Afghanistan Roundtable discussion - Aid, order, human rights and peace in Afghanistan?
Two international aid workers recently back from Afghanistan reflected on development aid in the civil-military area, disarming and reintegrating warlords and their militia, and building a human rights institution.
Pedram works for the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and for the past two years has been the key policy analysts for the Afghanistan desk which constitutes CIDA’s largest budget to one developing country. During his nine months stationed in Kabul, he was responsible for distributing and monitoring CIDA funds in the country. His focus included civil-military relations in reconstruction and reintegration of combatants. He speaks one of the key local languages in Afghanistan fluently.
Nicci Simmonds is a New Zealander who had also recently returned from Kabul where she was a consultant to the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. During her mission, Nicci worked with the senior management of the Commission to build the capacity of its staff and systems in light of the difficulties of establishing a human rights commission in a post-war context in which battles are still being fought. Her background is in the area of the human rights of women, and conflict transformation.
