VIII. HUMAN RIGHTS
82. Human rights remain a key issue in Afghanistan,
particularly in relation to ethnicity and gender. Recent reports
from UNAMA and Human Rights Watch (HRW) indicate that abuses are
still widespread, particularly in Sharestan, Daikundi and Herat.[295]
Human rights abuses inside Afghan prisons have also been reported,
especially against those who were associated with the Taliban
regime. We have expressed our concern earlier about imprisonment
and punishment of the militia men of regional power holders while
the power holders themselves have escaped prosecution, and have
recommended that this is seriously investigated. In October 2002
a UN Special Envoy with a mandate from the UN Commission on Human
Rights, visited mass graves and has recommended an international
inquiry on human rights abuses in Afghanistan. She noted that
mass killings which had occurred before, and throughout the Taliban's
rule had not entirely ceased with the regime's demise. Although
there had been a dramatic decrease in the number of killings,
the continuing power of the gun meant there was a prevailing atmosphere
of fear, especially outside Kabul.[296]
Changing this culture of conflict is the only way to ensure better
protection of human rights and this will necessarily entail the
integration of human rights into not only the constitution, law
and policy but also into the framework of all institutions including
the police and military. Human rights abuses perpetrated in the
past by those regional power holders since incorporated into the
Transitional Administration have been ignored by both the Transitional
Administration and the international community. This has been
a policy necessary to ensure workable government.[297]
The task now is to create a constitution, build institutions
and a structure of accountability within which these regional
power holders have to operate. We hope that the Human Rights Commission
will be a vehicle for this.
83. At the Loya Jirga, President Karzai announced
the creation of Commissions to address key issues facing the Transitional
Administration. Four were given a mandate in the Bonn accord including
a Human Rights Commission which was given a remit to educate,
investigate and potentially adjudicate a variety of human rights
questions.[298] Others
have been established since. The Commissions are intended as a
means to involve Afghanistan's best and brightest in re-thinking
and resolving the country's problems but it is unclear what their
role and remit is and how they relate to their counterpart ministries.[299]
A recent AREU report raised the question of the independence of
the human rights commission, rightly pointing out that the spirit
of the Bonn Agreement was that it would be independent.[300]
If the human rights commission is government-led its independence
will be compromised and as such its composition should be reconsidered.
The following questions still have to answered: What relationship
does it have with the courts and with the Ministry of Justice?
Will the Commission be resourced to carry out its full mandate
of monitoring, investigating, and educating? How will the Human
Rights Commission deal with the issue of accountability for past
crimes? How might the Commission act as a deterrent to future
human rights abuses?
295 Afghanistan Monthly Review, British Agencies
Afghanistan Group, October 2002, All Our Hopes Are Crushed:
Violence and Repression in Western Afghanistan, Human Rights
Watch, November 5 2002 Back
296
Afghanistan Monthly Review, British Agencies Afghanistan
Group, October 2002 Back
297
For details of the incorporation of regional power holders see:
The Afghan Transitional Administration: Prospects and Perils',
International Crisis Group Afghanistan briefing paper, 30 July
2002, Q61, Afghanistan: Torture and Political Repression in
Herat: U.S. and U.N warlord strategy fails Afghan people,
Human Rights Watch Press Release, November 5, 2002. Back
298
The Afghan Transitional Administration: Prospects and Perils',
International Crisis Group Afghanistan briefing paper, 30 July
2002 Back
299
Ibid. Back
300
Strategic Coordination in Afghanistan, Nicholas Stockton,
Afghanistan Evaluation and Research Unit, August 2002. Back
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