Afghan citizens' access to justice has dropped 45 percent compared to that of last year, despite President Hamid Karzai's Decree 45 to strengthen the judicial process, Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) reported Sunday.
The commission's report said that the presidential decree had ordered the establishment of attorneys or courts in areas where there were none in a period of nine months. But not only have no such bodies been established, instead, some have shut down citing security issues.
"Following President Karzai's Decree No. 45, citizens' access to justice has reduced 45 percent, compared to that of last year. This is very distressing for the Independent Human Rights Commission," said Fahim Hakim, AIHRC deputy director.
Based on a study from 29 provinces, the AIHRC said that it found 1406 cases had not been investigated, with 3,553 imprisoned with no clear plan of their jail term.
The AIHRC report shows that there is no preliminary court in 86 districts across Afghanistan with people referring to armed anti-government groups and "traditional" courts for most cases. A total 176 districts have no detention center and 92 districts have no active attorney.
"In a number of provinces, people are forced to refer to the armed opposition or traditional courts for their cases due to the lack of courts. In this case, not only justice is not obtained but their conclusions contravenes human rights," said Mohammad Musa Mahmodi, AIHRC executive director.
Furthermore, if there are no detention centres for women prisoners, they tend to be kept at military camps and are then occasionally abused.
The report also cited 28 incidents of torture against prisoners at prisons of the National Directorate of Security and the Afghan National Police.
Lack of access to lawyers is another challenge which the report highlights -- there are no advocates in 19 provinces, a dilemma which has led to unjust verdicts being issued.
"We want the judicial organisations to address the thousands of cases which are being left in the corners of prisons," said Abdulahad Farzam, coordinator of monitoring and evaluation at the AIHRC.
The human rights commission stated in its report that about 2,135 incidents of violence against women have been registered by the commission after the presidential decree was issued, but only 18 percent of the incidents have been investigated. The other 82 percent that have not been pursued have allowed perpetrators of crimes to receive no punishment.