In the name of Almighty Allah
Analytical Human Rights Symposium on the issue of Family Violence in Heart
25th of May 2009
The message of analytical symposium on the issue of family violence in Herat city
Family violence as a harmful phenomenon for the society is considered to be one of the main and common elements of human rights violations in Afghanistan. Family violence badly damages the social tolerance and understanding. CSHRN organized a number of dialogues amongst civil society, intellectuals and human rights activists in Herat city on how to reduce family violence in Herat.
The analytical symposium showed that family violence should be tackled through a common understanding and support of civil society, the government, the international community and other stakeholders. The participants of the symposium, who were social scientists, representatives of different academic fields and intellectuals of Heart agreed on the following elements.
• The lack of useful programs and strategies on the social, economic, political and cultural activation of the role of women in the society is considered to be one of the important elements of domestic violence in the families.
The representatives of the symposium called upon the international community, civil society, governmental organizations, private sector, local media and academic institutions to work together for developing useful campaigns to reduce domestic violence in Herat.
• The lack of a useful legal framework relating to family violence was another main concern during the symposium discussions. The Afghan state is committed to the principles of international human rights, but unfortunately, those principles have not been properly integrated into the national legislation. The participants of the symposium requested therefore from the Afghan legislators to work together with civil society in order to develop a new legislation that decreases family violence.
• The participants of the symposium jointly emphasized the role, the media in broad collaboration with civil society, the education sectors and intellectuals can play in organizing useful campaigns for a reduction of family violence in Herat province.
• Afghan researchers underlined during the symposium the consequences of family violence on society in general. The articles presented during the symposium jointly agreed that domestic violence transmitted a harmful message to the society, creating thereby structural violence in society. The participants of the symposium called upon the police, the judiciary, the ministries of women affairs and of culture and information, and the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) to continuously organize useful dialogues for making programs and an action plan for reducing family violence in Herat under the coordination of CSHRN in the West.
• The researchers in Herat symposium emphasized the role of literature in reducing family violence, the outcome of article in this regard underlined that the civil society, the Afghan local government work together with the university of Herat to provide useful programs to avoid violence in Herat.
• A working group consist of 4 experts will work on the articles of symposium to create tools as a booklet in upcoming 3 months. The booklet will be used to organize campaigns for reduction of domestic violence.
• The campaign will be supported by participants of symposium, representatives of governmental organization, local media and local parliament.
The civil society and human rights network is determined to organize campaigns in Herat city where civil society comes together with other stakeholders to reduce family violence. The participants of the symposium supported the working plan of CSHRN and agreed to collaborate for this purpose.
The articles presented during the symposium will be issued in the CSHRN publications; the radio program “The Voice” and “Angaara”, the debate human rights magazine.
Participants of the analytical human rights symposium on the issue of family violence in Herat