The position of vulnerable minorities in Afghanistan's peace negotiations...
Institute of Human Rights and Elimination of Violence" in collaboration with "Civil Society and Human Rights Network" has conducted a research on the rights of Afghanistan's minorities in the peace process, in which 79.1 percent The participants said that they were not involved in the measures related to the peace process, while 80% of them want to be included in this process.
In the announcement of the results of this research, the Afghan government, the Taliban group and the international community were asked to create mechanisms for the inclusion of ethnic, religious, religious and linguistic minorities and to protect their rights in the peace process.
Abdul Wadud Pedram, executive director of the Human Rights and Violence Reduction Institute, said in this program: "In the research, 595 people from minority groups, including 52% men and 48% women, participated. Also, 50 focused group discussions have been held in the provinces of Badakhshan, Balkh, Ghor, Kabul, Nangarhar, Nuristan, Nimroz and Jawzjan.
The ethnic-religious minorities participating in this research are Sikhs, Hindus, Imaq, Qazlbash, Pesha'i, Turkmen, Baloch, Brahui, Arab, Sadat, Nuristani, Wakhi, Kyrgyz, Gujjar, Ismaili and Megat/Jet or Jogis. The collected data has been analyzed after interviewing 18 experts.
So that the concerns and demands of the country's minorities regarding the peace process are brought to the parties involved in this process. In the research results of these two institutions, it is stated that among the 595 participants, 79.1% said that they are not involved in the peace process, but 17.7% answered that they are participating in this process in some way.
The majority of the participants who answered the questions of this research have expressed that they and their community are not represented in the current process of peace negotiations. For example: 53.6 percent of the participants said that we are not involved in the peace process; 15.6% said that we are involved to some extent; 13.9% said that we are very little involved; 10.6 percent did not know if they have a share in this process or not? Only 6.2% have expressed that we are actively involved. Based on this research, the most important demands of Afghanistan's minorities from the government is to defend the rights of vulnerable minorities and women's rights in the peace process.
They also asked the Taliban group to recognize the minority groups, their basic rights and freedoms and not to target the minorities in the areas under their influence. The participants of this research, on behalf of their people, co-speakers and co-religionists, have asked the international community to continue international support to the Afghan government dependent on the recognition and protection of the rights of minorities, and to keep this principle in mind in the development programs of the international community.
Meanwhile, Roland Kobia, the ambassador of the European Union in Afghanistan, also called for the participation of all sections of Afghanistan in the peace process and said: "A single-identity government is not possible in any land, ensuring sustainable peace requires the presence and participation of all sections and minorities of Afghanistan."Sarwar Danesh, the second vice president of President Ghani, said in this program: "When we suggested the establishment of Jafari jurisprudence department in the schools of sharia in the country's universities, we were told that teaching Jafari jurisprudence harms national unity in Afghanistan." »
He added: "Even though the fourth article of the constitution recognizes the principle of citizenship equality, we in the government have not been able to fulfill our obligations regarding the rights of minorities." He promised that women's rights and the rights of Afghanistan's minorities are two important principles for the Afghan government in the peace process in order to prevent the formation of a patriarchal and authoritarian system in the wake of the government's peace agreement with the Taliban group.
Meanwhile, talks between the delegations of the Afghan government and the Taliban group have been going on for nearly two months in the city of Doha, the capital of Qatar. These delegations were able to agree on the agenda of the talks after two months. The 20-member delegation of the Taliban group is mono-ethnic, mono-religious and consists of speakers of one language; It means all Sunni Pashtuns.
On the other hand, the 21-member delegation of the Afghan government consists of 17 men and four women, from the Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara and Uzbek ethnic groups and followers of the Shia and Sunni religions.
A combination that is somewhat satisfactory for the people of Afghanistan as well as the international community. On the face of it, the participation of minorities in the composition of the negotiating team is not something that the government is thinking about or giving importance to. But the Ministry of Peace Affairs assures that it will create the groundwork for the representatives of these groups to present their demands, concerns and suggestions to the negotiating team so that they can be considered at the negotiating table and a possible peace agreement between the government and the Taliban group.
Dr. Alame, Deputy Minister of Human Rights and Civil Society of the Ministry of Peace Affairs, said that the final decision for the peace agreement will be taken by the Afghan government by holding a national referendum or Loya Jirga, so that the wishes of all citizens, especially vulnerable minorities, are taken into account.
Hasibullah Yousufi
