United Nations Daily Highlights, 96-11-06

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From: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: [email protected]

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Wednesday, 6 November 1996

HEADLINES

• Leaders of Great Lakes region call for non-intervention and end to cross- border incursions in eastern Zairian conflict.
• Security Council and General Assembly elect five members to International Court of Justice.
• Member States pledge millions for development activities of UN system.
• UN Population Fund stresses importance of mobilising private sector resources to implement Cairo Programme of Action on Population and Development.
• Member States should reaffirm their support and solidarity for the cause of peoples of Western Sahara, and East Timor - Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee is told.
• UN system should accord priority to procurement reform - Administrative and Budgetary Committee hears.
• Speakers praise efforts of African countries to achieve goals set five years ago by UN New Agenda for Development.
• Japan contributes millions to UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in near East for food assistance.
• Uruguayan President presents book on World Heritage site to UNESCO.
• UN Environment Programme awards Environment Prize to scientist from India.

Mr. Faguy who attended the Summit as the UN Secretary-General's representative told UN Radio on Tuesday that the leaders of the region expressed concern at the deteriorating situation in eastern Zaire and agreed that a ceasefire should be established and strictly observed so as to allow the diplomatic effort to have a better chance of achieving lasting peace.

He said the Summit called for non-intervention and an end to cross- border incursions and immediate setting up of safe corridors and temporary sanctuaries inside Zaire in order to facilitate humanitarian assistance and the repatriation of refugees.

The Secretary-General's representative said the Summit called for the establishment of a neutral force and closer cooperation between the UN and the Organisation of African Unity (OAU).

A total of 73 countries and observers addressed the event, with 52 announcing pledges and an additional eight making provisional pledges for the Organisation's funds and programmes during the 1996 UN Pledging Conference for Development.

Including estimates of pledges yet to be announced, a total of $282 million was pledged to the UN Development Programme (UNDP), and some $62.9 million for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF). Pledges worth $90 million were received by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), and some $5.02 million pledged to other UN trust funds and programmes.

The Executive Director of the UNFPA, Dr. Nafis Sadik told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) at the start of the consideration of population and development issues that the Cairo Programme of Action affirmed the interrelationship between population, sustained economic growth and sustainable development.

She said the Programme was anchored in a human rights approach that recognised the critical importance of meeting the needs of women and men and of improving the quality of their lives.

Speaking on behalf of the Group of 77 developing countries and China, the representative of Costa Rica said the programme of Action had estimated that approximately two-thirds of the projected costs in implementing population and development programmes in developing countries would have to come from domestic resources.

The other one-third, or approximately $5.7 billion by the year 2000, would come from the international donor community, she said. However, despite all the efforts, the resources now available were not enough and she called for innovative ways for mobilising resources to implement the Cairo outcome.

Speaking on behalf of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Angola said Member States should reaffirm their support and solidarity for the cause of the peoples of Western Sahara, East Timor and the Arab occupied territories in their struggle for emancipation.

Introducing the report on the use of mercenaries as a means to violate human rights and to impede the exercise of the right of peoples to self- determination, the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights, Enrique Bernales Ballesteros stressed that mercenary initiatives by private companies registered as security firms in a third country were a threat to national sovereignty.

The representative of Ireland, speaking on behalf of the European Union and Associated countries told the Committee that the international community must ensure that national legislation or administrative practices did not discriminate on the basis of race, culture or ethnic origin.

He said the genocide in Rwanda, the conflict in Burundi and the disastrous humanitarian situation in eastern Zaire were largely attributed to racial and ethnic hatred. He said human rights education and training were essential to promote knowledge, understanding and acceptance, in accordance with the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

The suggestion was made on behalf of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) by its Chairman, Conrad S.M. Mselle, while introducing the ACABQ's views on the auditors' reports.

He said that irregularities persisted in the recruitment of consultants. "Some of these practices give the impression of favouritism and cronyism on behalf of the old-boy network", he said.

Introducing the Board's report on 14 United Nations organisations, the Chairman of the UN Board of Auditors, Osei Tutu Prempeh, said that the Board had qualified its audit statements on the financial reports of six organisations and peace-keeping operations. He said the Board had not received sufficient evidence from governments and non-governmental organisations to prove that funds advanced to them had been spent on the purposes intended.

At the same time, as the General Assembly discussed what had been achieved mid-way through the decade, many have described as inadequate the efforts of the international community, in particular, the developed countries, to fulfil their obligations under the New Agenda. Representatives from Asia and from Latin America and Caribbean, among others, joined African speakers in calling upon the international community to redouble its efforts in support of Africa's sustainable development.

The representative of Namibia said that five years after the international community had entered into new partnership with Africa, the situation in some African countries had worsened and the targets of the New Agenda remained distant.

While struggling with debt and dealing with declining revenues and trade, Africa had succeeded in democratising, reforming and restructuring, but it remained unable to penetrate protected international markets, he said.

The Japanese contribution will be used to purchase flour and rice for the Agency's regular programme of food aid to refugee families receiving special hardship assistance. The Ambassador of Japan to Jordan Takayuki Kimura and UNRWA Commissioner-General Peter Hansen formalised the agreement at a signing ceremony in Amman, Jordan.

The two officials also inaugurated an extension of UNRWA's headquarters building in Amman, which was funded out of Japan's contribution of $2 million toward the construction of the Agency's new headquarters buildings in Gaza and Amman.

The 304-page book, "Colonia del Sacramento, World Heritage," describes the historic quarter of Colonia, founded in 1680 by the Portuguese on the short peninsula jutting into the River Plata, and brings to life the conquests, alliances and cultural influences that shaped that site now considered of exceptional universal value. Illustrated with more than 150 full-colour photographs, the book is available in Spanish and English.

The Agency said that Dr. Khoshoo, for more than 30 years, had been an advocate of strong regional environmental planning for long-term ecological and economic security, particularly in the developing country context.

"Dr. Khosoo has generated considerable new knowledge regarding the genetic- evolutionary race history of a number of plants. Based on this knowledge, he has delineated, for the first time, centres of their diversity and origin, circumscribed gene pools and standardised procedures for studying the taxonomy of cultivated plants," UNEP said.

From the United Nations home page at <http://www.un.org> - email: [email protected]

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