KABUL - Staffan de Mistura, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Afghanistan, today met at their request with key women members of the Wolesi Jirga or the lower house of the Afghan Parliament to discuss the representation of women in the upcoming Afghanistan conference to be held in Bonn, Germany.

“We hope to get the cooperation and support of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Afghanistan behind us,” said Faozia Koofi, a parliamentarian from the northeastern province of Badakhshan who heads the parliamentary commission on women’s affairs, human rights and civil society, in her welcoming remarks to the Special Representative.

The Government of Afghanistan is planning to chair a follow-up international conference in Bonn this December to discuss the situation in the country ten years on from the initial Bonn conference which help set the stage for an interim government in Afghanistan and a political process of democratization following years of Taliban rule and, before that, civil strife.

At the UN-led Bonn Conference on 5 December 2001 representatives agreed to “a broad-based, gender-sensitive, multi-ethnic and fully representative government” setting out specific criteria to involve women in the policy-making processes of the country.

Calling the upcoming Bonn Conference an “historic opportunity” to show the world that a sovereign Afghanistan is determined “to take their present and future into their own hands”, the Staffan de Mistura told the women members of parliament that he supported the vital role women play in discussions and dialogue in the country.

“Afghan women are fifty per cent if not more of the future and the present of Afghanistan. It is clear that the image that the world will take from the Bonn conference must reflect the importance of Afghan women,” he said.

In an opinion piece earlier this year, Mr de Mistura added that “it is up to all Afghans to make certain the urgent strides for reconciliation, political stability and peace are made keeping women’s and girls’ human rights at the centre of agreements.”