BRIEFING BY SPECIAL ADVISER ON GENDER ISSUES ON HER VISIT TO AFGHANISTAN

Press Briefing

BRIEFING BY SPECIAL ADVISER ON GENDER ISSUES ON HER VISIT TO AFGHANISTAN

The Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, Angela King, told correspondents at today's noon briefing that she had returned yesterday from Afghanistan, where the situation for women and girls remained very dire. After her mission, which had spanned two weeks, Ms. King reported that Afghan women and girls were not free to enjoy even the basic human rights protected by international law.

Ms. King said she had led the Inter-Agency Gender Mission to Afghanistan to prepare guidelines for use by international organizations working in the area to implement the "principle-centred approach" in response to continued restrictions on women's rights in Afghanistan -- an approach endorsed by the Executive Committee on Humanitarian Affairs. The Mission had also worked to establish key indicators to assist agencies monitoring compliance with those guidelines.

Participating in the Mission were representatives of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), World Food Programme (WFP), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Representatives from the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) and the Government of Norway also participated.

Travelling to many areas in Afghanistan during her 10 to 24 November visit to the area, Ms. King said representatives of United Nations agencies, donors and non-governmental organizations had told of difficulties in applying a "principle-centred approach" to their work. While agencies were continuing their efforts to provide assistance to the people of Afghanistan, as called for by the General Assembly, human rights abuses were leading agencies to introduce a degree of conditionality. Adding to those difficulties, gender guidelines meant to ensure that women participated in and benefitted equally from assistance programmes were being interpreted in different ways by different international organizations.

Visits to a cross-section of United Nations projects in Afghanistan and meetings with Afghan people at schools, refugee camps, prisons and hospitals had allowed the Mission to witness the difficulties being encountered by Afghan women, Ms. King said. The dire situation of women and children in Afghanistan, to be well understood, must be seen within the context of the devastation and destruction caused by 19 years of war. Interviewing many women in Afghanistan, the Mission learned that their greatest concerns were about poverty and the lack, and even absence, of education.

Women in Afghanistan were the lowest on the UNDP gender development index, which listed 130 countries, she said. The maternal mortality rate in Afghanistan was the world's second highest, and only 4 per cent of girls in the country were literate. Women's access to health care was very limited,

Afghanistan Gender Briefing - 2 - 26 November 1997

and the quality of what they could receive was poor. Mission members had met Afghan women who had had 20 or more children. Ms. King noted that following protests from the WHO and other members of the international community, women in Kabul now had access to five hospitals. Before that recent improvement, women only had access to one hospital in the city, and it was not well equipped.

The Taliban authorities were neither monolithic or homogeneous, and their ways of making decisions were not transparent, Ms. King said. Uncertainty and fear were the dominant feeling among the population, even in relatively stable areas. The Vice and Virtue Police were known to take matters into their own hands. All efforts were focused on winning the war, and no attention was given to long-term planning for economic on social development. At the same time, Taliban representatives had told the Mission that they ascribed to the principles of the United Nations Charter, as well as other international instruments. Ms. King said that Taliban members had expressed their pride over the fact that Afghanistan was a founding member of the United Nations. While the Taliban said that they intended to open schools, primary and government schools remained closed, with the majority of teachers, who were women, being barred from working.

To address the dire situation in Afghanistan, the international community should focus on efforts to build tolerance and trust, Ms. King said. Projects, such as the UNDP community-based PEACE project, should support the rights of women and encourage their participation and contribute, as a start, at the community and family levels. Agencies must make greater efforts to introduce gender analysis into their projects. The participation of women in designing and planning projects must be increased. The gender balance of United Nations staff in Afghanistan was inadequate, without even one women director working in that area. While the Taliban had welcomed more international women staff, they remained silent when told of the need for international staff to be able to work with Afghan women.

Asked by correspondents for details on the guidelines which had been drafted, Ms. King said the guidelines would be completed by 3 December, when she would brief the United Nations agencies on the Mission's detailed recommendations.

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