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5 NOVEMBER 1999

The next plenary meeting is on Monday, 8 November, when the General Assembly will take up the reports of the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. The Presidents of the two Tribunals will introduce their reports (A/54/187 and 315). The Assembly will also select the countries that will nominate four members of the 11-member Joint Inspection Unit for a five-year term commencing on 1 January 2000.

At the time of the briefing, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) had resumed its meeting, which was suspended at 11 a.m., to comply with the 24-hour rule regarding the submission of amendments, in this case the text proposed by France (A/C.1/54/L.56). The Committee is expected to take action on a revised text on the preservation of and compliance with the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (A/C.1/54/L.1/Rev.1), sponsored by Belarus, China and the Russian Federation. Before suspending, the Committee voted on draft texts dealing with confidence-building measures, including transparency in armaments; disarmament machinery; and international security. There was a recorded vote on the draft on the maintenance of international security – stability and development of South-Eastern Europe. The vote was 137 in favour to none against, with Belarus and China abstaining.

The original ABM Treaty text, L.1/Rev.1 would call on the parties to the ABM Treaty to limit the deployment of anti-ballistic missile systems and to refrain from deploying them for a defence of the territory of its country and not to provide a base for such a defence or transfer to other States or deploy outside its national territory ABM systems or their components limited by the Treaty. France’s amendment would add a seventh preambular paragraph, "Recalling finally the widespread concern about the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery", as well as a new paragraph, after operative paragraph four, which "Urges all Member States to support efforts aimed at stemming the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery".

Dialogue is continuing in the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural), with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs. Mary Robinson, and human rights experts, who are here to present their reports under the item on human rights questions and situations. Today’s participants are: the Special Representatives on Cambodia, Iran and Rwanda; the Special Rapporteurs on the Sudan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Yugoslavia; and the Independent Expert on Haiti. Statements are being made on behalf of the Special Rapporteurs on Iraq and Burundi, and the Secretary-General’s Representative on Internally Displaced Persons.

Also this afternoon, the Committee will take action on a draft on strengthening the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme, in particular its technical cooperation capacity (A/C.3/54/L.24), after hearing the introduction of four drafts dealing with the girl child (A/C.3/54/L.46); measures to combat contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance (A/C.3/54/L.26); torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (A/C.3/54/L.50); and the International Covenants on Human Rights (A/C.3/54/L.52).

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), this morning, filled vacancies in six subsidiary organs. Recommended for appointment to the 16-member Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) for a three-year term starting 1 January 2000 were: Mr. Gerard Biraud (France), Ms. Norma Goicochea Estenoz (Cuba), Mr. Vladimir V. Kuznetsov (Russian Federation), Ms. Susan M. Shearouse (United States) and Mr. Roger Tchoungui (Cameroon).

Recommended for appointment to the 18-member Committee on Contributions for a three-year term starting on 1 January 2000 were: Mr. Alvaro Gurgel de Alencar Netto (Brazil), Mr. Ju Kuilin (China), Mr. Sergei I. Mareyev (Russian Federation), Mr. Angel Marron (Spain), Mr. Hae-Yun Park (Republic of Korea) and Mr. Ugo Sessi (Italy).

For the three-member Board of Auditors, the Auditor-General of South Africa has been nominated by that Government to serve a three-year term beginning on 1 July 2000. Recommended for reappointment to the nine-member Investments Committee for a three-year term beginning on 1 January 2000 were: Ms. Francine J. Bovich (United States), Mr. Takeshi Ohta (Japan) and Mr. Peter Stormonth Darling (United Kingdom).

Recommended for reappointment to the seven-member United Nations Administrative Tribunal for a three-year term beginning on 1 January 2000 were: Mr. Julio Barboza (Argentina) and Mr. Mayer Gabay (Israel). And recommended for appointment as an alternate member of the United Nations Staff Pension Committee, from the date of appointment to 31 December 2000, was Amjad Hussain B. Sial (Pakistan).

Because the number of candidates equalled the number of vacancies in the six bodies, there were no secret ballots. The related documents are: A/54/101/Rev.1 to 105 and A/C.5/54/5 to 10.

The Committee then continued its consideration of the items on the United Nations common system and the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2000-2001, taking up sections 11 to 15.

The Sixth Committee (Legal) is concluding its two-week consideration of the report of the International Law Commission on the work of its fifty-first session.

As we meet, the Committee on Information is concluding its resumed twenty-first session. It will adopt its report (A/54/21), as amended, to the General Assembly. Paragraph 35 of the draft resolution on United Nations public information policies and activities was revised to take note of two reports of the Secretary-General on United Nations Web sites, and to request him to continue to develop proposals that are cost effective and with a focus on textual content, for consideration at its next session.

Assembly President Theo-Ben Gurirab departs tonight for Germany, to participate in the Founding Congress of the Centre for Global Ethics in Wittenberg. The Centre’s objective is to create a forum for worldwide communication that brings together diverse social, religious and cultural groups in hopes of building a better world for our children, our neighbours and ourselves. The Centre will sponsor dialogue in all areas of culture, encourage mutual understanding among peoples and provide guidance to world leaders in politics, business and society. The Co-Chairmen are: Mr. Andrew Young, former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, and Mr. Hans-Dietrich Genscher, former German Secretary of State.

Looking ahead to next week: on Tuesday, 9 November, the Assembly will consider the item on the "Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba". On 10 November, it will discuss the item on the Bethlehem 2000 celebration. The following day, 11 November, the Assembly will hold a special meeting for the commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The First Committee will continue taking action on all draft resolutions and decisions before it, concluding that exercise on 9 November.

On 8 November, the Second Committee will discuss the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction. It will then take up two items: training and research, and the permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, and of the Arab populations in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources. On 9 and 10 November, the Committee will consider the report of the Economic and Social Council.

The Third Committee will continue its consideration of human rights questions through Thursday, 11 November. From 10 to 12 November, the Fourth Committee will discuss the effects of atomic radiation. On Monday, 8 November, the Fifth Committee is expected to conclude its section-by-section discussion of the proposed programme budget for 2000-2001, and, under the same item, discuss the report of the Standing Committee of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Board and the related ACABQ report. The Committee will also consider the 1998-1999 programme budget.

From 8 to 10 November, the Sixth Committee will discuss the Convention on jurisdictional immunities of States and their property. On 11 November, it takes up the item on the review of the Statute of the United Nations Administrative Tribunal. On Friday, 12 November, it takes up the item on the United Nations Programme of Assistance in the Teaching, Study, Dissemination and Wider Appreciation of International Law, and begins its discussion of measures to eliminate international terrorism.