UN General Assembly
2008

rivers by all States in those rivers basins. In the case of damage, all measures must be taken to remove or mitigate such damage, and, if necessary, the issue of compensation must be raised. We are convinced that compliance with those requirements must be mandatory in the implementation of various projects such as building hydropower facilities in Central Asia, including compliance by international financial institutions that wish to participate in such projects. We are also convinced of the importance of expanding cooperation and strengthening interaction between the United Nations and the International Fund to Save the Aral Sea. In this respect, we consider it timely and necessary to grant the Fund observer status in the General Assembly, and we call upon Member States to support the draft resolution on this matter during the Assembly’s sixty-third session. This year in Uzbekistan we will widely observe the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and a programme of action dedicated to that most significant event has been approved. As of 1 January 2008, Uzbekistan fully abolished the death