Author: Sayed Hussain Hussainy

In 8-April-2012 the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) conducted a conference in Mazar province on evaluation of AIHRC 2011 action plan. The conference began by recitation of some versus of Holly Quran. Consequently Mr. Said Mohammad Samey the director of Mazar regional office of AIHRC welcomed the participants. In this conference Mrs. Sima Samar country director of AIHRC, Mr. Ahmad Fahim Hakim deputy of AIHRC, Musa Mahmudi executive director of AIHRC, Abdulahad Farzam director of Bamyan regional office of AIHRC, Ahmad Seyar Lalee representative of Civil Society and Human Rights Network(CSHRN) and Mrs. Homa Alizoy representative of Afghanistan Women Rights Network (AWN) had their own statements. Please read the statement of Mr. Ahmad Seyar lalee the representative of CSHRN. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By The Name of Powerful and Righteous God Civil Society Role on Strengthening Human Rights Dear all; Availing to the opportunity first at all I would like to thank Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission particularly the organizers of this important event. An especial thanks because of given me this chance to present the viewpoint of Civil Society and Human Rights Network (CSHRN) on the issue of “Civil Society Role in Strengthening Human Rights”. Indispensible role of civil society importantly contributes to perpetuation and promotion of human rights in a society that no one can ignore this important role. Rights of the citizens are one of the most important values of modern civil society, which is weaved to inalienable civil freedoms of citizens. Legal researchers and anthropologists believe that civil society and its significant role builds the legal base of democratic states. Civil society is not only promoting and strengthening human rights values but also strengthening legitimacy of democratic states. These are two main pillars of rule of law and push the states towards transparency and accountability. Another…

Access to information is one of the main needs of the Afghan society. Widespread corruption, lack of attention to the demands of citizens for information during the past elections, lack of useful, strong, relationship of confidence relationships between Afghan citizens and the Afghan state are the main negative results of this lack of information in Afghanistan. During the past six years, the Civil Society and Human Rights Network (CSHRN) organized a number of dialogues related to access to information and its role in the Afghan society. To work on this issue, CSHRN organized an analytical symposium on access to information on 29 May 2009 in Mazar-e-Sharif. The participants of the symposium discussed access to information and proposed ways on how to implement it in Afghanistan. During the symposium, Afghan intellectuals presented analytical articles, illustrating different perspectives on the role of access to information and democratization. During the symposium, the participants suggested CSHRN to work on a draft law on access to information. Consequently, a working group of four persons was elected to work on a such a draft. The members of the working group are: Mr. Sayeed Mohammad Islami, a famous religious scholar, Mr. Rahim Ibrahim, a professor of journalism at Balkh University, Mr. Taqhi Wahedi, an well known Afghan writer and human rights activist, and Mr. Kawa Sahab, a law expert. The working group in Mazar-e-Sharif elaborated a first draft law on access to information during the eight months following the symposium. Having the first draft law on access to information, CSHRN started to discuss this draft with civil society, state institutions and Afghan intellectuals and academics all over the country. CSHRN has defined five steps in its action plan on dialogues for the law on access to information: 1- Step: The working group on the law…

By Malek Sitez This question has been raised many times since CSHRN started to work on organizing a campaign to reduce family violence in Herat city. A lawyer, who is responsible for the ministry of justice in Herat, asked this question during the human rights symposium in Herat. This question is understandable as violence is not only an issue in Herat but in all of Afghanistan. Afghanistan has been suffering from domestic violence for many years, in particular since 1992 when the civil war and sectarian conflicts began. To explain the reasons I need to divide my article into two parts, describing the problems as well as the opportunities existing in Herat city regarding family violence. At the end of this article I will draw a picture of the current work of CSHRN in the region. Problems: Islamic fanatics and their bad influence on family violence. Between 1994 and 1996 Herat became one the most important targets of Islamic fundamentalists and Taliban. The Taliban captured Herat city after Qhandahar. During the Taliban period, the people of Herat, above all women and children, badly suffered from a lack of fundamental freedoms. The role of women became a very passive one and man's domination in families reached a very high level. This unbalanced role of men and women turned into an important reason for family violence in Herat. Bad and incorrect interpretation of Islamic values regarding the role of women. The fanatic Taliban and Mujahedin parties misinterpreted Islam for the sake of their strategy and ideology, particularly with regard to the role of women in society. They wanted to show that women were a passive part of the Herat society, destined to serve men. “It is big shame to respect women!” This culture does not only predominate in Herat, but…

By: Ahmad Seyar Lalee During of the two past years CSHRN/ICCO collaborate constructively in the field of conflict transformation. Both institutions organize constructive dialogues with each other concerning the role of civil society and human rights. The main purpose of the cooperation between two partners is to support civil society in strengthening of security, stability and peace in Afghanistan. That is the main reason of designing the cooperation agreement on “ Conflict Transformation ” program. According to the cooperation agreement of CSHRN organized the first consultative seminar amongst civil society organizations on the way of tackling conflict transformation on 26 th of February of 2009. The seminar facilitated and collaborated by international experts of Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) in this seminar the participants decided to work on an educational manual on the theoretical as well as practical components of conflict transformation. According to the seminar a working group of civil society actors was elected to provide the educational manual so- called conflict transformation manual. The working group worked during the past 8 months in the different fields of conflict in Afghanistan the working group also made an analyze on internal and external elements of conflicts in Afghanistan. The working group worked in a close discourses with CSHRN members. CSHRN Executive Secretariat coordinated the activities of the working groups in order to prepare necessary meetings of the working group with Afghan intellectuals, sate institutions, some international organizations and the Afghan national human rights institutions. On December 2009 the working group presented the draft of the educational manual to the second consultative seminar of CSHRN members. The goal of the seminar was to discuss the draft of manual afterwards to approve the draft of the manual. The manual will be printed and used by the civil society and…