“[The OIC] Urges the de facto Afghan Authorities to allow women and girls to exercise their rights and contribute to the development of Afghan society in accordance with the rights and responsibilities as guaranteed to them by Islam and international human rights law.” Point 10, Communique from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
We are encouraged by the report of UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffith’s tour of Afghanistan, who points to interactions with the Taliban that show cracks in the monolith of the existing authority. An encouraging number of provincial Taliban seem ready to change.
As we continue the series on the Taliban’s bans on women’s education and employment, it is essential to our understanding and further action to hear directly from Afghan women who know best the harm these bans impose; not only on the affected women and their families, but on the entire Afghan nation. This statement from a coalition of Afghan women’s organizations fully describes these harms.
Multilateralism is supposed to be the guarantor of all human rights and dignity, for all people, at all times. But as governmental regimes weaken, so do traditional multilateral entities heavily reliant on those governments. It is time for community-based transnational networks based on intergenerational, multicultural, gender-sensitive leaders.
The Emirates Diplomatic Academy (EDA) is planning to introduce a new Master’s in Humanitarian Action and Development and is recruiting two new, full-time faculty to design and deliver some of the courses, serve as advisors to the students, deliver classes in other programmes. Application deadline: December 2, 2019.
Co-hosted by the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD) and the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Oslo Forum regularly convenes conflict mediators, peacemakers, high level decision-makers and key peace process actors in a series of informal and discreet retreats. The overarching theme of the 2016 event was ‘Adapting to a new conflict landscape’, reflecting the emergent challenges mediators face in responding to the changing face of conflict.
Imrana Alhaji Buba birthed Youth Coalition Against Terrorism (YOCAT) at age 18. Imrana describes YOCAT as ‘‘a volunteer-based youth-led organization in northern Nigeria working to unite youth against violent extremism through counter-radicalization peace education programs in schools and villages.