A/HRC/22/37 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 28 January 2013 Original: English Human Rights Council Twenty-second session Agenda items 2 and 10 Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General Technical assistance and capacity-building Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on situation of human rights in Afghanistan * Summary The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council decision 2/113 of 27 November 2006 and resolution 14/15 of 18 June 2010 and has been prepared in cooperation with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). There have been some gains as well as notable gaps and challenges in the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, including the rights of women, freedom from arbitrary detention and respect for fair trial rights, the right to personal freedom and security, the right to life, the right to education as well as ongoing peace and reconciliation processes in different regions and provinces of Afghanistan. Civilians – men, women and children – continue to bear the brunt of the ongoing armed conflict. Anti-Government elements have increasingly targeted non-combatants as well as purely civilian locations, including roads, public marketplaces and mosques using improvised explosive devices (IEDs), suicide attacks and other indiscriminate tactics. Ordinary citizens working in a civilian capacity or suspected to be working for the Government or international military forces have repeatedly been targeted for assassination, subjected to threats and other forms of intimidation by anti-Government elements. Conflict-related detainees continue to be subjected to mistreatment and abuse in some facilities run by Afghan security forces. Access to justice is impeded by security concerns, lack of legal aid services and the limited presence of defence lawyers in all parts of the country. While the increased presence of the Afghan National Police points to improvements in civilian policing, there is a dearth of adequate security forces in many * GE.13-10425 Late submission.