BHRC to donate 10,000 legal books in Afghanistan

PRESS RELEASE

The Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (BHRC) is delighted to announce its donation of 10 law libraries (in total 10,000 books) to the people of Afghanistan.  This plan to breathe new life into the Afghan legal sector will be officially launched at a ‘Book Donation Ceremony’ at the Kabul Serena Hotel, attended by representatives of the Afghan government, international organizations, local NGOs, members of the legal sector – academics, judges, prosecutors, lawyers.  Throughout the project the BHRC have worked closely with the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), with whom they are carrying out a ‘Rule of Law’ training workshop (23-27 April) for up to 50 Afghan lawyers, judges, academics, ministry officials and civil society activists from the provinces. 

“Strengthening the partnership between likeminded organizations like the AIHCR and the BHRC, who are striving to uphold common universal standards of human rights, is essential.  This training will provide an excellent opportunity to deliver human rights education to the people of Afghanistan, who are coming from the provincial and remote parts of the country.”  Ahmad Fahim Hakim, Deputy Chair, AIHCR.

This book project, part of the BHRC’s wider Rule of Law/Access to Justice Programme, has been made possible thanks to over £240,000 of funding from the UK’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office.  Quite simply, the donation aims to dramatically improve conditions for Afghanistan’s legal sector by providing it with a comprehensive catalogue of international and domestic law reference documents.  The 10,000 books, in Dari, Farsi, Pashto, Arabic and English, have come from far and wide - London, Damascus, Tehran, Kabul and Peshawar.  Under the project, the books will be divided equally among 10 Afghan institutions that will be chosen according to their ability to provide the best and safest environment for their use.  Most of the libraries will be allocated outside Kabul.

The workshop, which has also been coordinated in close conjunction with the AIHCR, has drawn over 50% female participants and about 70% of the participants come from the provinces.  The training focuses on rule of law issues and includes discussions on constitutional law, family law and international and human rights law, with a strong focus on issues relating to women and children.  The aim throughout the workshop has been to have equal participation by international and Afghan speakers so that international law can be explained in its context and some of the practical issues and concerns can be addressed.

Book Donation Ceremony and Press Conference

Kabul Serena Hotel
The Grand Ball Room
Thursday, April 27
1900 Hours Local Time

For further information about the ‘Book Donation Ceremony’, please contact Fouzia Khan, Project Manager at the BHRC, London on: bhrc@compuserve.com/ +44 (0)7958 442970 or Hamid Saboory, Resident Representative BHRC, Kabul on: mh_saboory@hotmail.com/ +93 (0)799 140276.

  
BAR HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE OF ENGLAND AND WALES
GARDEN COURT CHAMBERS
57-60 LINCOLN’S INN FIELDS
LONDON WC2A 3LS
UNITED KINGDOM
www.barhumanrights.org.uk