Afghanistan: Donors should urge human rights progress

Afghanistan’s foreign donors should press the Afghan government to prevent a further deterioration in the country’s human rights situation and support services crucial to rights, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today. 

The groups issued a joint statement ahead of a major donors’ meeting on Afghanistan on 3-4 December in London. Despite the government’s important improvements in human rights, many serious abuses continue and pose a threat to the fragile gains of the past decade. 

Delegations from more than 70 countries will gather for the London Conference on Afghanistan, a follow-up to the July 2012 Tokyo Conference on Afghanistan. At that conference, both the Afghan government, then-headed by President Hamid Karzai, and international donors agreed on a “mutual accountability framework.” The London Conference will be the first such meeting under Afghanistan’s new president, Ashraf Ghani, and coincides with declining donor engagement in tandem with the end-2014 deadline for the withdrawal of the majority of foreign combat forces from Afghanistan.

“Afghanistan needs sustained political and financial backing to strengthen human rights and rule of law,” said Richard Bennett, Asia-Pacific Director at Amnesty International. 

“Donors and the new unity government must ensure that human rights are at the heart of reforms undertaken by the new Afghan unity government and donor assistance to Afghanistan.”

The framework established in Tokyo included 16 specific indicators of progress, only two of which specifically related to human rights. Those concern the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), and the Law on Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW Law) and the National Action Plan for the Women of Afghanistan (NAPWA). 

The Afghan government and its donors should honour the human rights commitments made at the Tokyo Conference, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said. The Afghan government should make specific plans for human rights reform, and urge donors to support these reforms in order to address the following human rights concerns:  Read More at Amnesty