Tajikistan.

Tajikistan is a land rich in culture and in mineral resources. Home to literary icons such as 10th century philosopher-scientist Abu Ali ibn Sina and poet Rudaki, it has also been the scene of civil war and strife between rival factions from 1992 to 1997, which left over 50,000 persons dead, 600,000 internally displaced and 60,000 as refugees.

In June 1997, the signing of the historic General Agreement on the Establishment of Peace and National Accord between the rival factions of President Emamoli Rakhmonov and United Tajik Opposition (UTO) leader Said Abdullo Nuri put an end to the five-year-long civil war and laid the foundations for peace. As Tajikistan learns to live with the destructive legacies of its recent past and warily plans for the future, it is working towards peace and progress, with the broad-based government of President Rakhmonov and Mr. Nuri. Since the Agreement's signing, the Government has also introduced bold reforms and tackled with fervour tough issues, such as poverty, human trafficking, health, education and landmines, and this has turned it into a democracy to be reckoned with by the international community in the years to come.

At the 2003 UN General Assembly session, President Rakhmonov reaffirmed his Government's commitment in the fight against poverty: "We are committed to making our economy up-to-date and competitive so that in the future, along with other accomplishments, we can eradicate poverty." After the end of the civil war, the Tajik Government has worked with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to implement poverty reduction initiatives. In June 2001, it was able to convince the World Bank to approve a $50-million loan to support sound economic reforms that would reduce poverty and provide economic stability in the country. According to the "Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper" prepared by the Government in June 2002 primarily with the World Bank and the IMF, Tajikistan has set targets to reduce the poverty level to 75 per cent in 2006 and 60 per cent by 2015, the target year for the Millennium Development Goals to be achieved.

The scourge of poverty and the desperate search for a way out of it breed human trafficking as victims fall prey, and the Tajik Government made an important decision to deal with the problem. On 4 May 2004. Frederic Chenais, acting Chief of Mission of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Tajikistan, opened a national conference on human trafficking in Dushanbe, arranged under the auspices of IOM and the Government, focussing on raising awareness about the ills of human trafficking.

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On 8 May, Tajikistan entered into an agreement with IOM for support in combating human trafficking and providing technical assistance and training to the Tajik police service. Two years earlier, it signed the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and two additional protocols, and ratified it on 29 May 2002.

The quality of health services had also severely declined in the country during and after the civil war. In January 2004, in an effort to improve the quality and access to health care, the Government appointed a Tajik minister of health and introduced reforms focussing on "family medicine", so that doctors who are specialists could be trained to provide a wider range of health services. Education has also been a high priority issue in Tajikistan. In May 2003, the Government was able to pursuade the World Bank to approve a $20-million education modernization project--$7 million in grants and the rest in credit, due in forty years--aimed at rebuilding and strengthening the educational infrastructure by setting initiatives at the national level.

Tajikistan's journey on the road to peace and progress has not been an easy one, but it still remains relentless in its efforts. On 15 and 16 May 2004. Dushanbe was host to a regional conference on landmines, organized by the Government and the United Nations Development Programme, to assess progress towards the Mine-Ban Convention's objectives in Central Asia. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines participated, as well as some members of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

The United Nations has been a partner with Tajikistan in peace and progress since its first deployment of a factfinding mission in 1992. By the end of that year, the United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UNMOT) was set up, successfully completing its mandate on 15 May 2000. It was replaced by the United Nations Tajikistan Office of Peace-building (UNTOP). In 2003, UNTOP conducted eleven sessions of the Political Discussion Club, attended by 1,300 government officials, which brought to light important issues such as political pluralism and democratization. It also maintained a close dialogue with States parties to the 1997 General Agreement. In October, UNTOP provided a series of training sessions to ninety government officials on conflict prevention and resolution. An UNTOP human rights education project provided training to some 200 school teachers in an effort to build a culture of respect for human rights, tolerance and skills in conflict prevention. In a letter of 23 April to the UN Security Council President, the Secretary-General declared his intention to extend the UNTOP mandate until 1 June 2005.