[ADN Kronos] The United Nations human rights office in Afghanistan has called for the repeal of a controversial amnesty law which it says offers impunity for serious crimes and rights violations.
| Nurse! They're making pronouncements again -- the green pills this time, I think. The little blue ones didn't distract them enough. |
| Dr. Maturin could tell you what the blue pills are for. That seems appropriate here ... |
| That's what I thought, too. ;-) |
"This law relieves Afghan authorities of their obligation to investigate and prosecute, on their own initiative, those allegedly responsible for gross violations of human rights," Norah Niland, the representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told journalists in Kabul. "The law is likely to undermine efforts to secure genuine reconciliation, which is of course about bringing together different elements of a fractured society."
In 2007, the Afghan parliament approved the Reconciliation and General Amnesty Law, which provides immunity and pardons for former members of Afghanistan's armed factions for actions committed before December 2001.
"The High Commissioner for Human Rights and Afghan civil society and human rights NGOs [non-governmental organisations] in and outside of the country have asked that the law be repealed," Niland said.
Meanwhile, the special representative of the secretary-general for Afghanistan, Staffan de Mistura, met representatives from Hezb-e-Islami, a political party in Afghanistan. De Mistura said that the ongoing discussions with Afghan authorities further underscored the importance of Afghan-led dialogue to bring stability to this country. |