A/HRC/19/47 threat to regional and international stability. Also, in July 2011, at the request of the Government of Afghanistan, the Security Council de-listed 15 former Taliban from the 1988 list established pursuant to Security Council resolution 1988 (2011),6 an important step in reconciliation and confidence-building with the Taliban. Many civil society organizations, especially women’s rights groups, have repeatedly expressed their fear that a negotiated settlement with the Taliban could result in sacrificing advances in human rights protection, especially with regard to women’s rights, that have been achieved in the last 10 years since the fall of the Taliban. 33. OHCHR/UNAMA has stressed the need for any political process to be inclusive and just. Both existing and future mechanisms to discuss peace and reconciliation should involve a broad cross-section of Afghan society, particularly women, minorities, civil society and victims of human rights violations. OHCHR/UNAMA has regularly advocated with Government, international and civil society partners, emphasizing that for peace and reconciliation to be sustainable, the central and critical problem of impunity must be addressed. Efforts to strengthen the rule of law, build the capacity of the justice system, and ensure accountability within the Government and security forces will be essential to creating a political culture conducive to meaningful peace and an environment in which transitional justice can take place. 34. Peace and reintegration efforts by the Government of Afghanistan, including those of the High Peace Council (HPC) under the APRP, gained some momentum in the first half of the year. Provincial peace committees were established in at least 28 provinces to undertake confidence-building and grievance-resolution activities at the local level. Efforts by the HPC and its Joint Secretariat to generate international donor support were extremely successful with over US$170 million having been pledged in 2011 to implement reconciliation and reintegration projects for former combatants and the communities to which they returned. Nearly 3,000 rank-and-file insurgents had come forward to disarm and seek reconciliation under APRP by late August 2011. Despite some positive developments on peace-building activities, much of the momentum of the programme was undone in September 2011 when an insurgent posing as a messenger from the Taliban assassinated the Chairman of the HPC, former President Burahuddin Rabbani. This political killing effectively froze the APRP process until mid-November, when the President convened a Loya Jirga, a nationwide gathering of prominent Afghans, who recommended that the Government take immediate steps to implement the APRP and appoint a new HPC chairman. 35. Human rights organizations, including AIHRC, have raised concerns that the HPC and the APRP7 will allow demobilized combatants to return to their communities without addressing issues of justice and accountability for abuses that occurred during and prior to Taliban rule. OHCHR/UNAMA has also raised concerns about the lack of a serious process for vetting combatants who wished to join the programme, to ensure that known violators of human rights do not benefit from reconciliation and reintegration support without accountability. In particular, OHCHR/UNAMA advocated for vetting to be carried out not only with the involvement of security actors, but also with civil society and community input, including the women and victims of human rights violations. In July 2011, the Joint Secretariat accepted these suggestions in part, including vetting criteria in their standard operating procedures on vetting, and using language clarifying that acceptance in the APRP does not amount to blanket amnesty from prosecution for ex-combatants. 6 7 Formerly the consolidated list pursuant to Security Council resolution 1267 (1999). The Afghan Peace and Reintegration Programme (APRP) was created by the Government in June 2010 with the aim of bringing low-level insurgents back into local communities and, at the same time, creating momentum for rebuilding communities. 11