Switzerland ambassador to Afghanistan and the accompanying delegation met with the Minister of Justice, Habibullah Ghalib in his office on March 01, 2011.
The topic of their meeting was the Switzerland’s cooperation in improving human rights condition in Afghanistan. The Switzerland ambassador to Afghanistan praised Ministry of Justice efforts in this regard and appreciated the establishment of human rights support unit in the structure of the Ministry of Justice. Challenges on the way of observing human rights in Afghanistan were discussed and the Minister of Justice stated:
Since Afghanistan is a war-torn country, therefore Afghan people are spiritually affected during the terrible years of war and they are brought up with aggressive spirit. To institute and apply human rights issues, we should first raise education level in Afghanistan and as well as implement public legal awareness programs in the country so that people learn about their rights and obligations. Fortunately, Ministry of Justice is pioneering in this effort and has started public legal awareness in some provinces and is trying to spread it out. On the other hand Afghanistan is a traditional country and different cultures and traditions are dominant in the country, therefore it is imperative for those who teach human rights issues to people to appear as local people in the society and realize the key points in the society in order to hamper provocation of sensitivity.
The second problem hindering observing human rights in Afghanistan is lack of security and weak economy that should be focused on in order to reach our goal of people’s welfare and prosperity.
At the end, the mentioned delegation requested the Minister of Justice for information regarding women’s shelters which has raised a lot of discussions in the media recently. Minister of Justice said:
One and half years ago there was a rumor spread out that women are sexually abused in women’s protection center, therefore the president office called for establishing a commission to assess the rumor and find out whether it is true or wrong. After the investigation the commission determined that indeed women are sexually misused and that women are not present at these centers at nights. In addition there was neither electricity facility nor heating equipments for winter in these centers. Those centers found guilty were closed and the responsible staffs were prosecuted. For this reason the government decided to establish the women’s protection centers under the structure of Ministry of Woman Affairs and its affairs should be monitored by the government so that all those women who are seeking for protection and those who are released as a result of the amnesty decree can be hosted in these centers till their relatives are found.
