The Afghanistan Organization for Development of Human Rights (AODHR) is an impartial, non-political, nonpartisan and non-governmental and independent civil society organization; working for development of human rights and acts according to International Human Rights conventions and standards. The Organization, established by a group of Human Rights Defenders and Civil Society Activists (called the AODHR founder group), in April 2001.

Since its establishment, the organization has succeeded in obtaining membership in the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC), Forum Asia for Human Rights and Development (FAHRD), the Asian Network for the International Criminal Court (ANICC), and the Asian Federation for Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD).

The organization led an accession campaign, and as a result, the Government of Afghanistan officially ratified and acceded to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in February 2003. Afghanistan became the first South Asian nation, the first member state of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), and the second Muslim-majority country to join the ICC.

After Afghanistan’s accession to the Rome Statute, the organization focused on education, training, and the implementation of the Rome Statute into Afghanistan’s legal system. The organization translated the Rome Statute into the official languages, printed and distributed it, and published eight volumes under the title Victims and Justice. The content of these publications primarily focused on information and education about the ICC and human rights issues in Afghanistan. Scanned copies of the publications are available.

Finally, AODHR considers itself one of the key centers for the protection of human rights and continues to work toward securing human rights around the world, particularly in Afghanistan.

- Promoting development cooperation.

- Promoting equal rights for women and men.

- As a member of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC), continuing to support the International Criminal Court as an international mechanism working to end the culture of impunity in war-affected countries, especially in Afghanistan.

- Actively participating in all civil society meetings with the ICC to raise our voice and draw the Court’s attention to the ongoing war crimes, crimes against humanity, and gender persecution in Afghanistan.

- Collecting information on violations of human rights, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

- Preparing reports on human rights, women’s rights, and minority rights violations, and publishing them through the news agency The Voice of the People of Afghanistan, under the umbrella of AODHR.

In line with the organization Statute, the organization has set itself the mission statements as follows:

1. Defend and advocate Human Rights in Afghanistan ,Germany and other countries through organizing training, advocacy and research programs on human right situation.

2. Promoting assistance: For those persecuted for Ploitically racial, or religious reasons. - For refugees, displaced persons, war victims, war survivors, war-disabled persons and prisoners of war as well as civilian victims and victims of crime.

3. Promoting the memory of those persecuted, as victims of war, and victims of disasters.

4. Promoting the search service for missing persons.

The AODHR/AOEM is newly registered in the city of Essen, Germany, under registration number VR 6421, and we are planning to continue its activities in Germany by:

- Conducting seminars, conferences, and workshops on human rights and issues concerning ethnic, linguistic, or religious minorities.

- Establishing contact and exchanging information with other national and international organizations in the fields of human rights and development cooperation.

- Conducting workshops and seminars for refugee women in Germany and for Afghan women in Afghanistan on gender, human rights, and related topics.

- Implementing an educational program for girls in Afghanistan in cooperation with other organizations, as well as an online educational program for girls and young women in Afghanistan.

SadayMardom (People's Voice) News Agency has been undertaken by AODHR with the aim of providing free and informed reporting on human rights and social issues for the people of Afghanistan.