Gawharshad University together with Kabul Regional Office of Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), on 15 January 2019, jointly conducted the national dialogue on ‘the role of women in good governance and sustainable peace’ at AIHRC conference hall.
Dr. Sima Samar, the chairperson of AIHRC, in her opening speech mentioned the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and marked it as phenomenally important which regardless of ethnicity, religion, race and color recognizes human dignity and equal rights for every individual human being and that the values. She also added that Vienna Conference was held in 1993 to reinforce and protect human rights and resulted in the formation of office of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and later United Nations Human Rights Council. Fortunately, she said, Afghanistan has gained the council’s membership and can actively engage in the decision-making processes.
Mr. Mohammad Ayub Heidari, the governor of Kabul, started his speech with appreciating Dr. Samar’s lifelong work to improve the human and women rights situation in Afghanistan and the world and pointed out that as a result of her efforts we witness an amazing increase in the number of women working in government offices.
The governor briefly explained the project of creating women’s shelter in the outskirt of Kabul and providing them employment opportunity to help them pursue a dignified life. He also expressed gratitude to the Religious Scholars Council who have, since last year, increasingly focused on women’s rights in their lectures which has had positive effects.
Dr. Mohammad Jawad Salehi, Chancellor of Gawharshad University, in his speech stated that the primary pre-condition of observance of human rights and basic freedoms in a society is the people’s conscious awareness of their rights. He elaborated on the role good governance plays for development of countries and recognized it as a requisite for peaceful and developed Afghanistan.
According to Dr. Salehi, no government is ‘voluntarily’ responsible and if women want to enjoy their rights, they need to unitedly try to make the government recognize their rights. He further said, ‘ Citizen’s power determines the degree of a government’s responsibility, the more they are active in demanding their rights, the more governments tend to recognize and respect them.’
Comparing the governments in Afghanistan and France, he explained that both of them are democratic and legitimized by people’s vote but the difference between the two is the fact that in France people and civil entities are strong enough to make their government responsible. Governments gain and sustain their legitimacy through their people’s satisfaction and hence are not above and beyond their nation. It is a well-proven fact that where human dignity is not respected, dissatisfaction, coup detat and violence become predominant. In France, what people want is reflected in every aspect of their governments policy and behavior.
The second part of the conference was dedicated to the panel discussing the role women play in good governance and sustainable peace. Dr. Soraya Sobhrang, former AIHRC commissioner, stressed on further participation of women in governmental office and pointed out that in recent years we have had many female university graduates who have never been employed and this is mainly because they did not have connection. She marked that this is a key challenge that the government should find a solution for.
Other panelists: Mr. Fahim Hakim, AIHRC advisor, Ms. Shahgol Rezaei, parliament member, Ms. Mari Akrami, human and women rights activist, and Ms. Laya Jawad, human and women rights activist, presented their ideas and responded to the questions raised by the audience.
The conference concluded after the participants finished their group works and Mr. Ahad Farzam, head of AIHRC Kabul regional office, delivered a closing speech.