TALKING POINTS
Memorial Postponement
Judging by the high numbers present here today I trust you received our media advisory late yesterday afternoon. Thank you for being able to adjust your plans at such a short notice.
The Memorial Service we had scheduled in commemoration of our colleagues whose lives were tragically taken in Baghdad for this morning has been postponed.
After discussions with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the Ministry of the Interior (MoI), we agreed that it would be prudent to review the security arrangements, as this was an event that would be likely to attract many people.
Once we decide on a new date we will let you know.
SRSG Addresses Opening Ceremony of Afghan National Army Central Corps
Yesterday morning the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, attended the Opening Ceremony of the Afghan National Army Central Corps. In his impromptu remarks he noted that for a quarter of century Afghanistan had suffered from war and destruction. During that time, however, many Afghans had courageously defended and tried to protect the independence of their country for the honor and the dignity of their people. That had gained them the respect and admiration of the whole world. But more importantly they had gained the respect, admiration and gratitude of the Afghan people. "Now, however, it is time for them to go back with dignity to civilian life and continue serving their country and their people through other means", he added.
Mr. Brahimi also said yesterday's ceremony was an indication that peace, security and stability had come back to Afghanistan and were going to stay. This was also an indication that soon the only people wearing a uniform or allowed to go around with guns in their hands would be the members of the Afghan national army and police. "I think one of the most important symbols of a state is precisely the monopoly it has to exercise and use force when necessary through its national police and army. Nobody else in the state is allowed to go around with a gun, let alone, use that gun against the people of the country", he added.
Security Commission Sets out to Begin Disarmament Exercise in Sari Pul
A delegation of the Security Commission of the North, accompanied by UNAMA is expected to leave from Mazar-e-Sharif City this morning to commence a disarmament exercise, this time in the Balkab District of Sari Pul Province. The delegation is expected to spend up to one week in the area and will be joined by the Mazar based Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) on Thursday
Since July there have been reports of heightened tensions in the district between the former District Governor of Balkab and the current Governor. There were also reports of tensions in the remote village of Tagab-e-Takht in lower Balkhab District between commanders of Wahdat Kazimi, Wahdat Mohaqiq and Harakat Islami. There has, however, been no confirmation of any fighting in the area or displacement as reported by some media outlets in the last couple of days.
A delegation of the Security Commission, accompanied by the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) and UNAMA visited Balkhab District from 20-23 July and met with elders as well the former and current Governors. An agreement was signed by all groups requesting disarmament in the area. Anyone caught carrying a weapon will have it confiscated by the police. The agreement also states that responsibility for security lies with the Governor and the Chief of police. One commander from each of three factions felt to be responsible for tensions should also be removed from the area, brought to Mazar to the Commission.
(The Spokesman was informed right after the briefing that the delegation did not leave and that a new date has not been set for this exercise to begin.)
UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing Arrives for Two Week Visit
Miloon Kothari, the Special Independent Rapporteur on Adequate Housing appointed by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, arrives in Kabul today to begin a two-week visit of Afghanistan. Mr. Kothari has been invited by the Afghan Administration to review a number of critical issues related to adequate housing rights. In the coming days he will hold talks with key Government officials, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), UN and international agencies as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) about efforts to secure housing rights. He will also make some field visits, the itinerary of which have yet to be finalized.
The Commission on Human Rights appointed the Special Rapporteur in September 2000 and his mandate focuses on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living. As you might know, adequate housing is included on just about every single international document on human rights.
During his two-week visit Mr. Kothari will look at a number of issues. Key among them are; the specific situation and rights of women, children, minorities, migrants, refugees, internally and displaced people with regard to housing; and evictions as well as land tenure. He will also assess how international cooperation is assisting and will assist the efforts of the government towards securing adequate housing rights; the role of the national human rights institution in the whole process; and the roles of NGOs and the UN system in monitoring, protecting and promoting housing rights.
We will keep you updated on further developments.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
UNDP hold workshop for Afghan Human Development report
There is a media advisory available issued by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which tells you about the inauguration of the advisory panel of Afghanistan's first ever national human development Report. As you know, UNDP has for number of years, been issuing the human development report, which has become a reference publication throughout the world on how countries are doing on socio-economic indicators and on the lives of people in different communities. Afghanistan has not had one for sometime now and this workshop, on the human development report, which we also told you about some time back, will actually get the report going. You can pick up the media advisory for more details. I also understand that the media are invited to the opening workshop.
UNHCR Spokesperson, Maki Shinohara
Urban Housing Strategy
UNHCR has reached an agreement this month with the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation, as well as the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing and the municipality of Kabul, to help repair shelter for returnees squatting in destroyed buildings in Kabul city.
With a budget of about US$ 1.4 million, funded by the European Commission (ECHO), UNHCR will rehabilitate up to 30 abandoned public buildings and help build 1,500 housing units for returnees who have their own plots of land but cannot afford to rebuild their homes. UNHCR is also discussing ways to contribute to the low-cost satellite housing schemes for those without land, currently being planned by the authorities.
According to the surveys done with NGOs, we have identified around 1,400 families squatting in 43 locations in Kabul. Many families are from nearby areas, who stay in Kabul for economic reasons or locals who cannot afford to pay rents. But there are also returnees who have land but cannot build homes on their own.
UNHCR's shelter program is targeted at rural communities - we have helped build over 40,000 housing units last year and another 60,000 is planned for this year. This initial focus on rural communities was to assist those returning to most difficult areas and to pull assistance to rural communities where aid is needed the most.
The need obviously is also in city centers, but the challenge in assisting those within the cities is not to create pull-factors and avoid putting additional burden on the city. The selection of beneficiaries therefore, is crucial in this project. We are currently setting up strict selection criteria for the beneficiaries to target those who have acute housing problems and also trying to identify implementing agencies that can quickly do the job. We have only four months left in the year and winter is approaching rapidly, but we hope to repair at least 500 housing units before the year end.
Tripartite with Pakistan
Governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan and UNHCR agreed in a tripartite commission meeting last Wednesday to gradually consolidate and close camps that are in difficult locations near the border. We are speaking of camps set up during the emergency at the end of 2001, where up to 50,000 refugees have settled near the Torkham border at Shalman in NWFP and camps in Chaman area in Balochistan.
Assistance has been difficult in these border camps, not only for the remote locations but also due to insecurity because of their proximity to the border.
Respecting foremost the voluntary decision of the refugees, UNHCR and Pakistan government agreed to focus assistance to the return areas inside Afghanistan for those wishing to return and to offer relocation to those who are not ready to return to another site in Pakistan. The gradual movement is scheduled for next year.
The commission also agreed in principle on the importance of allowing Afghan refugees to participate in the next year's elections. Three parties agreed to cooperate with the electoral committees in the registration process, once the details are established by a presidential decree on voters' registration.
Another point agreed in the meeting was to cooperate with the authorities in both countries to expedite the release of Afghan prisoners in Pakistan arrested under the Foreigners Act. There are currently more than 300 Afghans arrested for not having documentation. Many are refugees who may be subject to deportation.
Questions and Answers
Q: Can you us an update on the status of funding for the elections? And when will voter registration begin?
Spokesman: We still need pledges and confirmation of pledges from donor nations. I don't have precise number to give you but I know it is very low. If we do not get the minimal amount of necessary money very quickly it will impact the beginning of voter registration. The original idea was to get voter registration going in October, but if we don't get money quickly, as I said this will have an impact on the starting date.
Q: What can you tell us about the disarmament in Sholgara - is it over?
Spokesman: It was concluded and I announced that at the last briefing. I do not have the note with me but after the briefing we can tell you how many weapons were collected from the military factions and how many held by civilians were registered which they can continue to hold as long as they Are registered.
(An estimated 394 weapons were collected from military factions in Sholgara when the voluntary disarmament process that began there on 16 August ended last Monday, 25 August. In addition, the delegation of the Security Commission of the North, which led the exercise with assistance from UNAMA and the Mazar based Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) also registered 233 privately held weapons.)
Q: Yesterday there was an announcement by religious leaders in Herat that democracy should be removed from the constitution and replaced by Islamic justice? Any comments?
Spokesman: I have not seen the statement. But I think that it is good that the Afghans are debating. There was this effort to enable public consultation, which was exactly for the Afghan to discuss what they want in their constitution. I think it is important to remember the words of the President of the Constitutional Commission who I believe has said on several occasions that the Constitution will include Afghan traditions but will also acknowledge the commitments of the country to international agreements. Again I cannot comment on this specific statement that you mentioned as I have not seen it. All I can say is that it is good that Afghans are debating because the more debate there is the more people will have opinions and understand the work of the commissioners and eventually support the constitution. I think it is very important to remember Mr. Brahimi's words on this matter some time ago when he said that not every single opinion of every single Afghan can be included in the constitution. The constitutional commissioners, as a result of the public consultation are analyzing what the inputs of the population were in order to incorporate those that they feel should be part of the final text on which they are working and will be making public in the coming weeks.
Q: How many returnees will be place in re-capacitated buildings?
UNHCR: I am not sure of the capacity of the 30 buildings - I think they are different sizes; but basically these are abandoned buildings. The most important part of this plan is to help those people who do have land but do not have the means to rebuild their homes. As you know some parts of Kabul were heavily destroyed. So that is really the 1,500 housing units part of it. Of the 30 public buildings - these are the places where in case there is a need we may able to transfer some people and participate in the reconstruction of Kabul City at the same time.
Q: There is another satellite city in Herat that is not being used. Why is UNHCR making big issues about cheap housing when there is housing that is not being used?
UNHCR: This is really the first time we are moving forward in assisting the Government with idea of different housing schemes. I am not really aware of the Herat issue and I doubt if we were involved in that. It's probably strictly Government or the [Herat] Authorities. But whatever is on the ground is really under the Government Housing plan. So in a way it took us this long to actually go ahead and build those houses because we first had to help people in rural communities and second we couldn't just start building houses in Kabul. It is up to both the municipal and Kabul Government to decide on the planning of urban housing. If people squat in one place, it is very difficult to figure whose land they are on. Even if they claim it is their land you need proof. And these are things we have to go through .o it took a while to agree on where to build houses and which buildings could be refurbished.
Q: There are concerns about the Ministry of Defence (MoD) process harming the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) process. Will DDR be finished by next year's elections?
Spokesman: This allows me to refer you to yesterday's ceremony at the opening of the Central Corp of the Afghan National Army (ANA) when Marshall Fahim, Minister of Defence announced that they had finalized the new structure of the MoD and that the document was on President [Karzai's] desk for review. So that is one very important achievement towards concluding the new structure of the MoD and to bring it into line with a more modern national institution. That is the first point.
As you know we have been talking about the need for reform in the MoD, the Ministry of the Interior (MoI) and the National Security Directorate (NSD) not only in terms of structure but also in terms of the names of those who hold key posts - the top echelons. But the very important step regarding the structure has been concluded as announced by Marshall Fahim yesterday.
DDR will only start once the reform of MoD including new names takes place. But it is progressing. They are working hard on it and the structure is concluded. It is sometimes very hard to find the right names and the right balance. It's difficult here just as it is in other countries as well. So it is better if they take a little bit more time and get it right rather than do it for the sake of doing it and then it does not serve a purpose. So we hope that as soon as this is all done and the President is satisfied that DDR will begin.
It is important that DDR starts and continues because it is the something that the population really wants. Also DDR is the process that will make it possible for the current military formations/the factional armies to be phased out leaving the existence of only one army in the country - the national army. This will not happen from one day to another - it is a process. We believe that this process will have a positive impact on elections; both on the campaign and on the elections. A delayed DDR and the speed in which DDR tales place impacts on this. But we are not dealing with computer science here. We are dealing with human beings, expectations, political arrangements, and although it is not moving at the speed that everyone would like it is moving nevertheless. Hopefully it will have the very positive effect for the elections but also more importantly for the population that so much wants to see a single national army in this country.
Q: Will there be a UNAMA or Afghanistan New Beginnings Programme (ANBP) Press Conference as soon as the changes to the MoD are announced tomorrow?
Spokesman: I am not aware that the changes to the MoD are going to be announced tomorrow. But if announced they will be announced by the Government and not by us. We have not scheduled any particular event following any announcement. More important than press conferences is to start the actual work. I do not know if these announcements will be made tomorrow, but if they are that is very good news. If the President considers that this is indeed in the right direction for the process here, so be it and then DDR will be able to get going. Of course if there is anything on our part we will send media advisories. Thank you.