Press briefing by UN expert on Human Rights in Afghanistan

 

(Issued on 29 October 2004.)

Cherif Bassiouni, the United Nations Independent Expert of the Commission on Human Rights on the situations of human rights in Afghanistan, told a news briefing at Headquarters this afternoon of steps that should be taken by the Government of that country.  He said the Afghan Government could and should immediately adopt tough measures to end the shortage of prison facilities for women, and of food for their children.  It should also end the practice of offering young girls in marriage as payment of blood money or debts, and the widespread child abduction and trafficking throughout Afghanistan.

He said Afghanistan had just two prisons for women.  One was in Kandahar.  The other, in Kabul, housed 40 women and their children in extremely cramped quarters.  Virtually no basic social services existed for the children, forcing their jailed mothers to share food rations with their offspring.  Nor were there any prisons or judges in the so-called “districts” -- areas largely under the control of warlords.  Women were convicted by tribal judges without any valid legal process and on charges of crimes committed by a male family member.  In the absence of prisons they were forced to serve out sentences in the home of the district tribal chief, as well as beg the chief to take in their children.  Once under the chief’s care, both mother and child became slaves of the chief’s entire household and were subjected to all forms of abuse.

Mr. Bassiouni also expressed concern over the rampant kidnapping and smuggling of young children to work abroad in the carpet and other industries, which went unreported by the police, and the lawful practice of giving young girls in marriage as payment of “blood money” or a way to settle family debts.  He said he had urged interim Afghan President Hamid Karzai to pass a law making the practice illegal.  Public awareness campaigns were needed to bring attention to such human rights abuses.  He noted that he was pleased that President Karzai, at Mr. Bassiouni’s urging, had completed the release of 849 detainees held for nearly 30 months in the Pol e-Charkhi prison without valid grounds for detention.

While such problems could be tackled immediately, Mr. Bassiouni warned, the broader issues of overall security -- including weakening the hold of the drug trafficking trade on the economy, overhaul of the education system and formation of a banking system to create the proper climate for economic development and establishment of the rule of law -- would take time.  It was unrealistic to expect a new Government to effectuate all necessary reforms in a country where ongoing civil conflict had left 1.5 million people dead, 7 million displaced, and the economy and infrastructure shattered.

To a great extent, he said, local warlords controlled the country and the opium trade ran the economy.  Armed men loyal to warlords totalled 100,000 while the Afghan army had just 10,000 soldiers.  This year, poppy cultivation would yield an estimated $1.3 billion in income.  The entire Government budget, in contrast, was $500 million.  The Government had the capacity of raising just $200 million.  Refugees returning to Afghanistan often had no rights over the land and property.  Many were forced to work in poppy cultivation to survive.

Mr. Bassiouni also expressed concern over the lack of a Status of Forces Agreement between the United States-led coalition forces in Afghanistan and the Karzai Government.  The coalition forces were working independently of the sovereign Government.  The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had been denied access, as had Mr. Bassiouni, to inspect the forces’ detention facilities in Bagram, Kandahar and at least 14 military bases, in which there had been alleged cases of torture and abuse.

Answering questions about the efforts of civil society organizations to provide food and other basic services to children living in prisons, Mr. Bassiouni said he had contacted and urged all local non-governmental organizations and international groups operating in the region to do that.  He had also urged President Karzai to ask the Interior Minister to issue a general directive to the police to train officers to report human rights violations.  However, many officials felt that the statistics were exaggerated and denied the existence of such abhorrent practices.

As to whether it was more effective to “beef up” security considerably than to support provincial reconstruction teams, he said that while such teams would score some successes, they would vary from province to province.  Such teams alone would not reduce and eventually eliminate the power of the warlords.  The central Government must also have power of enforcement.  A central, comprehensive approach was also needed for training police and judges, as well as building courts and prisons.  At present, that was happening on a piecemeal basis, with individual countries supporting select projects.

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