UN Women Transparency Portal

Region:Asia Pacific Current UN Women Plan Period Afghanisthan:2018-2022

World Bank Income Classification:Low Income

Least Developed Country:Yes

Gender Inequality Index:0.575

Gender Development Index:0.723

Population:209,497,025 Male:19,976,265 (9.5%) Female:189,520,760 (90.5%)

Disclaimer

outcome XM-DAC-41146-AFG_D_3.5

Civil society organizations are able to advocate on, and prevent and respond to VAWG through support from the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund & Spotlight Initiative Fund

Before the fall of Kabul, UN Women finalized and signed six project documents with civil society partners selected within the framework of the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF)-Spotlight Initiative, with 10 additional partnerships under finalization. UN Women conducted a rapid assessment to understand the status and operationality of the WPHF-Spotlight grantees. All grantees expressed their willingness to continue to implement the proposed programmes, highlighting that their interventions were now more than ever needed. Following the European Union, Spotlight Initiative, and WPHF confirmation that the project can move forward in the new country context, UN Women liaised with the 16 organizations to support them through the contracting and project finalization process.

outcome XM-DAC-41146-AFG_D_3.6

National and sub-national institutions and organisations have the commitment, knowledge and capacities to legislate, advocate, plan, implement and monitor policies to prevent and respond to SGBV and HP

Activities under this results area were paused while risk assessments and re-programming options were explored given the deterioration of the security situation in the lead-up to August 15th and the subsequent Taliban take-over of the country. A Concept Note for a “High-Level Religious Leaders’ Forum on Islam and Ending Violence Against Women & Girls in Afghanistan” was developed and a briefing note on “Faith-based approaches to prevent violence against women and girls and create peaceful families, homes and communities” was developed for the Ministry of Haj and Religious Affairs to engage religious leaders in primary prevention efforts. These documents will be used to inform (adapted) programming approaches in 2022.

outcome XM-DAC-41146-AFG_D_4.1

An enabling environment for the implementation of WPS commitments is fostered.

During the reporting period, UN Women carried out the preparations for the dissemination of the “First Progress Report of Women, Peace and Security National Action Plan 1325 Phase II” and the organization of a series of workshops on Data Collection and monitoring and evaluation. The workshops were expected to provide NAP 1325 focal points in each line minister with guidance on data collection methodologies and tools. In light of the prevailing political instability (and lack of political will), the workshops were postponed. Furthermore, technical support aimed at driving gender-responsive security-sector reform (SSR) was provided by UN Women to the Ministry of Interior Affairs (MoIA) up until the Taliban takeover. UN Women supported the finalization of an SSR project plan for the MoIA aimed at creating a long-term, enabling environment that streamlines efforts to improve the meaningful participation of women in the national policy; and supports the implementation of the “Women in Police Roadmap” and its implementation plan (approved by the MoIA Deputy Minister for Strategy and Policy at the beginning of 2021). From August 2021 onward, UN Women adjusted its Women, Peace, and Security programming to further focus on strengthening Women and Human Rights Defender and CSO advocacy and monitoring capacities. UN Women Afghanistan, through its coordination role as Secretariat for the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Working Group and under the leadership of the respective Co-Chairs continued to convene regular coordination meetings on the operationalization of the WPS framework. Timely briefings were provided to WPS working group members by various representatives of the Government, as well as CSO members and women leaders, and meetings facilitated coordination among different stakeholders. The Country Office continued to elevate the WPS agenda in Afghanistan by facilitating high-level events and preparing briefings to inform strategic decision-making on WPS priorities in Afghanistan. These included briefings to the Informal Expert Group meetings on WPS in Afghanistan under the Taliban; briefing at the Noon Briefing, on two occasions; and reporting on the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan under the de facto authority. UN Women also facilitated the first delegation of Afghan women leaders to provide a briefing on the world stage in the aftermath of the fall of Kabul. The delegation of women leaders engaged in events during the 1325 Open Debate week in New York, USA (in October 2021). Afghan women leaders delivered briefings in a closed-door dialogue co-hosted by Norway and Qatar, and publicly at a high-level event (covered on UN TV) hosted by the United Kingdom and Canada. Over 150 media clippings were generated as a result of the week’s events. UN Women also facilitated the participation of two Afghan women civil society briefers at United Nations Security Council (UNSC) discussions in Q3 of 2021 and provided technical contributions to the report by the Secretary-General “The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security”, presented to the UNSC.

outcome XM-DAC-41146-AFG_D_4.2

Women are represented and meaningfully participate in all peace and security, peace-building, recovery and humanitarian processes, including formal and informal peace negotiations and forums

The year 2021 began with a sense of optimism surrounding the intra-Afghan talks between the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Taliban. Women’s participation in the talks was low: only 4 of the 21-member Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GoIRA) negotiating team were women; the Taliban negotiating team had no women. The other two entities in the Republic of Afghanistan peace architecture -the State Ministry of Peace (SMP) and the High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR) included only a handful of women at the leadership level. In collaboration with the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), UN Women also developed thematic analytical briefs to inform the topics being discussed at the Track 1 peace talks. Despite the disparity in the female: male ratio among negotiators, the mere presence of (any) women leaders in Track 1 negotiations elevated the voice of women in Afghanistan, and, indeed, other conflict-affected areas of the globe. This was achieved with the support of the Afghanistan Country Office (ACO), with negotiators appointed from the pool of senior women peacebuilders and networks at the provincial and grassroots level (Tracks II, III), securing high visibility and political recognition both domestically and globally. Under the framework of the intra-Afghan talks that took place, women negotiators raised women’s rights issues throughout their formal and informal engagement with the Taliban. The parties on both sides of the peace table proposed an agenda in this regard, but the talks later stalled and eventually came to a halt following the Taliban takeover in August 2021. Amid this context, the ACO found pathways to build bridges between the three main entities of the Republic peace architecture (the GoIRA negotiation team, the SMP, and the HCNR), which enabled women leaders to discuss clear objectives to be advanced in their respective roles within the architecture. Post 15 August 2021, UN Women continued to convene regular coordination meetings with the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and hosted several rounds of consultations in the form of ‘Virtual Policy Spaces’ in the period following the Taliban takeover, in preparation for the WPS Open Debate Week in New York with Afghan women leaders and activists inside and outside the country. ‘Virtual Policy Spaces’ were held in the lead-up to the renewal of the mandate of the Monitoring and Sanctions Committee for Afghanistan in late 2021 and informed the Committee of opinions and recommendations on renewal, partial renewal, and full lifting of the international sanctions and the prospective consequences of each of these scenarios for women on the ground. UN Women, together with the UNAMA, held several joint (in-person and online) meetings with women leaders inside and outside Afghanistan focused on discussing the status of women’s rights and recommending ways to address challenges. Central concerns raised during these engagements included (the maintenance/reinstatement of) women’s access to work and income-generating activities; personal security; political persecution; the marked discrepancy between de facto authority messaging – especially that emanating from the leadership level – and the actions occurring on the ground (and the accompanying sense of unpredictability); and the role and engagement that the international community should have with the de facto authority.

outcome XM-DAC-41146-AFG_D_6.1

The capacity of the government and stakeholders is strengthened to assess the progress in implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, and other global normative and policy frameworks

Before the seizure of state control by the Taliban in mid-August 2021, partnership on embedding systemic normative change on women’s rights and empowerment in Afghanistan continued in earnest. Cooperation between UN Women and the Republic Government during this period included carrying out the review process for Afghan progress made towards adhering to key women’s rights frameworks – such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Beijing Platform for Action, among others. UN Women was also able to leverage its coordination mandate to facilitate the functioning of platforms advocating for accountability on gender commitments, both within the UN system and with governmental actors. UN Women convened coordination meetings with the Ministry of Women Affairs (MoWA), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Afghan Women’s Network, all of which proved to be essential platforms for strategic engagement in the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. However, under the de facto authority, the national-level gender equality architecture in Afghanistan has been dismantled, with the abolishment of the MoWA and the absence of any women in the Taliban’s governing structure. In response, UN Women is strengthening its sub-office structure across five provinces, to bolster monitoring and reporting on women’s rights developments at the provincial level and contribute to wider UN capacity to expand and hold the space carved out in the provinces on women’s rights.

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The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.
References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).

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