Transfer of responsibility for security must not lead to restrictions
on human rights
November 12, 2011
Local Afghan police in the village of Gizab in Uruzgan province in
Afghanistan, April 2011.
Afghan policemen are said to have mistreated "The Afghan government
has responded with armed resistance in that it has reactivated
militias that threaten the lives of Afghans. Kabul and Washington
should clearly distance themselves from militias who commit human
rights abuses and a destabilizing effect. Only then can hope for a
truly viable and sustainable security strategy remain. "
Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch (Kabul, 12 September
2011) - units of the militia and US-backed Afghan Local Police (ALP)
are responsible for serious human rights violations. The government,
however, neither sufficient nor monitors this attracts them to justice
those responsible, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
The Afghan government and the U.S. decision to dissolve its ties with
irregular armed groups and to take immediate steps to build
appropriately trained and controlled security forces, which can be
held accountable for their actions.
The 102-page report, "'Just Do not Call It a Militia': Impunity,
Militias and the 'Afghan Local Police'" documents serious human rights
violations, including murder, rape, arbitrary arrest, kidnapping,
forced land confiscation and illegal raids by irregular armed groups
in the province of Kunduz and the local Afghan police in the provinces
of Baghlan, Herat, and Uruzgan. The Afghan government does not have
the groups responsible held accountable. Thus, further human rights
violations and increases the support for the Taliban and other
opposition forces.
"The Afghan government has responded with armed resistance in that it
has reactivated militias that threaten the lives of Afghans," said
Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Kabul and Washington
should clearly distance themselves from militias who commit human
rights abuses and a destabilizing effect. Only then can hope for a
truly viable and sustainable security strategy remain. "
As part of the exit strategy is the U.S. military from the local
police in Afghan villages. In March 2011, reported the former
commander of international forces in Afghanistan, General David
Petraeus, compared to the U.S. Senate that the ALP is the most central
element in the efforts to assist Afghanistan in building security
capacity.
The investigated cases of Human Rights Watch, however, call forth
serious concerns about the efforts of the Afghan government and the
international community, whether they are arming irregular armed
groups continue to pay for and monitor at the same time and can hold
to account. In the province of Kunduz have in recent years, the
militia quickly spread. Which is attributed to a deliberate policy of
the Afghan National Intelligence (National Directorate of Security),
has reactivated the militia mainly through the networks of Shura-e
Nazar and Jamiat-i-Islami and supplies them with money and weapons,
but without sufficient of control.
"Just Do not Call It a Militia" is based on over 120 interviews with
victims of human rights violations, their family members, village
elders, witnesses, staff of human rights organizations, diplomats,
journalists and experts on Afghanistan.
In most cases of serious human rights abuses that were documented by
Human Rights Watch in Kunduz, the leaders had no fear of consequences.
Sun killed in August 2009 in Khanabad district of a militia, four men
because of a family dispute. A representative of the Secret Service
confirmed that the police could not arrest anyone because of the
contacts of the commander of the militia to the head of the local
police and a local ruler, who is heavily involved in human rights
abuses by armed groups. An attorney who also is a father of slain men,
told Human Rights Watch: "Nobody helped me, and I work for the
government. So I wonder, how are other people? Who listens to them? "
"Enable protection by high representatives of the local security
forces and the central government allegedly pro-government militias to
terrorize the local population and to act without any prosecution,"
said Adams.
At the same time the rapid development of the ALP has contributed to
the concern, whether it abides by the laws. Initiated by the United
States in July 2010, it intended to replace the Afghan National Army
and police in the provinces and villages. The local Afghan police by
the U.S. military is seen as a way to respond to the pressure to pass
the security check in 2014 to the Afghan government.
Village shuras should appoint the members of the ALP and check their
units are in turn responsible to the chief of police of each district.
Units, only 21 days will be trained, armed and stationed in areas
where there are few units of the Afghan army and police. To August
7000 were recruited for the local police. The goal is to train up to
30,000 people, and to arm.
Reported representatives of the Afghan government and U.S. Human
Rights Watch that the ALP has improved the security situation in some
areas. Villagers in some regions that were interviewed by Human Rights
Watch, welcomed the new security forces and spoke of improvements in
the security situation. Other residents, however, said the new police
would not sufficiently monitored, with particular reference to
criminals and insurgents was that had been included in the units. Many
complained that the ALP, as well as other irregular armed groups,
would not be held responsible if they are implicated in human rights
abuses.
Although the ALP was built not too long ago, Human Rights Watch has
several serious human rights abuses documented by their
representatives. For example, a unit in February resulted in Shindand
district in Herat province raided several houses, stole property,
residents beat and arrested six men illegally. In another case, the
ALP was accused of beating boy and beat nails into the foot of a boy,
without that those responsible had been arrested.
In the province of Baghlan were former fighters of the Islamist
Hezb-i-Islami, including recruitment of local potentate Only-ul Haq,
from the ALP. Haq and his men were implicated in killings, kidnappings
and land expropriation. But the police refused to investigate the
allegations. She told Human Rights Watch that they suspect ALP members
could not interrogate because they had contacts with powerful
government officials and the American special forces. In April,
kidnapped four armed ALP members in Baghlan, a 13-year-old boy as he
walked home from the bazaar. He was taken to the house of an ALP
sub-commander, where he was repeatedly raped. The next day he could
escape. Although the identity of the attackers knew they were not
arrested.
In the province of Uruzgan arrested in December 2010, the local ruler
Muhammad Neda six elders, after she had refused to provide the ALP men
available. Some ALP-Khas Uruzgan were representatives of local
officials and residents involved in illegal raids, beatings, and the
forcible collection of ushr (informal control).
Afghan and international supporters of the ALP refer to safety
precautions, such as the control by the Afghan Interior Ministry about
the ALP, the ALP members of the control by village committees, and
training and consulting by U.S. special forces. But the National
Police has no adequate command and control structures, and the ALP is
far more representatives in the districts where it is present.
Representatives of the Interior Ministry told Human Rights Watch, have
conceded that such security measures have been already promised
security in many previous initiatives in communities, but without
success.
Previous programs to build local security forces were from local
rulers, ethnic or political groups to be torn, leading to the spread
of fear, revenge led and played in some areas even the insurgents of
the Taliban's hands. One example was the Afghan National Auxiliary
Police (ANAP), which was built in 2006, had barely been trained and
monitored. Moreover, their rules of engagement were poorly defined, it
has been infiltrated and was highly corrupt. Another case is the
Afghan Public Protection Force (AP3) in Wardak province. A local
rulers took control and their representatives were involved in
beatings and intimidation.
"The need to improve security in the villages, to the Afghan and the
U.S. government is not tempted to repeat the mistakes of the past,"
said Adams. "If no corrections are made quickly, the ALP could not be
more than at the end of another militia which will cause more problems
than it solves."
Human Rights Watch called on the governments of USA and Afghanistan to
prevent the hasty formation of new ALP units throughout the country
without adequate control, oversight and accountability mechanisms.
Human Rights Watch urged the Afghan government to also investigate all
allegations of abuse against militias and the ALP to provide adequate
resources for the investigation of complaints and to create an
external body, which is active in reported human rights violations by
the ALP and other police forces.
"The international pressure to reduce troop levels should not be borne
by the Afghan population," said Adams. "Understanding the Afghan
government and its supporters should not only that the insurgents are
a source of instability. Ills such as abuse of office, corruption,
human rights abuses and impunity for pro-government forces play into
the hands of the insurgents, and must be resolved if you want to
achieve real stability in Afghanistan. "
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