Tajikistan, 2001

This

session of the General Assembly is facing the very

important task of comparing and coordinating the

positions of the members of the international

community on the most urgent issues of our time, that

is, ensuring strategic stability and equal security for all

States, strengthening the coordinating role of the

United Nations in the maintenance of international

peace and security and the settlement of regional

conflict, fighting poverty and disease, and creating

conditions for sustainable development and prosperity

of all peoples on our planet. It is clear that the search

for a collective response to the unprecedented

challenge thrown down to mankind by international

terrorism on 11 September has become a key subject of

this session.

The twentieth century proved convincingly that

the United Nations has indeed become the centre for

harmonizing the actions of nations in maintaining

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peace, ensuring collective security, developing

international cooperation, and ensuring respect for

human rights and fundamental freedoms. Thanks to the

joint efforts of its Member States, the Organization has,

in 55 years, become a universal forum capable of

developing joint political approaches of the community

of nations towards resolving the most urgent and

complicated problems of world development. The role

of the United Nations as the most representative

international forum for discussing the whole range of

problems faced by mankind, and developing

approaches for international cooperation in dealing

with such problems, is becoming more significant with

each passing year. In the view of the President of

Tajikistan, Emomali Rakhmonov, the task of

strengthening the central role of the United Nations has

become more rather than less urgent.

During the fifty-sixth session of the General

Assembly the Republic of Tajikistan will be celebrating

the tenth anniversary of its United Nations

membership. Since the first day of its international

recognition, Tajikistan has been working closely with

the United Nations. Cooperation with the United

Nations in the first years of its independence helped

Tajikistan to stop civil strife, to find an effective

formula for peace and national accord and now to start

post-conflict peace-building.

We will never forget that dramatic period and the

selfless assistance and support that we were given by

Member States, the Security Council, and specialized

agencies. Our special gratitude goes to the Secretary-

General, Mr. Kofi Annan, whose contribution to the

settlement of the inter-Tajik conflict deserves the

greatest appreciation. We believe that the Nobel Peace

Prize awarded to the United Nations also reflects the

success achieved under its leadership by the

international community in the peaceful settlement of

the internal conflict in Tajikistan and in overcoming its

consequences. We are convinced that the unique

experience of peacemaking in Tajikistan deserves in-

depth consideration and study. Practical lessons learned

from the settlement of the inter-Tajik conflict and the

United Nations peacemaking activities will enable the

international community to find new approaches

towards resolving conflicts in other hot spots on the

planet.

The variety of problems dealt with by the United

Nations highlights the unique and universal role played

by the Organization in regulating international affairs.

That is particularly important in the field of

international security. The Republic of Tajikistan calls

for ensuring strategic stability in the world based on

maintaining the existing system of agreements and

treaties on disarmament and a continuing process of

arms limitation, on both a unilateral and multilateral

basis. Tajikistan, for its part, is prepared to make its

contribution to this process. In cooperation with our

neighbouring States, we are actively working to

implement the initiative of establishing a nuclear-free

zone in Central Asia. We hope that a treaty to this

effect will shortly be ready for signing by the heads of

State in our region, and expect that all nuclear Powers

will become its guarantors.

The appalling acts of terror perpetrated in the

United States on 11 September forced the whole world

to confront the issue of international terrorism and take

a fresh look at it. In order to solve this problem, it will

be necessary to analyse the whole set of new

challenges and threats and develop new approaches

towards creating a credible and effective system for

countering them. May I remind Member States that, on

behalf of the people of Tajikistan, immediately after

the terrorist acts, President Emomali Rakhmonov

conveyed sincere condolences and sympathy to the

families of all those who had died or suffered. He

expressed full solidarity with the people of the United

States and readiness to cooperate closely with their

Government and the Governments of other States in

eradicating international terrorism.

Tajikistan has always condemned terrorism in all

its manifestations and categorically rejects the use of

terrorist acts as a means of achieving political or other

goals. We reject any attempts to justify acts of terror on

political, religious, philosophical, ethnic or racial

grounds. International cooperation in combating

terrorism and extremism is not an abstract notion for

our country. The Tajik people are very well aware of

the methods and practices of international terrorism. In

recent years, Tajikistan has repeatedly been a target of

terrorist activities carried out from outside. In addition

to the huge material losses, such actions always entail

loss of life and enormous human suffering. What is

worse, terrorism attempts not only to derail the peace

process in Tajikistan, but also to destabilize the

situation over a vast region of Asia. Acts of

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international terrorism constitute a grave threat to

international peace and security. In combating

terrorism in any part of our planet, the international

community should be guided by similar criteria and act

in a resolute, sincere and, most important, consistent

manner. All States must unconditionally and fully

implement the provisions of United Nations Security

Council resolution 1373 (2001), including those which

call for depriving terrorists and their sponsors of

financial or any other support and haven.

We believe that one of the primary objectives of

this session of the General Assembly is to consolidate

the legal framework, under United Nations auspices,

for the interaction of States in combating international

terrorism. In our view, the early adoption of a

comprehensive convention on combating international

terrorism and the convention on combating acts of

nuclear terrorism could be of great significance in this

regard. On various occasions, in particular from this

rostrum, the President of Tajikistan has called for

uniting the efforts of the community of nations to

combat the international terrorist underground. Our

country has interacted effectively with other States in

combating international terrorism on a bilateral and

multilateral basis, in particular within the

Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the

Shanghai Cooperation Organization and other

international organizations. The United Nations, with

its unprecedented experience and authority in

coordinating the efforts of its Member States, is called

upon to play the key role in establishing a global

system to counteract a threat of such magnitude as

international terrorism. It will take much effort and

time. However, the lofty and vitally important goal of

eradicating this dreadful phenomenon is worthy of such

endeavour.

The five weeks that have elapsed since the

beginning of the military operation in Afghanistan have

proved that the Afghan problem cannot be resolved by

means of force alone. There is simply no military

solution to it, and history has provided convincing

proof of that. At the high-level meeting yesterday of

the Six plus Two Group, and today at the meeting of

the Security Council on Afghanistan, the delegation of

Tajikistan emphasized that under current circumstances

the Afghan people have a unique opportunity to return

to peaceful and stable development. This is an

opportunity for Afghanistan to become a full-fledged

member of the international community and to change

its unfortunate image of an accomplice in international

terrorism and other criminal, destructive, destabilizing

movements. The Afghan nation is on the threshold of

fundamental change. The most crucial task, and I

would say a matter of honour for the international

community, is to help the Afghan people to take

advantage of this opportunity. Everything must be done

to make sure that in the future Afghanistan is no longer

a threat to the Afghans themselves, to neighbouring

countries and to international security overall.

Everything must be done in order to ensure respect for

human rights and fundamental freedoms in

Afghanistan, including putting an end to the shameful

discrimination against women and girls. Everything

must be done to restore to the Afghan people hope for a

peaceful future and prosperity. Tajikistan is prepared,

in cooperation with other concerned States, and with a

central coordinating role for the United Nations, to

assist Afghanistan, a country with a great history, to

regain a worthy future and to restore its former

attractive image in the eyes of the international

community. We believe that determining the future of

Afghanistan is the exclusive prerogative of the Afghan

people themselves. One of the indispensable conditions

for returning Afghanistan to a peaceful life is ending

outside interference and uniting, under United Nations

auspices, the efforts of the international community to

accelerate the process of political settlement of the

Afghan problem and the rehabilitation of the country.

Furthermore, it is essential that all hotbeds of

terrorism, elements of organized crime and the

structures and — most importantly — the production

potential of the drug business be eliminated in

Afghanistan.

It goes without saying that the territorial integrity

of Afghanistan must be guaranteed. Only the

establishment of a freely chosen, effective, broad-

based, politically balanced and multi-ethnic Afghan

administration can guarantee peace and stability in the

country. It also goes without saying that the Taliban

movement as a political group has no place in a future

Afghan administration since this could be fraught with

the danger of the recurrence of terrorism and the drug

trade in Afghanistan.

We are profoundly concerned about the grave

humanitarian situation in Afghanistan. The refusal of

the Taliban regime to fulfil the demands of the anti-

terrorist coalition to hand over the masterminds and

organizers of the acts of terror in the United States has

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resulted in new sufferings for the Afghan people and an

increase in the numbers of refugees and displaced

persons. According to the Office of the United Nations

High Commissioner for Refugees, among the 22

million refugees throughout the world, at least one out

of six is an Afghan. According to the estimates of the

humanitarian organizations, the drought that has

continued for three years in Afghanistan has already

resulted in the incredible impoverishment of the entire

population, and military operations and the

approaching winter have placed millions of Afghan

people on the edge of extinction. The actual reality is

such that the coming winter threatens millions of

Afghans with death from starvation. Right after the

beginning of the United States anti-terrorist operation

in Afghanistan, the Tajikistan Government issued a

special decision expressing its readiness to open its

airspace and related infrastructure for providing

humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan

who have been suffering from the Taliban tyranny for a

long time. We call upon all Member States and

humanitarian institutions and organizations to give all

the necessary assistance to the people of Afghanistan

without delay. If that is not done, then Afghanistan will

become the scene of a horrendous humanitarian

tragedy. It could cause a wave of instability in

neighbouring States and in the region as a whole. We

cannot allow that to happen.

The policy of drug production and export pursued

by the Taliban regime can be described as a policy

against humanity. It is sad that Afghanistan, one of the

founding Members of the United Nations and one of

the cradles of world civilization and culture, has now,

through the fault of the Taliban regime, become one of

the world’s largest producers of lethal drugs.

According to the United Nations Office for Drug

Control and Crime Prevention, the considerable

decrease in the poppy crop in Afghanistan this year has

not resulted in a reduction of illicit heroin trafficking,

either to neighbouring countries or to Europe. Huge

amounts of raw opium stored in the Taliban-controlled

territory were used for heroin trafficking. The quantity

of heroin that has been destroyed in Tajikistan this year

alone is three times as much as last year, and this

amounts to tons of this deadly product.

As a result of the tragic events of 11 September, a

new situation has emerged in Afghanistan. The United

Nations has been unable to continue assistance to the

Afghan farmers and exercise control over drug

production and trade. The Taliban movement, for

whom, under the current circumstances, drug

trafficking has become one of its major sources of

income, took advantage of this situation. That has put

an additional burden on neighbouring countries, such

as Tajikistan, that are trying to block drug trafficking

from Afghanistan. We understand that the drug threat

emanating from Afghanistan can be eliminated only

through a lasting peace settlement in the country and

by establishing a new coalition government that would

ensure fulfilment of all its international commitments.

However, that will take time. For this reason we

express our gratitude to the Office for Drug Control

and Crime Prevention and to all donor States that are

funding the anti-drug programmes implemented by the

Office, and call upon them to increase their assistance

to Tajikistan in its noble struggle against illicit flows of

deadly substances from Afghanistan, a struggle that

serves the interests of millions of people in various

countries. We in Tajikistan attach great importance to

this struggle and view it as an important contribution to

combating international terrorism by depriving it of

one of the main sources of its financial support.

The Millennium Summit and Millennium

Assembly, which have become milestones in the

international dialogue, identified globalization as the

main challenge to the international community. There

is no doubt that globalization, which is an objective

economic process, provides unprecedented

opportunities for accelerated development. At the same

time, it is obvious that the benefits of globalization are

distributed quite unequally, and the balance of benefits

and costs is definitely in favour of the developed

nations. The conclusion is obvious: for various reasons

many developing countries and economies in transition

run the serious risk of finding themselves on the

sidelines, away from the mainstream development of

civilization. Only by applying all available mechanisms

of multilateral international institutions can we stop the

widening gap in development and incomes between

rich and poor countries that was caused by

globalization, and prevent an increase in poverty,

unequal access to advanced technologies, cross-border

crime and the spread of hidden forms of discrimination

in international trade.

As for Tajikistan, it faces the long-term problem

of rebuilding a country that has been heavily damaged

by civil strife. The Government is undertaking all

possible measures to strengthen civil society, to

39

encourage economic recovery and to create favourable

conditions for healthy and sustainable social and

economic development. We hope that the participants

in the Consultative Group Meeting for Tajikistan, held

in Tokyo in May 2001, will fulfil their commitments to

Tajikistan, which would enable us to channel additional

resources to rehabilitation projects. That would

increase employment and substantially reduce poverty.

The problem of combating poverty will remain, in the

short term, one of the priority tasks for the Government

of Tajikistan. The targeted comprehensive programme

that is currently being implemented in the country

envisages, in particular, measures to create new jobs, to

improve primary education, to ease access to loans and

microcredits, and, what is particularly important, to

enhance the development of rural regions. We are

carefully studying the experience of other countries in

combating poverty. The progress made by some

States — in particular in China, our neighbour — is

quite encouraging. However, the high level of external

indebtedness of Tajikistan is a major obstacle in this

regard. It also impedes post-conflict peace-building

and poses a serious threat to social and economic

stability in our country. We are convinced that in order

to support the developing countries and economies in

transition in combating poverty it is important for the

international community to become more dynamic and

flexible in easing the debt burden for our countries.

In recent years we have witnessed an increasing

number of major natural and industrial disasters,

including hurricanes, earthquakes, floods and forest

fires. Human casualties and material losses caused by

them have become a serious destabilizing factor. For

two years running, Tajikistan has suffered as a result of

a large-scale drought, unprecedented in the twentieth

century. One third of our cotton and grain crops was

destroyed by drought. Cattle farming and animal

husbandry products have sharply declined. Shortages

of water, including fresh water, have increased. We

express our gratitude to the Secretary-General, to the

United Nations specialized agencies and donor

countries for their prompt and generous response to the

appeal made by our President in connection with the

unprecedented drought in the spring and summer of

this year. The concerted collective response of the

international community to natural disasters is

evidence of the increasing effectiveness of the

available international machinery in this regard. The

United Nations has played an important role in

developing them. The outcome of the United Nations

International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction

has shown the need to increasingly use national

opportunities and to enhance international cooperation

in this field.

In the context of globalization, natural and

industrial disasters demand an appropriate global

response. It is essential that the community of nations

unite its efforts to prevent natural disasters and deal

with their consequences by training personnel and

exchanging experience and the results of scientific and

applied research. That would also allow coordinated

approaches to such global challenges as the greenhouse

effect, the depletion of the ozone layer, endangered

biodiversity and desertification. All these issues are

directly linked to the problem of protecting the

environment, a problem that is global by its very

nature.

Among the environmental challenges of the

twenty-first century, the problem of maintaining water

equilibrium and access to fresh water is one of the most

urgent. The population of earth is increasing, and the

need for fresh water is also increasing, while natural

water resources are not increasing. One out of six

people on earth does not have access to fresh water

today. The danger of the world’s diminishing fresh

water resources is quite evident: it represents a threat

to the environment and to all life on earth. This

tendency is not becoming less acute, and therefore

Tajikistan, which possesses considerable water

resources in Central Asia, greatly appreciates all efforts

to deal with the problem of fresh water resources at all

levels throughout the world. We are pleased that the

initiative of the President of Tajikistan, Emomali

Rakhmonov, to proclaim 2003 the international year of

fresh water has received wide-ranging support in the

community of nations. We believe that the preparation

and holding of events dedicated to the international

year of fresh water, at both international and national

levels, will help us all to find answers to the global

challenges faced by mankind and to come closer to a

solution to the strategic problem of providing access to

fresh water to every person on earth.

With the beginning of the new century, the

number of problems faced by mankind has not

diminished. The entire history of the United Nations

has demonstrated that the best way to deal with

problems is through collective action, based on an

agreed platform. We have such a platform: the

Millennium Declaration adopted by our heads of State,

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on a basis of global consensus, in the autumn of 2000.

The task that lies before us, the United Nations, is to

mobilize energy and resources to achieve our common

goals in meeting the challenges of globalization. The

peoples of our planet believe in the effectiveness of our

Organization. We should not fail to meet their hopes

and expectations.