» SUMMARY OCTOBER 2014 BUILDING A FOUNDATION FOR COMMUNITY SECURITY ARCHITECTURE IN AFGHANISTAN SUMMARY OF SECURITY & JUSTICE MAPPING IN KABUL AND NANGARHAR PROVINCE BUILDING A FOUNDATION FOR COMMUNITY SECURITY ARCHITECTURE IN AFGHANISTAN CONTENTS INTRODUCTION . 2 METHODOLOGY & MAIN FINDINGS . 3 SECURITY & JUSTICE MAPPING IN KABUL . 4 Bagrami district . 4 Istalif district . 7 SECURITY & JUSTICE MAPPING IN NANGARHAR . 9 Kama district . 9 Behsud district . 11 ACRONYMES & GLOSSARY . 13 OCTOBER 2014 © CORDAID 1 BUILDING A FOUNDATION FOR COMMUNITY SECURITY ARCHITECTURE IN AFGHANISTAN INtroDUctION INTRODUCTION A crucial condition for peace and security in Afghanistan is a strong and functioning judiciary system; one in which all Afghans can exercise their right to justice. This document summarizes an in-depth mapping of the security situation and the access to justice that community members in four districts of eastern Afghanistan have. How do they seek justice when their rights are violated? What barriers do they face in pursuing justice? Akbar Rada Formal judiciary systems in Afghanistan, particularly in rural regions, are either weak or non-existent . Security Photo has deteriorated over the past few years and the Taliban gained renewed control . ‘The person who has weapons A judge in Behsud District on his side has the law on his side’, is how a resident from Bagrami who was interviewed for this research, put it . The security & justice mapping was conducted in sup- port of the work of CSAs in the four districts in Kabul Cordaid is convinced that establishing a culture of and Nangarhar Province . The local security & justice justice starts at community level . In close collaboration dynamics differ per district . In Beshud, for example, an with our local partner organizations, Cordaid has overwhelming majority cited unpunished criminality, developed an intervention called Community Security such as theft and mugging, as the biggest threat to their Architecture (CSA) . A core element of CSA is the appoint- security . In Kama district, which is only 35 kilometers ment of Community Security Architects (CSAs), who are away, disputes over land proved to be communities’ from, and appointed by, their respective communities . biggest concern . Numerous interviews with community Together with community members, CSAs identify and leaders and hundreds of residents provided unique prioritize the security & justice needs that form the insights in these specific contexts . This summary basis of action plans . These local-led action plans are includes the key findings and highlights the main shared with relevant authorities, such as the local observations . government, the police and judiciary actors . Many Afghans are already familiar with local-led initiatives Cordaid is grateful to Afghan Women Resource Centre to improve their own security situation . As another (AWRC) and The Liaison Office (TLO) who have been resident from Bagrami put it: ‘security is provided by the our core partners in conducting this research and people themselves’ . He was referring to civilian patrols implementing the Community Security Architecture that try to keep the streets safe at night . CSAs work to program . ensure that such initiatives, often born out of sheer necessity, are embedded in formal systems and properly Hetty Burgman aligned with authorities . Director Security & Justice 2 OCTOBER 2014 © CORDAID METHODOLOGY & MAIN FINDINGS BUILDING A FOUNDATION FOR COMMUNITY SECURITY ARCHITECTURE IN AFGHANISTAN METHODOLOGY & MAIN FINDINGS RESEARCH AREAS SECURITY & JUSTICE MAPPING kama behsud kabul afghanistan nangarhar istalif bagrami Methodology ▪ In both peri-urban and rural areas, disputing parties currently ▪ 3 months of data collection (November 2013 – January 2014) have a preference for non-state forums for dispute resolution . ▪ 4 communities in 2 provinces ▪ Most interviewees, while clearly preferring non-state ▪ 70 interviews with community leaders forums, also expressed a desire for a stronger and less corrupt ▪ 24 interviews with women’s leaders state apparatus . And if such an apparatus existed, they might ▪ 24 interviews with development actors even prefer it to non-state forms of dispute resolution . ▪ 20 interviews with government officials ▪ Within the study areas insurgent presence is limited . ▪ 8 group discussions in Kabul And while insurgent connections certainly exist among ▪ 10 group discussions in Nangarhar the target populations (including some power holders), none of the areas have a long-term or large-scale insurgent Research area presence . The research areas are the two rapidly developing peri-urban ▪ Within peri-urban areas the most common cause of major areas of Bagrami on the outskirts of Kabul, and Behsud on the disputes appears to be alleged land grabbing by power outskirts of Jalalabad in Nangarhar Province and the two rural holders, or land grabbing done with their backing . districts of Kama in Nangarhar province and Istalif in Kabul ▪ In all areas the barriers to accessing security and justice province, both of which have relatively easy access to major institutions are significantly higher for women than they urban centers . are for men . However, women in the Kabul areas appear to enjoy greater freedom of movement, and hence institutional Main findings access, than their counterparts in Nangarhar do . However, The findings in this assessment confirm the importance of women’s access cannot be considered equal in any of these carrying out comprehensive groundwork in Afghanistan . areas . The intensity and complexity of the conflict contexts in the four research areas proved to be very diverse . Follow-up research In Behsud district, for example, an overwhelming majority Based on the results of the assessment Cordaid has started cited unpunished criminality, such as theft and mugging, as up an in-depth research initiative in collaboration with the the biggest threat to their security . In Kama district, on the Van Vollenhoven Institute (VVI), which is currently funded by other hand, disputes over land proved to be communities’ the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) . biggest concern . Equally diverse mechanisms for resolving The research initiative is entitled ‘Supporting Primary Justice conflicts were discovered . In Bagrami, meanwhile, more in Insecure Contexts: South Sudan and Afghanistan’ . Cordaid and more people are turning to formal systems, like courts and VVI met in the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ and judges . Contrast this with Behsud, where 96 percent of Knowledge Platform ‘Security and Rule of Law’ . The NWO conflicts in are brought before traditional village shuras . funding is provided in the context of a research agenda called ‘Embedding Justice in Power and Politics’, which contri butes Highlights: to innovations for people-centered and context-sensitive ▪ The main security threat in all study areas arises from rule-of-law reform programs in fragile and conflict-affected nominally pro-government power holders undermining both countries . Cordaid has also used the outcome of the assessment security and justice institutions . Although present in all report to pinpoint two areas for the training of female magistrates areas, this threat appears to be considerably more pronounced in Afghanistan, namely property and inheritance rights . in Behsud and Bagrami than it is in Kama and Istalif . OCTOBER 2014 © CORDAID 3 BUILDING A FOUNDATION FOR COMMUNITY SECURITY ARCHITECTURE IN AFGHANISTAN SECURITY & JUSTICE MAPPING IN KABUL SECURITY & JUSTICE MAPPING IN KABUL / Rada Akbar Cordaid Photo An interview with a female resident of Behsud district BAGRAMI DISTRICT Three types of land grabbing and occupation in Bagrami Facts 1 . Shahraks (loosely translated as ‘townships’) is the name ▪ 30 minutes’ drive from Kabul city given to the settlements of powerful individuals and ▪ 50 – 60 percent of the population are Pashtun, 40 – 50 private companies on government land . Members of the percent are Tajik and a very small minority are Turkmen government are often suspected of being involved in ▪ 75 villages and a population of approximately 150,000 establishing Shahraks . After 2001 there was only limited ▪ The government is the main employer, while 10 percent of administrative control of the new government in the population work in sharecropping Bagrami . During that period, former commanders and ▪ After the fall of Taliban, new settlers from neighboring power brokers resettled in the district and are now districts and provinces migrated to Bagrami known to be the strongmen that rule these Shahraks . ▪ Districts surrounding Bagrami have a strong Taliban 2 . Legal occupation of land under a Presidential Decree presence (2012), which stated that certain land plots are to be allocated to Kuchi families (nomads) . Security situation 3 . Illegal occupation of land under a Presidential Decree (2012), which stated that certain land plots are to be Main security threat: Local power brokers and their private allocated to Kuchi families (nomads) . militias are involved in land grabbing . Due to widespread corruption, criminals in Bagrami district enjoy impunity . ments, the exact definitions of land ownership are unclear . Conflicts about land are at the heart of the most serious and Out of the 817 surveyed conflicts and disputes in Bagrame longstanding conflicts between families and communities district, 286 (35 percent) dealt with land-related issues . in Bagrami district . Due to the massive falsification