The reintegration programme for ex-combatants continues apace with 59,940 people having now entered or completed the programme. That represents the vast majority of the 61,413 Afghan Military Forces officers and soldiers who have been demobilized under DDR.

•  Ammunitions Survey

The Afghan New Beginnings Programme (ANBP), which is being supported by the United Nations, is also making progress with its ammunition survey. The pilot phase of this survey was started a few months ago, and the official project is now going to continue for two years.

The ammunition survey teams have been surveying in the regions of Kabul , Mazar, Heart , Jalalabad, Kunduz, Kandahar , Gardez, and Panjshir.

The teams have surveyed 491,520 boxes of ammunition and 1,704,680 individual pieces since the survey started. The majority of the ammunition surveyed thus far is unserviceable and has been disposed of by the implementing partners HALO Trust and RONCO. The remaining ammunition has been put into safe and secure storage.

•  Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG)

With the Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups programme 8,337 weapons are verified as having been handed in. This figure is the same I gave you on Monday.

•  Workshop for religious leaders on issue of early marriage

The Ministry of Women's Affairs, supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), is organizing a two-day workshop for Afghan religious leaders to look at the issue of early marriage.

The workshop, which is also supported by the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), will be held at the Sitara Hotel in Kabul from August 21 st to 22 nd . It will be opened by the Minister of Women's Affairs, Dr. Masouda Jalal. Religious leaders from each Afghan province are expected to attend.

The workshop will look at the issue of early marriage from an Islamic viewpoint.

There is a strong link between early marriage and maternal mortality, and it is hoped that religious leaders will lend their support to help prevent early marriage in Afghanistan .

•  AIHRC member awarded Scholarship

We would like to congratulate Parwez Ahang, a member of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), who has recently been awarded a scholarship to study in Hong Kong for a Master of Laws degree in human rights.

Ms Ahang was selected from a very strong field of candidates, and is expected to begin her studies at Hong Kong University in the next few weeks.

•  Statement attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

The Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, was saddened to learn on Tuesday that 17 Spanish military personnel, serving with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan , had been killed in a helicopter crash in Heart province.

He extends his profound condolences to the Spanish Government and to the bereaved families. UNAMA echoes these sentiments.

•  Anniversary of the attack on the United Nations in Baghdad

Tomorrow, August 19 th is the second anniversary of the attack on the United Nation's headquarters in Baghdad , Iraq .

On behalf of UNAMA and the wider UN family in Afghanistan , I would like to offer our renewed condolences to the survivors, as well as the friends and families of our fallen colleagues.

In his message for the anniversary of this day, the Secretary-General has said the following:

“ The 19 th of August will always be a date laden with sorrow for the United Nations -- and for me personally. It is an occasion to reflect on what those we lost endured, and how we can best honour their legacy.

“It is also a day to be thankful for the light they brought into our world. They were courageous and unstinting in their devotion to helping people in impoverished and war-torn lands build better lives”.

The Secretary-General's full message is being issued today in New York via the Spokesman's office and UN website.

•  Ariane Quentier leaves UNAMA

Today is the last day with UNAMA and the Office and Communications and Public Information for Ariane Quentier, my colleague and our Senior Public Information Officer. Ariane is not leaving Afghanistan but leaving UNAMA to join the Afghan New Beginnings Programme as Senior Strategic Communications Adviser.

On behalf of UNAMA, and I think on behalf of all of us in this room, I'd like to thank Ariane for her work with us and wish her every success in her new career.

Questions and Answers

Question: There has been a Human Rights Watch report highlighting intimidation conducted against women [election] candidates. Is it an issue of concern for UNAMA and can you comment on the report?

Spokesperson: UNAMA is certainly giving attention to this issue and we commented on it in our joint political rights verification report with the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC). In line with our mandate, we will be commenting on this issue again in the next political rights verification report, which we are expecting to publish in the coming week. As you may recall the last report mentioned intimidation of women candidates and identified one clear and confirmed instance of intimidation. Since then we are aware of some reports of conservative opposition to women's participation, however I will ask you to wait for the political rights verification report for further detail.

Our recommendations from the first report were that the Ministry of Women's Affairs should be supported in devising a strategy to promote women's participation in the elections. The Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) and national and international organizations, particularly women's organizations, were asked to provide support for this initiative. The report also asked the Ministry of Women's Affairs, the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Justice to work to develop a coherent approach to address the security concerns of female candidates. As I just said, there will be more on this in our upcoming joint report with the AIHRC.

Question: What about Mr. Baheen [the JEMB spokesperson]? Any specific measure the JEMB may or will take?

JEMB spokesperson, Sultan Baheen: If you remember in our last press briefing we have indicated that women who are threatened can refer to the Electoral Complaints Commission in Kabul or in the Electoral Commissions in the provinces. We do have concerns regarding women rather than men during the campaign due to specifics of Afghan society but we are in touch with Afghan as well as international security forces in Afghanistan and we will continuously address concerns regarding candidates and the election process.

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