Human Rights Week
Day 4: Defending human rights and women’s rights defenders against repression and arbitrary exercise of power by state and armed opposition groups
On The Occasion Of International Human Rights Day
10 December 2014
Venue: French Institute of Afghanistan
Mr Aziz Rafee, Head of the Afghan Civil Society Forum; Mr Abdolahrar Ramizpoor, Human Rights Officer UNAMA; Mr Siar Laali, Deputy Director of the Civil Society and Human Rights Network
Moderator: Mr Hadi Marifat
Wednesday, 10 December, was the fourth and final day of the Human Rights Week. University professors, cultural activists, students and citizens of Kabul attended the Goftegu public debate titled “Defending human rights and women’s rights defenders against repression and arbitrary exercise of power by state and armed opposition groups”. Human Rights Week 2014 concluded with the announcement of names of recipients of the azure statute of the 3rd International Simorgh Peace Prize from among musicians of different regional countries who have worked for peace and friendship.
It is up to you to persuade the government to comply with its promises and commitments
The British Ambassador, H.E. Sir Richard Stagg, opened the meeting: I wish to begin with the experiences of the past few years in the field of freedom of expression and human rights in general. Freedom of expression no doubt is the foundation of human rights. However, in Afghanistan we have to tamper to some extent with this statement, because you come across other gross violations of human rights in this country: violation of women’s rights, cruelty to children, violation of rights of war victims and even mishandling of prisoners. This is exactly why there must be people to speak out and protest against violation of human rights.
Human rights defenders are not only threatened by insurgents but they face pressure from the government, which restricts the scope of their work. Thus, the civil society, the funding countries and the international community as a whole must extensively support human rights activists in this country. Afghanistan is very lucky, because it has a lively civil society. The voice of civil society activists has always been heard. During the London Conference on Afghanistan last week, representatives of all the funding countries listened to demands of the civil society representatives and promised to cooperate. I was very pleased to hear the Chief Executive of Afghanistan government promise representatives of western states that rights of women and children will top the new government’s agenda. It is up to you to persuade the government to comply with its promises and commitments. I hope there will come a day when all human rights norms can be implemented in Afghanistan and the authorities respect those norms.
Mr Marifat, the moderator, thanked the British ambassador and asked Mr Michael Pedersen, the European Union’s human rights and rule of law advisor in Afghanistan to explain the EU’s human rights work.
All judicial prosecutions concerning moral crimes of women must be dropped
Mr Pedersen said: The EU supports the commitment of the Afghanistan government to improve human rights and judicial reforms. Defending and protecting human rights in Afghanistan is crucial, as there are still many reports about kidnappings, killings, family violence, mistreatment of children and torture carried out by the security forces. We have to work on accountability by security forces. Judges must respect all the provisions of international human rights law as well as the domestic law, e.g. the Law for Prohibition of Violence against Women and enforce them.
The government of Afghanistan needs the co-operation of human rights defenders to achieve international human rights standards. However, human rights defenders in Afghanistan are in very bad conditions. They face threats, torture, illegal prosecution and improper attitudes. Women’s rights defenders are in an even worse condition. Not only they are subjected to violence because they are human rights defenders but they also suffer bad conditions because of customary and traditional attitudes, gender and their opinions. Police, prosecutors and courts have failed to put an end to threats against human rights defenders. Women’s rights defenders face defamation upon attempting to open court cases against violators of women’s rights. We must all defend human rights defenders.
Then, the moderator stated a definition of human rights defenders and their activities and called on the speakers to address the challenges facing and achievements of these defenders.
Government of Afghanistan must protect human rights defenders
The first speaker, Abdulahrar Ramizpoor said: “Human rights, 365 days” means that all days are human rights day. The topic of defending human rights defenders in a country such as Afghanistan, which is in transition to democracy, is very important. Governments are parties to international conventions and treaties and they are undoubtedly one of the principal subjects addressed in these treaties. There was also a need for another group to outline human rights violations. After the acceptance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by governments, such groups were established in particular in the developing countries.
This group of defenders launched extensive campaigns in 1984 to establish the status of human rights defenders in order to conduct their activities within the frameworks of the international human rights law. They tried to persuade governments to respect rights and freedoms of the people and status of human rights defenders. Fourteen years later, the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders was approved by the UN General Assembly in 1998. Declarations are recommendations and governments are not obliged to comply with all their provisions. However, according to international norms, our governments are required to enshrine provisions of this Declaration in their national mechanisms, policies and laws.
This declaration has outlined the tasks of human rights defenders and governments. One significant issue in the declaration concerns activities of HRDs in areas controlled by the government as well as by the opposition. Government of Afghanistan is obliged to report to the UN about the seven human rights conventions, which it has joined and is therefore required to protect human rights defenders. HRDs face challenges in areas controlled by the opposition. The people and the civil society should promote justice and democratic values in those areas.
AIHRC must establish special mechanisms to protect human rights defenders
Mr Siar Laali said: United Nations passed other conventions and covenants to make the UDHR mandatory.
There are three forms of monitoring mechanisms of the conventions: periodical, special procedures and special rapporteurs. Unfortunately, HRD protection networks do not exist in our country. There is a network in south-east Asia, which HRDs can contact and report to. In Afghanistan and some other countries, this is the task of the national human rights institution. In Afghanistan,AIHRC must establish special mechanisms to protect human rights defenders.
One of the challenges facing human rights defenders concerns registering reports with the Commission or the police. For instance, when Ms Zahra Sepehr was threatened, she reported it to the Commission, but no institution has effectively investigated it. We should also establish a network of civil society groups to list all human rights defenders and their activities, establish contact with networks at home and internationally, report human rights activities, challenges and problems to regional and international and bodies so that they can follow-up the issues.
Human rights violators accused of massacres are still in governmental posts
Mr Aziz Rafee outlined the problems facing human rights defenders and women’s rights activists: 10 December was named as Human Rights Day in 1948. Two years later, most countries of the world officially celebrated 10 December. Afghanistan celebrated it for the first time in 1965 and a Freedom Tree was planted next to Kabul University. Unfortunately, we are living in a country where human rights violators occupy government posts and rule us.
The will to provide social justice has not materialised in any government documents. There is still no political will to investigate violations of human rights and rights of war victims. AIHRC’s Conflict Mapping Report has not been published out of certain considerations. It is painful that the president did not make any mention of justice, freedom and human rights in the last international conference.
Anybody working for human rights is a human rights defender. This is not a task exclusive to civil society activists. It is essential and significant to discuss immunity for human rights defenders, who do not enjoy adequate security in Afghanistan. Tradition and conservatism pose major challenges to human rights defenders. Women’s rights activists and female activists face that problem more than others.
Fanaticism is also an obstacle ahead of HRDs. Conditions of HRDs should be examined at normal, war and post-war times. We are in post-war conditions now, when human rights violators accused of massacres, whose atrocities are exemplified in certain mass graves, are still in government posts. In my opinion, the highest priority under the present circumstances is to raise people’s awareness in order to achieve human rights. It shall be impossible to fulfil those values so long as the ruling system does not adhere to values of democracy and human rights.
Question and answer session:
A student of the School of Law asked: Did the suicide attack in the Paktika province volleyball stadium not lead to the creation of some kind of mass grave?
Mr Rafaee answered: Yes, the volleyball stadium may be regarded as a mass grave, because many innocent people who were not involved in the war were massacred there.
A lady asked: Is not the silence of human rights defenders regarding war crimes violation of human rights?
Mr Rafaee answered: Human rights defenders did not remain silent and are not human rights violators. They advocated for war victims; documented the violations; prepared the Conflict Mapping Report; recorded memories of the victims; constructed museums and monuments at city squares to keep alive the memories of victims and so on. Implementation of justice is the task of the government not the civil society and human rights defenders.
Ms Saleha Salehi from Afghanistan Women’s News Agency asked: What action has the Civil Society and Human Rights Network taken to protect Ms Zahra Sepehr against threats?
Mr Siar Laali replied: Upon being informed, the Network reported the case to police, security agencies and AIHRC. Our team is engaged in consultations with Ms Sepehr to organise a press conference, if necessary, and disclose names of the people who threatened her.
Concluding programmes
After the public debate, Afghanistan National Orchestra performed for the audience. Subsequently, names of recipients of the 3rd International Simorgh Peace Prize were announced.
