International Students Day at Kabul University: 27 November 2013

As part of the observance of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, which started earlier this week, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Afghanistan today highlighted, at a ceremony with hundreds of university students in the capital, Kabul, the need to reduce crimes against women and girls. At the event, also organized to mark the International Day of Students (17 November) – which was first observed in 1941 in recognition of student activism – a UNDP official, Fulya Vekiloglu, said the UN agency is working with the Afghan Ministry of Women’s Affairs to start a Master’s Degree programme on gender studies at Kabul University. UNDP has previously helped establish the Gender Studies Institute at the university, the largest tertiary studies institution in the country. In addition to the observance ceremony, today’s activities included speeches, music and theatre performances, and a documentary screening on the theme of gender quality.

Determining the order of candidates on the ballot paper for 2014 Presidential and provincial Council Elections 25th November 2013.

The Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan (IEC) today determined, through a lottery system, the order of the candidates appearing on the ballot papers for next year’s Presidential and Provincial Council elections, slated for 5 April, at a ceremony in the Afghan capital, Kabul. Eleven Presidential and 2,713 Provincial Council candidates, some of whom were present at today’s event, are contesting the polls. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA! ) is mandated to support – at the request of the Afghan authorities – the Afghan-managed and Afghan-led election. Last week, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Ján Kubiš, urged Afghan electoral and state bodies, and the candidates and their teams, to take all measures to ensure the election process and their conduct are marked by “the highest degree of integrity, free from internal and external interference and fraud.” 

Loya Jirga in Afghanistan: 21 November 2013

WORLD TOILET DAY: 19 NOVEMBER 2013

 Today is the first ever United Nations-designated World Toilet Day. Worldwide, some 2.5 billion people – or half the population in the developing world – lack the benefits of adequate sanitation. According to the UN, access to sanitation is a recognized human right, a basic service required to live a normal life, and hygienic sanitation facilities are central to human and environmental health. In his message for the Day, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for placing sanitation at the heart of the international community’s post-2015 development activities. Access to hygienic sanitation is a challenge faced in Afghanistan – for example, its capital city, Kabul, has only 25 public toilets for more than three million people. The city’s mayor, Mohammad Yunus Nawandish, has called on the private sector to help address the problem through the construction of more public toilets.

 Today is the first ever UN-designated World Toilet Day. Worldwide, some 2.5 billion people lack the benefits of adequate sanitation. In his message for the Day, UN chief Ban Ki-moon has called for placing sanitation at the heart of the international community’s post-2015 development activities. Access to hygienic sanitation is a challenge faced in Afghanistan – for example, its capital city, Kabul, has only 25 public toilets for more than three million people.

The rituals commemorate the killing of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, by armies of the caliph Yazid in 680: 14 November 2013