Microsoft Word - AMICS-29Jan2013 - Childinfo.org

The Government of Afghanistan ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in
1994 and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW) was signed in 1980, but ratified only in 2003 (without reservations). Ratification of
these conventions are aimed at fulfilling the human rights of women and children as per
international law and in accordance with global commitments made towards improving the
status of women and children worldwide. Due to political instability under the Taliban regime,
which was in power at the time the Millennium Declaration was issued, Afghanistan endorsed
the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) only in 2004, and was granted an extension to meet
the MDG targets by 2020 rather than by 2015. A ninth Development Goal was also added for
Afghanistan, that of ensuring security as a precondition for development.
The Government of Afghanistan has worked with the international community to develop
various tools to help measure human development indicators. The most extensive of these
tools is the National Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (NRVA) of 2007-2008. The NRVA is
Afghanistan s most comprehensive source of statistical information to date, providing a wide
range of information on conditions such as poverty and wealth, the labour force, health, the
status of women, education, and housing and agriculture, among others. The NRVA was a key
step in collecting information that would assist in developing policies and programs that would
target the most vulnerable citizens of Afghanistan. While less extensive, the AMICS provides
updated, complementary and comparative data to the NRVA, and is an additional data tool that
will further help track progress towards the country s development objectives, particularly
those aimed at women and children.
Since 2004, Afghanistan has made important progress across many human development
indicators, as the country has embarked upon an ambitious rebuilding effort. Government
services have been reinstated, helping to meet basic needs in many parts of the country, from
the expansion of primary education to an increase in access to basic healthcare. Yet, poverty
continues to characterize the lives of much of the population. The Central Statistics
Organization of Afghanistan estimates that 36% of the population, approximately 10 million
people, live in poverty in the country. Food insecurity is an ongoing vulnerability, and many
people are still unable to access basic guarantees of human security such as safe drinking water,
sanitation, or housing. Social inequalities are widespread and threaten to undermine the
economic growth that has been achieved over the last decade. The ongoing violence is another
destabilizing factor, which systematically victimizes women and children, and renders poor
people even more vulnerable.
The Afghan Government is seeking to reduce poverty and raise human development indicators,
as reflected in the policy efforts mentioned earlier. Having accurate and reliable data on hand is
critical to designing strong evidence-based interventions that will be responsive to the needs of
Afghan citizens. This data should also inform the work of all stakeholders to Afghanistan s
humanitarian and development assistance efforts, including donor governments, multilateral
agencies, international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and Afghan civil society. Much
remains to be done to fulfil the commitments made to better protecting and promoting the
basic rights of Afghan children and women.
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