Conference on Afghanistan Rehabilitation: Speech of the USG for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator

Mr. Kenzo Oshima

Mr. Chairman, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

The United Nations welcomes this opportunity to address you in this important and timely conference.

In Afghanistan, we the international community face a time of continuing and complex challenges, a time also of unexpected but great opportunity. There are enormous tasks ahead - but if we are successful, Afghanistan, in the not too distant future may see peace and prosperity for the first time in a quarter century. We must, therefore, begin to prepare for the future Afghanistan by supporting the rehabilitation and reconstruction of that war-torn country. This conference is a very welcome initiative towards that objective.

In my role as the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator and speaking on behalf of the humanitarian agencies engaged in Afghanistan, I would like to, first, brief you on the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan as it is today and recent action taken by UN agencies, and then touch on some issues of rehabilitation and reconstruction as seen from the humanitarian perspective.

First the update. United Nations agencies working together with their non-governmental partners, have been increasingly successful in achieving many of its targets in recent weeks. This has been particularly true in the fields of food dispatch, health coverage, internally displaced populations and refugees and preparation for the oncoming winter. This month, the World Food Programme, has met its monthly target of 52,000 metric tons of food delivery into Afghanistan. UNICEF has sent eighteen aid flights to date to forward positions in countries bordering Afghanistan, and have organized 43 convoys into the country. In the first week of November, UNICEF and WHO organized a successful nationwide polio immunization campaign to reach five million children under the age of five in an extremely risky environment. And UNHCR, through its preparedness and speedy action, has met the needs of the new influx of refugees and asylum seekers.

All of this has been no easy task. We are especially grateful to our partner NGOs and international organisations and to the thousands of Afghan staff who at great personal risk have continued their work. It has also been a great challenge for coordination - as well as overcoming many logistical obstacles.

The danger, however, is far from over and these achievements should not lead us into believing that a humanitarian crisis of major proportions will be averted. Even before the events of the eleventh of September, the humanitarian agencies would only have been able to mitigate the worst effects of this crisis which is characterized by years of misrule, protracted conflict and compounded by unprecedented and extreme poverty.

Mr. Chairman,

With the rapidly changing situation inside the country now, we must reassess our strategies and tactics.

The rapid military developments over the past ten days have fundamentally changed the conditions for humanitarian operations in virtually all areas of the country. Some of the consequences have been troubling, such as the looting of all UN offices in Mazar-i-Sharif in the north and other cities along with the weeklong suspension of deliveries via the major arteries from Pakistan. But we are cautiously optimistic in that these disruptions are temporary and our ability to maintain and step up deliveries will improve over the next days and weeks. We expect to gain better access to many highly vulnerable areas, especially in the north and northwest. We are also in a better position to rush supplies into areas in the Central Highlands that will be cut off by snow, and the Panjshir Valley, which is now accessible from Kabul.

In order to do this, we have started redeploying our international staff to some areas for the first time since 11 September. Five UN staff returned to Faizabad in the north-east province of Badakshan last Thursday. On Saturday, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator, Mr. Sackett, arrived in Kabul with representatives from all major UN humanitarian Agencies. Most of our national staff are also back at work in many places. Significantly, for the first time in several years, our women staff have been able openly to return to work. In the next few days, international staff hopefully will begin to return to Mazar-i-Sharif and Herat.

And then, Mr. Chairman,

To help us meet the needs of as many vulnerable people as possible, UN Agencies and NGOs have developed a 30-Day Operational Plan that identifies several operational priorities. Our chief concern in the immediate future will be the security conditions of the main urban areas and of course most of the south of the country where generalized insecurity threatens the humanitarian effort. The quicker a stable security environment can be established throughout the country, the better we can meet the needs of the six million people who depend on our help. We particularly need to increase our supplies to two areas - the north and north-west, that have the largest v vulnerable populations. The opportunity now exists to re-open a critical corridor linking Termez in Uzbekistan with Mazar-i-Sherif. We have started delivering some assistance from Termez across the river border on barges. The opening of the border bridge would allow us to dramatically increase these deliveries. We continue to urge the Uzbek authorities to re-open this crossing as quickly as possible. We also are exploring all options to transport assistance from Tajikistan to north-east Afghanistan.

Another priority I must mention is that of mine clearance. Mines and unexploded ordnance pose a major threat to the resumption of agricultural activities and the provision of aid, as well as to the lives of people. The United Nations has a very successful and long experience in de-mining in Afghanistan where 7,000 Afghan nationals have been trained. Some of this work has continued throughout the recent military activities. But we must recommit ourselves to this task, because it is severely under funded and threatens progress in other programme sectors.

This brings me to a message I would like to convey at this gathering - the need for the speedy disbursement of funds. We are extremely grateful to donors for their generous support in recent months. As we move into a most critical period and intensify operations funds should be made immediately available. I take this opportunity to urge all donors to disburse the funds already pledged and help the work of the humanitarians on the ground with all haste.

Mr. Chairman,

Now I would like to outline some of my observations on rehabilitation and reconstruction.

The very topic of today's meeting is to enhance the link between emergency relief and reconstruction. Humanitarian action, rehabilitation and reconstruction are complementary. All are needed, all are critical, in creating the basic stability upon which any future development and political transition will need to rest. Indeed, within the United Nations system many of the agencies, such as WFP, UNICEF, UNHCR, WHO and FAO that are now engaged in humanitarian assistance are those that will also engage, along with UNDP, in the recovery and reconstruction of Afghanistan.

Given the reality on the ground, humanitarian assistance will be needed for quite some time in the future. Restoring food security, the provision of basic social services - such as health, education, water and sanitation - along with the reintegration of the refugees and internally displaced will be the immediate priorities. But we should not see humanitarian action and rehabilitation as 'phases', one following the other. Both should be seen as intimately linked efforts, both working to create the basic minimum conditions for peace and development.

We in the United Nations, have learnt from previous crises where these key linkages between humanitarian assistance, rehabilitation and reconstruction have not always been sufficiently recognized or addressed. We are determined not to repeat this. In this respect the Secretary-General asked Mr. Malloch Brown as the convener of the UN Development Group and myself as the convener of the Executive Committee for Humanitarian Affairs to devise ways and means to ensure that these linkages are reinforced by jointly managing humanitarian and development planning in the transition process. This joint management must be replicated in the field. I know I can rely on your support for this endeavour.

The Secretary-General and his Special Representative for Afghanistan have pointed out that the solutions to Afghanistan must be "home grown". This applies equally to rehabilitation and reconstruction. The Afghan people themselves must be involved from the outset of the process. Our role is to assist and support this process from the community to the national level. There exists amongst the diaspora, the refugees, and in the country itself, the knowledge and skills that must be harnessed for the future. We must ensure that the women of Afghanistan are fully integrated into every aspect of decision-making and able to play a full part in the rebuilding of their country. I am sure we all welcome the sight of girls beginning to return to schools and their places of work, gradually re-establishing their rights within society.

The lack of a clear political future for Afghanistan should not stop us from redoubling our commitment to humanitarian action, as we begin the work of rehabilitation. I would also urge the international community to ensure that rehabilitation and recovery are properly supported with rapid and effective disbursement of funds without forgetting the overarching humanitarian priorities that we face today. The actions that we take now will help to shape the prospects for a seamless transition from relief to reconstruction in Afghanistan.

I hope this conference will lead to a rapid return to normalcy and a stronger foundation for sustainable peace for Afghanistan. The United Nations is committed to playing a central role in this endeavour.