Page 25 - Empowerment and Protection - Stories of Human Security

“Education has
the power to change anything.”
Stories collected from those over age 30 rarely mention family as a security provider and instead reference employment opportunity, rule of law, institutions to lodge complaints, and the presence of a governmental system.
Approximately 68 percent of the population is well below the age of 25.12 The potential implications this demography holds for Afghanistan and
the region as a whole can be both positive and negative, and depend largely on whether the state is able to address the immediate and long-term needs of youth. Issues such as access to education, employment, and representation at the decision- making levels are some of the immediate needs
of the youth that need to be addressed by the government.
Ethnicity
While interviewees from minority backgrounds say that discrimination is still present in society and affects their sense of security, a few mention that improvement in other human security factors, such as employment, has given them more opportunities. Karim is an ethnic Hazara originally from Badakhshan province, who is 43 years old and a professor in Kabul. He says, “For my family, more opportunities for work have contributed to my sense of security, [which] in the last ten years has made a real difference in my life. Now I’m
a professor, I have a good job, and I know I can advance further if I want to. As an ethnic Hazara, I would not have had such opportunities or been in this position during the Taliban regime. But there are still many Afghans who think along ethnic lines, and when it comes to the Hazara community, the belief that they are only suited for physical labour still exists. That is why I feel ethnic minorities face these issues of insecurity more than others.”
ACCESS TO AN IMPROVED
WATER SOURCE (IN RURAL AREAS)
56% IN 2012 (WORLD BANK 2014E)
PRE-2001
POST-2001
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Afghanistan is a heterogeneous society with many different ethnic backgrounds and languages. the Afghan constitution mentions 14 ethnic groups. the main groups are Pashtuns, tajiks, and uzbeks – predominantly sunni – and the Hazaras – who are mostly shia. throughout history, the ethnic card has been played by those in power to rally support and pit Afghans against one another. After the fall of the soviet-supported regime in 1992, more than 100,000 people died during the ensuing civil war, which was fought along ethnic lines. though ethnocentric conlict has been minimal in Afghanistan over the past 12 years, in political circles and the media, the potential for such conlict exists. In 2013, lawmakers in the Afghan Parliament vehemently debated the issue of whether national identiication cards should identify citizens as Afghans or whether they should include other ethnicities. Discrimination of minority groups in daily life persists.
DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS
EXTREME POVERTY RATE
70%
(ECO SECRETARIAT)
29.8% IN 2011 (UNDP 2014)
ILLITERACY RATE
72% IN 2000 (UN DATA 2014)
68% IN 2011 (WORLD BANK 2014C)
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
8.3 % IN 2000 (WORLD BANK 2014D)
8.6% IN 2012 (WORLD BANK 2014D)
POPULATION AGES 0-14 (OF TOTAL)
47%
(WORLD BANK 2014B)
etHnIcIty In AfgHAnIstAn
SCHOOL PARTICIPATION RATE
GIRLS
BOYS
5% IN 1999 (EFA 2000)
45% IN 2012 (SAMADY 2013)
53% IN 1999 (EFA 2000)
70% IN 2012 (SAMADY 2013)