Overview of the Human Rights situation in Afghanistan Since June 2002 

The history of Afghanistan has its own pros and cons about human rights, but is notorious in terms of human rights violations and abuses in particular. The peoples rights have always been overshadowed by the state and governments policies, while their civil and political rights were most often manipulated in favour of those who were in power.

The patterns of violation have become more obvious and evidence, in particular, after 1978, when mass and arbitrary detention, extrajudicial killings, disappearance, force migration and displacement, force evicts, rape, torture and use of excessive force become very common practice by the authorities and armed groups.

A pattern of deterioration of human rights came about after collapse of Dr. Najibullahs government, the Soviet-backed regime, in which the civilians prevented practicing their basic rights and freedoms by factions and as the result of their factional fighting and power struggle.

Grave violation of human rights and patterns of visible intimidation were dominant features of the Taliban time. Resort to violence, and denial of individuals rights, particularly womens rights were all legal practice by the regime during 1996 to 2001.

After so many patterns of human rights violations, abuses, and deficits, the Bonn Conference created a flickering hope in the minds of war-affected Afghans for a peaceful, fair, and just future. Serious intimidations and treats to the ELJs delegates, assassinations of cabinet members , warlord, and low pace of tangible change in the conditions of peoples life are seen as contributing factors to extinguish peoples hope and expectations for change, which the pledges made in Tokyo Conference is an additional point to increase these expectation for better living condition.

Establishment of the Constitution Draft Commission, Judicial Reform Commission, Civil Reform Commission, printing and usage of new currency, and ratification of international treaties the International Criminal Court, Convention of Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and Optional Protocol of CRC on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict were encouraging moves from the Interim and Transitional Authorities. Though the continuing years of conflict in Afghanistan, with its both regional and international dimensions, left the country behind of its international obligations and duties on due time reporting on the treaties that Afghanistan is a party to.

Security: Security is perceived as peoples number one demand and is the main reason for the violation of the civilians rights. However, the Bonn agreement (Annex one) regarding disarmament and security arrangements puts an obligation on UN and Interim Administration to improve the security situation, to rebuild a national army and implement the DDR plan. So it was expected that the Interim Administration through presence of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), could contribute to substantially improve the security situation in Kabul and throughout the country.

Presence of irresponsible armed groups and military representation of provincial warlords in capital city of Kabul, increase in cases of robberies and lootings of peoples houses as well as aid agencies, growing incidents of attacks to aid organizations , mistreatment of IDPs and returnees, disappearances and human trafficking incident intangible achievements in the process of establishment of the National Army and Police have been hampering factors to security improvement and domination of rules of law.

Factional fighting and clashes in the north, which have left behind hundreds civilians killed or lost their properties and assets, have been occurring over and over again, while no one has been brought to account for these breaches. These factional fighting still not counted as a crime but just viewed as a misunderstanding, which would have soon mediated by a third party. But so far no one except the civilians and the people has paid for these continued misunderstandings. AIHRC has strongly condemned these factional and group fighting through its various statements and has accordingly asked the authorities to take proper measures in bringing all the culprits and war criminals into justice. The Commission in its appeals always pushed for accountability and brining the perpetrators of these grave breaches in to justice and was reminding them the obligation of Afghanistan toward International Criminal Court in order to promote accountability and prevent civilians suffering in the future.

AIHRC, however, constantly asked for the transparency in the process of recruitment and rebuilding of the national army and police, was concern during last fiscal year of the reform process in National Army and Police. AIHRC believes that the process of national army doesnt have transparency and move very slowly.

The Commission welcomes the decision of NATOs expansion to other major cities of the country and hopes that this will be complementary to the establishment of the national army and police and the enhancement of the DDR to substantially improve the security measures and situation, as well as limits the complaints about the International Coalitions Forces in the South and Eastern parts of the country .

Poppy cultivation: Poppy cultivation is one of the worse forms of the war economy, spreading widely even in those areas where had never poppy cultivation, such as the central highland and many parts of the Northern provinces. AIHRC observed in last year that the numbers of heroin processing plants were increased in Badakhshan, Helmand, Nangarhar, and other poppy cultivating areas. The commission identified that the other impact of the war economy is corruption, which has compounded the combat to poppy cultivation.

The extension teams of the opium mafia were consistently active in introducing the poppy crop, the agronomy and harvesting methods, as well as tempting financial arrangements for poor farmers. The measures adopted by the Drug Control Commission couldnt applied because of several reasons: a) the opium mafia is apparently very powerful in their networking; b) the local authorities are not powerful to implement the measure, or they are not obeying to the central government; c) no signs of application of the rules of law were evident in poppy cultivation areas; d) that most of the local commanders and leadership of the provinces are involved in opium business; e) corruption and the scourge of poverty are the main obstacles, and finally; f) the approaches and agreements implemented by the drug control offices have not been effective and fruitful project oriented and very short term.

In addition, the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and the drug mafia are disseminating information that exporting opium and heroin to western countries could be considered as Jihad.

The commissions research showed that a comprehensive community development initiative, enhanced reconstruction efforts, awareness raising campaigns, and smooth implementation of DDR is required to effectively eliminate poppy cultivation.

Economic, social, political, and human resource development: The Tokyo Conference, where a sum of USD 4.5 billion was pledged to the reconstruction of Afghanistan, was very promising to the Afghan people. Though, it would be unrealistic that overnight the changes would be occurring and tangible outcomes in post-war situation of the country would be then followed.

The engineering of the National Solidarity Programme, and the process for the development of a National Budget were both bold and encouraging measures that the ATA has initiated for the effective delivery of its services and goods, as well as enabling local communities to lead the programmes affecting their lives. Indeed capacity building of the staff involved in the implementation of the National Solidarity Plan (NSP), and the criteria the programme is based on, as well as the selection criteria for the targeted districts are key factors to the success of the NSP. Unemployment and underemployment are still major issues to be consider

The adoption of Political partys law by ATA is a positive step toward free practice of political right, including some limitation that the party law imposes on people; there were number of issues like, imposing ban on activities of specific parties, punishment of political activists, preventing people to take part freely in political decision making process( the constitution consultation ).

Freedom of demonstration has been guaranteed somehow but there were some serious violation. The rally made by the Kabul University student last years ended into violence. Police opened fire that put two dead and about 30 injured.

Human rights protection: The miserable situation of the prisons remained unchanged as before. Local commanders maintained their private detention in Kandahar, Parwan, Badakhshan, Ghazni, Ghore and some other provinces. The government assigned several missions to asses the situation of prisons and the status of prisoners in the south, west, north, and east. They could release about 763 prisoners, who did not had any charges and there were no file and case proceeding on them not with police nether with prosecutions office.

Transformation of the management of the prisons from the Ministry of Interior to the Ministry of Justice was a positive step toward protecting the rights of detainees and prisoners, but it also couldnt bring significant changes in the prisons because the Ministry of Justice was not prepared enough to handle the prisons and there was not a proper mechanism and plan foreseen prior to transformation. The MoJ had no enough financial resource and expertise. On the other hand, because of this transfer, the prison authorities reduced their attention on prisons in this regards. Prisoners have no access to washing water, health/medical facilities, and education for rehabilitation. In most of the jails, the prisoners food is provided by their relatives or given very poor food by the prison authorities. Off course adequate budget has not been allocated for many prisons in the provinces. AIHRC registered several cases of torturing the detainees. In spite of all efforts the AIHRC monitors had no access to the private detention and also the detention centres of the Intelligence Department (Riasat Amniat) in Kabul and provinces.

AIHRC has observed that in many cases the juvenile criminals have been kept with elder criminals in the same rooms and compounds. The situations of the female prisons were not good enough. Children are also kept with criminal mothers. Mr. Karzai ordered the release of many female prisoners, but some of them kept in jails for longer period by the authorities with no reason.

However, there was little progress in betterment of the livelihood situation of prison such in Hirat and Koduz. Most of these facilities have been provided by ICRC, NGOs, and somewhere by the authorities.

Land and water dispute: The long history of land and water disputes was further revived in 2002/2003. About thirty percent of the complaints received by AIHRC are related to land and water dispute. There are many cases that a house have been sold to several persons based on falls ownership documents, while the real owners are unaware of the case because he/she has been in exile. Much of these disputes refer to inherited land that has not been distributed legally to entitled descendants, while one of them has ignored others when it has sold it. There are also many cases that the houses of those people who have been member of the former regimes party or affiliated to it, have been arbitrary confiscated by commanders and then prepared the ownership document by using their authorities. There are such cases that the Supreme Court, even Chairman Karzai has re-affirmed the right of a house owner and ordered the restitution, but still the occupiers are not evacuating the premises.

To solve the increasing number of such cases, Chairman Karzai appointed a special court to deal with. As far as seen, this court further complicated the cases and caused denial of the rights of the people because it is only one-term court, which is not capable of solving such complicated land disputes. The commission identified that most of the violation regarding property rights is due to systematic problems and incapability of the special property court, lack of proper policy in the government regarding housing and property issues. However the commission welcomes the policy developed by the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) regarding land and property issues, but still has concerns about the lack of a national policy on adequate housing and property. The commission has recommended to the government of developing of a national policy on adequate housing and property issues and increasing in number of terms of the special property court on Sep 13, 03, as well as a specific recommendation to the Constitution commission . There is no positive response nor from government neither from the Constitution Commission. The final draft of the constitution have been submitted to the president doesnt include such an article to ensure adequate housing to the citizens.

Bribery and corruption in judicial system and law enforcement departments is an including factor in increasing these types of right violations. The entitled persons also have to give bribe, otherwise he/she loss the rights.

Forced purchase of houses by commanders has also been reported. Powerful commanders now want to have big houses and farm land. They, therefore, force their neighbours by different means to sell their houses or farm land. Now there are some commanders who are ready to by the neighbours houses located in the same street as his house. The past years experience has shown that such forced purchasing disturbs the neighbours and put them at risk whenever a conflict is flared in the area.

The government has also denying the rights of people to land. The crucial example is the case of land grub by the high authorities in Shirpor, attached to Wazir Akbar Khan .

Environment protection: It seems that the present administration is not keen enough to environmental degradation in Afghanistan, or not capable to cope with this issue, while the people, in accordance with the international bill of rights, have the right to have healthy and sound environment. Deforestation and desertification is further extending. Excessive soil erosion and flood cases endangered the lives of people. One of the side-effect of the conflict is the natural degradation. Most of the plantations established by the government have been deliberately cut down, and the vegetation cover of the land has removed. Endangered species of animals and birds have been moved, killed or smuggled abroad. The government has not been able to take efficient step in stopping overuse of the forests, rangeland and natural resources. No efficient plans have been launched so far to substitute the fuel wood brought from the natural forests.

In cities, air and water pollution is a serious threat to peoples lives. The waste just runs into the open drainage ditches. The street garbage even remains for month, but the municipalities dont remove them, nor contracting with private organization to do so. There is no proper city sanitation scheme. The new high building construction, for example in Kabul, is mushrooming now but without planning the sewage system. Ninety percent of the houses latrines are open air type in cities. On the other hand, most of the households use the water from the shallow wells, which are highly contaminated. A clear indicator is the high number of pharmacy shops increased in cities and towns comparing to the number of bakeries exist. But, in some cities like Herat and some part of Kandahar cities, the efforts made for improving the city sanitation is appreciated.

Freedom of expression: The AIHRC welcomes the very positive improvement in respecting freedom of expression rights of citizen by the authority despite the few cases like Aftab Weekly which over shadowed this improvement, since January 2003. Amendment of press law however there is need for more amendments, which fortunately is under way; is another remarkable achievement by the TA during last year. The number of private publications had increased. There are good number of print and electronic media involved in producing and broadcasting good programs freely in provinces and even remote areas of the country using the international assistance.

The public gatherings in Kabul and provinces where people have a chance to express their views freely and openly, is a sign of improvement in practicing the rights to freedom of expression.

In spite of this development, the Afghanistan TV, which was factionalized, dominated by one Tanzeem (party). In most of the provinces, publication and other media activities kept at very low profile. Most of the NG publications in provinces were overshadowed by the power of local commanders. In Herat, for example, some of the publications are influenced by Ismail Khan, the governor of Herat. Members of the Professional Council of Herat (Shurai Muttakhasisan) were intimidated by Ismail Khan. Ahmed Bihzad, reporter of Radio Liberty, who was reporting the opening ceremony of AIHRC office in Herat, was beaten by Ismail Khan Intelligence agents at the corridor of the inauguration hall. He then had to leave the country. Mr. Zuhoor Afghan the Chief Editor of Erada weekly news, Mr. Mahdawi the Chief Auditor of Aafab weeky news, The Chief Editor of Ferda weekly news, editor of Talyia published in Baghlan and editor of Kohandazh in Kondoz province, and Marya Sazawar, a female journalist in Mazar were intimidated by local authorities and commanders, who were threatened by local commanders, local authorities even by attorney General and Supreme Judge.

Access to education: A considerable improvement have been seen in the field of right to access to education particularly girls access to education since the establishment of Interim Administrations. Thanks to UNICEF and the Ministry of Education that arranged a broad education campaign in the spring of 2002, titled Bia ba Maktab Birawim wa Sabaq Bikhwanim (Lets go to school and study). Under this programme, considerable amount of fund and resources were mobilized. As far was possible, textbooks and teacher materials were provided to city schools.

Since last year the number of schools has been increased 10 times, however refreshing seminars were arranged for school teachers and managers of the MoE, but access to good schools still is an important issue to be solved.

However, most of the attention in education was confined in Kabul and big cities. Rural student were deprived of assisted facilities. Rural schools have not or very little benefited from assistance. Due to poverty, parents dont send their young male children to schools because they have to work on their farm land or go outside the country for laboring. In many parts of the country, because of discrimination attitudes, girls after eight are not allowed to go to formal schools, or there is no girl school at all in the area.

Because of miss-management and low teaching quality, many parents are not happy with prevailing education situation and children are reluctant to go to schools. Many parents cannot afford to send their children to private courses; on the other hand, private courses are not available at district and village level.

Bribe business incredibly corrupted the university environment. For enrolment into well-known faculties, such as faculties of Medicines, Engineering, and Law, the bribe per person has increased to one thousand US$. Many students have been enrolled in the named faculties as per order of the high level commanders, or through giving bribes to the university staff. The teaching quality has badly diminished in recent years. Such situation has negatively affected the quality of higher education in the country.

In recent months number of attacks on girls schools have been increased and the commission have been registered more than ten cases of girls schools burning and intimidations to the families of to not send their daughters to schools in Logar, Kandahar, Balkh, Jilalabad and Ghor provinces.

Rule of Law: It would be very pessimistic to say that there is no improvement in field of rule of law have not been made in the country, the first steps toward bringing rule of law have initiated so for; Training of judges, lawyers, prosecutors and legal students has been initiated by the Judicial Commission, with three training courses. Likewise the process of legal review and revision of laws is ongoing.

One encouraging sign of early progress made in judicial reform comes from the evaluation of judges themselves serving today in various parts of the country. Several of the provincial chief justices and judges that work closely with AIHRC were worked hard to manage to restart their court houses despite the physical destruction of war-time. In many court houses, there are visible signs of physical reconstruction. Even in dilapidated and broken down courts in small towns, there are signs of busy activity. Court houses are crowded without exception at district and provincial level.

However, this does not mislead us to the major challenges the judicial reform process has to face. One of the biggest challenges the Judiciary process is that the courts in most of the provinces are under the control of whichever faction has power on the ground. Regional or local commanders have either put in place persons loyal to them as judges or simply manipulate the judges installed by the Supreme Court. At least four judges and chief judges were dismissed by local authorities and power holder in provinces because they issued judgement not on benefits of the commanders or the persons loyal to them, there is no question of fair or free trial not only in provinces but also in Kabul. One of the very famous case one can give example of a fail trail is the Abdullah shahs case. The AIHRCs monitoring of several cases shows that the principles of fair and free trial have not been observed during case proceedings. Another related problem across provincial and district courts appears to be corruption and bribery. Poor people who are not able to pay the bribe are suffering for long time in detentions and waiting for judgements.

Up on collapse of Taliban all police post and chief of police in entire country took over by successor of Taliban, most of them are not trained police officer and are not familiar with rules and procedure. However in some areas, initial police structure was later changed by the Ministry of the Interior. Soon after the transition, the MOI called back police officers who had served under previous regimes and had fled or been expelled by the Taliban. Several former officers therefore have returned to their posts. In many areas whereas the new police chiefs are former Mujahideen commanders without police experience, they often have experienced police officers serving under them. The AIHRC identified 25 chief of police out of 32 in provinces during December 2002 to June 2003 who are not with police experience and professional police background.

An important development that has influenced police reform was the appointment of Mr. Jalali as the Minister of the Interior. Since his appointment, Mr. Jalali, has made efforts to accelerate police reform and to enhance the image of the police and the MOI as a whole.

The establishment of a rapid reaction force to meet security needs rapidly and transfer and removal of police chiefs known to be corrupt or underperforming are the improvements that at the local level are welcomed and been respected. In many occasions, AIHRC has received proper co-operation from MoI, the joint missions of MoI and AIHRC a long with UNAMA have been launched and several projects and missions of AIHRC have been assisted by MoI. There were positive responses to the appeals of AIHRC by the MOI. The removal of chief of Kabul police, removal of chief police of Farah province, transfer of head of criminal investigation of Herat and Badakhshan Provinces are the few examples.

In March 2003, the establishment of a human rights (HR) unit within the MOI was also an important development.

The establishment of the constitution drafting and reviewing commissions are another major and important development in the country. However the national consultation on constitution was not a complete democratic process and certain level of intimidation and influence have been registered by AIHRC of the process, but for the first time this process provided peoples participation in constitution making process and ensured their political rights in participating in political decision making of the country.

Economy: The launch of the new Afghan currency as seen as critical factor of improvement of rights to good living condition in the country. Creating of job opportunities had been increased and National Solidarity Plan (NSP) was a major step toward improvement of the living condition of those people living in rural areas.

In spite of all above mentioned efforts the present unemployment problem is challenging. Those educated people are not recruited by the government departments, because of its low deploying capacity. On the other hand, NGOs are also not capable to employ the huge number of people, who have lost their job in the government departments. The foreign investment in large project has not taken place so for to solve the unemployment problems. There are thousands of Pakistani labours are busy in construction inside Afghanistan, while Afghan labours are unemployed. It shows the lack of national economic policy within the country.

Even high rank manager of the government departments are given inadequate salary. The monthly salary of a head of a department is 1800 Afghanis, equivalent to 40 UD$, while a six-member family need 100 US$ per month to provide only modest food staff. But, they need cash for medicine, house rent, clothes, fuel, sanitary materials and other basic needs, as well.

There are thousands of support-less widows, who are bread winners for their children and families. Young children have to work to contribute to the family food. There is no social security measures adopted so far. The pension remuneration is 1-4 US $ per month.

Finally, AIHRC believes that improvement of human rights in the country in the past twelve months brought more optimism to the human rights community of Afghanistan. The commission does believe that there will be no change unless to challenge all the negative traditions and practices that fundamentalised the society, which was further reinforced by three decades of civil war. There are strong challenges toward making human rights a reality in this country, but there are commitment and promises among each and individual Afghans that gives hope and feed more confidence to the newly established Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission.