Briefing to the United Nations Security Council by the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva

Third, it ensured that the needs of the Afghan people remained high on the international agenda, and established this group of Special Envoys as a standing mechanism for the international community that should meet more frequently to work towards the end state articulated in resolution 2721. [...] I stress that the conditions for reintegration also reflect the expectations of Afghanistan’s population, especially the full respect for the rights of women and girls, the rights of ethnic and religious communities, and the need for greater economic opportunity. [...] UNAMA’s extensive monitoring and advocacy, including on human rights, has highlighted the denial of the civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights of the population, the well-documented policies and actions of repression of women and girls, public displays of violence including of corporal and capital punishment, a lack of inclusive governance, and the marginalization of minorities. [...] It has been the source of instability, terrorism exported to the rest of the world, the source of 85 percent of the world’s opium production, the home of millions of refugees who have been driven to make their home in neighbouring countries, and millions more who have chosen to make their home faraway where their sons and daughters can be educated. [...] These include measures to reduce the effects of climate change, to reduce the effects of the opium ban, and to support the ongoing demining of Afghanistan in cooperation with the de facto authorities.