A/HRC/22/37 36. Following agreement on the gradual transfer of Afghan nationals detained at the United States-controlled Detention Facility in Parwan to Afghan control, the United States and the Government of Afghanistan signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 9 March, which set out the modalities for the transfer. The Memorandum of Understanding foresees the establishment of a special legal regime of administrative detentions or internment that does not exist currently in Afghan laws. While it calls for this new legal provision to be consistent with Afghan international obligations, including the standards of international humanitarian law, there are serious concerns about oversight and accountability within the current detention framework under which ANSF operates. Concerns remain about the impact that a system of administrative detention would have overall on the rule of law, particularly on due process guarantees and the efficient administration of criminal justice. IV. Violence against women 37. The Government made a number of important steps forward for the promotion and protection of women’s rights. These included the establishment of provincial-level offices, staffed by the Attorney-General’s Office, in Balkh, Bamiyan, Parwan, Kapisa, Badakhshan and Nangarhar (and previously Herat) to support enforcement of the landmark Law on Elimination of Violence against Women. The Attorney-General also issued two sets of guidelines to prosecutors in February and April for handling cases of runaway girls and underage or forced marriages. A Presidential Order also mandated the establishment of a steering committee to draft a National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, in accordance with Security Council resolution 1325 (2000). Nevertheless, incidents of violence against women remain endemic and women continue to face challenges to the full enjoyment of their economic, social and cultural rights. Harmful practices and violence against women have long prevented women from participating in public life, excluding them from political and decision-making processes. 38. On 11 December UNAMA released a report entitled Still a Long Way to Go: Implementation of the Law on Elimination of Violence against Women in Afghanistan,7 in which it documented progress, challenges and gaps in the implementation of the Law on Elimination of Violence against Women.8 The report was based on more than 200 interviews and observation of numerous individual cases of violence against women and information received from police, prosecutors and judges from 22 provinces. It highlights both positive advances and continuing gaps in implementation of the law by judicial and law enforcement institutions. Although prosecutors and courts were increasingly applying the law in a growing number of reported incidents of violence against women, the overall use of the law remained low. 39. Incidents of violence against women remained largely underreported due to cultural restraints, social norms and taboos, customary practices and religious beliefs, discrimination against women (that leads to wider acceptance of violence against them), fear of social stigma and exclusion and, at times, threat to life. Prevailing insecurity and weak rule of law have further hampered women’s access to formal justice institutions. Those cases that reach law enforcement and judicial authorities or receive public attention due to their egregious nature represent the tip of the iceberg of incidents of violence against 7 8 UNAMA, Kabul, 2012. Enacted in August 2009, the Law on Elimination of Violence against Women criminalizes child marriage, forced marriage, selling and buying women for the purpose or under the pretext of marriage, ba’ad (giving away a woman or girl to settle a dispute), forced self-immolation and 17 other acts of violence against women, including rape and beating. It also specifies punishment for perpetrators. 11