Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen

Transcription

1 Statement of Ahmad Jan Naeem, Deputy Minister of Public Health Islamic Republic of Afghanistan At the Ministerial segment of the Sixth Asian and Pacific Population Conference Sept Bangkok, Thailand Excellency President of Kiribati, Excellency Deputy Prime Minister of the Royal Government of Thailand, Honorable Deputy Executive Director UNFPA, Regional Director UNFPA, Officer in Charge ESCAP, Secretary of the Conference Excellencies Ministers and distinguished delagates of member countries, Representatives of UN, Parliamentarians, Civil Soceity, ladies and gentlemen, good morning I, on behalf of my delegation I would like to express our appreciation to the Royal Government of Thailand, UNFPA and UNESCAP for warm welcome, hospitality and excellent support in making the conference environment conducive for a meaningful discussion. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen Most of you may know that Afghanistan as a sovereign state started its journey to move towards a democratic society among other nations; it was just 10 to 12 years back when Afghanistan began from the scratch but today in spite of all challenges we, in cooperation with International Community, have tangible achievements in different fields, including, democracy. We had two Presidential, Parliamentary and Provincial elections. Afghanistan has a new Constitution that is based on the principles of democracy, pluralism with recognition of human rights and including the rights of women. For the last one decade we have many positive achievement, inter alia, health, education, human rights, particularly, women rights, agriculture,...and mining sector. I would like to highlight some of the the progress made and the challenges in implementation of ICPD Program of Action. Health:

2 Afghanistan has experienced significant reduction in maternal and child mortalities. In the past decade, the Basic Package of Health Services which are targeting women and children has been expanded from about nine per cent in 2003 to all over the country and now over sixty per cent of the population has access to this package. To complement this package an Essential Package of Hospital Services was also developed to establish a referral system. Afghanistan has developed the Reproductive Health Strategy 2012 to 2016 in line with the Po A. At the same time a Health and Human Rights Strategy has been developed. Ministry of Public Health Afghanistan has approved a patient charter and a guideline on Medical Ethics to ensure all patients receive health care service with dignity. We are on our way to establishing a Medical Council for Afghanistan. Ten years ago every 27 minutes a mother was dying because of pregnancy related causes while in 2010 every two hours a mother is loosing her life which is a significant progress while this is still unacceptable. We need to double our efforts in reducing the alarming maternal mortality. Similarly, Infant and under-5 mortality in 2010 has declined to 77 and 97 per 1,000 live births respectively, from 111 and 161 per 1,000 live births in Education: Net Enrollment ratio in primary education was 54% in 2003 while it is 77% in the target for 2015 is 82%. We are on track to achieve the target of 100% by 2020 which is MDG target for Afghanistan. Human Rights, especially, Women Rights: In the past decade Afghanistan is experiencing an upward trend when it comes to gender equality and women empowerment. One fourth of the government jobs are occupied by women. Women participation in decision making has increased. 27% of the legislators in Afghan Parliament are women. We are experiencing similar trends when it comes to law enforcement and judiciary.

3 In line with the ICPD (PoA), the National Action Plan for the Women of Afghanistan has been developed. The plan was lead by Ministry of Women Affairs in consultation of the relevant ministries at the central level and provincial level stakeholders. implementation of the plan has been integrated in the plans of line ministries. An Independent Human Rights Commission is in place as watchdog on violation of Human Rights in the country. Young people: The government of Afghanistan has appointed Deputy Minister for Youth Affairs, within the Ministry of Information and Culture. Recently with the lead of Ministry of Culture, a youth policy was finalized to consider the following issues related to youth in the country to: 1. Promotes youth as a strategic priority target group for Afghanistan s overall development and poverty reduction strategies; 2. Identifies priority youth issues and provides the legal framework and strategic direction for sustainable youth development; 3. Identifies gaps in existing youth related research, policies and programmes and provides a common framework for addressing these gaps; 4. Acknowledges the distinctive and complementary role of governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the private sector and youth organizations in youth development and intends to provide a framework for common goals and the development of a spirit of cooperation between these groups; 5. Strengthen coordination between the various governmental and nongovernmental-actors involved in youth related issues; 6. Provides a framework for designing and implementing a monitoring mechanism to improve and strengthen youth related programmes and interventions; 7. Promotes opportunities for political, economic, social and cultural youth participation at the national, sub-national and local level.

4 Urbanization and Internal Migration: Unfortunately, still there are some security challenges because of which most of the burden of the internal migration is on Capital city, Kabul. For its solution Ministry of Rehabilitation and Rural Development, in cooperation with other line Ministries, is working hard to cope with the situation. International Migration: Afghanistan is still facing the great challenge of its refugees, mostly living in the Islamic Republics of Pakistan and Iran. We are thankful to them for their hospitality. But solution is to have peace and sustainable development in Afghanistan. We have singed Solution Strategy in 2012, and our Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation is working with other stakeholders to implement the Strategy. We also believe on dignity and voluntary return of Afghan refuges. Media and vibrant civil society: Afghanistan has unprecedented, achievements in the fields of freedom of speech and access to media. We have more than 40 private TV channels and more than 100 radio stations, besides, the printed media. We believe through these developments we can have strong and vibrant civil society, which is not only important but also an integral part of the democracy. Excellencies, distinguished Delegates Allow me to conclude my statement by stating that the conference was a great success and a contribution to efforts in the international arena for realization of the International Human Rights for the world population, particularly that of the region. But the notion respect to different cultures, traditions, religious beliefs are also important for our greater success. Hence it is important for all of us to work together, for a better human life, while respecting the views and beliefs of each other. Afghanistan is committed to implementation of the ICPD PoA in collaboration and cooperation of families, communities national, regional and international stakeholders. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen! I would also like to highlight our

5 observation that: During the three days deliberations a consensus was achieved among the members of Asian Pacific Countries on most of the clauses in the outcome document, however, on few issues including gender identity, sexual rights and abortion a consensus was not achieved. I thank you all for your attention!!