Afghanistan

Since women and children are both vulnerable groups in our country, I will mostly focus on and consider these two groups. They face problems by any new evolution and changes in the country, Taliban regime is a clear example of it. If I get the chance to be a parliamentarian I would like to establish an advocacy group to lobby for women and children rights.

"A legitimated government comes from its parliament transparency”. I would like to focus on passage and approval of new and updated laws according to Afghan context. In addition I want to establish an active group who can transparently observe government work and fill the gaps present in some current laws of Afghanistan.

The AIHRC, as an active member of the Governance cluster, is assertive and supportive of the priorities on Rule of Law, Justice and Human Rights. All of these priorities are inter-related that each of them effect the achievement of other. Achieving these priority objectives will, definitely, have positive impact on promotion of human rights and civil responsibilities, and finally, it furthers trust between the citizens and government.

We women need peace more than anybody else, because we lose more than men in war. War rubs us of the little rights we have fought for over the long years as well as of the economic, political, social and cultural opportunities. At the same time, we believe that achieving a lasting peace is impossible without realisation of justice, good governance, rule of law and respect for human rights.

The Kabul conference is an important milestone for the Afghan government. With the biggest event ever hosted by Afghanistan, it will be a demonstration of the capabilities the government has developed over the last years. If the conference is not disturbed by major security incidents, this indeed will encourage other countries confidence in Afghan sovereignty and encourage them to hand over more and more responsibilities in the cluster areas as defined in the London conference.

A surprising omission is the balanced inquiry into what climate change and its effects mean for democratization, and what democratization could mean for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and climate adaptation. This paper draws attention to the little explored relationships between climate change and democratization.

Dr. Soraya Sobhrang, one of the most prominent Human and Women's Rights defenders in Afghanistan, was awarded the sixth Front Line Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk in Dublin in 2010.

Organizations for women’s rights in Afghanistan can be proud: While in the beginning the government considered to have only 20 women among the delegates, now more than 340 women joined the National Consultative Peace Jirga. This is due not only to lobbying of activists but more importantly to a long-term effort that started ahead of the London conference.

In February, one day before the end of the Afghan parliament’s winter break President Karzai passed a presidential decree that limited the role of the international community in the upcoming elections to being a sponsor and also brought a number of other changes to the electoral process. Now the representatives of the people defied his blunt attempt to change the rules of political participation without any consultation.

Despite real changes for the Afghan people, especially women continue to suffer from human rights abuses in many areas of life. This policy paper focuses on progress and shortcomings in the area of womens rights and their participation in society, followed by a number of recommendations on how to further improve the condition of women in Afghanistan.