Afghanistan: Human Rights and Norwegian Policy

This half day conference is open to anyone interested. No registration is needed.

PROGRAMME

12:00-12:30: Welcome and presentation of the report “Those We Left Behind”

Tom Syring (Human Rights Research League, HRRL) will present key findings of a research project documenting revenge killings and other serious violations of Human Rights since the Taliban take-over of power in Afghanistan.

The research was conducted by HRRL over the past year and a half, and was recently presented to the UN Human Rights Council. The report details victim profiles, categories, frequencies and patterns of crime, and exemplifies the complexity of the situation with the help of actual cases, based on more than 400 on-the-ground interviews in all of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces.

12:30-13:30: Documenting Human Rights Violations

KEYNOTE: Richard Bennett (the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Afghanistan)

ROUNDTABLE: Fereshta Abbasi (Human Rights Watch), Richard Bennet and Tom Syring. Moderator: Marthe Sleire Engedahl (Juridisk fakultet, UiB)

13:30-14:00: Break

14:00-15:30: Norwegian Afghanistan Policy

ROUNDTABLE: Elisabeth Eide (OsloMet), Torunn Wimpelman (CMI) and Arne Strand (CMI, digital).

The roundtable will discuss the question of (state) power and Norwegian Afghanistan policy. How are the foreign policy choices defined and defended – for example the decision to invite the Taliban for talks to Oslo? What preconditions have been – and should be – stipulated in advance of such talks? Who holds the power of opinion and opinion formation, of discourse management and the power to define criteria of success?