03 December 2003

Kabul, Afghanistan: Despite the precarious security situation, for the first time in over 30 years the process of registering eligible voters has started in Afghanistan. Kevin Gilroy, chief of special operations at the UN Volunteers (UNV) programme headquarters in Bonn, Germany said “We are extremely proud of our volunteers getting the job done out there - it’s quite a milestone in this very difficult and sensitive exercise, not to mention the extremely precarious safety environment our UN Volunteers and others are working within to see this important work of the UN through.”

The UN Volunteers Programme Manager in Afghanistan, Lars Narfeldt confirmed 63,137 eligible voters, including 54,948 men and 8,189 women have been registered during the first half of December.The process has started in all eight regional capitals as part of the Constitutional Loya Jirga (representative assembly) and is expected to complete by May 2004. “The feedback was overwhelmingly in favour of the process,” he said. “However, there are many cultural, tribal and ethnic barriers, such as language and religious sensitivities that we must respect. But we are confident that we will indeed meet our goal of registering 10 million Afghan voters,” Narfeldt added.

One of the more sensitive issues is taking pictures of women. Vela Gopal, UNV Support Officer in Kabul said, “of the 3,380 registrations in Bamyan, not one women refused to have her picture taken. Instead complaints about the quality of the photograph led to a second picture being taken.” In Herat, Kandahar, and Jalalabad local leaders encouraged others to register and lead by example by being the first to do so.

The voter registration process currently involves 115 UN Volunteers, who have been mobilized throughout Afghanistan as Provincial Field Coordinators, and International Registration Supervisors (IRS). An additional team of 20 UN Volunteers offers logistical support. By the end of the project it is expected that 400 international and 600 national volunteers will have served. A computerized database of the registered voters will be maintained and updated by national volunteers. Information about the process has been distributed throughout the country by the local Shura (village council), town meetings and by flyers and posters.