United Nations Radio

A new report says arbitrary detention in Afghanistan is widespread and unacceptable, and calls for an immediate review in order to protect Afghans' human rights.

Afghan men

The report by the chief human rights officer of the UN mission in Afghanistan Norah Niland comes after more than 18 months spent monitoring Afghanistan detention facilities.

Ms. Niland told a news conference in Kabul Thursday that "arbitrary detention is widespread in Afghanistan and unacceptable." She says "everyone that is detained, lawfully or unlawfully, has rights to be respected.

"There's a practice and a history in Afghanistan that people are quite often seem to be guilty before proven innocent rather than the other way around. In judicial systems, people are innocent until they are proven guilty. So there's an attitude issue which is really a history of how practice has been done in the past."

Ms. Niland points out that "arbitrary detention violated Afghan constitutions, violated the rights of Afghans to liberty and to due process of law."

And she adds that "they are overcrowding prisons and erode confidence in the government, in the judiciary and undermine the rule of law in the country."

The report, which monitored 2,000 Afghan detentions between November 2006 and July 2008, highlights that Afghans are often detained without legal basis.

It recommends the authorities clarify and strengthen oversight and accountability, and improve coordination between institutions.

Donn Bobb, United Nations Radio.

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