A/HRC/25/41 28. Throughout 2013, UNAMA/OHCHR provided technical support to the Government in implementing the Action Plan for the Prevention of Underage Recruitment. In June 2013, UNAMA/OHCHR, on behalf of the Country Task Force on Monitoring and Reporting, responded to the Government’s progress report on implementation of the Action Plan. In August 2013, the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict and UNICEF undertook a joint mission to Afghanistan focused on supporting the Government in developing a “road map towards compliance” aimed at expediting implementation of the Action Plan. The road map was endorsed in principle at a high-level meeting of the Inter-ministerial Steering Committee on Children and Armed Conflict on 14 August. Once fully endorsed by the Government, UNAMA/OHCHR will focus on supporting the Government in devising a strategy to implement the road map. III. Protection from arbitrary detention and respect for fair trial rights 29. Over the last year, Afghanistan’s prison population increased from 25,003 adult and juvenile detainees and prisoners in 2012 to 32,157. Based on October 2013 statistics from the Interior Affairs, Justice and Defence Ministries, these figures represent an increase of 7,154 detainees and prisoners housed in Central Prisons Directorate facilities and the juvenile rehabilitations centres across Afghanistan and in the Afghan Detention Facility in Parwan. This increase includes 2,440 detainees and prisoners transferred by the United States of America to Afghan custody on 25 March 2013 under a March 2012 agreement that handed over control of the United States-run Detention Facility in Parwan to the Afghan Ministry of Defence. 30. Persons detained in connection with the armed conflict (hereinafter “conflict-related detainees”) held by the Afghan National Police (ANP) or the National Directorate of Security (NDS) in pretrial custody, however, are not included in these statistics. In the majority of cases, conflict-related detainees are held arbitrarily for extended time periods, in violation of legally prescribed time limits and due process guarantees in Afghan law. Most of these detainees do not have access to defence counsel, have not been informed of the charges against them and have not been brought before a tribunal while in ANP and NDS custody. 31. Treatment of conflict-related detainees while in ANP and NDS custody remains a major human rights concern. On 20 January 2013, UNAMA/OHCHR released its second major report on human rights concerns in places of detention, entitled Treatment of Conflict-Related Detainees in Afghan Custody: One Year On. Based on interviews with 635 conflict-related detainees in 89 Afghan facilities covering 30 provinces, torture was found to persist in a number of detention facilities, despite efforts by the Government and international partners to address it. More than half of conflict-related detainees interviewed had experienced torture and ill-treatment as defined and prohibited under Afghan and international law. Torture was found to be prevalent in several ANP and NDS detention facilities and took the form of coercive interrogation techniques in which Afghan officials inflicted severe pain and suffering on detainees during interrogations aimed mainly at obtaining a confession or information. 32. UNAMA/OHCHR made 64 recommendations to the Government and international partners to prevent torture and ill-treatment, ensure accountability and build the capacity of State institutions. One key recommendation is the creation of an independent national preventive mechanism on torture in line with the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture — which Afghanistan has not yet ratified — which could be located within the AIHRC with authority and enhanced capacity to inspect all detention facilities, make detailed technical recommendations and assist institutions with follow-up implementation. I 9