January 30, 2003	Thursday	Ziqa’ad 26,1423

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ISLAMABAD, Jan 29: Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) chairperson Afrasiyab Khattak has said linkages and solidarity between the civil society in Afghanistan and Pakistan is essential for strengthening progressive and democratic groups in the region.

The chairperson was speaking at a reception arranged to celebrate the successful completion of a leadership-training programme for Afghan refugee woman lawyers and judges.

The reception was organized by the International Human Rights Law Group, a capacity building and human rights training organization working in 12 countries around the world, including Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Other speakers of the reception included Abdul Khaliq Musa Ghazi, charge d’affaires and acting ambassador of Afghanistan in Islamabad; Judge Marzia Basil, president of first ever Afghan Women’s Judges Association; Professor Rasul Amin, advisor to President Karzai in Afghanistan; Advocate Shafiqa Ayubi, member of Afghan Women Lawyers’s Association; and Sameena Nazir, Pakistan programme director of International Human Rights Law Group in Islamabad.

The acting Afghan ambassador in his speech stressed the need for supporting leadership programmes for Afghan women.

He said, despite many challenges, the transitional Islamic government of Afghanistan was encouraging women to take full part in various activities.

Judge Marzia Basil, who travelled specially from Kabul to participate in this programme, described how women lawyers and judges had to go through tremendous challenges to achieve dignity and get jobs.

“Despite facing different challenges, we are moving forward to take part in the reconstruction of our country,” she said.

In March 2002, Ms Basil established the first-ever woman judges association in Kabul, which works to advocate the rights of women in legal profession.

Professor Rasul Amin provided a historical perspective and highlighted that though it was the Taliban, who put a complete ban on women employment in public sector, all warring factions during the civil war created several obstacles in the way of professional Afghan women.

He highlighted the need for peace and cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan and said: “if there is trouble in one country, it will affect the other.”

He appreciated the Pakistani civil society for its help to Afghan groups, particularly women.

Sameena Nazir, explained to the guests, how this programme was designed with specific goals that were achieved in two years.

She stressed that leadership programmes for women require careful planning and commitment of resources and expertise to bring marginalized groups at the same level as others.

She described how the law group worked to impart leadership skills to woman lawyers and judges.

Ms Nazir said, after the successful completion of the programme, her organization would start a similar programme for women in Pakistan to increase women access to justice in Balochistan and NWFP provinces.

Advocate Shafiqa Ayubi explained how she had been working with Afghan refugee women in Peshawar, who need legal aid.

The reception was arranged to share the personal stories about professional challenges, struggle and triumphs of Afghan refugee women, who learned how to organize, understand and advocate for human rights in challenging circumstances.

The programme also included a colourful musical performance by an Afghan couple from Jalalabad.

A ten minutes video was also presented to share the highlights of the training programme in which a group of 50 Afghan refugee woman lawyers and judges participated from November 2000 to December 2002.