Web pages about "Afghanistan"

Afghanistan: Protect media freedom from intelligence agency interference

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:49:37 +0100

The Afghan government must prevent the country’s intelligence agency, the National Security Directorate, from suppressing media freedom, said Amnesty International today.

On Monday 28 July, NDS agents briefly detained Mohammad Nasir Fayyaz, presenter of the popular programme The Truth on Ariana TV.

The following day, Tuesday 29 July, NDS agents again detained Fayyaz and released him after one night. According to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, Fayyaz was detained for "misrepresenting" government officials on his programme on Sunday 27 July.

The NDS, according to Ariana TV, stopped the broadcast of the programme during which Fayyaz questioned the Minister of Urban Development, Youssef Pashtun, and Ismail Khan, the self-styled Emir of Herat and currently the Minister of Water and Power, about the involvement of government officials in illegal land grabbing.

According to a media report, Fayyaz has been charged with demanding 24-hour electricity for his home from Ismail Khan and “demanding a bribe” from Commerce Minister Mohammed Amin Farhang. His case has been referred to Attorney General’s office. Abdul Qadir Mirzir, spokesperson for Ariana TV, reportedly dismissed these charges as unfounded.

“The NDS has no right to interfere in this case and its involvement signifies an unwarranted government intrusion on Afghanistan’s media,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia Pacific Director. “The NDS should not become a tool for the government to intimidate its critics.”

Officially the NDS only has the authority to address national security threats. The lawful grounds for, and scope of, its powers are not publicly available.

Amnesty International urged the Afghan government to comply with the 1995 Johannesburg Principles on National Security, Freedom of Expression and Access to Information -- standards drafted by international legal experts and endorsed by the United Nations special rapporteurs on freedom of expression and on the independence of judges and lawyers.

Principle 2 (b) of the Johannesburg Principles states that “… a restriction sought to be justified on the ground of national security is not legitimate if its genuine purpose or demonstrable effect is to protect interests unrelated to national security, including, for example, to protect a government from embarrassment or exposure of wrongdoing, or to conceal information about the functioning of its public institutions...”

In 2007 the NDS detained Kamran Mir Hazar, editor of an online news website, kabulpress.org, apparently for publishing articles critical of the government's performance. In April 2007, at the instruction of the former Attorney General, Abdul Sabit, police officers raided the offices of Tolo TV to arrest journalist Hamed Haidary as well as the station head, for "incorrectly" reporting Sabit’s words in a news bulletin.

In June 2006, the NDS issued a directive demanding that media outlets restrict their reporting activities, including a restriction on coverage that is vaguely and broadly described as "against the national interest."

“It seems that Fayyaz’ arrest had nothing to do with national security, and everything to do with officials violating human rights in promotion of their own personal, and possibly illegal, interests. Every incident like this sends a chill through the spines of Afghan journalists, who are already very vulnerable to violence and intimidation,” said Sam Zarifi.

Background
Journalists and media workers in Afghanistan have come under increasing threats and attacks by both state and non-state actors and several journalists have been killed. The government, in particular the NDS and the Ulema Council (council of religious scholars), have attempted to reduce the media's independence.

University student and journalist Perwiz Kambakhsh was sentenced to death on a charge of blasphemy by a provincial court in Mazar-e Sharif in Balkh province on 22 January 2008, for allegedly downloading material from the internet that examined the role of women in Islam.

Media freedom in Afghanistan could be further restricted by a revised media law that currently awaits President Karzai's approval. It contains several ambiguous provisions that could be used to restrict freedom of expression far beyond restrictions allowed under international human rights law, including a prohibition on content that is “contrary to the principles of Islam.”

ICC in difficulty ten years after the Rome Statute

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:27:01 +0100

Thursday 17 July marks the tenth anniversary of the Rome Statute, the treaty that led to the establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Set up in 2002, the ICC is mandated to investigate and prosecute crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, when national authorities are unable, or unwilling to do so.

Lauded as one of the most ambitious steps by the international community in recent history, the ICC has made significant progress in its investigations. But its work is being obstructed by serious internal and external difficulties.

The Court’s first investigations in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Darfur region of Sudan and northern Uganda have focussed on some of the most serious human rights situations in the world. Afghanistan and Colombia are also being assessed.

Prosecuting cases is the problem. To date, the Court has issued 12 public arrest warrants, with another requested by the Prosecutor on 14 July 2008. Only four people have been arrested and surrendered for trial. The first case has been stayed. The accused may be released on fair trial grounds.

Without its own police force, the Court’s ability to prosecute cases depends upon the willingness of states to arrest and surrender those charged.

If a state fails or refuses to arrest and surrender persons to the Court, it was thought that other states and intergovernmental organizations would pressure them to do so. In practice, this is proving ineffective.

In response to the government of Sudan’s refusal to arrest and surrender former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs Ahmad Harun and Janjaweed leader Ali Kushayb to the Court, the United Nations Security Council issued a Presidential Statement in June 2008 calling for cooperation.

However, Sudan continues to refuse to implement the warrants. Four senior leaders of the Lords Resistance Army accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes in northern Uganda still remain at large.

An obstacle within the ICC emerged in June 2008, before the start of the Court’s first trial. The case against Thomas Lubanga Dyilo was stayed by the Trial Chamber to protect the right of the accused to a fair trial.

This was because the Prosecutor was unable to disclose to the defence exculpatory and mitigating evidence that had been provided confidentially by the United Nations and other organizations.

Confidentiality agreements are provided for in the Rome Statute, but only in exceptional circumstances and for the purpose of generating new evidence. A decision has been made to release the accused. Both decisions are the subject of appeals.

The possible collapse of the Court’s first case on fair trial grounds is deeply troubling. In particular, victims of the charges will be denied the opportunity to participate in the case.

However, the Trial Chamber’s decision to ensure the rights of the accused to have access to all information which could demonstrate their innocence demonstrates the Court’s determination to apply the highest standards of justice.

To date, 107 states, over half the international community, have ratified the statute. Many other states, including governments who originally opposed the statute, are in the process of ratifying.

Even the USA, which launched a worldwide campaign against the ICC, has since supported its work at the United Nations Security Council and indicated that it may cooperate with the ICC’s future investigations.

Amnesty International is a strong supporter of the Court. The organization lobbied extensively during the drafting of the Rome Statute for a just, fair and effective permanent court.

The long-term success of the Court as a central element of the new system of international justice will depend on its ability to prosecute cases. However, arrest and surrender of suspects is a matter largely outside the ICC’s control.

The supporters of the Court, therefore, have a vital role to ensure that cooperation is demanded bilaterally from states and through intergovernmental organizations. Efforts must also be taken to ensure that missions conducted by intergovernmental organizations are mandated to execute arrest warrants.

Child "enemy combatants" face Guantánamo hearings

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 11:52:09 +0100

Two people who were under 18 at the time of their detention by the US military in Afghanistan are facing military commission hearings in Guantánamo. Pre-trial hearings resumed this week in the cases of Mohammed Jawad and Omar Khadr.

These are the first commission hearings to take place since the US Supreme Court ruled last week that the Guantánamo detainees had the right to challenge their detention in the federal civilian courts. Amnesty International has an observer at the hearings.

As well as challenging the legality of the proceedings, their lawyers raised disturbing allegations of torture and ill-treatment and continuing concerns about the detainees’ physical and mental health.

Mohammed Jawad is an Afghan national who was aged 16 or 17 when detained in Kabul in December 2002. His lawyer, Air Force Major David Frakt, filed a motion to dismiss attempted murder charges against him on the ground that the US military had tortured him in Guantánamo through severe sleep deprivation and other ill-treatment.

Records revealed that Mohammed Jawad was subjected to what is known as the "frequent flyer program" in the course of a two-week period in May 2004. He was transferred to different Guantánamo cells 112 times every two hours. Mohammad Jawad had already tried to commit suicide some months before.

At the time he was subjected to the treatment, according to his lawyer, his custody records showed he had already been determined to have "no intelligence value". His record further showed only minor disciplinary infractions, such as calling out to fellow detainees in Pashto (his own language) while in isolation.

During his last appearance before a military commission in March, Amnesty International's observer noted that Mohammed Jawad was visibly agitated. At one point he removed the headphones he was wearing for interpretation, saying he had a severe headache. He put his head down on the table and did not raise it again for the rest of the proceedings.

Omar Khadr was only 15 years old when taken into US custody. The Canadian national also faces a military commission hearing today, at which the charges against him are expected to be challenged again. He is reported to have complained recently of feeling unwell and suffering dizziness, although a military health professional who visited him reported yesterday that he found him to be "in good health with no complaints or problems."

Amnesty International's observer made a request jointly with other NGO observers from Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First and the ACLU on Tuesday to be allowed to view the cells where Mohammed Jawad and Omar Khadr are currently held, because of concerns raised about the impact of their conditions on their mental and physical health. No response has yet been received from the authorities to this request.

Amnesty International has said that that no-one under 18 should ever have been transferred to Guantánamo or that anyone who was a child at the time of the alleged crime should be subjected to a military commission. Apart from fundamental flaws in the proceedings generally, the commission have no juvenile justice provisions as required under international law.

Amnesty International has called on the US authorities to abandon the fundamentally unfair military commissions in all cases; to close Guantánamo promptly and either release or charge and try the detainees held there in US federal civilian courts.

Afghanistan: No more empty promises in Paris

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:46:02 +0100

The international community and the Afghan government have not met their pledge to provide the Afghan people, particularly women and girls, with better security, more responsive governance, and sustainable economic development, Amnesty International said today in a briefing paper issued ahead of the International Conference in Support of Afghanistan being held on 12 June in Paris.

The Paris conference will bring together representatives of 80 donors and organizations operating in Afghanistan to review the implementation of the 2006 Afghanistan Compact Agreement. Amnesty International found many of the benchmarks established for the Afghan government and its international supporters remain unmet.

"The biggest advance in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taleban is that many Afghans now dare to hope for a better future,” said Amnesty International.

“But six years after the international community helped bring President Hamid Karzai to power, Afghans face increasing insecurity, a burgeoning drug trade, lack of respect for rule of law and human rights, a weak and inept justice system, poor governance and endemic corruption."

The Afghanistan Compact, agreed at an international conference held in London 31 January - 1 February 2006, identified three major areas of development for Afghanistan’s future – security, governance (including rule of law and human rights) and economic development. It established benchmarks for performance in each area, to be met by the Afghan government as well as international donors.

The Afghan government has put forward a new US$50 billion Afghan National Development Strategy that focuses on strengthening the Afghan government so it can deliver better governance and improve respect for human rights, bolster security and increase economic development. While this new Afghanistan National Development Strategy is more realistic and detailed than its predecessors, it is still short of specific, credible benchmarks.

"The donors themselves admit the ‘serious funding gap’ between what they promised the Afghan people and what they have delivered,” said Amnesty International.

“What makes it worse is that the international community and the Afghan government have focused on short-term stability and security by relying on ostensibly pro-government warlords and corrupt officials, instead of prioritizing human rights and the rule of law.”

Amnesty International called on the Afghan government and its international supporters to:

Improve the rule of law by expanding current training programmes for judges and lawyers, strengthening the independence of the judiciary, and re-establishing the de facto moratorium on the death penalty that remained in place until October 2007;
Improve security for ordinary Afghans by creating a joint Afghan-international body to monitor the conduct of the notoriously inept and corrupt Afghan National Police, in particular by creating an oversight body that can respond to complaints about ANP abuses;
Improve governance by establishing a mechanism to monitor and vet senior government appointments, as promised under the Afghanistan Compact;
Ending impunity by implementing the Transitional Justice Action Plan, as explicitly endorsed by the Afghanistan Compact;
Improve the participation of women in all Afghan governance institutions, as required under the Compact benchmark, and implement agreed legal and practical protections for women and girls in the judiciary and the criminal justice system;
Strengthen freedom of expression by rejecting new restrictions included in a media bill now before President Karzai, and pardoning 23-year-old journalist Perwiz Kambakhsh, whose detention has had a strong, chilling effect on free speech.

Amnesty International called for better representation of Afghan civil society in monitoring and implementing the provisions of the Afghanistan Compact.

“The real voice of the Afghan people is not always heard at important policy meetings” said Amnesty International.

“The point of exercises like the Paris conference should be to support the Afghan people and their government’s efforts and ability to uphold their human rights.”

Read Briefing paper (ASA 11/007/2008) Afghanistan: No more empty promises in Paris

Afghanistan arms fuel further abuse

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 15:24:45 +0100

The US and other NATO states are supplying arms to Afghanistan that could be used for serious human rights violations, warns Amnesty International.

At this week's NATO Summit in Bucharest (2-4 April), the organization is expressing its concern about excessive quantities of small arms, light weapons and munitions being supplied by member states of NATO and allied states to local Afghan security forces and police. There is a substantial risk that such equipment will be used for serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.

Amnesty International fears that civilians caught up in the armed conflict in the country are increasingly vulnerable to failures by all sides – including the Afghan government, international military forces and the Taleban - to uphold their international legal obligations.

Despite millions of small arms already being found within Afghanistan, 409,022 more small arms have been imported and redistributed since 2002, according to data received by Amnesty International. This is despite a ceiling for all Afghan security forces (including police, army and security services) of just 182,000 people.

This level of supply is disturbing, given that the population is already saturated and abused with small arms. Processes to reform Afghanistan's security sector are faltering. Vital safeguards regarding arms - such as stockpile management, human rights training, control of the use of force and transparent oversight - are still not in place.

Governments must take action to end violence against schoolgirls

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:22:31 +0000

On the eve of International Women’s Day, Amnesty International called on governments and school officials around the world to take concrete action to end violence against girls, particularly inside schools, in a new report published today.

“Governments are failing girls at the most basic level. Their failure to address violence against girls in schools is unacceptable,” said Widney Brown, Senior Director at Amnesty International.

“Virtually every government claims to abhor violence against women and girls. Schools are a place where governments have direct responsibility and can start backing up their words with concrete actions.”

The report Safe Schools: Every Girl’s Right, shows how violence in and around educational institutions remains pervasive. From Mexico to China, girls continuously face the risk of being sexually assaulted, harassed or intimidated on their way to school or once inside school premises.

Some girls suffer violence more than others. Particular groups, such as ethnic minorities, lesbians or girls with disabilities, are at higher risk than their peers.

At school, many girls face psychological violence, bullying and humiliation. Some are caned or beaten in school in the name of discipline. Girls are threatened with sexual assault by other students, offered higher marks by teachers in exchange for sexual favours, and even raped in the staff room.

A 2006 study of schoolgirls in Malawi found that 50 percent of girls said they had been touched in a sexual manner without permission by either their teachers or a fellow student.

Equally, a study in the USA found that 83 percent of girls in grades 8 to 11 (aged around 12 to 16) in public schools experienced some form of sexual harassment.

Attacks against girls in schools have both immediate and long-term impacts.

Not only do girls suffer from the impact of violence on their physical and mental health, but in the context of education, the violence may cause girls to drop out and lose any hope of escaping poverty and political marginalization.

“Ensuring that girls have meaningful access to education is widely recognized as key to women’s empowerment. Being denied an education will follow a woman all her life,” said Brown.

Very often, aggressive and inappropriate sexual advances by boys in schools are dismissed as “just boys being boys”. Such behaviour often goes unreported and unpunished, sending out the message that violence against women and girls is acceptable and that male aggression is the norm.

People interviewed by Amnesty International in Haiti, for example, agreed that violence was widespread in schools but was rarely reported. Corporal punishment, the use of whips, beatings with electric cables, forcing children to kneel in the sun, food deprivation, sexual abuse, insults and psychological abuse of girls was common by teachers and administrative staff.

Schools in conflict zones represent a particular threat to the lives of girls attending them.

The provision of education is also disrupted in many ways where schools, teachers and students are targets of armed violence. In Afghanistan, the burning down of schools, particularly girls’ schools, and threats or assaults against girls who attend school have become increasingly common in recent years.

Although international law requires universal primary education to be free of charge, many schools continue to levy charges. School fees and other charges are an insurmountable obstacle for many children, and girls are more likely to be excluded from school than boys when there aren’t enough resources in the family.

Amnesty International has drawn up a six-point plan aimed at government officials and bodies, including school officials, which includes, amongst other recommendations:

Enacting and enforcing appropriate laws, policies and procedures prohibiting all forms of violence against girls, including corporal punishment, verbal abuse, harassment, physical violence, emotional abuse, and sexual violence and exploitation.
Creating national plans of action in order to create a safe environment for girls. Those should include guidelines for schools and compulsory training for teachers and students.
Teachers, school authorities and other state officials must promptly respond to reports of violence and ensure that a proper follow up mechanism is in place. That must include effective investigations and criminal prosecutions when appropriate and providing support services, including medical treatment, for victims and survivors.

Finally, Amnesty International is calling on governments working to achieve the 2000 Millennium Development Goals to address violence and discrimination against girls. The goals, which aim to eradicate poverty, include calls for universal primary education and gender equality, but they measure progress by the number of girls in class, without seeking to address violence and discrimination that keeps or pushes girls out of school.

“While supporting efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, Amnesty International believes that achieving gender equality in education requires increased commitment and an immediate effort to stop violence against schoolgirls. It’s difficult to learn when every school day is a struggle against violence,” said Widney Brown.

Safe Schools: Every Girl's Right (report, 7 March 2008)

Afghanistan: Stop transfer of detainees

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:59:50 +0000

Amnesty International called on NATO defence ministers as they meet in Lithuania to suspend all transfers of detainees from the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to Afghan authorities on the grounds that detainees face substantial risk of torture and ill-treatment. The International community must engage more seriously in the reform of the detention sector in Afghanistan.

These grave concerns were set out in AI’s report of 13 November 2007: Afghanistan Detainees transferred to torture: ISAF complicity? (Ref ASA 11/011/2007), which details allegations of torture and other ill-treatment suffered by detainees after being handed to the National Directorate of Security, Afghanistan’s intelligence service, by Canadian NATO troops.

Canadian government reports released as part of a court case in Canada have shown that Canadian forces have known about allegations of torture, including against the Governor of Kandahar, since mid-2007.

It was also revealed that Canadian forces stopped transfers in November 2007. However Canada has refused to explain their new procedures for handling detainees. The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) has called for access to monitor detainees held by Canadian forces who have not been transferred to Afghan authorities. AI understands that Canadian forces are currently holding more than 18 detainees.

Public Document
****************************************
For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566 or email: press@amnesty.org
International Secretariat, Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW, UK
www.amnesty.org

Video: Moazzam Begg read Poems from Guantánamo

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 15:56:05 +0000

Video placeholder

Moazzam Begg, former detainee, reads his own poem Homeward Bound, written in Guantánamo.

Moazzam Begg, a British citizen, was held for 11 months in US custody at Bagram air base in Afghanistan, followed by three years in Guantánamo before his release in January 2005. He has recently published a memoir of his experience: Enemy Combatant: My Imprisonment at Guantanamo, Bagram and Kandahar.

Video: Riz Ahmed reads Poems from Guantánamo

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:41:50 +0000

Riz Ahmed reads Jumah al-Dossari’s poem

"Death Poem" by Jumah al Dossari

Video placeholder

"Take my blood.
Take my death shroud and
The remnants of my body.
Take photographs of my corpse at the grave, lonely.
Send them to the world,
To the judges and
To the people of conscience,
Send them to the principled men and the fair-minded.
And let them bear the guilty burden, before the world,
Of this innocent soul.
Let them bear the burden, before their children and before history,
Of this wasted, sinless soul,
Of this soul which has suffered at the hands of the 'protectors of peace'."

Jumah al-Dossari’s poem is read here by Riz Ahmed, the actor who appeared in the film "Road to Guantánamo". Jumah al-Dossari, who was released in 2007, was held in Guantánamo for more than five years and had been in solitary confinement since the end of 2003. He tried to kill himself more than a dozen times.

This poem was written as part of a suicide letter Jumah al-Dossari left for his lawyer when he had given up hope of ever seeing his family again. He is now in Saudi Arabia completing what the Saudi Arabian authorities refer to as a reform and rehabilitation programme for returned Guantánamo detainees.

Read a transcript of Jumah al-Dossari’s full testimony.

NATO-led forces complicit in torture?

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 11:57:54 +0000

People detained in Afghanistan continue to face torture and other ill-treatment, in particular by the country's intelligence service, the National Directorate of Security (NDS). Yet, despite consistent reports of torture and other ill-treatment, including from the UN and Amnesty International,, members of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) – particularly those from Belgium, the UK, Canada, the Netherlands and Norway – have continued to hand detainees over to the NDS.

The abuses are taking place in the context of the ongoing conflict involving the Afghan government, international military forces, the Taleban and other armed groups. Over the past two years, Amnesty International has received repeated reports of torture and other ill-treatment at the hands of the NDS, including detainees being whipped, exposed to extreme cold and deprived of food. Many of them have been arrested arbitrarily and detained incommunicado, without access to lawyers and families.

By transferring individuals to locations where they are at grave risk of torture and other ill-treatment, ISAF states may be complicit in this treatment, and are breaching their international legal obligations.

The report Detainees transferred to torture: ISAF complicity? highlights cases including allegations of torture by Afghan authorities of transferred detainees; incidents where ISAF states have lost track of transferred detainees; the difficulties in independently monitoring detainees in Afghan custody and the practice of on-the-spot transfers without documentation.

Amnesty International is urging all ISAF states to suspend all transfers of detainees and hold them in their custody until effective safeguards are in place. Meanwhile, ISAF countries should promote the reform of the Afghan detention system, including by facilitating training of detention officials. The Afghan government must ensure the end of all practices of torture, other ill-treatment and arbitrary detention in the country.