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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

AFGHANISTAN: Rights violations on the rise, says commission

KABUL, 16 September 2003 (IRIN) - The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) has confirmed that human rights violations are on the rise throughout the country. "Unfortunately forsix months the graph of human rights violation is increasing day by day," Nadir Nadiri, a spokesperson for AIHRC, told IRIN in the capital Kabul on Monday.

Although more instances of human rights abuses are currently reported due to more effective monitoring, Nadiri said continued extra-judicial killings, arbitrary detention and the presence of unofficial prisons run by warlords were the major concerns of AIHRC. "There is no rule of law, the police that are responsible for the rule of law, they themselves are violators and are acting against the law," the spokesperson claimed.

He said AIHRC had registered 634 violations since June 2003,including extra judicial killings, rape, the trafficking of women and children, the widespread destruction of public and private property and arbitrary detention. According to an AIHRC report issued this week, the majority of cases reported related to the destruction of private houses, evictions and forced occupations.

The spokesperson maintained that the majority of detainees in Kabul and the provinces were in custody because of property disputes. "The local authorities, mainly police and governors, are arbitrarily detaining those in a property dispute who don't have money to pay or don't have any influence with the authorities," he explained.

According to AIHRC, there are a number of private jails belonging to the commanders and warlords in provinces, while some in positions of power and influence are using official prisons as their private jails too.

The United Nations in Kabul has confirmed that the human rights situation in Afghanistan is still one of concern. According to a report by the United Nations Assistant Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), violations are exacerbated by a lack of adequate national security and law enforcement capacity as well as the weakness of the justice system.

"What is very important is the reform of the security sector that will enable Afghanistan to have again a working justice system that people can trust and go and see injustice is readdressed," Manoel de Almieda e Silva, a UNAMA spokesperson, told IRIN following the report of AIHRC. UNAMA said that abuses took place countrywide, most often by the forces under the control of regional factions or local commanders.

AIHRC stressed that the credibility of Karzai's government was on the line as Kabul had repeatedly failed to act against human rights violations. "Despite requests and recommendations and AIHRC lobbying for accountability, the government did not bring those who violated human rights to justice," said the rights activist noting that failure to act encouraged perpetrators to continue.

The government has said it does not have the resources to enforce law and order. But the Afghan Interior ministry has said it has started and accelerated a police training programme which will enable it to present 25,000 professional police officers and soldiers within a year, which will significantly contribute to an improved human rights situation.

"The programmes are aimed at existing policemen who have had little or no previous police training and cover the democratic principles of policing, human rights and basic law as well as policing techniques such as arrests," said Afghan Interior minister Ali Ahmad Jalali.

Theme(s): (IRIN) Conflict, (IRIN) Gender Issues, (IRIN) Human Rights

[ENDS]

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