UNDP Afghanistan Newsletter DIAG one year on spreading across the country 15 June 2006 One year on since the official launch of DIAG, the Disband- ment of Illegal Armed Groups, the process is continuing to move forward at a steady pace with a number of activi- ties in the last weeks and more than 20,000 weapons collected in the first year. In Daikundi province the proc- ess is continuing when on May 24 the Provincial DIAG Coordination representative in Daikundi held a workshop for the launch of the DIAG Main Phase in the province. The workshop was attended by the Governor, local heads of the Ministry of Rural Reha- bilitation and Development, the Afghanistan National Army, the National Depart- Inside this issue: ment of Security, the Chief of Main Phase of DIAG is part of Karim Khalili. The letters give Police, representatives of the a governmental programme the groups and officials 30 Eleven public toilets handed 2 Ministry of Haj and Religious implemented by the Joint days to surrender their weap- over to Kabul municipality Affairs, the Ministry of De- Secretariat of the Disarma- ons and disband or sever fence, the Ministry of Water ment and Reintegration Com- their links with illegal armed First retreat for UN 3 and Energy and a member of mission with the support of groups. If they do not comply, Volunteers in Afghanistan Regional Verification commit- the international community to they will face dismissal and/or Profiles of some UN 4 tee. disband illegal armed groups prosecution by state institu- Volunteers in Afghanistan in the country. tions During the workshop, the Disability projects get top 6 Provincial DIAG Coordinator DIAG IN TAKHAR General Daud the Deputy billing at UNAMA press for Daikundi explained the Minister for Interior Affairs conference Concept of Operation and the June 1 was marked as D-Day said that DIAG is not a pro- Provincial Implementation for the launch of the DIAG gramme to take only take Vital computer training for 6 Plan for the Main Phase to be Main Phase in Takhar Prov- weapons from individuals but the police launched soon in Daikundi ince. Takhar is the fourth that it is a programme to dis- province. province in group one after band the armed groups in Disability and development: 7 Kapisa, Herat and Farah to order to ensure a sustainable Time to walk the talk The purpose of the workshop begin with the implementation safe and secure country. was to follow up on the con- of DIAG Main Phase. Bronze for UN Afghanistan 8 ference held on May 14 for Volleyball team the eight provinces targeted Thirty eight identified illegal under the DIAG Main Phase armed groups and govern- DIAG — Disbandment of National Assembly staff to 8 in the second group which ment officials linked with ille- Illegal Armed Groups — is Estonia for E-Parliament include Badakhshan, Farah, gal armed groups were given part of UNDP’s training Ghor, Nangarhar, Bamyan, notification letters signed by Afghanistan’s New Wardak, Ghazni and Dai- the Second Vice President, SEAL forum on civil society 8 kundi. Beginnings Programme 15 June 2006 DIAG: More than 20,000 weapons handed over MEDIA WORKSHOP DIAG is a process intending to eradicate the influence of illegal In other DIAG related news the Afghan media development NGO Nai, organ- armed groups in Afghanistan, ized a one day informative workshop thus allowing the consolidation on the DIAG programme and its proce- of peace, rule of law and pros- dures. perity in the country. By volun- tarily surrendering their weap- The workshop was officially inaugu- ons, disbanding or severing rated by Dr. Mohammad Yosef Noris- links with armed groups, ex- tanee, the Deputy Minister of Defence commanders and government and Deputy Director of the DIAG pro- officials linked with groups will gramme, in the presence of Dr. Said Mr. Norihiro Okuda, Japanese demonstrate their support to the Ambassador in Afghanistan speaking Makhdoom Raheen, acting Minister of Information, Culture and Youth. government to build a safe and at the Takhar event prosperous Afghanistan. About 40 journalists from 18 provinces, DIAG IN LAGHMAN as well as ISAF and Coalition forces press representatives attended the On June 7 the Joint Secretariat of the workshop. Disarmament and Reintegration Com- mission officially launched the Main The workshop was funded by the Phase of the Disbandment of Illegal ANBP (Afghanistan New Beginnings Armed Groups (DIAG) process in the Programme) and implemented by Nai. province of Laghman. A high level delegation travelled from The DIAG process was launched on Kabul to attend the launching cere- June 11 2005. mony and the weapons collection at the office of the Governor, Gulab Man- As of June 11 2006 22,896 weapons, gal. including 14,304 operational weapons Right: General Mohammad Daud, Deputy as well as 21,467 rounds of boxed and Minister for Interior Affairs presenting the During the ceremony, notification let- 191,760 rounds of unboxed ammuni- letters of notification in Takhar ters to disband in 30 days were tion have been handed over to and handed over to 17 ex-commanders and three government officials linked verified by ANBP collection teams in with illegal armed groups. Afghanistan. Eleven public toilets handed over to Kabul municipality Most reasonable estimates suggest UNDP and requested that the population of Kabul has grown that more public toilets since the fall of the Taliban regime in should be built in the November 2001 from 500,000 to per- city. haps as many as four million people. The project, which took The resulting pressure and strain on seven months to com- public services is tremendous. plete at a cost of US$ 654,000, was originally In an effort to alleviate some of the suggested by Kabul mu- strain in the busy city the Urban Devel- nicipality as it looked at opment Group (UDG), of UNDP with some of the most urgent the municipality of Kabul and the Min- infrastructure needs of istry of Urban Development, has just Each building has five toilet rooms and the city. completed building eleven public toilets separate sections for men and women in eight different districts of the city. including a fully accessible toilet for In keeping with the guiding principles of people with disabilities. UDG projects the construction of the toilets provided a total of 17,574 man Speaking at a handover ceremony the days of work for internally displaced Page 2 Mayor of Kabul, Ghulam Sakhi Noor- people ex-combatants, returnees and zad, said he appreciated the work of vulnerable people. UNDP Afghanistan Newsletter First retreat for UN Volunteers in Afghanistan “At the heart of volunteerism are The objectives of the retreat were to The United Nations Volunteers is the ideals of service and solidarity promote voluntarism, to review and the UN organization that supports and the belief that together we can advocate for the Millennium Develop- sustainable human development ment Goal, to provide an opportunity globally through the promotion of make the world better. In that for sharing of experiences among UN volunteerism, including the mobili- sense, we can say that Volunteers and to discuss ways of zation of volunteers. The UNV pro- volunteerism is the ultimate bringing effective solutions to their gramme has been present in Af- expressions of what the United problems. ghanistan since 1989 and since then Nations is all about.” Kofi Annan more than 1000 International Na- A special message from Mr. Ad de tional and TOKTEN UN Volunteers Raad, Executive Coordinator of UN have contributed to the reconstruc- More than 70 international and national Volunteers from the headquarters in tion and development in Afghani- UN Volunteers from different parts of Bonnto was read out to UNVs in Af- stan by supporting relief, humani- Afghanistan joined the first Retreat of ghanistan. In it he said: “It is my hope tarian and capacity building pro- UN Volunteers on June 9-10 at the that — especially in an environment grams, and the Voter Registration UNICEF Conference Room in the you live and work in as in Afghanistan and the Electoral Assistance pro- UNOCA compound on the Jalalabad — your time together during the retreat jects, in preparation for Afghani- Road in Kabul. will be one of strengthening the large stan’s first presidential and parlia- UNV family we have there. You are an mentary elections. The event was inaugurated by exceptional group of professionals, Ameerah Haq, UN Resident Coordina- and you make us very proud that you tor and UNDP Resident Representa- are associated with the UN Volunteers tive. Ms. Haq pointed out the valuable programme.” contributions UNVs have made in Afghanistan and how they are the Mr. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of www.unvafghanistan.org backbone for every grassroots the United Nations is quoted as saying: achievement especially in areas such “At the heart of volunteerism are the as elections. ideals of service and solidarity and the belief that together we can make the world better. In that sense, we can say that volunteerism is the ultimate ex- pressions of what the United Nations is all about.” As part of the UN’s fifty years of in- volvement in Afghanistan, the United Nations Volunteers programme has been present in the country since 1989. Over this period, more than 1,200 in- ternational, national and TOKTEN (Transfer of Knowledge through Expa- triate National) UN Volunteers have contributed to the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan by sup- porting relief, humanitarian and capac- Page 3 ity building programs as part of differ- ent UN agencies. 15 June 2006 Profiles of some of the UN Volunteers in Afghanistan From Malawi, India, Nepal and Tajikistan Being a UNV in Afghanistan Name: Rose Khan is challenging to everyone Age: 50 and so is being a UNV all Country: Malawi over the world.