Justice denied

The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) says people’s access to justice is severely curtailed.
A review six months after the issue of presidential decree number 45 that promises all Afghans equal opportunities

The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) says people’s access to justice is severely curtailed.
A review six months after the issue of presidential decree number 45 that promises all Afghans equal opportunities under law reveals that people’s ability to use courts has fallen by 45 percent in the last one year.
The AIHRC study found the presidential decree was unevenly implemented. In the absence of legal structures to carry forward justice delivery, the office of the attorney general (AG) has remained inactive in many districts.
Fahim Hakim, deputy chair of the AIHRC, who was addressing the press on Mar 3, said: “The findings of the commission are shocking. There were hopes that the access of people to justice would be increased after the issuing of the decree of the president but unfortunately the level has lowered 45 percent last year.”
He says 3,500 people were languishing in jails without trials. There were 1,400 dossiers related to land extortion and administrative corruption, but they have not been investigated. “The courts were inactive in 86 districts across 23 provinces. And, 92 districts in 22 provinces don’t have AG’s offices.”
Musa Mahmoodi, executive director of AIHRC, said human rights violations were rampant. “There were no basic standards for jails in the country. Prisoners have no access to recreational and vocational facilities. A number of 176 districts don’t have detainee centres or female jails. There are only 1,406 dossiers. The majority of prisoners are under trials,” he said.
Prisoners are also kept in “private” jails. Mahmoodi says researchers found a total of 129 people were imprisoned in private prisons. Twenty eight of these prisoners had been tortured.
“The accused people have no access to justice or courts, no defending lawyers and other facilities that jails should provide – all violations of human rights,” he said.
Moreover, there were 616 illegal militias, the AIHRC study shows.
The Ministry of Interior Affairs has dismissed the AIHRC’s allegations. Najib Nekzad, the assistant spokesperson, said: “The report is baseless. We have disarmed all the irresponsible armed groups.”
The AG’s office said while it was true their offices were not functioning in all districts, the numbers were not as high as the AIHRC says.