پروژه ها در افغانستان

Women in Afghanistan were, during the Taliban Emirate, deprived from all their rights and freedoms. After the fall of that regime, there was very much attention for giving women again the chance of returning to social live.  The constitution approved in 2004 by Loya Jirga established the necessary legal cadre for active participation of women in the social, political and economic live of Afghan society. Afghanistan is a signatory of the UN Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against women (CEDAW). Still women confront various obstacles in their fight for getting their legal rights. We name some of these obstacles to make clear our point of view:  

• The patriarchal mentality of the society, 
• The patriarchal and old fashioned interpretation of Islamic texts and thoughts by clergy in the past centuries. 
• Traditions based on the above obstacles. 
• Low level of literacy among the population. 
• Legacy of the rule of Islamist parties in Afghanistan from 1992 to 2001. The main measures taken by these rulers concerned limiting the rights of women. In the Afghan parliament, conservative element leading by old-fashioned clergy approved many anti-women laws en prevented the approval of the law for protection of women against violence. Even the Law for Protection of Children was rejected by the conservative MPs. The human resources absorbed in the law and order institutions and even courts by post 2001 administration belonged to these parties and ignore all legally accepted rights of women. They handle every complaint of women according to their own mentality and set the law aside. That is why the majority of women prisoners are those who run-away from their husbands house and ask the police for protection.  

That is why for Fayaz Foundation the rights of women and children are priority. They are defenseless in Afghanistan and need serious legal support.  During the first decade of this century, following project were made possible by participation of Fayaz Foundation in cooperation with our local partner, namely Humanitarian Assistance for Women and Children (HAWCA) and financial contribution of Oxfam-Novib, NCDO and Cordaid:

1. Legal Aid Center for Women in Kabul 
2. Legal Aid Center for Women in Heart of  
3. Legal Aid Center for Women in Jalalabad. 

The main feature of these projects 

The main feature of this project is that it simultaneously performs two functions: 

– providing legal and psychological assistance to women victims of violence. In this way, many women in need are legally assisted by LACs. The effect of this has been to reduce injustice against women in Afghanistan. This project has also an encouraging effect for women so that they dare to stand up for their rights. 

– offering an internship to the students of the Law faculty. This builds up local capacity for legal assistance to women. There is also an element of volunteering in this project. Which does not often occur in other projects in Afghanistan? 

Targets: 

– Contributing to the struggle of Afghan women to uphold their human rights in Afghanistan. Quantitatively, the projects provided legal assistance to an average of 150 women per year per LAC. 

– Involving the Afghan Diaspora with the democratization process in Afghanistan by organizing informative meetings en festivals on LACs and inviting others to support this or initiate other projects. 

– Offering law students in Afghan universities the opportunity to gain experience in the field of implementation of family law as established in the civil code of Afghanistan. 

– Promoting  the culture of voluntary legal assistance to vulnerable groups in society, including women,  

Children and those who can’t pay commercial law firms.  

Target Group: 

– Afghan women in need of legal aid, with an accent on victims of violence. 

– Students at the Faculty of Law of the University of the relevant city who understand the vulnerable situation of Afghan women and are willing to help 

Activities: 

 The project consisted of the following activities: 

– Orientation phase: this phase consisted of exchange of ideas with the stakeholders and looking for one or more reliable local partner inside Afghanistan for implementation of the LACs. In this phase of the project there have been direct talks with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Faculty of Law at the University in the  relevant cities, Ministry of Justice, various students, some victims of domestic violence and the HAWCA organization, concerning various aspects of the implementation of the LACs. 

– Financing: On the basis of consultations with co-financing organizations, it was decided in principle to draw up a financial plan for three years, including the first trial year. At the first stage, partial budget for the first year of LAC in Kabul was granted by co-financing organizations in the Netherlands and the other of the budget was subsidized by a donor in Afghanistan. 

– For managing the implementation a board member of the foundation went to Kabul in June 2008. He negotiated a written agreements with the following HAWCA. Together with a representative of HAWCA, talks was held with other stakeholders such as  Ministry of Justice,  family law court In Kabul, faculty of Law at the University of Kabul, ministry of Women’s Affairs. Inventory discussions took place with students and women. 

– Implementation: In accordance to  agreement with Fayaz Foundation, HAWCA took full responsibility for the implementation of LAC Kabul. After successful implementation in first year, the LAC Kabul was extended for another year, On the basis of this positive experience in Kabul, Fayaz Foundation applied in 2009 for LAC Herat and in 2011 for LAC in Jalalabad. 

 It was tremendous pressure of work and responsibility for Fayaz Foundation to manage and monitor all this, but having a system of periodical content and financial report and monitoring in our contract with the implementing organization, the Humanitarian Assistance for Women and Childeren Afghanistan (HAWCA), and thanks to serious but at the same time sincere cooperation of  this organization, all three LACs were successfully implemented.  

Achievements: 

– LACs contributed to improving the legal aid for Afghan women by providing legal support to at least 20 women per month, in each LAC.   

 – LACs contributed to increasing the capacity for legal assistance for women by offering internships for at least 26 law students per year, in each LAC.  

– LACs promoted voluntary legal aid by law students in a non-profit legal center in Afghanistan. This is the Dutch method of the so-called Rechtswinkel which was brought by Fayaz Foundation to Afghanistan. 

– LACs  as examples, stimulated the involvement of the Afghan Diaspora in rebuilding Afghanistan by small initiatives.