BAMYAN - The challenges and opportunities for young leaders in Afghanistan was among the main discussion topics at a political outreach workshop attended this week by 40 civil society representatives in the central region of Bamyan.

“Participants noted the atmosphere of democracy slowly evolving in Afghan society,” said Heran Song, head of the UNAMA Central Highlands Regions (CHR), which organized the 12 January event entitled “Youth Empowering Democracy.”

Song added that the participants had specified “increased access to information, growing freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and better access to education” during discussions that also focused on the Concept of Democracy and Pluralism in Afghanistan.

Also in the region, the local chapter of the Afghan Victims Association commemorated the 10th anniversary of the Yakawlang massacre, where approximately 350 residents of Bamyan’s Yakawlang district were killed on 11 January 2001.

More than 700 community members participated in the memorial ceremony, including victims’ families, government district authorities, men and women Shura or political representatives, civil society representatives and members of the UNAMA-CHR Human Rights Unit.

Local participants to the event highlighted their desire for the government to implement the transitional justice action plan initiated in 2006, Song said.

Read more about transitional justice in Afghanistan and UNAMA’s human rights activities at http://unama.unmissions.org/

By Aurora V Alambra, UNAMA