Afghanistan: Security of Aid Workers (Hansard, 3 April 2003)

§ Baroness Crawley
My Lords, employers of humanitarian aid workers are responsible for the safety and security of their staff. Reputable NGOs have detailed safety and evacuation plans and assess the security of their staff regularly. DfID requires that all NGOs it works with have full safety and evacuation procedures in place. We hope that the security sector reform programme currently being undertaken will in time bring improved security for everyone in Afghanistan, including NGO workers. The international and joint civil/military provincial reconstruction teams have an important part to play in that process.

§ The Earl of Sandwich
My Lords, the callous murder of an International Red Cross aid worker last week brings into sharp focus the lack of security in areas outside Kabul. I thank the noble Baroness for her reply but, as we are seeing now in Basra, will not local people be confused when they see that the new US units—they are called reconstruction teams in Afghanistan—are soldiers in uniform bringing them humanitarian aid? 1452 Will not this undermine the trust that people have in their own local Afghan NGOs and in the aid workers, a trust which has been built up over many years?

§ Baroness Crawley
My Lords, the noble Earl is right. These new reconstruction teams are being set up. Three US-led provincial reconstruction teams have begun work in three provinces outside Kabul. One of the great concerns, not only of NGOs but of everyone concerned about the development of Afghanistan, is that the people in the provinces outside Kabul need to make greater links with the new Afghan transitional government. Reconstruction teams are being set up but they are not intended as primary security forces, although initial indications are that there is improved security in the locations where they are deployed.
The teams have three aims: to assist in extending the Afghan Government's authority; to develop a stable and secure environment in the regions outside Kabul; and to facilitate security sector reform and reconstruction.

§ Lord Astor of Hever
My Lords, what effect has the Iraq war had on the recruitment and funding of ISAF? Can the Minister confirm that the Germans and Dutch, the current commanders of ISAF, have threatened to withdraw?

§ Baroness Crawley
My Lords, I can say categorically that the Iraq conflict has had no effect on the recruitment or budget funding of the International Security and Assistance Force, which is permanently in Afghanistan. There is no question of the Dutch or Germans, who are currently leading ISAF, withdrawing. Every country has a six months' term. UK forces led ISAF for the first six months; then the Turkish forces for six months, and now the Dutch and Germans. When their six months' term comes to an end, another country will take over.

§ Baroness Whitaker
My Lords, there are conflicting reports about the situation of women in Afghanistan. What is my noble friend's assessment, and what are the Government doing to help them?

§ Baroness Crawley
My Lords, the whole House will agree that we must ensure that women are fully part of the new political settlement in Afghanistan because of the particular suffering they have endured for so long in that country. There are reconstruction programmes, which we support and are helping to fund, that ensure that women and girls will benefit from the new political and civil society in Afghanistan. For instance, at the moment, out of the 1,600 people in the Afghan Loya Jirgah, 200 are women. It is a first step, but it is an enormous improvement on zero. We recognise the problems and concerns of NGOs and others about reports that women and girls are being attacked, that girls' schools are sometimes under attack, and that there is a lack of healthcare facilities for women and 1453 girls. We take these issues very seriously. But 1.4 million girls are now in school in Afghanistan, which was not the case 15 months ago.

§ Lord Campbell of Alloway
My Lords, does the—

§ Baroness Northover
My Lords—

§ Lord Williams of Mostyn
My Lords, it is the turn of the Liberal Democrats.

§ Baroness Northover
My Lords, given that Afghan clerics have called for a holy war against those who attack Muslim lands, are British aid workers now even less safe in Afghanistan? Does the Minister agree that the Afghan experience generally shows that reconstruction must be a long-term commitment, something we should remember for post-war Iraq?

§ Baroness Crawley
My Lords, I absolutely agree with the noble Baroness's final point. We have said continually that we are in for the long haul. My right honourable friend the Prime Minister said recently that we are committed to the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan. The security of aid workers is of great concern to the Government—the Dfl D, the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign Office. Together with the NGOs, we are working all the time to improve security. However, we also try to ensure that NGOs are neutral from the security forces.

§ Lord Campbell of Alloway
My Lords, returning to the Question on the Order Paper, and having listened with great attention and respect—and some patience—to everything the Minister said, how are we to ensure the security of humanitarian aid workers anywhere without the intervention of our Armed Forces, who have quite a few jobs on their hands at the moment?

§ Baroness Crawley
My Lords, as I said earlier, we try to secure the safety of NGOs. It is first for the NGOs themselves to feel as safe as possible when operating in a certain locality. Beyond that, in Afghanistan we ensure their safety through the security forces of I SAF and the new provincial reconstruction teams.