(Transcript Covers Only The Portion Of The Press Conference By The Special Representative)

Spokesman for the Special Representative, Manoel de Almeida e Silva: Good afternoon everyone and thank you very much for coming. This is a joint press conference by Doctor Sima Samar, Chairperson of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) and Mr. Jean Arnault, Special Representative of the Secretary General for Afghanistan.

About a month ago, in your presence, they launched the Verification of Political Rights. Today, just a few weeks later, they are here to present the first report on this Verification of Political Rights. They have just met Ambassadors here in Afghanistan and they presented this report , which they will now do to you.

We will first have remarks by Mr. Arnault then remarks by Dr. Seema Samar and then they will take your questions.

SRSG: Thank you very much. Thank you all and thank you for attending this session, where we will try to give you a sense of what the findings of this three week exercise have been - a very short period of time in the verification of the situation of political rights in this country.

As Manoel just said we have arrived at the division of labor between Dr. Sima Samar and myself. I will say a few things about the findings of the Verification itself and then Dr. Samar will present the main recommendations that come out of this exercise.

I thought it would be useful to summarize for you three of what I think are the main points that come out from this three weeks of intense verification.

Firstly, general observations: what comes out very clearly from this verification exercise throughout the country are three things: First of all the fact, and it’s not too surprising after many years of war, civil war and foreign war, that there is still throughout the country among political parties and groupings, a sense of self–censorship. A sense, that for survival sake, it is not too good an idea to operate freely and openly. Unfortunately this sense of self-restraint and self-censorship is, to a larger extent, encouraged by the fact that again in many provinces and districts, government officials and local officials still somehow believe that political and independent political expression is a form of subversion. So instead of encouraging political parties to express themselves, they tend to do exactly the opposite - caution them and threaten them occasionally. So as I said this is the first important trait in the situation of the political rights.

The second trait has to do with civic education. Where as a small elite of political parties and Government officials in the country is familiar with the political, Bonn and electoral processes, many Afghans in communities, and in particular in rural areas, are still largely unaware of the stakes of the political process. We feel that in order to make sure that the electoral process is really meaningful it is absolutely essential to broaden civic education.

The third finding that, as I said fairly represents the situation throughout the country, is still the very tight control of local Government media by the local authorities and factions. While the Government has stated the need for plural access to the media throughout the country, the rule is that Government media are still under the strict control of one faction, party or another.

A second aspect of the findings of this Verification has to do not with the national situation but the situation in various regions. There, the first thing that has to be said is that unfortunately in parts of the country and in particular in areas of the South and Southeast, the violence exerted by extremists continues to place great limitations on the possibility of political expression.

Perhaps the most dramatic illustration of this is the fact that in a province like Zabul only 12 percent of the people have registered. They have not registered not because they do not want to participate in the political process, but essentially because their freedom of movement, of expression and of organization are very severely curtailed by the pervasive presence of extremist elements.

I think it is also useful to point out that women and their political public participation are perhaps the first victims of this operation of extremist elements in some parts of the country.

A second finding is the fact that in the west, in Herat, even registered and official political parties still meet great difficulties in order to establish themselves. The possibility of expressing themselves through media and the possibility of establishing their offices is very severely curtailed.

A third aspect of the regional situation, is the fact that interestingly in the north, in the northeast and to some extent also in Bamyan, there is a very interesting emergence of a fairly vibrant political life with a number of political parties which two years ago would not have operated openly. Today, they are beginning to express their opinions and themselves and are trying to organize themselves. This is certainly a fairly encouraging sign.

Now the last point in this summary of the findings - the fact that in some parts of the country and in particular in Kabul, we see a real climate of, to a large extent, free political expression. We hope that in three, four, or six months from now this will be the rule in the country as a whole.

All of you in the media and political parties know that by now in Kabul you have a large number of opportunities for people to air their differences and discuss their views. There have been number of initiatives, in particular by the Ministry of Information and Culture, to get parties together and have a frank discussion about the most controversial issues in the current situation. We believe that what is happening in Kabul, and what is also happening to some extent in places like Nangarhar and Khost, where such political conditions begin to emerge, is a very promising feature. As I said through our verification, and through our joint action with the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, we do hope that the country will move gradually towards that end state.

In finalizing we have also taken note in our report of some useful government initiatives. The instructions that I think have been distributed to you were sent by the Ministry of Interior to all civil servants of the government and district administrators to tell them what their role is in terms of protecting political rights. Instructions were sent, I think by the Cabinet on 7 July, to the Departments of Information and Culture to open up access to the media throughout the various provinces. We hope that these initiatives will be encouraged and will be strengthened by the work that we have just done.

Question and Answers

Question: Its has been said that in some provinces and areas the population has been underestimated. Based on that the number of registration teams and sites are not adequate. For example, the population was underestimated by 10,000 in one district. Then a delegation came and filed a complaint and another team was sent there. In Kandahar they are saying that the voter registration teams lack blank registration cards and books. What can UNAMA do to address this?

SRSG: Well, you know first of all I think it would be much more useful for you to be able to talk directly to those who are in charge of the operation. I am sure that Manoel would be very happy to organize, perhaps a meeting directly with the officials of the Election Secretariat.

[I have] two very brief observations. First of all, you are right; the issue of figures is one that has been difficult all the time. There are no official or credible figures to work with so our colleagues in the Secretariat have initially guessed, based on the best estimates, how many sites would be needed. And often they had to change their views as the registration process unfolds.

And the second point is that it is not infrequent that sometimes people run out of registration cards or other equipment. What is important is that they are able to fix these shortcomings in time. And what is important for you to know is that the Secretariat is very much committed to giving everyone a chance to register. Let me mention again, a fact that is well known; four women have already died trying to bring registration to their communities. That tells you a lot about the commitment of this Secretariat to get the job done.

Question: We have extremists so how will it be possible for Afghans to have a free society with all these extremists? And my second question is how can Afghans have transparent elections in their country where warlords are ruling freely? And also the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) process is too slow.

SRSG: Thank you but I think particularly the first issue should be addressed by Dr. Samar.

If I may just say one thing on security: of course it is difficult but it is not impossible to bring more security to these provinces where so far people have been able to register in such small numbers. I think the worst that we could do now is to consider ourselves defeated before we started working towards holding this election and giving people everywhere, in particular in places like Zabul, Uruzgan and others, a chance to vote. It is possible, and we think that between the national security agencies and the international community, there are enough assets there to bring to bear on the situation of these provinces and make life a little better for the people there that want to participate in the elections.

Question: My question is not only on the official media but also on a candidate who goes on an official tour using an official vehicle and aircraft for campaigning. Surely this is an advantage over another political party or candidate.

SRSG: We certainly together with the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission will be looking into the issue of use of State assets for political purposes. But frankly that does not apply as yet because the process of nomination of candidates has not yet started and the ban on the use of State assets for political purposes will start once this process is over. So far, what we have had and frankly we are quite happy with it, is the fact that lots of governors and officials have been encouraging registration. And so far as they do this they are doing their duty. But once we start the process of political campaigning we will certainly be looking very closely at the problem of the diversion of the State assets for the political purposes.

Question: What can you do to try to improve for example the situation in Herat? The South and Southeast are difficult but what can you do there?

SRSG: What we are trying to convey in this report is the bottom line. Ultimately what does it take to have a free and fair election? It takes voters and candidates that can operate freely; that can express themselves freely; and that can organize themselves freely. That is the bottom line. Ultimately whether you have more security or less security, more DDR or less DDR; it is all-important. But the elections are free and fair when these freedoms are actually exercised.

Now what we portray in this report is a situation that to some extent bears a number of national features and also local features. Certainly not everything boils down to one individual or to the situation in one province. When, for example, we bring out the problems of civic education that is your responsibility as much as ours.

When we bring out the issue of security that [involves] national agencies, the international Security Assistance Force (ISAF), and the coalition who have taken on a responsibility vis-à-vis security. When we talked about control of the media, of Government media in the various provinces, we don’t point to one case rather than another. We are saying that in about six or seven places where there is Government media, the local authorities there are largely controlling the programmes and this is not good enough. And we also talk about the situation in Herat, which has one specific feature, and this is that registered political parties are still denied a number of basic issues. So this is to address the problem of why we look at freedoms and why the diagnosis is not always that one individual or another is causing the problem. Now on the question of Herat or about Coalition forces or about control of radio: we believe that ultimately it will take certainly more than UNAMA and more than the AIHRC to overcome these shortcomings. Now do we believe it is not possible? No. And that is why we cite Kabul; that is why we site Jalalabad or Khost. This is why we say to you that in the Northeast and in the North there is already something like the beginning of pluralism. So it is possible and it is actually even possible in some places without complete disarmament

If you have today in the north in Mazar 45 parties that may not be absolutely and completely independent from everybody but are exercising their rights: well DDR in that part of the country has not been completed - far from it - and it can still be done. So we don’t have an answer to how within the next six months the situation can change radically. We look at is what is happening throughout the country and we observe that it can be done. Certainly the presence of ISAF in Kabul must have something to do with it. And this is why with the possibility of pluralism, and I have no doubt that the fact that the media in Kabul are concentrated, are scrutinized and are watchful, is also probably one of the reasons why political parties can emerge. And again we don’t have an answer for all the provinces on the right combinations of means but we feel that if you look and that if you analyze the situation province by province, you will find that we probably can get it done and hopefully certainly before the Parliamentary elections.

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