They called to the Taliban to “immediately reverse” their abusive practices excluding women from the legal program, protect the lives of everybody working for the administration of justice, and ensure the right in order to fair trial for all Afghans.
‘Brazen discrimination’
They said that in “an behave of brazen discrimination”, the Taliban have attempted to successfully ban all women through participating in the legal system. Special Rapporteurs are designated by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Authorities to examine and survey back on a specific human rights concept or a country situation. The positions are honorary as well as the experts are not paid for their particular work. “Lawyers, judges, prosecutors and other actors involved with the particular legal system in Afghanistan face grave risks for their safety, and those still training must navigate a deeply challenging, non-independent legal system”, Special Rapporteurs Margaret Satterthwaite, on the independence of judges and lawyers, and Rich Bennett, on the situation associated with human rights in Afghanistan, said in a joint statement . De facto judicial positions have been filled primarily by Taliban members with a basic religious education and advised by Muslim legal experts empowered to rule on religious matters, called muftis .
“ They deserve far more in the way of suppor t”, contended the experts.
Furthermore, laws and rules concerning legal procedure have been suspended and women may appear only when they are a party to a dispute.
At ‘grave risk’
“Many women judges have fled the country or gone straight into hiding”, the Special Rapporteurs added. “We are extremely concerned by the extreme exemption of women from the legal system”, the UN experts underscored, calling on the international local community for “urgent support”. “More than a dozen prosecutors, the majority men, reportedly are actually killed by unknown people in Kabul and other provinces. Many remain in hiding”. “Alleged perpetrators are often held, sentenced and punished on the same day by the police along with other security agencies, denying any kind of semblance of due procedure or judicial review”, the particular Rapporteurs continued. Prosecutors have been “systematically side-lined”, the particular statement continued, noting that will their previous work in investigating, and prosecuting Taliban associates under democratically-elected Governments, have put them at “grave risk”. Despite “unimaginable obstacles” since the de facto authorities took control, legal professionals have persisted in their attempts to meet the legal needs of Afghans. “International actors should provide defense and safe passage to lawyers, judges, prosecutors, and other stars involved with the legal program, especially women, who are at risk of reprisal and attacks from the Taliban and others”, the particular statement detailed.
Call to action
They called for greater international support to lawyers, legal aid companies, and non-governmental organizations trying to advance justice and human rights – and for work to be paid to the situation of women lawyers and those trying to promote gender rights. Lawyers in Afghanistan – especially women – are risking their comes from efforts to protect the principle of law, they said in front of the International Day of the Endangered Lawyer, marked on twenty-four January. Alleged perpetrators tend to be detained, sentenced and punished on the same day by the police – UN expert More than 250 women idol judges, and hundreds of female attorneys and prosecutors, have already been removed. Simply by suspending the 2004 Cosmetic, ousting all judges from your bench, and stripping the Attorney General’s office of its key role, the Taliban has “precipitated the collapse of the rule of law and judicial independence within Afghanistan”, the UN experts explained. “Instead of an 3rd party legal system, the country has an all-male regime implementing the Taliban’s version of Sharia law ”.
