A/HRC/16/67 organizations in the country, the Afghan Women’s Network and the Civil Society and Human Rights Network, representing 56 human rights NGOs, made repeated calls for the membership of the High Peace Council to be reviewed and revised to give greater representation to women, victims and civil society in general. These recommendations featured in public statements, press conferences and the conclusions of a conference on Peace, Reconciliation and Justice. UNAMA, the Civil Society and Human Rights Network, the International Centre for Transitional Justice and the Open Society Foundations office in Afghanistan sponsored this latter event on 10 November 2010 in Kabul, to highlight the need for civil society’s active participation in the Afghan Peace and Reintegration Programme and for issues of justice to be among the Government’s core priorities. This event resulted in recommendations to the Government and the international community, reiterating the need for justice and accountability to be reflected in the peace process, for a truth-seeking mechanism to be created that gives voice to the suffering of victims of serious international crimes, and for a mechanism to facilitate civil society’s active participation in the peace and reintegration process as it moves forward. 37. On 31 October 2010, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan established the Salaam Support Group, a group of experts tasked with providing technical assistance to the High Peace Council in implementing all aspects of its mandate. At the same time, OHCHR/UNAMA facilitated the effective participation of civil society in the peace and reconciliation process, particularly at the provincial and district levels as much of the Afghan Peace and Reintegration Programme process is to be implemented by committees at the local level. 38. Concerns persist regarding the ability of local authorities to secure and protect mass graves discovered over several years of conflict. OHCHR/UNAMA continued to work with the AIHRC and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) to raise the importance of this issue for future investigations into serious international crimes. PHR held training sessions with prosecutors, police, investigators and other key justice sector actors during the year and a conference in Kabul in October to stress the need to protect such sites, to secure them for the long term and to develop the capacity to perform forensic investigations. Such investigations are critical not only to the process of identifying perpetrators, but also for confirming the identities of victims and establishing the truth of what happened for their families. PHR has previously reported several instances in which mass grave sites have been maliciously tampered with and evidence of serious crimes intentionally destroyed. V. Protection from arbitrary detention and respect for fair trial rights 39. Detention remains a critical human rights concern in Afghanistan. Approximately 18,000 detainees are held in a range of facilities across the country. This number increased rapidly in recent years with demand for detention space far outstripping the capacity of the existing infrastructure and human resources of both the criminal justice and penal management systems. Widespread arbitrary detention has long been a consequence of this situation. Gross and common instances of arbitrary detention include individuals who remain in detention despite having served their sentences or having been found not guilty by lower courts. Detainees are not informed of their right to remain silent, and interrogations before cases reach the courts are systematically carried out without defence counsel. 40. Following a commitment made at the Kabul Conference in July, the Government has begun work on a number of steps which, if fully implemented, could have a positive impact on the detention situation, including revision of the Criminal Procedure Code, and 12