RWI’s Afghanistan Programme was established in September 2021, in cooperation with, and with funding from, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).
After the Taliban takeover of Kabul in August 2021, Sida and RWI agreed that it is important to keep the human rights situation in Afghanistan high on the international agenda, and to support Afghans with opportunities and platforms to continue their work for human rights in Afghanistan and to take an active role in informing public discourse and stakeholders supporting Afghans in this context.
The RWI programme started in small scale 2021-2022 and was then expanded with raised ambition and resourcing as of October 2022 (see below).
The programme aims to:
- Make it possible for more Afghan academics and professionals to pursue a career in human rights promotion and protection;
- Create high-quality human rights research, which includes the important gender perspective in the Afghan context, and make this research widely available;
- Support academics and professionals from Afghanistan in public outreach on human rights and gender equality in Afghanistan; and
- Through the above (research, dialogue and outreach), support better-informed strategies and initiatives among key stakeholders to promote and protect human rights in Afghanistan.
The programme has three key strategies and resources to pursue the four goals: A Visiting Professor; Afghan Research Fellows; and Dialogue Forums. You can read about these under the respective buttons below.
Get in touch
Helena Olsson
Helena has a Master Degree in Political Science with focus on Human Rights, Peace and Democracy from Lund University. She has worked with development, human rights and in the humanitarian field since 2001, for Swedish Embassies/Sida and UNHCR in Central and South America; at Sida Headquarters Humanitarian Team in Stockholm; and subsequently with academic institutions and NHRIs in Sub-Saharan Africa; Middle East and North Africa; and South/Southeast Asia since she joined the Institute in 2010.
Between 2016 and 2018 she led the development and start-up of a new regional Asia team and office in Jakarta, and of regional programmes focusing on human rights and environment/climate change, as well as the integration of human rights into Agenda 2030 plans in the region.
She was also team leader of the thematic focus area People on the Move 2016-2017, and currently leads an internal working group of human rights and local governments.
Afghanistan Programme staff
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a visiting professor to RWI. Mr. Bennet was appointed UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan in April 2022 and had his mandate extended a year this October.
Mr. Bennett has served in Afghanistan on several occasions, playing an important role in in the promotion of transitional justice, child rights, rule of law, rights of people with disabilities and a range of economic, social and cultural rights as well as in the protection of civilians and human rights defenders.
He has been a long-term adviser to the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and was in the past Chief of the Human Rights Service with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).
He also conducted two missions in Afghanistan (2003-07 and 2018-19) as Representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and head of the human rights components of peacekeeping operations. A position which led him to work in Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste, and South Sudan.
Prior to joining the United Nations as a consultant on UN human rights assignments in Afghanistan, Myanmar and New York in 2019 Mr. Bennett worked for Amnesty International. He was first Director of its Asia-Pacific Program before becoming head of Amnesty’s United Nations Office in New York.
His other roles include being the Representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and head of OHCHR’s office in Nepal as well as Chief of Staff for the UN Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on Sri Lanka and Special Adviser to the Assistant Secretary General for Human Rights in New York.
Morten Koch Andersen
Morten Koch Andersen holds a PhD in International Development Studies from Roskilde University. His research interests are in the fields of human rights documentation, rule of law practices, public authority, corruption, torture and violence, impunity and discretion, and unequal citizenship.
He specializes in the interdisciplinary study of the nexus between corruption, human rights and development, mainly in South Asia.
The key questions of his research are, the paradoxes and dilemmas in:
- The interactions between violent political organizations and their members.
- The effects on impunity on individuals, institutions, and society?
- The motivational aspects of choice making in corruption.
He has several years of experience as programme manager of development cooperation in relation to prevention of torture and rehabilitation of survivors – during and after violent conflict, and in places of detention. I have worked on institutional and legal reform, establishments of support systems, education of health and legal professionals, and of prison and police authorities. He has managed partnership collaborations in Europe, North, South and West Africa.
Currently, he advises national human rights institutes, anti-corruption institutes and universities on the relationships between corruption and human rights, and their implications for institutions, individuals and societies, in Africa, Asia and Caucasus.
He has previously been guest researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, senior researcher at the Danish Institute Against Torture. Currently, he is affiliated researcher at the Center for Global Criminology at University of Copenhagen, external lecturer in Global Studies at Roskilde University and teaches at the International Anti-Corruption Academy.
He has worked with the UNODC on the development of educational material on the nexus between human rights and corruption, and developed web-based educational material on corruption and human rights, and violent mobilization for high school education.
For further updates on his research, please refer to his Research profile:
https://portal.research.lu.se/en/persons/morten-koch-andersen
Mahmouda Sonia Eqbal
Hanifa Girowal
Hanifa Girowal was a young female politician, and human rights advocate who served as Kabul’s deputy governor on socio-economic and development affairs, managing development and funding projects, mitigating conflicts, and providing essential services to Kabul residents.
Previously, she worked with the Afghanistan Independent human rights commission (AIHRC), where she contributed to creating the independent human rights and gender units in Afghanistan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF). She published the first report on the situation of Afghan women in ANDSF, bringing a dramatic change in the situation of women serving in the police, intelligence, and armed forces, from a rise in their pay to help them get access to professional development programs that qualified them to obtain leadership positions.
Hanifa is also a managing partner and senior advisor to Alpha Afghanistan, a non-profit organization that is working to help young Afghan innovators and social thinkers to turn their ideas into actions to foster social change in the country through technology. Girowal holds a master’s degree in public international law from Brunel University London, which she acquired through Chevening Scholarship. Hanifa has also served as a trainer on Women’s leadership, Good Governance, and Sustainable development goals with the United Nations Institute for training and research (UNITAR).”
Mohammad Abul Ahrar Ramizpoor
Mohammad Abul Ahrar Ramizpoor is an Afghan academic, Peace and Human Rights activist who has served as a lecturer at Kabul University, Sharia and Law faculties (1991-2007), where he completed his BA studies in Islamic Jurisprudence and Law in 1990. Ramizpoor pursued postgraduate studies on Good Governance and Sharia at Birmingham University UK in 2005 as a Chevening fellow, International Human Rights Law at Nottingham University in 2010, and his MA degree in UNDP-supported program on Gender and Women Studies at the Social Science Faculty of Kabul University in 2018.
Ramizpoor is the founder of the Afghanistan Economic and Legal Studies Organization( AELSO), one of the top Afghan think tanks, which has actively promoted Free Society values, Human Rights, Peace, Good Governance, and the Rule of Law at national, regional, and global levels through various platforms and civil society organizations. His written book on Human Rights (Selected Documents of International Human Rights Instruments), which was published by FNF Germany in 2001, significantly enhanced human rights studies in Afghanistan. In addition, he is one of the authors of the first Afghan Legal Glossary published by USAID in 2009 and has been used as an academic legal reference for law enforcement and judiciary employees in Afghanistan.
Mr. Ramizpoor is a council member of the Pugwash Conferences organization, the Afghanistan Human Rights Defenders’ Committee, and the Afghanistan Human Rights Coordination Mechanism. He has been closely engaged in his collaborations with several national, regional, and global organizations on promoting peace, human rights, and analytical thoughts on Islamic Law, Human Rights, free society values, peace, and the market economy. Since July 2007 to 31 March 2022, Ramizpoor has served as a Human Rights officer at the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), actively engaging with Afghan civil society groups, human rights defenders, media, and peace activists.
Ehsan Qaane
Ehsan Qaane has joined RWI in January 2023 as a research fellow. Prior to this, he worked with Afghanistan Analysts Network, a policy researcher organisation, as a political and legal affairs researcher (2012-2022) and as the country director (2017-2020). He is a member of and adviser to several human rights networks in Afghanistan, including the Afghanistan Forensics Science Organisation (AFSO) and Transitional Justice Coordination Group (TJCG). He has published a vast amount of research on the conflict in Afghanistan, the International Criminal Court’s engagement in Afghanistan, human rights and international humanitarian law. He worked as a visiting professional at the International Criminal Court.
Curriculum Vitae
Education
- B (Kateb University, Afghanistan)
- M (Kateb University, Afghanistan) (Incomplete)
Work Experience
- 2009-2010: Researcher, Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC)
- 2010-2012: Afghanistan National Programme Coordinator, International Centre for Transitional Justice (ICTJ)
- 2012-2022: Legal and Political Affairs Researcher/Junior Analyst, Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN)
- 2017-2020: Country Director, AAN
- 2015-2016: Visiting Professional, The International Criminal Court (ICC)
Selected Publications
- Delaying Justice? The ICC’s war crimes investigation in limbo over who represents Afghanistan, edited and published by Afghanistan Analysts Network, 2022.
- Regime Change, Economic Decline and No Legal Protection: What has happened to the Afghan media, edited and published by Afghanistan Analysts Network, 2022.
- Afghan War Crimes Trials in The Netherlands: Who are the suspects and what have been the outcomes?, edited and published by Afghanistan Analysts Network, 2020.
- One Land, Two Rules (9): Delivering public services in insurgency-affected Jalrez district of Wardak province, edited and published by Afghanistan Analysts Network, 2019.
- Beginning of a New Era at the AIHRC: Nine fresh commissioners, edited and published by Afghanistan Analysts Network, 2019.
- The 2018 Election Observed (7) in Daikundi: The outstanding role of women, edited and published by Afghanistan Analysts Network, 2019.
- The Insecure Spring of Ghazni: Results of third-grade treatment by the centre?, edited and published by Afghanistan Analysts Network, 2018.
- Harassment of Women in Afghanistan: A hidden phenomenon addressed in too many laws, edited and published by Afghanistan Analysts Network, 2017.
- Afghanistan’s New Law on Freedom of Assembly: Limiting the space to demonstrate, edited and published by Afghanistan Analysts Network, 2017.
Helena Olsson
Helena has a Master Degree in Political Science with focus on Human Rights, Peace and Democracy from Lund University. She has worked with development, human rights and in the humanitarian field since 2001, for Swedish Embassies/Sida and UNHCR in Central and South America; at Sida Headquarters Humanitarian Team in Stockholm; and subsequently with academic institutions and NHRIs in Sub-Saharan Africa; Middle East and North Africa; and South/Southeast Asia since she joined the Institute in 2010.
Between 2016 and 2018 she led the development and start-up of a new regional Asia team and office in Jakarta, and of regional programmes focusing on human rights and environment/climate change, as well as the integration of human rights into Agenda 2030 plans in the region.
She was also team leader of the thematic focus area People on the Move 2016-2017, and currently leads an internal working group of human rights and local governments.
Jo Palfreman
Jo studied her Master’s in International Development and Management at Lund University (LUMID), and before joining Raoul Wallenberg was working with UNDP on disability advocacy and rights in the MENA region. She has spent several years working in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa with youth, health and education, and has a particular interest in sexual and reproductive health and rights.
The programme is financially supported by Sida
