The meeting was held to discuss the date of the elections as well as other electoral related issues. According to the Electoral Law, the JEMB is to consult with the registered political parties and the government prior to announcing the date of the elections. The JEMB is mandated by the law to announce the date of the election at least 90 days prior to the intended date of polling.

At the meeting, the Chairman of the JEMB, Mr. Zakim Shah, spoke in detail about security, finances and the overall achievements of the voter registration process. Party representatives were asked to come up with suggestions for an election date and to submit these suggestions to the JEMB in due course. A press released issued by the JEMB on yesterday's meeting is available on the side table.

On 16 June, $12.5 million from the US government was received towards the budget for the election. This is the first contribution by a donor nation to be received in the bank. The total budget for the election is $101 million; there have been firm pledges for US$70 million and there remains a shortfall of some US$30 million. The issue here is not only the shortfall, but also the timely transfer of funds of the amounts already pledged by donors to the bank account of the electoral budget.

The latest figures for voter registration that we have for you are from last night. This is a huge effort by the JEMB Secretariat to try and give you information that is as updated as possible. This means, however, that we do not give this to you in writing because the information as of yesterday is incomplete i.e. the data has not yet come in from all the provinces. But what we have it is confirmed data and this is why we feel comfortable to share it with you. As of 16 June, based on incomplete data for the whole country, 3,949,528 Afghans had registered to vote. The gender breakdown is 2,534,383 men and 1,415,145 women or 64.2 percent men and 35.8 percent women. These numbers show that there are close to 90,000 Afghans registering to vote each day.

At the closing session on Sunday, 20 June, during a press conference to be held at 4:00 p.m., the participants will present recommendations to government officials, representatives of the international community and the media. The conference is being organized and supported by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.

Disarmament continues in Baghlan and will shortly begin in Takhar. In the east, main phase disarmament is scheduled to commence in Jalalabad at the start of next week. DDR is scheduled to commence in Heart and Bamyan by 5 July. Main phase disarmament has already begun in Kunduz, Kandahar, Kabul, Gardez and Mazar-e-Sharif.

Under both the main phase and the pilot phase, which started in October 2003, 8,850 officers and soldiers have been disarmed and some 6,870 weapons have been collected. Almost 7,090 of the officers and soldiers who have been disarmed have started or are about to start their reintegration options which include small business, agriculture, vocational training, contracting teams, de-mining or placement with the Afghan National Army or Afghan National Police. More than 48 percent (2,801) of officers and soldiers are choosing to enter DDR's vocational training package, while almost 38 percent (2,669) have chosen agriculture.

Some 4,040 heavy weapons have been recorded so far -- 1,350 operational; 1,570 repairable and 1,120 cannot be repaired (wrecks).

In a message released by the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to mark the day, he says that the risks of desertification are substantial and clear. Desertification undermines the fertility of the world's land, with productivity losses reaching 50 percent in some areas. Current estimates are that the livelihoods of more than 1 billion people worldwide are at risk from desertification, and that, as a consequence, 135 million people may be in danger of being driven from their land.

A copy of the full statement by the Secretary-General is available on the side table.

Desertification is a matter of concern here in Afghanistan.

In that context we have available at the side of the room the May edition of the Agro-Meteorological Bulletin for Afghanistan -- a monthly publication that is put out by the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry (MAAH) with support from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The Bulletin notes that this year, with the exception of the northeast and some east-central regions, Afghanistan is suffering from a lack of rains, dry spells, extreme heat, strong and dry winds and in some parts from very severe frost conditions. All the northwest, west, and the southwest regions as well as part of central region have been affected by drought and very low night time temperatures. Due to the adverse weather conditions many pests/diseases including locust infestations are reported, particularly in the north while crop yields will be lower than last year's. Fortunately, however, in some parts of the east, central, north and west observers have reported normal conditions for wheat crop.

The Bulletin is available in English and Dari at the side of the room with more details.

Serge Verniau, the FAO Representative in Afghanistan is expected to say in his remarks that "the Ministry of Irrigation, Water Resources and Environment (MIWRE) the World Bank and FAO join forces today, and with the guidance of rural Afghan men and women will support effort their forts for a better Afghanistan".

FAO will assist the MIWRE in implementing about 1,200 small and medium sized projects to serve a potential area of 280,000 hectares. FAO will help rehabilitate irrigation systems, the hydrological network, as well as support institutional building of the MIWRE at central and regional levels.

If you want to know more about it, you are invited to rush to the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing (MUDH) where Deputy Minister Jalal Djallalzada and the Head of UN-Habitat Lalith Lankatilleke are currently making a presentation with the results of the workshop that was held from 8-10 June.

Afghanistan is one of the most rapidly urbanizing countries in the Central Asia sub-region. According to the Afghanistan Research & Evaluation Unit (AREU) by the year 2040, the urban population will surpass the rural population. As the country urbanizes, land in the cities and the periphery will come under increasing pressure -- in the process creating an environment for slum growth as people struggle to find affordable housing and agricultural land is rapidly converted for urban use.

These mudslides also blocked the main road in the area and restricted community access to the river while 50 families had their agricultural land ruined and lost their crops.

On Monday rice, cooking oil, pressure cookers, cooking sets, blankets food and plastic sheeting as well as tents were dispatched to the villagers.

UNHCR Communication Officer Mohammad Farhad

With the murder of Haji Agha on Tuesday evening, UNHCR lost one of its closest government counterparts, a man who was a friend and great advocate of the plight of displaced persons and returning refugees.

Minister of Refugees and Repatriation Enayatullah Nazari is travelling to Kandahar today, accompanied by UNHCR Acting Chief of Mission Daniel Endres to pay respect to Haji Agha and convey our condolences to the family and review the security and operational situation in the South.

Conditions for IDPs residing at Spin Boldak have been unacceptable for some time. UNHCR and the government would like those people who are able to voluntarily return home in safety to go back to their home areas with the available UNHCR assistance package. For those Spin Boldak residents not yet ready to return to their home areas, we suggest that they register to voluntarily relocate to Zhare Dasht camp, west of Kandahar City, where they can be properly assisted.

The local Department for Refugees and Repatriation (DoRR) and the Afghan non-governmental organization HAPA are assisting UNHCR with the registration effort at Spin Boldak. The registration is expected to be complete by July 15, when the Spin Boldak encampment will be considered formerly closed. The government has ordered that all humanitarian assistance at the site cease by the end of August.

IDPs in Spin Boldak have already been informed that they have the option of relocating to Zhare Dasht camp or returning to their areas of origin. People may remain at the makeshift camp, but all assistance at Spin Boldak will cease on August. 30.

So far some 2,000 IDPs at Spin Boldak have registered to relocate to Zhare Dasht. The first relocation convoy is planned for this Sunday, which is coincidentally World Refugee Day. This is the third opportunity for displaced persons residing in Spin Boldak to relocate from the site, which sprung up in October 2001 when thousands of people fleeing the US-led war in Afghanistan arrived in the town but were stopped from crossing into neighbouring Pakistan.

Together with partner agencies, the MoRR and UNHCR started a pre-registration at Spin Boldak late last month. The relocation of the 2,000 IDPs so far registered to go to Zhare Dasht should be complete by the end of June.

Upon their arrival in Zhare Dasht, the Spin Boldak IDPs will receive aid packages including wheat flour, pulses, vegetable oil, sugar and salt. Various household items will also be distributed, including blankets, sleeping mat, jerry can, bucket, lantern, soap, hygienic items and shelter material to help them construct their shelters, such as a wheelbarrow, tool kit, plastic tarpaulin and bamboo.

There are currently some 188,000 internally displaced people in Afghanistan, mainly in the south of the country, which shelters 145,000. Other IDPs include 20,000 each in central and western Afghanistan, 9,000 in the north, 5,500 in the east and 5,000 in the southeast.

UNICEF Communication Officer Edward Carwadine

A group of 35 journalists from across Afghanistan closed three days of discussion and presentations on the issue of children and the media with the issuance of a "Declaration of Intent" underlining their determination to protect and promote children's rights.

The Children and The Media workshop, hosted by the Ministry of Information and Culture with support from UNICEF, brought together international media and child rights experts with representatives of Afghan television, radio and print media to address a wide range of issues including international standards of reporting on children, media ethics and children's participation.

Following the presentations, and small group discussion sessions, delegates nominated eight journalists to draft a final Declaration of Intent which was then accepted by all participants. This included commitments to promote the rights of children amongst families, to protect the dignity of children in their reporting, to take the views and needs of children into account when planning programmes, to report violations of children's rights and call for increased protection of children, the inclusion of marginalized and vulnerable children, and to lobby for more coordination and support to the promotion of children's rights through the media.

The Declaration of Intent will now be used by UNICEF to develop discussion on the issue of children's rights with other media audiences, and to urge donors to provide more resources for the media to develop campaigns and initiatives based around children's issues. The Kabul workshop also called upon the media to inspire the Government and international organizations to do more for children in Afghanistan. Journalists also stressed the importance of widening the debate and strengthening the commitment of the media, using the Declaration as a blueprint for further discussion.

Addressing delegates, UNICEF's Representative for Afghanistan Dr. Waheed Hassan reminded the media that they were vital actors in the reconstruction process.

"The media should not just report on the issues of the day; it also has a role to play in creating those issues, and advocating for certain issues to be placed on the national agenda," he said.

UNICEF also announced that it would welcome proposals from Afghan media organizations to support initiatives that help to promote children's rights, and encourage the active participation of children in the media. Criteria for such proposals can be obtained from the Public Information Unit at UNICEF's Kabul office.

Questions and Answers

Question: Before the explosion in Kunduz yesterday there was a report of another earlier in Faizabad. Do you have any information on this and there has been any suspension of activities there - registration sites for example?

Spokesman: There was an explosion by an improvised explosive device in Faizabad at about 3:30 a.m. yesterday in front of the offices of the NGO Afghan Aid. [One guard was slightly wounded but he is now reported to be okay. There are no consequences to UN programmes or activities in Faizabad.] The information we received from elections is that all [registration] sites are open and there was no mention of Faizabad.

Question: Do you think the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) -- as per President [Hamid] Karzai's request -- will take place before the elections?

Spokesman: We are on record here in Kabul, New York and everywhere else we speak calling for the expansion of international military forces. NATO's Council met several months ago and approved the idea of this expansion. The Secretary-General of NATO has said several times that Afghanistan is a priority for NATO. We understand that an important NATO meeting is due to take place before the end of the month in Istanbul and we do hope that the NATO troop contributing nations will find the means to deploy the forces that are required here. President Karzai speaks about it now and he has spoken about in the past. We have done so as well several times -- It is necessary and I believe that no one has any doubts about the need for this deployment. The question now is for the troop contributing nations to find the means to effect this deployment.

Question: What is the current estimated number of voters?

Spokesman: About 9.5 million

Question: I believe the figure used to be about 10 million - what is the reason for the decrease?

Spokesman: We have explained this several times but I will do it again for those of you who missed these explanations. Let me make it clear -- we are talking about estimates. The original estimate was about 10.5 million and that was provided by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). They did that based on their pre-census activities. A census is scheduled to happen in Afghanistan next year but as is the practice in any country it must be preceded by a pre-census. Here it is called household listing. This is when CSO personnel go from house-to-house in all provinces in order to identify locations and numbers of people. It is not census - just a rough indication of the population. The initial estimate was based on that. At that time, however, they had not done many provinces. Since then the household listing exercise expanded into several provinces and I believe that by now they have done some 22-25 provinces. This enabled them to refine the estimate which has come down to 9.5 to 9.8 million because the number of people above the age of 18 is smaller than originally estimated.

Question: Around four million people have registered to vote. Now there are about 100,000 people registering per day. With this average we will be able to reach about 4.5 to 5.5 million by the end of this month? If we go by the 100,000 per day average do you think this 5.5 million is enough or will the election date have to be extended?

Spokesman: I think we already spoke about this here before. I think registration will go beyond the end of June. The idea is to offer as many opportunities for as long as possible for as many Afghans as they wish to register. There are difficulties and although I always say this I would like to repeat it because we have to be very clear about the environment in which this extremely complex operation is taking place. It is in a country where communications systems were destroyed and are now being rebuilt; where you do not have roads to go everywhere that you need to go; and where you have a geographical terrain that makes access even more difficult where you don't have roads; and where you have a security problem. There are also logistic issues and the question of identifying personnel in the different areas who are qualified to be able to be trained to be registration officials. This is particularly relevant in relation to female staff who are not easily available given the many years that women were not given opportunities for education and in some areas where traditional patterns have not encouraged women to play a role in socio-political life. This is the context within which voter registration is taking place and within which the JEMB with United Nations support will continue to do the best that they can.

Question: If we get to the election date in September with the money and security in place but without 9.5 million people being registered will the elections be postponed?

Spokesman: 9.5 million is not a target. It is an estimate. In any country in the world you will never have every eligible voter registering. And you have even less voting. Just look at Europe now. Despite years and centuries of tradition, democracy and popular participation, at the recent elections the number of people participating [was quite low]. I am not saying this is the same situation. It is entirely different. But what I am telling you is that 9.5 million is an estimate of the total possible number of people eligible to be registered. I don't think you can use that as reference or as target. I think that will mislead you in your understanding of the problem.

Questions: If the elections are delayed beyond September as you said will the Government still have legitimacy? Can it continue? You are not satisfied with (DDR) because the process is very slow and if DDR does not take place then the elections may have to be postponed?

Spokesman: First of all I never said that elections would be postponed. If someone is quoting me as saying that then they are misquoting me and it is an error. I never said any such thing.

The (DDR) process is delayed. So far it is not moving with the speed that is necessary. As you know there is a commitment by the Government to disarm 40 per cent of military formations by early July. Evidently we are behind schedule. But what I told you today is the new areas where DDR is expanding to and this very positive and we are very confident that this expansion will gain momentum because more and more lists are coming in from all areas in the country. These lists are being verified and as soon as this verification is concluded, DDR can be expanded to new areas. So we hope it will gain momentum and speed. The groundwork is there for this. I should also mention that this momentum is certainly the result of almost daily meetings that take place with officials of the Ministry of Defence (MOD), the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), UNAMA and other members of the international community.

On the legitimacy of the current government, your constitution -- the one that the Loya Jirga adopted on 4 January 2004 -- has one article which says that the Transitional Administration will remain in power until elections take place. That is the law of the country and that is what we all have as a reference. So the Constitution of 2004 supersedes in this aspect both the constitution of 1964 and the Bonn Agreement because it is now the new law of the country. The Bonn Agreement says that until the new constitution is adopted the 1964 Constitution is the reference. But a new constitution was adopted this year which specifically address the legitimacy of the current Transitional Administration and that it remains as the Government such until elections take place.

Question: What is the situation in Paktika after the convoy was attacked? Will registration proceed? What is the plan?

Spokesman: It will proceed as planned for in an area that is considered a security risk.

Question: What are those plans?

Spokesman: Security plans are never discussed in public. What it entails is that where there is enough security registration sites will be opened. The security plan is designed in very close cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior, the MOD, ISAF, Coalition Forces and the security personnel of the JEMB Secretariat. Unless I misunderstood your question I do not know whether I can go beyond this.

Question: I do not need the details of the security plan - just when and where registration will proceed in that province.

Spokesman: I don't have that information and I do not think we will be able to announce in advance the opening of any new registration sites. These decisions are very much taken locally. There is broad set of principles and concepts that guide the operation. But of course as we always tell you - we look at security not as a block for the whole country. Security is case-by-case, region-by-region and sub-region-by-sub-region. So recommendations come from assessments that are made locally.

Question: You say that 9.5 million is not a target. But there has to be target. What number then is acceptable?

Spokesman: I don' t have such a number. What we have as a reference is what I told you before - to make opportunities available for as long as possible for all those who wish to register. You are dealing with a situation where people have never done this before. You do not have previous experience [in Afghanistan] as a reference. Of course the experts do apply experience gained elsewhere in similar situations. But Afghanistan is unique and I believe that as we move further into the process we will be able to have a better understanding of what the numbers mean. It is not only a question of four, five, six, or seven million people. It is question of where these people are. What if you have an unbalanced registration in terms of gender? But in gender things are looking promising. Who would think that once we moved out of the urban areas the numbers of women would increase as they are increasing?

We also have to be concerned about the balance of registration in terms of geography. There is a lot of close observation by the JEMB Secretariat which follows almost day-by-day where people are registering and tries to address small imbalances by opening additional registration sites if this is a way to address the problem; by talking to more local leaders if it is a question of leaders encouraging the population; by looking at the question of security as well. In addition to that, while we are all very attracted to numbers which are useful because they are an indicator - they are still just an indicator. What we have to be concerned about is the substance of the process. In the case of elections the main concerns are the conditions for free and fair elections. As I told you before the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) along with UNAMA will shortly begin -- and we will soon announce this to you -- an exercise to verify the observation of political rights of the population -- the question of freedom of association; the question of freedom of expression; freedom of press and freedom of movement. These are very important if you are to have a process that is qualitatively relevant.