AHRDO and ICTJ organized an international policy advocacy program to U.S. in November 2011. This event took place before the 2^nd Bonn international conference on Afghanistan, which discussed the controversial initiative of reconciliation with the Afghan insurgent groups, and the mutual responsibilities of the Afghan government and that of the international community post-2014. The central objective of this advocacy was to draw international  attention to the situation of Afghan war victims, promote the  Transitional Justice Coordination Group's policy message, develop its international networks/partners, and most importantly to build up AHRDO's capacity to work with victims to narrativize their untold sufferings and stories. .

In this advocacy trip, AHRDO conducted theatrical performance, high-level policy meetings, cultural exchange and briefings on human rights situation in Afghanistan.

This advocacy team consisted of five AHRDO senior staff members such as Zahra Yagana, theatrical actor and  women rights advocate, Salim Rajabi, human rights theater specialist,, Zaman Khoshnam, theatrical actor and documentary producer, and Mohammad Jawed Mohammadi, theatrical actor and program officer. Hadi Marifat, AHRDO director, was leading this advocacy team to the US.The following are the brief outlines of the what AHRDO undertook in this advocacy efforts:

1. AHRDO advocacy performed the first ever human rights documentary play titled “Infinite Incompleteness” in Washington and New York for members of the US-based human rights and civil society organizations, state officials, UN officials, Afghan Diasporas and ordinary American citizens. The documentary play challenged an increasingly entrenched culture of impunity in Afghanistan. The documentary emphasized that  after more than three decades of violent conflict with millions of victims, accountability for massive human rights abuses still remains elusive while the voices and stories of the victims continue to be silenced and unacknowledged thereby adding insult to injury and preventing any kind of individual and collective healing, reconciliation and ultimately justice from becoming but an unreachable utopia. What is more irritating is that discussing the issue of Transitional Justice in Afghanistan is largely taboo and those courageous women and men who venture out to do so are often subject to threats, harassment and, in some instances even death.

2. AHRDO held several policy meetings with the US Department of States, and UN Officials discussing human rights situation, transitional justice and the prospects of peace and stability in Afghanistan. AHRDO also provided briefings to diplomats  representing the permanent missions of Finland, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Canada, Turkey, Switzerland and Iceland to the United Nations on the situation of human rights and women rights in Afghanistan. Throughout these advocacy meetings and briefings, AHRDO highlighted the potential risks involved in hasty transition and chaotic offer of talks to the Afghan insurgent groups and warned about the possible repeat of the 1990s scenarios in Afghanistan.

3. AHRDO participated in a workshop on accountability at the UN Security Council where the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights and Deputy Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court also participated. AHRDO strongly intervened during the Workshop to attract international attention of lack of accountability and culture of impunity in Afghanistan and called upon the ICC to focus on Afghanistan in the same way as it has intervened in Libya and Sudan.

4. As cultural ambassadors, AHRDO presented its cultural and arts-based works and  facilitated several participatory theatre workshops in different cultural settings including professional theatre companies and universities such as the Village Playback Center based in New York. AHRDO presented lectures on peace and conflict resolution to graduate students of international peace at the University  of Georgetown (Washington) and New York University.

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