Conflict Mapping Workshop for the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission

In 2005, No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) was mandated by the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) to provide technical assistance on their program to document human rights violations and violations of the laws of war. As part of that mandate, in December 2005, NPWJ conducted an initial training workshop in Kabul for the staff of the AIHRC working on this issue on how to collect and organise information required to do conflict mapping and, to a more limited extent, how to analyse that information, with a view to identifying those who bear the greatest responsibility for the crimes committed in Afghanistan as a whole. Following that training, the AIHRC Conflict Mapping Program was launched on International Human Rights Day (10 December) in 2005. Since then, the AIHRC has held two internal evaluations of the conflict mapping work and requested that NPWJ undertake an external evaluation of the work to date, to make specific suggestions and recommendations and to assist the AIHRC in refining its plans for the remainder of the Conflict Mapping Program.
 
In that context, No Peace Without Justice, in partnership with the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and in cooperation with Human Rights First, undertook a mission to Kabul from 16 to 21 July 2007. The purpose of the mission was twofold: (1) to provide an assessment of the conflict mapping work undertaken by the AIHRC since the first training in December 2005; and (2) to provide a refresher workshop on specific aspects of conflict mapping for which further training was required, as identified before and during the workshop. As such, the workshop addressed all aspects of the conflict mapping work being undertaken in Afghanistan, including its overall objectives; the gathering, storing and organisation of information; factual analysis; and, briefly, legal analysis. The workshop was conducted in a highly participatory manner, with the staff of the AIHRC taking the lead on the identification of areas in which further guidance and/or solutions were required.
 
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