Gender justice at post-conflict reconstruction: implementation of women's political rights at election periods in the case of post-conflict Afghanistan

Official URL: http://192.168.1.20/record=b1292876 (Table of Contents)

In conflict environments, women are often denied justice. This situation is being challenged for post-conflict environments with the initiations on gender-equal approaches. The integration of human rights language, specifically women’s rights, into post-conflict reconstruction, paves the way for gender-equal environments. The commitments to gender equality and women's empowerment on a wider context of transformative possibilities have converted the post-conflict settings as “opportunity spaces” for women. Concerns for the inclusion of women in post-conflict reconstruction, backed by the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, is an important contributing cause for the integration of human rights and gender equal language into post-conflict Afghanistan. The unique opportunities exist for women to participate in developing constitutional, legislative and judicial structures for gender equality in the phase of transitional justice with affirmative action inputs. The collaborations and disagreements in between United Nations’ and Government’s agencies and national commissions are studied in order to show the effectiveness of the practical implementations on political rights of women in these two election periods: Presidential and Parliamentary. The research was based on whether practical issues for the implementation women’s political rights, such as freedom of expression, freedom of movement, and principle of non-discrimination, principle of non-intimidation, had been the source of disagreement due to an ideological difference between the UN units, national commissions, and related ministries. The approaches taken by these units as the main focus, reaches conclusions on whether the affirmative action stated with the constitutional reform and electoral laws, besides the related international conventions signed by Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, for the political representation of Afghan women, have been implied effectively and have been successful so the “opportunity space” for women in Afghanistan has become a truth.