His Excellency Mr. Ricardo Lagos Escobar, President of the Republic of Chile

His Excellency Mr. Ricardo Lagos Escobar, President of the Republic of Chile

President Lagos Escobar (spoke in Spanish) Sir, after conveying my greetings to you, I should like briefly to make four preliminary comments.

The Co Chairperson (Sweden) The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Ricardo Lagos Escobar, President of Chile.

The Co Chairperson (Gabon) (spoke in French) The Assembly will now hear an address by His Excellency Mr. Ricardo Lagos Escobar, President of the Republic of Chile.

Until then, Brazil had only once before participated in the Committee with Ruth Escobar, elected in 1985.

President Lagos Escobar (spoke in Spanish) Chile is attending this plenary meeting with a mixture of hope, but also, it must be stated, with frustration.

This is a totally unjust and inhuman aspect, as was the case with Oscar López Rivera, Elizam Escobar and Carmen Valentín upon the death of their parents and Ricardo Jiménez, Juan Segarra Palmer and Adolfo Matos on the death of their mothers.

We can assure the Assembly that Mr. Ramón Escobar Salón, Prosecutor of the International Tribunal, in carrying out his functions with consummate competence and with all the devotion and dedication this important post requires, will live up to the expectations of the entire international community.

Mr. Escobar (Colombia) (interpretation from Spanish) It is an honour for Colombia to support, under agenda item 23, the draft resolution entitled International assistance for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Nicaragua aftermath of the war and natural disasters .

Ms. Escobar Hernández (Spain), referring to the topic of reservations to treaties, welcomed the Special Rapporteur's focus in his tenth report (A CN.4 558 and Add.1 and 2) on the conditions for the formulation of valid reservations and the definition and scope of the object and purpose of a treaty.

Héctor Corea Torres and Roberto Mejía Boruca, held in La Unión prison, and Alberto Flores, Nelson Amilcar Escobar and Carlos Cruz Jiménez, held in the San Vicente detention centre, died in riots during this period.