Committee forecast

UN Chronicle, Dec, 1991

Nineteen disarmament items will be considered, as well as two on international security and one on the question of Antartica. Three of the disarmament items include 29 sub-items.

The Committee is expected to focus on those dealing with weapons of mass destruction. The recent Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty and announcements by France and China accepting in principle the nuclear non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) will be considered.

Compliance with nuclear safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is also set for discussion.

Other areas of interest include questions of totally banning nuclear tests and establishing a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East. Following the recent accession by South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia to the NPT, the implementation of the Declaration on the Denuclearization of Africa is also an important subject for debate.

The spotlight will also be on chemical weapons, with a final agreement on a convention to ban such weapons expected in 1992. Establishment of a verification system for the convention and, in particular, a feasible inspection regime represent one of the outstanding issues yet to be resolved. Calls for the introduction of a substantive verification regime for the control of biological weapons will be a focus of deliberations.

The question of international arms transfers is likely to be a central focus of debate on conventional weapons. In that context, a report of the Secretary-General recommending the establishing of a universal and non-discriminatory arms transfer register under UN auspices might prove to be a centerpiece for discussion.

For the second time in three years, the Special Political Committee will consider an item on protection and security of small States.

Two other important subjects before it are Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the population of the occupied territories, and the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Organizations and individuals with a special interest in South Africa's apartheid policies, an item debated in plenary, will voice their views before the Committee.

Other agenda items include: effects of atomic radiation; international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space; comprehensive review of the whole question of peace-keeping operation in all their aspects; information issues; and the composition of relevant UN organs.

Four new items will be considered by the Second Committee. They are: international cooperation to study, mitigate and minimize the consequences of the disaster at Chernobyl; human resources development; industrial development cooperation and the diversification and modernization of productive activities in developing countries; and emergency assistance for the economic and social rehabilitation of Liberia.

About one third of the Committee's work focuses on economic and humanitatian assistance or reconstruction. External debt crisis and development are of crucial concern. A report of the first Special High-Level Meeting of the Economic and Social Council (4-5 July 1991, Geneva) will be reviewed. Protection of global climate for present and future generations of mankind is another particularly topical item.

With the most varied and usually the longest agenda, the Committee considers a potpourri of items relating to social, humanitarian and cultural questions. The report of a ministerial meeting to be held in Paris from 21 to 23 November on proposals for an effective crime prevention and criminal justice programme will be reviewed, as well as a report on the size, mandate and future of the programme.

Other issues concern self-determination, drugs, racial discrimination, women, youth, the disabled, the ageing and the family, refugees and human rights.

Rapporteurs are expected to personally present reports on the human rights situations in Kuwait, Irag and South Africa.

The Committee is to focus attention on the remaining 18 Non-Self-Governing Territories, located predominantly in the Caribbean and Pacific subregions. Chairman Charles S. Flemming said new challenges were psed by the needs of those Territories, and new strategies had to be adopted. Territory leaders were meeting more often to approach certain problems collectively, and such developments were ushering in a new attitude towards decolonization, he stated.

Several major tasks are before the Budget Committee, including a nearly $2-billion budget for 1992-1993, and a new assessment scale for Member States. Administrative and financial efficiency within the UN will also be a topic of major concern.

Also to be debated are the administrative and budgetary aspects of the UN peace-keeping and related operations, and financing of recent or current peace-keeping and related operations.

A UN official said on 17 September that the Secretary-General had written to Foreign Ministers of Member States concerning the financial situation of the UN, which was "in the midst of its worst financial crisis since it had been founded".