Thursday, 29 January 2004
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UN Secretary-General Urges European Parliament to Facilitate Legal Migration

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan today urged the European Union to open up greater avenues for legal migration. Addressing the European Parliament in Brussels, upon receiving the Andrei Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, he said the international community needs to manage the movement of people across borders far better than it is doing. He reminded his audience that people migrate today for the same reasons that tens of millions of Europeans once left their shores, fleeing war or oppression or in search of better life in a new land. The Secretary-General noted that many of those states which close their doors actually need migrants.

"Without immigration, the population of the soon-to-be 25 Member States of the EU, 452 million in 2000 would drop to under 400 million people in 2050."

The Secretary-General said were this to happen, jobs would go unfilled and services undelivered, resulting in shrinking economies and stagnating societies.

Iran Says it Has Right to Nuclear Technology for Peaceful Purposes

The Iranian Foreign Minister, Dr. Kamal Kharrazi today maintained that, as a member of the Non-Nuclear Proliferation treaty, his country has an inalienable right to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. Speaking in the UN Disarmament Conference in Geneva, he reminded participants that it was Iran that initiated the Nuclear Weapons Free Zone in the Middle East. In December last year, it signed the Additional Protocol to the NPT and decided to voluntarily suspend all its uranium enrichment activities to allay concerns regarding its objectives.

"A robust verification mechanism is now in place to reassure the IAEA and the international community of the absolute peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear activities."

Dr. Kharrazi said Iran finds no other better framework than the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to protect its interests in a secure environment.

UN Secretary-General Condemns Violence in Middle East

The UN Secretary-General has condemned the latest violence in the Middle East in which a suicide attack on a bus in Jerusalem left ten people dead and dozens injured. In a statement issued in Brussels, he once again appealed to Israelis and Palestinians alike to rise above feelings of anger and vengeance. He called on them to devote all their energies to negotiating a true and lasting peace in which two peoples will live side by side, each in their own state.

UNHCR Reports Bombings along Sudanese Chad Borders Hosting Refugees

The UN refugee agency reported today that there was a series of explosions, apparently from aerial bombings around the Chadian town of Tine. The agency says the bombings killed a man and his two-year old child and wounded fifteen people including Sudanese refugees and local residents of Tine. UNHCR spokesperson in Chad, Helene Caux, told UN Radio that an agency's team was in the area registering hundreds of Sudanese refugees when the bombs fell.

"The Chadian authorities also reported to UNHCR team that according to them there were bombings on the Chadian side. This just shows that there is an urgency to relocate refugees as soon as possible so that they can be provided with more safety and regular assistance as well."

The UNHCR team has been in Tine since Sunday to register scores of Sudanese refugees who have been forced to flee to Chad following attacks on their villages.

Strike by Defense Lawyers Delays Trials for Rwanda Genocide

Some of the lawyers defending people accused of participating in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda are continuing their strike in Arusha, Tanzania. The strike, which started on Wednesday, has led to the postponement of some of the trials. The lawyers have reportedly complained that defence investigators were not being given as much money as the prosecution teams. But the spokesman for the UN tribunal for Rwanda, Roland Amoussouga, says the defence lawyers want to spend money without accounting for it properly. He adds that the court has left the lines of communication open to hear their concerns.