Read on Twitter
New UNAMA report documents govt’s failure to implement most basic safeguards against torture. https://unama.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/treatment_of_conflict_related_detainees_feb_2021_english.pdf
It’s been 5 years since President Ghani said his government wouldn’t tolerate torture. If that were so, the UNAMA report wouldn’t be needed. https://www.hrw.org/report/2015/03/03/today-we-shall-all-die/afghanistans-strongmen-and-legacy-impunity
It documents a slight reduction in the use of torture but pandemic has meant no monitoring in remote and secret facilities, and no visits in almost a year, so any conclusions remain tentative.
The government has carried out few investigations and prosecutions of police and other security force personnel accused of using torture against detainees.
In almost all cases, detainees have been unable to access a lawyer prior to questioning. Police human rights officers are supposed to monitor detentions, but only 3 percent of detainees reported being visited.
In Parwan detainees may be hooded for the entire period of detention. This makes identification of torturers nearly impossible.
President Ghani once observed that: “When a person is tortured in an inhumane way, the reaction will be inhumane.” He called it “a vicious cycle” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/10/afghanistan-president-condemns-inhumane-cia-torture-report
The Taliban also torture and mistreat detainees, but a government proud of its post-2001 gains needs to do better.
