19 February 2010 - As a part of strengthening Afghanistan’s state institutions, United Nations human rights officers have trained about 30 members of the Afghan National Police and prosecutors on human rights in the justice sector, in the east of the country.

Four trainers from the Human Rights Unit of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) gave presentations for three days this week to Afghan officers dealing with justice from four eastern provinces of the country which are struggling to have their own fully functional state institutions to deliver justice to the people.

Organised by the US Government-funded Afghanistan Justice Sector Support Programme in Rodat district of Nangarhar province, the training covered some of the most pertinent issues like rights of the accused, domestic violence, women’s rights, child abuse, access to justice, problems arising from interpretation of Islam and the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), among others.

For Saydan Mohammad, an Afghan police officer from Achin district, the most interesting thing that was covered in the training was violence against women.

“Talking about violence against women is something new to me,” said Mr Mohammad, adding that although there might be such cases in his district, “hardly any come to the police.”

UNAMA Human Rights Officer Rasha Al-Kaisy told the participants that one of the objectives of the training was to minimise the mistakes in the justice system, thereby reducing cases of human rights violations.

“Violence is a broader term. It is not only about hurting a person physically; it’s both physically and psychologically,” Ms Al-Kaisy told police officers and prosecutors, adding that Afghanistan should have an environment where “the people can trust you and the rule of law.”

The participants had all sorts of questions like whether a father should marry a second wife if his first wife refuses to breastfeed her newly born baby, and why human rights activists are against death penalty.

One of the participants, Mujeeburahman (one name), said the human rights community should speak aloud against civilian casualties in combat.

Similar training was given to police and prosecutors last year, too.

“The two things that were constantly raised by the participants during the three-day training were women’s issues in the context of religion, and how rampant corruption can be checked only by individual efforts,” said Ms Al-Kaisy.

By Tilak Pokharel, UNAMA

Website: Afghanistan Justice Sector Support Programme