Is there legal pluralism in Afghanistan? Notes on injustice and access to justice (original) (raw)

2023, Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian Studies

Abstract

This NCHS paper examines the use of the term legal pluralism in Afghanistan and argues that where access to justice is particularly difficult or neglected, social actors face an absence rather than a plurality of legal orders. The paper was originally developed as a contribution to the report Afghanistan and the Rule of Law after 2021: Legal and Social Developments by the Max Planck Foundation for International Peace and the Rule of Law.

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References (30)

  1. "The origin of the term Shari'ah is in the Qur'an Verse 48: Chapter 5 in which Allah (swt) declares that for all humans, He has provided Shari'ah and Minhaj. The latter is the plural of Manhaj, which is a clear pathway to 'well- being, goodness, and thriving existence,' while the former constitutes the network of rules of treading the path." Hossein Askari, H. and Mirakhor, A. 2020. Conceptions of Justice from Islam to the Present. Palgrave Macmillan, p. 10.
  2. See also De Lauri, A. 2012. Inaccessible Normative Pluralism and Human Rights in Afghanistan. FMSH, Working Paper Series, n. 21.
  3. On justice as fairness see, for instance, Rawls, J. 1985. Justice as Fairness: Political not Metaphysical. Philosophy and Public Affairs, 14: 223-251.
  4. Nader, L. 2008. Giustizia, diritti umani e sentimento d'ingiustizia. In: De Lauri, A. Giustizia. Antropologia, Vol. 8, Ledizioni.
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  8. See also Hakimi, M.J. 2021. The Judiciary and the Rule of Law in Afghanistan. Judicature, 105(3): 24-29.
  9. Hassina Syed, at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum in Oslo, 11 December 2022.
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  11. The literature on legal pluralism in Afghanistan is rich. Some recent interventions include Choudhury, N. 2017. Revisiting Critical Legal Pluralism: Normative Contestations in the Afghan Courtroom. Asian Journal of Law and Society, 4: 229-255; Singh, D. 2019. The Management of Legal Pluralism and Human Rights in Decentralized Afghanistan. The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law, 51(3): 350-380; Terpstra, N. 2020. Statebuilding, Legal Pluralism, and Irregular Warfare: Assessing the Dutch Mission in Kunduz Province, Afghanistan. Peacebuilding, 8(3): 300-320; Henderson, S. and Muller, L. 2022. Afghanistan's Forgotten Boys: Legal Pluralism and Impunity. Global Responsibility to Protect, 14(4): 409-431; Swenson, G. 2022. Contending Orders: Legal Pluralism and the Rule of Law. Oxford University Press.
  12. An example among many is Sevastik, P. 2020. Rule of Law, Human Rights and Impunity: The Case of Afghanistan. Hague Journal on the Rule of Law, 12: 93- 145.
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  14. This form of compensation is often described as bad; see, for instance, Saeed, L. 2021. Legal Pluralism in Afghanistan. In: Islam, Custom and Human Rights. Springer, pp. 23-64;
  15. De Lauri, A. 2013. Law in Afghanistan: A Critique of Post-2001 Reconstruction. Journal of Critical Globalisation Studies, 6: 4-29.
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  23. Benjamin, W. 1969. Critique of Violence. In: Reflections: Essays, Aphorisms, Autobiographical Writings. Schocken Books, p. 277.
  24. Derrida, J. 1994. Force de loi. Éditions Galilée. [23] Ibid., pp. 279-280.
  25. De Lauri, A. 2014. Law as an Anti-value: Justice, Violence and Suffering in the Logic of Becoming. Anthropology Today, 30(3): 22-25.
  26. United Nations 2022. Afghanistan: First Public Executive since Taliban Takeover, 'Deeply Disturbing' Says UN Human Rights Office. https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/12/1131487.
  27. Swenson, Contending Orders.
  28. SciencesPo 2021. Winning War Through Law in Afghanistan? Interview with Adam Baczko, https://www.sciencespo.fr/ceri/en/content/winning-war- through-law-afghanistan-interview-adam-baczko.
  29. De Lauri, Afghanistan.
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