Human Rights and Democracy - Official Documents

152 inmates was completed in January 2011. We also supported nascent
rehabilitation programmes.
Human rights defenders
Human rights defenders and human rights-focused civil society organisations are
growing in strength and number in Afghanistan. An international civil society
conference on Afghanistan took place in January, which made recommendations
direct to the foreign minister-level London Conference. Civil society campaigned for
and won a place at the table at the Kabul Conference, demonstrating the
determination of Afghan civil society groups and human rights defenders to make
their voices heard on the international stage.
There is an ever-growing network of women’s NGOs and advocacy groups across
the country. These groups are increasingly leading the way in calling for change on
both women’s rights issues and on the wider human rights agenda.
In 2010 preparatory work was completed on a multi-donor Civil Society Fund, which
will launch in 2011. This fund aims to increase civil society’s capacity for advocacy
and constructive engagement with the Afghan government to improve results in
human rights, access to justice, anti-corruption, peace-building and conflict
resolution, and the media. We will contribute £20million over five years to this fund.
In 2010 the UK continued to provide support to the Afghanistan Independent Human
Rights Commission. We also supported the creation of a new Afghan-led Human
Rights Support Unit in the Ministry of Justice, which opened on 29 September, to
coordinate and advise on human rights policy and legislation across the Afghan
government.
Freedom of expression
The principles of free speech and free media are enshrined in the Afghan
constitution and the mass media law. However, while the mass media law was
passed in 2008 by the Afghan parliament and published in 2009, it has yet to be fully
implemented. Journalists continued to face intimidation and restrictions.
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