The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) on Monday held a meeting in Kabul in which its Director, Seema Samar, called on the Afghan government to implement transitional justice, holding those responsible for human rights violations and war crimes in the past accountable.
"Unfortunately in Afghanistan, there is no political will...dragging war criminals to court and protecting human rights is not the responsibility of the Human Rights Commission," Samar told the audience gathered at the event entitled "Peace, Reconciliation and Transitional Justice."
"This is the responsibility of government and government should take action in implementing justice," she continued
"Transitional justice" is a term used to refer to any judicial or non-judicial measures taken by a country to redress legacies of human rights violations. These kinds of measures are often manifested in criminal prosecutions, investigative commissions, reparations and institutionalized reforms.
The event on Monday was attended by civil society activists and media representatives. Although the 10 Presidential candidates for the spring elections were encouraged to participate, only the spokesman of the Junbesh Millie Party showed up to represent General Abdul Rashid Dostum, the First Vice Presidential candidate of Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai.
Dostum, along with other candidates for the April vote, came under fire early on in the candidate nomination process back in September for past crimes committed during Afghanistan's bloody civil war in the 1990s.
Although Dostum made a public apology for misdeeds while leading his armed faction, Human Rights Watch (HRW), amongst others, said the apology was insufficient and that transitional justice need to be implemented.
"What General Dostum decided is that in the past, everyone was involved and as a result of poor decisions, people were harmed," Junbesh Millie spokesman Faizullah Zaki told the gathering in Kabul. "We must accept it and should apologize from those who were harmed and forgive each other."
Gen. Dostum is not the only candidate registered for the upcoming elections that has been accused of human rights violations. Presidential nominee Abdul Rab Rasool Sayyaf has also been labeled a "warlord" and "human rights violator" by Western media for his role in the civil conflict that proceeded the Taliban regime coming to power.
The past involvement of candidates in the upcoming elections in human rights abuses has been a widely discussed subject in the international press. Many human rights activists have called on the Independent Election Commission (IEC) to bar those who committed human rights violations in the past from running.
Although the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) has a formal process for hearing complaints against candidates, including those related to human rights abuses, it is unclear how rigorously investigations would be or how strictly the prohibition of candidates having criminal records would be enforced.
The final list of candidates is expected to be announce on Tuesday, at which time it would become clear if those accused of human rights violations such as Dostum and Sayyaf will be allowed to contest the April vote.
The AIHRC emphasized on Monday that it was not in a position to enforce the laws of Afghanistan and hold human rights offenders responsible for their crimes. Its officials urged the current government, and the future one put in place in April, to pursue transitional justice and see to it that the memories of those who were victimized over the past three decades are honored.