PARKING, TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS, VISA PROCESSING DELAYS FOCUS OF DISCUSSION IN HOST COUNTRY COMMITTEE

Committee on Relations

 with Host Country

224^th Meeting (AM)

PARKING, TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS, VISA PROCESSING DELAYS

FOCUS OF DISCUSSION IN HOST COUNTRY COMMITTEE

New York City’s perennial parking problems, United States restrictions on diplomats’ local travel and delays in visa processing were, once again, the focus of discussion at today’s meeting of the Committee on Relations with the Host Country.

The representative of Venezuela also voiced his indignation with what he termed “abusive” searches by security officials at Continental Airlines at NewarkLibertyInternationalAirport.

The representative of the United States noted that inconsiderate treatment by any United States Government or airline employee was never acceptable and his Government was working to minimize disruptions for all passengers passing through United States airports.  He said the United States, as well as other nations, regularly inspected all passengers for security reasons and more detailed inspections at a secondary airport location were determined by each airline on a random basis when boarding passes were issued.

The need for more timely processing of entry visas was an issue raised by several representatives.  The representative of the Russian Federation said a 15-day time frame for visa processing created a problem for the Russian Mission, while the representative of Nigeria said the delays in visa processing meant two visiting Nigerian officials, the Minister of Transport and the Minister of Water Resources were unable to arrive in time for United Nations meetings.

The representative of the United States responded that he would like to be informed of any similar delays, so the United States Mission could work with officials in Washington, D.C., and the overseas Missions to speed the application process.  He estimated that the his Government -- including the United States mission here and posts overseas -- process 18,000 visas each year for non-U.S. citizens coming to the United States for work or activities related to the United Nations.  That number includes visas for everyone, from diplomats and their families and staffs assigned to the United Nations to a foreign citizen seeking a visa to attend a non-governmental organization meeting held at the United Nations.  His Government works with officials at various missions here in the United States to resolve processing delays.

The representative of Cuba said her Government was unhappy with the travel restrictions that limit certain Cuban officials to a 25-mile radius of Columbus Circle in New York City.  Travel restrictions prevented a representative of the Cuban Mission and a Government official from Havana from attending a United Nations-related meeting in Princeton, New Jersey, she said.

She did not agree with the United States contention that the Princeton meeting was an informal gathering organized by a Liechtenstein educational organization.  She said the Princeton meeting was organized by the Lichtenstein mission and related to the United Nations agenda.

The representative of the United States said travel restrictions were sometimes issued because of national security concerns, and policies on travel restrictions were constantly being reviewed.

The Russian Federations’ representative said the Russian Mission still had an insufficient number of parking spaces -- only two parking spaces for more than 100 vehicles.  He added that its two parking spaces were frequently occupied by other vehicles and city officials did not resolve the problem by removing the vehicles or issuing tickets to the vehicle owners.

A related problem was that municipal authorities were issuing vehicle violation reports every three months, instead of the monthly reports requested by Russian officials.  That meant that Russian officials did not have enough time to resolve any problems, the Russian representative said.

And in other parking issues, the representative of Venezuela said the Mission was unhappy with municipal authorities’ response to their attempts to settle fines imposed for traffic violations.  The representative of Nigeria said that parking spaces reserved for its Mission were frequently taken over by other vehicles, including New York City police vehicles.

The United States representative said his Mission was doing all it could to help all missions with city parking problems.

The Committee on Relations with the Host Country was established in 1971 to deal with the security of diplomatic missions accredited to the United Nations, the safety of their personnel and responsibilities with regard to diplomatic delegations.  Other questions considered by the Committee include diplomatic privileges and immunities; transportation and parking; housing; activities to assist the diplomatic community; and public relations on behalf of United Nations aims within the community.

Current Committee members are:  Bulgaria, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Cyprus, France, Honduras, Hungary, Iraq, Libya, Malaysia, Mali, Russian Federation, Senegal, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States.

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