TALKING POINTS
Today's guest speaker
Our guest today is Siphosami Malunga, Programme Manager for the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) Justice Programme.
He is here to talk about the upcoming National Justice Conference and the issues it will cover. UNDP, through its Justice Programme, has been working with the Government and the National Justice Institutions in supporting the reform of the justice sector.
Elections contributions
A week ago, last Monday, we reported that over USD $31 million were still needed to fund the elections, and expressed concern that this gap may affect the on-going electoral preparations.
Since then, a number of donors have made fresh pledges mounting to USD $12 million. This includes USD $8 million, representing the third contribution of the US government towards parliamentary and provincial council elections.
In addition the following countries have also pledged funds: Denmark , Norway , and New Zealand . We are grateful to those governments that have responded to our appeal, and hope that their initiative will encourage other donors to make contributions and fill without delay the remaining funding gap of USD $19.4 million.
Reintegration and Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG)
Reintegration is progressing at a steady flow with 58,560 ex-combatants either having entered or completed the reintegration process.
The verification, destruction and consolidation of ammunitions are also ongoing throughout the country, and the Afghanistan New Beginnings programme (ANBP) has assigned 8 Ammunition Survey Teams (AST) to the regions for the implementation of the program: Kabul , Mazar, Heart , Jalalabad, Kunduz, Gardez, Kandahar and Panjshir.
To date we are speaking of almost 500,000 (488,664) boxed and over 1.5 million (1,684,727) unboxed ammunitions, that have been surveyed.
In terms of the disbandment of illegal armed groups, ANBP has verified 8,043 weapons, including 4,143 from candidates.
In addition to the missions the Joint Secretariat conducted in the field to meet provincial committee members and Governors, the Joint Secretariat is also engaged in drafting an instruction to all provincial committee and Governors to review the disbandment process once it is in its main phase, namely when disbandment will not be linked with elections.
In this respect, with the campaigning period drawing closer, candidates should once again be reminded that anyone found to be in violation of the election law can be disqualified until the results are certified. In particular, all candidates must comply with the disarmament process, namely not engage in any activity implying links to illegal armed groups and not re-arm. The Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) eventually has the authority to disqualify any candidate who re-establishes links to illegal armed groups or who is found to possess weapons. It will not hesitate to exercise this power, should it be required.
Mobile education theatre reaches record audience
The Sayara mobile educative theatre, has recorded a new record audience turnout this week with its play " New Hope ".
Aimed at improving awareness of the elections, the play was performed in front of nearly 35,000 people across Afghanistan over the last week.
Since the beginning of the awareness campaign in May 2005, the 7 theatre troupes have already performed in 23 provinces of Afghanistan . The main targets have been rural areas, where people have limited access to information on the upcoming elections.
This project is supported by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) through The Asia Foundation.
UNFPA fund health clinics
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has prevented the closure of seven family planning and reproductive health clinics in Kabul .
The clinics, run by the NGO the Afghan Family Guidance Association (AFGA), provide services to some 560 people per day and were due for closure until UNFPA stepped in with USD $50,000 to cover running costs until early 2006.
UNHCR: more Afghan camp closures in Pakistan
Following the announcement by the Pakistani authorities that all refugee camps in tribal areas will close, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) decided it would assist Afghan refugees who are voluntarily returning from the camps in Pakistan .
The camps, home to over 105,000 refugees, will be closing on August 31 st , 2005 . Afghan returnees will receive a monetary grant to cover transportation costs as well as $12.00 per person to help their return to Afghanistan .
Questions & Answers
Question: You said you are lacking USD $19 Million for the elections. Will you postpone the elections if this USD $19 million is not received, or do you have another plan?
Senior Public Information Officer: We will not postpone the elections and the funding gap that we have is not threatening the elections. The problem is not whether we are going to get the money, rather when are we going to get the money - this is always a slow process. Last week we indicated that USD $31 million dollars were lacking, this week it is only USD $19 million dollars. It is just a matter of getting the money rapidly so that the preparations of the elections can be conducted in the best possible way. That said, there is no question that we are going to postpone the elections and we are quite confident that we will have the money in time.
Briefing by Siphosami Malunga, Programme Manager for the UNDP Justice Programme
I must say it is a pleasure to be back here again and I must thank the UNAMA Public Information Office for the importance they have placed into justice because this is actually the second time I have been invited to come and speak and I imagine that this is indicative of the importance of justice, not just with UNAMA, but because this is at the heart of our most vulnerable population in Afghanistan.
One thing that everybody agrees about Afghanistan is that it has suffered a lot in the past 25 years. The justice system is one of the clearest examples of the destruction that the country has suffered.
The fact that the justice system has not been functioning, or does not function as well as may be expected is certainly cause for concern.
That is the bad news.
The good news is that a lot of interesting and important work is being done to get the justice system back on its feet in Afghanistan . This is very very important because unless people are able to access justice, unless people are able to have their conflicts resolved, unless institutions are accountable, unless people who commit crimes are brought to justice, the country will always be at risk of sliding back into conflict. So reconstructing the justice sector is an important element of preventing further conflict in this country.
Of course it is also a very important element in assuring justice for past and current human rights abuses. In this regard, we are very pleased as the United Nations Development Programme to be associated with the Government of Afghanistan's efforts to strengthen and rebuild the justice sector of Afghanistan .
Why I am here is to share with you very exciting news of a process which the Government and the National Justice Institution has embarked on to redefine its strategy for justice for Afghanistan for the next 10 years. The Government of Afghanistan will be launching its policy paper for justice from the 15 th to 17 th of August.
The policy paper will focus on analyzing the gaps - and when I say the gaps I mean where are the shortcomings in the justice system? Not just the physical or practical shortcomings, but the financial shortcomings. The policy paper will articulate the Government's proposals about how to fill these gaps and the timelines within which these gaps should be filled. This we believe is very important and groundbreaking work.
In many instances in post conflict countries it takes a long time before governments wake up to start climbing in this way because one thing for sure is that the questions donors always ask is "what is the Government thinking?" because the donors don't want to think for the Government. So the Government must always be in a position to say, "this is what we think these are our problems. These are our shortcomings. This is where we need your help. And this is how we think we can fix these problems over this certain time period and this is how much money we need because we don't have it."
So if you come to the justice conference you will be able to participate in this very important discussion for the future of the country. The Government is organizing the conference with our support. All the national justice institutions will be present. They will be presenting papers along with specific damages which have been identified by the Government as being critical for the revival of the justice system. And the periods in which the government is actually planning this is three separate timeframes.
One is a three-year period which would coincide with the post-Bonn process.
The second is the five-year period within the three-year period of course will coincide with the National Development Strategy and the Government's attempt to meet the Millennium Development Goals.
The third period is the ten-year period which will coincide with an attempt by the Government to at least put in place long-term planning and resource mobilization for the sector.
Questions & Answers
Question: With reference to the Judicial Conference, what papers are being presented?
Siphosami Malunga: I can confirm that the Government will circulate the proposed policy paper in advance and discussions will be centered on the dimensions within each paper. There are five dimensions and you will get copies of this policy paper.