UNAMA: Asalam-u-Alaikum, Good morning everyone, and a very warm welcome to you all and especially to our two young reporters from Radio Television Afghanistan. We are delighted to have you with us this morning.
HUMAN RIGHTS DAY - 10 DECEMBER 2007
Today, 10 December is human rights day, commemorating the occasion in 1948 when members of the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This was an historic event, recognising the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family.
Worldwide, a year long-campaign begins today in the run up to the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration's adoption on December 10th next year. Here in Afghanistan hundreds of people are today taking part in events around the country. In Gardez victims of the past 30 years of conflict are gathering with Government and tribal officials, as well as the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and UNAMA; in Bamyan a book reading competition is underway at Bamyan University; in Herat more than 300 people, many of them disabled or relatives of war dead, are gathering at the offices of the human rights commission; in Kunduz a joint workshop on combating violence against women is under way. There are also events in Mazar, Kabul, and Kandahar.
Some of you may have seen the demonstrations outside UNAMA's main compound here this morning by victims of conflict. We welcome the fact that victims are coming forward, and Special Representative Tom Koenigs is meeting with some of these people as I speak. Some of you may have been at Saturday's town-hall style event at RTA when President Karzai met victims of the conflict too. This was a unique, and in our view, probably historic occasion, and in its own way a real contribution to transitional justice in Afghanistan. We applaud the courage and candour on the part of all involved.
Vaccine storage improving in Afghanistan
2007 has seen several dramatic improvements in health indicators in Afghanistan, including sharp reductions in infant and child mortality.
A key element in improving health in any country is availability of immunization programmes. However, for immunization programmes to work there must be proper cold chain systems for maintaining quality of vaccines from the point of manufacture to delivery to a child. A proper cold chain system will prevent vaccines being damaged by sunlight or temperature fluctuations.
The UN Children's Fund is providing cold chain equipment for vaccine storage at national, provincial, and district levels. The Herat Health Department has recently received some six thousand dollars worth of cold chain equipment.
New case of Polio confirmed in Helmand province
A new case of polio has been confirmed in Naway-i-Barakzayi district of Helmand province, bringing to 13 the number of cases identified in Afghanistan this year - most of them in Kandahar and Helmand provinces.
The figure of 13 represents a smaller number of cases than in 2006, when we saw 32 cases. The UN Children's Fund and World Health Organization are working with the Ministry of Health towards the goal of elimination of polio in Afghanistan. Currently Afghanistan is one of only four countries in the world where polio is still endemic - the others being Pakistan, India, and Nigeria.
UNAMA Screen-writing competition recognises Afghan talent
An important part of UNAMA's work in Afghanistan is supporting development of the media in Afghanistan, including recognizing and supporting individual talent. Some of you may know we do already run a program for supporting photographic journalism. You may also be aware that UNAMA launched a screen-writing competition for young Afghan film makers a few months ago. This competition has just closed and a jury of six Afghan film industry professionals has now selected five winners.
The winners will be announced this coming Wednesday 12 December at an event hosted by the Office of the UNAMA Spokesperson and the Director General of Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA). All media are invited to attend.
Please speak to us afterwards if you would like further details.
Questions and Answers:
BBC: On Saturday President Karzai said that he does not have the power to bring war criminals to justice, what is your view on this? Does this mean that the international community has left President Karzai alone on this important issue? If President does not have the power to bring criminals to justice then what is your answer to those demonstrators who have gathered outside UNAMA's gate?
UNAMA: In our view President Karzai, in that meeting on Saturday, did not show weakness nor in fact did those who put their questions to him. Quite the opposite. Dealing with issues like these can be extraordinarily difficult and painful for all taking part and requires real courage. On the second part of your questions I think I have already made clear in my earlier statements that we absolutely support the right of victims to be heard. We do believe that justice is needed. We have made it very clear many times that we think that dealing with the past is essential for dealing for the present and future of Afghanistan. We believe in the need for transitional justice in this country.
Follow up question by BBC: President Karzai clearly said he didn't have the power to bring war criminals to justice, your comments?
UNAMA: Part of what we feel was remarkable was the candour. Nobody says that transitional justice is easy or that it can occur overnight. If you recall when the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Lousie Arbour, was here talking about this a few weeks ago she made that point that it is unrealistic for us to expect a sensitive process like this to happen so quickly. It takes time and if it's to succeed it will need the support and will of the whole community. Absolutely it is difficult, but being difficult does not mean that it should not happen.
RTA child reporter [translated from Pashto]: There have been frequent talks about transitional justice but no specific institution has taken responsibility for it. What do you think will transitional justice be implemented in the near future and what impact it would have on children?
UNAMA: Thank you for your question. It's wrong to say that nothing has been done on transitional justice. If you recall, the President announced on this day only a year ago that an Action Plan on Peace, Reconciliation, and Justice would begin in Afghanistan. It's worth also bearing in mind that transitional justice has to do with ending impunity. And in this area we are working with others on building law enforcement, on promoting rule of law, and generally we are doing what we can to address issues of injustice. The United Nations is not in a position to put a date on when any transitional justice process might be achieved. Ultimately this is up to the Afghan people themselves. We firmly believe however that such a process is needed and we will support steps towards that end. How might it affect children? An aim of transitional justice is to end impunity and therefore to create a better and safer society for children to grow up in, and for everyone to live in.
TOLO TV [translated from Dari]: There have been talks about human rights in Afghanistan, but neither the Government nor UNAMA has paid any attention to economic rights of Afghans. I can mention the low salaries of government employees. Secondly President Karzai for the first time on Saturday acknowledged his failure in regard to human rights violators. Does UNAMA acknowledge that the Government has failed in this issue?
UNAMA: On the first part I appreciate your point of view but I disagree. Economic growth is important to everyone and a lot of efforts are going on in this area. If you look at the Afghanistan Compact, which is in effect the major 'master plan' for Afghanistan, a major element has to do with promoting growth of the economy. The aim is precisely to create jobs and improve prosperity, better standards of living and so on. With respect you are entirely mistaken in that point.
On acknowledging whether there has been failure when it comes to addressing the crimes of the past, well, I think we are still at the very early days. It is only one year since the Action Plan plan was launched.
Follow up question by Tolo: How do you assess the work of President on transitional justice in a year?
UNAMA: I am not going to attempt for you some kind of scorecard for the President. I would encourage you to read the Action Plan on Peace, Justice and Reconciliation, so that you can see for yourselves what it entails. There is a sense that war crimes trials are the be all and end all of transitional justice, but that is not the case. A transitional justice process might involve, for example, addressing the needs of victims; seeking the truth and understanding the history or creating a common historical narrative so that society can understand what happened. It includes building memorials and other steps to make sure that victims' needs are recognised and respected. There are many elements.
Kilid [translated from Dari]: The anti-corruption day was celebrated yesterday at a time when people say that corruption is increasing. What are the findings of the United Nations on this? Has corruption increased or decreased?
UNAMA: I am not aware of any data that would tell us whether corruption is increasing or decreasing. Certainly perceptions of corruption are high. Anti-corruption day is not about celebrating a day. Its purpose is to raise awareness of the problem and the need to address it. It links also to the issue just we talked about, the need to deal with impunity here. If there is no law enforcement, if courts don't work then corruption will continue and that is why we are putting emphasis on issues of law enforcement in Afghanistan and issues of rule of law. As you know these are priority matters for us.
Radio Watandar [translated from Dari]: Since 2001 the international community and UNAMA are present here in Afghanistan, and despite their presence in Afghanistan the President acknowledges his failure in bringing criminals to justice. What do you think? Is this a failure on the Government's part or of the international community? And critics say that every president has the right to come up with a scheme for issues related to human rights. Has the Afghan president come up with such a scheme?
UNAMA: First of all a question to you. Can you name any government in the world that does a perfect a job on human rights? I do not know of one. In working on human rights you are looking at not only protecting rights of individuals but ensuring that the state fulfills its obligations to protect those rights. For example if you want to uphold the right to life, you need to make sure that there is proper law enforcement, and that if someone commits murder, there is a reasonable chance that they will be found and dealt with in accordance with law. In any country the government has the prime responsibility for protecting the human rights of its citizens. That is the reason the international community is working to help build capacity in state institutions, and with the AIHRC [Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission]. You are absolutely correct that there are many quite serious human rights issues in Afghanistan that do need addressing. These are detailed among other places in the regular reports of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan.
Pajhwok [translated from Dari]: People want the war criminals to be brought to justice, the government is willing as well and UNAMA is welcoming these efforts, but from the other hand the Afghan parliament passed the amnesty bill in which all the criminals for the past three decades of war were forgiven, so do you not think that one part of the transitional justice is not legally there anymore?
UNAMA: Sometimes there are steps forward and steps backward as well, and I think you recall our views on the amnesty bill. We do not support amnesties for war crimes and it is only the victims themselves that can forgive.
IRNA [translated from Dari]: The operation is going on to recapture Musa Qala of Helmand province. Which stages of talks are you at between the Taliban and Government of Afghanistan, and second, what is your point of view about the offensive in Helmand province?
UNAMA: Our position on reconciliation has not changed at all: any one who wants to come into the fold needs to do so on the basis of respect for the Constitution and on the basis of Security Council Resolution 1267 on the Taliban and Al-Qaida. On Musa Qala, what is our view? As I just said, it is the state that has responsibility for upholding human rights in any country. In Musa Qala we have seen a situation in the past months where the state has not been able to do that. And for that reason we believe this initiative [to retake Musa Qala] is a necessary one. It is necessary for all citizens, including those in Musa Qala, to be protected by the state.
RTA child reporter [translated from Dari]: What are the United Nations' achievements in Afghanistan in terms of children rights and what are you future plans for children in Afghanistan?
UNAMA: Thank you very much for that question. I think the single biggest initiative in this country has been getting so many children back to schools. Only a few years back very few children, especially very few girls, were getting any education. Today we have in the region of six million children attending schools. But also on health [there are achievements]. I spoke earlier about the reductions in children and infant mortality rates. There are youth programmes going on too.
Thank you.