Dr. Ali Wardak, Ms. Patricia Wildermuth 10 June 2014

1. United Nations
Development Programme
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Women, Land and Access to Justice:
Focus on Afghanistan
Dr. Ali Wardak, Ms. Patricia Wildermuth
10 June 2014

2.  Post-conflict issues
 Emerging power politics
 Extensive corruption
 Insufficient formal justice infrastructure
 Weak formal justice system/institutions
 Limited civil service capacity
 Strong informal system
 Inadequate legal aid
 Increasing IDP populations; women head of households
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Situation Overview

3. Situation Analysis
 Multiple overlapping justice systems
 Ineffective and inaccessible formal system
 Extensive, accessible informal system, but no linkages to
formal system for enforcement
 Women’s land ownership platforms: Inheritance and Mahr
 Differences between rights to inheritance, Mahr and
property and obtaining those rights
 Women unlikely to receive inheritance (89% men, 39% women
received inheritance) or Mahr (less than 35%).
 Knowledge of property rights, support of male family members
and access to justice are critical components to obtaining rights
 Impact of cultural norming: patriarchal culture
 Most common reason cited for lack of obtaining inheritance and
Mahr is trouble caused by husbands, brothers, police and courts
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4. Key and Emerging Issues
 Lack of information and knowledge
 Ineffective formal system despite extensive donor support
 Women cannot/do not seek help from formal system
 Brings “shame on families” (against cultural norms)
 Leads to domestic violence
 Inaccessible and corrupt
 Women can and do seek help from the informal justice
system
 Use of shuras and jirgas; anecdotally some successes on ad hoc
basis
 Shuras generally have no women sitting
 Shuras/jirgas have bias against women
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5. Challenges
 Illiteracy
 Multiple and competing justice systems
 Discriminatory practices
 Civil service capacity of formal justice system
 Few female officials in justice system
 Legal aid
 Informal system
 Women’s rights issues
 Prior attempts at linkages
 Funding and support
 Donor coordination; prioritizing and sequencing
 Fatigue
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6. AIHRC
Wakil -e- Gozars (Cities)
National NGOs
Intern. NGOs
Jirga/Shura (Rural Villages)
Ulama and Religious Institutions
Taliban Justice
State
Justice
MOWA
Multiplicity of Justice Providers

7. AIHRC/MOWA/CS Representatives
Rohnam-i-Mo’amelat (Real Estate Agents)
Disputants/trustworthy muharram
Gozar Shura headed by
lawyer/educated person
Linking Justice Providers in Urban Areas

8. UNDP & UNAMA’s role
Addressing key problems including:
- Strengthening professional human capacities of justice
personnel
- Legal awareness among communities and vulnerable groups
- Community-Based Dispute Resolution trainings targeting
informal justice actors to ensure application of human rights
principles in TDR mechanisms
- Field research on the nature, scope and operation of non-state
justice providers
- Provision of advisory support to policy makers for the
production of a policy and legal framework linking formal and
informal justice mechanisms
- Establishment of a Policy Advisory Group on Land (PAGL)
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9. Lessons Learned
• Start with what exists: “If you build it, they will come” not
always applicable.
• Educating women about their land rights is most effective when
coupled with information about how to obtain those rights and
support to obtain those rights.
• Establishing well defined relationships between existing formal
and formal systems, with specified roles, assists in deconflicting
multiple justice systems and increasing access to justice for
women.
• Strengthening an accessible and trusted informal system with
focus on women’s land rights increases accessibility to justice for
women.
– Recommendations regarding linkages between the informal system and
formal systems that are drafted narrowly to specifically address women’s
issues relating to land are instrumental in avoiding unrelated,
insurmountable, and contentious issues
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