TALKING POINTS
Police Training Academy in Gardez
to be completed in November
We have been telling you repeatedly about security concerns. We have had security incidents, some very serious ones, like the one a week or so ago with the DACAAR people. We have been telling you about these concerns here but also in New York in Security Council reports. Today I want to tell you about an effort on capacity building, training the police which we thought you should know about.
In November construction of an academy that will provide training in basic policing for patrolmen will be completed in Gardez, Paktya. Also by June 2004 it is expected that construction of other such academies will have been completed in Mazar-e-Sharif, Kunduz, Bamyan, Jalalabad and Herat. At present, efforts are underway in the five other locations to obtain land, select contractors and begin construction of the training academies.
The establishment of these regional academies and the subsequent training will replicate a United States supported eight-week training course in basic policing for patrolmen that began on 1 September at the Police Training Centre in Kabul. While the Kabul course began with 600 patrolmen, numbers of trainees for the courses in the six regional academies have yet to be decided.
The courses are aimed at existing policemen who have had little or no previous police training and cover the democratic principles of policing, human rights and basic law as well as policing techniques such as arrests.
As you know Germany is the lead nation on establishing the new police service but it is supported by a number of other initiatives and this one in particular that I have just mentioned is a US initiative.
Afghan Policemen begin three-year Forensic Training Course
In the next three years Afghan police officers will acquire a number of critical forensic skills including fingerprinting, firearms and ballistics expertise.
Eighty-seven Afghan police officers in the crime prevention branch are currently undergoing a recently implemented three-year training course in forensic sciences at the Kabul Police Academy. They will be instructed on how to detect handwritten and typewritten forgeries. The trainees are also receiving training that will enable them to work with forensic chemicals as well as biological training for work with DNA and blood analysis. Once these trainees graduate they will be deployed around the country.
Although Germany is the lead nation in charge of reform of the Afghan police, a number of other countries are starting initiatives in support of Ministry of the Interior and the German effort. This course, for example, is being implemented by the United Kingdom with support from Germany and France with the latter providing forensic equipment.
Update on Peace Commission in Faryab
The Peace Commission in Faryab Province has taken an innovative and open approach as it deals with many of the sensitive issues. It has been inviting the aid/assistance community to sit in on its meeting as observers. In addition, the developments and agreements generated by these meetings are broadcast by local radio so that the public too is informed about the issues and how they are handled.
The Commission continues to meet twice weekly under the chairmanship of the Governor of Faryab. Permanent members are leaders of Jumbesh and Jamiat, the Chief of Police of Faryab and UNAMA.
We announced the establishment of this Commission on 24 August, which was formed to respond more quickly to problems in the province. In its twice-weekly meetings it addresses, mediates and resolves issues that have the potential to degenerate into fighting. These tensions are generally caused by local commanders who are vying for more power and to extend their territory, control and influence.
Norway's Minister of International Development to visit Kabul
The Norwegian Embassy here in Kabul has asked us to share the following note with you. Norwegian Minister of International Development, Hilde Frafjord Johnson, will visit Afghanistan from 17-19 September. During her three-day visit she will meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai and other senior Government officials, Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Lakhdar Brahimi, the Head of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and representatives of the international donor community, UN agencies as well as non governmental organizations. The Minister will also make a trip to Mazar-e-Sharif where she will meet with representatives of the local government and the assistance community as well as UNAMA.
Ms. Johnson will cap her visit by giving a Press Conference at the Intercontinental Hotel here in Kabul at 10:30 a.m. on Friday 19 September.
UNICEF, Communication Officer, Edward Carwardine - Workshop on coordination of Afghan teacher training aims to improve standards
The Afghan Ministry of Education, with the support of The United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, is to host a key workshop on the coordination of teacher training programmes in Afghanistan, starting today.
The workshop will bring together over 100 people representing organizations involved in teacher training programmes across Afghanistan, with the aim of improving coordination and improving standards of training courses. In addition to Ministry officials and representatives of UNICEF, UNESCO and the World Food Programme, many national and international NGOs will participate in the workshop, including CARE, International Rescue Committee and the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, most of which have been involved in teacher training for several years.
There are an estimated 100,000 teachers now working in the formal education sector in Afghanistan. However, less than 15% of teachers possess a professional teaching qualification - most have less than a Grade 12 schooling. Teacher training has therefore become a key priority of the Ministry of Education and its partners. UNICEF has supported a nationwide rapid training programme for 26,000 primary school teachers to date in 2003, focusing on new methodologies for the teaching of Dari and Pashto languages as well as mine risk education. Thirty percent of the participants in this training programme - funded by DFID and the Japanese Government - have been women.
The new partnership expected to emerge from this week's workshop, made up of the Ministry of Education, NGOs and multilateral agencies including UNICEF, will mark the beginning of a new era for raising the quality of teachers in Afghanistan. Currently, many organizations carry out their own teacher training programme based on individual interpretation of teacher knowledge and practices. The workshop will generate a common agreement on what all teachers need to know, and the best methodologies for teachers to acquire through training, as well as developing a single training curriculum to help teachers gain the skills and knowledge necessary for effective teaching in the classroom. The workshop will also identify a range of training delivery systems including traditional teacher training college programmes as well as innovations such as satellite radio-based distance learning.
Media are invited to attend the closing session of the workshop, which will take place on Tuesday 16 September at 3.30 p.m. at the Amani High School in central Kabul. The closing session will provide an opportunity for workshop organizers to present the findings of their discussions.
Questions and answers
Q: We just heard that Mr. Brahimi has rejected the claims that were in the report of Mr. Miloon Kothari, Special Rapporteur on adequate housing - has it been rejected by Mr. Brahimi?
Spokesman: Special rapporteurs are independent experts, so they speak in their own capacity, in their own name. We do not really share all of the views expressed by him, in particular, for instance, the reference to a certain cabinet meeting. We have no information on that particular situation.
[In answer to follow-up questions after the briefing the spokesman reaffirmed the importance and seriousness of the land and property issue in Afghanistan and the need for the government to take the necessary measures to stop bad practices and to establish sound land policy.]