JALALABAD - A workshop focused on detainee rights brought together officials from judicial institutions in Jalalabad as part of a series of UNAMA-backed advocacy events and initiatives.

Supported by the regional office of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), the workshop drew representatives from the National Security Department, the Afghan National Police, and civilian and military courts. One key outcome of the meeting was participants agreeing to establish a committee in the eastern province of Nangarhar to protect detainee rights.

Since 2004, the UN Security Council has mandated UNAMA to support Afghan efforts to strengthen rule of law institutions. Although torture is prohibited and criminalized under Afghan law and international law, a UNAMA report issued in February 2015 found that one-third of detainees interviewed had endured ill-treatment or torture.

Nangarhar’s Chief Judge, Mohammad Ashraf Amin, spoke out against ill-treatment, torture and forced confessions, saying that judges should refuse to accept forced confessions during trials and that perpetrators of such offences should be prosecuted.

Sabrina Hamidi, AIHRC’s eastern provinces head, called on judicial officials to fully implement the Presidential decree on the elimination of torture and ill-treatment of detainees and follow the 2015 national action plan on the elimination of torture, elements which include legislative reform and discrediting torture in the public sphere.

Other meeting participants expressed a commitment to accelerate efforts to eliminate torture and ill-treatment in Afghan detention facilities.

UNAMA is mandated to support the Afghan Government and relevant international and local non-governmental organizations to assist in the full implementation of the fundamental freedoms and human rights provisions of the Afghan Constitution and international treaties to which Afghanistan is a State party, in particular those regarding the full enjoyment by women of their human rights.