Problem Of Developing The Optimal Concept Of Harmonizing Ethno-National Relations In Afghanistan

Policies and Legal Framework for the Harmonization of Ethno-National Relations

The process of creating civilized relations of the dominant nation with the indigenous people within the framework of a unified state institution can be divided into following phases as the mechanisms: protection of indigenous peoples (minority indigenous peoples), contractual-historical (16-17 centuries), constitutional parliamentary (18 – mid. 20th century), consulting and legal (mid-twentieth century - further in the future). The 21st century has become a turning point in the formation of an integrated system of legal norms, principles and procedures with regard to indigenous peoples.

The fact of the creation and functioning of international intergovernmental organizations (like the UN, the Council of Europe etc.), the global democratization of the peaceful community, the intensive development of international human rights law – all these actions initiated legal standards on the rights of nationalities (in recent decades) and indigenous people.

The fundamental legal documents providing the “rules of the game” on human rights in the international community: the United Nations Charter and the International Bill of Human Rights, which includes Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948), International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966a) (both 1966), and optional protocols to them (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966b).

Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims in the 1st part, 2nd article: “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms <…>, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, <…>, national or social origin” (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, para. 8).

Regarding the participation in public affairs, art. 21 declares that “Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives” and “Everyone has the right to equal access to public service in his country” (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948).

These statements are not purely declarative; they acquire the character of binding legal norms in the art. 25 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which is the basis for their mandatory inclusion in the national legislation of the UN member states that have ratified and signed this pact.

From the second half of the 20 – early 21 centuries the international community and individual states did not only follow the principles of forming legal norms designed to ensure so-called “humanitarian crisis” and respect for the human rights of indigenous peoples. They try to turn to the establishment and propaganda, cooperation and partnership with them as the only alternative imperative of sustainable development of human civilization at the present stage. These are reflected in Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (principle 22) (Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, 1992).

Cooperation and partnership, based on the recognition of the essential value of any people and nation, their undisputable rights to participate in solving their own development issues, implies the establishment of principles and norms of dialogue between the governments of independent states and their indigenous peoples. It is possible to understand the concerns of various groups of different cultures only through the dialogue. Through the forming the civilizational foundations of the world social structure, the dialogue mechanisms have acquired real shapes: a contractual mechanism (a contractual-historical period), a mechanism of parliamentary representation (a constitutional-parliamentary period) and a consultation mechanism (a consultation-legal period).

Schematically it looks like this. The treaty mechanism – the contractual agreement (for example, in the colonial period between conquerors and communities of aborigines). Parliamentary mechanism provides for the representation of different people in decision-making bodies at any level: international, domestic, regional and local. The consultation mechanism is legitimized, i.e. it is provided by certain regulatory legal acts. In this case, there is mandatory or preferential involvement of interested groups of societies in the decision-making, usually these groups cases do not have any opportunity to be represented in power structures.

The need to use a consultation mechanism when making decisions affecting directly or indirectly the interests of indigenous peoples is justified in “the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention No. 169” (Convention concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries) (Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989), as well as in “The World Bank Operation Manual. Operational Directive 4.20 on Indigenous Peoples” (The World Bank Operation Manual, 1991).

At present, in order to resolve issues concerning the indigenous population three mechanisms are used in the UN member countries with a developed system of democracy: contracts, parliamentary representation and consultation mechanism, depending on the historically established political and legal culture in a given society.

The 21st century brings many new and progressive trends in the above issues. Simultaneously, various complex and controversial global phenomena have emerged in the modern world, i.e. climate change; a new migration wave in Europe; terrorism, separatism, Islamic radicalism (like Al-Qaeda, ISIL); the new stage of the arms race; the intensification of civilizational contradictions between countries; claims to the sole world leadership of some states etc. They all can be sources of new threats and challenges to humanity. As a result, along with the process of internationalization and globalization, the ethnic heterogeneity of states and the number of problems associated with these issues increase.

In view of the historical reality, one or several nationalities and ethnic groups, which, due to their ethnic linguistic and religious identity, differ from each other, reside in the territory of almost every state. Therefore, it is important to ensure a harmonious relationship between representatives of national minorities and the national majority, and national minorities among themselves. It seems that such an approach is one of the foundations for the development of a democratic society, and therefore, the factor of peace, stability and justice, as well as the humanization of ethno-national relations.

It is important to point out that the rule of respect for the individual is essential important for the effective function of the international principle of democracy within a country. Priority becomes the general principle and constitutional law of democratic states. According to this position, we have attempted to propose some general principles, existing mechanisms and standards to protect a nation, nationalities and ethnos in a multi-ethnic Afghan society. Along with this, it becomes important how to use the principles to improve public relations in resolving acute national conflicts in Afghanistan.

Polyethnic Model of the Afghan State

At present, it is a well-known fact that the modern model of a multi-ethnic Afghan society does not meet the requirements of the country's ethnic and national development. From the point of view of modern political science and state studies, it is difficult to determine the type, form and model of the state of Afghanistan.

As the well-known Afghan scholar Korgun (2001) rightly pointed out, “The general vector of development of Afghanistan from absolutism to modern models is constantly interrupted by a rollback, sometimes deep, as at present, to historically doomed forms of being and social consciousness” (p. 24).

The non-Pashtun ethnic groups, which lived in the territory of Afghanistan, had practically no connection to the central government. That, in its essence, was one of the causes of interethnic conflicts and created the groundwork for the national-class struggle in Afghanistan.

At such course of ethno-political processes, the historical memory was formed in the collective consciousness of non-Pashtun peoples, that Pashtuns are the state-forming ethnic group in Afghanistan; the state is controlled by them and created in the name of protecting and preserving their interests. Moreover, non-Pashtun nationalities in this country are included in the category of “Mardo-e Tokhodzhom-e” (guest nations) in the collective consciousness of the Pashtun elite.

Therefore, the non-Pashtun peoples have no reason for sensible compromise and cooperation with the central government of the Pashtuns. In order to resolve this issue, it is necessary to free the government from the usurpation of one people and to ensure the fair participation of non-Pashtuns in the management of public affairs, both vertically (legislative, executive authorities) and horizontally (judicial and administrative authorities).

In such a broad historical context, a unique phenomenon took place in the collective consciousness of the non-Pashtuns of Afghanistan, which can be roughly summarized as a complex of “the power superiority of the non-Pashtun north over the Pashtun south”. It is noteworthy to reveal the crux of the problems, that complications were associated with a significant violation of the ethno-demographic and ethno-political balance of society during the civil war, with multimillion immigration that weakened the position of the titular people in the management of public affairs. In parallel with this, the national emancipation of various minority and ethnic groups, and the further growth of national self-awareness of the main non-Pashtuns (Tajiks, Hazaras and Uzbeks) are taking place. An important factor in the revival and consolidation was the alliance of all non-Pashtuns and the military-political groups of mujahedeen into the parties.

This ethnic alignment essentially raised the question of the defining “national majority” and “national minority”. However, the answer remains unequivocal: Pashtuns are not super-ethnos and are not included in the category of the “majority” of the ethnic rank of the Afghan society. According to the famous Afghan scholar Arunova (2001, p. 212), “by the time of the fall of the PDPA and the proclamation of the ISA, Pashtuns no longer constituted the majority of the population”.

In the future, some representatives of the non-Pashtuns of Afghanistan put forward the thesis that if southern tribes mainly took part in the war against the British, then perhaps they had rights to become the dominant ethnic group in the political hierarchy. During the Soviet aggression, all people and tribes of the country took part in the struggle against the communist regime in Afghanistan. Following this logic of reasoning, everyone, especially the majority nations, has the right in the management of public affairs on an equal basis (Andreev, 2004). In this regard, the Afghan politician and researcher Ghulam Ali Muvahhid notes that “in Afghanistan there are 99% of Muslims, of which 1/3 are Shiites, 2/3 are Sunnis. Jihad was supported by three quarters of non-Pashtuns, and only by one-quarter of Pashtuns. Of course, such principle should be observed in the formation of state structures and the creation of political institutions of society.

Since the entry of the NATO coalition forces into Afghanistan, as in previous times, the ethno-national situation has been characterized by aggravation of interethnic relations, the emergence of ethno-political conflicts in the country. Therefore, a more serious approach is required to address this issue. It is encouraging that there is no splitting in the country according to the signs of south and north, Pashto and Dari, Shiites and Sunnis. Different options and scenarios of the development of ethno-national situation in Afghanistan are discussed now. However, the objective is how the world community can assist the Afghan leadership in addressing the above issues and ensuring human rights in the country.

According to the International law a minority is “a group numerically inferior to the rest of the population of a State, in a non-dominant position, whose members – being nationals of the State – posses ethnic, religious or linguistic characteristics differing from those of the rest of the population” (Constitution of India, 2000). From this point of view, the ethnic groups of Sindhis (13%), Pashtuns (9%), Baluch (3%), minorities Kalasha, Kho, Kohistanis, Shina people and other ethnic groups can be attributed to minorities (Mahmood, 2013).

At the federal level, there is the Advisory Council for Minorities, consisting of elected representatives of minority communities and their eminent people in the Lower Assembly of the Parliament. Council advises the legislature on issues related to minorities. Minority committees exist at the provincial and district levels.

The most vivid example demonstrating the integration of national minorities into society can be the experience of the Republic of Tajikistan (Kasymova, 2005).

Therefore, while developing the optimal concept of harmonization of ethno-national relations in the Afghan society, it is necessary for the world community and the Afghan government to take into account the following points:

• general principles and approaches that determine the activities of government and civil society in the field of inter-ethnic relations in Afghanistan;

• the specific interests of all people, every ethnic group and the harmonization of these interests in a democratic way;

• on the one hand, self-affirmation and dignified development of nationalities and ethnos, on the other hand, the formation of their unity and community as a nation of the state of the multi-ethnic Afghan people;

• protection of constitutional rights to self-determination and development of every nation regardless of its size within a single state. As well as guaranteeing the rights and freedoms of every citizen of Afghanistan, regardless of their nationality in all spheres of public and state life;

• strengthening the community of the multinational people, the unity and integrity of Afghanistan;

• prevention of any forms of discrimination of the rights and freedoms of the people and person on the basis of national and religious grounds in any of the spheres of public non-governmental life of the country.

The Current Situation in the society of Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, in the second decade of the 21^st century, certain conditions emerged for the implementation of the concept through the promoting and carrying out specific practical programs of original national development and multifaceted cooperation of people at central and local levels. There is a real opportunity in the effective use of the potential of the SCO – program “Afghanistan National Development Strategy”, 2016 (Afghanistan National Development Strategy, 2016), with the participation of some neighbouring states in improving the atmosphere of mutual understanding in the sphere of ethno-national relations and eradicating the “three evils”: religious extremism, national separatist movements and international terrorism. This will help to set up the system of internal security in order to create favourable conditions for the development of Afghan society. The complex multi-faceted nature of this phenomenon requires the necessity to focus on the implementation of national policy programs and the achievement of inter-ethnic harmony, primarily at the level of compact residence of nationalities in specific regions, cities, regions, etc.

How will the main point of this work be implemented in the practical activities of the central authorities, in the system of subjects of the Afghan state and in local communities? Which actual directions of development of ethno-political processes will be kept in the focus of the authorities and society? These questions and the answers to them are of fundamental importance for the destiny of the state of Afghanistan and its peoples in modern conditions.

Ignorant approaches to the regulation of ethno-political processes created ideas about “unreliable peoples”, the ideas of “Saqawi-ye dovvom” (Second Saqaw) (Representatives of other peoples of Afghanistan, who claim to occupy a great post in the hierarchy of power, are ironically called “Sakao” in the collective consciousness of the Pashtuns. Habibullah Kalakani, a Tajik, nicknamed Bacha-e Saqaw (literally son of the water carrier), became a King of Afghanistan for the first time from among non-Pashtunsas a result of a peasant revolt in 1929. Ideologists of the new concept “Saqawi-ye dovvom” were Sulaiman Layeq, a famous poet and a former Minister of Nationalities and Tribal Affairs during the PDPA and Ismail Jung, a local nationalist, hiding under the pseudonym “Samsuri Afgan”.) (Iskandarov, 2014) and the birth of nationalism. The practice shows that nationalism sooner or later develop into Nazism. In the recent history of Afghanistan, this has already happened: Taliban, as a manifestation of Pashtun-centrism under the guise of restoring order in the country and evolving in the future into a form of Pashtun neo-fascism. Therefore, in our opinion, any negotiation with the Taliban is immoral and insults the national feeling of non-Pashtuns, leading to the emergence of new contradictions in the sphere of ethno-national relations in the country. On this basis, it is worth noticing that the principles and values of democracy, the understanding and realization of which ultimately stabilize interethnic relations, should be the main guideline of the new ethno-national policy of the Afghan state.

The important consequence of the growth of ethnic identity was the political activation of ethnic elites and charismatic leaders, as well as the formation of a conglomerate of clan structures.

In consequence, quite a number of tendencies has the troubling character in the development of the ethno-political processes of Afghanistan. Let us enumerate them, a change in the role of Pashtuns and non-Pashtuns in the modern history of post-conflict Afghanistan; the formation of the power superiority complex of the “non-Pashtun north” of the country over the “Pashtun south”, ethnic demographic polarization in a number of regions and the depopulation of national minorities.

Discussions

Therefore, the contemporary situation in Afghanistan can and should be improved, first of all, by activating state influence, making full use of the creative influence of the civil society potential and friendship of the peoples of Afghanistan.

The future actions on the implementation of state ethno-national policy should cover the following major areas of doings at all levels of government:

• legislative work to improve state and international relations;

• provision of guarantees to protect the rights and freedoms of a particular person and national-ethnic communities, regardless of national or religious affiliation;

• urgent measures to stabilize crisis phenomena in the ethnic and religious spheres;

• problems of the growing demographic state of society in its ethnic and ethno-political dimension;

• urgent problems solutions in order to meet the national needs of people in the field of education, culture and language;

• responsibility for predicting and implementing preventive measures in order to avoid the interethnic conflicts.

In the modern historical conditions in Afghanistan, the following ethno-national and ethno-political problems either seriously activate or significantly fade:

• manifestations of ethno-political and regional separatism;

• a lot of ethno-political contradictions and conflicts that have come out of the acute phase and, nevertheless, have remained unresolved in the Afghan society until now;

• the state and prospects of the so-called titular (indigenous) ethnic groups remain clearly unmarked in the national provinces;

• ethno-national and ethno-cultural problems of Pashtuns, which manifest themselves both at the regional and national level, are pervasive for the entire system of relations of Afghanistan. Misunderstanding of the specific nature of interests, the role and place of Pashtuns in Afghanistan cannot contribute to the humanization of interethnic relations;

• the common vision of mechanisms for solving the problems of the indigenous peoples of Afghanistan has not achieved yet;

• practice shows that in the sphere of ethno-national politics it is necessary to pay more attention to issues of ethnic migration, the return of refugees, nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes.

In the current ethno-political situation of the Afghan society, there are three main scenarios and strategies of the ethno-political development of the people in Afghanistan.

• Sovereign national, national separatist;

• Unitary unification;

• Federative integration;

They are closely related to each other.

The first case is about the hypertrophied self-sufficient role of the ethnic factor in the social and political development of the life of modern nations-ethnic groups. This is detrimental both for the prospects of nations and ethnos and for the development of a poly-ethnic Afghan society.

In the second case, there is a tendency to unify the life of people, their maximum assimilation and dissolution in the Pashtun ethnocultural space. This will partially lead to the politicization of the national identity of ethnic groups and individuals, thereby reproducing inter-ethnic conflict. It must be noted that the objective manifestation of integration and assimilation, undoubtedly, has had and will take place in any multi-ethnic society. It is historically proved that the natural assimilation of nationalities and their individual groups of cultures, their adaptation to each other is a common phenomenon. In this situation, it is important to support the evolutionary process of this trend. However, without applying the old and present administrative methods that lead to the next ethnic explosions, as it was several times in the history of Afghanistan. The evolutionary path of preserving and developing ethnic identity, unlocking the potential of all nationalities, their adaptation of mutual influence, and the integration process in a unified state community is promising.

In historically prevailing conditions, Afghanistan has the most dangerous path – the formation of the federal state system as a model for the settlement of the peoples and regions of modern Afghanistan. In our opinion, Afghanistan can develop only within the framework of a unitary state. Any splitting of Afghanistan will lead to chaos and the formation of numerous proto-state structures that do not have the appropriate joint forms. Moreover, the correspondence of the geographical and ethnic concept has a conditional relevance in Afghanistan. Due to the migration policy, at the end of the 19^thand the thirties of the 20^thcentury there were huge ethnic changes in the country. Although in historical terms, Afghanistan (as already noted) has always been characterized by de facto tribal federalism of Pashtun tribes, on the one hand, and the confederation of Pashtun and non-Pashtuns, on the other hand, as a legally unformed model of social arrangement de jure. Attempts to create a similar model of government have already taken place under the Taliban regime, when Afghanistan was declared an emirate. Today Afghanistan remains a country of local charismatic leaders with its inherent ethno-regional politics, ethnic radicalism, and in some parameters, as already noted, “a country without a state” (Andreev, 2004).