United Nations Office in Turkmenistan

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This issue features UNDP as one of the UN agencies and the theme is Follow-up to UN Global Conferences

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the developing countries’ development agency, committed to making a pivotal contribution to halving world poverty by 2015. UNDP provides sound policy advice and helps build institutional capacity that generates equitable economic growth.

What does UNDP do?

UNDP’s global network of 133 country offices – and programmes in more than 174 countries and territories – helps people to help themselves. In each country office, the UNDP Resident Representative normally also serves as the Resident Coordinator of development activities for the United Nations system as a whole.

UNDP funds projects and programmes in Africa, the Arab States, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbbean, the Europe and the Commonwealth of Independence States. Activities focus on five main areas in which UNDP’s nearly 50 years of experience have given it special expertise: poverty eradication, creation of jobs and sustainable livelihoods; protection and regeneration of the environment; advancement of women and good governance.

Who are the partners of UNDP?

UNDP coordinates it’s activities with other UN funds and programmes, and the international financial institutions, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, to ensure maximum impact from global development resources.

How is UNDP different from bilateral and other development agencies?

UNDP has a unique combination of assets. It is:
- global in presence;
- trusted , as a politically neutral partner to developing country governments;
- multisectorial in scope; and
- developing-country driven.

UNDP started its activities in Turkmenistan in December of 1994. UNDP’s mandate in Turkmenistan is framed by its commitment to Sustainable Human Development. In order to achieve this over-all objective, UNDP has chosen to focus the new Country Cooperation Framework on "strengthening the efficient and effective use of domestic and international resources". UNDP believes that effective resource management is key to achieving Sustainable Human Development. Therefore, UNDP projects focus mainly on support for improving financial and economic management and the management of environmental resources, as well as on policy dialogue, support for technical upgrading which will facilitate management and co-ordination amongst government entities. Gender will remain a cross-cutting theme to be incorporated into all UNDP activities.

UNDP is a partnership-seeking organization, and we are interested in possibilities of joint programming and cost – sharing with other organizations. If you are interested in the possibilities please visit our web site: http://www. untuk.org.

Various projects are already undertaken jointly with other specialised UN agencies, of which the most notable is UNAIDS, the common project for HIV/AIDS prevention and safety awareness.

On 17 December 1998, the General Assembly adopted resolution 53/202 by which it decided to convene the Millennium Summit of the United Nations as an integral part of the Millennium Assembly of the United Nations.

The Millennium Summit was held at United Nations Headquarters in New York on 6-8 September 2000 under the overall "The Role of the United Nations in the twenty-first century". When Heads of State and/or Government of the Member States of the United Nations converge on the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York to participate in the Millennium Summit it was the largest single gathering of Heads of State and/or Government ever held in the world. The Summit was a historic opportunity to agree on a process for fundamental review of the role of, and challenges facing the United Nations in the new century. The goal of the Summit was to ask Member States to provide guidance to the United Nations to meet the challenges of the new century. Fifty-five years after its founding, and in the context of a radically different world than existed even a mere decade earlier, what kind of United Nations do Member States desire? What substantive objectives are they prepared to support? In carrying out its mission, how should the United Nations relate to and interact with the increasingly densely populated universe of international institutions? An increasingly robust global civil society? Ever more integrated global markets and systems of production?The Summit was composed of plenary meetings and of four interactive round-table sessions, with each interactive session to be held in concurrence with a plenary meeting, and that the country of the President of the fifty-fourth session (Namibia) and the country of the President of the fifty-fifth session of the General Assembly (Finland) jointly presided over the Summit.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has asked world leaders to commit to a number of targets, including, by the year 2015, to halve the proportion of people living in extreme poverty, to reduce and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS and to provide basic education for all boys and girls equally. He set out these targets and other initiatives in his Millennium Report, launched in April in preparation for the Summit, as part of an action plan to make globalization work for people everywhere.

Secretary-General Koifi Annan’s report covers 8 points which are:

- New Century, New Challenge;
- Globalization & Governance;
- Freedom from Want;
- Freedom from Fear;
- Sustaining our future;
- Renewing the United Nations;
- For consideration by the Summit;

"I would expect the leaders to agree to specific target dates and identify issues on which we are going to bring our collective influence to bear and try to resolve in the next 15 or 20 years," Mr. Annan said in an interview. He added, "So it is a message of hope, a message of "Yes, we can do something about it and a message of let’s work together and do it".

The Turkmen delegation was represented by Mr. Batyr Berdyev, Minister for Foreign Affairs. Here is brief summary of his statement which he made on September 7. UNDP focus area - Ensure stable development and progress; cooperation with regional organizations.Radical reform of the UN; single powers cannot arrogate functions of the UN; new legal status of Caspian Sea must account for all countries. Pipelines built must also involve social development.

The General Assembly special session: "Women 2000: Gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century", also known as Beijing + 5, took place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York form 5 to 9 June 2000. The General Assemble, in resolution 52/100, had decided to convene the special session to review progress in the implementation of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women and the Beijing Platform for Action, and scheduled it to take place five years the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. In resolution 52/231, the General Assembly asked the Commission on the Status of Women to act as the preparatory committee (PrepCom) for the special session.

During its plenary meetings, the special session heard statemtns that focused on both the progress made and the obstacles remaining to the implementation of the Platform for Action. The plenary was addressed by 178 Member States, including two prime ministers, four vice-presidents, ministers and vice-ministers. Representatives of three non-member States, 16 observers, 5 heads of UN programmes and specialized agencies, 5 non-governmental organizations and the chair of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) also addressed the plenary.

At the opening session, the Secretary-General emphasized the progress made since the Fourth World Conference in Beijing. Human rights of women have gained recognition, violence against women is now an illegal act in almost every country, and there has been worldwide mobilization against harmful traditional practices. But he noted that much remains to be done, including addressing new challenges such as HIV/AIDS and increased armed conflict. While women have entered the labour market in unprecedented numbers, the gender divide still persists, with women earning less and being involved in informal and unpaid work. There has been no breakthrough in women’s participation in decision making processes and little progress in the legislation in favour of women’s rights to own land and other property. In his statement, the Secretary-General focused on the importance of education, stressing that it was both the entry point into the global economy and the best defence against its pitfalls. Once they were educated and integrated into the workforce, women would have more choices and provide better nutrition, health care and education for their children. Governments in their statements to the plenary meetings of the special session strongly reiterated their commitment to the Beijing goals and called for international cooperation to fight against poverty and trafficking in women.

The General Assembly adopted by consensus the Political Declaration and the outcome document "Further Actions and Initiatives to Implement the Beijing Platform for Action (A/S-23/2) on June 10, 2000. In his closing statement, the President of the General Assembly remarked that there had been no backward movement on Beijing language and that in several areas the outcome document moved the global agenda on gender equality forward.

The outcome document has recognized that the efforts towards ensuring women’s advancement need to combine a focus on women’s conditions and basic need to combine a focus on women’s conditions and basic needs with a holistic approach based on equal rights and partnerships, promotion and protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Within this context, the special session agreed on 199 actions to be taken at the national and international levels by Governments, the United Nations system, international and regional organizations, including international financial institutions, the private sector, non-governmental organizations and other actors of civil society. A number of these actions set new targets and reconfirmed existing ones: (1) closure of the gender gap in primary and secondary education by 2005, and free and compulsory and universal primary education for both girls and boys by 2015; (2) the achievement of a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women;

(3) the creation and maintenance of a non-discriminatory, as well as gender sensitive legal environment through reviewing legislation with a view to striving to remove discriminatory provisions as soon as possible, preferably by 2005; (4) universal access to high quality primary health care, throughout the life cycle, including sexual and reproductive health care, not later than 2015.

Some regional meetings in the form of round table were also held during the special session. One of the such meeting was organized by UNDP under the title "priorities for the Empowerment of Women and gender Equality in CEF/CIS countries. The discussion was focused on the priorities for the region in view of progress made in implementing the Beijing Platform for action and the changing realities in CEF/CIS countries.

1,038 NGOs from all regions of the world were participating in the session and related activities. The Division for the Advancement of Women held daily briefings for NGOs each morning to update them on progress made in the outcome document and other issues relevant to NGO participation.

The special session, which has generated the most extensive coverage of women’s rights in recent times, was seen by the media to be a success. They reported that it had preserved the goals of the Beijing PFA and had strengthened the language of the document, and that there was consensus that it had achieved its goal of advancing women’s efforts to gain justice and equality

The results of the Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on social development were highly significant. The conference was attended by over 5000 people, of whom over 2000 were delegates from 160 countries. While most delegations were led by ministers, 19 heads of state or government led their country’s delegations. When these delegation heads were speaking during the five days, or attending the outstanding Geneva Declaration. This Declaration includes a ringing political statement on the centrality of more equitable, socially just and people-centered societies; and assessment of what has happened since the Copenhagen Social Summit five years ago; and about 160 paragraphs on new initiatives.

A new initiative that could be of the greatest importance is the decision to conduct "a rigorous analysis of advantages, disadvantages and other implications of proposals for developing new and innovative sources of funding, both public and private, for dedication to social development and poverty eradication programmes". That is, there is to be a study authorized without dissent by the member countries of the UN, into a currency transaction tax, and other potential sources of revenue for social development.

It is appropriate to emphazise this decision amongst the many others because it could lead to the beginning of more effective global public management of the international financial system. The study could lead to proposals for additional means of raising desperately needed financial resources for education, health services, infrastructure and credit to stimulate socio-economic development. This and other paragraphs also articulate the importance of reducing financial volatility and of managing financial crises better, including through temporary debt repayment standstills when large financial outflows are threatened and by protecting expenditure on social services during crises.

There was agreement for the first time on a global target for poverty reduction, of halving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2015. This is implicitly understood to at least include all those with incomes of less than a dollar a day, of whom there are estimated to be about 1200 million. A dicision was taken to begin a more integrated global campaign to reduce poverty. The preparation of an international employment strategy by the ILO will begin with a global employment forum which is to be held next year.

There are about forty substantial fresh initiatives or new international agreements for action in the Declaration. Others include: recognition that the achievement of the agreed target

effectively into their programmes in other areas; action through trade agreements and increased incentives for research to improve access of developing countries to affordable and effective pharmaceuticals; strengthened commitment to basic workers rights, and to social protection for the vulnerable; and recommendations for nation

HIV/ AIDS. After extensive debate there was agreement on the importance of "positive or affirmative action" to achieve gender equality. Corporate social responsibility was added to the international agenda for the first time.

There was concrete announcements as well. Ireland, for example, announced plans to reach the aid target of 0.7% of GNP; Japan announced cancellation of debt for low-income countries; and Italy announced an aid initiative of over $100 million.

There were enough decisions to feel elated about the outcome. Still, not enough was eachieved: much of the wording is too cautions and carefully modulated, and many more issues should have been addressed. But there was agreement on some international agencies, corporations, trade unions, NGOs, and all concerned individuals to do.

Implementation depends principally on governments, but much is also required of the international system. The Social Policy and Development Division has quickly begun writing to other parts of the system to draw their attention to recommendations of relevance to them. Plans are being made for an independent inquiry into new sources of funding. A regionally representative group of authoritative experts is likely to be appointed and asked to report in time for the UN event on finance for development in 2001. They are likely to invite submissions form interested governments and civil society organizations. UNDP and other relevant organizations have begun planning ways of consolidating ongoing initiatives into a global poverty eradication campaign.

To conclude with the challenge issued at the end of the Political Declaration:

at the dawn of the new millennium, aware of our responsibilities towards future generations, we are strongly committed to social development, including social justice, for all in a globalizing world. We invite all people in all countries and in all walks of life, as well as the international community, to join in renewed dedication to our shared vision for a more just and equitable world.

On September 21, 2000 at 10.00 am at the UN Building in Ashgabat the representatives of Embassies, International Organizations, all UN agencies and Ministry of Foreign Affairs gathered to express their condolences to 3 UNHCR staff members who were savagely killed in Atambua, West Timor, Indonesia and one killed in Guinea. Mr. Jens Wandel, UN Resident Coordinator and Ms. Francoise Muller, Head of UNHCR office and Ms. Sabah Knani, Assistant Representative UNICEF led the gathering in a minute of silence for those who lost their lives for humanity. After the ceremony Ambassadors, Representatives of Donor Community signed the book of condolences which will be given to the families of the deceased.

Samson Aregahegn an Ethiopian has served with UNHCR since 1990, first in Ethiopia and since January 2000 as supply officer in Atambua, West Timor. To all of us he became "Bapak Samson"a wise compassionate and deeply principled person to whom we could all turn for guidance and advice based on his years of experience working with refugees in Ethiopia. Samson leaves behind a young wife Genet who came with him to Indonesia.

Carlos Luis Caceres-Collazo an American lawyer graduated from Cornell Law Scholl in New York in 1991 and joined UNHCR in 1997. He served in Russia during the Chechnen crisis and since March 2000 in Atambua, West Timor. Carlos was a protection officer, his work to protect refugees one of the most difficult tasks of all. To this work he brought a fine legal mind and a gentle and deeply caring spirit.

Pero Simundza, a Crotian started with UNHCR in 1993 and served in Croatia, Bosnia and since March 2000 as telecommunications officer in Atambua, West Timor. A much loved colleague, Pero’s voice had guided and protected many convoys bringing urgently needed humanitarian assistance to people trapped by conflict. Pero died while still trying to pass a radio message alerting us to the attack on our staff.

On 17 September, in the morning, Mr. Mensah Kpognon, the Head of UNHCR Field Office Macenta, the near the border with Liberia was killed in the attack of Macenta town. Mr. Kpognon, was a Togolese national and leaves behind a wife and four children. His house was set on a fire and his body was discovered around 8:00 am GMT, after a colleague who had lost radio contact with him visited the house, accompanied by military agents.

Below is the email message that one of the UNHCR staff sent couple hours before he was killed.

From: Carlos Caseres

Date: 6 sept. 2000, 6:05 am

Subject: Are you still there?

My next post needs to be in a tropical island without jungle fever and mad warriors. At this very moment, we are barricaded in the office. A militia leader was murdered last night – he was decapitated and had his heart and penis cut out. Segments o Timorese society must be some of the most violent and gory people anywhere on Earth: Atambua suddenly shut down when news spread that trucks and buses full of militias were coming from Betun (my former home) to Atambua. The town suddenly deserted and all the shops were boarded up in a matter of minutes. Traffic disappeared and the streets are strangely and ominously quiet. I’m glad that a couple of weeks ago we bought rolls and rolls of barbed wire.

I was in the office when the news came out that wave of violence would soon pound Atambua. We sent most of the staff home, rushing to safety. I just heard someone on the radio saying that they are praying for us in the office. The militias are on the way, and I am sure they will do their best to demolish this office. The man killed was the head of one of the most notorious and criminal militia groups of East Timor. These guys act without thinking and can kill a human as easily (and painlessly) as easily (and painlessly) as I kill mosquitos in my room.

VARIOUS NEWS

• A two day meeting was successfully concluded on the preparation of an International Conference on Countering Drugs, Organized Crime, and Terrorism which will be held form 19 to 20 October in Tashkent. Taking advantage of the expertise of the two international organizations, the Conference, which is jointly organized by the Austrian Chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), will further deepen international co-operation in addressing problems of drugs, organized crime, and terrorism in Central Asia. The Ashgabat meeting which was formally opened by HE Elbars Ajdarovich Kepbanov, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan, was an important step in finalizing the preparation of the International Conference. Senior level government officials from all Central Asian countries participated actively in these talks. In addition, OSCE and ODCCP sent representatives from their Vienna-based headquarters to Ashgabat. The discussions which were co-chaired by Ms. Antonella Deledda-Titchener, the ODCCP Regional Representative for Central Asia Liaison Office, were successful in agreeing upon two important documents which will be presented to the October Conference.
• Donor Information Sharing Meeting was held on September 13 in UN building where all donor community gathered to discuss various topics, including the future World Bank Activities (2000-2003) in Turkmenistan presented by Mr. Cholst, Senior Country Officer for Turkmenistan.
• UNDP and the Ministry of Environment Protection of Turkmenistan signed the first project on Biodiversity Conservation in Turkmenistan. The main objective of the project is to assist the Government in preparing the National Strategy and Action Plan (BSAP) that will analyze the major issues affecting biodiversity, identify strategic priorities and actions to protect ecological system. Moreover, the BSAP will serve as the basis of the first National Report of Turkmenistan to meet the obligation contained in the Article 26 of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The project draws its fund from the Global Ecological Facility (GEF) and will last one year.
• A national seminar on improvement of water supply system operation and management of water treatment technology quality on 15-16 September in Turkmenbashi city. During the seminar the participants, specialists on water supply system, discussed the issues of creating Geographic Informational System , and central water supply facilities in Balkan region. The seminar was organized by the Municipal Project of UNDP and the Committee on water supply under Cabinet of Ministers.

CALENDAR of UN Days & Events

DAYS for the next quarter:

17 October – International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

24 October – United Nations Day

(the event will be celebrated on October 22)

21 November – Universal Children’s Day

1 December – World AIDS Day

EVENTS of this quarter:

20 September, 2000 – Conference "The vision of Saparmurat Turkmenbashy on the world and Turkmenistan development in 21 century".

26-27 September, 2000 – Second preparation meeting to International Conference on illegal drug trafficking, organized crime and terrorism to be held in Tashkent in October 2000.

15-10 October, 2000 – International scientific conference " Independence Turkmenistan, strategy for 21 century".

November, 2000 – Khalk Maslakhaty

11 December, 2000 – International Conference on Turkmenistan’s Neutrality as part of the world experience