AFGHANISTAN
Statement by Dr
Abdullah,
Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Islamic State of
Afghanistan
World Conference against Racism, Racial
Discrimination,
Xenophobia and Related Intolerance
Durban, South
Africa,
31 August - 7 September 2001
In the name of God, most Gracious, most
Merciful,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
First of all, we would like to acknowledge institutions and personalities who contributed, from close or far, to the preparation, organisation and progress of the Conference. We would also like to thank the Government of the Republic of South Africa who gave us such a warm welcome in Durban.
We consider this meeting, which takes place significantly on
this South African soil, as the most important and useful meeting of the
begining of the 21st century, on condition it reaches out, as we all hope it
will, to concrete and efficient results to struggle against racism, which, as UN
Secretary General Kofi ANNAN said rightly, "can, will and must be
defeated".
Afghanistan has been following the works of the General
Assembly and the Preparatory Committee with much interest. Our country has also
paid much attention to the debates and lively and sometimes difficult
discussions which took place during the preparation of our meeting: the result
is the necessity to heal the wounds of history, to see with lucidity the present
worrying situation, and to build, if possible, a better future for the people of
our planet.
Our main concern today is the gap between law and reality: the more legislations, conventions, declarations and resolutions we have, the more new forms of human rights abuses, hatred, discrimination and intolerance develop.
Equality in rights and non-discrimination are part and parcel
of the basic objectives of the United Nations, since 1945, and numerous
universal binding texts related to Human Rights, of a general or specific
nature, refer to them explicitely: for example, the 1948 Universal Declar6tion
of Human Rights; the 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery;
the 1966 International Pacts on civil and politic" rights on the one hand, and
on ecomonic, social and cultural rights on the other hand; the 1965
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination; the 1981 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women; the 1989 Convention on the -Rights of the Child,
etc. -Not to mention the numerous. regional instruments and .national laws which
also guarantee equality and non-discrimination. We may be pleased to notice that
national law tends to be increasingly in harmony with international law as- far
as- respect of the legitimate state, democracy and fundamental human rights are
concerned.
These necessary and useful advances as regards legislation,
must not hide the terrible realities in this field which remain present here or
there as a general matter of fact or in specific and particularly serious cases,
like the case of our country: Afghanistan.
We know that millions and millions of men, women and children
suffered and still do, from several forms of discrimination, racism,
intolerance, xenophobia and violations of their fundamental rights. It is
because of them that we are here today: we do not have the right to disappoint
them.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to draw your attention to the particularly
dramatic situation in the Taliban controlled areas of Afghanistan,: it is a
laboratory, unique in the world, which is worth visiting and analysing. Every
single fundamental, individual or collective right of the Afghan people is being
seriously and brutally violated: a de facto authority is maintained against the
Afghan people's right to self-determination; by the direct armed interference of
Pakistan; the obvious discrimination against the several components of the
population; summary executions, punitive sanctions or absurd rules of every day
life behaviour; forced displacements of people; looting and destruction of our
country's rich historical, cultural and artistic heritage. This list is
obviously not complete.
These measures and standards are not only
contrary to Islam and Afghan traditions, to all international instruments, they
are simply against the essentiel civil, political, social-economic necessities
of people, against the dignity of men, women, and children.
As a consequence, inside the country our people are hostages
of a never before seen terror, and that outside the country millions of our
refugees no longer know where to go.
Naturally in these conditions, the
Afghan people, under the leadership and impulse of its legal and worldwide
recognised Government, will continue to resist by all means, until the
Pakistani-Taliban-Bin Laden agression comes to an end. Doing this it will not
turn down any negotiation proposal, under the auspices of the United Nations,
including a Loya Jirga (a traditional assembly composed of representatives of
several categories of the Afghan population). The Pakistan and Taliban
authorities have refused this option up to now.
This is the reason why we
ask the World Conference against Racism to condemn this aggression and
occupation, the first signs of which are precisely the violation of the
fundamental human rights that we are supposed to guarantee and protect
efficiently.
Thus, we ask the Conference to recommend the competent UN bodies to support us at every level in our efforts of union, dialogue and peace whose final aim is to safeguard the independence, territorial integrity and protection of fundamental rights in Afghanistan.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
To conclude, I should like to
say that the Afghan government supports the efforts of this World Conference and
approves the draft declaration and programme of action to be adopted by the
Conference, which has to, according to the words of the General Assembly,
"tackle globally all forms of racism, including contemporary forms of
intolerance", and concentrate its action on "practical steps to eradicate
racism..."
We would implement everything in order to reach this noble
objective by practical means.
Thank you.