CAT/C/AFG/CO/2
14.
The State party should release all persons detained arbitrarily or without legal
grounds and should ensure the right to a fair trial for all detained or arrested persons.
The State party should ensure that all persons found responsible for arbitrary
detentions are sanctioned with appropriate penalties.
Situation in Kandahar province
15.
While aware of the difficulties in other provinces of Afghanistan, such as Farah,
Herat and Nangarhar, the Committee is deeply concerned by the numerous reports brought
to its attention concerning the situation in Kandahar province, in which the following were
identified: (a) the worrisome number of detainees of the National Directorate of Security
and the national police who have allegedly experienced torture or ill-treatment, including
suffocation, crushing of the testicles, water forcibly pumped into the stomach and electric
shocks; and (b) the allegations that the national police have been responsible for
incommunicado detention, enforced disappearances, mass arbitrary detention and
extrajudicial killings, during counter-insurgency operations. The Committee is particularly
concerned by the numerous and credible allegations indicating that General Abdul Raziq,
the Afghan National Police Commander in Kandahar, is widely suspected of complicity, if
not personal implication, in severe human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings and
the settlement of secret detention centres (arts. 2, 4, 10-14 and 16).
16.
The Committee urges the State party to take immediate measures to ensure
that:
(a)
All allegations of torture or ill-treatment in Kandahar are promptly,
thoroughly and impartially investigated by a fully independent body;
(b)
All alleged perpetrators, including officials such as General Raziq, are
duly prosecuted and, if found guilty, convicted with penalties that are commensurate
with the grave nature of their crimes.
Parwan (Bagram) detention facilities
17.
While noting that in 2013 the Armed Forces of the United States of America
transferred the administration of and responsibilities for the Parwan detention facilities to
the State party, the Committee remains concerned that the Ministry of Defence is still
administering those detention facilities and by the credible allegations that detainees there
are routinely tortured as punishment for their past terrorist activities or as disciplinary
measures. It is also concerned by the restrictive access to lawyers for detainees in Parwan.
The Committee is deeply concerned by the numerous allegations that at least 160 children
in Parwan are detained with and under the same regime as adult detainees. In that respect,
the Committee is further concerned by reports that minors associated with armed groups
involved in insurgent movements are being punished instead of rehabilitated (arts. 2, 4, 1014 and 16).
18.
The Committee urges the State party to take immediate measures to ensure
that:
(a)
The administration of the Parwan detention facilities is transferred from
the Ministry of Defence to the Ministry of Justice;
(b)
All allegations of torture or ill-treatment in Parwan are promptly,
thoroughly and impartially investigated by a fully independent body, and the
perpetrators prosecuted;
(c)
All minors detained in Parwan are transferred to juvenile detention
centres and duly rehabilitated.
Accountability of the International Security Assistance Force
19.
While noting the preliminary examination by the Office of the Prosecutor of the
International Criminal Court regarding the alleged war crimes, including acts of torture,
committed by anti-Government groups, forces of the Government of Afghanistan and
international forces, and welcoming the delegation’s affirmations that the Government is
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