Democratization is the transition to a more participatory political system. Heinrich Böll Stiftung is trying to support this process by strengthening citizenship agency and civil society. It provides training and consultations for the leaders of societal change and political actors at different levels.
Since 2003, HBS has been working in Afghanistan with two long-term Afghan partner organizations as well as a number of other local NGOs. The main goal of our work in Afghanistan is the support of democratization through promotion of a gender sensitive legal framework. We have been promoting women’s rights through our cultural sensitively acting partner organization Women and Children Legal Research Foundation (WCLRF). Moreover we want to contribute towards domestic and regional stability and security and to a sustainable development process through people’s participation. HBS believes that through the inclusion of voices of traditional society representatives a more inclusive form of democratization in Afghanistan can be achieved. Since 2003, HBS is cooperating with The Liaison Office (TLO) in south eastern Afghanistan for that aim.
The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) issued a press release for the London Conference. It hopes that all actions taken are based on active participation of Afghans, that human rights, women’s rights, freedom of speech and media and civil society’s activities are protected and supported and that the values of justice, litigation and ending of impunity are top priorities. more»
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The six major coordinating bodies of civil society and NGO groups in Afghanistan call on the participants of the London Conference to ensure that the needs of the Afghan people remain forefront on the international community’s agenda. The statement highlights priorities in three areas—security, governance, and economic and social development—and includes the call to immediately cease any attempt to utilise civil society and NGO actors to pursue a military objective.
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- Three Afghan Civil Society Development Conferences i.e. 2003, 2006 and 2008 was implemented in Kabul. There was a keen interest to conduct a fourth Afghan civil society development conference in order to review the situation and revisit the findings. It was also deemed necessary to check the mile stone and achievements set in the previous meetings and conferences. more»
- In an interview Aziz Rafiee, the Managing Director of the Afghan Civil Society Forum, talks about how the funding for Afghanistan could be employed better, the German involvement in the country and why he doesn't think the Talibn will negotiate. Interview by Johannes Kode. more»
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In this commentary, former UN Special Representative for Afghanistan, Tom Koenigs, discusses the outcome of the London Conference with a focus on US and German engagement in reconstructing Afghanistan.
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- President Barack Obamas strategy for Afghanistanprobably only satisfied the American audience who will support a continued US war effort only if there is a fixed deadline for starting to pull out US troops. Those who feel the war is futile were bound to be disappointed. But the reaction in Afghanistan and Pakistan has been equally skeptical. By Ahmed Rashid more»
