UN General Assembly Opens in New York
September 20, 2008
The sixty-third regular session of the General
Assembly began today at the United Nations (UN)
Secretariat in New York presenting a unique
opportunity for Central Asians to express their views
on global issues.
In his opening address, General Assembly President
Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann of Nicaragua condemned
the poverty plaguing Central Asia and other regions.
“The state of our world today is deplorable,” he said
while noting that more than half the world’s people
languished in hunger and destitution, the UN
Department of Public Information reported. In
addition to poverty, the Assembly will discuss
several other important topics related to Central Asia.
“International Strategy for Disaster Reduction,” “the
Establishment of a Nuclear-free Zone in Central Asia,” “Assistance to States for Curbing the Illicit Traffic in Small Arms and Light Weapons and Collecting Them,” and “Cooperation between the United Nations and the Eurasian Economic Community” are among the agenda items. As in previous years, heads of Central Asian states and senior diplomats from the region will discuss their views on these topics.
After the record-breaking severity of the 2007-2008 winter, the issue of climate change is one of the most pressing for Central Asia. During last year’s General Assembly session, Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Ednan Karabayev brought the issues of climate change and sustainable development to the world’s attention. Karabayev stressed that international cooperation is vital to resolving the consequences and stemming the tide of climate change. “The strategy of every single country should contain social responsibility as a basic characteristic for elaborating approaches toward regional and global coordination this improving the environment and reducing energy shortages,” Karabayev told the Assembly.
At a time when xenophobia is rampant
around the world, tolerance follows climate
change and development as another
important issue for the region. In his
address to the 2007 General Assembly,
Uzbek Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov
acknowledged the special role of the UN in
promoting tolerance among people of
different faiths, cultures, and ethnic groups.
Mr. Norov expressed his concern for the
distortions and negative perceptions of
Islam. “We resolutely stand against the
way that the counter-terrorism [campaign]
transforms into Islamophobia and acquires
the form of open or hidden stand-off with
the Islamic World.”
Tajikistan’s Permanent Representative to
the UN echoed Mr. Norov’s concerns during
his address last year and called on the
international community to tackle the root
cause of terrorism – poverty. “It is essential
to jointly search for ways of addressing
poverty issues, overcoming the negative
consequences of globalization, and for the
ways of resolving internal and regional
conflicts,” he said. Sadly, recent reports indicate the Central Asian diplomats will have to reiterate their call for tolerance again this year. The International Herald Tribune reported on Thursday that negative views of Muslims were strong in both Europe and Asia. According to a recent survey conducted by the paper, anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim attitudes rose dramatically in several European countries, including Spain, Poland, and Russia.
The situation in Afghanistan will also be discussed in detail during the General Assembly. In the last two years, stability in Afghanistan permeated the discussions of almost every topic concerning international stability, peace and development in South and Central Asia. In 2006, the Assembly’s 192 members adopted an eleven page resolution pledging to implement the Afghan Compact, wide-ranging blueprint for development covering politics, economics, human rights, crime, and judicial reform, the UN News Service reported. During last year’s Assembly, Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan underlined the need for an ambitious international reconstruction plan for Afghanistan. “The international community…has an important responsibility to help Afghanistan with a Marshall-like programme for reconstruction,” he said in his address. In light of the increased violence in the country and the deliberate murder of aid workers, including several UN personnel, the discussion about future reconstruction programs in Afghanistan is expected to be a heated debate.
The Assembly meetings will continue throughout the next two months and end on December 16, 2008.