The 79th (Year V) Goftegu public debate, a bridge between the elites and the citizens, of Armanshahr Foundation was held in cooperation with the French Institute Afghanistan and Physicians for Human Rights at the Institute’s amphitheatre on 21 July 2011 under the title of “In search of truth and justice, a study of half a century of crisis in Afghanistan” and to introduce to newly published books: ‘A Review of War Ruins’, and ‘A selection of Simorgh Stories’. The speakers were: Messers Stefan Schmidt (from Physicians for Human Rights), Alireza Rohani (Senior adviser at the AIHRC and Director of Law faculty Ibn Sina University), Rafigh Shaheer (Member of Parliament), Aziz Rafiee (Managing Director of Afghanistan Civil Society Forum.( About 60 human rights activists, students, academics and media representatives were present at the meeting.
What will be the fate of the victims and what is there status? How will the serious crimes against human rights be handled? When will the questions of the victims be answered? Those are questions we have been trying to find answers to. Ten years ago, after the ousting of the Taleban regime and the establishment of the provisional administration, transitional justice and soothing the sufferings of the victims were advocated as essential requirements for transition to democracy and rule of law. At the time, the government of Afghanistan, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) and some other agencies prepared the Action Plan of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, but the plan was forgotten after 2007. Following the approval of the General Amnesty and National Reconciliation Law finally previous parliament, despite the widespread opposition to it, the final nails were hammered into the coffin of transitional justice. The need to seek justice and truth as continued to be voiced. A number of civil society institutions and international organisations still believe that transitional justice must form a part of the plans of the government and the decision-making bodies. However, they have not achieved in progress. Furthermore, the establishment of bodies such as the High Council for Peace is regarded as serious obstacles to the fulfilment of transitional justice in Afghanistan. One of the issues on the agenda of the Council concerns negotiations with the Taleban, even though the Taleban have been involved in crimes, injustice and widespread violation of human rights in the past 10 years and before; they have not backed away from their positions even one inch. Besides, a conference on Afghanistan is scheduled to take place in Bonn/Germany next few months, but its agenda is not known yet. It’s not clear yet if it will address issues such as human rights, transitional justice and women’s issues.
The moderator, Mr. Ajmal Baluchzada, opened the meeting: What does affluence and peace of mind mean to human beings living in our land? A house that will not fall on their family under a bomb; not to hear the death of their children were on the bullets and the street; a piece of bread that will prevent their children from dying of hunger; to be able to resist the winter cold enough to avoid the amputation of their fingers and other wishes of this kind; just like their fellow human beings in Africa, Iraq or Palestine; while others are seeking the kind of affluence and use of mind that is not imaginable even by small group of people in this land.
Mr. Stefan Schmidt, the first speaker, the caveman outline of his work in Guatemala and the role of forensic medicine to uncover organised crime. He pointed out: Once a mass grave was discovered in Guatemala – a country similar to Afghanistan – where mostly women and children had been buried. The government authorities claim that there were no civilians in that grey and everybody had been killed in war. However, it was revealed after forensic medical studies that besides children and women, most of the people there had been shot from behind. This undermined me government’s claims. How could they have shot from behind if they had been killed in war?
He said: Science must be used as one of their ways to arrive at justice and truth in Afghanistan, because science addresses everybody equally and does not give one person or another. There are many rumours in Afghanistan, which have substituted the truth. Truth is one thing for a part of the society and something else for another part. That is why the language of science is needed. The basic problems facing the process of transitional justice are absence of serious dialogue between the government and the people, criminals being in power, lack of responsibility on the part of the international community, and inadequacy of the civil institutions: “The civil institutions must take the first step deal with the past crimes.”
Mr. Alireza Rohani was the second speaker discussed the nature of transitional justice, and the challenges facing it in Afghanistan: Transitional justice is a process that comes into operation in societies that are going through one stage to a totally different stage, e.g. in societies where despotism and tyranny, violence, fear and terror have been reigning, they need transitional justice to pass to democracy and a society where peace, human rights, basic freedoms and rule of law will be established. In the transitional stage, the citizens are first of all concerned with how they can leave the bitter past behind and build a future combine with peace and security. The different societies cannot easily leave the past behind. Long years of war and atrocities would leave their impact.
He explained that transitional justice has three components: truth, justice and reconciliation. The truth seeking programs constituted the first step to shed light on the events of the past. This can promote the issue of past crimes and the endeavours to obtain a healthy society, and transitional justice to the dominant social discourse. Thus, it will open the way to create a sense of national and organic solidarity without shedding light on the past and by keeping in the dark corridors of the future, we shall never reach the truth.
Justice is another component of transitional justice. Endeavouring to implement justice means to endeavour to build a society where victims of the past as well as the perpetrators will achieve what they deserve. When we speak of justice, we do not necessarily mean to take revenge or judicial or penal justice.
The third component is national reconciliation and unity. The previous two components would be meaningful if they are geared to peace and calm. Therefore, justice as pursued under transitional justice is not necessarily identical with penal justice. The various societies and transition need enduring peace and security. The first goal of the citizens is to achieve a society where enduring peace and security is guaranteed. When we speak of peace, we do not mean negative piece. A negative peace means not war. What we speak about today is positive peace; that means that all the grounds for peace must be ready and there should be no fear of the outbreak of new wars and conflicts. There have been many instances of peace in the history of human beings, which have failed to guarantee enduring peace and calm, because they have been negative peace.
As to the question of how reconciliation can be achieved, he argued: The first mechanism that naturally comes to mind is revenge. This is difficult in practice and dangerous as far as the consequences are concerned. Revenge will not take the society to an enduring peace, but will add fear to fear. The second solution is to forget. That means a nation that has experienced a dark past must cross it out of its public memory. For a good thing is never at proper, reasonable and enduring solution. Pains and suffering are unforgettable. Forgetting will not bring calm to the society, but push the fire under the ashes. But the mechanism is a combination of specific measures geared to justice, truth and reconciliation. This means that the truth should not be forgotten, and ways should be found to achieve reconciliation, national unity and social coexistence. The mechanisms vary from country to country. Our elites must find the mechanisms appropriate to Afghanistan’s conditions.
Addressing the challenges facing transitional justice, he said: The main problem concerns the legal measures. Even though, there is a place for transitional Justice in the constitution, ambiguities and problems are believed to exist in the law. The second challenge is the General Amnesty and National Reconciliation Law. When the parliament approved that law, it hammered the final nail into the coffin of transitional justice. The third challenge is absence of willpower than in the government of Afghanistan and lack of required capacities in the civil institutions of our country. In the democratic countries where civil institutions exist, they have a very positive impact on the decisions of their governments.
The third speaker, Mr. Rafigh Shaheer (MP), addressed mainly the present situation and the conflict between the parliament and the government over the issue of elections. He said: Both the government and the people were involved in preparing the Constitution, but in practice the people’s share in the government’s implementation of the law has been reduced. How can we talk of transitional justice when the Constitution is not implemented this country?
Mr. Rafiee spoke about the report that the Afghanistan Civil Society Forum has recently prepared about war crimes in the past 50 years. He said the report had been prepared in nine provinces of Afghanistan and 400 people had been interviewed in each province bringing the total to 3600. The study has covered five historical eras (Monarchist, Republican, Communist, Islamic, and Islamic Republic) but not political systems (absolutist monarchy, constitutional monarchy, monarchical republican, communist government, dictatorship of the proletariat, democratic republic, Islamic government, Islamic emirate, and Islamic republic).
The study was based on questions concerning security, justice, rule of law, freedom of the press, rights of the citizens, administrative corruption, impunity, victims and truth seeking. Most people believe injustice to mean genocide, degrading, manufacturers, irresponsible killings, plunder of the people’s assets and public property and lack of access to resources and facilities.
At the end of the meeting, questions were fielded from the audience.
To view the publication related to this Goftegu Public Debate, please refer to the following link: “Afghanistan in Search of Truth and Justice”: http://openasia.org/item/2065
Invitation to 79th Goftegu Public Debate: Seeking truth and justice, a study of half a century of crisis in Afghanistan
