Afghanistan Human Development Report
Afghanistan’s future holds promise and peril
First-ever Afghanistan Human Development Report shows economy, education improving, but poverty, inequality and instability threaten progress. The new Afghan Government together with the international community must act now to prevent relapse. Accountability should be to the Afghan people’s human security needs.
Kabul, 21 February 2005 – The impoverished country of Afghanistan has made remarkable progress since the demise of the Taliban government in late 2001, and there is room for cautious optimism about the future, a Report released today by the United Nations Development Programme concludes. But it warns without mincing words, the fragile nation could easily tumble back into chaos. The basic human needs and the genuine grievances of people – the lack of jobs, health, education, income, dignity and opportunities for participation for the Afghan people must be met, and international aid must be tightly controlled, the Report says, or Afghanistan will collapse into an insecure state, a threat to its own people as well as to the international community.
The state, communities, the private sector and especially the international community have duties and responsibilities to provide human security as public goods: equal access to education, healthcare, livelihoods, gender equality and human rights while ensuring traditional security and a life free of violence. The security strategies of the international alliance and that of the Afghan state should only enhance, and not violate, the development and human rights needs of all Afghans, regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion or geographical location. Afghans should be better consulted in the preparation of development plans of the country.
The National Human Development Report: Security with a Human Face, marks the first time in modern history that objective observers were allowed to gather and tabulate hard data on living conditions among everyday Afghans. It draws a portrait of a nation still at odds – if no longer at war -- with itself. And in a novel approach to peacemaking, the unblinking, unvarnished Report concludes that “human security” and “human development,” rather than military force and diplomacy alone, are key to resolving Afghanistan’s complex problems. The legitimate grievances of the Afghan people must be addressed before a lasting peace can take hold. Beyond survival, Afghans expect an existence with dignity, a life free of fear and free from wants.
“The considerable vote of confidence that the government received through landmark elections should encourage accountability towards Afghans first. The international community is committed to fighting terrorism and drugs inside Afghanistan, but human security cannot take a back seat to the national and international security interests of other nations,” says Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh, the Report’s Editor-in-Chief.
Christophe Alexander, Canadian Ambassador to Afghanistan adds: “The Human Development Report is a critical new roadmap for us all, highlighting the human side of the Bonn agenda and placing Afghans at centre stage – both as the means and ends of development. Canada will be guided by this inspiring call to the international community to protect, provide for and empower the people. We remain determined to ensure reconstruction efforts never pass by the ordinary Afghan.”
The report argues that the causes and consequences of 23 years of crisis cannot be understood in isolation from the historical and international context and cannot be ignored in the state-building process today. Because these grievances have been manipulated to fuel conflict in the past, their continued existence is not only unfair, but also potentially dangerous. With the renewed sovereignty of Afghanistan, a window of opportunity has opened to build a sustainable peace based on popular aspirations and participation. As the country devises its long-term development strategy, it should remember that economic growth and stability can be only be sustained by addressing the causes of spatial and social inequalities in Afghanistan.
Sustained peace in Afghanistan is not guaranteed despite the early successes in state-building that have now led to elections. Human security still needs to advance a long way, and rebuilding institutions will be a core task. To be most effective, this task must follow Afghan models that reflect the country’s history, and strive not only to satisfy the immediate needs of individuals, but also to develop capacities for self-sufficiency and empowerment.
The report was overseen by former UNDP Country Director Ercan Murat, who in his preface says “I hope that this and future NHDRs for Afghanistan will become important tools for the promotion of people-centred approaches to policy making. I also hope that the information offered here will prove useful for the planning and programming purposes of the new Government, as well as for those national and international organizations working on behalf of the Afghan people”.
Among the high - and low - points of human development in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan:
Human Development Index: The Report “paints a gloomy picture of the status of human development after two decades of war and destruction,” concedes President Hamid Karzai in the Forward, noting the ranking of 173 out of 178 nations on the UNDP’s 2004 Human Development Index. Only a few Sub-Saharan nations rank lower. Life expectancy, at44.5 years, is at least 20 years lower than in neighbouring countries.
Economic Growth: Positive:Under the post-Taliban interim government, Afghanistan’s economyhas recovered significantly. Non-drug GDP rose to about US$4.05 billion in 2002 – a yearly recovery of 25–30 per cent. In 2002, agriculture made up 52 per cent of national output, with a value of about US$2.1 billion. Economic growth for 2003 was estimated at 16 per cent. Over the next decade, non-drug GDP is expected to grow by 10-12 per cent. Negative: Anecdotal evidence suggests that economic growth so far has done little to alleviate inequality by income, gender or geography. A 2003 study found that the poorest 30 per cent of the population receive only nine per cent of the national income, while the upper third receive 55 per cent. “Our team found the overwhelming majority of people hold a sense of pessimism and fear that reconstruction is bypassing them,” says Daud Saba, one of the writers.
Poverty: Positive: Rising GDP creates the potential for more equitable income distribution. Surprisingly, violence as a cause of poverty was reported by only two-to-five per cent of the rural population. Negative: One out of two Afghans can be classified as poor, and 20.4 per cent of the rural population consumes less than 2,070 kilocalories per day. Poverty is compounded by a lack of social services, poor health, education and nutrition, gender inequality and human displacement. Over half the population is severely impacted by drought.
Education: Positive: Considerable progress has been made since the Taliban’s collapse. The “Back to School” campaign launched by the Afghanistan Interim Authority resulted in some three million children grades 1-12 and 70,000 teachers returning to school. By 2004, 54.4 per cent of primary age children were in school. Since 2002, a record 4 million high school students have enrolled. Negative: Afghanistan now has “the worst education system in the world,” and one of the lowest adult literacy rates, at just 28.7 per cent of the population. Only Burundi, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Sierra Leone fall behind. In some provinces, over 61 per cent of children are not enrolled, and over 80 per cent of girls do not attend school. Meanwhile, Nearly 80 per cent of the country’s 6,900 schools were damaged or destroyed in fighting.
Drugs: Positive: Illicit opium production may have peaked as more local religious leaders order farmers to replace opium with crops such as wheat. Negative: Opium economy equals 38.2 per cent of the country’s official GDP. Afghanistan is now the world’s major producer of illegal narcotics, with some 76 per cent of the supply. In 2002, drug-related income was calculated at US$2.54 billion, or 63 cents for each dollar of legal GDP (US$4.05 billion). Eradication of the drugs however has to be tied to a comprehensive strategy that diversifies livelihoods if it is not to further impoverish farmers.
Women & Children: Positive: More schools and public spaces have been opened to women, and access to media and other forms of expression are on the rise, including new women-run radio-stations. The country’s new Constitution outlaws gender discrimination and states that men and women “have equal rights and duties before the law. A significant number of seats are now reserved for women in the National Assembly. Negative: Years of discrimination and poverty have relegated Afghan women to some of the worst social indicators in the world. Traditional mentalities still hold women back. Poverty, malnutrition, exclusion from public life, rape, violence, poor health care, illiteracy and forced marriage are among their many human security concerns. Since 1992, more than 300,000 children may have perished during the conflict. Of 300 children surveyed, 72 per cent experienced the death of a relative and nearly all witnessed acts of violence, while two-thirds had seen dead bodies or parts of bodies. A Gender Development Index calculated by the Report puts Afghanistan only above Niger and Burkina Faso and much below all of its neighbors.
Health: Positive: Vaccinations programmes against measles and other childhood diseases are improving, and efforts are underway to distribute anti-malaria medication in at-risk areas. Negative: One woman dies from pregnancy-related causes approximately every 30 minutes, and maternal mortality rates are 60 times higher than in industrial countries. Seventy per cent of all tuberculosis cases are among women. One out of five children dies before the age of five (among the highest rates in the world) from diseases that are 80 per cent preventable. An estimated one-third of the population suffers from anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. Some 39 per cent of the population in urban areas and 69 per cent in rural areas do not have safe water and one in eight children die because of contaminated water.
Security and Civil Rights: Positive: Afghanistan successfully elected a president for the first time in history. The new Constitution and upcoming parliamentary elections – though postponed – should yield increased government accountability, a forged link between the people and their government, better-trained and more centralized state security, and separation of civilian and military policing. Negative: “Factional elements” are still in power in many areas, with their own privatized security forces, outside of central government control. Physical violence by armed militias continues, as does torture by security forces, deadly attacks by Taliban, hostage taking, street gangs, and domestic violence against women and children.
Refugees: Positive: Most Afghan refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) do not feel that violence is an impediment to their return home. Indeed, since the fall of the Taliban, more than 1.8 million people have returned from Pakistan and 600,000 from Iran. In addition, there were over 1 million IDPs in Afghanistan at the beginning of 2002, and now the majority of them have returned. Negative: Afghans comprise the second largest number of refugees and IDPsin the world, after Palestinians. Over a quarter of the country’s population has sought refuge outside of the country, prompting the United Nations to declare Afghanistanthe major site of human displacement in the world. An estimated 3.4 million Afghans sill remain outside the country and 200,000 IDPs are in the southern and western sections. A recent survey of some 20,000 IDP households, the vast majority of respondents expressed their willingness to return but cited a lack of jobs and drinking water as main obstacles.
Foreign Aid: Positive: Humanitarian and reconstruction aid can be very cost-effective compared with military aid. For example, the “war against terrorism” costs the United States more than US$1 billion each month, while much less could be spent on curbing the poverty that can breed extremism. And foreign aid will foster economic stability and trade with other countries, while diluting the appeal of political extremism. Given that Afghanistan’s human insecurities have been the result of conflicts compounded by foreign interference, the world now has an obligation to help solve them. In addition to their economic effects, aid programs may promote ties between social groups. They may not always “bring peace,” but they can provide alternatives to a war economy. Negative: Because aid in Afghanistan is introduced in a highly political environment, massive and sudden aid may exacerbate conflict and increase competition, unless equitable distribution and anti-corruption measures are in place. Aid based on relief can prolong dependence and can create market distortion, while funds that bypass the central Government and work directly with regional powers controlled by private militias can increase tensions between the centre and provinces.
Afghanistan’s first National Human Development Report, Security with a Human Face, was initiated in 2003 by the Government of Afghanistan and UNDP,and was launched today with Minister of Rural Rehabilitation and Development Haneef Atmar and Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Zepherin Diabre. The Report was made possible thanks to the financial support of UNDP, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the World Bank.
The UNDP has helped more than 135 developing countries and five regions to produce their own national and regional Human Development Reports. These Reports, written by local experts, spur public debate and bring political attention to pressing development needs. They propose concrete solutions to mobilise the resources, policies and political will to overcome poverty and bring about growth, equality, investment in people’s basic needs, and freedom. They also help donor governments measure the impact of aid dollars.The UNDP is the global development network of the United Nations.
For more information, please contact:In Kabul: Eliana Escobedo, tel. 93-79 372480, eliana.escobedo@undp.orgIn US: David Kirby, tel. 718-230-4250, david.kirby@undp.org
UNDP is the United Nations worldwide development network. It advocates change and provides countries with access to the knowledge, skills and resources their populations need to improve their lives.
http://www.undp.org/dpa/pressrelease/releases/2005/february/pr21feb05.html
First-ever Afghanistan Human Development Report shows economy, education improving, but poverty, inequality and instability threaten progress. The new Afghan Government together with the international community must act now to prevent relapse. Accountability should be to the Afghan people’s human security needs.
Kabul, 21 February 2005 – The impoverished country of Afghanistan has made remarkable progress since the demise of the Taliban government in late 2001, and there is room for cautious optimism about the future, a Report released today by the United Nations Development Programme concludes. But it warns without mincing words, the fragile nation could easily tumble back into chaos. The basic human needs and the genuine grievances of people – the lack of jobs, health, education, income, dignity and opportunities for participation for the Afghan people must be met, and international aid must be tightly controlled, the Report says, or Afghanistan will collapse into an insecure state, a threat to its own people as well as to the international community.
The state, communities, the private sector and especially the international community have duties and responsibilities to provide human security as public goods: equal access to education, healthcare, livelihoods, gender equality and human rights while ensuring traditional security and a life free of violence. The security strategies of the international alliance and that of the Afghan state should only enhance, and not violate, the development and human rights needs of all Afghans, regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion or geographical location. Afghans should be better consulted in the preparation of development plans of the country.
The National Human Development Report: Security with a Human Face, marks the first time in modern history that objective observers were allowed to gather and tabulate hard data on living conditions among everyday Afghans. It draws a portrait of a nation still at odds – if no longer at war -- with itself. And in a novel approach to peacemaking, the unblinking, unvarnished Report concludes that “human security” and “human development,” rather than military force and diplomacy alone, are key to resolving Afghanistan’s complex problems. The legitimate grievances of the Afghan people must be addressed before a lasting peace can take hold. Beyond survival, Afghans expect an existence with dignity, a life free of fear and free from wants.
“The considerable vote of confidence that the government received through landmark elections should encourage accountability towards Afghans first. The international community is committed to fighting terrorism and drugs inside Afghanistan, but human security cannot take a back seat to the national and international security interests of other nations,” says Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh, the Report’s Editor-in-Chief.
Christophe Alexander, Canadian Ambassador to Afghanistan adds: “The Human Development Report is a critical new roadmap for us all, highlighting the human side of the Bonn agenda and placing Afghans at centre stage – both as the means and ends of development. Canada will be guided by this inspiring call to the international community to protect, provide for and empower the people. We remain determined to ensure reconstruction efforts never pass by the ordinary Afghan.”
The report argues that the causes and consequences of 23 years of crisis cannot be understood in isolation from the historical and international context and cannot be ignored in the state-building process today. Because these grievances have been manipulated to fuel conflict in the past, their continued existence is not only unfair, but also potentially dangerous. With the renewed sovereignty of Afghanistan, a window of opportunity has opened to build a sustainable peace based on popular aspirations and participation. As the country devises its long-term development strategy, it should remember that economic growth and stability can be only be sustained by addressing the causes of spatial and social inequalities in Afghanistan.
Sustained peace in Afghanistan is not guaranteed despite the early successes in state-building that have now led to elections. Human security still needs to advance a long way, and rebuilding institutions will be a core task. To be most effective, this task must follow Afghan models that reflect the country’s history, and strive not only to satisfy the immediate needs of individuals, but also to develop capacities for self-sufficiency and empowerment.
The report was overseen by former UNDP Country Director Ercan Murat, who in his preface says “I hope that this and future NHDRs for Afghanistan will become important tools for the promotion of people-centred approaches to policy making. I also hope that the information offered here will prove useful for the planning and programming purposes of the new Government, as well as for those national and international organizations working on behalf of the Afghan people”.
Among the high - and low - points of human development in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan:
Human Development Index: The Report “paints a gloomy picture of the status of human development after two decades of war and destruction,” concedes President Hamid Karzai in the Forward, noting the ranking of 173 out of 178 nations on the UNDP’s 2004 Human Development Index. Only a few Sub-Saharan nations rank lower. Life expectancy, at44.5 years, is at least 20 years lower than in neighbouring countries.
Economic Growth: Positive:Under the post-Taliban interim government, Afghanistan’s economyhas recovered significantly. Non-drug GDP rose to about US$4.05 billion in 2002 – a yearly recovery of 25–30 per cent. In 2002, agriculture made up 52 per cent of national output, with a value of about US$2.1 billion. Economic growth for 2003 was estimated at 16 per cent. Over the next decade, non-drug GDP is expected to grow by 10-12 per cent. Negative: Anecdotal evidence suggests that economic growth so far has done little to alleviate inequality by income, gender or geography. A 2003 study found that the poorest 30 per cent of the population receive only nine per cent of the national income, while the upper third receive 55 per cent. “Our team found the overwhelming majority of people hold a sense of pessimism and fear that reconstruction is bypassing them,” says Daud Saba, one of the writers.
Poverty: Positive: Rising GDP creates the potential for more equitable income distribution. Surprisingly, violence as a cause of poverty was reported by only two-to-five per cent of the rural population. Negative: One out of two Afghans can be classified as poor, and 20.4 per cent of the rural population consumes less than 2,070 kilocalories per day. Poverty is compounded by a lack of social services, poor health, education and nutrition, gender inequality and human displacement. Over half the population is severely impacted by drought.
Education: Positive: Considerable progress has been made since the Taliban’s collapse. The “Back to School” campaign launched by the Afghanistan Interim Authority resulted in some three million children grades 1-12 and 70,000 teachers returning to school. By 2004, 54.4 per cent of primary age children were in school. Since 2002, a record 4 million high school students have enrolled. Negative: Afghanistan now has “the worst education system in the world,” and one of the lowest adult literacy rates, at just 28.7 per cent of the population. Only Burundi, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Sierra Leone fall behind. In some provinces, over 61 per cent of children are not enrolled, and over 80 per cent of girls do not attend school. Meanwhile, Nearly 80 per cent of the country’s 6,900 schools were damaged or destroyed in fighting.
Drugs: Positive: Illicit opium production may have peaked as more local religious leaders order farmers to replace opium with crops such as wheat. Negative: Opium economy equals 38.2 per cent of the country’s official GDP. Afghanistan is now the world’s major producer of illegal narcotics, with some 76 per cent of the supply. In 2002, drug-related income was calculated at US$2.54 billion, or 63 cents for each dollar of legal GDP (US$4.05 billion). Eradication of the drugs however has to be tied to a comprehensive strategy that diversifies livelihoods if it is not to further impoverish farmers.
Women & Children: Positive: More schools and public spaces have been opened to women, and access to media and other forms of expression are on the rise, including new women-run radio-stations. The country’s new Constitution outlaws gender discrimination and states that men and women “have equal rights and duties before the law. A significant number of seats are now reserved for women in the National Assembly. Negative: Years of discrimination and poverty have relegated Afghan women to some of the worst social indicators in the world. Traditional mentalities still hold women back. Poverty, malnutrition, exclusion from public life, rape, violence, poor health care, illiteracy and forced marriage are among their many human security concerns. Since 1992, more than 300,000 children may have perished during the conflict. Of 300 children surveyed, 72 per cent experienced the death of a relative and nearly all witnessed acts of violence, while two-thirds had seen dead bodies or parts of bodies. A Gender Development Index calculated by the Report puts Afghanistan only above Niger and Burkina Faso and much below all of its neighbors.
Health: Positive: Vaccinations programmes against measles and other childhood diseases are improving, and efforts are underway to distribute anti-malaria medication in at-risk areas. Negative: One woman dies from pregnancy-related causes approximately every 30 minutes, and maternal mortality rates are 60 times higher than in industrial countries. Seventy per cent of all tuberculosis cases are among women. One out of five children dies before the age of five (among the highest rates in the world) from diseases that are 80 per cent preventable. An estimated one-third of the population suffers from anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. Some 39 per cent of the population in urban areas and 69 per cent in rural areas do not have safe water and one in eight children die because of contaminated water.
Security and Civil Rights: Positive: Afghanistan successfully elected a president for the first time in history. The new Constitution and upcoming parliamentary elections – though postponed – should yield increased government accountability, a forged link between the people and their government, better-trained and more centralized state security, and separation of civilian and military policing. Negative: “Factional elements” are still in power in many areas, with their own privatized security forces, outside of central government control. Physical violence by armed militias continues, as does torture by security forces, deadly attacks by Taliban, hostage taking, street gangs, and domestic violence against women and children.
Refugees: Positive: Most Afghan refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) do not feel that violence is an impediment to their return home. Indeed, since the fall of the Taliban, more than 1.8 million people have returned from Pakistan and 600,000 from Iran. In addition, there were over 1 million IDPs in Afghanistan at the beginning of 2002, and now the majority of them have returned. Negative: Afghans comprise the second largest number of refugees and IDPsin the world, after Palestinians. Over a quarter of the country’s population has sought refuge outside of the country, prompting the United Nations to declare Afghanistanthe major site of human displacement in the world. An estimated 3.4 million Afghans sill remain outside the country and 200,000 IDPs are in the southern and western sections. A recent survey of some 20,000 IDP households, the vast majority of respondents expressed their willingness to return but cited a lack of jobs and drinking water as main obstacles.
Foreign Aid: Positive: Humanitarian and reconstruction aid can be very cost-effective compared with military aid. For example, the “war against terrorism” costs the United States more than US$1 billion each month, while much less could be spent on curbing the poverty that can breed extremism. And foreign aid will foster economic stability and trade with other countries, while diluting the appeal of political extremism. Given that Afghanistan’s human insecurities have been the result of conflicts compounded by foreign interference, the world now has an obligation to help solve them. In addition to their economic effects, aid programs may promote ties between social groups. They may not always “bring peace,” but they can provide alternatives to a war economy. Negative: Because aid in Afghanistan is introduced in a highly political environment, massive and sudden aid may exacerbate conflict and increase competition, unless equitable distribution and anti-corruption measures are in place. Aid based on relief can prolong dependence and can create market distortion, while funds that bypass the central Government and work directly with regional powers controlled by private militias can increase tensions between the centre and provinces.
Afghanistan’s first National Human Development Report, Security with a Human Face, was initiated in 2003 by the Government of Afghanistan and UNDP,and was launched today with Minister of Rural Rehabilitation and Development Haneef Atmar and Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Zepherin Diabre. The Report was made possible thanks to the financial support of UNDP, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the World Bank.
The UNDP has helped more than 135 developing countries and five regions to produce their own national and regional Human Development Reports. These Reports, written by local experts, spur public debate and bring political attention to pressing development needs. They propose concrete solutions to mobilise the resources, policies and political will to overcome poverty and bring about growth, equality, investment in people’s basic needs, and freedom. They also help donor governments measure the impact of aid dollars.The UNDP is the global development network of the United Nations.
For more information, please contact:In Kabul: Eliana Escobedo, tel. 93-79 372480, eliana.escobedo@undp.orgIn US: David Kirby, tel. 718-230-4250, david.kirby@undp.org
UNDP is the United Nations worldwide development network. It advocates change and provides countries with access to the knowledge, skills and resources their populations need to improve their lives.
http://www.undp.org/dpa/pressrelease/releases/2005/february/pr21feb05.html
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