December 07, 2011

Afghan Women's Declaration

Issued on December 05, 2011, in Bonn, Germany

"On the morning of the International Conference on Afghanistan, the Afghan Women's Network held a Press Conference and released a Women's Declaration, summing up many months of active consultation with 500 women leaders representing 500,000 women from more than 20 provinces of Afghanistan."
Document here in pdf download

And from a statement following the conference:

This statement is from Samira Hamidi, Afghanistan Country Director of the Afghan Women’s Network. Views expressed are the author’s own.

“The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the International Community, met yesterday in Bonn to mark the 10th anniversary of the 2001 Bonn Conference. We, the advocates of AWN appreciate the Conference Conclusion on the International Afghanistan Conference in Bonn.

"From the past three days AWN Advocates have been lobbying and discussing with policy makers from number of countries as well as media on their concrete recommendations on peace and reintegration, good governance, transition and international community’s commitment post 2014. The key recommendations were launched in the form of an Afghan women Declaration as an outcome of year consultation with 500 women representing 500,000 women across the country. The key recommendations are an inclusive peace process to be monitored by independent women led institution, successful transition making women’s security as one of the key indicators and continuous support to Afghan women’s empowerment to keep the 10^th year’s achievements and further focus on empowering them nationally. The conference conclusion focuses on the issues of Democracy, Human Rights, Women’s Rights, and respect to Afghanistan Constitution, inclusive Afghan led peace process and international community’s ongoing support.

"The AWN Advocates believe that the Conference Conclusion strongly convey the message from international community on their long term support to Afghan people from Transition to Transformation Decade. However, the conclusion lacks the clear message on the action and implementation. For example, the Conclusion’s section on Security focuses more on the international military exit strategy, terrorism and narcotics issues, but it lacks any focus on the security needs and concerns of ordinary Afghan women and girls"...

Afghan Women's Network
http://www.afghanwomennetwork.af/

From the website: Who We Are?
Afghan Women’s Network is an umbrella organization of around 84 NGO members and 5000 individual members who are committed to support the Afghan women.

Areas of Focus:

In order to accomplish our objectives, we act in three major fields:

1. Networking and Coordination: AWN’s Networking Department struggles to develop and maintain contacts and nation-wide connections with a variety of key governmental, non-governmental, international and UN agencies to share experience, coordinate actions, exchange opinions, explore funding opportunities, identify sources of technical expertise, and enlarge the network of women activists and advocates.

2. Advocacy and Lobbying:  AWN represents and promotes the needs of the Afghan women in political and social arenas through its Advocacy and Lobbying Department. AWN, as the voice of the Afghan women, pressurizes the leaders of Afghanistan for legislative reforms to protect and promote women’s rights and concerns.

3. Capacity Building:  AWN’s Capacity Building Department focuses on building the capacity of Afghan women so that, in the short term, they are able to take active part in alleviating women’s life and play their roles in the rehabilitation of their country and, in the long run, revive the state institutions. AWN provides capacity building opportunities to its members and to the government via the provision of technical assistance, awareness raising, exposure visits/travel, and in-country training programs.