National rights body denied access to detainees

Despite receiving 113 complaints of human rights violations at the hands of US-led coalition forces over the past year, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) continues to be denied access to coalition detention centres, the AIHRC said in its annual report this week.

The commission has continued to press for access to the places of detention to enable monitoring of conditions and to investigate complaints, and has requested the appointment of a US military liaison officer to address complaints of human rights abuses, the report said.

In mid-May, the AIHRC arranged a meeting between coalition force representatives, and elders from five provinces: Khost; Paktia; Paktika; Ghazni; and Logar, to discuss concerns related to detainees being held by the coalition forces.

At the meeting the US military emphasised that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has access to all US military-run detention centres in Afghanistan and that the rights of detainees were being respected.

“Our policy is to treat detainees in accordance with the principles of the Geneva Conventions,” said US military spokesman Lt Mike Cody.

In 2002, at least two Afghans died in the US military prison at Bagram, 50 km north of Kabul, the headquarters of 20,000 strong US-led coalition force based in Afghanistan.

Some 500 Afghans, according to the US military, are currently being detained in its holding facilities charged with having links with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda movement across the country.