ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT SEES SPIRIT OF COMPROMISE PREVAILING OVER TYRANNY OF BUDGETARY CONSTRAINTS IN FIFTY-THIRD SESSION
Press Release
GA/9540
ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT SEES SPIRIT OF COMPROMISE PREVAILING OVER TYRANNY OF BUDGETARY CONSTRAINTS IN FIFTY-THIRD SESSION
19981218 Nuclear Disarmament, Financial Crisis, Human Rights Defenders, Terrorism, Wye River Memorandum Impact, 2000-2001 Budget Outline among Session HighlightsThe financially constrained situation in which the Organization continues to survive and carry out its tasks has adversely affected the work and the outcome of the deliberations of the General Assembly's fifty-third session on some important items, Didier Opertti (Uruguay), the Assembly President stated on the occasion of the conclusion of the session's first part.
"It is to be hoped that the Organization's largest debtors will soon make the payments they owe and that forthcoming sessions will not be held under the tyranny of budgetary constraints", he added.
Offsetting that difficulty, Mr. Opertti said, a spirit of cooperation and compromise among all delegations had prevailed in the debates. He cited, as an eloquent illustration of the spirit of understanding and tolerance that seemed to be pervading the international community, the resolution on the dialogue among civilizations. "In adopting it, the General Assembly has opened another window to understanding and solidarity among the peoples of the world", the Assembly President declared.
He also cited the resolution on the question of equitable representation on the Security Council as an example of "how much can be achieved where there is a willingness to understand and compromise". Progress on the substance of the matter was not expected at this session, he said. "But this very brief resolution, 53/30, whose significance is in inverse proportion to its size, will no doubt be a contributing factor in creating a climate of mutual confidence, and thus will promote what I hope will be fruitful negotiations", he added.
During the first part of the fifty-third session, the underground nuclear tests conducted in South Asia last spring by India and Pakistan sharpened the nuclear disarmament debate in the Assembly's First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), as the overwhelming majority of speakers said the tests highlighted the dangers of nuclear proliferation and changed the security landscape. The texts on nuclear testing, a new agenda
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for a nuclear-weapon-free world, and reducing nuclear danger provoked particularly intense debate. Although discussion centred on the nuclear question, the Committee also considered the regional and international security threat posed by the illicit traffic in, and proliferation of, small arms.
The world financial crisis triggered lively debate in the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) on a number of macroeconomic policy questions, focusing particularly on the role of the United Nations in addressing them. Committee debate intensified over how to address the threat of unregulated flows of private investment capital. Disagreement centred on whether to simply strengthen the Bretton Woods financial architecture or completely restructure it. The Committee also took up the issue of corruption and bribery, considered an impediment to national economic development. Socio-economic costs of bribery were said to be enormous, and the greatest victims of corruption, the Committee was told, were usually the poor.
The impact of poverty on the enjoyment of human rights was a recurrent theme in the deliberations of the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural), as many speakers addressed the socio-economic impact of globalization on developing countries. That led to great emphasis on the importance of the right to development, which was reaffirmed as an integral part of fundamental human rights. After 13 years of deliberations, the Assembly adopted on the Committee's recommendation the document known as the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, stating that everyone has the right to discuss and advocate human rights ideas. An eight-part resolution on the rights of the child urged States and other parties to armed conflict to adopt measures to end the use of children as soldiers.
During the deliberations of the Assembly's Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization), much attention was paid to the 23 October signing of the Wye River Memorandum between the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, by which Israel would withdraw from another 13 per cent of the West Bank. However, besides the noted progress, the Assembly continued to view the Israeli settlements as illegal and an obstacle to peace. Acting on questions relating to information, the Assembly asked the Secretary-General to report on the design and scope of a pilot project on the development of the United Nations international radio broadcasting capacity. It encouraged exploration of ways of improving global access to airwaves of United Nations Radio, noting that radio was one of the most cost-effective and far-reaching media available to the Department of Public Information (DPI).
The United Nations would enter the twenty-first century with about $2.545 billion at its disposal, according to the budget outline for 2000-2001 that the General Assembly adopted on the recommendation of its Fifth Committee
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(Administrative and Budgetary). It also resolved to appropriate $1.261 billion for 1999 and, of that amount, assess almost $1.218 billion on Member States. The same resolution endorsed the Secretary-General's proposal to treat expected expenditures for special political missions within the budget outline in future, rather than consider them separate from the United Nations regular budget.
Setting the groundwork for the complex undertaking of devising a comprehensive, global means of fighting terrorism, the Assembly, on the recommendation of its Sixth Committee (Legal), decided that it would discuss, during its next regular session, the question of convening a high-level conference in the year 2000, under United Nations auspices, to formulate an organized, international response to terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. By another text, the Assembly requested the Secretary-General to convene the Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court, which will finalize arrangements for the commencement of the Court's operations.
Highlights of the fifty-third session follow.
Plenary
The General Assembly plenary opened its deliberations on 17 September with a high-level dialogue, to review the social and economic impact of globalization. During the two-day debate, which incorporated a series of ministerial round table on international and national responses to globalization, speakers acknowledged that, although the process of globalization had opened up tremendous opportunities for creating wealth, its rewards seemed reserved for the strongest of economies. Speakers, among them many heads of State and government and foreign ministers, warned that if that trend continued, globalization would further widen the economic gap between the richer and poorer countries.
While many speakers emphasized the "irreversible" nature of globalization, others called for urgent steps to manage and reduce its harmful effects. The need to develop a mechanism to address the shortcomings of the process and facilitating access to markets by the most marginalized countries, particularly African States, was stressed repeatedly, not only during the opening segment, but throughout the three-month regular session of the Assembly.
Closing that discussion, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the international community must find a way to maximize the benefits of globalization and "protect those who are in danger of becoming victims". The Secretary-General said the United Nations broad mandate, near-universal membership and ability to involve non-State actors made it uniquely well equipped to help forge an international response to a global crisis. Thus, the United Nations had a special responsibility to insist on global solutions, based on global rules that were fair to all.
The Assembly also held two weeks of general debate during which 160 representatives presented views on matters including: global trade and development; international terrorism; peacekeeping, conflict prevention and resolution; global disarmament; international assistance and humanitarian support; as well as United Nations activities and operations. During the debate -- concluded in two, rather than three, weeks -- addresses were made by 26 heads of State, one Vice-President, one Crown Prince, 15 Prime-Ministers, 14 Deputy Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers and 105 Foreign Ministers.
Nelson Mandela, in what was likely his last address to the Assembly as President of South Africa, told the general debate that even as he grew "as ancient as the hills", he would continue to hope that a cadre of leaders would emerge in his country and region, on his continent and across the world, which would not allow any to be denied their freedom, turned into refugees, condemned to go hungry or be stripped of their human dignity.
In his first address to the Assembly, Iranian President Seyed Mohammad
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Khatami said: "Let us hope that in the coming century the essence of political power be compassion and justice, externally manifested in dialogue between civilizations." Responding to remarks from the President of Iran, the Assembly met later during its session and expressed its firm determination to facilitate and promote dialogue among civilizations, and it dedicated the year 2001 as the United Nations Year of Dialogue among Civilizations.
Before the opening of the general debate, the Secretary-General presented his annual report on the work of the Organization, in which he stated that the "quiet revolution" of reform was happening: that the United Nations family had begun to act with greater unity of purpose and coherence of effect than it had a year ago. However, the financial straitjacket within which the United Nations was obliged to operate was the greatest impediment to its good performance.
The newly elected President of the Assembly, Didier Opertti (Uruguay), on the role of the United Nations, said the Organization would be able to do very little about the many pressing issues if Member States did not fulfil their commitments to it. Noting that some challenges could only be met if tools were upgraded, both at the political and Secretariat level, he said the United Nations should continue "without haste, but steadily", along the path of modernization and fine tuning of the United Nations.
After two and a half days of debate on Security Council reform, the Assembly decided no resolution or decision on equitable representation or increased Council membership and related matters would be adopted without the affirmative vote of at least two thirds of General Assembly members. The Assembly took that action by adopting a presidential text introduced near the close of the debate; a text which the President said was the result of broad consultations and which reflected the shared intentions of all delegations to reach consensus on the sensitive issue.
The discussion that preceded -- which had, in past years, focused on the mechanisms of enlargement of Council membership -- was dominated by debate on a draft resolution introduced by Egypt. That draft proposed that any resolution with Charter amendment implications, among which would be a decision to change the Security Council membership, must be adopted by a two- thirds majority of United Nations Members, as referred to in Article 108 of the Charter. That draft was subsequently withdrawn.
Article 108 of the Charter states that for an amendment to the present Charter to enter into force -- in addition to being adopted by a vote of two thirds of the General Assembly -- the amendment must be ratified by two thirds of the Organization's membership, including all permanent Council members, in accordance with their respective constitutional processes.
During a related debate which followed the presentation by the Security
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Council of its annual report to the Assembly, many speakers focused on the need to add transparency to the work of the Council and enhance the relationship between the two bodies. Speakers stressed the need for better information on the Council's activities, with several noting that non-Council members deserved better access to information about the Council's work than the media.
Again this year, discussing the need to end the embargo imposed by the United States against Cuba, the Assembly urged States, which applied laws and measures with extraterritorial effects on the sovereignty and the freedom of trade and navigation of other States, such as the United States Helms-Burton Act against Cuba, to take the necessary steps to repeal or invalidate them as soon as possible.
In another action, the Assembly, calling for the immediate repeal of laws which impose sanctions on corporation and nationals of other States, urged States not to recognize or apply such extraterritorial coercive economic measures.
Addressing an issue of concern to both the Assembly and the Security Council, the Assembly discussed the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace in Africa. Many speakers urged the international community to focus on the root causes of African tensions, such as entrenched socio-economic problems, chronic poverty and ethnic tensions. It was, however, almost universally agreed that the primary responsibility for assuring lasting peace and stability in Africa lay in the hands of African leaders. In that regard, the Assembly called on African nations to create an enabling domestic environment for sustainable development and on the international community to substantially increase the flow of financial resources to implement suggestions of the Secretary-General on enhanced stability on the continent.
Focusing on the economic condition of Africa, the Assembly discussed progress being made in implementing the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s. Many African nations continued to urge additional international efforts, including: debt relief; support for greater market access; and enhanced levels of foreign direct investment and of official development assistance (ODA). The European Union said its members would work to improve market access for all least developed countries by 2000 and to have in place by 2005 means by which those African nations would benefit from duty-free access to the European Economic Community markets.
In related action, the Assembly urged the United Nations, States, financial institutions and other bodies to fully implement recommendations made during the mid-term review of implementation of the New Agenda.
The Assembly also took action relating to specific African nations, among them, it urged States and organizations to continue to assist the people of
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Somalia in efforts to rehabilitate their basic social and economic services, and it appealed to the international community to provide resources and operational support to refugees and countries of asylum in Central and Eastern Africa.
In line with the international community increased concern about the year 2000 computer date conversion -- known as the "millennium bug" -- the Assembly appealed to Member States to collaborate on means of effectively responding to the challenge before the deadline of 31 December 1999. It also requested the Secretary-General to ensure that all parts of the United Nations system take steps to make their computers and equipment with embedded microprocessors year 2000-compliant.
The Assembly again this year held broad debates on the situation in the Middle East and the question of Palestine, during which many speakers expressed support for the Wye River Memorandum signed by Israel and Palestine in October. The parties were urged to sustain political commitment so that the Memorandum could be fully implemented. The need to curtail violence by extremist factions from both sides was also underscored.
In a series of actions, the Assembly stressed the need for commitment to the principle of land for peace, and the need for the immediate and scrupulous implementation of the agreements reached between the parties. Calling on all involved to work to bring the peace process back on track, the Assembly stressed the need for the Palestinian people to realize their right to self-determination and for the withdrawal of Israel from Palestinian territory occupied since 1967. Also, the Assembly deplored the transfer by some States of their diplomatic missions to Jerusalem. By a resolution on the situation in the Middle East and the Syrian Golan, it called on Israel to resume the talks on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks and to respect the commitments and undertakings reached during previous talks.
Further, the Assembly urged the United Nations to intensify assistance to the Palestinian people, in accordance with priorities established by the Palestinian Authority. It also called on the international donor community to expedite the delivery of pledged assistance to the Palestinian people. In other action, the Assembly called on the international community to increase assistance to ensure the success of the Bethlehem 2000 Project, a commemoration of the new millennium to be held in Bethlehem from Christmas 1999 to Easter 2001. The Secretary-General was asked to mobilize support for the event launched by the Palestinian Authority. Some 2 million visitors are expected at the historic site, which is being promoted as a symbol of peace among all people. During the debate on the matter, Israel said it stood ready to cooperate with the Christian and Arab communities on the project.
Addressing the situation of democracy and human rights in Haiti, the Assembly renewed the mandate of the United Nations component of the International Civilian Mission to Haiti (MICIVIH) until 31 December 1999. Urging leaders to
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continue efforts to resolve a lingering political crisis in the country, the Assembly called on those authorities to mobilize political will to reform and strengthen Haiti's system of justice.
Following debate on the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Assembly demanded the full implementation by all parties of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in that country, including aspects on cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Specifically, the Assembly demanded that parties hand over to the Tribunal all indicted persons in territories under their control.
During the two-day commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, statements were made by 120 Member States, five Permanent Observers, the Secretary-General, the Assembly President and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Six United Nations Human Rights Prizes were also presented and a resolution on the Declaration and a decision on the observance of the fifty-fifth anniversary adopted. By the resolution, the Assembly reaffirmed the need for international assessment of the progress in human rights since the Declaration's adoption and identification of obstacles and ways to overcome them.
The Assembly also re-elected Sadako Ogata (Japan) to a further two-year term as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Upon completion of her new term, which will run from 1 January 1999 to 31 December 2000, Mrs. Ogata would have served in her post for 10 years.
During a special commemorative meeting to mark the fiftieth anniversary of United Nations peacekeeping, the Assembly paid tribute to the hundreds of thousands of men and women who had participated in peacekeeping missions and some 1,500 who had lost their lives in the service of peace. Reaffirming the commitment of Member States to aid peacekeepers in carrying out their mission, the Assembly welcomed all efforts undertaken to assist them. As part of the Assembly's continuing effort to enhance safety and security of humanitarian and United Nations personnel, the Assembly called on governments and parties in complex emergencies to cooperate fully with the United Nations and other agencies to allow those personnel to safely assist the affected civilian population, including refugees and internally displaced persons.
The Assembly, also this session, marked the fiftieth anniversary of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which defines genocide and states -- whether committed in time of peace or in time of war -- genocide is a crime under international law. Governments were invited to identify ways to overcome obstacles to implementing the Convention at the national and international levels.
The Assembly also marked the twentieth anniversary of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action -- an international framework to support technical cooperation
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among developing countries. During that commemorative meeting, Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette said that, two decades later, developing countries still needed: external capital and development assistance; access to export markets and foreign exchange; new technologies; and a fair and stable external environment. The "Group of 77" developing countries and China proposed that the Organization declare a United Nations day for South-South cooperation.
Reaffirming the commitments adopted by heads of State and government at the 1995 World Summit for Social Development, the Assembly decided that a special session on the implementation of Social Summit goals would be held in Geneva from 26 to 30 June 2000. The special session would provide the opportunity for a comprehensive evaluation of the fulfilment of pledges made to give the highest priority to programmes in support of social progress, social justice, the betterment of the human condition and social integration.
Also this year, the Secretary-General presented the first Dag Hammarskjöld medals, established by the Security Council in July 1997, to the families of United Nations officials who lost their lives in service of the Organization.
During the current session, the year 2002 was also proclaimed the International Year of Mountains. The Assembly also proclaimed the period 2001-2010 as the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the World.
The Association of Caribbean States and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) were invited to participate in the sessions and work of the Assembly in the capacity of observers.
The Assembly, fulfilling its Charter duty to elect non-permanent Security Council members, elected Argentina, Canada, Malaysia, Namibia and the Netherlands to two-year terms effective 1 January 1999. The five other non-permanent members, which will serve for another year, until 31 December 1999, are Bahrain, Brazil, Gabon, Gambia and Slovenia.
Three judges were elected to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia by the Assembly. They were Mohammed Bennouna (Morocco), David Hunt (Australia),and Patrick Robinson (Jamaica). The newly elected judges will perform their duties at the third Trial Chamber of the Tribunal, established by the Security Council this year to try the large number of accused awaiting trial. The judges will serve until 16 November 2001, when the terms of office of the current judges of the Tribunal expire. By that election, the Assembly also fully established the Third Trial Chamber of the Tribunal.
Eighteen members were elected to fill vacancies on the 54-member Economic and Social Council. The new members, who will begin their three-year terms on
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1 January 1999, are: Bolivia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Guinea- Bissau, Honduras, Indonesia, Morocco, Norway, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Venezuela. Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom were re-elected.
Among other elections on the recommendation of its Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), the Assembly appointed Nazareth A. Incera (Costa Rica), Ahmad Kamal (Pakistan), Rajat Saha (India), Nicholas A. Thorne (United Kingdom), Fumiaki Toya (Japan) and Gian Luigi Valenza (Italy) as members of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), for a three-year term beginning on 1 January 1999.
The President of the General Assembly is Didier Opertti (Uruguay), and its Vice-Presidents are: Brunei Darussalam, Cameroon, China, France, Georgia, Germany, Lesotho, Liberia, Morocco, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Russian Federation, San Marino, Senegal, Suriname, Syria, Turkmenistan, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States and Yemen.
First Committee
The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) focused, with particular intensity, on nuclear-related issues, including nuclear testing, non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament. The underground nuclear tests conducted in South Asia last spring by India and Pakistan sharpened the nuclear disarmament debate, as they highlighted the dangers of nuclear proliferation. As a result, traditional texts were subjected to renewed scrutiny, while new resolutions sought to address the changing security landscape.
On the Committee's recommendation, the General Assembly adopted 49 disarmament drafts and decisions, of which 18 concerned nuclear weapons.
By underlining the urgency for speedy nuclear disarmament through comprehensive measures, a resolution, entitled "Towards a nuclear-weapon-free world: the need for a new agenda", marked a new dimension in efforts by the non-nuclear-weapon States to negotiate the complete elimination of nuclear weapons. Introducing the text, the representative of Ireland said it charted an agenda contingent upon the unequivocal commitment by the nuclear-weapon States to approach their responsibilities from a new perspective. Timetables could be set and alternative approaches explored, but very little could be done until those States demonstrated a commitment to the speedy elimination of their nuclear weapons.
Representatives from some of the nuclear-weapon States, including France and the United Kingdom, rejected the proposed agenda as neither timely nor realistic, and said that the text failed to recognize their progress in nuclear disarmament. The United States representative objected to the
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"alarmist tone" of the text, and said that what was in fact alarming -- yet not addressed in the text -- was nuclear testing by India and Pakistan.
Indeed, the testing in South Asia was a central theme in the Committee's debate. Consistent with the alarm expressed internationally, regionally and nationally, the Committee approved, and the Assembly adopted, a draft resolution expressing grave concern over, and strongly deploring, those tests. While the draft's co-sponsors said the resolution merely echoed international sentiment, some delegations strongly opposed it. India's representative said the text was discriminatory; it isolated India and Pakistan and did not address all aspects of nuclear testing.
India, along with Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe, offered a broad range of amendments to the nuclear-testing resolution, seeking to broaden seeking to broaden its focus to include all forms of nuclear testing, nuclear non-proliferation, and the goal of the total elimination of nuclear weapons. In response, the supporters of the text, including members of the European Union, requested a series of "no action" votes on the amendments. The Committee approved the "no action" votes on four amendments, and the co-sponsors subsequently withdrew three others. In the end, the text was adopted unamended by the Assembly.
A draft resolution calling on all States to adhere to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) was withdrawn by its co-sponsors, in the absence of consensus. India and Pakistan withdrew their amendments, which had focused on the goal of nuclear disarmament, and all forms of nuclear testing for the qualitative development of nuclear weapons, respectively. Subsequently, a decision was approved by the Committee and adopted by the Assembly, by a recorded vote, to take up the item at the Assembly's fifty-fourth session.
The events in South Asia also stimulated debate on nuclear non- proliferation. According to one text, the tests challenged international efforts to strengthen the global nuclear non-proliferation regime and reaffirmed the importance of universal adherence to the Treaty on the Non- Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Pakistan's representative objected to the reference on the resolution to the South Asian nuclear tests and the omission of subcritical nuclear testing by nuclear-weapon-States. The call for universal adherence to the NPT was totally unacceptable, he said, as South Asia had already been nuclearized. Still, many States supported the text as a realistic vision of accomplishments and future challenges.
A disputed text on a nuclear-weapon-free southern hemisphere drew attention to South Asia's nuclearization by calling on States to consider all relevant proposals for nuclear-weapon-free zones, including in the Middle East and South Asia. In this case, Pakistan's representative said that singling out South Asia for consideration as a nuclear-weapon-free zone contradicted the established principle that the zone's creation should be based on
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arrangements freely arrived at among the regional States. In a separate recorded vote, the Committee retained the reference to South Asia, as well as the paragraph that contained it.
The nuclear-weapon States opposed the text for different reasons. They said that, since the land territory in the southern hemisphere, with the exception of a few islands, was already covered by nuclear-weapon-free zones, the draft sought to create a new nuclear-weapon-free zone that included international waters. That would be inconsistent with international law and unacceptable to all delegations that respected the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, they said.
The Committee also approved a new text on reducing nuclear danger, which called for a review of nuclear doctrines and for immediate and urgent steps to reduce the risks of unintentional and accidental use of nuclear weapons. Introducing the text, the representative of India said that, despite all the talk of assured second-strike capability in cold-war nuclear doctrines, the actual configuration for nuclear weapons was launch-on-warning. The accidental use of that hair-trigger alert posed a horrendous risk to humankind, he said.
During debate on the text, the United States representative called the text yet another unrealistic nuclear disarmament resolution that failed to acknowledge progress being made on unilateral, bilateral and multilateral levels to reduce nuclear dangers. Using the same tired rhetoric would not promote nuclear disarmament, he said. France's representative said nuclear deterrence was an essential element in the politics of national defence. Her country did not agree with the draft's position that the existence of nuclear weapons was a threat to international security and a contradiction to the principles of the United Nations Charter.
By a narrow margin, a new text on regional disarmament was also approved and subsequently adopted by the Assembly. Welcoming the fact that there are currently no nuclear weapons stationed in Central and Eastern Europe, the Assembly urged all concerned States to continue making it possible to have no intention, no plan and no reason to deploy nuclear weapons on that territory. Several representatives said the text sought to impose a reality on an entire region against the explicitly expressed will of the countries of the region. The representative of Ukraine said the text failed to reflect positive regional and international developments, including the new European security architecture.
Although the nuclear question dominated the debate, the Committee also took up the regional and international security threat posed by the illicit traffic in, and proliferation of, small arms. General agreement emerged on the need for a comprehensive approach to the problem. Two texts were approved without a vote on curbing illicit trafficking. Consensus could not be reached on a new text calling for an international conference on the illicit arms trade, with
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disagreement arising over a provision affirming the right of self-determination of all peoples. Some representatives stated that the provision could be used to justify the misuse of small arms and undermine the peaceful settlement of disputes. By a recorded vote, however, the provision was retained and the draft was approved.
The Chairman of the First Committee is André Mernier (Belgium). Vice- Chairmen are: Akmaral Kh. Arystanbekova (Kazakhstan); Raimundo Gonzales (Chile); and Aleg Laptsenak (Belarus). The Rapporteur is Motaz M. Zahran (Egypt).
Second Committee
The early tremors of a world financial crisis during the 12 months preceding the convening of the Second Committee (Economic and Finance) made steering the global economy safely through the crisis a central focus of the Committee's work. The crisis triggered lively debate on a number of macroeconomic policy questions and the role of the United Nations in addressing them. International financial issues were featured in eight of the 32 resolutions the Committee recommended to the Assembly. The same spirit of cooperation which had characterized the Committee's work throughout the fifty-third session prevailed, as 31 of the resolutions were adopted by consensus in the General Assembly.
Committee debate intensified over how to address the threat of unregulated flows of private investment capital, which was destabilizing the economic systems of developing countries and risking the marginalization of national economies. Disagreement centred on whether to simply strengthen the Bretton Woods financial architecture or completely restructure it.
The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Nitin Desai, said Committee discussions about a new architecture came at a time of a crisis of greater magnitude than any of a similar nature over the previous 50 years. The Group of 77 developing countries and China favoured restructuring the Bretton Woods institutions, and argued that a new, transparent, accountable and participatory architecture was needed to strengthen international management of the world economy, particularly in the monetary and financial fields.
Other delegations, including the United States, favoured strengthening the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in order to deal with the difficult financial conditions threatening many countries. They said it should not be supplanted by agencies such as the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), nor should Member States create a new world financial organization.
From that debate came a resolution by which the Assembly invited the IMF to consider the possibility of establishing a regulatory framework for short-term capital flows and trade in currencies, and it stressed the need to endow the Fund
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with adequate resources to provide emergency financing to countries affected by financial crises.
A number of draft resolutions concerning the Economic and Social Council were also approved. By one, the Assembly decided that, starting from the year 1999, proposals for the proclamation of international years would no longer be submitted to the Assembly through the Economic and Social Council, but would be submitted directly to the Assembly, unless it decides to bring them to the attention of the Economic and Social Council for evaluation. By another draft, the Assembly proclaimed 2002 as the International Year of Ecotourism. Those actions complement the Economic and Social Council's increasing role in addressing concerns about globalization and the world financial crisis.
The Committee also discussed effective mechanisms for small island developing States in the areas of science and technology, information-sharing and capacity-building, waste management, and maintenance of freshwater, land and biological resources. In related action, the Assembly urged those States to continue preparations for the seventh session of the Commission on Sustainable Development and its special session in September 1999 for the review and appraisal of the implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States.
In a related action, the Assembly invited donor countries and multilateral financial and development institutions to continue to help the landlocked States in Central Asia, and their transit developing neighbours, with financial and technical assistance for the improvement of their transit environment. The Committee's focus on economic issues affecting African States resulted in a recommendation that the Assembly strongly underline the importance of an enabling environment for investment to achieve sustainable development in all African countries, and facilitate the integration of African countries into the world economy.
The Committee also recommended that the Assembly urge developed countries to support the commodity diversification and liberalization efforts of developing countries, especially African countries, in a spirit of common purpose and efficiency. It expressed the urgent need for supportive international policies to improve the functioning of commodity markets through efficient and transparent price formation mechanisms.
The Committee recommended seven resolutions to the Assembly on sustainable development and international cooperation, including a text in which the Assembly decided to hold biennially a high-level renewal of its dialogue on strengthening international economic cooperation for development through partnership. All were adopted without a vote.
The Committee gave considerable attention to the subject of operational activities for development, and recommended two draft resolutions to the
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Assembly, both of which were adopted. A text on the triennial policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations system stressed the need for all organizations of the United Nations development system to focus field-level efforts on priority areas to avoid duplication, and enhance the complementarity and impact of their work.
The Assembly decided to postpone until its next session consideration of arrangements for the special Assembly session to be held in the year 2001 to review the achievement of the goals of the World Summit for Children.
Also at the Committee's recommendation, the Assembly requested the ad hoc open-ended working group on intergovernmental consideration of financing for development to consider appropriate modalities to ensure the completion of its work and the submission of specific recommendations to the General Assembly at its next (fifty-fourth) session.
Addressing the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, delegations argued that fulfilment of commitments made by developed countries had not been satisfactory. Despite pressure to involve the developing countries in new commitments, the developed countries had failed to implement their own obligations. On this and related topics regarding environment and sustainable development, the Assembly adopted seven resolutions, and stressed the need to accelerate full implementation of Agenda 21 (adopted at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development --UNCED -- at Rio de Janeiro in 1992) and the Programme for the Further Implementation of that agenda.
The Committee also took up the issue of corruption and bribery, an impediment to national economic development. Socio-economic costs of bribery were said to be enormous, with corruption raising transaction costs and economic uncertainty, leading to inefficiency and undermining a State's legitimacy. The greatest victims of corruption, the Committee was told, were usually the poor. To combat the problem, the Committee recommended, and the Assembly adopted, two texts on sectoral policy questions.
In the only contested action of the Committee's session, a draft resolution on the permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territory was adopted by the Assembly by a recorded vote of 114 in favour to 2 against (Israel, United States), with 12 abstentions. The Assembly called on Israel not to exploit natural resources in occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan. During the Committee's deliberations, representatives of the United States and Israel expressed concern that the resolution may predetermine the outcome of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority to settle outstanding issues.
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At the Committee's concluding meeting, the Chairman, Bagher Asadi (Iran), noted that the Committee had worked tirelessly to achieve consensus on the elements of its work, rather than resort to voting on issues. He attributed the Committee's success, in part, to a feeling of all members being in the same boat during the debates on globalization and the world financial crisis, as well as the open-mindedness of the Committee members. The Vice-Chairmen of the Second Committee are: David Prendergast (Jamaica), Burak Ozugergin (Turkey), and Odyek Agona (Uganda).
Third Committee
Absolute poverty that inhibits the full and effective enjoyment of human rights was a major theme in the deliberations of the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural), as the world celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and confronted the impact of globalization on the economies of many developing countries. Those factors, combined with the difficulties posed by the increasing fall in ODA and the burdens stemming from the foreign debt problem, resulted in great emphasis during the Committee's deliberations on the importance of the right to development.
A resolution on the right to development -- reaffirming that right as an integral part of fundamental human rights -- came close to being adopted without a vote, but after intense debate it was opposed by the United States. Explaining its position, the representative of the United States said that while there was much to support in the resolution, international macroeconomic policy-making, globalization and debt relief should not be linked to rights, adding that it was wrong and dangerously misleading to pin the blame for long- standing problems of States in delivering basic amenities to its citizens on current international financial difficulties.
The Committee once again adopted a resolution reaffirming that extreme poverty and exclusion from society constitute a violation of human dignity, that urgent national and international actions are required to eliminate them, and that the poorest people should be involved in the promotion of human rights and efforts to combat extreme poverty.
Speakers repeatedly stressed the indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights, as well as the interlink between human rights, development and democracy. Sanctions were broadly criticized because of the harm they cause to the most vulnerable members of societies. States were urged to refrain from adopting unilateral coercive measures by another resolution. The Assembly reaffirmed that the promotion, protection and full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms should be guided by the principles of non-selectivity, impartiality and objectivity, and should not be used for political ends.
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On the recommendation of the Committee, the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which had been under negotiation for 13 years, was adopted by the Assembly. The document, also known as the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, states that everyone has the right to assemble peacefully, to form, join and participate in non-governmental organizations, associations or groups, and to communicate with non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations, as well as to develop, discuss and advocate acceptance of human rights ideas.
The representative of Egypt, on behalf of 28 countries, told the Committee that although it supported the Declaration, the exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms by individuals should not undermine the sovereignty of States, their territorial integrity or the principles of non- interference. Such rights were governed by the Charter of the United Nations and by international human rights instruments. In any case, no interpretation of human rights and freedoms should be allowed that was not provided for by domestic law. The exercise of such rights and freedoms must also be weighed in the context of the cultural, economic and social backgrounds of the concerned country.
The coincidence of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with the five-year review of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action provided an opportunity to asses the progress that had been made in human rights work, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, told the Committee. She said the events of 1998 were not a cause for celebration, but for a renewed commitment to the protection of human rights. Although the world had come closer to making human rights the common language of mankind, and progress since Vienna was unquestionable, in the last five years there had been genocide, famine and disease, torture, and a growing discrepancy between those who enjoyed the fruits of development and those who did not.
Also addressing the Committee, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Nitin Desai said, while the world focused its attention on the global financial crisis, the crucial issues of social development should not be placed on the back burner. The highlight of social development discussions this year was the launch, on 1 October, of the International Year of Older Persons (1999), with the theme "A society for all ages". Amid widespread agreement on the importance of taking action in the face of the global trend towards ageing societies, the Assembly adopted a text encouraging all States, the United Nations system and other actors, to take advantage of the Year to increase awareness of the ageing of societies, the contribution of older persons to society and the need for a change in attitudes towards older persons.
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Many speakers praised the adoption of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The designation of rape, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy and other forms of sexual violence as crimes against humanity was particularly welcome. Women and children, the Committee agreed, were victims of massive violations of human rights in armed conflicts. Olara Otunnu, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, called for pressure to be brought to bear on those who were abusive to women and children in conflict situations. Members of the Committee agreed that children, in particular, needed to be protected, as the victims of today were likely to turn into the aggressors of tomorrow. An eight-part resolution adopted by the Assembly on the rights of the child urged States and other parties to armed conflict to adopt measures to end the use of children as soldiers.
There was still far to go on the implementation of the Platform for Action adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, many speakers noted. The Assistant Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, Angela King, told the Committee that the global financial crisis only made implementation of the Platform more challenging. With the five-year review approaching in the year 2000, the Committee adopted a resolution deciding that the special session of the General Assembly to review the implementation of the Beijing outcome should be entitled "Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty- first century".
Pino Arlacchi, Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, told the Committee that significant breakthroughs had been made in the fight against organized crime, and the myth of the invincibility of criminal cartels had been destroyed. In a resolution on transnational organized crime, the Assembly decided to establish an open-ended intergovernmental ad hoc committee to elaborate a comprehensive international convention against transnational organized crime, which had been widely supported by speakers in the Third Committee. The Assembly also adopted a resolution on the preparations for the Tenth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, to be held in Vienna from 10 to 17 April 2000, which will consider the theme "Crime and Justice: meeting the challenge of the twenty-first century".
Following the landmark special session of the General Assembly on the drug problem, many speakers were optimistic about new measures of drug control, and a resolution was adopted reaffirming that the fight against the world drug problem is a common and shared responsibility which must be addressed in a multilateral setting. On international cooperation, the text urged authorities at all levels to implement the outcome of the special session within the agreed time frames.
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Regarding the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People (1994-2004), governments were urged to participate in the open-ended inter- sessional ad hoc working group set up to consider the establishment of a permanent forum for indigenous people within the United Nations system. The Assembly also recommended that the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations be used to assist representatives of indigenous communities to participate in the deliberations of the working group.
The Assembly also decided to observe the year 2001 as the International Year of Mobilization against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, aimed at drawing the world's attention to the objectives of the World Conference against Racism, that the Assembly's fifty-second session decided to convene not later than the year 2001.
More than half of the 52 meetings of the Third Committee were devoted to human rights questions, and on the recommendation of the Committee, the Assembly adopted 64 resolutions and decisions, 30 of which were on a broad range of human rights issues.
The officers of the Third Committee are: Chairman, Ali Hachani (Tunisia); Vice-Chairmen, Victoria Sandru (Romania), Roger Ball (New Zealand), Luis Fernando Carranza-Cifuentes (Guatemala); and Rapporteur, Hassan Kassem Najem (Lebanon).
Fourth Committee
Based on recommendations of its Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization), the General Assembly again demanded this year that Israel cease its construction of a new settlement at Jabal Abu Ghneim, along with all its settlement activities in the occupied Arab lands, including Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan.
Acting on issues presented by the Fourth Committee, the Assembly adopted 23 draft resolutions and decisions concerning Israeli practices in the occupied territories, Palestinian refugee relief, decolonization, information questions, peacekeeping, the peaceful uses of outer space, and the effects of atomic radiation.
During the session, much attention was paid to the 23 October signing of the Wye River Memorandum between the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Implementation of the accord -- by which Israel would withdraw from another 13 per cent of the West Bank -- ended almost a two-year deadlock in peace talks, and was supposed to be followed immediately by intensive negotiations on a final settlement that would resolve the thorny questions of Palestinian statehood and the future status of Jerusalem. However, besides the noted progress, the Assembly continued to view the Israeli settlements as illegal and an obstacle to peace. It also called on Israel to guarantee the safety and protection of Palestinian civilians in the occupied territory.
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Also posing a serious threat to the peace progress was the structural deficit problem confronting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The Agency's financial straits portended an almost certain decline in the living conditions of the Palestine refugees, with possible consequences for the peace process. The Assembly, therefore, called upon all governments, as a matter of urgency, to make the most generous efforts possible to meet the anticipated needs of the Agency. Stressing the 1993 Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements, the Assembly also expressed hope for an accelerated return of displaced people through the mechanism agreed upon by the parties. It reaffirmed that the Palestine refugees were entitled to their property and to the income derived from their losses.
Concerning decolonization matters, the Committee discussed such questions as the activities of foreign and other interests, military activities in the 17 Non-Self-Governing Territories, the role of the United Nations specialized agencies, information provided by administering Powers, and offers by Member States of study facilities for inhabitants of the Territories.
During the Committee's deliberations, delegates highlighted the progress made in New Caledonia, and touted the Territory as a successful model for decolonization. The Assembly, therefore, invited all the parties involved to continue promoting a framework for the peaceful progress of the Territory towards self-determination, according to the letter and spirit of the Matignon and Noumea Accords, which were based on the principle that New Caledonians should be able to choose how to control their destiny.
Controversy arose during the Committee's consideration of Guam, which was initially brought before the Fourth Committee in the context of a stand- alone draft resolution. On 13 October, that text was deferred at the request of the United States and, after extensive deliberations, the Committee incorporated it into an omnibus draft resolution, which addresses issues related to 11 territories, on 17 November. Following the compromise and adoption of that text, the Assembly requested that the United States, as Guam's administering Power, should cooperate in establishing programmes specifically intended to promote the sustainable development of economic activities and enterprises, noting the special role of the Chamorran people in Guam's development.
On the subject of Western Sahara, many delegates expressed concern and disappointment over the difficulties impeding the implementation of the proposed settlement plan reached last year between Morocco and the Frente Popular para la Liberación de Saguia el-Hamra y de Río de Oro (Frente POLISARIO). The Assembly had taken note with satisfaction of the progress achieved in the plan and had called upon the two parties to cooperate fully with the Secretary-General, his Personal Envoy, James A. Baker III, and his Special Representative, Charles Dunbar, in implementing the various phases of the plan.
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The Assembly also dealt with specific and general conditions in Gibraltar, Tokelau, and the 11 Non-Self-Governing Territories grouped together in the omnibus draft. Those were: American Samoa, Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Guam, Montserrat, Pitcairn, St. Helena, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands.
Addressing the Committee twice during its consideration of questions relating to information, the Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, Kensaku Hogen, stressed that the Department of Public Information (DPI) needed to harness the latest information technology within the limited resources available. Reorientation of the Department must meet the growing challenges inherent in the advent of the age of information. Due to budgetary constraints, the DPI needed to harness the latest information technology within the limited resources available.
By a text on information in the service of humanity, the Assembly urged all countries, organizations of the United Nations system and all others concerned to ensure for journalists the free and effective performance of their professional tasks and to condemn resolutely all attacks against them; and to support the continuation and strengthening of practical training programmes for broadcasters and journalists from public, private and other media in developing countries.
A second information resolution included a compromise worked out by the Committee on Information, which was unable to reach an agreement during its spring meetings and had resumed its session later in the year. Following a consensus between the concerned parties, the Assembly asked the Secretary- General to report on the design and scope of a pilot project on the development of the United Nations international radio broadcasting capacity, and encouraged exploration of ways of improving global access to airwaves of United Nations Radio, bearing in mind that radio was one of the most cost- effective and far-reaching media available to DPI. The DPI was asked to maintain and improve its activities in the areas of special interest to the developing countries. It also decided to add Angola, the Republic of Moldova and Solomon Islands to the Information Committee.
In action related to the Fourth Committee's work, the Assembly also took decisions on two texts submitted directly by the Special Committee on decolonization.
By the first text, on implementation of the Declaration on decolonization, the Assembly called upon the administering Powers to eliminate remaining military bases in the Non-Self-Governing Territories in compliance with the relevant resolutions, and urge them not to involve those Territories in any offensive acts or interference against other States. The Assembly would call upon the administering Powers to take all necessary steps to enable the peoples of the
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Territories concerned to exercise fully, as soon as possible, their right to self-determination, including independence.
By the second draft, on the dissemination of information on decolonization, the Assembly asked the Department of Political Affairs and the DPI to take into account the suggestions of the Special Committee on decolonization to continue their efforts to publicize the United Nations work in the field of decolonization through all available media, including publications, radio and television, and the Internet.
During the session, the Fourth Committee also took note that 1998 marked the fiftieth anniversary of United Nations peacekeeping, and conveyed a draft declaration presented to the President of the Assembly in commemoration of all those who had served in United Nations peacekeeping operations. The declaration paid tribute to hundreds of thousands of men and women who had, in the last 50 years, served under the United Nations flag in more than 40 peacekeeping operations around the world, and it honoured the memory of more than 1,800 peacekeepers who had died in the cause of peace. It also recalled the awarding of the 1988 Nobel Peace Prize to United Nations peacekeeping forces.
Bernard Miyet, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, addressed the Committee and said threats against United Nations peacekeeping operations, as well as hostage-taking and killings of mission members, had not prevented the Organization from deploying new operations. He also noted that the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic (MINURCA), deployed last April, was playing a decisive role in the consolidation of democracy and the promotion of national harmony and economic recovery in that country. The deployment in July of the United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL) was also a new example of the Organization's capacity to collaborate constructively with subregional or regional efforts in restoring the legitimate institutions of a State.
The Assembly also took action on Fourth Committee recommendations relating to the report of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. The Assembly, among other things, endorsed the recommendations of the Outer Space Committee in preparation for the Third United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE III), to be held in Vienna from 19 to 30 July 1999. It also agreed that, in view of the abbreviated schedule of work of the Outer Space Committee at its forty-second session and the preparatory work to be conducted for UNISPACE III, the Committee should suspend its work on the following items for one year, to be resumed at its forty-third session: consideration of ways and means of maintaining outer space for peaceful purposes; and consideration of the item entitled "Spin-off benefits of space technology: review of current status".
The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation was asked by the Assembly to continue its work, including its
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important activities to increase knowledge of the levels, effects and risks of ionizing radiation from all sources. The Assembly also invited Member States, United Nations bodies and non-governmental organizations to provide the Scientific Committee with data about doses, effects and risks from various sources of radiation.
The officers of the Fourth Committee were: Chairman, Pablo Macedo (Mexico); Vice-Chairmen, Chun Hae-jin (Republic of Korea), Tomas Hrbac (Slovakia) and Ferden Carikel (Turkey); and Rapporteur, Bernard Tanoh-Boutchoue (Côte d'Ivoire).
Fifth Committee
The United Nations would enter the twenty-first century with about $2.545 billion at its disposal, according to the budget outline for the biennium 2000-2001 adopted by the Assembly on the recommendation of its Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary). It also resolved to appropriate $1.261 billion for 1999 and, of that amount, assess almost $1.218 billion on Member States. The same resolution endorsed the Secretary-General's proposal to include provisions within the budget outline for special political missions that were expected but not yet mandated.
The United Nations programme budget for 1998-1999 will be reduced from some $2.532 billion to about $2.527 billion to reflect revised cost estimates and the cost of resolutions adopted by the Assembly during the current session, according to another resolution, on the programme performance report.
On the issue of results-based budgeting, the Fifth Committee recommended that the next programme budget proposal, for 2000-2001, be prepared according to existing procedures, but the Secretary-General was requested to submit prototypes using results-based techniques. He was also requested to furnish the Assembly's fifty-fourth session with a proposal comparing the two budget formats and justifying his proposal to change the existing procedure.
The Assembly also approved two draft resolutions on financing the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and for the Former Yugoslavia in 1999. For the Former Yugoslavia Tribunal, the Assembly will appropriate a total of some $102.5 million gross, while for the Rwanda Tribunal, it will appropriate nearly $75.8 million.
As a part of its consideration of the United Nations common system, the Assembly approved a 2.48 per cent increased base salary scale for Professional and higher categories staff. By a resolution on the Integrated Management Information System (IMIS), the Assembly approved an additional appropriation of $3.3 million, while also requesting that the Secretary-General take action to ensure that related activities are performed efficiently and economically
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and that adequate and qualified staff are assigned to implement and operate IMIS in all user departments.
On the scale of assessments, the Fifth Committee had agreed, as an exception, to recommend exemptions to Article 19 of the United Nations Charter, which strips Member States of voting rights when their arrears equal or exceed the amount of contributions due from them for the past two years, to two Member States -- Georgia and Guinea-Bissau -- as the Contributions Committee's session had concluded. After receiving three additional requests, it approved a resolution asking the Contributions Committee to hold a special session in early 1999 to consider those requests.
On pattern of conferences, the Assembly noted with appreciation that the two holidays of Id al-Fitr and Id al-Adha are to be observed as official holidays, and requested the Secretary-General to ensure their strict implementation when preparing all future draft calendars.
The General Assembly appropriated funds for several peacekeeping operations, including the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), the United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UNMOT), the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP), and the United Nations Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA).
Human resources management and the Development Account were two key issues that the Fifth Committee decided to defer until its first resumed session.
The Fifth Committee's first and second resumed sessions will be held from 8 to 26 March and from 10 to 28 May.
The officers of the Fifth Committee are: Movses Abelian (Armenia), Chairman; Manlan Ahounou (Cote d'Ivoire), Sharon Brennen-Haylock (Bahamas) and Miles Armitage (Australia), Vice-Chairmen; and Tammam Sulaiman (Syria), Rapporteur.
Sixth Committee
The Assembly, acting on recommendations of its Sixth Committee (Legal), continued to develop an international legal mechanism for combating terrorism by deciding: to finalize a draft convention on the suppression of nuclear terrorism; to begin drafting a convention on suppression of terrorist financing; and to, subsequently, begin work on a comprehensive international convention to combat terrorism.
The Assembly charged its Ad Hoc Committee on international terrorism -- established in 1996 to further develop a comprehensive body of legal conventions dealing with international terrorism -- with those efforts. Specifically, the
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Assembly decided the Ad Hoc Committee will meet from 15 to 26 March 1999 to resolve pending matters relating to the nuclear terrorism convention and to initiate drafting of the convention on terrorist financing. The Assembly recommended that work not concluded during the March meeting be addressed during the next Assembly session by the Sixth Committee's working group on terrorism, and that the Ad Hoc Committee be reconvened in 2000 to further continue the process.
Setting the groundwork for the complex undertaking of devising a comprehensive, global means of fighting terrorism, the Assembly also decided that it would discuss, during its next regular session, the question of convening a high-level conference in the year 2000, under United Nations auspices, to formulate an organized, international response to terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.
During debate in the Committee on the draft convention on nuclear terrorism -- which, in its current form, defines offences which States would be required to criminalize and outlines a prosecution-or-extradition scheme for offenders -- the hope was expressed that the new convention could be finalized within the next year. Whether the draft convention would exclude official activities of armed forces from the acts it defines as nuclear terrorism is among matters to be resolved by the Ad Hoc Committee.
The drafting of the two new conventions is part of a practical sectoral approach to combating terrorism adopted by the international community, under which 11 international instruments have been concluded dealing with specific manifestations of terrorism -- such as hijacking, bombings and hostage-taking. Although address of contentious issues, such as an internationally accepted definition of terrorism, has been postponed, the international community has been able to strengthen the legal mechanism for fighting terrorism and set the stage for formulating a comprehensive approach to the matter.
Regarding the establishment of the International Criminal Court, the Assembly requested the Secretary-General to convene the Preparatory Commission for the Court, which will finalize arrangements, without undue delay, for the commencement of the Court's operations. Accepting the recommendations of the Sixth Committee, the Assembly requested that the Commission hold three meetings in 1999 -- 16 to 26 February; 26 July to 13 August; and 29 November to 17 December.
The Commission's mandate includes preparation of rules of procedure and evidence; elements of crimes; a relationship agreement between the Court and the United Nations; basic principles governing a headquarters agreement to be negotiated between the Court and the host country (Netherlands); and a budget for the first financial year. The Assembly called for the completion of the draft texts of the rules of procedure and evidence and of the elements of crimes before 30 June 2000.
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The Secretary-General was asked to invite organizations and other entities to participate in the sessions and work of the Court's Preparatory Commission. The Chairman of the Sixth Committee, Jargalsaikhany Enkhsaikhan (Mongolia), said that the way had been opened for participation of all States in the work of the Commission, including those that had voted against the Statute of the new Court in Rome.
As of mid-December, 68 countries had signed the Court's Statute, adopted by the international community in Rome in July.
Following other recommendations of the Sixth Committee, the Assembly, in an effort to enhance the protection of diplomats and representatives of consular missions, urged States to strictly observe, implement and enforce the principles and rules of international law governing diplomatic and consular relations. States were also asked to take all measures at the national and international levels to prevent any acts of violence against missions, representatives or other diplomatic officials. While voicing alarm about recent acts of violence which have endangered or taken innocent lives and seriously impeded the normal work of such officials, the Assembly urged States to ensure that such acts are fully investigated with a view to bringing offenders to justice.
In regard to the Committee on Relations with the Host Country, which reports to the Assembly through the Sixth Committee, the Assembly accepted the Host Country Committee's request that its membership of 15 be increased by four members, including one each from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Eastern European States. The new members of the Committee on Relations with the Host Country will be chosen by the General Assembly President, in consultation with the regional groups.
Reviewing work of international legal bodies which report annually to the Assembly, the Sixth Committee discussed efforts of the International Law Commission and specifically reviewed draft articles of a convention on jurisdictional immunities of States and their property adopted recently by the International Law Commission. As recommended by the Committee, the Assembly took note of the Commission's recommendation that an international conference of plenipotentiaries be convened to examine the draft articles and conclude a convention on the subject. It decided to establish an open-ended working group of the Sixth Committee to consider any substantive outstanding matters relating to the draft articles on jurisdictional immunities.
Following the Committee's review of the work of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), the Assembly stressed how important the conventions of UNCITRAL were for harmonizing international trade law. To that end, States were urged to sign, ratify or accede to UNCITRAL conventions. The Assembly, reaffirming UNCITRAL's mandate to coordinate legal activities in the field of international law, called on the United Nations and
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other international organizations to avoid duplication, while promoting harmonization of international trade law.
In all, the Sixth Committee approved 13 draft resolutions and one draft decision, which the Assembly adopted without a vote.
The Committee's Chairman is Jargalsaikhany Enkhsaikhan (Mongolia); its Vice-Chairmen are: Phakiso Mochochoko (Lesotho), Socorro Flores Liera (Mexico) and Hendrikus Verweij (Netherlands); and its Rapporteur is Rytis Paulauskas (Lithuania).
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