Author: Sayed Hussain Hussainy

This author has written 1066 articles

Without freedom of expression and freedom of media, democracy does not have any meaning!

A discussion about access to information with Mr. Fayaz Mehrayeen the political and social analyst. Mr. Mehrayeen is the senior advisor of Governor of Balkh province. He is the author of many articles in the fields of political and social issues. Mr. Mehrayeen delivers constantly lectures and presentations to the academic and civil society groups. By: Farkhonda Arezo Aabi, Journalist and human rights activist in Mazar e Sharif Question: Mr. Mehrayeen! In your point of view what is access to information and what kind of situation does it need? Answer: In my point of view access to information creates transparent, free and fluent relationship between state and citizens. Access to information means access of citizens to state resources, documents and information that foster the culture of transparency and accountability in the government structure. Question: What are the proper policies for institutionalizing of access to information? Answer: The public could have access to the accurate information while the reporters and journalists of Medias and other relevant organizations enjoy from the rights of access to information because they are delivering the information to public. To institutionalize this right firstly there is a need for a law in the country level, a law which contain and code this right and consequently all citizens and people particularly who are in the key positions of the government must be aware from this law. and they must understand clearly their obligations that the law binds them to not conceal information from media and public, this is the first step toward institutionalization of this right. Secondly depends to joint work of media and civil society efficient and sufficient public awareness programs to consolidate and aware the public to defend from their right which is having access to transparent information firstly and consequently do not allow…

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CSHRN in dialogue with South Asian civil society

By Wazir Ahamd Khorami The Civil Society and Human Rights Network (CSHRN) participated in a consultation gathering on designing of ICCO regional plan for Sough Asia on 23rd to 25 th of February 2010 in Katmandu of Nepal. As a partner organization of ICCO, CSHRN formulized and presented the massages of CSHRN members to the consultative gathering. CSHRN was represented by Mr. Wazir Ahmad Khorami, Liaison officer of CSHRN. The consultative gathering brought together all South Asian partners of ICCO (Afghanistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan). The Afghan civil society delegation consisted of six organizations raised the issue of challenges concerning human rights, rule of law, democratization, peace-building process and justice issues in Afghanistan. The Afghan delegation emphasized on the role of civil society in promotion of human rights and respect for rule of law in Afghanistan. CSHRN representative presented the lessons learned from Afghan civil society to the regional gathering. According to the lessons learned the Afghan civil society of Afghanistan has three main roles: First, the messenger role of civil society, the Afghan civil society would like to play a collaborative mediator role between the Afghan state and the Afghan citizens. For this propose the CSHRN organizes constant dialogues with the Afghan citizens and Afghan state institutions. Second, monitoring role of civil society, the monitoring role of civil society in Afghanistan is a challenging role. The problem is that civil society in Afghanistan doesn't have the capacity to monitor the human rights situation and the process of democratization in the country. Along with that, CSHRN is doing some monitoring programs by organizing surveys with the Afghan citizen in some provinces of Afghanistan. The Afghan delegation expressed their concern for the luck of capacity of civil society in monitoring role of civil society in Afghanistan. Third, advocacy…

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CSHRN’s statement over General Dostum’s apology from the victims of wars and the people of Afghanistan

In the name of Almighty Allah CSHRN's statement over General Dostum's apology from the victims of wars and the people of Afghanistan Thursday, October 10, 2013 Kabul-Afghanistan Afghans have suffered lots of painful and bitter days especially during the last 30 years and yet suffering the huge impact of human rights violation in the country. However, not only the Afghan government did not fulfilled its commitments over implementation of «the state's action plan for peace, reconciliation and justice» besides, during the last 12 years, efforts have been made to impose the «Oblivion policy» under the name of Pardon and impunity on war victims in Afghanistan, the instance for this can be ratifying «the National Reconciliation Charter». But, acknowledging the suffering and pains of Afghan people, promotion and provision of justice for war victims have been remained unfinished in the agenda of civil society institutions and defenders of war victims. Acknowledging the pain and sufferings of the victims is respecting their human values and dignity, therefore apology of the engaged parties in the war is the first step in forming a national discourse regarding the painful past and in the bright of these facts and passion there will be an opportunity for accountability of the past incidents. The Civil Society and Human Rights Network of Afghanistan (CSHRN) which is consisted of 124 civil institutions, appreciates this action of General Abdul Rashid Dostum, the leader and founder of the National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan, over apologizing from the victims of wars and recalling on the other involved figures and considers this as part of the fundamental principles of transitional justice and an effective step for initiating a national discourse on the painful past and violation of human rights in Afghanistan; and would like to express the following points regarding this…

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The Civil Society and Human Rights organizations (CSHRO) main activities in the field of promotion and implementation of UNSCR 1325

Civil Society and Human Rights Organization CSHRO initiated the working program on the United Nation's Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 so called “Strengthening Gender Equality” in Afghanistan . The goal of the program is to encourage the role of women in Afghan society in peace, security and stability in Afghanistan . Meanwhile CSHRO advocates for the promotion and implementation of UNSCR 1325. The program is supported by Ambassador's Small Grand Projects of US (ASGP). The programme has 7 month duration March-September 2011. According to the program CSHRO designed a working program to disseminate broad information about UNSCR 1325. The program covers three provinces of Afghanistan Kabul, Parwan and Bamyan. In each province 100 women are identified according to their educational level. Amongst 100 of women 25 of them are educated and employed in the state and non state institutions and 75 of them are educated but unemployed women. The first group which consists of 25 women is called “Advisory Group”. The group which consists of 75 women is called “Advocator Group”. Additionally CSHRO involved other stakeholders and established another group by the name of “Support Group” which consists of directors and key persons of state and non state organizations. CSHRO has fife strategic key result areas – 1: coordination -2: capacity building -3: public awareness -4: Monitoring -5: Advocacy. This project was designed based on fife strategic key result areas of CSHRO. 1- In the field of key result area Capacity building: At the beginning of project CSHRO organized training workshops on UN resolutions particularly on UNSCR 1325. The purpose of the training workshops was to increase the knowledge of participants about UN resolutions, content of UNSCR 1325 and obligations of state in regard with UN resolutions. Consequently for the “Advocator Group” CSHRO educational section organized a series…

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Submission by Civil Society and Human Rights Network (CSHRN) For Eighteenth Session of the UPR Working Group

(January - February 2014) Of the Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review Afghanistan The Eighteenth session of the Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) working group will be held from 27 January 2014 to 07 February 2014 examining the human rights records of 14 States including Afghanistan. Afghanistan will send a delegation composed of different governmental officials from different ministries and state institutions to engage in a dialogue with other States on the human rights situation in Afghanistan. During the interactive dialogue between recommending States and Afghanistan, the States will be asking questions and making recommendations, and the Afghan delegation will be regularly taking the floor to answer the questions and comment the recommendations. Probably, most of the recommendations and questions will be inspired by stakeholders submissions to the UPR Working Group. The Civil Society and Human Rights Network (CSHRN) for the first time submits an assessment of human rights situation under UPR reporting mechanism. The CSHRN has already submitted its report to UPR Working Group and made certain recommendations for action by Afghanistan as State under Review (SuR). The report gives an overview of the achievements and challenges since its first UPR review in 2009. And, it also assesses the scope and level of implementation of the recommendations made during its previous review. Here is the copy of CSHRN's UPR shadow report. Click the PDF Icon to Download.

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Resource Center

The officer in charge of the resource centre, Mrs. Frozan Darwish, organizes regularly debates on human rights concepts in the office of CSHRN. Through these debates member organizations and other interested organizations get the opportunity to discuss in depth aspects of human rights that are of special importance to them and how the international human right norms can be made practicable for the Afghan context. The topics of these debates are either identified by Mrs. Frozan Darwish due to discussions among participants held during educational workshops given by trainers of CSRHN, taken from propositions from member organizations or are based on currently prominent issues in the Afghan society. Moderated are the debates mostly by trainers formed by CSHRN, in a few cases also by prominent human rights scholars. About each debate a report is written and it is available at the secretariat of CSHRN.

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(Angaara 5)

The Angaara Magazine is a bi-monthly magazine for persons dealing professionally with human rights. The magazine offers in depth articles and interviews on current human rights issues in Afghanistan. It is at present published in 5000 copies and is distributed directly through CSHRN. Thanks to the distribution via the regional offices of CSRHN in Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif and Jalalabad, it reaches also rather remote areas. The Angaara Magazine is used by universities as part of their teaching and studying material, by groups of intellectuals as base for discussions and by the parliament and the Afghan administration as a base of knowledge. ……………………………………………… Read The PDF

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Access to information essential element of citizenship

Interview with Mr. Abdul Hamid Safuwad, professor of the journalist faculty at Balkh University By Manocher Ibrahimi Qestion 1: Mr. Safuwat, first of all I would like to thank you for this opportunity. My first question is: what is the importance of access to information in Afghanistan today? Reply: I would like to thank CSHRN for this interview. I think access to information is a vital issue for the current Afghanistan. The participation of people in decisions taken by the government is very limited due to a lack of access to information by citizens. I think information should be accessible for all Afghans who are doing their best for establishing a democratic society. Otherwise, we are going to establish a centralized government, where citizens have only limited access to information. Such a situation increases corruption and injustice. Question 2: Some people call access to information the oxygen for democracy. Do you agree with that? Is access to information an important principle for democracy? Answer: Access to information is one of the main elements of democracy because access to information provides facilities for choosing the direction of development. Any obstacle regarding this choice will badly damage the legitimacy of power in Afghanistan. I think, legitimacy is an important element for any democracy. There are also a lot of national and international elements that should be clear for Afghans in order for them to understand the role of national and international actors in Afghanistan. In a nutshell, access to information gives citizens the capacity to understand the state, the international community and their own role in the current situation. Question 3: Why is access to information called oxygen for a democratic environment? Answer: I believe that access to information is the right to participate within the political structure in the…

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Access to information – a precondition for an accountable state and the respect for human rights

Why is access to information essential for human rights? Access to information means that citizens have the right to get information concerning civil, political, economic, social and cultural domains through the public administration. It is a principle of good governance that government information has to be available to the people. Relevant information includes for example policies, strategies, working programmes, financial and human resources available for the education or health sector, state expenditures, election procedures, and anti corruption measures. Exceptions to this principle have to be as few as possible; issues regarding national security or confidential data about individuals could be excluded. Access to information is at the same time a right in itself as also a mechanism to claim rights. Human rights regulate the relationship between citizens and the state apparatus. Having access to information creates informed citizens, promotes popular participation and enables citizens to understand their role in building democracy. It also enables the population to confront the state with realistic expectations as its capacities and possibilities are known. The claims by the population push the state to become more transparent and accountable, and to become less influenced by corruption. It will therefore be in a better position to fulfill its role and to respect the rights of all the people living under its administration. That is why access to information is an active tool for strengthening human rights culture, endorsing democracy and encouraging the culture of prioritizing the rule of law in society. What is the state of access to information today in Afghanistan? Worldwide, the acknowledgement of the importance of access to information has greatly increased in recent years and today about 85 countries dispose of provisions in their national legislation to guaranty this right. In Afghanistan , access to information has a foundation within…

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EXPOSURE AND PUBLICATION OF DEAD LIST OF NEARLY 5000 AFGHANS DURING 1978 AND 1979

 Awakening shock Afghanistan is a country of blood and tragedy. Different stages of its history, witnesses terrible crimes against humanity. During the last three decades, starting from the military coup of April 27, 1978, known as Sawour revolution up to the Taliban era or even so far, the country have been suffering many crimes against humanity, massacres and different kinds of destructions, through which thousands of people have lost their lives and many others, who are still under burdens of cruelty and organized crimes have been forgotten. Revealing the list of almost 5000 victims of organized murders that took place in 1978 and 1979, during Nurmahmad Taraki and Hafizullah Amin's era is an example of such crimes against humanity in the country. The list contains the names of those, who have been murdered through various allegations by AGSA, the secret police investigation department of that time. In terms of their location, the victims cover many areas of Afghanistan. Hence, releasing such a list after about 35 years put all people of the country in mourning and tragedy. There was no news about them for ages, at least now we realized that cruelty and crimes had taken their lives at the very beginning days and months when they were vanished or arrested, but many of the families of the victims were still unable to accept their deaths and were yet willing to see their love ones alive again; but these hopes were not that much high to encourage them talk about this long-term tragedy and get happy by hopping that they will return one day. The long years of crimes and inhumanity had taken away the opportunities from the hoping families of the victims to rely on their unsupported hopes. Hence, most families had kept hidden the memories and…

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