AUSTRALIA: NEW POLICY ON AFGHAN PRISONERS MAY VIOLATE INTERNATIONAL LAW

The policy, recently announced by the Australian Government to transfer to the custody of U.S. forces and Afghan prisoners held in Afghanistan, would violate international law, according to Amnesty International warned today.

On December 14, 2010, the Australian Defence Minister, Stephen Smith, announced an agreement on the management of detainees, according to which prisoners considered "high risk" will be delivered to the U.S., "low risk" will be awarded Afghan forces, and the remainder will be released.

"The transfer of detainees to U.S. and Afghan forces raises a real concern about possible human rights abuses," said Sam Zarifi, director of Asia-Pacific Programme at Amnesty International. "The U.S. continues to detain prisoners without giving them access to fair judicial proceedings. And the Afghan National Directorate of Security, which manages some of the detention is related too often with disturbing allegations of torture and ill treatment. "

Smith's announcement on the new framework formalizes the agreements that have taken place between the three countries from the planned withdrawal of Dutch forces in Uruzgan province on August 1, 2010. Until then, the Dutch troops had been in charge of the detainees captured by the Australian Defence Force.

"This is a setback in their treatment of detainees in Afghanistan," said Sam Zarifi. "Several senior members of NATO, including Dutch forces have established safeguards to ensure that detainees will not be delivered to the United States, and acknowledged the problems related to the National Directorate of Security. With this agreement, Australia seems to want to learn the harsh lessons of the recent past. "

According to the Australian Ministry of Defence, Australia has been captured in Afghanistan from August 1 to more than 300 detainees who are held in a temporary center of Tarin Kowt in Uruzgan. Most were later released but 64 were delivered to U.S. or Afghan forces, most of them to Afghan forces.

By delivering detainees to the NDS, where they risk torture or other ill-treatment, Australia would be violating its international obligation to protect people against such treatment. International law forbids the States to deliver detainees to situations where they can run this risk.

Smith said the Australian government has relied on assurances from the Afghan and U.S. governments regarding the proper treatment of detainees, and in "formal arrangements" including, he said, the supervision of the International Committee of the Red Cross visits field of Australian authorities.

"Diplomatic assurances that, as Australia, support this agreement should be viewed with caution, given the dismal record of U.S. and Afghan governments on the treatment of detainees," said Sam Zarifi. "We need much clearer answers about the nature the 'under management of detainees' announced by the Australian government. "

In June this year, a British High Court imposed strict restrictions on the supply, by British forces of detainees to Afghan institutions, especially those managed by the National Directorate of Security.The court had received reports that detainees had been subjected to a range of abuses such as beatings, electric shock, forced into stress positions and sleep deprivation.