![\"\"](\"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/panel-300x200.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nMr. \u00a0Rooholamin Amini, deputy director of Armanshahr Foundation\/OPEN ASIA opened the conference. Then, Mr. \u00a0Franz-Michael Mellbin, EU special representative and head of EU delegation in Afghanistan, spoke. He voiced his support for children of Afghanistan and Armanshahr\u2019s informative programmes, saying that he was pleased that he had witnessed programmes praising children and young people ever since the European Union had established its delegation in Afghanistan. Mr. Mellbin called on all parties to the conflict to pay serious attention to civilians and two children in particular. Subsequently Mr. \u00a0Philippe Merlin, charge d\u2019affaires of the French Embassy in Kabul, also expressed his pleasure web the organising of such programmes. Mr. Merlin stated on behalf of the French government: wherever children are in undesirable conditions, the issue is a priority for France.<\/span><\/p>\nNext, the documentary film \u201cWater\u201d was screened. The film won the best short feature film prize in the 4<\/span>th<\/span> International Women\u2019s Film Festival-Herat (2016) and is directed by Jalal Rohani. The 14-minute Persian-language film produced in Afghanistan addresses the issue of children and the lack of access of Afghanistan\u2019s working children to education. It is the story of a female street child who has a load of beverage cans on her back and is watching through the window of a school class and trying to learn the word \u201cwater\u201d. This is her first experience in learning and may be her last. After the film, its director answered a number of questions on the film\u2019s theme.<\/span><\/p>\nModerator of the first panel, \u201cChildren affected by war\u201d, was Mr. Ehsan Qaneh. Mr. \u00a0Zabih Jawad, representative of the Women and Children Legal Research Foundation (WCLRF), spoke about the last rights of children in conflicts. Dr Sadiq Syed, an adviser to the UN Women, discussed \u201chow does gender determined deprivation of rights?\u201d And Mr. Aziz Royesh, principal of Marefat High School, addressed the theme of \u201cabsence of a post-war educational system and the growth of Islamic madrassas.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nMr. \u00a0Zabih Jawad said children were the basic element of the society in Afghanistan and pointed out the international treaties and domestic laws established to protect children. Referring to the UN human rights report, he said that children in Afghanistan have been victims of war and violence and have been deprived of their basic rights. In his opinion, all these problems arise from the failure to implement the laws.<\/span><\/p>\nThe next speaker, Dr Sadiq Syed recalled that children constitute the majority of the population in Afghanistan and the government of Afghanistan has committed itself to implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child. <\/span><\/p>\nHe said: The women of Afghanistan are still facing discrimination from cradle to grave. The parties to the conflict destroy schools or use them as trenches. He expressed concern that 40% of women are deprived of education. He also said that 57% of all marriages take place at early ages and this is the reason for the increased mortality of mothers and children. He said, the reason for early marriages is the economic problems of the family. \u201cOur studies and interviews show that loans and economic problems force the concerned families to sell their female children or marry them off.\u201d He emphasised that women and children need psychological counselling and argued that the failure to implement the laws and international treaties is a factor that impacts the conditions of girls and women.<\/span><\/p>\nMr Royesh discussed the reasons and factors that have led to the present condition of children. The fundamental reasons, in his opinion, are the wars and violence of the past four decades. Children of Afghanistan are living in extreme distress and suffering from complexes that originate in deprivation. It is not reasonable to expect families to be kind to their children and meet their requirements. The question is: what resources do families have to meet the basic needs of their children? The government is the only authority that is in possession of abundant resources and international support and can improve the critical conditions of children. The educational standard of the schools is not adequate to encounter the waves of extremism. If we do not pay attention to the educational standard, the present-day deprived and victimised children may grow up to be the Taleban of tomorrow.<\/span><\/p>\nDuring the question and answer session following the speeches, the speakers addressed the issue of the responsibilities of the government concerning the children abandoned by war. Mr. Jawad said: The institutions concerned, such as the ministries of defence and interior and the National Security Directorate, have specific policies for the war victims and soldiers. The government must organise a comprehensive survey to find out how many children count as victims and deprived today and then plan to solve the problem. Organisations such as WCLRF can mainly get involved in advocacy.<\/span><\/p>\nMr Royesh pointed out that the difference between the present and past generations lies in the spirit of resistance and positive thinking of the present generation. \u201cI believe, we have the strongest and the most positive thinking generation in this country, which engages in thinking and consultation instead of taking up guns.\u201d As far as educational standard is concerned, there is no academic coherence in textbooks, which have been stuffed with unrelated data and information. Fortunately, this concerns our official education, i.e. only 10% of the whole. The unofficial education, 90%, comes from the society, cyberspace and Internet. That is positive. As a teacher, I believe we must pay more attention to unofficial education.<\/span><\/p>\nOn the performance of international institutions in regard to children and women, Dr Sadiq Syed said: we have had the greatest achievement in the field of human rights in Afghanistan and I take pride in it. Women\u2019s participation is visible in all spheres, but that is not enough. We have launched many services to aid women across Afghanistan, we have worked to help women grow economically self-sufficient.<\/span><\/p>\nThe first panel concluded by summing up that Afghanistan is still an insecure land for women and children, who are victims of war and violence.<\/span><\/p>\nAfterwards, the choir of Marefat girls\u2019 High School performed two songs: \u201cHuman, human is my desire,\u201d and \u201cI am fire.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nModerator of the second panel, \u201cEducation and culture, have the children gone missing?\u201d was Mr. Roohalamin Amini. Ustad Rahnaward Zariyab, the celebrated scholar and writer, spoke about \u201cthe absence of children\u2019s literature in this land\u201d, Mr. Mohammad Abdoho (Member of Parliament) discussed \u201cinternational conventions and Afghanistan\u2019s laws protecting rights of children\u201d and the title of a speech by Mr. Yassin Negah, poet, writer and civil activist, was \u201cwhat is the status of children in Afghanistan\u2019s media?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nDescribing the conditions of Afghan children as \u201castounding\u201d, Ustad Zariyab said its reason was: we have severed our bond to the ancient and traditional culture, but modern culture has not found its place yet. This cultural vacuum has confused the children and young people. Children have forgotten the ancient culture and are not familiar with it. The nursery rhymes of mothers are no longer there, there are no signs of tales that mothers told their children, children do not learn to think through solving puzzles, they do not create toys to develop their skill and creativity and so and so forth. Internet and vulgarities in the name of civilisation have replaced the traditional culture. The result is the condition of children in Iraq and Syria.<\/span><\/p>\nExpressing dismay about the condition of street children in Afghanistan, Ustad Zariyab said that it was not possible to bring children from the street, war and violence into schools through programmes such as Armanshahr\u2019s. The only institution that can solve the problem is the government.<\/span><\/p>\nMr Abdoho said that there are three stages of life. Most of our people have experienced the stages of childhood and old age; they do not experience the stage of youth. Children living under the auspices of the government are in by far worse conditions than children living under the auspices of violators of human rights, murderers and perpetrators of violence. Even though domestic laws, international treaties and the Convention on the Rights of the Child are ideal \u2013 and they have not been implemented in full anywhere \u2013 our children receive such treatments that do not comply with any domestic or international principles and laws. People can be more effective than the executive power in implementing the laws.<\/span><\/p>\nThe last speaker, Mr. Negah compared the conditions of children of the current generation and his own generation and concluded that children have by far much more access to various resources today than his generation had. He offered a list of media pests in relation to children: 1) colder relations between children and families; 2) isolation and resorting to television; 3) decline in children\u2019s education; 4) aggressiveness and tendency to violence of children; 5) decline in the rate of child\u2019s reading; 6) access to harmful information.<\/span><\/p>\nMr Negah asked: \u201cwhat is the solution?\u201d Invoking the various articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, including freedom of expression and access to information, responsibilities of the media in regard to children\u2019s mental and physical health, he asked the media in Afghanistan: how far have you complied with these criteria in your programmes? He went on: socialisation, accepting responsibility, acquaintance with cultural values and identity are among the basic responsibilities of the media in order to fulfil children\u2019s requirements. There is an absence of the three main functions, in particular in regard to children, within the domestic media: \u201coffering information, education and entertainment\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\nWe do not have a cultural policy on the macro level in the country. The low level of knowledge of the media managers and workers, the low level of knowledge of the audience and the commercialisation of the media are other reasons for the undesirable state of the media. If adequate attention is not paid to two million working and street children today, we shall have two million bandits, smugglers, murderers and thieves a few years later. Most of the present-day Taleban were Afghan children who sold water in Pakistani streets.<\/span><\/p>\nAfter the speeches, the participants asked several questions including: what are your solutions, as civil activists, for the media? There are many incidents of violence and even killing of children; where do Members of Parliament stand in relation to these incidents?<\/span><\/p>\nMr Abdoho replied: The government has fulfilled this responsibility to some extent. Examples of this are free education up to university level. However one cannot expect too much from a government, which receives all of its income from abroad and, at the same time, is facing powerful gangs and strong insecurity. Lack of knowledge leads some of the government people to abuse their positions.<\/span><\/p>\nMr Negah said: unfortunately, we have some media, which reproduce other cultures in their programmes. I emphasise that Afghan children are not only absent in the media, but in the society too.<\/span><\/p>\nMs. Aziza Karimi also criticised the educational standards, saying: our children are raised to tend to violence and aggression from the very beginning.<\/span><\/p>\nMr Rooholamin Amini brought the discussions to a close by reciting poetry from the book \u201c<\/span>A <\/span><\/i>Light in the Attic\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\nIn conclusion, more than 1,000 copies of Armanshahr\u2019s books were distributed to the participants. \u201cThe Emperor\u2019s New Suit\u201d, \u201cThe Little Prince\u201d and \u201cPocketbook of children\u2019s rights\u201d were the books that Armanshahr has recently published or re-issued for the occasion. The \u201cPocketbook of children\u2019s rights\u201d is indeed a book intended to familiarise children With their rights, which the UN has ratified.<\/span><\/p>\nIt is to be noted that Ms Soraya Sobhrang, commissioner of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, Dr Ahmadshah Salehi, senior deputy Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Mr. Attaullah Khan, director of Human Rights Research and Advocacy Consortium (HARAAC),<\/span> Fazal Ahmad Azimi, deputy Minister of Policy and Planning of the Ministry of Immigrants and Returnees, had also been invited, who did not attend the programme, although they had all confirmed the participation.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A one-day conference was convened in the framework of the Human Rights Week, in collaboration at the premises of the French Institute Afghanistan (IFA), on 7 December. The conference was entitled \u201cChildren of War, Refugees and Returnees,\u201d and consisted of two panels: \u201cChildren affected by war\u201d and \u201cEducation and culture, have the children gone missing?\u201d War, poverty, international conventions and domestic laws of Afghanistan on children, child smuggling, gender, culture and education were themes that were addressed in the two expert panels. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,36,35,16,5,85,43,627,52,11,88,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-afghanistan","category-armanshahr-public-seminars","category-conferences","category-expert-narratives","category-geography","category-human-rights","category-human-rights-online-library","category-international-criminal-court-icc","category-international-justice-human-rights-online-library","category-issues","category-slider","category-transitional-justice-and-peace","country-afghanistan","Documents-statements-multimedia"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6962"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7401,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6962\/revisions\/7401"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}