Diversity, human rights and federalism: The case of Afghanistan

Abstract

Human rights maintenance in a diverse society has always been a challenging and disputed issue. Governmental systems, both unitary and non-unitary, are similarly faced with the challenge. Afghanistan is a deeply diverse country and there have been massive violations of human rights. This paper explores the questions of whether it is a) possible to strengthen human rights maintenance through legal-political structures inside a culturally and ethnically diversified state such as Afghanistan, and b) justifiable to do this by recognising ethnic diversity at a political-legal level to prevent human rights violations in Afghanistan. By addressing these two questions, the paper considers whether a Federal system is more helpful than unitary systems in an ethno-politically diverse society such as Afghanistan.