Lessons Learned from 25 Years of Resistance and Remembrance
History Is Now
In response to this dire situation, in 2024 ICSC partnered with member site the Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization (AHRDO) to implement a documentation and memorialization initiative that advances the rights of forcibly displaced victims from Afghanistan and promotes democratic values. The ten-month project strengthened the capacity of 20 civil society organizations (CSOs) working on human rights, transitional justice and forced displacement in Afghanistan and globally to foster inclusive and victim-centered documentation and memorialization initiatives that amplify the voices and needs of the forcibly displaced and equip them to take part in transitional justice processes and advocacy efforts. In addition, the project provided financial and programmatic support to eight of the CSOs to create programs designed to address urgent issues facing forcibly displaced communities. Among others, these initiatives included the collection and documentation of testimonies of human rights violations against the Hazara community; the production of podcasts that shared the lived experiences of displaced Afghan LGBTQI+ people; and ten art workshops for Afghan children living in Turkey designed to support their mental health and well-being by easing their emotional distress and nurturing a sense of safety and community with others in their situation. In fall 2024, participants published “In Their Own Voice, Manual for Inclusive and Victim-Centered Documentation and Memorialization of Forced Displacement,” to share best practices and lessons learned from the project with global activists, practitioners and policy makers. To learn more about the project, and access the toolkit, which is available in seven languages, click here .
To foster networking between the meeting’s participants and Berlin-based organizations working on forced displacement, ICSC and AHRDO also organized an event, “Addressing Trauma in the Context of Forced Displacement,” that brought together 50 organizational representatives and served as a platform for sharing experiences and best practices on mental health and psychosocial care of forcibly displaced populations.
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