NAME OF MECHANISM

Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (Alternative Process)

http://www.aihrc.org.af

YEARS OF OPERATION

2004

MANDATE AND OPERATIONS

Mandate: The Commission which is a permanent governmental human rights monitoring body, undertook research to assess the views of the Afghan people on transitional justice measures for the country.

Result: More than 6000 Afghans have been consulted. 90% wanted perpetrators to be banned from government positions. 40% demanded the prosecutions of “notorious perpetrators”. 69% have been victims of crimes against humanity.

A call for Justice: A National Consultation on Past Human Rights Abuses - January 30, 2005. [Click here for the report]

The report recommends:

• Establishment of a special prosecutor’s office
• Establishment of a war crimes tribunal
• Process to vet government officials based on their human rights record [ICTJ News / BBC]

LATEST UPDATE

January 2008: President Karzai accepted the report and committed himself to the implementation of the recommendations. To this end he appointed a 3-member panel, including his senior advisor, to come up with a strategy for their implementation. The 'Action Plan of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan for Peace, Justice and Reconciliation' was presented at an international conference in the Hague in June 2005 and adopted by the Afghan Government in December 2005. However it has yet to be implemented. The deadlines set by the Action Plan have not been met and so almost nothing has been done to ensure that the recommendations are acted on.

The Action Plan was divided into five key points: acknowledgment of past crimes; truth seeking and the documentation of human rights violations; the promotion of reconciliation and unity; accountability to prevent impunity; and justice for all. Of these, the first has been partly addressed by the government, while the others have, at best, not been implemented, and at worst, have been ignored completely. [IRIN]

Blatantly ignoring one of the other recommendations made by the AIHRC report - that government officials should be vetted according to their human rights record - many well-known human rights abusers have been given important government posts. [IJTJ]

And in controvension of the recommendations for accountability and justice, in March 2007, the President, Hamid Karzai signed a controversial bill providing a blanket amnesty for war crimes committed during the conflict which lasted until 2002. Karzai had initially claimed that he would not agree to such an amnesty, but the President was pressured into signing the bill by former Mujahideen leaders, who have a strong presence in the post-Taliban government. The amnesty provides total immunity to all war criminals in return for their involvement in a process of national reconciliation. This goes against international law, which requires the Afghan government to investigate and prosecute war crimes. [IRIN]