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)تیعوشم نادقف و قوقح نارحب اب هلباقم، هطوشم و هعوشم خیرات لدج رد ( نوناق تیمکاح و سیاسا نوناق ثحب

I served as Secretary General of Amnesty International between 2000 and 2020
and was active in many different roles within Amnesty for about 15 years before
that. Throughout that time, no matter the human rights case or issue we took
up and no matter the country involved, our campaigning and policy

recommendations -- which of course most urgently were often about freeing a
prisoner of conscience, ending torture or stopping an execution -- always went
on to demand that there be thorough investigations, leading to those
responsible being identified, charged and brought to trial in fair proceedings that
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meet international human rights standards. It was a demand for justice in the
face of injustice, in hopes that the violations would not be repeated.
And while the advocacy and campaigning did very often lead to freedom for the
prisoner, an end to the torture or stopping the execution, that latter demand

that there be justice remained an illusion. So often instead we heard the refrain:
not now, not yet.

We were told that being too strong and too outspoken when it came to
delivering justice would stand in the way of achieving peace.
That if a war was to be stopped; if a monstrous regime was to be ended; if a
murderous president was to be pushed to step down, insistence that the
wrongdoers be held accountable would be an impediment to those goals. After
all, who would agree to lay down arms or hand over power if they knew they
were going to be marched into a jail cell?

So peace deals regularly included amnesty provisions, promising the belligerents
that there would be no consequences for their crimes, and arrangements for the
departure of a murderous ruler included assurances of safe passage to an
undisturbed retirement in a well-appointed villa.

An uncompromising stance on justice, we were told, stands in the way of peace.
Yet where was the evidence, anywhere, that selling out justice and reinforcing

impunity, was in fact delivering peace and serving humanity’s interests. At best,
peace that does not last; why would it?

Afghanistan knows that history of the ways that impunity and injustice are
deeply connected only too well. I won’t attempt to explore that history with an
audience that knows it much better than I; and knows it firsthand. It is painfully
evident in the past four decades alone, an agonizing account of occupation,

16 The right to a fair trial is enshrined in numerous international human rights instruments, including the
International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, article 14.
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