Politics

Although women’s participation in parliamentary elections in the rhetorical discourses of changes in Afghanistan’s post-2001 context is framed as ‘new’, a quick overview of the historical-political context informs us of women’s presence in the political sphere much earlier than 2001.

Our organizations strongly condemn the airstrike by U.S. forces on a Medecins sans Frontières (MSF) hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan this Saturday, which killed at least 12 staff members and 10 patients, and injured scores more with death tolls expected to rise. FIDH echoes the calls by MSF for an independent investigation into the attack as a potential war crime, and in the absence of a swift and genuine investigation, urges the International Criminal Court (ICC) to consider this act as part of its ongoing preliminary examination into the situation in Afghanistan, to hold those responsible for violations of international humanitarian law accountable.

We, the undersigned, are gathering to form an independent alliance of women-led civil society actors and organizations working to prevent and counter all forms of extremism. Our purpose is to bring synergy and greater coherence to our existing collective efforts, to advance gendered understandings of and responses to extremism, and to collaborate strategically in providing clear alternatives that bring a just peace for all.

Interview with Karim Lahidji, FIDH President, following the 14 July 2015 agreement between Iran and the “P 5 + 1” (United States, Russia, China, France, United Kingdom and Germany) on the Iranian nuclear programme.

In the United States, campaigns for the presidential election of 2016 have already begun. This might be an occasion for a realistic discussion of the enormously important challenges which we now face, not only in the America, but also throughout the world. But will the central issues be discussed? Or will the campaigns focus on personalities and trivia?

The previous Afghan government believed that America was crucial to solving this problem. Former President Karzai expected America to use its power to force Islamabad to abandon its support for terrorism.

The President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani has made good on his election promise and appointed Anisa Rassouli to be his country’s first female Supreme Court judge. She is the first Afghan woman to be given such an important legal job.

Beginning June 23, all of the main state bodies in Afghanistan will lose their constitutional basis. The Afghan Parliament’s term will end on June 22 with no new parliament in line to replace it due to the government’s failure to hold elections this past April.

Over the past ten years Afghanistan’s Constitution has been tested on several occasions, but how has it fared? As part of an AREU project to evaluate the Afghan Constitution, our latest paper examines the issue of the separation of powers under the current Constitution and finds that it suffers from flaws both on paper and in practice.

oung people have traditionally been at the forefront of social and political movements in societies and, as witnessed during the recent Arab Spring, have also been instrumental in bringing about regime changes through revolutions.