Documents from the Committee's 56th session can be found here: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=378&Lang=en
The Concluding Observations document (CRC/C/AFG/CO/1) is available in English and other languages (A|C|E|F|R|S). The Committee had some concerns regarding implementation and monitoring:
• LEGISLATION: Low implementation due mainly to weak enforcement, a limited level of awareness of the legal norms, widespread corruption and the application by courts of provisions drawn from customary or Sharia law.
• Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission:
Nomination procedures may not fully guarantee independence from political influence. Insufficient financial support.
| Timeline of Children's Rights in Afghanistan | |
|---|---|
| 1990 | Soviet-backed government of Afghanistan signs the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. |
| 1992 | Fall of the soviet-backed government. Islamic State of Afghanistan established under President Rabbani. |
| 1994 | Afghanistan's Islamic government ratifies the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Human rights abuses by fundamentalist warlords continue. |
| 1996 | Taliban insurgents seize Kabul and establish a fundamentalist Islamic regime. |
| 2001 | Invasion by the U.S. military and its allies. Taliban removed from power. In December 2001, the Bonn Agreement established an Afghan Interim Authority, followed by a two-year Transitional Authority. |
| 2004 | New Constitution. Presidential election. Hamid Karzai declared President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. In November 2004, children presented the Vice President with a Children's Manifesto of their hopes and demands at a ceremony in Kabul. |
| 2005 | Parliamentary elections. The Constitution reserved 25% of the seats for women. The youngest person elected was 27-year-old Malalai Joya, co-founder of an orphanage. She was later suspended for criticizing the human rights record of notorious warlords who had obtained seats in parliament. |
| 2009 | Afghanistan's initial report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child is submitted for assessment. |
Child Rights Situation Analysis in Afghanistan, 2011
In 2011, Save the Children Sweden commissioned the Nordic Consulting Group to conduct a Child Rights Situation Analysis (CRSA) in Afghanistan. The 78-page report is available as a PDF document: http://www.ncg.no/index.asp?id=35037
How kids are treated in Afghanistan
• In 2010, the New York Times published a feature titled: "Afghan Equality and Law, but With Strings Attached".
• In 2011, the San Francisco Chronicle published a feature titled: "How kids are treated in Afghanistan - no rights".
There have also been abuses of children by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. In 2004, Human Rights Watch published a comprehensive report titled: "Enduring Freedom" - Abuses by U.S. Forces in Afghanistan. A case is presented in which U.S. troops assaulted two children during a raid on a civilian house. The owner of the house told HRW:
"In front of my eyes, two Americans laid down both the boys on the ground and pressed their boots into the children's backs. And they were yelling: “Where is the ammunition? Where is the ammunition?” "