Afghanistan: Female Prisoners and Their Social Reintegration

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Afghanistan: Female Prisoners and Their Social Reintegration Afghanistan Female prisoners and their social reintegration March 2007 UNITED NATIONS OFFICE ON DRUGS AND CRIME Vienna Afghanistan: Female Prisoners and their Social Reintegration March 2007 UNODC Project: AFG/S47—Developing Post-Release Opportunities for Women and Girl Prisoners UNITED NATIONS New York, 2007 Acknowledgements The study was prepared for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) by Tomris Atabay, independent consultant. Tomris Atabay has worked in the area of human rights and penal reform since 1991, with particular focus on the former Soviet Union and Turkey. Prior to taking up consultancy in the field she worked for Amnesty International and Penal Reform International on programmes in the Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The author wishes to acknowledge all those who were involved in the mission to Afghanistan, in particular: O UNODC staff in Kabul and Vienna, for their valuable comments on the report, in particular, Carla Ciavarella, Andrea Mancini and Ricarda Amberg; O Shukria Noori, UNODC-Kabul, for assisting with prisoner interviews and interpreting during all meetings; O Carmen Garriga, UNODC-Kabul, for completing the charts; O Lawyers of Medica Mondiale, for providing feedback on specific cases and Ms Massouda Nawabi, Legal Aid Fund, Project Coordinator, Medica Mondiale, especially for responding to numerous follow-up queries by e-mail; O Dr. Martin Lau, for providing valuable commentary on the report; and O Most especially, the 56 women imprisoned in Afghanistan who agreed to be interviewed. UNODC also wishes to acknowledge the generous support provided by the Government of Austria to the project “Developing post-release opportunities for women and girl prisoners in Afghanistan”. NOTE: The draft prison regulations referred to in this report are dated December 2006. New prison regulations reflecting some of the recommendations of this assess- ment have since been drafted, and at the time of publication, were being circulated for commentary. The views expressed in this study do not necessarily reflect the policies or positions of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. UNODC Project: AFG/S47 - Developing Post-Release Opportunities For Women and Girl Prisoners This publication has not been formally edited. ii CONTENTS PART ONE. THE STATUS OF WOMEN AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM 1. Introduction . 3 2. Context . 5 3. The status of women in Afghanistan . 9 Social status . 9 Economic status . 10 Education . 11 Violence against women . 11 4. Women and criminal justice . 15 Customary laws and women . 15 Statutory law and women . 18 Criminal procedure: legislation . 23 Criminal procedure: practice . 24 PART TWO. THE PRISON SYSTEM AND FEMALE PRISONERS 1. Overview . 31 Management structure . 31 Female prisoner trends . 32 Prison staff . 33 Prisoner programmes . 33 Post-release support . 33 2. Pul-e Charki prison for female offenders . 37 3. Pul-e Charki prison: interview outcomes . 39 Methodology . 39 Crimes . 39 Sentences . 41 Places of arrest . 42 Treatment by police and investigators . 42 Legal representation . 42 Confessions . 42 Time limits . 43 iii Ethnicity . 43 Age . 44 Marital status . 44 Economic status . 45 Treatment by family . 45 Family visits . 47 Education . 47 Employment and job skills . 48 Prisoner activities . 49 Post-release expectations . 51 Women with children . 51 4. Pul-e Charki prison: case analysis . 53 Moral crimes . 53 Kidnapping . 58 Murder . 60 5. The social reintegration of female prisoners: general conclusions . 65 6. Recommendations: short-term interventions and long-term policies . 69 Management . 69 Staff . 71 Safety . 73 Assessment and individualization . 74 Work, vocational training and education . 75 Other rehabilitation programmes . 78 Early conditional release (parole) . 78 Preparation for release and post-release support . 79 Pregnant women and women with children . 81 Annex I. Summary recommendations . 85 Annex II. Sample questionnaire . 93 iv List of acronyms AIHRC Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission AREU Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit AWEC Afghan Women’s Educational Centre AWJA Afghan Women Judges Association CANADEM Canadian International Development Agency CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women CPC Criminal Procedure Code CPD Central Prison Department CRC Convention on the Rights of the Child CSSP US Corrections Sector Support Program DOWA Department of Women’s Affairs GDI Gender Development Index HAWCA Humanitarian Assistance for Women and Children in Afghanistan ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ICESR International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ICJ International Commission of Jurists IDLO International Development Law Organization ILF International Legal Foundation ILO International Labour Organization MOI Ministry of Interior MOJ Ministry of Justice MOLSA Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs MOPH Ministry of Public Health MOWA Ministry of Women’s Affairs SMR United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners UNAMA United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNFPA United Nations Population Fund UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund UNIFEM United Nations Development Fund for Women UNODC United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime UNOPS United Nations Office of Project Services WHO World Health Organization v Part 1 The status of women and the criminal justice system 1 Introduction In 2006 the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) launched a project, “Developing post-release opportunities for women and girl prisoners in Afghanistan”. The project aims to establish a rehabilitation programme for female offenders and to develop a national policy addressing the social reintegration needs of women prisoners during their imprisonment and following release. The project forms part of UNODC’s criminal justice reform programme, on- going in Afghanistan since 2003. The programme consists of three interrelated components which address the long-term normative and operational aspects of criminal justice: O Penitentiary Reform Project, which includes the reform of laws and regulations relating to prisons, rehabilitation of the prison infrastructure and training of penitentiary staff; O Criminal Justice Capacity-Building, which aims to strengthen the capacity of key justice institutions, law reform, training of judges and prosecutors, and development of a legal aid programme; O Reform of the Juvenile Justice System, which aims to strengthen juvenile justice administration in Afghanistan. All projects combine the objective of capacity-building (e.g. law reform, training of trainers and training activities) with the provision of buildings, equipment and infrastructure, in order to increase effectiveness and achieve sustainability. The penitentiary reform project, referred to above, was launched in May 2003 with the signing of an agreement with the Ministry of Justice of Afghanistan. It is funded by Austria, Canada, Italy and the United Kingdom. The project includes the following components: (a) revising national legislation and regulations relating to prisons; (b) establishing the Central Prison Department of the Ministry of Justice as focal point for all matters pertaining to penitentiaries, including a national policy for detained women; (c) rehabilitating prison capacity in Kabul; (d) improv- ing conditions in the detention centre in Kabul; (e) setting up a special detention centre for women, with due attention to the needs of women with small children. The project “Developing post-release opportunities for women and girl prisoners” will build on and expand assistance already being provided to the rehabilitation of female offenders within the framework of this programme, with a focus on women’s post-release support needs. It is funded by the Austrian Development Agency. As a first activity of the project, UNODC commissioned an overall assessment of the situation of women prisoners in Afghanistan. The current document, which is based on the results of this research, aims to add to the existing knowledge on reasons for women’s imprisonment, types of crimes they commit, their treatment in the criminal justice system, their social back- grounds, education, job skills and prospects of return to their families on release, in order to determine the most appropriate way forward. The focus of the document is the social 3 Afghanistan: Female Prisoners and their Social Reintegration reintegration of female offenders, comprising reha- Since the situation of women prisoners in Afghanistan bilitation during imprisonment and post-release and the challenges they face on release from prison support. However, it has been written with the cannot be fully understood without reference to their understanding that prison-based and post-release social and economic status in Afghan society and the support activities need to be regarded as part of provisions of legislation and practices that lead to their a comprehensive package of measures to address imprisonment, an overview of these topics is provided. the issue of social reintegration in a holistic and This section of the report is based on a review of exist- sustainable manner. It therefore covers many areas ing literature and interviews conducted with a range of which may affect the success of social reinte- stakeholders in Kabul in December 2006. gration measures, directly or indirectly, from the moment women come in contact
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