Openingust 14, 2017fairs (MFA) AfghanistanFirst Lady Rula Ghani, honorable ministers, His Excellency Franz-Michael Mellbin, the EU Special Representative to Afghanistan, ambassadors and representatives of international organizations based in Kabul, government officials, journalists, ladies and gentlemen!
Before I start, I would like to thank the office of the EU Special Representative to Afghanistan and the various Afghan government institutions for their diligent efforts in organizing this important event today.
Indeed, it is a very happy and proud moment to be standing here to commence the Third Human Rights Dialogue between Afghanistan and the EU.
Honorable colleagues!
Institutionalization of human rights and women’s rights into the government’s overall system has been one of our main goals. We have been striving to achieve this goal untiringly together with our national and international partners.
I would like to be clear that the government of Afghanistan’s human rights commitments do not end with the Self-Reliance through Mutual Accountability Framework (SMAF). They go beyond SMAF. We are bound to other intrinsic religious, national and international beliefs and values to promote, protect and institutionalize human rights and women’s rights in our country. We have been making some significant progress.
Today’s gathering is another opportunity, for us all, to make a holistic evaluation of the progress we have made and the challenges we have been facing in our collective efforts for promoting and protecting human rights and women’s rights thus far. This will also allow us to exchange ideas, share experience and knowledge in order to explore further ways of strengthening Afghanistan’s cooperation with the international community on this fundamental front.
I should reiterate that the Government of Afghanistan supports continuation of human rights dialogue with the EU and warmly welcomes the EU’s support and feedback. We believe that continuation of such dialogues between Afghanistan and the EU is highly effective and they have been helping us with further institutionalization of human rights and women’s rights in Afghanistan.
Ladies and gentlemen!
The Taliban and other terrorist groups have been committing various war crimes in different parts of Afghanistan. Their inhumane acts of violence have been in direct violation of international human rights and humanitarian laws. Their war crimes and crimes against humanity includes:
Unlawful punishments
Persecution of identifiable groups,
Attacks against civilians, and
Destruction of places of worship and public establishments.
Despite all the challenges, the government of Afghanistan has made some noticeable achievements in human rights and women’s rights promotion and protection. Some examples are:
Enactment of the Law against Torture;
Establishment of a national mechanism to monitor torture;
Enactment of Anti-harassment law;
Amendment of the penal code with further women’s rights protection provisions;
Preparation and submission of a draft national legislation on the rights of the child to the relevant committee;
Creation of special public prosecutor divisions for the protection of women’s rights in 34 provinces; and
Creation of a separate deputy attorney general position for the protection of women’s rights within the organizational structure of the Attorney General Office.
Some of these achievements were recognized by His Excellency Franz-Michael Mellbin in his opening remarks and I thank him for that. I must also highlight that since the Second EU-Afghanistan Human Rights Dialogue, we have:
appointed members of the election and electoral complaint commissions;
held Fourth International Women Symposium in Kabul; and
appointed six women as members of the High Peace Council.
Honorable colleagues!
Afghanistan has been proactive in meeting its obl igations under international bill of rights. We have been providing country reports to the UN Human Rights chartered and treaty bodies. I am proud to announce that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan is in the process of finalizing its fifth periodic report of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This report will be submitted to Committee on the Rights of the Child this year.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been working with all relevant entities to complete the Third Periodic Report on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). This report will be finalized as early as next month.
Earlier this year, the government of Afghanistan made accession decision to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been working on the preliminary implementation report of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
We have also been supportive of the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. We made all the efforts and cooperated with the UN in facilitating Chaloka Beyani’s visit to Afghanistan in October 2016. This year, we extended our invitation to another Special Rapporteur on rights of the human rights defenders. Furthermore, the government of Afghanistan sent a separate letter to all UN Special Rapporteurs expressing Afghanistan’s readiness in facilitating their visits whenever required.
These are strong proofs that we have been trying hard to promote, protect and institutionalize human rights and women’s rights in our country. As a result of our hard work, Afghanistan has been rewarded with the candidacy for a 2018-2020 seat in the Human Rights Council. To realize this dream, we will need the backing of our EU and other friendly countries in the 2018 HRC election.
Honorable colleagues!
You will hear more about our achievements in details throughout today’s gathering that is jointly chaired by my colleagues, Deputy Minister Hekmat Karzai and Mr. Franz-Michael Mellbin. I will end my remarks with high hope that the Cooperation Agreement on Partnership and Development between Afghanistan and the EU opens up new windows of opportunities in our already strong cooperation ties where would move forward to achieve greater human rights and women’s rights developments.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of my colleagues once again for their hard work in making today’s gathering a reality and a success. Thank you!