Author: Sayed Hussain Hussainy

This author has written 1063 articles

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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(Angaara 4)

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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(Angaara 3)

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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All Afghan Women Union Support Access to Information Program of CSHRN

By Frozan Arezo CSHRN home page asked Ms. Suraia Perlika the chair person of All Afghan Women Union (AAWU) and women's rights activist to share her ideas about access to information program in Afghanistan. Question : First of all on behalf of CSHRN I would like to thanks you for the interview. My first question is why information plays an important role for our world today? Answer: Today our world is a world of information. Information paves the way of development in the social economic and political fields. Information facilitates the citizens to make right decisions. I believe information plays an important role in democratization in our societies in all over the world. Information supports us to make rights choices in the right time. Question: What do you think about access to information in Afghanistan , do you think that access to information is an important agenda for current developments in Afghanistan? Answer: I believe that access to information is not only a need for Afghan society, but it is an important element for democratization for both Afghanistan and international community who are involved in Afghanistan. During the presidential and parliamentarian elections in Afghanistan we experienced a lot of shortages and difficulties. One of the main reasons of difficulties was the luck of information; the Afghan citizen did not have access to information about the mechanisms, agendas and programs of the candidates and the election commissions. The Afghan people went to the electoral pools without having proper information. This is one of the important examples of consequence of lack of access to information in Afghanistan. We have also a lot of examples on access to information importance in the Afghan society. I think access to information makes citizens aware of their role and obligation in the society. Question:…

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