General Assembly Session 57 meeting 54

Mr. Fadaifard (Iran)

I should like at the outset to convey my delegation's appreciation to the Secretary-General for all his comprehensive and informative reports under agenda item 22, entitled "Cooperation between the United Nations and regional and other organizations". All those reports certainly deserve great attention and merit extensive review by this body. In the meantime, I would like to take this opportunity to focus on three reports of the Secretary-General, namely, those relating to cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the Economic Cooperation Organization and the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization.

The report entitled "Cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization of the Islamic Conference", contained in document A/57/405, demonstrates that the United Nations and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) have been working in close cooperation on wide-ranging issues in their common search for solutions to global problems, including questions relating to international peace and security, disarmament, self-determination, decolonization, fundamental human rights and economic and social development.

The Charter of the United Nations encourages activities through regional cooperation for the promotion of the purposes and principles of the United Nations. My delegation therefore believes that deepening relations between the two organizations through high-level contacts, regular consultations and technical meetings could contribute to the fulfilment of the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Fortunately, in recent years new avenues for better and strengthened cooperation between the OIC and the United Nations funds, programmes and specialized agencies have been explored. Significant progress in this field has been made in the widespread cooperation between the OIC and its subsidiary bodies and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The two organizations continued to refine their joint cooperation to better reflect and respond to the priorities of their member States -- which are also the priorities agreed upon in the general meetings between the United Nations and the OIC -- such as education, the eradication of illiteracy, the development of science and technology, human resource development and the environment.

My delegation also hopes that the United Nations and other organizations of the United Nations system, particularly the lead agencies, provide increased technical and other forms of assistance to the OIC and its subsidiary organs and specialized and affiliated institutions in order to enhance cooperation.

In view of the future cooperation between the United Nations and the OIC, I believe that combating Islamophobia is one area with regard to which both organizations could consider taking joint action. There should be no doubt that the bigoted and defamatory remarks against Islam that are sometimes widely broadcast by the far-reaching media of the United States hurt 1.2 billion Muslims everywhere and have an adverse impact on them across the globe, thus harming the quest for furthering understanding within the international community. At a time when the United Nations is at the forefront of efforts aimed at enhancing peace and harmony among nations and followers of different faiths in the world, we believe that we need to look into such Islamophobia and see what the United Nations, in association with the OIC, can do to thwart it.

Given the fact that there already exist areas of suspicion and disagreement between the West and the Islamic world, we are concerned that the recent surge in bigotry against Islam amounts to adding fuel to the fire and exacerbates the situation. While those who indulge in damaging rhetoric are acting irresponsibly, we can still be optimistic about Member States appreciating the importance of the issue and uniting to check the growth of this tendency.

Cooperation between the United Nations and the OIC may provide for some activities, including awareness-raising, encouraging Member States to take actions and alerting the media to the adverse impact of Islamophobia on peace and harmony at the international level. Inasmuch as misinformation and misperceptions reside at the origin of the problem, access through United Nations channels, in which the OIC should actively participate, may have an important effect.

Cooperation and joint programmes and projects between the United Nations system and the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) should be promoted and encouraged, particularly between ECO and bodies such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the International Telecommunication Union, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). UNDP should be more involved in the area of capacity-building with the ECO secretariat and its relevant programmes. Cooperation with UNCTAD in the areas of transit transport, regional investment and trade efficiency is expected to progress further since there are ample opportunities to strengthen that type of cooperation.

ESCAP, as the main regional commission dealing with our region, continued to be very active individually and in cooperation and collaboration with other bodies within the United Nations system and other development and financial institutions in the ECO region. There are still enormous opportunities for expanding such cooperation between ESCAP and ECO, and it should be extended to new areas, including the area of social environment. The Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), another United Nations regional commission, can also play a similar role, particularly in assisting the Central Asian members of ECO.

My delegation welcomes the new phase of cooperation between UNDCP AND ECO for coordinating the control of illicit drugs, cooperation of UNFPA with ECO in addressing HIV/AIDS and adolescent health, and FAO collaboration with ECO in developing the agricultural sector and food security. We are quite confident that new fields of cooperation can be explored jointly and can be operationalized with other agencies, such as the United Nations Children's Fund and the United Nations Development Fund for Women, by addressing the social aspects of combating narcotic drugs, particularly their main victims -- women and children. The United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization and the World Tourism Organization should also become more active with ECO in the area of cultural development and tourism.

Furthermore, the region also continues to be afflicted by the problem of the illicit cultivation, production, trafficking and consumption of narcotic drugs, whose serious adverse impact on the social, economic and security infrastructure of the regional countries is well known to the international community. There should be a comprehensive strategy at various levels to address this major socio-economic challenge to the region. Strengthening economic performance, the expansion of trade and investment, as well as poverty eradication in the region, are the major components of such a strategy.

Undoubtedly, the reconstruction of Afghanistan, especially reviving its economy through international assistance and regional cooperation, can contribute enormously to the success of that strategy. While addressing that issue, let me add that the reconstruction of Afghanistan is one of the major priorities of the ECO member States. ECO is establishing trilateral cooperation with third countries as the most viable and cost effective option for expanding economic and trade cooperation between Afghanistan and neighbouring countries, which is vital to reviving its economy.

Finally, I would like to make some comments on the report entitled "Cooperation between the United Nations and the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization", contained in document A/57/122. As the report illustrates, the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization (AALCO) continues to carry out systematic and consistent analyses of the agenda items of the Sixth Committee and the International Law Commission from Asian and African perspectives.

Commentaries and recommendations of this organization remain a source of inspiration for its member States in their deliberations on issues before the General Assembly and continue to be reflected directly or indirectly in the proceedings of the legal organs of the United Nations. The wide range of topics on the AALCO agenda is indicative of that organization's resolve to positively contribute to collective efforts aimed at tackling the new challenges of the international community. AALCO closely monitors legal developments relating to international economic cooperation for development and continues to keep that issue on its agenda.

The question of refugees -- a topic on which the organization has done a lot of work -- trade law matters, crime prevention and combating corruption have also been the subject of study and deliberation by the organization. Cooperation between the United Nations and AALCO has proved to be fruitful and has served the mutual interests of the two organizations. That collaboration has been developed further in recent years and is being carried out in several forums, covering various subjects of great importance to the international community as a whole. We feel that prospects for future cooperation between the United Nations and AALCO are promising.