Afghanistan-uka 2015 er et samarbeid mellom Afghanistankomiteen, Chr. Michelsens institutt (CMI) og Institutt for fredsforskning (PRIO). I tillegg bidrar en lang rekke andre organisasjoner til programmet. Sentrale afghanske og internasjonale eksperter og aktører kommer til Norge for å stå bak talerstoler og delta i debatter. Afghanistankomiteen er initiativtaker og koordinator for uka som blir gjennomført med støtte fra Fritt Ord og Norad. De fleste av arrangementene vil foregå hos Røde Kors i Hausmanns gate 7 i Oslo.
The Afghanistan Week 2015 is a cooperation between the Norwegian Afghanistan Committee, the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) and the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), along with a host of Norwegian NGOs. Our aim is to bring Afghanistan to the top of the Norwegian agenda, bringing Afghan and international experts to Norway to inform and debate. Most events will take place at Hausmanns gate 7, hosted by The Norwegian Red Cross.
Cultural and religious resistance against education of girls is widespread in many parts of Afghanistan. Schools are attacked and burnt down, roads are unsafe to travel in many parts of the country, and the Afghans fear reduced development assistance as international troops withdraw. Despite difficulties and potential danger, the number of Afghan children enrolled in schools has increased tremendously since 2002, especially the number of girls.
How is it possible to run schools for girls in the insecure Kandahar province where education for girls is highly controversial?
Please sign up by sending an email to: aase.dahl@cmi.no
Addressing impunity for gender violence has been one of the single most important focus areas for women activists and donors when it comes to women’s rights in Afghanistan. Efforts to address this issue had included the adoption of land mark legislation such as the Elimination of Violence Against Women ( EVAW) law, the establishment of specialized prosecution units, workshop and training programs and considerable donor pressure. Yet it has proven very difficult to increase the prosecution and conviction of violence against women in Afghanistan. Going beyond standard explanations such as ‘lack of political will’ or ‘culture’ this seminar asks why this is so. Have the strategies that have been adopted been sound? Should NATO countries have put the enforcement of the EVAW law higher on their agenda? Is it at all meaningful to press for convictions in cases of family violence as along as women are dependent on their families for survival?
Please sign up by sending an email to: aase.dahl@cmi.no
For registration, please email gj@fokuskvinner.no
This year marks the 15th anniversary of UN Security Council resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. In 2000, the Security Council formally acknowledged the changing nature of warfare, in which civilians are increasingly targeted, and women continue to be excluded from participation in peace processes. UNSCR 1325 addresses not only the consequences of war on women, but also the crucial role women should and do play in conflict management, conflict resolution, and sustainable peace.
Last year, the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and almost 20 government ministries and agencies launched Afghanistan’s first ever Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security. The plan was drafted with collaboration of civil society, including regional consultations to gather Afghan women’s views on peacebuilding and security. Unfortunately , the plan is still not made publicly available. Last month, the Norwegian Government launched a new Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security. The Norwegian Action Plan is not specific on how Norway plans to assist the Afghan government on this topic, although Afghanistan is a priority country for Norway.
How will the Norwegian and Afghan plans contribute to women’s participation in decision making in Afghanistan? Will the plans protect women and girls from violence? How can the dialogue and cooperation between the government and civil society increase, and how will the new Afghan plan engage both women and men in supporting a peaceful transition in Afghanistan? What can Norway do to contribute to the implementation of Resolution 1325 in Afghanistan?
For registration, please email gj@fokuskvinner.no
Please sign up by sending an email to: elise.svarstad@nrc.no
Over 800,000 Afghans are currently recorded as internally displaced. Additionally, there are upwards of 3 million Afghan refugees in neighbouring Pakistan and Iran. Amongst these it is primarily women and children who suffer more acutely and face multiple layers of discrimination. Displaced Afghan women are more likely to be unemployed and suffer a lack of access to food, water and shelter, as well as be a greater risk of domestic violence. NRC in Afghanistan is working directly with displaced Afghan women and girls in Afghanistan and across the region to reduce the hardship they face. This seminar will draw on the findings from two recently published reports and also a short documentary film. NRC will lead the discussion on the challenges relating to women’s housing, land and property rights in Afghanistan, as well as the specific needs of the growing numbers of women and girls displaced to urban areas.
As a part of the seminar a short movie will be screened illustrating some of the key challenges faced by women in Afghanistan in exercising housing, land and property rights, as well as showing how NRC is working in Faryab to address these.
Please sign up by sending an email to: elise.svarstad@nrc.no
What are the lessons learned and how do we ensure access to education for all? How do we enable universities, teacher-training centers, education authorities and schools to provide quality education for the next generation of Afghan children and youth? How do we manage to provide quality education in the midst of conflict and war? And how do we bridge the urban-rural divide in education?
Susan Wardak, Special Advisor to the Afghan Minister of Education and Director General for Teacher Education: Women in education. How to ensure that more women are trained as teachers, and that female teachers are deployed to rural and conflict prone areas, so that all girls will have access to quality education in their home communities?
Terje Magnussønn Watterdal, Country Director, Norwegian Afghanistan Committee: Education for almost all. How to include vulnerable groups of children in education, and overcome the rural-urban divide in education.
Ehsanullah Ehsan, Director, Kandahar Institute of Modern Studies: Education is key to development in Afghanistan. How to insure access to education in one of the most war-torn provinces of Afghanistan?Registration: please send an email to afghanistanuka@gmail.com
Registration: send email to afghanistanuka@gmail.com
Afghanistan is ranked as one of the world's most vulnerable countries to climate change, according to the UN. The Afghan population is already feeling the effect of climate change, both in form of unprecedented drought, rainfall and disaster induced displacement. This, in combination with poor management of natural resources, such as deforestation, overgrazing and other overuse of natural resources, and lack of disaster risk reduction has increased both the frequency and severity of natural disasters.
Hundreds of rural Afghans have lost their lives in avalanches already this year, thousands people have fled from their destroyed homes and farmland devastated . This even before the landslide season has begun.
What are the causes and consequences of natural disasters in Afghanistan today? What can be done to prevent them from happening? How can the population be more prepared? How can we help the Afghans to cope with effects of climate change and other environmental challenges? And how to help those who suffer after natural disasters?
Moderator: Gry Synnevåg, Noragric, Department of Environment and Development Studies, NMBU, Ås
Hosts: Norwegian Afghanistan Committee and Norwegian Refugee Counsil
Registration: send email to afghanistanuka@gmail.com
2015 promises to be a dramatic year for Afghanistan’s relationship with its neigbours, not primarily as a result of the international military drawdown (as most observers have predicted), but due to the new initiatives of an energetic President Ashraf Ghani, as well as the dramatic rise of the Islamic State and the strained relations between Russia and the West over Ukraine.
The main purpose of this seminar is to take stock of what is a critical factor in Afghanistan's future political stability, namely the relationships with the countries that surround it, changes in those relations as result of larger political upheavals globally, and the state of regional diplomacy. Afghanistan's renewed regional diplomacy, which has led to a new dialogue with Pakistan, and indications of a dialogue between the Afghan government and the Taliban, has created new hope. Simultaneously, the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, with reports of local groups in Afghanstan declaring allegiance to it, introduces new challenges. Russia's assertiveness in Ukraine, with a yet unclear response of former Soviet states in Central Asia, also introduces new uncertainties. What does all of this mean for Afghanistan's neighborly relations?
Program:
As a point of departure, Harpviken will challenge the mainstream analyses, which place Afghanistan at the centre – the so-called 'heart' – of a large pan-Asian region whose fate depends on Afghan stability. Based on his work with Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh (to result in a book later this year), Harpviken will instead situate Afghanistan at the margin of three regional security complexes – South Asia, Central Asia, the Persian Gulf – each characterized by deep security contentions, which, in turn, informs their engagement in Afghanistan. For South Asia, Pakistan and India's sustained Afghan engagement can only be understood in the context of their own enduring rivalry. Within Central Asia, security cooperation is hampered by competition for regional supremacy, each country seeking support from global powers, a dynamic reflected in their half-hearted role in Afghanistan. In the Persian Gulf, Iran and Saudi Arabia fight for economic and political influence, mirrored in their Afghan engagements.
The implication of this analysis for policy is that neighborly interference in the Afghan conflict is best addressed by resolving tensions within its surrounding regions. With the 2014 withdrawal of international forces follows a decline in global interest, and neighboring states will step in to fill the void. This happens at a time when the global geopolitical order is in flux, and the neighborhood undergoes dramatic change. Based on a careful account of the recent history, the seminar will focus on why efforts to build a comprehensive Afghanistan-centric regional security order have failed, and aim to offer important clues about which factors will determine the future of Afghanistan's neighborhood.
This is a breakfast seminar - a light breakfast will be served from 08:00, and the seminar will begin at 08:30.
