Re-centering the mandate on Human Rights in Afghanistan: Implications for State-Building

Human rights advocacy in Afghanistan has largely been the domain of civil society organisations that themselves operate at the margins of the Afghan polity. Considering how much importance has been attached to the subject in policy circles, it is ironic that the prevailing vision on human rights in Afghanistan has not only failed to find resonance with state actors but also faced resistance within certain communities. This paper addresses a number of conceptual issues surrounding the development of a rights-based approach to state-building in Afghanistan. It recognises that rights are not ‘given’ by the state or ‘taken’ by its citizens; rather they are negotiated in a relationship that defines both. In developing a framework for the institutionalisation of human rights, it seeks to be informed by voices ‘from above’ and ‘from below’ in equal measure. The paper begins by drawing a distinction between negative and positive freedoms. Following from this, it takes a historical perspective to examine the body politic of the Afghan state and to assess the specific religious and socioeconomic contexts within which any re-centering of the mandate on human rights will have to take place. Based on evidence collected from six provinces of Afghanistan, it argues that the scope of this mandate requires broadening to include causal, dialectic, conflictual and compositional freedoms. The paper concludes by identifying challenges that the evolving institutional framework is expected to encounter in three key areas of governance – establishing the rule of law, deepening democracy and providing access to public goods.