Doha Hosts UN Meeting, Special Envoys’ Convening with Afghan Civil Society

Doha: Doha hosted on Tuesday the meeting of HE Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs at the United Nations, Rosemary DiCarlo and the Special Envoys' convening with representatives of the Afghan civil society as part of the 3rd meeting of Special Envoys on Afghanistan. HE Rosemary DiCarlo said that today that she listened to valuable insights and perspectives from members of the Afghan civil society, presented to special envoys and the United Nations, regarding the rights of women and minorities in the country, as well as girls' education, media, business, and other wide-ranging issues. She added that the participants shared viewpoints on the Doha process, along with the engagement between Afghanistan and international community in general, highlighting that the meeting was extremely critical and useful and was based on the outcomes of the previous meeting held in Doha last February. HE DiCarlo affirmed that the wide diversity of opinions heard from the participants and the talks h eld with the actual authorities underlined that Afghan civil society is not homogeneous, and there is a need to build trust and engage in honest dialogue, based on the precepts of the United Nations Charter and various human rights treaties to which Afghanistan is a party. This process is based on the independent evaluation recognized by the United Nations' Security Council last November, which calls for more coordinative process with unequivocal conditions and expectations of all parties, HE DiCarlo noted, calling for pursuing a principled step-by-step approach with a clear understanding of outcomes and commitments from all parties, where human rights, particularly the rights of women and girls, and inclusion remain integral parts of all discussions. Regarding the next phase of discussions, HE DiCarlo said there have been discussions on establishing smaller groups around key issues in the independent assessment. She assured that the discussions will proceed as they are still at the beginning of this proces s, but they will take time and patience, since the UN's approach has one goal which is to assist all people of Afghanistan. Source: Qatar News Agency