A/HRC/4/98* page 5 A policy has been drafted as one of the benchmarks of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS) to inform the revision of the legal framework for land, taking into account aspects such as title deeds, legal definitions of property and customary modes of settling disputes. The document has been approved by the Ministries of Justice, Agriculture and Urban Development and will be presented to Parliament for adoption in the near future. III. DISCRIMINATION 13. As reported previously, women in Afghanistan have made remarkable progress under the current Government. This includes female participation in Parliament and the public sector and the growth of women’s organizations. Many development projects include a requirement of gender inclusiveness; however, progress in the realization of gender equality continues to be held back owing to discrimination, insecurity and the persistence of customary practices. Basic services such as access to education, health care and sources of income are still inaccessible while insecurity continues to dominate the lives of most women. The targeted assassination of the Head of DoWA in Kandahar on 25 September 2006 has created a sense of fear among many female government employees, particularly in southern and eastern Afghanistan. The treatment of women by the male-dominated justice sector, ongoing obstacles to the realization of civil, political, social and economic rights, and pervasive violence from segments of society are further daunting challenges. A. Gender and criminal justice 14. Across the country, the judicial system is failing to protect and provide justice to women, who continue to face discrimination from a predominantly male judicial sector. Women and girls are incarcerated for committing moral and uncodified crimes: cases have been documented of females being imprisoned for “running away from home”, arbitrarily detained and/or convicted of adultery when reporting crimes of a sexual nature; denied a fair trial and accompanying judicial guarantees; and returned to male offenders when reporting violence. Sentencing by judges of females convicted of sexual offences such as adultery is often harsh and disproportionate while male co-accused are often released or given a much lighter sentence. 15. Preliminary findings from the ongoing UNAMA and AIHRC campaign against arbitrary detention indicate a high proportion of women in prison for transgressing social and moral codes, with some facing double victimization following sexual violence. In Afghanistan’s largest prison, in Kabul, almost half of the female inmates were registered as detained for “running away from home”, while a significant proportion were imprisoned for “adultery”. In almost all cases due process principles had been violated, including the rights to equal treatment before the law and to be prosecuted only for acts that are defined as a crime by law. Often, the women had not been sentenced or even appeared in court. 16. Customary law prevails in Afghanistan, where traditional dispute resolution mechanisms are frequently used in place of formal court systems in criminal and non-criminal cases, including disputes over marriage and land. While enjoying community support and delivering swift decisions, these mechanisms often fail to respect even the most basic human rights standards, especially as regards women and girls. A particular issue of concern is the practice of baad, by which girls as young as 7 years of age are given away to settle feuds and murder cases.