January 28th, 2010 by Maria

Navi Pillay writes in the Daily Star that today’s conference on Afghanistan in London will be best-served by tackling human rights concerns in the country, where “even the modest human rights gains achieved in the last eight years are under threat.” Pillay argues that groups like the Taliban have benefited from an environment of lawlessness which has enabled them to organize and intensify their operations. Afghan disillusionment with democratization is not surprising, says Pillay, as more and more Afghans are perceiving government processes and structures to be “undemocratic, unfair, and unable to deliver the most basic services or the most fundamental protection.” Pillay believes that these human rights violations are “neither accidents of fate nor unchallengeable occurrences. They are rather the blatantly violent and unmitigated manifestation of how roles are structured…and how power is distributed in Afghanistan.”

Center for Strategic and International Studies hosted an event on Monday to preview the conference in London.

UPDATE:  Democracy Digest reports that there is some speculation that a “forgive and forget” policy might be implemented for some members of the Taliban in order to incorporate the group as part of a legitimate government in Afghanistan. However, advocates of democracy and human rights are pushing against such a move, arguing that human rights shouldn’t be traded in for the sake of security.

Posted in Afghanistan, Human Rights, Taliban |