The bicameral National Assembly is composed by the Wolesi Jirga (lower house) that has 249 men and 68 women members (27, 3%) and the Meshrano Jirga (upper house) with 102 men and 22 women (22, 5%). The Taliban are banned as a political party, while the Supreme Court banned communists from forming a political party because they are atheists. All citizens are required to profess a religious affiliation. The political participation of women gained a degree of acceptance, but in parts of the country their involvement led to threats of violence. Parliamentary elections were planned to be carried out in May 2010, but being postponed for economic, security and logistical reasons. The Presidential elections took place in 2009 during which several episodes of fraud and corruption were reported. The international community requested to President Karzai to take relevant measures to ensure electoral transparency. The Parliamentary elections will be carried out in September 2010.
At the International Conference of Kabul (July 2010) delegates from 70 countries and from international agencies agreed giving more control to the Afghan Government in the management of the international community funds and supported its peace plan with "moderate" Taliban if they are willing to abandon violence and to respect the Afghan Constitution and democracy. (NATO press release, 21 July 2010). Several Human Rights organizations working in Afghanistan has expressed their concern and reservations on this proposal.
The judiciary is independent in theory but the rule of law is limited outside Kabul. Wiretapping is permitted. In rural areas, shuras of local elders (community councils) are the primary means of settling criminal and civil disputes. Sentences sometimes include flogging, death by stoning or forced marriage of young girls into a murder victim's family. Coalition forces are accused of turning prisoners over to Afghan security officials, who are accused of degrading acts against detainees. The perception of corruption in government is widespread and includes involvement in the drug trade. Some major provincial centres are under the control of warlords.

Freedom of speech and of the press are formally guaranteed but denied in practice. No law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of Islam, and the Press Law prohibits publication of information "that could mean insult to the sacred religion of Islam and other religions." Interpretation of what constitutes offensive material is used to restrict press freedom. Independent media express differing political views, but the degree of freedom of expression varies by region. Journalists are subjected to harassment, intimidation and violence. Since 2007, several local employees (interpreters and drivers among others) working with foreign journalists were killed. Afghan journalists are under heavy pressure when working with the foreign press. Some were killed after being accused being spies. In 2009, at least fifteen reporters were abducted by mafia or insurgent groups in Afghanistan. A research, launched by the National Security Subcommittee of the US House of Representatives, has reported that some convoys that refused to pay to the warlords were subsequently attacked by the same men who demanded money to give security. At least three foreign reporters, two of which French (Herve Ghesquiere and Stephane Taponier), one Japanese (Kosuke Tsunoeka), as well as three Afghan are currently being held by the rebels. (September 2010)
Afghanistan is the poorest country in the Asia and Pacific region. The United Nations Development Programme's Human Poverty Index ranks Afghanistan at the very bottom of 135 countries. According to ASEAN Development Bank-ADB the percent of population living below the national poverty line were 42% in 2007. Over 50% of the government's operating budget comes from external donor support.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime-UNDOC estimated the benefits extracted in 2009 from the traffic of opium in 2.8 billion dollars. According to information provided by UNDOC in May 2010, a disease (a fungus) is affecting around half of the country opium plantations. This has led to an increase of 50% in drugs price, which would be raising revenue for the Taliban who store large amounts of opium. It is worth recalling that Afghanistan represents 92% of global opium production.

Afghanistan is the host of hundreds of private unregistered security enterprises which employ more than 70,000 armed people. Those groups, called in Kabul, "The Fourth Army," aroused suspicions of being involved in numerous cases of abuse and violations of human rights

Afghanistan is a source and transit country for women and children trafficked for sexual exploitation and labour. According to UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, up to 320,000 people were internally displaced in July 2010.

HIV prevalence among injecting drugs users-IDUs in the cities of Kabul, Herat and Mazar increased from 3 percent in 2006 to 7 percent in 2009, according to Medecins du Monde, though the statistics may be misleading because of limited screening capacity. Afghanistan had already met and surpassed the UNAIDS definition for a concentrated HIV epidemic which is an HIV prevalence of at least 5 percent in a particular vulnerable group.

The law criminalising homosexual activity is enforced. Afghanistan law currently prohibit a political party, interest or social group from advocating anything that is in opposition to Islamic morality

Education is mandatory and free of charge for ages 7 to 15. This provides for primary school and 2 years of lower secondary education. Large disparities exist among provinces, with enrolment as low as 15% in some.
The first global study on "Education under attack," (UNESCO, 2007), showed that the number of attacks recorded in Afghanistan against education had dramatically increased over the past three years. The number of attacks on schools, pupils and teachers almost tripled in 2007 to 2008, from 242 to 670. In 2008, the United Nations estimated that more than 250,000 children were still in the ranks of the armed forces and paramilitary groups. A second report "Education under attack" (UNESCO, 2010) confirm that in situations of armed conflict and insecurity, deliberate attacks on and threats against learners, academics, teachers and education facilities are both a major barrier to the right to education and a serious protection issue. The international community has made a commitment to achieving the Education for All (EFA) goals by 2015; wherever they occur, attacks on education threaten the realization of those goals.

From 1 January 2009 to 30 June 2009, 123 schools were targeted by insurgents and 51 received threats, according to the Afghan Rights Monitor, citing figures from UNICEF. At least 60 students and teachers were killed and 204 wounded in security incidents when Taliban forces detonated a bomb between two schools in Logar Province. In July 2009, more than 400 schools, mostly in the volatile south, remained closed due to insecurity. 2009 also saw a significant increase in the number of explosive placed in and in the vicinity of schools. Violence peaked in August 2009 during the Presidential elections, when schools were used as polling stations throughout the country.

Gender inequality is behind numerous assaults and underscores the oral and written messages in which the Taliban threaten to close schools for girls, 40% of schools attacked in Afghanistan are girls schools. But 30% are mixed and 28% are male schools, which allow assuming that there are also other motivations. They are attacks on the right to education, which includes the right to a quality education, to academic freedom, to development and democracy.

Since 2007, a successful initiative in Afghanistan has reinforced the argument in favour of involving communities in managing and defending schools and to participate in negotiations for its reopening. Those initiatives involve the mobilization of the local population to deter attackers or offer resistance. Community Councils (shura) were established for school management and protection where there were no boards. Villages with Community Councils have suffered a number considerable lower of school attacks than the one that have not organized a shura.

According to the National Risk and Vulnerability Report 2007/8, the estimated national adult literacy rate (aged 15 and above) is 26 per cent, with 12 per cent for women and 39 per cent for men. In rural areas where approximately 74 per cent of all Afghans reside, the situation is more acute, with an estimated 93 per cent of women and 65 per cent of men lacking basic reading and writing skills.

Islamic Education remains one of the challenges. The Afghan Ministry of Education currently supports 551 schools, with 106.160 students (only 5 per cent female) and 4.144 teachers engaged in Islamic Education. (Afghan Country report 2009, UNESCO)

According to UNESCO definition, Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) services and program support children's survival, growth, development and learning, including health, nutrition and hygiene, and cognitive, social, emotional and physical development, from birth to entry into primary school. Early childhood is a sensitive period marked by rapid transformations in physical, cognitive, language, social and emotional development. Significant and critical brain development occurs before age 7, especially the first three years of life, when important neuronal connections take place (or not take place). What happens in the early years sets trajectories in health, learning and behaviour that can last throughout life.

Early Childhood Education has a relatively short history in Afghanistan. They were first introduced during the Soviet occupation with the establishment of 27 urban preschools in 1980. The 4-year programme begins at age 3. Most children starting school in Afghanistan are first generation learners; their parents have had little or no formal education. In 2007, there were about 260 kindergartens offering early education to over 25.000 children, the large majority of Early Childhood Education teachers are women. It is estimated that 2.5 million Afghan children are less than 6 years of age.

A 6-year programme of compulsory education begins at age 7. School enrolment has grown from 900,000 in 2002 to around 7.3 million in 2009 from grade 1 to 12; among them 39 per cent are girls. The number of teachers was 158,000 in 2008, of which 28.8 per cent are females.

Decades of war, massive displacement, and changing power structures caused the collapse of community-support networks and the erosion of the extended family. Large numbers of women are widowed and have had to assume unaccustomed and non-traditional roles as family breadwinners. One quarter of all children die before the age of 5 as a result of birth trauma, neonatal tetanus diarrhoea, pneumonia, and vaccine-preventable diseases. Iron-deficiency anaemia is widespread, affecting half to two thirds of children under 5 years of age. Large numbers of children are chronically malnourished. Half of girls marry before the age of 18, and many soon after adolescence. Confronted with these interlocking threats to development, children arrive at school with serious difficulties to take advantage of learning opportunities. It is not surprising that dropout rates are high.

In 2007, the Ministry of Education, with the support of UNESCO, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Mine Action Coordination Centre of Afghanistan (MACCA) started "the Inclusive Education pilot project." In accordance with the principle of the right to Education for All, the project promotes quality basic education for all children in Afghanistan, particularly for those who are most vulnerable to exclusion from and within the education system, and to ensure that all children enrolled in the education system participate actively in the learning process. During the project's second phase in 2008, there were 12 pilot schools with a total enrolment of 90 students. In addition, 90 teachers and 160 parents received training. At present, the number of inclusive education pilot schools has increased to 29 with a current student enrolment of 200. In total, 250 teachers and 350 parents have received training on Inclusive Education, as well as awareness on the Rights of the Child. (AFGHAN UPDATE, summer 2010, UNESCO-Kabul)

Secondary education begins at age 13 and continues for 6 years. Compulsory education ends at 15. In 2008, according to the Afghan Ministry of Education from the total number of secondary students, 70 per cent were male and 30 per cent female. There remains no standard curriculum for Afghanistan's secondary schools. The ministry plans to create one in 2010. Lack of appropriate infrastructure is also a major problem. Hundreds of students are being educated in UNICEF-funded plastic shelters, both in the summer heat and the cold of winter.

November 2009: with the assistance of UNESCO and the World BANK a National Higher Education Strategic Plan 2010-2014 was approved. The main objective is to overcome the severe deterioration of Tertiary and Higher Education due to years of war, high rates of poverty and unemployment, lack of qualified teachers, persistent gaps in demand and supply of science and technology, a shortage of education facilities, etc.

For the last eight years the country has been working on rebuild and reopen its universities and institutes of tertiary education almost all of which were badly damaged by war in addition of many staff losses. However, the capacities of current institutions continue to be very limited, and cannot meet the overwhelming demands. According to the Ministry, in 2009 some 62.000 students, (21 percent were women), comprised the enrolment of the Higher Education public sector. The total budget allocated to the 22 universities in 2009 was 35 million U$D, averaging about 1.5 million U$D per institution. Very difficult to provide quality higher education with such limited resources provision.

Special attention needs to be given to increasing the number of female students and women in higher education teaching positions, especially at the senior level were currently only two women hold ranks as high as associate professor and only 0.5 per cent of women has professional ranks.

The state is required by law to assist persons with disabilities, but Handicap International estimated that there are 800,000 disabled persons, only 100,000 are reported to receive services, and then only in 60 out of 330 districts. A first centre for children with cerebral palsy has been opened in Kabul, offering physiotherapy, counselling and training courses. Children with disabilities are among the most marginalized and least likely to go to school.

Thirty years of war in Afghanistan had unfavourable effects and one of these is the rise in the number of persons with disabilities. The Afghan conflict not only physically incapacitated people, but it also had negative implications for the psyche of Afghan public. Afghanistan is a country largely affected by mines in which around 55 people lose their lives in mine-related incidents per month, including many children.

Laws do not provide for granting asylum or refugee status, and the government has not established a system for providing protection to refugees.
In October 2009 approximately 500 Pakistani families fled to Kunar province as military activity increased in Pakistani-Afghan border areas. Local residents gave shelter to most of the refugees. The government did not provide free services to refugees. Refugees had access to primary education and other public services if they could afford to pay for them.

The country continued to focus on providing services for returning refugees, but the government's capacity to absorb returnees, often in conflict settings, remained low. The continuing insurgency and related security concerns, as well as economic difficulties, discouraged numerous refugees from returning to the country. Many refugees needed humanitarian assistance upon arrival. Common types of extreme vulnerability, as defined by the UNHCR, included minors unaccompanied by adult family members, drug addiction, mental illness, and severe physical illness.

In accordance with the Tripartite Agreement among the government, the Pakistan government, and the UNHCR, repatriation must be voluntary. During 2009 48,320 documented refugees voluntarily repatriated from Pakistan with UNHCR assistance, a significant decrease from the 274,200 refugees repatriated in 2008.

In August 2009 the UNHCR suspended repatriation of local citizens from Pakistan due to insecurity in the country and in the processing areas in Pakistan. Pakistan abandoned its unilateral December 31 deadline to repatriate all refugees, and the Pakistan government's commitment to permit registered Afghan refugees to remain in Pakistan through 2012 was not formalized by year's end. In Pakistan three of the four refugee camps scheduled for closure during 2009 remained open. There were an estimated 1.7 million registered refugees in Pakistan, an estimated 180,000 unregistered individuals eligible for refugee status, and an estimated 230,000 individuals who may have been eligible for refugee status but who had not come forward to register. (US Dept. of State, 2009 Human Rights Report: Afghanistan)
Children refugees face a wide range of protection concerns, including child labour, smuggling and human trafficking, and early or forced marriage.
Internal displacement (around 320.000 people in March 2010) according to the UNHCR is again on the rise as a result of the intensification of fighting in many regions. For most Afghans, neither physical security nor access to jobs, health care and education have sufficiently improved.

According to the State of the World's Minorities and Indigenous People Report 2009 Afghanistan is one of the highest five states in the Peoples Under Threat table with Somalia, Iraq, Sudan and Burma. In each of them violence against minorities of a widespread or systematic character is ongoing.

The drive by President Karzai to strike a deal with moderate Taliban leaders and their Pakistani backers is causing deep unease in Afghanistan's minority communities, who fought the Taliban the longest and suffered the most during their rule.

The Pashtuns are the largest ethnic group followed by Tajiks, Hazars, Uzbeks, Aimak, Turkmen, Baluch and others.

The leaders of the country's Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara communities, which make up close to half of Afghanistan's population, are vowing to resist any deal that involves bringing members of the Taliban insurgency into a power-sharing arrangement with the government.

The government restricted academic freedom by forbidding course content it deemed un-Islamic. The 2008 Mass Media Law, Article 10, states that academic research "shall be subject to prior approval of concerned ministries and institutions." Educators at public universities stated that they censored themselves when discussing questions of ethnicity; the self-censorship will be caused by fear of official or university sanctions or from societal pressure.

On July 19th, 2009, President Karzai signed a civil law governing family and marital issues. The law applies only to the 20 percent of the population who are Shia. Some Shia groups hailed the law for officially recognizing the Shiite minority; however, the law was controversial both domestically and internationally for to its failure to promote gender equality. Articles in the law of particular concern include minimum age of marriage, polygamy, inheritance rights, and right of self-determination, freedom of movement, sexual obligations, and guardianship.

At the same time President Karzai signed the Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW) law, criminalizing violence against women, including rape, battery or beating; forced or underage marriage; "baahd" (the giving of a female relative to another family to settle a debt or dispute); humiliation; intimidation; and the refusal of food. Penalties include prison terms of less than six months to the death penalty. Victims have the right to prosecute abusers, seek shelter in a safe house, and receive medical and legal aid, but the law was seen as only a small positive step for women, as implementation until now is insufficient and a matter of concern. Article 17 of the EVAW law specifically punishes rape with life imprisonment, and if the act results in death of the victim, the perpetrator shall be sentenced to death. The law punishes the "violation of chastity of a woman...that does not result in adultery (such as touching)" with imprisonment of up to seven years. Rape does not include spousal rape. Shari'a law, as interpreted in the local context and influenced by tribal customs, although unmodified, impeded successful prosecution of rape cases.

According to NGO reports, hundreds of thousands of women continued to suffer abuse at the hands of their husbands, fathers, brothers, armed individuals, parallel legal systems, and institutions of state such as the police and justice systems.

Denial of educational opportunities, limited employment options, and ongoing security threats continued to impede the ability of many women to improve their situation, despite the progress women in urban areas made toward access to public life, education, health care, and employment. (US Dept. of State, 2009 Human Rights Report: Afghanistan).

Girl's enrolment is monitored in primary education in urban areas, but fewer girls than boys enrol in primary and secondary schools in rural areas. Beyond primary education, boys' enrolment is even ten times that of girls.

Afghanistan has ratified ILO convention 182 (on the worst forms of Child Labour) in 2010.

Child Soldiers: A field assessment conducted by UNICEF in 2009 throughout Afghanistan indicated that there were at least 8,000 children currently under arms. Many remain in the pay of regional warlords, who still dominate Afghan life outside the capital, Kabul. The Taliban, the Northern Alliance (NA) and other armed factions have all been accused of using child soldiers as young as 14, according to rights groups. The reasons are obvious: children are cheaper to employ, slow to question authority and often quick to prove themselves in Afghanistan's gun-dominated society. Some are lured into armed factions by promises of education and proper jobs. These children, mainly boys but some girls too, are part of an estimated 100,000 combatants who need to be found alternative livelihoods if peace is to stand a chance in volatile Afghanistan. The country's UN-backed Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programme, which began at pilot level in October 2009, is designed to help significantly reduce the strength of the myriad armed factions.

Working Children: The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is concerned by the growing number of working Afghan children. UNICEF officials said at a press conference in Kabul on June 2009 that girls are more likely to be pressured into working than boys because they have fewer educational opportunities and are under greater social and cultural restrictions. The development of a national plan of action that integrates HIV-induced child labour is still needed. A large number of children are encountered with the worst forms of labour and their number is increasing day by day. Some children are labouring on street, some are engaged in begging, and some are doing hard labour. All these are shocking realities that threaten the future builders of this country and deprive them of their legitimate rights.

1.5 million Afghan children are the breadwinners of their families and are forced to work. As was stated in the ILO 2010 Report on Child Labour, Afghanistan "will not eliminate child labour without universal education and, conversely, will not ensure every child is in school unless they bring an end to child labour, in particular its worst forms."

In 2009 around 42% of people were unemployed and over 36% make a daily income of less than 50 Afghanis (equivalent to approximately US$1). Unskilled workers, the majority of whom are paid daily wages, constitute the bulk of people employed in informal economy. There is no mechanism to regulate working conditions in the informal economy and to prevent workers' rights from being abused and violated. As informal workers are not organised, they do not have a collective pressure tool.

Unskilled workers also constitute the majority of Afghan migrants in neighbouring countries. These workers are most vulnerable to forced labour, trafficking, and ill-treatment by employers. (Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission Report 2009)

On top of the war Afghanistan has also been affected by the economic and financial crisis which has reduced people's power to purchase basic stuffs.

Women's employment and economic activity is an important indicator to gauge their overall situation. A lack of official statistics and studies on women's economic status render it difficult to achieve an understanding of this indicator. Nevertheless, is possible to say that little has been done to create employment for women. Human Rights NGO's data shows that women's unemployment rate in 2009 were 54% in cities and 62% in villages.

Afghanistan's Labour Law was endorsed and entered into force in 2007. Nevertheless, Afghanistan's labour system lacks adequate monitoring and protection mechanisms. Under Article 147 of the Labour Law and the Law on Activities of Social Organizations, the right to organize and/or establish labour unions or social organizations is protected. Based on Constitution and Presidential Decree on Social Organizations Law, there are no restrictions placed on freedom of association for different categories of workers, government or private. While the number of social organization is on increase the number of trade unions is limited to only ten. A Government's report argues that establishment of trade unions is still at an "early stage."

The report is silent on any developments in improving trade unions or paving the way for its improvement. Teachers in Afghanistan, with the assistance of Education International, have formed an association to represents their interests and to promote public education.