§ Lord Juddasked Her Majesty's Government:
What financial and personnel resources have so far been expended; what resources have been pledged; and what resources they estimate will be needed to provide sound arrangements for administration of justice in Afghanistan. [HL253]
§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean)Reconstruction and reform of the judicial sector falls within the Afghan Transitional Administration's National Development Framework. The Judicial Reform Commission, established by the Transitional Administration, leads on Judicial Reform in Afghanistan. It is supported in this by Italy as the lead nation for international assistance on Judicial Reform, together with a number of international agencies and non-governmental organisations including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Development Law Organisation (IDLO).
The Afghan National Development Framework sought 27.02 million US dollars from donors for work on the judicial sector in 2003–04. There remains a significant shortfall to date. The Transitional Administration hopes to remedy this via a needs assessment to be presented to the international community in early 2004.
The UK has pledged £1 million to the UNDP-administered programme of support to the Judicial Reform Commission. We have disbursed £0.5 million of this to date.