Human rights

  • Urgent Demand for Inclusion in the “Accelerated Afghan Peace Talks”

    Afghan society including civil society organisations, community leaders, religious scholars, youth, women activists and networks, victims, professional organisations, religious scholars, Tribal/Community leaders, scholars, experts, men and more, have in this historic National Peace Gathering, brought together over 1350 Afghan society representatives from every District and Province in Afghanistan and many more Afghan Diaspora have participated via a Facebook livestream.

    PDF icon Statement of National Peace Gathering-English Version.pdf
  • Beyond Kabul: Women Peace Builder's Reflection on the Peace Process and the Impact of Covid-19

    This research report was drafted by the Afghan Women’s Educational Center (AWEC), synthesizing insights from one hundred and fifty telephone interviews with women peacebuilders and negotiators from eight provinces of Afghanistan (Badakhshan, Kandahar, Herat, Helmand, Paktia, Nangarhar, Kabul, Balkh). It was conducted at a critical juncture, as the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GoIRA) entered into talks with the Taliban. Since the beginning of the United States talks with the Taliban, women across Afghanistan have increased their voice for women participation in peace processes as equal citizen of the country in welcoming the possibility of peace, while raising concerns that their rights may be compromised if the process is conducted hastily and they are not substantially represented. This policy brief aims to ensure that women’s voices are heard in upcoming political dialogues and during the intra-Afghan peace process.

    PDF icon Beyond-Kabul-Eng.pdf
  • A House Divided: Can Afghan Elites resolve their differences in the pursuit of peace?

    This report examines the range of views held by key members of the Afghan political elite about future prospects for peace, how these views compare to those held by civil society and women rights activists, and how they might be consolidated into a coherent platform in order to enable a common voice in negotiations with the Taliban. The report draws on 20 qualitative, semi-structured, in-depth interviews with representative from across the political spectrum and civil society in Afghanistan (six of whom were women) carried out in Kabul between mid-December 2019 and mid-February 2020.

    PDF icon A HOUSE DIVIDED - AWEC 2020.pdf
  • Survey of The Afghan People on The Intra-Afghan Peace Negotiations

    By Maryam Baryalay and Nasim Sadat of Social Research and Analysis Organisation; The survey of the Afghan people on the intra-Afghan peace process was conducted to explore the position of the Afghan population on key points and principal issues relating to the peace talks. The Afghan peace process has been lengthy and arduous, marked by breakthroughs, talks, derailments, and the collapse of talks ever since it unofficially began in 2008/9. Despite repeated impasses in the process, efforts continued in one way or another to build trust between the US and the Taliban, as well as between the Afghan government and the Taliban. In October 2018 the US government decided to engage in direct talks with the Taliban for the first time—a long-standing demand of the movement. After several rounds of talks over a period of 16 months, both sides finally reached an agreement in February 2020. The agreement contained four provisions: (1) halting attacks against US troops and interests by the Taliban, (2) reduction and withdrawal of US troops phasewise from Afghanistan, (3) releasing or swapping Afghan prisoners on both sides, and (4) starting intra-Afghan peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.2

    PDF icon SURVEY OF THE AFGHAN PEOPLE ON THE INTRA-AFGHAN PEACE NEGOTIATIONS.pdf
  • Afghan Women Demand a Just and Accountable Peace

    Dear Leaders of the Member States of NATO and the United Nations,As we mark nineteen years since the devastating attack on the World Trade Center which claimed more than 3,000 innocent lives and the ousting of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, we send this letter on behalf of 15,0001 Afghan women from across Afghanistan to thank our international allies for their sacrifices and support in helping us rebuild our democratic systems, broken institutions, and empowering our youth to use their energy and talent for developing our country...

    PDF icon Afghan Women Letter to NATO Member States and United Nations.pdf
  • Position Paper on Inclusion of People with Disabilities Geneva Conference on Afghanistan (GCA)

    Joint position paper on disability for the Geneva Conference on Afghanistan

    PDF icon GCA Position Paper People with Disabilities Final 2018.pdf
  • Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees 2018 - UNHCR

    The UNHCR has published a new report exploring methods and actions to support the implementation of a solutions strategy for Afghan refugees. After nearly four decades of protracted displacement, Afghan refugees still constitute just over 13 per cent of the global refugee population and one-fifth of the world’s protracted caseload, accounting for more than half of the 4.1 million refugees in protracted displacement of 20 years or longer. With almost 2.6 million registered refugees, Afghanistan remains the second largest country of origin in the world.This report looks into the roles of the three main actors influencing the lives of Afghan refugees - Iran, Pakistan and the government of Afghanistan - and looks to make recommendations for those actors to bring change to the current status quo. 

    PDF icon UNHCR - Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees 2018 - 2019.pdf
  • The Ripple Effect, Multidimensional impacts of internal displacement - 2018

    Internal displacment affects the lives of displaced people, their host communities and those they leave behind in many ways. The most urgent are threats to their physical safety, wellbeing and human rights. The Ripple Effect - by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) looks to review the main impacts of internal displacment on IDPS, communities of origin and destination, affected local and national government and donors. The report presents the results of a systematic review of nearly 1,000 publications on the impacts of internal displacment in health, livelihoods, education, housing and infastructure, security, the evironment and social life. 

    PDF icon The Ripple Effect - IDMC - 2018.pdf
  • From Europe to Afghanistan - Experiences of Child Returnees - 2018

    This report was written for Save the Children by Samuel Hall, an independent think tank providing research and analysis in countries affected by issues of migration and displacement. This research is based on an understanding of children’s rights as defined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), to which all European countries and Afghanistan are signatories. Save the Children is working in Afghanistan and Europe to find durable solutions to ensure the safe and dignified return of children, with the necessary guarantees in place to protect them. Until safe and sustainable returns can be guaranteed, Save the Children urge European governments to suspend the return of children to Afghanistan.Save the Children hope that this report can contribute to the dialogue around returns and increase knowledge and cooperation between all actors in Afghanistan and Europe to further the wellbeing of migrants, refugee and returnee children, young people and their families.

    PDF icon Save the Children - From Europe to Afghanistan - 2018.pdf
  • The Cycle of Struggle - written by Barin Sultani Haymon

    The Cycle of Struggle, A Human Security Perspective on Afghanistan's IDP Women presents and reflects on the perspectives of a cross-section of internally displaced women to promote the inclusion of this group in the ongoing discourse around IDPs.  The report endeavours to provide an avenue for IDP women to influence policies and programming by drawing attention to their needs. The author, Barin Haymon is an independant researcher whose work has primarily focused on Afghanistan, dealing with migration, security, social and economic issues. 

    PDF icon The Cycle of Struggle - A Human Security Perspective on Afghanistan's IDP Women.pdf
  • World Report 2018

    The Human Rights Watch annual review of human rights around the globe, including Afghanistan.

    PDF icon 201801world_report_web.pdf
  • Hope behind bars: the boys of Kabul JRC

    This research offers a pragmatic view of the lived experiences of children in the Kabul Juvenile Rehabilitation Centre (JRC) and situates detention within their life events, where neglected needs and incurred stresses impact their later adult lives and life opportunities.

    PDF icon CiC_Hope Behind Bars_2017_0.pdf
  • Afghanistan in May 2017

    Our monthly review of the key news from Afghanistan.

    PDF icon Afghanistan in May17.pdf
  • UNAMA: Treatment of Conflict-Related Detainees: Implementation of Afghanistan’s National Plan on the Elimination of Torture

    This report documents findings from interviews with conflict-related detainees conducted between1 January 2015 and 31 December 2016.

    PDF icon AfghanReportApril2017.pdf
  • HRW: Pakistan coercion, UN complicity, February 2017

    Human Rights Watch's report—based on 115 interviews with refugee returnees in Afghanistan and Afghan refugees and undocumented Afghans in Pakistan, and further corroborated by UN reports that present the reasons thousands of Afghans gave for coming home—documents how Pakistan’s pressure on Afghan refugees left many of them with no choice but to leave Pakistan in 2016. Further HRW criticise UNHCR for failing to condemn Pakistan's approach, and also questions their financial support to returnees. 

    PDF icon HRW pakistan returnees 0217_web.pdf

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