A/HRC/25/41 39. The Supreme Court has taken action to implement Presidential Decree No. 129, including issuing instructions to judges reminding them to reject confessions obtained through torture and to dismiss cases that rely solely on evidence thus obtained. Additionally, the Supreme Court, the Attorney-General’s Office and the Ministry of Justice conducted joint visits to several provincial prisons to review cases of individuals who had been held in arbitrary detention. As a result, more than 400 detainees were released, although very few had been held for conflict-related offences. 40. In response to the findings of the UNAMA/OHCHR report of 20 January 2013, the International Security Assistance Force suspended transfers of detainees it captured to 35 Afghan detention facilities and redesigned its detainee certification review process to include inspections, extended training and capacity-building of all ANP and NDS interrogators and detention staff on human rights principles and non-coercive interrogation techniques, and mentoring. On 5 May 2013, ISAF certified or permitted transfer of detainees to NDS departments 124 and 40 in Kabul, but shortly after suspended this certification decision, which has yet to be lifted. ISAF certified six Afghan-run detention facilities, NDS provincial headquarters in Kunar, Nangarhar, Khost and Helmand, the Helmand provincial prison and the Afghan National Detention Facility in Parwan (ANDF Parwan). These certifications are reviewed every three months. 41. UNAMA/OHCHR has conducted three visits to ANDF Parwan since it was handed over to the Government of Afghanistan. Approximately 2,330 detainees have been released since the handover, following case reviews by the Government. However, 2,440 Afghan detainees (including 70 children) remain in custody in the detention facility. In addition, 70 detainees remain under the control of the United States Government at this location. Approximately 1,879 of the 2,440 detainees are still awaiting their initial court hearing and many have been detained for periods longer than that prescribed by Afghan law, and are arbitrarily detained. UNAMA/OHCHR also found that many detainees’ due process rights had not been guaranteed, including the right to be informed of the reason for arrest and the right to defence counsel. IV. Violence against women 42. Across Afghanistan, harmful practices and incidents of violence against women remain pervasive. On 8 December, UNAMA/OHCHR released a report entitled A Way to Go: An Update on Implementation of the Law on Elimination of Violence against Women in Afghanistan, documenting mixed results in the implementation of the 2009 Law on the Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW law). The report was based on consultations with 203 judicial, police and government officials, and monitoring of nearly 500 cases of violence against women from 18 of 34 provinces throughout Afghanistan between October 2012 and September 2013. 43. The UNAMA/OHCHR report noted that authorities registered 28 per cent more reported incidents of violence against women under the EVAW law, but the overall use of the law by prosecutors and courts as a basis for filing indictments and obtaining convictions remained low, with more cases mediated than entering the judicial process. In 16 of the 18 provinces where detailed information on the application of the EVAW law was available, police and prosecutors registered 650 incidents of violence against women. This represents an increase in the number of incidents registered by police and prosecutors compared with UNAMA’s findings in December 2012. Of those 650 incidents, prosecutors used the EVAW law in 109 (17 per cent) and the courts applied the law in 60 cases, reflecting decreases from the previous period. UNAMA/OHCHR notes with concern that, despite the rise in reported incidents, the overall number of criminal indictments filed by prosecutors in cases of violence against women under all applicable laws decreased in 2013. 11