31/1/2003
Literacy Campaign And Legal Reform Part Of Afghanistan’s Recovery Despite Environmental Stumbling Block

Two decades of warfare in Afghanistan have degraded the environment to the extent it now presents a major stumbling block for the country's reconstruction efforts, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) says in a report released this week.

UNEP’s Post-Conflict Environment Assessment report, produced in close cooperation with the new Afghan Government, details how conflict stalled previous environmental management and conservation strategies, destroyed infrastructure, hindered agricultural activity and driven people into cities already lacking the most basic public amenities.

The assessment also illustrates the mounting pressure on Afghanistan’s already meagre natural resources, noting that three to four years of drought have compounded a state of widespread and serious degradation: lowered water tables, dried up wetlands, denuded forests, eroded land and depleted wildlife populations. With 2 million returning refugees in 2002 and a further 1.5 million expected this year, pressure on those natural resources and environmental services will only increase, the agency says.

UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer said the assessment – carried out last year by 20 Afghan and international scientists and experts who examined 38 urban sites in four cities and 35 rural locations – makes it clear that environmental restoration must play a major part in the reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan.

Underscoring how high the ecological stakes are for the people of the country, Mr. Toepfer says that over 80 per cent of Afghans live in rural areas, “yet they have seen many of their basic resources – water for irrigation, trees for food and fuel – lost in just a generation.” He adds that in urban areas, the most basic necessity for human well being – safe water – may be reaching as few as12 per cent of the people.

Despite lack of resources, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Government of Afghanistan have launched this week a major project to boost reading and writing throughout the country, which suffers one of the world's lowest literacy rates.

The Literacy and Non-formal Education Development in Afghanistan project (LAND AFGHAN aims to fill part of the education gap that resulted from the war, UNESCO said. The project's main focus will be on building a nationwide network of literacy teachers, trained in modern non-formal education methods.

Coping with more than two decades of war has left Afghanistan with few qualified workers and professionals: most either fled the country or were killed during the conflict. Under the rule of the Taliban, women were not allowed to work and girls were forbidden from attending school. The agency estimates that only 51.9 percent of Afghan men over the age of 15 and a mere 21.9 percent of women in the same age group can read and write.

While a vast effort is underway to rebuild the country's education system and to get all Afghan children back in school, the adult population, responsible for the immediate reconstruction of Afghanistan, also needs to upgrade skills and knowledge, UNESCO said.

During the second phase of the project, community learning centres will be set up in Kabul and throughout Afghanistan's different regions to provide access to these literacy programmes for as many people as possible. Managers will be trained to run them. According to UNESCO, a special effort will be made to reach Afghan women and girls with the project, with the establishment of a Literacy Resource Centre for Girls and Women, sponsored by the Asia Pacific Cultural Centre (ACCU).

The project is initially financed by a $500,000 contribution from the Japanese Government and is considered a flagship programme for the UN Literacy Decade (2003-2012) which will be officially launched at UN Headquarters in New York on 13 February.

With education initiatives and disarmament programmes already showing promise in Afghanistan, the country's judicial task force has now joined with the United Nations lead development agency to tackle legal reform.

The Afghan Judicial Reform Commission and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) signed this week a two-year project on Rebuilding the Justice System of Afghanistan. According to a spokesman for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), this is the first major step towards judicial reform since the creation of the Commission.

Spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva said in Kabul that the first part of the project will be reconstructing and equipping the courthouses across the country; training judges and other law offices; increasing the capacity of the administration of justice system, and organizing seminars and training for the staff of the justice system. "Particular attention will be given to ensure gender equity and a firmer role for women through the judicial system," Mr. Almeida e Silva said.

Strengthening the teaching and research capacity of Kabul University's Faculty of Law and Sharia will also be part of the initial stage of judicial reform. A legal research institute will be established within the University and the library will be upgraded.

The spokesman said that the Judicial Reform Commission would be directly responsible for the full implementation of all elements of the programme. Representatives of the Commission, UNAMA and UNDP, as well as the Italian Embassy - charged with guiding judicial reform efforts last year by the Afghan Administration - will make up the project's steering committee, and have a primary role in raising and managing the funds for the reform.

The announcement of the joint project follows the international conference on Reform of the Afghan Justice System held in Rome last December. Conference participants pledged some $30 million dollars and declared their commitment to help the Afghan Administration and the Commission restore the country's judicial system and the rule of law.