Human rights in Afghanistan are a topic of some controversy and conflict. While the Taliban were well known for numerous human rights abuses, several human rights violations continue to take place in the post-Taliban government era. Afghanistan has an interesting strong human rights framework within its constitution.
A bill of rights is enshrined in chapter two of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan’s constitution. The right to life and liberty are constitutionally protected as are the right to a fair trial and the presumption of innocence for all persons. This gives the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan a strong human rights framework that is guaranteed to all citizens.
Afghan security forces and its intelligence agencyhave been accused of committing grave human right violation like enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and torture of suspects. Moreover, Afghan security forces and Afghan air force have also been involved in killing civilians in ground operations as well as in air strikes.
Human rights History in Afghanistan
Under the monarchy of Zahir Shah, human rights were usually respected. The Prime Minister as of 1949, Shah Mahmud Khan, increased press freedom, but these moves were soon reverted. The Press Law implemented in July 1965 gave considerable freedom to the press for the first time.
While the press was mostly free, in some cases the King closed down media from dissidents that were considered threatening. The communist Khalq republic that governed Afghanistan after the Saur Revolution in 1978 was brutal, vigorously suppressing opposition. The government abducted and executed thousands of prisoners, rural civilian dissidents.
New leader Babrak Karmal promised to end the Khalq’s brutality, which it partly did, but human rights abuses still continued. The government along with the Soviets (during the Soviet–Afghan War) intentionally targeted civilian settlements in rural areas. Under President Mohammad Najibullah’s reforms, freedom of expression was further improved but human rights overall remained restricted.
In the 1990s, many atrocities were committed by various militias against civilians. Indiscriminate rocket attacks during the Battle of Kabul, especially those by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s militia, killed thousands of civilians.
The Taliban, in power from 1996, imposed strong restrictions on women, performed public executions, and prevented international aid from entering the country for starving civilians.
21st century,
The Bonn Agreement of 2001 established the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) as a national human rights institution to protect and promote human rights and to investigate human rights abuses and war crimes. The Afghanistan Constitution of 2004 entrenched the existence of the AIHRC. While the ongoing turmoil, violence and reconstruction efforts often make it difficult to get an accurate sense of what is going on, various reports from NGOs have accused various branches of the Afghan government of engaging in human rights violations.
There have also been various human rights abuses by American soldiers on Afghan civilians, most notably in the Baghram prisons where innocent civilians endured torture, humiliating conditions, and inhumane treatment. The United States was heavily criticized for lenient sentencing for the soldiers responsible.[13] Former Afghan warlords and political strongmen supported by the US during the ousting of the Taliban were responsible for numerous human rights violations in 2003 including kidnapping, rape, robbery, and extortion.[14] Several thousands of people in Afghanistan have been victims of enforced disappearance over the past four decades,
