A three-day international seminar on transitional justice, reconciliation and peaceconcluded in the capital with calls that justice could heal the hurt of years of conflict.
A three-day international seminar on transitional justice, reconciliation and peaceconcluded in the capital with calls that justice could heal the hurt of years of conflict.While the Afghan government has been silent since 2006on the need to assuage the wounds of tens of thousands of victims of decades of war in the country, civil society and independent media have not allowed the flame of transitional justice to die.
Participants urged the government to press warring sides to end the conflict, and also take decisive steps to ensure justice.
Many students participated in the seminar held in the Afghanistan Centre of Kabul University (ACKU), from Nov 16 to 18, and attended by prominent civil society activists, representatives from UNAMA (UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan), the International Criminal Court (ICC) and several embassies, and domestic and foreign researchers and experts in transitional justice in countries like Kosovo, South Africa, Libya, Argentina, Albania and Serbia. It was organised by the independent The Killid Group and the ACKU.
Dr Sima Samar, head of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), described transitional justice (TJ) as the “basic request” of all Afghans. “The reason for the extension of war (in Afghanistan) is that we have not taken the issue of justice seriously,” she said. “(If we had) the war would not have extended to now,” she added.
TJ as a poll issue
Does transitional justice have the potential to become a concern for candidates in next year’s presidential elections?
Nader Nadery, head of Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU), who was earlier the spokesperson and commissioner in the AIHRC was optimistic that civil society and victims’ groups “could change the electoral discussion”.
Dr Daniel Ulmer, a member of the ICC, described the experience of transitional justice in other countries. He said Afghanistan, which acceded to the ICC in 2003, has taken elementary steps regarding transitional justice but there is need for the government to take up the issue. “… Afghans should also follow up the issues jointly and seriously,” Ulmer said. “Cases might go to Attorney General offices and they would not be willing to work on it. (Hence) a supervision must exist, (and) we hope (for) the cooperation of the Afghan government,” he appealed.
Media responsibility
The Killid Group has since 2006 published testimonies of survivors of war crimes, and reported on transitional justice. These include more than 70 “life stories” about people’s hopes and claims for justice, reconciliation and peace. The life stories have been the basis of a radio drama broadcast over Killid Radio to create greater public awareness about transitional justice and to encourage survivors to talk about their experiences.
Farid Hamidi, the first deputy at AIHRC, urged other media to join in awareness building and to press the government to push for the enforcement of justice.
MariekaWierda who works with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Libya was of the opinion that only through the establishment of alliances of victims could civil society push for transitional justice. She spoke of how informal research and interviews conducted by clergy in Guatemala, which were submitted to the government, was the basis for peace and reconciliation efforts in the Central American country.
“I think Afghan civil society should ask the help of political individuals … to work for transitional justice. They should convince candidates in the presidential elections to take up the call of justice as a serious poll promise,” she advised.
Other experiences
Natasa Kandic, executive director of the Humanitarian Law Center in Belgrade, conducted a workshop with NGO activists. Her observations were based on her experience of working in the Balkans. Also there she told participants “victims were seeing victims of other communities or nationalities as enemies.” According to Kandic, “It took time, and listening with attention to bring them together.” She pointed out, “You have to listen to what your society wants, define what their priority is.” In conclusion, she added: “Civil society has no power to implement justice … but has the energy and power to bring people together and collect documentation within a truth-seeking frame. Build a legacy about the past. Step by step the public opinion will pay more attention.”
British journalist Kate Clark of the Afghanistan Analysts Network moderated a session on documentation. “If we do not know what happened we cannot really talk about it.”
Unprecedented interaction
Hundreds of students participated in the seminar on the Kabul University campus. The most interactive of the sessions was on the last day when students in an unprecedented interaction bombarded Faizullah Zaki, deputy chief of the NationalIslamic Movement (led by General Rashid Dostum).
Zaki read out from Dostum’s surprise appeal for forgiveness from his compatriots who suffered during successive rounds of war in Afghanistan. He said the statement was both an apology and a promise of a new beginning by Dostum.
The general has been accused of “massive war crimes” including the death of some 2,000 Taleban fighters who suffocated in cargo containers in which they were being held after surrendering to his men in 2001. The public apology was put up on his Facebook page last month after Dostum registered as running mate to Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai in next year’s presidential poll. It may have been a condition for getting the ticket, but it was the first time a senior Afghan had apologised.
In 2007, dashing all hopes for justice, Parliament approved a controversial amnesty law offering immunity to all those accused of war crimes or crimes against humanity before December 2001. In 2010, Karzai’s spokesman Wahid Omer said the blanket immunity was enacted because it was approved by two-thirds of parliament, and did not require the president’s signature.
Does an apology absolve Dostum?
AIHRC head Samar said in reply that a report published by the commission in 2005 stated, “most people felt war criminals must apologise; some said that our call for justice does not mean we want revenge, rather there should be amnesty according to Afghan culture.” She said that when the death list of 5,000 people who disappeared during the communist regime was published by the Dutch prosecutor’s office in September “I told the president that you are the heir of the governments of mujahedin, communists and Taleban, and though you have not perpetrated the crimes you should apologise to the Afghan nation as head of the Afghan government for this big crime. But Karzai did not accept. I still have a mild complaint in my heart.”
Mapping report?
For the first time, Samar said in public that the government has not acted to publish the report on war crimes known as the Mapping Report. Dissemination of the report is the job of the government and not the “task” of AIHRC, she said. “We can only do documentation. The rest of the work is the task of the government … whenever the government wants it can disseminate it and summon the criminals to court … We are only the proprietor.”
Emal Faizi, the president’s spokesman, sent the ball back into the AIHRC’s court. The publication of the report is the business of the commission, he told the press.
The 1000-page report prepared by AIHRC has documented in detail torture, custodial death and war crimes by successive regimes from 1978 to December 2001, and the transition of power to President Karzai. Work on the report began in 2005.
At the end of the international seminar the more concerned Afghan non-governmental organisations decided to renew with greater strength the Transitional Justice Coordination Group together with The Killid Group and the Independent Media Consortium. Next week, a declaration with recommendations and a road map for the next few years based on the lessons learnt during the seminar will be made public.
Who’s who of international participants
Natasha Kandic: Founder and executive director of the Humanitarian Law Centre in Belgrade she is a recipient of more than 20 international, regional and national human rights awards. A tireless chronicler of the war crimes committed between 1991 and 1999, including torture, rape and murder, the evidence she gathered has been used in the preparation of indictments by the International Criminal Court for the Former Yugoslavia.
Nicholas Haysom: A human rights lawyer from South Africa, he is currently UN deputy special representative of the Secretary General for Political Affairs in Afghanistan. Haysom worked with Nelson Mandela on his private peace initiatives up until 2002.
Miriam Lewin: A survivor of the ESMA, the infamous concentration camp of the dictatorship in Argentina, she was a witness to the prosecution at the trial of military dictators and continues to testify in cases related to the disappearance and illegal adoption of children stolen from political prisoners. In 2010, she created a widely followed radio show called ‘Argentine Secrets’ based on real stories.
Daniel Ulmer: A staff member of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court since 2012. Afghanistan is included in his portfolio.
Marieka Wierda: Dutch lawyer with over 15 years experience in international criminal law and transitional justice. Currently she works with the UN Assistance Mission in Libya.
Nick Boraine: South African actor and film director. He has toured the world with his play ‘Truth in Translation’ in which young interpreters performed personal narratives of perpetrators and victims in post-conflict regions.
