Habib Rahman Ibrahimi
KABUL: The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Sunday voiced concern over the predicament of women prisoners in Afghanistan.
Dr. Shukria Nuri, head of the UNODC, told a day-long conference on the issue that women were held in Afghan jails in inappropriate conditions that were contrary to the concept of human rights and other international norms.
She exclusively cited the Pul-i-Charkha Jail on the eastern outskirts of Kabul as an example of women inmates plight. About 20 female prisoners along with their children were being kept in a single room in the largest Afghan prison, she added.
Nuri viewed a lack of proper space for child inmates and the absence of educational programmes for female prisoners as major issues that needed to be addressed on a priority basis.
Dr. Bahauddin Baha, a Supreme Court judge, verified the dilemma of women in prisons, suggesting the government should build separate women jails, where they could acquire different vocational skills besides paying special attention to their children.
Over 3000 prisoners including 346 women are currently being held in the Pul-i-Charkhi Jail. Two years back, construction work on a women prison was launched in Tah-i-Maskan area of Kabul by the UNODC. But the building has not been completed as yet.