Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-09-04-Speech-3-060"
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"en.20020904.2.3-060"2
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"Mr President, I congratulate the Commission and the team led in the Commissioner's office by Mr Fotiadis and those on the ground for the amazing work they are carrying out.
So it is not easy. I congratulate the Commission and I urge it to persuade other donors to adopt the same approach as our team in Brussels and on the ground. We are doing wonderfully well; others, I fear, are not being nearly as successful.
I attended the Tokyo Pledging Conference and was proud to see the way in which European Union leadership in nation rebuilding was exemplified by both the Commission and the presidency. I congratulate the Commissioner himself and the presidency at the time – the Spanish presidency – for the way in which they conducted the business of the European Union there.
But the Commission's subsequent work has proved my view to be correct: amongst the international community blocs claiming to be able to rebuild nations, the European Union is standing alone. And we are working in a tough and dangerous situation.
Afghanistan is a very difficult country to help. For example the main message coming from the Afghan Government at the moment is that international pledges made in Tokyo are not being fulfilled and the government therefore cannot conduct its business.
Last Saturday I had the opportunity to speak in Tehran with the new Afghan Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Iran. He made this very point. I pointed out to him that the one partner on which he could firmly rely was the European Union. I commend the priorities the Union has set itself, as the Commissioner has outlined today, because, as I said, it is not a simple matter.
Water. One Member – Mr Morillon – has already mentioned the acute drought. The acute drought is so widespread in the south-west of Afghanistan – it feeds across from the plain in Iran. There are 26 major water projects under way in the Islamic Republic of Iran to try and provide the local population with water. Over the border in Afghanistan, I have seen no water projects at all on the ground. Yet this is the largest drought for at least 300 years. It has hit many hundreds of thousands of people. Of course in a drought the farmers cannot grow alternative crops. The south-west of Afghanistan is not particularly heavily mined. They can grow opium poppies in this drought. Unfortunately, poppies grow extremely well in drought. Until we put water projects in the south-west region, we cannot complain as much as we do that opium production is not being contained. Of course it is not being contained. The figures provided by the Afghan Government have been unintentionally misleading to the international community. Water ought to be one of the topmost priorities.
On health care, the population is virtually at the lowest ebb. Life expectancy is 46 years – the lowest in the world apart from Somalia. All the health indicators show that health has been abominable for the last 23 years and there is a lack of education.
May we insist that other international donors focus on small-scale health projects to implement the World Health Organisation master plan on health. Not large hospitals, for which there will not be enough staff or resources, but more mass immunisation, more primary health clinics, more mobile health clinics. Could we please press other donors to focus on those areas?
Then, of course, women's rights. I must tell you that women's rights have gone downhill, not up. Only last week, for example, the government passed a law stating that women would not be allowed to perform music on the radio."@en1
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