Montly Archive January 2015

The year 2009 was an important year in the post-Taleban era. On the path of democracy and a sustainable peace to adopt democratic methods and rely on rights and demands of the citizens, the country went through its second presidential election.

The Campaign of “Unveiling Afghanistan, the Voices of Progress” was started in mid 2013 with the goal of recording views and opinions of political, social and cultural dignitaries of Afghanistan on the eve of 2014 election campaigns.

Finally, Afghanistan has a cabinet, pending parliament’s approval of course, three and a half months after Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah were inaugurated as president and chief executive officer (CEO) of a national unity government.

One of the components of the democratic societies is the establishment of a public domain, where individuals enter an unconditionally free discussion over public interests.

Armanshahr/OPEN ASIA was established during the civil war in Tajikistan 17 years ago. It started up its Publishing Unit in 2003 by publishing its first book “One Thousand and one Poems for Afghanistan”.

Within the local-to-global context of citizen action, many activists and scholars agree that we face a “crisis of discourse”. Words that once imparted radical visions of social change have been co-opted by more powerful groups, rendering them devoid of their original meaning or politics.

Afghan women have come a long way since the dark days of the Taliban regime. Yet a key obstacle to this progress continues to be high levels of violence against women. The legal system has failed to protect women when it comes to some of the most common crimes against them.

Millions of people’s lives have improved due to concerted global, regional, national and local efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which serve as the foundation for the next global development agenda, according to the report launched by the Secretary-General on 7 July 2014.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR on 6 January 2015 reported* that war in the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere had uprooted an estimated 5.5 million people during the first six months of 2014, signaling a further rise in the number of people forcibly displaced.

Women’s rights have been high up on the agenda of the international community since the start of its intervention more than 13 years ago. How successful has it been? Where do Afghan women stand in 2014 – and where will they be in just a few years time?