YouSaid · the spoken record

Dapkiunas

lines on the record: 58
first: 2007-02-23
most recent: 2017-05-25
sittings or episodes: 8
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“If the issue raised today is duly taken into account by delegations both within the Council and beyond, then we will stand ready to work jointly to seek solutions to the issue of the legal protection of translators and interpreters in high-risk settings.”
2017-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7951 (2017) · source
“We believe that the time is ripe to craft an international instrument - be it an international treaty or a Security Council resolution - a document that would affirm the special status of translators and interpreters under dangerous conditions so as to raise the level of their protection de lege ferenda - with a view to a future law. Why not have special signage to distinguish interpreters from civilians or parties to conflict, as was done for medical staff? There are issues that need to be addressed in these documents, and there are a great number of such issues. We must acknowledge the fact that due attention is not being paid to the issue of the protection of translators and interpreters under dangerous conditions. We must consider how best and most expeditiously to bridge this gap.”
2017-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7951 (2017) · source
“We would like to clarify that we do not mean to apply the term "civilian" to interpreters that are part of regular troops. Rather, we are referring to those categories of interpreters who do not take up arms and serve solely to establish dialogue among the parties to conflict. Those include interpreters who do not act on behalf of a party to a conflict and interpreters assisting agencies or individuals who do not engage in conflict, including international organizations, media professionals and non-governmental organizations. However, interpreters and translators are neither regular civilians when they represent a party to conflict, nor are they, in those instances, regular fighters - at least, not so long as they do not directly engage in hostilities. So this is a special category of individual in need of special protection.”
2017-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7951 (2017) · source
“From 2003 to 2008, no fewer than 360 translators and interpreters were killed; 1,200 were wounded while working alongside American troops for its subcontracting organizations in Iraq. According to some reports, the likelihood of the death of translators and interpreters in Iraq is 10 times greater than for regular troops. In 21 days in late 2006, British armed forces in Iraq lost 21 interpreters, 17 of whom were deliberately killed due to their professional activity. The list of such examples goes on and on. Indeed, at present there is a fundamental principle in international humanitarian law of a distinction between civilians and individuals directly taking part in armed conflict. Non-compliance with this principle is considered to be a war crime.”
2017-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7951 (2017) · source
“The resolution acknowledges the practical contribution of language professionals to the maintenance of international peace and security and to peacekeeping. In high-risk settings of armed conflict and in post- conflict peacebuilding, translators and interpreters face grave danger in carrying out their professional duties as they seek to help establish dialogue among the parties to conflict and with civilians. They are subjected to threats. They are abducted and murdered. They are subjected to torture and degrading treatment. A single database that reflects the genuine scale of losses amongst translators and interpreters working in armed conflict has never been established. Some statistics have been compiled by international translators and interpreters associations from open sources, and they are appalling.”
2017-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7951 (2017) · source
“Mr. Dapkiunas (Belarus) (spoke in Russian): The issue of the protection of civilians in armed conflict and the protection of the medical staff who work to save the lives of others while risking their own lives is of great and particular significance. Belarus attaches great importance to the strengthening of guarantees for the protection of all categories of civilians not directly engaged in hostilities. Nevertheless, today I wish to draw the attention of the members of the Council to another vulnerable professional group that is present in hot spots, namely, translators and interpreters. Yesterday the General Assembly adopted resolution 71/288, on the role of professional translation in connecting nations and fostering peace, understanding and development.”
2017-05-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7951 (2017) · source
“We need regular, personal meetings of the most courageous and responsible world leaders in order to define the new rules of a multipolar world. We also need to find ways to ensure mutual respect for one another's interests, and to recognize diversity and the variety of ways in which the progressive development of human civilization can be achieved. Belarus has a credible record of unbiased participation in such processes. The country is a welcoming place for international communication, and Belarusians - as dedicated advocates of international dialogue and its unbiased organizers - are ready and willing to continue to fulfil that role actively and in good faith.”
2017-02-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7886 (2017) · source
“As was the case 40 years ago, when the Helsinki Process was what was needed to defuse tension and reduce the degree of hostility, once again similar, decisive measures are now required to overcome global alienation. Candid global conversations on a new de'tente are now necessary, and we believe that there is an urgent need for frank - not merely ceremonial - and results-oriented dialogue, primarily in the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), on the causes of the international crisis of responsibility and on the ways of overcoming it. We do not need secret, propaganda-style sallies into the media, exchanges of resolutions or ceremonial summits every five years.”
2017-02-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7886 (2017) · source
“However, those mechanisms are powerless unless the major world Powers and their leaders find the civil and moral courage to start a direct conversation with one another about their shared responsibility to prevent a new world confrontation, whether it be a cold one or a hot one. If we do not accept the responsibility to abolish the right arrogated by the stronger parties in world politics, then we at least have the responsibility to adjust that right in line with considerations of humanity, solidarity, empathy and compassion. Today, the world - including its representatives in the United Nations - badly needs fresh, broad discussions on the principles of the future coexistence of countries and peoples. And such discussions should certainly touch upon the conflicts in Europe, military and security confidence-building measures.”
2017-02-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7886 (2017) · source
“We have far too recklessly placed faith in the reliability of mechanisms intended to prevent a man-made apocalypse and in the infallibility of common sense and the instinct of self-preservation. Unfortunately, history teaches us that those mechanisms do not work under conditions characterized by mutual alienation and the lack of even minimal trust or willingness to compromise, and where there is the tendency to demonize our opponents. Those mechanisms will not be able to stop us from sliding into a global conflict as long as we believe in our monopoly on the truth and righteousness - a monopoly that, by definition, can only belong to us and never to our opponents.”
2017-02-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7886 (2017) · source
“Unfortunately, it is an ominous reality. We seem to have forgotten the horrific lessons of the two world wars that broke out precisely on the European continent. We sincerely hope that there are no members of the United Nations that seek war, and that we are all interested in strengthening international dialogue and improving understanding among nations. So then why are we unable to use Council discussions as ways to find peace rather than just another opportunity to exert public pressure and launch embarrassing mutual accusations? In our opinion, the reason for that is that today - seven decades after the last world war - we have apparently lost the acute sense of the possibility of yet another global military disaster. And this time it would indeed be the final one in the history ofmankind.”
2017-02-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7886 (2017) · source
“Mr. Dapkiunas (Belarus) (spoke in Russian): Vitaly Ivanovich Churkin died yesterday. He was a leading Russian diplomat and a key figure in the Security Council, representing his country in a mature manner for more than a decade. We mourn the loss of our colleague and friend. We extend our condolences to his family and friends. We are grateful to the members of the Security Council for the words of condolences that they expressed on what is a loss to us all. At the same time, it must be recognized that the President of the Security Council did not use this opportunity to pay tribute to the doyen of the Security Council with a statement from the President, as would have been appropriate. Today, one would have thought that the topic of conflicts in Europe would long ago have become an outdated absurdity.”
2017-02-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7886 (2017) · source
“The price you must pay for your own liberation through another's sacrifice is that you in turn must be willing to liberate in the same way, irrespective of the consequences to yourself." Those words of wisdom belong to a great Swede, the second Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjold.”
2017-01-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7857 (2017) · source
“Yet the world badly needs the Security Council, defined not so much by the turning wheels of its political machinery as by the sincere interaction of human beings who make the most commendable effort of reaching out to a counterpart and can master the art of talking to and not at each other. At the risk of inviting the wrath of the President for breaching the sacred time limit for statements, I would like to end with a most precious prompt for the use of the best instrument available to humans for ending and preventing wars and conflicts. "Forgiveness breaks the chain of causality because he who 'forgives' you - out of love - takes upon himself the consequences of what you have done. Forgiveness therefore always entails a sacrifice.”
2017-01-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7857 (2017) · source
“The true measure of success of the work of the Council is the ability of individual members - acting in the absence of publicity, probably unreported to the world - to create within the Council a sense of greater moral urgency that can move the big Powers to connect and empathize. All of us have perfected the art of imparting to our interlocutors what we know is right. Some of us excel in public shaming our opponents for their wrongdoings. Very few of us can display the courage to step back, give others the benefit of the doubt and tone down our rhetoric for the sake of reaching better understanding. The world does not need the Security Council to be yet another political theatre. The world does not even use the Security Council much as a forum for public speaking.”
2017-01-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7857 (2017) · source
“A watershed in modern history may happen once the world's militarily most powerful nations publicly agree, with regard to global security, that, for them, there is no fork in the road, that there is no alternative to world peace - world peace based on a collective legal framework jointly guarded by those Powers in good faith and to the best of their abilities. The world is anxiously waiting to see if the recently reborn hope for better understanding between the world's super-Powers can materialize. Does the premise of the special responsibility of the leaders make other members of the Council redundant? Not at all: elected members of the Council do matter. But the true measure of the value of a country's contribution to the work of the Council is hardly the number of statements made, side events held or votes cast.”
2017-01-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7857 (2017) · source
“We have to admit that reckless stress-testing of the degree of endurance in the world's sustainability has to stop. The world has to wake up to a sobering realization of the true degree of the fragility of our environment - physical, social, cultural and political. That realization will not come about through a majority vote in the General Assembly or the Security Council. No amount of strength or collective goodwill can, by itself, compensate for the lack of leadership on the part ofleaders. Leaders have to lead.”
2017-01-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7857 (2017) · source
“Call me alarmist or easily impressionable, but I choose to believe that the creeping erosion over the past couple of decades in the rules- and principles- based environment of international engagement has steadily increased the risk of an all-out global nuclear annihilation conflict between the world's major Powers, be it by intent, mistake or tragic coincidence. Barring a meaningful accord between the world's major nuclear Powers on their common primary responsibility for preventing the final global war and for establishing the collective framework for peace, all our attempts to find lasting solutions to smaller-scale conflicts will most likely prove to be futile. The United Nations has been doing a lot of good in the peace and security area, trying to micromanage a system that is deregulated at the macro level. But it can do better.”
2017-01-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7857 (2017) · source
“Before today's meeting I had my qualms about taking part in this discussion. What is the chance of being heard if one is number 86 on the speakers list? The consideration that tipped the scales of my reasoning was the Swedish ownership of today's event. I personally owe it to the courage and humanity of legendary Swedish diplomats - the names of Raoul Wallenberg and Dag Hammarskjold come to mind first - that I could expect today's meeting to be more straightforward and less conventional than what the Security Council setting might usually invite.”
2017-01-10 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7857 (2017) · source
“Over recent years we have seen considerable success in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as it has grown. The membership of India and Pakistan has significantly enhanced the authority of the organization and broadened its political and economic potential. The national interest ofBelarus lie injoining with the SCO in the fight against terrorism, separatism and extremism, which are areas where we can and must collaborate with the United Nations and other international and regional organizations if we are to achieve international peace and security.”
2016-10-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7796 (2016) · source
“Our experience of cooperating within CIS has contributed significantly to our development of integration processes in various formats, including the establishment of the Eurasian Economic Union. Mutual cooperation and the integration of these elements in the Eurasian space is very important for global political stability and well-being. Since July 2015, Belarus has been an observer of the Shanghai Pact. For four years before that we had the status of Dialogue Partner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. With Belarus' participation, the organization has been dealing with current threats, economic integration and cooperation the Eurasian Economic Union in establishing the Silk Road Economic Belt. We are ready to become a western portal for the SCO.”
2016-10-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7796 (2016) · source
“For us, integration is a tool by which our countries' joint efforts can achieve our key goal - increasing our citizens' well-being and quality of life. This year CIS is celebrating its twenty- fifth anniversary, and during the years of its existence it has acted to resolve the many complex challenges related to the collapse ofthe Soviet Union, to encourage the establishment of sovereign independent States and to preserve and further develop our historical ties to one another. Today one of our priorities in cooperating with CIS today is on the economic front. In our View, successful cooperation in areas such as energy, transport, trade, industry and the development of innovative technologies should be one of the Commonwealth's uniting functions.”
2016-10-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7796 (2016) · source
“It is symbolic that today's debate includes organizations that are engaged in a wide range of issues, from peace and security to economic, humanitarian and cultural cooperation, which we see as a reflection ofthe commitment of States Members of the United Nations to considering the world's most pressing problems as they react on each other. CSTO States are committed to participating actively in that process, in their firm belief in the inseparability of peace, security and gradual sustainable development. I would now like to make a few comments in my national capacity regarding Belarus's cooperation with CIS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Belarus's natural path to development has always been through integration within CIS.”
2016-10-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7796 (2016) · source
“We will very soon be ready to submit proposals for joint action with the United Nations for a substantive discussion on the possible involvement of CSTO member States in United Nations peacekeeping operations. We also propose considering other possible forms of cooperation between the United Nations and CSTO. There are many current topics that are of interest to both organizations and indeed the whole world, including the fight against terrorism, dealing with humanitarian emergencies and countering human trafficking and illegal migration. We would like to jointly consider how CSTO and the United Nations could combine their efforts to confront such challenges and threats, for example, by organizing specific measures with the leadership of both organizations participating.”
2016-10-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7796 (2016) · source
“Our two secretariats' cooperation is based on two framework documents, the 2010 Joint Declaration of Cooperation and the 2012 memorandum of understanding between the CSTO secretariat and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations of the United Nations. CSTO member States are involved in enhancing cooperation with the United Nations based on the progress we have already made. We believe that cooperation on peacekeeping between CSTO and the United Nations is a promising direction that can benefit both of our organizations and the international community, and we have made it a priority. The CSTO agreement on peacekeeping activity and related training represents a legal basis for developing our peacekeeping capacity and putting it into practice.”
2016-10-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7796 (2016) · source
“CSTO is ready to initiate multilateral cooperation mechanisms in all those areas, and in fact is already doing so in practice. In 2015, for instance, CSTO held an international conference on anti-drug operations, aimed at eradicating heroin distribution channels and synthetic drugs coming out of Afghanistan, attended by 25 countries as well as CSTO members, in an example of the joint efforts that affirm CSTO's practical contribution to enhancing regional and international security. Productive cooperation with the United Nations is a priority for our States. That is solidly founded on CSTO's observer status in the General Assembly, and periodic Assembly resolutions reflect the mutually beneficial cooperation between the two organizations.”
2016-10-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7796 (2016) · source
“Since its beginnings, CSTO has transformed itself into a genuinely multifaceted body with a broad potential for responding to today's challenges and threats. I would like to emphasize that this is not just about ensuring our member States' national and collective security. CSTO's functions and aims include coordinating its member States' foreign policies, working together in order to strengthen our defensive capacity, improving our system for practical cooperation between our crisis response mechanism and national armed forces in order to ensure our States' security, and combating international terrorism, drug trafficking and illegal migration, as well as cooperating in areas such as information security and the prevention and elimination of emergency situations.”
2016-10-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7796 (2016) · source
“The member States of CSTO supportthe development of effective partnerships with the United Nations and regional and subregional organizations with regard to the maintenance of international peace and security. Both the General Assembly and the Security Council have emphasized the importance of such cooperation many times. Whether on the economic or security front, such collaboration between the various international and regional bodies represents a requirement of modern life and the conditions needed to ensure countries' and peoples' sustainable development and to provide a peaceful, safe environment for progress and prosperity. The Collective Security Treaty Organization is a major partner of the international community in that regard.”
2016-10-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7796 (2016) · source
“Mr. Dapkiunas (Belarus) (spoke in Russian): Today I have the honour to speak on behalf of the member States of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO): Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan and Belarus. We are grateful to the Security Council for taking this important initiative to hold a debate on United Nations cooperation with the three international organizations in Eurasia - CSTO, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). To underline the importance of continued and close dialogue between the United Nations and those organizations, we have only to recall that the countries we represent are home to half the world's population.”
2016-10-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7796 (2016) · source
“Not just stopping the proliferation of WMDs, but getting rid of them completely is the most serious maturity test humankind faces. A hundred awareness-raising and outreach events a year on resolution 1540 (2004) may be a righteous way ofkeeping ourselves busy, but the real breakthrough will happen when world leaders collectively come to realize that the truest expression of real power is magnanimity, that the surest way to influence one's opponent is to empathize with him, and that when people talk, great things happen. It is too bad that the United Nations summits that we contemplate are unlikely to have much to do with achieving that.”
2014-05-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7169 (2014) · source
“But it would be reckless to dismiss the effect that the elimination of double standards in world politics and the relegation to the dustbin of history of the realpolitik mentality can have on our ability to build a world that cannot only survive through the balance of mutual annihilation capability, but that can thrive through the proliferation of the ideals of peace, good-neighbourly relations, and the promotion of the rule of law. Of the many extinction-level events that humankind may be preparing itself for, the possible use of the weapons of mass destruction is the only entirely anthropogenic factor. Unlike climate change or a dreaded encounter with an asteroid, WMDs do not provide the excuse of a shadow of doubt - the excuse of the uncertain and the unmanageable.”
2014-05-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7169 (2014) · source
“Belarus is a country that, by joining the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as a non-nuclear State, became the first State in the world to renounce voluntarily and without any preconditions the possession of operational nuclear weapons deployed on its territory. Belarus is a country that, since the mid-19905, has been a lone proponent for the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Central and Eastern Europe. Belarus is a country that for decades has been advocating in the United Nations the prohibition of development and manufacturing of new types of weapons of mass destruction and new systems of such weapons. It would, of course, be naive to expect that those and similar idealistic initiatives and actions alone can stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.”
2014-05-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7169 (2014) · source
“Effective non-proliferation will not materialize in an environment where everyone mistrusts everyone and where honouring one's word is not considered a virtue. One may ask: What is this country with the habitually mispronounced name whose Ambassador considers himself entitled to preach morality to the members of the Council? Belarus is a country that, in the Second World War, became an place of mass destruction, although by conventional means, and lost more than one-quarter of its population in the fire of war. Belarus is a country that, in 1986, received three-quarters of the entire radioactive fallout from the largest civil nuclear disaster in history, the Chernobyl disaster.”
2014-05-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7169 (2014) · source
“For as long as weapons of mass destruction continue to be regarded as a prized and much sought- after possession and a legitimate entitlement of the very few to the right to dominate, and not as an evil that has to be done away with, our technological advances aimed at stopping the WMD plague on this planet will never prove to be sufficient. For as long as we focus our main efforts primarily on managing the consequences - the proliferation of terrorism and radicalism in our world - rather than on addressing their root causes - political, social and economic injustice - we may as well start preparing ourselves for commemorating the centenary of the implementation of resolution 1540 (2004).”
2014-05-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7169 (2014) · source
“The challenge of addressing threats posed by weapons ofmass destruction (WMDs) by ensuring effective non-proliferation is not simply and maybe not very a technical one. To be successful, a long-term non-proliferation strategy must have a solid moral core. The increasing sophistication of deception mechanisms must be accompanied by a more sophisticated understanding on the part of leaders and the public at large of the morally corrosive nature of weapons of mass destruction and of the unbearable moral responsibility that goes with their possession.”
2014-05-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7169 (2014) · source
“As was shown by the Council's work during the events in the hot month of August, it is the action or inaction of non-permanent Council members as a kind of jury or independent arbiters, in particular in a situation where there is no agreement among permanent members, that is the key to whether the Council will be able fully, impartially and objectively to carry out its functions or not.”
2008-08-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5968Resumption1 (2008) · source
“We need to avoid hasty or incomplete assessments when we should meticulously seek the truth and compromise, and we need to avoid the demonization of opponents. That would certainly enhance the role of the Council in resolving international conflicts and would serve to enhance the effectiveness of its efforts. When working out and adopting decisions, it is important that they be genuine and not just words, and that they take into account the views and concerns of all Member States, be they rank- and-file members of the General Assembly or permanent members of the Council, and particularly Members whose interests are directly affected. 5 Non-permanent Council members play a particular role in ensuring the most effective, honest and impartial analysis of pressing international issues.”
2008-08-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5968Resumption1 (2008) · source
“An important component of the working methods is also the means to determine the area of responsibility and a mechanism by which decisions are taken. A key prerequisite for improving the work of the Council is to establish within it an atmosphere of self-discipline and responsibility in terms of defining the competencies of the Council. That has to do with establishing an environment, in which Council members agree that they are simply not entitled to hold a formal or informal discussion on the situation in a Member State or on other issues where there is no direct threat to international peace and security. Lastly is the avoidance of double standards in decision-making - regardless of whether it occurs consciously or not.”
2008-08-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5968Resumption1 (2008) · source
“Essentially, States that are not Council members have the right to address the Council but, in theory, no opportunity to have any impact on a decision of the Council. Additional work within the Council, based on the outcomes of open meetings, could reflect the results of the discussion and ideas specific to the initiatives in the documents of the Council; it would provide genuine, and not just nominal, evidence of the Council's greater openness. As was noted in the statement by the representative of Cuba on behalf of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries, which we fully support, the issue of the working methods of the Security Council goes beyond the framework of establishing an internal working method and steps to work openly.”
2008-08-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5968Resumption1 (2008) · source
“Enabling all interested delegations to participate without the need for additional written communications would also remove the concern of Member States over selective information with respect to meetings being planned. Secondly, we propose separating in time open meetings of the Council and the adoption of decisions on their outcomes. The current practice of organizing 08-49242 open meetings does not even provide for the formal opportunity to take into account the viewpoints expressed during the discussions. Documents on the outcomes of open meetings are prepared ahead of those meetings and are adopted immediately, without any adjustments based on the results of the discussion.”
2008-08-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5968Resumption1 (2008) · source
“Since its adoption, we have seen positive changes in the work of the Council. At the same time, though, we do see a need and an opportunity for further improvement in the internal working methods of the Security Council. In that regard, my delegation has two practical proposals. First, we propose providing for, in addition to what exists, a new format of meetings, one that is closed to the press and NGOs but is open to delegations. It is not always possible to inform delegations of the time and format of a Council meeting in time for them to prepare written communications requesting to participate. That new format would be particularly useful in the case of urgent meetings, in which, in fact, Member States are particularly interested.”
2008-08-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5968Resumption1 (2008) · source
“Mr. Dapkiunas (Belarus) (spoke in Russian): At the outset, I would like to express my gratitude to you, Mr. President, for your initiative to hold this debate. We believe that such a step required political resolve and professional daring. Document S/2006/507 was a milestone in improving the working methods of the Security Council and, above all, in increasing its transparency. Every good initiative must have someone promoting it. Without that, even the most promising ideas can fade away before they produce results. We would therefore also like to express our gratitude to the delegation of Japan for its initiative, as well as to recognize its particular role in improving the working methods of the Council. That document is clearly useful from the point of view of practicality.”
2008-08-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5968Resumption1 (2008) · source
“We are also prepared to provide a broad range of inexpensive, high-quality products necessary for the successful implementation of such projects, including by taking orders together from donor countries and international organizations. In conclusion, I wish to emphasize that the CSTO is playing a major role in ensuring security in the region. We will continue to participate constructively in the reconstruction of Afghanistan.”
2007-03-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5641 (2007) · source
“The CSTO Council of Foreign Ministers has established a working group on Afghanistan, which will put forward proposals aimed at enhancing cooperation. Our member States have submitted a number of such proposals, particularly with regard to developing transborder transport communications. We note the initiative to establish an international trans-Afghanistan transport corridor. Our States have knowledge and experience as well as economic and technological capabilities that could be effectively utilized in that regard. More specifically, we believe that the CSTO can play a significant role in the implementation of projects within the framework of the Afghanistan Compact.”
2007-03-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5641 (2007) · source
“There are many examples of successful economic cooperation between CSTO member States and Afghanistan, including Uzbekistan's participation in rebuilding the highway between Mazar-i-Sharif and Kabul and reconstructing 11 bridges, and its transmission of electric power to Afghanistan's northern regions under favourable contract conditions. There is also the export of electric power from Tajikistan to the province of Kunduz and the resolving key issues related to ensuring active and long-term work by major Russian companies in Afghanistan. In that connection, we believe it is essential to enhance regional cooperation, including the interaction between Afghanistan and its neighbours on a wide range of security issues, economic projects and the fight against drug trafficking.”
2007-03-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5641 (2007) · source
“New economic opportunities for a better life would help to create conditions for trade and economic activities and to reduce drug production and terrorist activities. We believe that in the post-Bonn period the United Nations should maintain its leading role in Afghan affairs, including by coordinating the peacebuilding and reconstruction efforts of the international community within the framework of the Afghanistan Compact. Our States are committed to promoting peace, stability and economic prosperity in Afghanistan.”
2007-03-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5641 (2007) · source
“Aware of the importance of military and humanitarian aid provided within the framework of international assistance aimed at the reconstruction of Afghanistan, we are convinced that it is high time to give priority to the country's economic and social problems. Grave social and economic conditions are among the reasons why support for the Taliban and for Al-Qaida fighters is growing and why extremists can consolidate their positions and increase their resistance against local authorities. The situation in the Musa Qala district is a case in point. In that context, we must focus efforts on establishing conditions favourable for economic development and job creation in the country.”
2007-03-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5641 (2007) · source
“The flow of drugs out of Afghanistan poses a serious threat to regional and global security. The CSTO believes that its mission is to halt drug trafficking by all possible means and in close cooperation with those participating in the anti-drug coalition. A concrete example of the practical anti- drug-trafficking efforts of CSTO member States is the successful implementation of an international preventive operation entitled "Channel 2006". Operation Channel has been carried out regularly since 2003 by the law enforcement agencies of CSTO member States. As a result, we have detected and suppressed activities related to heroin smuggling. Tons of illegal drugs and large amounts of firearms and ammunition have been confiscated. We have long called upon our NATO partners to take part in Operation Channel.”
2007-03-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5641 (2007) · source
“The international community continues to take an active part in normalizing the situation in the country. At the same time, CSTO member States are concerned about the growth of violence and terror provoked by Al-Qaida and Taliban fighters. The deterioration of the security situation not only hampers the reconstruction process in Afghanistan, but also calls into question the progress made in the political arena. In that connection, we believe it is essential to ensure full implementation of the sanctions regime imposed by the Security Council. We remain concerned about the illicit production and trafficking of drugs out of Afghanistan. The findings of the UNODC report entitled "Afghanistan: Opium Survey 2006" show an increase in poppy cultivation and in the production and trafficking of illegal drugs.”
2007-03-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5641 (2007) · source
“Mr. Dapkiunas (Belarus) (spoke in Russian): I have the honour to speak on behalf of the States members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO): Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. We support in principle the conclusions set out in the report of the Secretary-General on the situation in Afghanistan (S/2007/152). We thank Mr. Koenigs, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan, and Mr. Costa, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), for their briefings. We note that some progress has been made in the reconstruction process in Afghanistan. Eight of the 12 benchmarks set for 2006 in the Afghanistan Compact have been met.”
2007-03-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5641 (2007) · source