{"id":9447,"date":"2018-05-21T10:57:16","date_gmt":"2018-05-21T08:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/?p=9447"},"modified":"2018-05-21T11:02:24","modified_gmt":"2018-05-21T09:02:24","slug":"european-union-and-afghanistan-strengthen-dialogue-on-human-rights-good-governance-and-migration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/2018\/05\/european-union-and-afghanistan-strengthen-dialogue-on-human-rights-good-governance-and-migration\/","title":{"rendered":"European Union and Afghanistan strengthen dialogue on Human Rights, Good Governance and Migration"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"EU<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Press release<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kabul, 06\/05\/2018<\/p>\n

The EU and Afghanistan have entered a new stage in their bilateral relations in the framework of the Cooperation Agreement on Partnership and Development (CAPD). Under this agreement both sides had a frank dialogue about important topics related to human rights, good governance and migration. The EU acknowledged the progress made by Afghanistan in certain areas and reaffirmed its continued support, both politically and in terms of financial assistance.<\/p>\n

The EU and Afghanistan have entered a new stage in their bilateral relations in the framework of the Cooperation Agreement on Partnership and Development (CAPD). Under this agreement both sides had a frank dialogue about important topics related to human rights, good governance and migration. The EU acknowledged the progress made by Afghanistan in certain areas and reaffirmed its continued support, both politically and in terms of financial assistance.<\/p>\n

The first meeting of the EU-Afghanistan Special Working Group on Human Rights, Good Governance and\u00a0Migration took place on 5th\u00a0May 2018 in Kabul, representing enhanced step in the EU-Afghanistan bilateral relation in the framework of the CAPD concluded in 2017.<\/p>\n

The discussions were held in a\u00a0friendly\u00a0and\u00a0constructive atmosphere. The EU side recognized the ongoing efforts being made by the\u00a0Government of Afghanistan to ensure\u00a0the increased protection of human rights and promote good governance. Topics for discussion ranged from women’s and children’s rights to the freedom of expression and the protection of Human Rights Defenders (HRDs),\u00a0and\u00a0from the\u00a0treatment of socially vulnerable people to\u00a0the prevention of torture and ill-treatment. While Afghanistan made progress in putting mechanisms in place for minimising the use of the death penalty, the EU recalled its principled opposition to the death penalty\u00a0and stressed the importance of Afghanistan\u00a0instating a moratorium on executions as a first step towards abolition.<\/p>\n

Afghanistan gave an update on the implementation of\u00a0its\u00a0National Action Plan\u00a0on UN Security Council Resolution 1325\u00a0on women,\u00a0peace and security.\u00a0The EU\u00a0stressed the need for provisions of the Law on Preventing the Violence\u00a0Against\u00a0Women (EVAW) to be fully implemented. The implementation of the National Action Plan to Eliminate Early and Child Marriages was also\u00a0underlined\u00a0as a priority. Participants also discussed ways to eliminate child labour and the\u00a0need to continue promoting education at all levels across the country.<\/p>\n

The EU commended\u00a0Afghanistan for the\u00a0accession to\u00a0important UN human rights conventions and encouraged their speedy implementation. The meeting took note of the first developments aimed at ensuing an independent, accountable and professional judiciary, for upholding democratic principles, protecting human rights and ensuring justice through\u00a0fair trial and due\u00a0process. On the situation of Human Rights Defenders in Afghanistan, concrete steps to enhance their protection were discussed.<\/p>\n

On the issue of the fight against\u00a0corruption, the Afghan side reaffirmed its commitment to continue implementing the Anticorruption Strategy, which the EU side committed to continue to support. In this context, the EU made reference to its on-going development assistance aiming at protecting HRD’s and enhancing women’s and children rights, but also in support to the police force and the justice sector.<\/p>\n

With regard to the parliamentary and district council elections scheduled for 20 October and presidential elections in 2019 both sides agreed on the necessity for a timely,\u00a0inclusive and\u00a0transparent process. An increased participation of women as voters and\u00a0candidates should be particularly supported.<\/p>\n

The discussion on the regional dimension of migration highlighted the challenges that still exist in the region and the need\u00a0to continue\u00a0efforts to achieve\u00a0safe, orderly and dignified voluntary returns and the\u00a0sustainable reintegration of\u00a0Afghan\u00a0returnees within the country, in\u00a0line with international commitments and human rights standards.<\/p>\n

The delegation of the European Union was headed by Ms Paola\u00a0Pampaloni, Deputy Managing Director for Asia and the Pacific Department of the European External Action Service. The Afghan delegation was led by\u00a0Mr Nader\u00a0Nadery, Chairman,\u00a0Independent\u00a0Administrative Reform & Civil Service Commission (IARCSC), Ambassador at large for freedom of expression.<\/p>\n

READ\u00a0Joint Press Release FIDH \u2013 International Federation for Human Rights\u00a0and its member organization for Afghanistan\u00a0<\/em>Armanshahr Foundation\/OPEN ASIA<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

EU must call on government of Afghanistan to protect human rights amid conflict, insecurity<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EU Press release Kabul, 06\/05\/2018 The EU and Afghanistan have entered a new stage in their bilateral relations in the framework of the Cooperation Agreement on Partnership and Development (CAPD). Under this agreement both sides […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,90,85,43,88],"tags":[590,492,604],"class_list":["post-9447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-afghanistan","category-editor-selection","category-human-rights","category-human-rights-online-library","category-slider","tag-afghanistan","tag-eu","tag-human-rights","country-afghanistan","Documents-conventions"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9447","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=9447"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9450,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9447\/revisions\/9450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}