United Nations Daily Highlights, 98-10-01

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From: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.org

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Thursday, 1 October, 1998

Latest Developments

HEADLINES

• Human Rights Commissioner calls for urgent preventive action in wake of massacres in Kosovo.
• Deputy Secretary-General welcomes entry into force of anti-landmine convention, but says battle is not won.
• United Nations launches International Year of Older Persons under theme "towards a society for all."

In a statement made on Thursday, Ms. Robinson said that her office had been seeking to increase the number of monitors on the ground in Kosovo where security forces reportedly massacred defenceless civilians over the weekend. She said that a stronger presence would also assist in ascertaining the facts of events such as the killings this weekend. Ms. Robinson also underscored the need for independent investigation by experts, including international forensic specialists, into violent deaths resulting from armed actions and into reported massacres.

Recalling that just over a week ago the Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia agreed that a Memorandum of Understanding to allow such an increase should be finalized, Ms. Robinson said the time had come to conclude this agreement. "The time has also come to address at the political level the unacceptable suffering of the people driven from their homes in Kosovo," she added.

Ms. Robinson said that once again, the international community had been shocked and outraged by massacres of civilians in Kosovo. The women, children and elderly men shot through the head and mutilated in the Drenica area over the weekend, she pointed out, had apparently been trying to escape the violence and intimidation associated with the continuing operations by the Yugoslav security forces.

The Human Rights Commissioner said that these killings were particularly reprehensible because they were evidence that despite expressions of international concern and official assurances that civilians would be respected, atrocities were continuing in Kosovo.

Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fr‚chette said the second two battles would be "in the effort to remove the millions of landmines that continue to kill, maim and sow terror among the weakest and most vulnerable of our world; and in the effort to universalize the treaty and bring every nation and every people into compliance with this Convention of conscience."

Ms. Fréchette took the occasion to underscore the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the genesis of the Convention. "The historic alliance that brought this Convention into being was one of unique cooperation between the United Nations, national governments, civil society and humanitarian organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and, of course, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines which so richly deserved its reward of a Nobel Peace Prize," she said.

The Foreign Minister of Canada, Lloyd Axworthy, said the international partnership that had forged the Treaty had "changed the face of diplomacy around the world." The rules about how decisions got made internationally were being rewritten. The "Ottawa process" which had led to the adoption of the landmine ban was changing the rules for a whole range of humanitarian and security initiatives. A similar initiative was now under way to curb the illicit circulation of small arms. Indeed, the landmine campaign was a model for an increasing number of other important international issues.

The chief spokesman for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, Jody Williams, announced that Campaign had developed a groundbreaking initiative known as the Landmine Monitor, which was designed to help the 1,000 NGOs in 75 countries who were now part of the campaign gather data on the Treaty's implementation. They would prepare an annual report to coincide with the annual meetings of States parties, and they would keep a database on the evolution of the Treaty itself, including mine clearance and victims assistance activities.

Ms. Williams added that a "Challenge Fund" had been set up to raise the basic funds for demining and victims assistance activities worldwide. The monies received from the Nobel Peace Prize had constituted the first $500, 000 contribution to the Fund.

The Permanent Representative of Norway to the United Nations, Ole Peter Kolby, agreed that a unique partnership had developed in the Ottawa process. Noting that there was no time for complacency, he announced that Norway would contribute $200,000 to the Challenge Fund.

Queen Noor of Jordan said the Middle East was one of most mine-infested regions in the world. Landmines planted since the Second World War were still killing women and children daily. Sadly, a number of countries in the region were still producing landmines and opposing the initiatives to ban them, she added. Nonetheless, the message was reaching into every corner of the world slowly and steadily, she said.

According to the United Nations Population Division, which defines older persons as those 60 years and older, one of every 10 persons now falls under that category. By the year 2050, one of five will be 60 years or older; by 2150, it will be one of three persons. The older population itself is ageing. Currently, persons 80 years and older constitute 11 per cent of the population aged 60 and above. By 2050, 27 per cent of the older population will be over 80 years old.

The impact of the world's ageing population growth on socio-economic policies and the culture of societies is already presenting problems to governments. To help meet the challenge, the United Nations General Assembly decided in 1992 to observe the International Year of Older Persons in 1999. The objective of the Year is to raise awareness of the fast- changing demographic picture of older persons globally.

"A society for all ages is one that does not caricature older persons as patients and pensioners," said Secretary-General Kofi Annan. "Instead, it sees them as both agents and beneficiaries of development."

In a speech opening the commemorative events on Thursday, the Secretary- General said that having turned 60 himself less than six months ago, he was now counted among the statistics on ageing. "I am an older person," he observed. From this perspective, he said, he had seen the "great potential of an age of ageing."

The Secretary-General was presented with a commemorative poster from the American Association of Retired Persons and a special greeting card from the Dutch National Committee on Ageing.

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