"[O]nly a political settlement aimed at the establishment of a broad-based, gender-sensitive, multi-ethnic and fully representative government, which respects the human rights of all Afghans and the international obligations of Afghanistan and is committed to peace with its neighbors, can lead to durable peace and reconciliation."

The office of the U.N. Secretary General's Special Representative to Afghanistan is currently designing an integrated U.N. mission to support and coordinate emergency humanitarian aid, assist with reconstruction efforts, and organize ongoing political dialogues. Human Rights Watch is urging the U.N. to make human rights work central to this mission, including monitoring, investigations, consultations with Afghan officials regarding legal reform, and assistance in reconstruction of judicial institutions.

Human Rights Watch urges donors to provide sufficient and specific funding for the human rights components of the future U.N. mission. Alternatively, we ask donor governments to work to ensure that all human rights components in the U.N. mission are guaranteed funding through assessed contributions. We also ask that donors adequately fund the U.N. trust fund for Afghanistan - as requested by the Special Representative's office - so that the interim authority of Afghanistan has adequate resources with which to begin rebuilding Afghanistan's government.
Human Rights further calls upon donors to ensure that the following issues, often low on the priority list for post-conflict planning, are specifically considered in deliberations about funding: justice and accountability, reintegration of refugees and the displaced, women's rights, children's rights, and demining.

Justice and Accountability
There are several areas in the reconstruction effort that need special attention from the standpoint of justice and accountability. To start, Afghanistan's legal system urgently needs to be rebuilt. At best, its effective jurisdiction never extended far beyond major urban areas, but there is a framework in which reconstruction can begin: in the early 1970s, there were legal codes, a system of district courts, and a reputable law faculty at Kabul University. However, major resources are going to be needed for retraining and recruiting new jurists, prosecutors, defense attorneys, police officers, and court personnel. Additional funds will also be needed to rebuild courts, jails, and prisons. Human Rights Watch understands that the European Union is taking the lead in providing funds for the rehabilitation of the Afghan justice system; we call on other donors to assist them.

For rural areas, the slow process of developing a reliable and fair system of justice will need early attention. Current rural justice mechanisms (i.e., village shuras), whatever else their advantages, are simply not adequate to address serious criminal offenses in compliance with international standards; and, as quasi-political entities, they are unfair forums for property disputes, which will be a major issue as refugees and the displaced return, and as political power shifts in coming years. In addition, village systems have traditionally been unable to fairly address crimes against women. Funding for justice building activities will need to include funding for creating new rural legal systems.

Accountability for past serious abuses will also have to be addressed. General Assembly Resolution 220 of December 14, 2001, recognized that "the accountability of perpetrators of grave human rights violations is a key factor in ensuring reconciliation and stability." The U.N. mission's work, as envisioned under the Bonn agreement, includes investigating human rights abuses, and recommending remedial measures. These activities will require extensive funding. In addition, the Bonn Agreement calls for the establishment of a independent domestic human rights commission in the Afghan government. The U.N. is tasked with assisting with the establishment of this commission, and it will require ongoing funding to do so effectively. Human Rights Watch calls on donors to specifically make available funds to the U.N. trust fund for Afghanistan's government, earmarked for this commission. We also call upon donors to fund U.N. efforts to assist this commission.

Assistance will also be needed to build rights protections into Afghan law (especially with respect to women's rights, discussed in more detail below). Experienced and capable legal advisor teams will be needed to work with Afghan government and civil society groups on drafting of laws and a new constitution, and general legal and police policies. Funding for these legal teams is essential.

Refugees and Displaced Persons
Independent human rights monitoring on conditions inside Afghanistan (mentioned above) is also critical to the repatriation and return process for Afghan refugees and internally displaced persons. Refugees and returnees can only make a voluntary decision about return if they have access to reliable, impartial, and accessible information concerning conditions in their home areas. Human rights monitoring during the post-return phase is also critical to ensuring that return is sustainable and safe. Funding and support for in-country human rights monitoring is therefore a priority need from a refugee protection standpoint, as is funding to ensure coordination between monitoring efforts and any future repatriation or screening programs.

In host countries, screening mechanisms must be put in place for those refugees who are unable or unwilling to return to their own countries. Screening must be fair and impartial and according to recognized international standards. Funding for such programs - implemented with coordination by UNHCR - is essential if these standards are to be met.

Refugees and returnees cannot be subjected to "push factors" in host countries, such as the scaling down of assistance programs or violence and insecurity in camps. As donors consider funding for Afghanistan, they must be prepared to consider continued funding for programs in host countries for refugees for whom return to Afghanistan is impossible.

The conflict-related devastation of many rural areas within Afghanistan will restrict the full reintegration of returnees into their home communities; in particular their ability to resume farming or access adequate shelter. Reconstruction programs should be aimed at (among other things) facilitating voluntary returns. Reintegration programs should be crafted so that they meaningfully meet the specific needs of female and disabled returnees. Any demobilization programs must include returning refugees and be particularly sensitive to the needs of former child soldiers among them.

In order to help meet all of these standards, the interim government will create a department for refugees and displaced persons, to work with UNHCR and address the needs of all sectors of the refugee population. Tripartite repatriation commissions set up with UNHCR, Afghanistan and host countries (most notably Pakistan and Iran) will also need to be created to work with this governmental department. However, both the governmental ministry and all tripartite commissions must be adequately funded to ensure that any return program is based on international human rights standards.

Women's Rights and Participation
Afghan women have been actively engaged with the international donor community, U.N. agencies, and the World Bank, to set their priorities and agendas for the effective participation of women in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. International donors now have the opportunity to implement commitments made regarding the inclusion of Afghan women as decision-makers in the reconstruction effort. As the relief and reconstruction effort is being planned, women have critical information about how to ensure that such relief actually reaches the women of Afghanistan, particularly rural, widowed, illiterate, disabled, internally displaced, and returning refugee women. Women leaders at the local level also have a critical role to play in ensuring women's participation in development programs: their involvement facilitates dissemination of information through networks of women and women's rights NGOs. Towards this end, international agencies and donors should press to ensure that Afghan women are appointed to senior positions in the government.

Women's rights must be prioritized in Afghanistan's reconstruction effort. Under the interim government arrangements a Judicial Commission is tasked with rebuilding the domestic justice system that will operate fully in accordance with international human rights standards. In light of the historical pattern of systematic discrimination against women in Afghanistan, it is vital that efforts be made to pressure Afghanistan's new government to establish laws guaranteeing women's rights to education, political involvement, free expression, mobility, employment, and health care. U.N. human rights gender advisors will be a vital force in pushing for these protections; but again, advisory teams on human rights will require funding.

In addition, as noted above, an independent human rights commission will be responsible for the monitoring and investigation of violations of human rights, and the development of domestic human rights institutions. These commissions should be fully representative, including Afghan women judges and lawyers living abroad and inside Afghanistan. The inclusion of these women will lead to a fully informed perspective on justice and redress, particularly as it relates to the abuses suffered by women during the civil war. Laws that would protect women from exclusion and discrimination, especially initiatives designed to assess the status of women and promote women's access to justice and legal services, must be part of the new legal system of Afghanistan.

Children's rights
Afghanistan contains a large population of orphaned children; Human Rights Watch urges donors to take special cognizance of the issue. In light of the detrimental effects institutionalization can have on children, Human Rights Watch encourages donors to support alternatives to institutions for orphaned and separated children, especially those with family or family-like settings.

Education is one of the most important foundations for Afghanistan's future. Donors should put special emphasis on establishing or reestablishing schools throughout Afghanistan so that every child has access to education. Well-funded schools, which also provide meals and clothing, can help to counteract the factors which cause parents to place children in other inadequate institutions, or keep them at home.

Landmines and Remnants of War
Before U.S. led attacks began in early October, Afghanistan was already littered with land mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO). Mine/UXO casualties have been a daily threat. Since October, thousands of missiles and bombs have been launched or dropped by U.S. and British forces into Afghanistan, many of which failed to detonate.