UNSC to hold public meeting on Afghanistan on Monday

KABUL (Pajhwok): The UN Security Council is scheduled to hold a meeting on Afghanistan, followed by closed-door consultations, on Monday (June 23), the council said in a statement said on Saturday.

In its statement, the Security Council wrote: “On Monday morning (23 June), the Security Council will convene for an open briefing on Afghanistan. Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) Roza Otunbayeva, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Joyce Msuya, and UN Women Executive Director Sima Sami Bahous are expected to brief”.

At this meeting, the issues including political, human rights, humanitarian and social-economic in Afghanistan, especially, their impact on women and girls would be discussed.

Otunbayeva is expected to update members on the next steps in the Doha process, which was launched in May 2023 to advance a political roadmap for more effective and coherent international engagement with the Islamic Emirate, the statement added.

“On 30 June and 1 July, two working groups—one on counter-narcotics and the other on the private sector—are scheduled to convene in Doha as part of this process”.

According to the statement, the working groups include subject matter experts and representatives from member states, international organisations (including the UN), the IEA, and international financial institutions.

Council members may be interested in hearing more about how these groups can meet the basic needs of the Afghan people by promoting alternative livelihoods in the wake of the ban on opium cultivation and the development of transparent business governance.

“Some Council members are likely to underscore the importance of women’s meaningful participation in the Doha process”.

It explained Otunbayeva is likely to express concern about the decline in demining activities in Afghanistan due to a lack of funding and will call for financial support for these programs.

On June 11, the UN Secretary-General’s recent report on UNAMA, warned that if financial support is not provided, coordination of the demining program will cease as of July 1, leading to “tragic loss of life, lifelong injuries and psychological trauma, especially among children, due to unexploded remnants of war.”

Some of the speakers may also highlight the hardship faced by the hundreds of thousands of Afghan migrants returning from Iran and Pakistan in recent months, some may emphasize humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan.

Some speakers may talk about more inclusive governance and also the “law of enjoining good and forbidding evil”.

Some countries, including the three permanent Western powers (France, Britain, and United States) and other like-minded countries, have already argued that the Afghan caretaker government must adhere to international standards in order to receive international legitimacy and economic and development assistance.

“In contrast, China and Russia may once again reiterate their view that the international community should support Afghanistan without linking economic and development aid to issues such as human rights. They are likely to emphasize the importance of dialogue and engagement with the Afghan government without increasing international pressure. Both countries have repeatedly called for the release of frozen assets of the Afghan Central Bank, most of which were seized by the United States after the Taliban took over in August 2021.”

hz/ma