be educated in gender-neutral hiring and promotion practices.

Focusing on the Luxembourg report, experts noted that in order to combat inequality, more temporary affirmative action measures were required. In that context, the experts stressed that the country should have a target stating that by the year 2000 or 2005 it wanted a certain specified number of women in decision-making positions.

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

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