UNITED NATIONS MINI-'BLUE BOOKS' ON APARTHEID AND CAMBODIA PUBLISHED IN RUSSIAN IN MOSCOW
Press Release
PI/950
UNITED NATIONS MINI-'BLUE BOOKS' ON APARTHEID AND CAMBODIA PUBLISHED IN RUSSIAN IN MOSCOW
19960516 MOSCOW, 14 May (UN Information Service) -- Continuing its mini-Blue Books series in Russian, the United Nations Information Centre in Moscow of the Department of Public Information (DPI) today published two more Russian language volumes based on DPI's Blue Books -- "The United Nations and Apartheid, 1948-1994" and "The United Nations and Cambodia, 1991-1995". The mini-Blue Books series was launched by the Moscow Centre in May 1995 with "The United Nations and Nuclear Non-Proliferation". It was followed by "The United Nations and Human Rights" in December 1995.The new publications in Russian, as well as the previous ones, feature extensive introductions by Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali and a detailed chronology of events. However, they include only a list, not the actual full text, of the comprehensive collection of historic United Nations documentation and other materials, usually included in the original Blue Books.
The first of the two new mini-blue books, "The United Nations and Apartheid" chronicles the international campaign against apartheid and racial discrimination in South Africa, focusing on the historic transformation in the country from the inhumanity of apartheid to the establishment of a non-racial democratic government. It also focuses on the central role the United Nations played in mobilizing moral, political and material assistance on the part of the international community.
As Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali states in his comprehensive introduction, "there are few causes for which the United Nations strove as hard as it did to eliminate apartheid in South Africa. It is not far-fetched to assert that, had the United Nations not demonstrated its solidarity with the South African people's anti-racist struggle, that struggle could have been a much more cataclysmic one".
South Africa's success was also a success for the Organization, writes the Secretary-General. It learned valuable lessons, for example, "the meaning and implication of the commitments Member States had made when they adopted the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights".
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The second of the two new mini-blue books, "The United Nations and Cambodia" provides a full story of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) as a new standard for peace-keeping operations undertaken by the international community.
The United Nations involvement in seeking a resolution to Cambodia's longstanding political conflict represented what Secretary-General Boutros- Ghali describes in his introduction as an "unparalleled international diplomatic effort". Nearly 16,000 troops were brought to Cambodia to monitor a cease-fire and other provisions of the Paris peace accords. More than 360,000 refugees were repatriated. Hundreds of millions of dollars in external assistance were raised to support Cambodia's reconstruction and rehabilitation and the transition to peace. In May 1993, despite the threat of violence, free and fair elections led to the formulation of a new, democratically elected Cambodian Government. Through 1994 and into 1995, the United Nations continued to assist the Government in maintaining the gains made during the UNTAC period.
"It is safe to say", the Secretary-General writes, "that UNTAC's 18-month presence in Cambodia left encouraging legacies: confidence in the democratic process; the will to engage and compete on the international stage; and an inclination to find political, rather than military, solutions to internal conflicts."
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NOTE:The Russian language volumes are available through the United Nations Information Centre, Moscow, and through the Department of Public Information, New York. It is also available at the United Nations Offices in the Commonwealth of Independent States. For more information, please contact United Nations Information Centre, Glazovsky per., 4/16, Moscow, Russian Federation, tel. (095) 241-5716, 241-2801, fax (095) 230-2138; United Nations Publications, Room DC2-0853, New York, NY 10017, tel.(800) 253-9646 and (212) 963-8302, fax (212) 963- 3489; United Nations Offices in the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States; or United Nations Information Centres around the world.