Transitional Justice and Peace

The second day of Human Rights Week started on 8 December 2015 at the EU Delegation premises. The topic of discussion was “What does transitional justice mean to people of Afghanistan? From good will to will power and action to build peace on national level.

The 152nd Goftegu – Dialogue – meeting of Armanshahr Foundation/OPEN ASIA was held at the European Union Delegation premises in Kabul on 7 December 2015, in collaboration with and with the support of the EU, the French Embassy, the French Institute Afghanistan, UN Women in Afghanistan, and the Swiss Cooperation Office Afghanistan.

After the fall of the Taliban and the establishment of the current government, it was expected that there would be no more war crimes and, with the start of the transitional justice process, the culture of impunity for atrocities would also end. This expectation was strengthened particularly after Afghanistan became a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2003. However, since then, war crimes continued to be committed and transitional justice was neglected under the pretense of maintaining peace.

On 7th October, 2015, AREU hosted media outlets in Kabul to launch a new report on politicisation of high school students in Afghanistan. AREU researchers Dr. Antonio Giustozzi and Ali Mohammad Ali presented the main findings of the paper titled: “Reaching Boiling Point: High School Activism in Afghanistan” to the media.

There is widespread political activism, including an extensive presence of radical activists among high school students in Afghanistan, a new AREU study says. This is despite a government ban on political activism in high schools, which in itself can be argued that is a relic of an authoritarian era.

Parties to the armed conflict must ensure civilians are protected from harm. National and international human rights groups should investigate alleged violations of International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law.

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.

Islamic State militants play on sectarian division as they tear Iraq apart, but a group of young Iraqi “citizen ambassadors” is trying to mend the damage by promoting a message of tolerance and peace.

No immunity for heads of state or high ranking officials is fundamental to the object and purpose of the Rome Statute of the ICC: to bring to justice those most responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

During ten years of civil war, from 1991 to 2002, the children of Sierra Leone were deliberately and routinely targeted, and witnessed widespread and systematic acts of violence and abuse.