Kabul. EUPOL Head of Rule of Law Component, Heikki Wendorf, and EUPOL Rule of Law Mentor to the MoJ (Ministry of Justice), Siv Thorskold, met the Afghan Minister of Justice Habibullah Ghaleb in order to discuss future cooperation between EUPOL and the Afghan Ministry of Justice in several judicial areas. EUPOL suggested bringing together the actors involved in the legislative process to be engaged in joint discussions and provide technical support to facilitate the adoption and implementation of laws.

Berlin. Under the motto “Working for Peace”, Federal Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, Federal Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich and Federal Defence Minister Thomas de Maizière, for the very first time together honoured on 12 June the German participants in peace missions for their engagement in war and conflict zones. The three Ministers are honouring three soldiers, police officers and civilian experts each from three different missions, who will represent all Germans involved in operations of this nature. For EUPOL Afghanistan Anna Lengsfeld was stepping up the stage.

Herat. Herat Police Chief General Rahmatullah Safi and Herat Chief of National Directorate of Security (NDS) General Saboor while monitoring the security situation in Herat city, had a long walk and approached the citizens directly in Chawk-e Gulha area. The two chiefs spoke openly with dozens of people mainly the citizens passing by and shopkeepers. Both of them asked the people about the security situation, challenges and if they feel safe or not, and how to improve security in Herat. The citizens’ complaints were noted which were about the lack of parking lots, lack of police presence in the area of business canters, and presence of vendors near the shops which interrupt the work of shopkeepers.

Kabul. A joint meeting of EUPOL, Afghan Ministry of Interior and Ulama’s Council and teachers was held to discuss Ulama’s support for the recruitment of women to join the police. During the meeting, the Deputy Interior Minister Mirza Mohammad Yarmand, General Head of Masjids (mosques), Deputy Ministers of the Ministry of Women Affairs, Public Health and teachers and religious scholars of the Sharia Faculty and Kabul University gave speeches and shared their fruitful opinions on encouraging women to work with their male counterparts at the Afghan Ministry of Interior. The meeting was a pre-consultation gathering with the religious scholars, women and legal experts ahead of the Policewomen Conference which is due to be held in mid-June 2013 in Kabul.  

Kabul. “Please Rise. The Court of Kabul is now in session, the honourable judges are presiding” - proudly and severely the judges step into the barren Courtroom, the victim is crying and needs to be reminded of the need to be quiet. Normally a classroom at the EUPOL Staff College, the room changes nearly every month in a live courtroom where judges, investigative police, prosecutors and the victims enact a case to show what they have learned about the formal justice system. Right at the start of the four week command development programme for District Commanders the participants are assigned a specific role in order to prepare for the trial at the end.