MINISTER OF WOMEN'S AFFAIRS OUTLINES CURRENT PRIORITIES

UNCLAS KABUL 001903 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/FO DAS GASTRIGHT, SCA/A STATE PASS TO USAID FOR AID/ANE, AID/DCHA/DG STATE PASS TO U/S PAULA DOBRIANKSY NSC FOR HARRIMAN OSD FOR SHIVERS CENTCOM FOR CG CJTF-82 POLAD SENSITIVE, SIPDIS E.O. 12958 N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER PHUM AF SUBJECT: MINISTER OF WOMEN'S AFFAIRS OUTLINES CURRENT PRIORITIES WITH AMBASSADOR REF: A) KABUL 800, B) KABUL 4409 ¶1. (SBU) During a June 2 meeting with the Ambassador, Minister of Women's Affairs Hussn Ghazanfar highlighted her main priorities as fostering women's and girl's education, bolstering Afghanistan's fledgling women's handicrafts industry, and establishing mental health centers for women. She announced the completion of the Ministry's 10-year plan, which she anticipates will be approved by the Cabinet within the next month. She also mentioned plans to lobby the international community to fund more activities outside of Kabul, where she says most programming for women is currently concentrated. Ambassador Wood and Minister Ghazanfar also discussed the effectiveness and security of the Ministry's provincial Departments of Women's Affairs (DOWA's). ¶2. (SBU) Among the priorities mentioned, Minister Ghazanfar seemed most enthusiastic about her desire to establish mental health clinics tailored towards women's needs both in Kabul and throughout the provinces. Decades of conflict coupled with the relative invisibility of women outside the home and social customs such as forced marriages, honor killings, and the bartering of women to settle disputes have taken a particular toll on the mental state of many Afghan women, who often feel they have nowhere to turn. Ghazanfar noted her plans to lobby USAID and other donor countries for funding of these clinics in the near future. ¶3. (SBU) Ambassador Wood raised security concerns at the Ministry's provincial Departments of Women's Affairs, or DOWA's. In late 2006 USAID and its German equivalent, GTZ, proposed conducting a security assessment of DOWA offices as a result of last year's heightened threats to several DOWA directors throughout the southern and eastern provinces (reftel A) and the murder of DOWA Director Safia Amajan in Kandahar on September 25, 2006 (reftel B). At that time, Minister Ghazanfar said she needed to seek broader GOA approval, particularly from the Interior Ministry, to do the assessment. When asked whether she had raised her security concerns in the Cabinet, Ghazanfar simply mentioned that the MOWA had recently completed its own assessment of the effectiveness of DOWA offices (she did not yet have a summary of results),but did not mention security as a concern. Minister Ghazanfar stated that in the provinces she has been focused on establishing women's shuras, using traditional mechanisms to discuss and propose solutions to the problems faced by women. Ambassador Wood indicated an interest in making meetings with local women's shuras a regular feature of his visits to the provinces.