Back to Home Page

Back to General Assembly

16 NOVEMBER 1999

The General Assembly holds a commemorative meeting tomorrow to mark the end of the United Nations Decade of International Law (1990-1999). Assembly President Theo-Ben Gurirab will address the meeting, as will the Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and Legal Counsel, Mr. Hans Corell. Twenty-nine other speakers are inscribed, including the Foreign Minister of the Netherlands, Mr. Hans Van Mierlo, and representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

In declaring the Decade, the Assembly outlined its main purposes as promoting acceptance of and respect for principles of international law; promoting means and methods for the peaceful settlement of disputes between States, including resort to and full respect for the International Court of Justice; encouraging the progressive development of international law and its codification; and encouraging the teaching, study, dissemination and wider appreciation of international law.

Item 34 on the Assembly’s agenda is entitled "dialogue among civilizations". Last year, the Assembly designated 2001 as the United Nations Year of Dialogue among Civilizations (resolution 53/22). It invited Governments and organizations to implement cultural, educational and social programmes to promote the concept of dialogue among civilizations. In implementing that resolution, the Secretary-General appointed a Personal Representative, Giandomenico Picco, to launch initiatives aimed at furthering such a dialogue, the idea for which had been put forward by President Mohammad Khatami of Iran. Mr. Picco has just completed a visit to Tehran during which he held talks with the Iranian President and other officials on steps to advance the concept of dialogue among civilizations. The Secretary-General will submit his first report on the subject to the Assembly in the coming days. A press release on the Picco trip is available in room 378.

At two meetings today, Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) will hear the introduction of 17 draft resolutions dealing with crime prevention and criminal justice, advancement of women and human rights questions and situations; take action on three texts on the elimination of racism and racial discrimination (A/C.3/54/L.28/Rev.1), the right of peoples to self-determination (A/C.3/54/L.27) and the elimination of all forms of religious intolerance (A/C.3/54/L.61); and conclude its consideration of refugee-related questions.

This afternoon, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) takes up item 91, questions relating to information. The Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, Mr. Kensaku Hogen, will address the Committee, updating members on the work of the Department of Public Information over the past year and on its future activities. For its general debate, the Committee will have before it the report the Committee on Information (A/54/21 and Add.1). The addendum, on the Committee’s resumed session, incorporates revisions made to paragraph 35 of draft resolution B – United Nations public information policies and activities – concerning the continued development, maintenance and enrichment of United Nations Web sites; and also to a draft decision on increasing the Committee’s membership to 95, and to appoint Liberia and Mozambique as members.

The report of the Secretary-General (A/54/415) states that during the reporting period, DPI concentrated its reorientation efforts on three areas: continued application of the latest technological developments to both improve programme delivery in the print, radio and television media, and at the same time further strengthen its outreach to audiences around the world through the United Nations Web site on the Internet, which the Department manages and coordinates; the development of a more effective news gathering and delivery system, which has been identified by the Secretary-General as one of the most immediate priorities in the process of reorientation of the work of DPI; and continued strengthening of the Organization’s ability to communicate at the country and regional levels, to ensure that the global messages of the United Nations are tailored to national orientations.

This morning, the Sixth Committee (Legal) continued its discussion of measures to eliminate international terrorism. It was also scheduled to take action on a draft resolution on the report of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization (A/C.6/54/L.11).

Today is the International Day of Tolerance. To mark the occasion, the non-governmental organization Friends of the United Nations is sponsoring a luncheon where the 1999 Global Peace and Tolerance Lifetime Achievement Awards will be given to seven honourees who use their creative talent to further peace and tolerance. The Permanent Representative of Seychelles, Ambassador Claude Morel, will make a statement on behalf of Assembly President Theo-Ben Gurirab. In those remarks, the President says the solutions to conflicts do not lie in peacekeeping alone or greater application of military force, but in building and strengthening that peace, which begins in the minds of men and women and which can only be nurtured by the acceptance of Universal Human Rights and by the proper values of respect for diversity, affection for each other and tolerance. Copies of the statement are available in room 378.