ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN – The Law Society, a UK-based legal advocacy organization says the UN member states should call on the Taliban to end the persecution of legal professionals and judges in Afghanistan.
The organization released a statement on Thursday, February 15 ahead of a testimony in front of the United Nations’ Universal Periodic Review (UPR) by one of its members Marzai Babakarkhil who was a family court judge in Afghanistan.
According to the statement, Ms. Babakarhil had to leave Afghanistan and seek protection in the UK after her life was threatened in 2008. She has been advocating for the protection of legal professionals since then including helping those who are stranded in Pakistan after the Taliban’s return to power.
The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) where Ms. Babakarkhil testified yesterday is a publication of the UN Human Rights Council that assesses human rights performances of the UN member states every four to five years. Its October 2023 issue was dedicated to lawyers and judges in Afghanistan, titled Lawyers at Risk.
In their statement, the Law Society has expressed concerns over the disruption of due process in Afghanistan as the Taliban continue to appoint their members as judges without any regard for legal education or experience.
“The judiciary has been dismantled, as the state only appoints Taliban members as judges. The Taliban likewise has complete control of who may be licensed as a lawyer.”
The association says, given the exclusion of women from participation in the legal system, either as beneficiaries or providers of legal services, “there has been a collapse of access to justice.”
Following the takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban dismissed all previously appointed prosecutors and judges, abolishing both the Afghanistan Independent Bar Association and the Attorney General’s Office.
Last year, a group of UN legal experts criticized the Taliban’s Sharia-based judicial system, describing it as non-independent, inherently masculine, and a “human rights catastrophe.”
The impact is especially pronounced on women lawyers, as the Taliban has significantly restricted their participation in the legal system and legal practice.
“We are gravely concerned by the extreme exclusion of women from the legal system”, the UN experts underscored, calling on the international community for “urgent support”.
Before the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, according to a UN report, more than 250 female judges, along with hundreds of female lawyers and prosecutors, were part of Afghanistan’s judiciary system, all of whom the regime removed from their roles.
The US Special Envoy for Afghan Women, Rina Amiri, has said that women judges and lawyers are forced to beg for food for their children as a result of the Taliban policies that have effectively sidelined women from practicing law in Afghanistan.
The Law Society says that dozens of former lawyers and judges are forced to flee the country or go into hiding and female lawyers and judges also face increasing domestic violence and forced marriage.
Since the Taliban resurgence in August 2021, according to the association, seven lawyers have been killed and 146 have been arrested or investigated, and 30 prosecutors have been killed and 11 injured in attacks.
