The Human Rights Week has been organized by Armanshahr/OPEN ASIA for two consecutive years, 2013 and 2014. The Human Rights Week is a 4-5 day public event that combines a variety of programmes centred on human rights. The event aims at drawing the attention of the public, national decision makers, international community and media to human rights issues in Afghanistan. While human rights violations, threats against human rights defenders and the high level of violence against women are issues of concern, Human Rights Week provides a peaceful platform for participation, debate and discussion on important social and political themes that are directly linked to human rights. Human Rights Week is an event with educational, democratic and cultural goals. Its morning workshops serve an educational purpose, where need-based trainings are given to members of the Afghan civil society. The afternoon Goftegu (dialogue) public debates aim at informing the citizens on important political and social issues of Afghanistan and finally, the evening cultural programmes all transmit a message of peace and tolerance highlighting the cultural heritage and the remarkable achievements of young poets, film-makers and musicians in Afghanistan and the region.
The morning trainings are tailored according to the needs of civil society members. The main themes of the workshops include: improving advocacy for human rights, soliciting the international human rights mechanisms, the difference between recognized and unrecognized rights and prioritising the rights to protect and promote, international criminal justice and the protection of human rights defenders. High level national and international human rights experts run these workshops. Human Rights Week workshops are based on a participatory approach. Participants can address their questions or comments to the experts throughout the workshop, work in smaller group on case studies or share their experiences and best practices with others. A group of 50 participants composed of representatives of active Afghan NGOs, women’s organizations, advanced level students, journalists, academics and other individuals active in the field of human rights have actively taken part in these workshops for two consecutive years.
Goftegu public debates constitute the second set of programmes in the framework of the Human Rights Week. Establishing contact between the elite and the officials on the one hand and the citizens and informed individuals on the other is one of the main goals of the Goftegu public debates. Face to face with panel members who include decision-makers, civil society activists, political personalities, intellectuals, journalists or other leaders of public opinion, participants of these debates can directly address their questions or comments to them. Goftegu public debates have been organized by Armanshahr/OPEN ASIA for the last 10 years. They are not meant to be media “shows” and do not have an entertainment aspect, but stir debate about the serious and thorny problems of the Afghan society and its political scene such as women’s political participation, corruption and transitional justice.
Presently, cultural expression has been repressed by conservative social norms or individuals in Afghanistan. Only a decade ago, the Taliban regime had banned all means of cultural expression in the name of religion. Culture is an inseparable part of individuals’ identity and it has been a means for individuals to express themselves on social and political issues through artistic creativity throughout the centuries. Even now, many artists cannot exhibit their work in public for the fear of threats. Armanshahr has promoted different means of cultural expressions in special events such as the Human Rights Week. The works of poets who have composed on peace, film-makers who have made films on women’s issues, the work of Youth National Orchestra of Afghanistan, which is one of the institutions that aim to safeguard Afghanistan’s rich musical heritage, and works of visual artists have all been displayed for the public during the Human Rights Week.
Mobilizing hundreds of people every day, the Human Rights Week has also been an occasion for Armanshahr/OPEN ASIA to distribute books to the public. Simone de Beauvoir, the celebrated feminist and author, noted: “When I was a child, when I was an adolescent, books saved me from despair: that convinced me that culture was the highest of values […]”. In order to support a culture of human rights and pluralism in a society that has experienced war for over three decades, it is fundamental to make knowledge accessible to everyone. Over 100,000 copies of books have been published and distributed by Armanshahr over the last decade. Providing unprecedented access for the public to different sources of knowledge and treasures of world literature has been one of the main goals of Armanshahr/OPEN ASIA’s publications. During the Human Rights Weeks, over 10,000 copies of books have been distributed to the public.
In conclusion, the Human Rights Week has served its main purposes: bring together like-minded individuals and spot light on human rights in all its aspects as well as raise the voices of those who wish to live in a society where peace, tolerance, justice and respect for human rights are rules not exceptions.
All invitations, reports and photo galleries of the Human Rights Week 2013 and 2014 are available HERE
