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Akbar Says Justice Should Not Be Sacrificed For Peace

The new chairperson of Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, Shahrzad Akbar, on Thursday assured to prevent justice from being sacrificed for peace as one of the top priorities of the human rights body.

Describing the current political developments in the country as hasty, Akbar said the new leadership of the commission will prevent justice from being forgotten in the peace process.

“Our aim is to create an environment for victims in which they will decide what they want rather than bringing them to justice first,” Akbar told TOLOnews.

Akbar, a former official of the National Security Council, was appointed as the new chairperson of the Human Rights Commission last week, replacing Sima Samar, who ran the post for 18 years.

Last week, Samar said that incumbent and former government officials impeded the publishing of the Transitional Justice Report (TJR) -- which is already prepared. 

Akbar said that there is a need to facilitate the implementation of the document and make sure the events will be followed and that no threat will be posed to victims' families.

“When the report is published, we need to create the same amount of condition for it so that it is followed; otherwise, we publish the report by accepting a lot of threats and the approach in a way reduces the value of the work on human rights,” she added.

Akbar takes the leadership of the commission at a time that violence and human rights violations have increased in the country.

“I was at school in Pakistan when the Taliban were in power [in Afghanistan]. Later, I returned to Kabul and completed school here. I studied for one and half a year at Kabul University and then went to the US and studied anthropology and obtained my masters in the UK on Development Studies,” she said.

Shabnam Salehi, a member of the commission, said there was disagreement among former members of the commission on certain issues.

“Working for human rights is an important duty. Therefore, we believe that we can take ourselves out of the crisis on our own,” said Shabnam.

Akbar Says Justice Should Not Be Sacrificed For Peace

New AIHRC chief says she will prevent justice from being forgotten in the peace process.

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The new chairperson of Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, Shahrzad Akbar, on Thursday assured to prevent justice from being sacrificed for peace as one of the top priorities of the human rights body.

Describing the current political developments in the country as hasty, Akbar said the new leadership of the commission will prevent justice from being forgotten in the peace process.

“Our aim is to create an environment for victims in which they will decide what they want rather than bringing them to justice first,” Akbar told TOLOnews.

Akbar, a former official of the National Security Council, was appointed as the new chairperson of the Human Rights Commission last week, replacing Sima Samar, who ran the post for 18 years.

Last week, Samar said that incumbent and former government officials impeded the publishing of the Transitional Justice Report (TJR) -- which is already prepared. 

Akbar said that there is a need to facilitate the implementation of the document and make sure the events will be followed and that no threat will be posed to victims' families.

“When the report is published, we need to create the same amount of condition for it so that it is followed; otherwise, we publish the report by accepting a lot of threats and the approach in a way reduces the value of the work on human rights,” she added.

Akbar takes the leadership of the commission at a time that violence and human rights violations have increased in the country.

“I was at school in Pakistan when the Taliban were in power [in Afghanistan]. Later, I returned to Kabul and completed school here. I studied for one and half a year at Kabul University and then went to the US and studied anthropology and obtained my masters in the UK on Development Studies,” she said.

Shabnam Salehi, a member of the commission, said there was disagreement among former members of the commission on certain issues.

“Working for human rights is an important duty. Therefore, we believe that we can take ourselves out of the crisis on our own,” said Shabnam.

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