International Day of the Endangered Lawyer - 24 January 2023

Collapse of legal system in Afghanistan is a human rights catastrophe: UN experts

GENEVA (20 January 2023) – The collapse of the rule of law and judicial independence in Afghanistan is a human rights catastrophe, UN experts warned today. Ahead of the International Day of the Endangered Lawyer, the UN Special Rapporteurs on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan and the independence of judges and lawyers issued a joint statement and the following remarks:

“Lawyers, judges, prosecutors and other actors involved with the legal system in Afghanistan face grave risks to their safety, and those still practicing must navigate a deeply challenging, non-independent legal system.

Lawyers in Afghanistan — especially women — are risking their lives in efforts to protect the rule of law. They need urgent support from the international community.

We are gravely concerned by the extreme exclusion of women from the legal system. In an act of brazen discrimination, the Taliban have attempted to effectively ban all women—including women judges, prosecutors, and lawyers—from participating in the legal system.

Among those removed were more than 250 women judges and hundreds of women lawyers and prosecutors. Many women judges have fled the country or gone into hiding.

Prosecutors have been systematically side-lined, and some face grave risks because of work they previously undertook investigating and prosecuting members of the Taliban and other individuals. More than a dozen prosecutors, the majority men, reportedly have been killed by unknown individuals in Kabul and other provinces. Many remain in hiding.

By suspending the 2004 Constitution, ousting all judges from the bench, stripping the Office of the Attorney General of its key role, and undertaking other similar steps, the Taliban has precipitated the collapse of the rule of law and judicial independence in Afghanistan. Instead of an independent legal system, the country has an all-male regime implementing the Taliban’s version of Sharia law. It is a human rights catastrophe.

De facto judicial positions have been filled primarily by Taliban members with a basic religious education, advised by Muftis*. Laws and rules concerning legal procedure have been suspended and women may appear only when they are parties to a dispute. Alleged perpetrators are often detained, sentenced and punished on the same day by the police and other security agencies, denying any semblance of due process or judicial review.    

We call for greater international support to lawyers, legal aid providers, and non-governmental organisations working to advance justice and human rights. Special attention should be paid to the situation faced by women lawyers and to those working toward the realisation of women and girls’ rights.

International actors should provide protection and safe passage to lawyers, judges, prosecutors, and other actors involved with the legal system, especially women, who are at risk of reprisal and attacks by the Taliban and others.

Legal professionals have faced unimaginable obstacles since Taliban de facto authorities assumed control of Afghanistan and have nonetheless persisted in their efforts to meet the legal needs of Afghan people.
They deserve far more in the way of support.

Finally, we call on the de facto authorities to immediately reverse these abusive practices that exclude women from the legal system, to protect the lives of those who worked and continue to work for the administration of justice, and take the necessary steps ensure the right to fair trial for all Afghans.”

ENDS

Full statement by the experts here.  

*Note: Muftis are Islamic scholars qualified to issue opinions on points of Sharia.

The experts: Ms. Margaret Satterthwaite is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers. Professor Satterthwaite is an international human rights scholar and practitioner with decades of experience in the field. She is a Professor of Clinical Law at New York University School of Law, where she serves as a faculty director of the Robert and Helen Bernstein Institute for Human Rights and the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice.

Mr. Richard Bennett is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan. He officially assumed duties on 1 May 2022. He has served in Afghanistan on several occasions in different capacities including as the Chief of the Human Rights Service with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

The Special Rapporteurs, Independent Experts and Working Groups are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.