In the name of Almighty Allah
CSHRO statement on the occasion of dismissing of AIHRC commissioners
Kabul, Afghanistan, 24- December 2011
Recently the president of Afghanistan Mr. Hamed Karzai has issued a decree on dismissing of three commissioners of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commissioners (AIHRC).
Mr. Fahim Hakim and Mr. Nader Naderi two well-known human rights defenders are amongst them. However the working period of all the commissioners officially is terminated but the question and concern of civil society organizations is, why two main human rights active commissioners could not get the legitimacy to continue working as human rights commissioners.
According to the Paris principles the National Human Rights Institutions are appointing by the state members but the states are not interfering in to their working independency. The national human rights institutions monitor human rights situation and promote human rights in the states territory. According to the Paris principles the states consider and respect the following elements while appointing the national human rights commissioners.
• The state considers the human rights knowledge and professionalism of commissioners;
• The state considers impartiality of the commissioners and ensures that the commissioners should not have any affiliation to political parties;
• The state considers good background and well fame of commissioners in the society.
According to the Paris principles the states organize a constructive dialogue with the civil society institutions, human rights activists and defenders during the process of appointing the commissioners. Some states have employed a mechanism so called advisory board for appointing human rights commissioners.
Regretfully there is not a transparent and accountable mechanism for appointing the Afghan Human Rights commissioners in Afghanistan . This will damage the independency of national human rights institution in Afghanistan.
- The Civil Society and Human Rights Organization (CSHRO) as a human rights network calls to Afghan State to respect Paris principle while appointing the Afghan independent human rights commissioners.
- The Civil Society and Human Rights Organization would like to ask UNAMA as United Nation representation in Afghanistan to open a productive dialogue with Afghan state on the issue of appointing human rights commissioners.
- The Civil Society and Human Rights organization (CSHRO) asks the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Coordination Committee for Human Rights Institution in Geneva to work with the Afghan Government in implementation of Paris principles in appointing human rights commissioners in Afghanistan.
The human rights violations in Afghanistan are the main challenge for a new Afghanistan. The Afghan state as a member of the United Nation and also as a state committed to the international conventions should work to promote human rights in Afghanistan. For this purpose the role of independent national human rights institution in Afghanistan is very important and vital. The national human rights institution in Afghanistan is an identity of human rights defenders. The Civil Society and Human Rights Organization as the network of national human rights civil society organizations is deeply worried about the independency of Afghanistan Independent Human Rights commission AIHRC.
Civil Society and Human Rights Organization (CSHRO) the Network of human rights based civil society organizations in Afghanistan (24-12-2011) Kabul-Afghanistan.