Afghanistan.

• Position: Peacewatch - Formation of civil affairs unit in UN Special Mission to Afghanistan

The Security Council on 8 December, deeply concerned by the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, expressed its support for the Secretary-General's proposal to establish a civil affairs unit in the United Nations Special Mission to Afghanistan (UNSMA) to promote respect for minimum humanitarian standards and deter massive and systematic violations of human rights and humanitarian law. An assessment team was to be sent to Afghanistan, as soon as security conditions permitted, to determine the exact mandate, composition and location of the civilian monitors.

In unanimously adopting resolution 1214 (1998), the Council also demanded that the Taliban stop providing sanctuary and training for international terrorists and their organizations, and that all Afghan factions cooperate with efforts to bring indicted terrorists to justice.

Condemning the Taliban's capture of the Iranian Consulate-General and the murder of Iranian diplomats and a journalist in Mazar-i-Sharif, the Council stressed that those acts were flagrant violations of international law, and called on the Taliban to cooperate with the United Nations in investigating the crimes. The Secretary-General was encouraged to dispatch a mission to Afghanistan to investigate reports of grave breaches of international humanitarian law, particularly mass killings and mass graves of prisoners of war and civilians, and the destruction of religious sites.

Further, the Council demanded that the Taliban and other Afghan factions stop fighting, conclude a ceasefire and resume negotiations under United Nations auspices without delay or preconditions. It deplored the failure of the Taliban leadership to comply with previous resolutions and expressed its readiness to consider the imposition of measures, in accordance with Council responsibilities under the Charter, with the aim of achieving full implementation of those resolutions.

The Council also demanded that the Afghan factions end discrimination against girls and women and other violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, and adhere to international norms and standards. It further demanded that the Taliban and others halt the cultivation, production and trafficking of illegal drugs.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 23 November reported that the human rights situation had "not improved over the last year", and of particular concern were allegations of mass killings and other serious violations of human rights and...