Sommaire: May 16, 2002: Weekly Highlights: International Criminal Court, UN Special Session on Children, and more.
Welcome to the official e-mail alert service of the European Union at the United Nations.
This week, the EU said it regretted the formal announcement by the United States that it does not intend to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The EU restated its belief that the anxieties expressed by the United States with regard to the future activities of the ICC are unfounded and that the Rome Statute provides all necessary safeguards against the misuse of the Court for politically motivated purposes.
There were important statements at the UN Special Session on Children by Mr. Pio Cabanillas, Spain's Minister/Spokesman, on behalf of the EU and by EC Ambassador Richardson. The EU said the Convention on the Rights of the Child is the basis for all EU actions in this field. The EU also made an urgent call to abolish the death penalty and life imprisonment for those under eighteen years of age at the time the offence was committed. The EU said the sexual and reproductive health of young people had been a neglected area and that they should be empowered to make appropriate and safe choices about their sexual behavior.
The main results of this week's EU's General Affairs Council (GAC) can be downloaded at http://ue.eu.int/pressData/en/gena/70459.pdf. This includes work in hand to improve the effectiveness of the EU's external actions (page 9), the EU's Economic Partnership Agreements with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (page 10), the Middle East (page 12), Western Balkans (page 15-20), Iran (page 21) and Angola (page 22). GAC approval for the EU's mandate for Johannesburg is expected on 17th June.
The EU Presidency issued a statement on the results of the GAC and especially on the Middle East. This followed last week's EU's statement made at the General Assembly on the Middle East. The European Commission has also just released details of conditions attached to the EC's budgetary assistance to the Palestinian Authority and its monitoring by the IMF.
After the UN Security Council Mission to the Great Lakes region in Africa, the EU called upon all Congolese parties to abide by the Lusaka Agreements and all relevant UN resolutions. It also outlined its support for the security arrangements being worked out and called for respect for human rights. For Burundi, the EU condemned the "logic of war" and encouraged the Government and all the transitional institutions to consolidate the reform process.
The EU commended the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy Razali Ismail for his good offices in Myanmar on the occasion of the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.
During the past few days, issues of further interest include:
* The European Commission will provide a further €3.5 million in emergency humanitarian aid for the Palestinian Territories; almost €30 million in food aid for Afghanistan; €2.6 million for peace initiatives in Somalia, Sudan and Eritrea/Ethiopia; €6.5 million in food aid to the people of Zimbabwe; and €2 million of humanitarian aid for vulnerable communities in Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua suffering from food shortages.
* European Commissioner Diamantopoulou, participating in the launch of the International Labour Organisation's first global report on child labour, called for urgent international measures to combat child labour, in particular by combating poverty, promoting education and clamping down on trafficking in human beings.
Finally, calls for proposals for project-funding have been issued under the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights in four areas of activities: 1) support for the abolition of the death penalty, 2) fighting impunity and promoting international justice, 3) combating racism, xenophobia and discrimination against ethnic minorities and indigenous people, 4) preventing torture and the provision of support for the rehabilitation of torture victims. For further details, please click here.
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