General Assembly Official Records Fifty-Fourth Session
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United Nations A/54/PV.84 General Assembly Official Records Fifty-fourth session 84th plenary meeting Friday, 17 December 1999, 3 p.m. New York President: Mr. Gurirab ...................................... (Namibia) In the absence of the President, Mr. Morel become sponsors: Argentina, Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, (Seychelles), Vice-President, took the Chair. Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Guyana, Haiti, Madagascar, Mali, the Marshall Islands, Mauritius, The meeting was called to order at 3.15 p.m. Samoa, Seychelles, United Republic of Tanzania and Uruguay. Agenda items 20 and 50 (continued) May I take it that the Assembly decides to adopt draft resolution A/54/L.58? Strengthening of the coordination of humanitarian and disaster relief assistance of the United Nations, including Draft resolution A/54/L.58 was adopted (resolution special economic assistance 54/189). (f) Emergency international assistance for peace, The Acting President: May I take it that it is the normalcy and reconstruction of war-stricken wish of the General Assembly to conclude its Afghanistan consideration of sub-item (f) of agenda item 20? The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for It was so decided. international peace and security The Acting President: The Assembly has thus Draft resolution (A/54/L.58) concluded this stage of its consideration of agenda item 50. Report of the Fifth Committee (A/54/671) The Acting President: We will now proceed to take Agenda item 24 (continued) action on draft resolution A/54/L.58. Return or restitution of cultural property to the The report of the Fifth Committee on the programme countries of origin budget implications of the draft resolution is contained in document A/54/671. Draft resolution (A/54/L.47/Rev.1) I should like to announce that, since the introduction The Acting President: Members will recall that the of draft resolution A/54/L.58, the following countries have General Assembly held a debate on this item at its 72nd plenary meeting on 7 December 1999. 00-27742 (E) This record contains the text of speeches delivered in English and of the interpretation of speeches delivered in the other languages. Corrections should be submitted to the original speeches only. They should be incorporated in a copy of the record and sent under the signature of a member of the delegation concerned to the Chief of the Verbatim Reporting Service, room C-178. Corrections will be issued after the end of the session in a consolidated corrigendum. 1 General Assembly 84th plenary meeting Fifty-fourth session 17 December 1999 In this connection, the Assembly has before it a draft I would like once more to express our gratitude to resolution issued as document A/54/L.47/Rev.1. the sponsors of this resolution and ask Member States to pursue further their efforts, especially through the relevant Mr. Gounaris (Greece): On behalf of the sponsors committees of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and as agreed during informal consultations on document and Cultural Organization, to promote the resolution’s A/54/L.47/Rev.1, I would like to make the following oral implementation. correction: the fourth preambular paragraph should follow the fifth preambular paragraph, in order to have a consistent The Acting President: May I take it that it is the chronological order of all relevant conventions mentioned wish of the Assembly to conclude its consideration of in the text. agenda item 24? The Acting President: The Assembly will now take It was so decided. a decision on draft resolution A/54/L.47/Rev.1, as orally corrected. Agenda item 35 (continued) I should like to announce that since the introduction of the draft resolution, the following countries have become Assistance in mine action sponsors: Albania, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Burundi, Colombia, Croatia, Romania and Ukraine. Draft resolution (A/54/L.71) May I take it that the Assembly decides to adopt draft The Acting President: Members will recall that the resolution A/54/L.47/Rev.1, as orally corrected? General Assembly held a debate on this item at its 58th plenary meeting, on 19 November 1999. Draft resolution A/54/L.47/Rev.1, as orally corrected, was adopted (resolution 54/190). I now give the floor to the representative of Finland to introduce draft resolution A/54/L.71. The Acting President: I give the floor to the representative of Algeria, who wishes to speak on a point Ms. Korpi (Finland): I have the honour to introduce, of order. on behalf of the European Union and all the other sponsors, the draft resolution on assistance in mine action, Mr. Sai (Algeria) (spoke in French): I would like to contained in document A/54/L.71. Since the publication make one correction: Algeria has withdrawn from the list of this draft resolution, entitled “Assistance in mine of sponsors of this draft resolution. action”, the following countries have joined as sponsors: Angola, Colombia, Malta, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, The Acting President: The Secretariat takes note of South Africa and Thailand. that fact. In order to make the text consistent with the version I call on the representative of Greece. finalized in negotiations and submitted to the Secretariat, let me make the following oral corrections. Mr. Gounaris (Greece): On behalf of my Government, I would like to express our deepest First, in the first preambular paragraph, the titles of appreciation to all Member States for the valuable support the resolutions should be cited. After “18 December rendered to the resolution just adopted. Their constructive 1997”, the words “on assistance in mine clearance” participation during informal consultations on the draft text should be added; and also after “17 November 1998”, the made possible its adoption today by consensus for the first words “on assistance in mine action” should be added. time since the introduction of this agenda item in 1973. Secondly, in the sixth line of the tenth preambular Cooperation between Member States, transparency of paragraph, the word “and” should the added after the information and open exchanges of views between parties comma. In the last line, the word “for” should be added concerned are indeed instrumental in achieving mutually after the word “and”. acceptable solutions to the issue of return or restitution of cultural property to the countries of origin. 2 General Assembly 84th plenary meeting Fifty-fourth session 17 December 1999 Thirdly, in operative paragraph 2, line 4, the word emphasis is placed in the draft resolution on victim “and” should be added after the comma, and the word assistance, as well as on the need for age- and “those” should be replaced by “these”. gender-appropriate mine-awareness programmes and child-related rehabilitation. Fourthly, at the end of operative paragraph 9, the following words should be added: “in annex II to his report The negotiations on this draft resolution were on this agenda item in 1998”. lengthy, and we hope that the result will lead to further enhancement of international cooperation in the field of Fifthly, in operative paragraph 19, line 4, the words mine action. I would like to express our gratitude to all “progress made” should be deleted. the delegations that gave their support during the negotiations and our hope that this important draft The agenda item “Assistance in mine action” puts resolution will be adopted by consensus. before us an area of tremendous humanitarian suffering. Almost one third of the world’s nations are, to some extent, The Acting President: I would like to announce contaminated by millions of anti-personnel landmines and that since the introduction of draft resolution A/54/L.71 pieces of unexploded ordnance. The purpose of this draft Senegal has become a sponsor. resolution is to help reduce the number of mine victims by enhancing international cooperation in humanitarian mine The Assembly will now take a decision on draft action. It is aimed at supporting and making easier the work resolution A/54/L.71, as orally corrected. of the United Nations and all other actors involved in mine action in the field, be it in mine clearance, victim May I take it that the Assembly decides to adopt assistance, mine awareness or other mine action activities. draft resolution A/54/L.71, as orally corrected? The draft resolution again emphasizes the important role of the United Nations in the effective coordination of mine Draft resolution A/54/L.71, as orally revised, was action activities, as well as the role of the United Nations adopted (resolution 54/191). Mine Action Service as the focal point for mine action within the United Nations system. It encourages the The Acting President: I give the floor to the Secretary-General to further develop a comprehensive mine representative of Finland speaking on a point of order. action strategy and emphasizes the importance of developing a comprehensive information management Ms. Korpi (Finland): There seems to be some system for mine action. confusion regarding the sponsors of resolution 54/191, which has just been adopted. There have been important developments in the field of mine action in 1999, many of which are reflected in the May I inform the Assembly that Andorra had also draft resolution. The draft notes the entry into force on 1 signed on as a sponsor on time. Andorra should therefore March 1999 of the Convention on the Prohibition of the be added as a sponsor of this resolution. Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on Their Destruction and the First Meeting of The Acting President: May I take it that it is the the States Parties to the Convention in May 1999, in wish of the General Assembly to conclude its Maputo, at which measures were taken, among other things, consideration of agenda item 35? to provide assistance for mine clearance, rehabilitation, the social and economic reintegration of mine victims and It was so decided.