15:10, 25 April 2009 | GMT +5
UN General Assembly adopts resolution on support for rehabilitation of Semipalatinsk former test site
NEW YORK. April 25. KAZINFORM. /Aliya Altyngazina/ Yesterday the UN General Assembly adopted without a vote a draft resolution ?International cooperation and coordination for the human and ecological rehabilitation and economic development of the Semipalatinsk region of Kazakhstan?. Our country initiated the document. The list of supporters includes 92 states.

Presenting the document Kazakhstan?s Permanent Representative to the UN Byrganym Aitimova expressed gratitude to the UN member states which backed the resolution and became its co-authors. The diplomat thanked all countries for recognition of Kazakhstan?s historical contribution to nuclear disarmament and mass destruction weapon nonproliferation. As is known, the largest world nuclear test site in Semipalatinsk region was closed by the Kazakh President?s Decree in 1991.
Introducing the draft, the representative of Kazakhstan said her country had every reason to argue vociferously for the early entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty since its land had for 40 years been a testing ground for deadly weapons and today its people were experiencing the dire consequences of those tests. Some 458 atmospheric and underground nuclear and thermonuclear explosions had been carried out from 1949 to 1989, their cumulative capacity equalling that of 2,500 of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. The nuclear testing had affected more than 300,000 square kilometers.
The draft resolution shows deep concern of the people and Government of Kazakhstan about the negative effects of nuclear testing on the environment and people?s health in the Semipalatinsk region.
Mrs. Aitimova noted that the resolution recognized the contributions of various United Nations agencies, donor countries, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations in providing humanitarian aid and establishing projects for the rehabilitation of the Semipalatinsk region. Kazakhstan was grateful to Japan, the United States Agency for International Development and the United Kingdom for their substantial financial and other assistance in support of a number of projects implemented by Kazakhstan with the aim of improving the living standards of the people in the Semipalatinsk region.