Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Rights and Freedoms

This thematic category comprises of AAN’s reporting on human rights, including women’s rights, media freedom, rule of law, governance and democratisation.

Guest Blog: Let’s Remember Afghanistan on International Criminal Justice Day

Ajmal Pashtoonyar •

Last year in Kampala (Uganda), the Assembly of States Parties to the International Criminal Court (ICC) decided to celebrate 17 July as the Day of International Criminal Justice, to commemorate the adoption of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (adopted 1998). As we celebrate International Criminal Justice Day, Ajmal Pashtoonyar* takes the opportunity […]

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Victims Organisations Sound a Wake-up Call

Sari Kouvo •

AAN continues its analysis of civil society’s role in and ability to influence the processes unfolding in Afghanistan. AAN’s Sari Kouvo and Obaid Ali participated in the National Victims Conference held in Kabul 30-31 March. The National Victims’ Conference held in Kabul 30-31 March brought together representatives from victims and martyrs organizations, civil society and […]

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First Flickers of an Afghan Facebook Reform Movement

Gran Hewad •

After the revolution in Egypt and Tunisia in which Facebook played a key role, young Afghan Facebook users have started to establish their own pages to organise anti-government protest. They have chosen corruption and reform as their rallying issues. AAN’s Gran Hewad went to the first press conference of one of the reformist groupings but […]

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Stories people tell (2): Bagram prison; not a single good day

Martine van Bijlert •

There are so many stories of people who get caught up in the nightly operations by American and Afghan forces. In the search for ‘kill & capture’ targets the net is cast wide: once a door is kicked in all males in a household are usually taken for interrogation. And it is then anyone’s guess […]

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Shelters in the Storm: The Controversy over Women’s Safehouses

Sari Kouvo •

The Afghan government accuses women’s shelters of corruption, while women’s rights advocates criticize the government for believing rumors rather than facts and succumbing to the pressure of conservatives. Whatever the outcome of this controversy, the victims are likely to be the women who have sought refuge in the shelters – most of them fleeing situations […]

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Baseless Words – or: A Little Coaching for Christopher Hitchens

Thomas Ruttig •

A reply to Chistopher Hitchens’ under-researched rant against what he calls the human rights ‘activists’ community that ‘finally notices the Taliban’s war crimes’. AAN’s senior analyst Thomas Ruttig points to some reports that show how far this is from truth. There we get it: ‘The human rights community finally notices the Taliban’s war crimes. […] […]

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Guest Blog: Legal Pluralism – Decentralization of the Rule of Law?

Michael Daxner •

The discussion about how Afghanistan’s legal system should work and its three components – state, customary and Islamic law (sharia) – should relate to each other has been going on ever since 2001, without a clear result. Even the constitution leaves loopholes that are reflected in the legal practice. Currently, the Afghan government works on […]

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The Air Is Getting Thicker in Paktia

Thomas Ruttig •

Some progress on the women’s front but the security situation spiraling further downwards and a population that cannot find anything good in the Americans anymore – these are impressions from a short visit to Gardez this week that was undertaken by AAN’s Senior Analyst Thomas Ruttig, two and a half months after his last trip […]

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Afghan Government Declares Kabul Smog Holiday

Kate Clark •

From tomorrow, 1 December, until the end of the Afghan year (20 March), Kabul will enjoy a proper, two-day weekend. Every Thursday, government offices will be closed and workers asked to stay at home. But it is not a social achievement – it is a smog-induced extra holiday, an attempt to give this polluted city […]

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Facts for reconciliation: Human rights documentation needed

Sari Kouvo •

Over the past month a rather heated debate has arisen first over the leaked and then over the formally released UN mapping of human rights violations and war crimes in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This debate has also drawn attention to other hidden UN gems, most notably to the unreleased UN mapping report […]

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No Nobel Price (Yet) for Sima Samar

Thomas Ruttig •

The Nobel Committee is never shy of picking a fight. The one it picked this year is with China – by awarding its Peace Prize to the jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo; it has been warned before by Beijing that this could impact on Norwegian-Chinese relations. AAN’s Senior Analysts Thomas Ruttig and Sari Kouvo wished […]

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The Civilian Cost of Armed Conflict in Afghanistan: An Overview of Recent Reports

Sari Kouvo •

In July, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and UNAMA published their mid-year reports on civilian casualties and protection of civilians in the conflict in Afghanistan. AAN Senior Analyst, Sari Kouvo, takes a closer look at patterns identified on violations against – and protection of – civilians in the war in Afghanistan and brings in […]

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