Afghanistan: Donors Should Urge Human Rights Progress -- Government Accountability and Donor Support for Rights Essential

(London) – 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 December 3-4, 2014, 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-of-2014 deadline for the withdrawal of the majority of foreign combat forces from Afghanistan.

“The London Conference is a crucial moment in determining whether the new Afghan government will take concrete steps to end human rights abuses, and whether donors have the will to stay involved in defending the rights of Afghans beyond 2014,” said Brad Adams, Asia director. “Without international pressure and aid specifically targeted at ending rights abuses, many of the gains of the last 13 years could easily slip away.”   Read more  at  Human Rights Watch