DAILY HIGHLIGHTS FOR: 17 November 1995
Press Release
DH/2025
DAILY HIGHLIGHTS FOR: 17 November 1995
19951117 * Secretary-General appoints Sylvana Foa as his Spokeswoman with effect from 1 January 1996.* General Assembly discusses restructuring and revitalization of United Nations in economic, social and related fields.
* Disarmament and International Security Committee approves draft resolution urging immediate cessation of all nuclear testing.
* UNHCR says 1996 refugee programme will cost more than $1.1 billion; notes funding shortfall for 1995.
* Non-governmental organizations to hold working celebration for fiftieth anniversary of United Nations on Monday.
* WHO reports outbreak of yellow fever in Liberia; sends team of specialists to investigate situation.
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Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has decided to appoint Sylvana Foa as his Spokeswoman, with effect from 1 January 1996, Assistant Secretary- General Samir Sanbar announced today. Ms. Foa has been a journalist for over 15 years. She has served as Chief of Information for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva, and has been seconded to the World Food Programme (WFP) in Rome.
Mr. Boutros-Ghali today held an interactive video-conference with the combined crews of the second Shuttle-Mir docking mission. He congratulated the astronauts and cosmonauts and their respective nations on their mission, which was taking place while the United Nations was marking its fiftieth anniversary.
Yesterday, the Secretary-General met with the Co-Chairman of the International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia, Thorvald Stoltenberg. They discussed, among other things, the future role of the United Nations in the region and the current peace talks in Dayton, Ohio.
- 2 - Press Release DH/2025 17 November 1995
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The General Assembly met today to consider the restructuring and revitalization of the United Nations in the economic, social and related fields. The representative of Algeria told the Assembly that there was a glaring difference between the time devoted to implementation of programmes and the time devoted to harmonization and coordination. Stating that the frenzy of reform for the sake of reform threatened the stability of the United Nations development system, he called for a moratorium on reform.
The representative of Pakistan called for a clear acknowledgement of the link between increased resources and enhanced efficiency. Mere managerial and administrative changes could not ensure an effective United Nations development machinery, he stressed. The representative of the United States put forward a detailed set of proposals, including a call for the shortening of the Economic and Social Council's annual substantive session to two weeks, to be held each year in New York. That session could be supplemented by shorter, more frequent special sessions, he added.
Yesterday afternoon, the Assembly filled the last remaining vacancy on the 54-member Economic and Social Council by electing Jordan from the Asian Group of States. A total of 18 new members were elected yesterday. They will serve three-year terms beginning on 1 January 1996.
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The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) yesterday approved a draft resolution that would have the General Assembly strongly deplore all current nuclear testing and strongly urge the immediate cessation of all nuclear testing. The Assembly would also commend those nuclear-weapon States observing testing moratoriums and urge them to continue such moratoriums pending the entry into force of a comprehensive nuclear test-ban treaty. The draft was approved by 95 votes in favour to 12 against, with 45 abstentions.
Speaking before the vote, the representative of Marshall Islands said "any one single nuclear-weapon test anywhere is one test too many". He appealed to those developing countries which had "come under immense pressure by a certain country that had threatened to withhold assistance" -- to vote in favour of the resolution. The representative of France said the text was based on untrue statements and unfounded assertions. She said it was inspired "by passion rather than reason, by short-term calculations rather than long- term aims". The countries voting in its favour would, in effect, be working against the cause of non-proliferation, disarmament and peace.
- 3 - Press Release DH/2025 17 November 1995
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Some $116 million was pledged today at the General Assembly's Ad-hoc Committee meeting to announce voluntary contributions to the 1996 programme of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). A total of 22 Member States and Observers announced pledges, while six States said they would contribute at a later date.
The High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, said that total needs would exceed $1.1 billion in 1996. Priority would given to funding long-term solutions for refugees and displaced persons. The agency required just under $1.3 billion for 1995, but had collected $800 million in new contributions. She asked donors to make final efforts in the next six weeks to close the funding gaps in the general programmes, the emergency operation for Rwanda and Burundi and repatriations in the Horn of Africa and to Mozambique.
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A non-governmental organization (NGO) working celebration for the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations will be held in New York and Geneva on Monday. It is being organized by the Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations (CONGO) and the Department of Public Information (DPI)/NGO Executive Committee, with the support of the United Nations Fiftieth Anniversary Secretariat.
The working celebration, entitled, "The NGO/UN Partnership: The Way Forward", will bring together representatives of NGOS, governments, and the United Nations system at Headquarters in New York and at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The simultaneous gatherings will be linked by satellite and will be addressed by the Secretary-General.
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A total of 146 cases of suspected yellow fever have occurred since July in the Buchanan area of Liberia, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Six deaths from the outbreak have been reported. The WHO has sent a team of specialists to the affected area to investigate the situation and to support local health authorities and non-governmental organizations in their efforts to control the outbreak.
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