Corruption in judiciary; impacts and factors behind it

 

Last week, the special representative of the European Union (EU) for Afghanistan Michael Mellbin said that the Afghan judicial organs were the most corrupt administrations. The reform program of the National Unity Government (NUG) is in a stalemate and corruption rate is increasing day by day. In the meanwhile, Mellbin has also said that in remote areas, due to corruption in the judicial system, people take their issues to the courts of armed oppositions of the government.

On the other hand, the Afghan Supreme Court has termed Mellbin’s speech as unauthentic and has said that the judicial sectors are vastly reformed, and now people’s trust in judiciary has increased more than ever.

Are the judicial bodies corrupt? If yes, then what are the factors behind it? Moreover, what are the impacts of corruption in these sectors? These are the questions that are analyzed here.

Corruption at Judiciary

It is not the first time the corruption in judiciary is pointed out, before this, Integrity Watch of Afghanistan (IWA) and some other institutions have published surveys and researches in this regard, and whose results show that in judicial sectors there is more corruption than any other sectors.

According to the last five surveys of the IWA, courts were the most corrupt institutions in the country. If one adds corruption in the Afghan Ministry of Justice to the corruption in courts, then the judicial organs will form half of the corrupt administration in the country. (For further info see Chart-1)

 

Chart-1: administrations involved in corruption

Source: Surveys of IWA (2007, 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016)

Besides that, the International Institute of Gallup and Pajhwok News Agency have also conducted surveys on corruption in courts and judicial organs. Based on the Gallup’s survey in 2013, due to the corruption in judicial organs, 75% of the people did not have confidence in judiciary. According to the 2016 survey by Pajhwok, corruption in courts and judicial system is more than any other administration.

 

Factors behind corruption in judiciary

The followings are the main reasons behind corruption in the Afghan judicial system

• Judicial System: according to various surveys, Afghanistan’s judicial system is the most corrupt administration. That is why the leaders of the NUG had vowed to bring reforms in these organs, but these reforms are yet to be brought. Due to corruption in these organs and slow and small-scale reforms in this sector has also resulted in corruption in judicial administrations.
• The incomplete role of the Parliament: the judicial organs also need such laws that enable these organs to punish those who are involved in corruption. However, when the Parliament does not pass these laws, the judicial organs will fail to counter corruption. For instance, it is the third year since the fourth annex of the Afghan civil law (civil code) is sent to the Parliament, but it is yet to be approved by the parliament. In this annex the types of corruption-related crimes and their punishment are stated. In addition, another law, which is regarding land grabbing, is also pending in the Parliament to be approved.
• The confrontation between Judicial and Executive organs: it is also another factor behind the corruption in the judicial organs. Since 2001, the executive branch has constantly made efforts to convert the decisions of the judiciary to its own benefit or to influence the process of detection and investigation.
• The intervention of the powerful people in the judicial organs: in a report released by the judiciary branch of the Afghan government in 1389 “A picture of administration reform and the fight against corruption in the judiciary”, the judiciary branch itself accepts the existence of corruption in this organ and terms external intervention as one of the factors behind corruption in judicial organs. These interventions are on behalf of people including government officials, Parliament members, and other powerful
• Lack of overseeing and monitoring in the judicial organs: lack of monitoring and oversee in the judiciary branch is also one of the reasons behind corruption in these organs. Therefore, the judicial sector is required to be monitored and controlled.
• Internal factors: in addition to other factors there are some elements inside the judicial organs as well, which have paved the way for corruption. For instance, low salaries (except for the judges), weak administrative control, lack of coordination between judicial and security organs and some other factors.

 

The impacts of corruption in judicial organs

• Human rights; everyone has the right to defend himself in an independent and impartial judicial system, but corruption in judicial sector would endanger this very basic human right. Therefore, corruption in judicial system can create major obstacles in the way of human rights. The more judicial organs are corrupt, the more will human rights be violated.
• Lack of public confidence in governmental administrations: widespread corruption in judiciary branch has reduced public confidence in these organs and thus persuaded people to take their issue to the powerful peoples or the courts of armed oppositions of the government. However, such behavior is less apparent in urban areas, but in remote areas most of the people refer to the courts of the armed oppositions of the government.
• Economy and investment; another impact of the corruption in judicial organs is on economy and investment, because most of the time investors need to refer to the judicial organs and when the influence of powerful people is explicitly apparent in these organs, investors feel that their investments are not safe. In addition, corruption in the judicial organs increases the chances of imbalanced distribution of assets in the society, it affects the tax (tax, customs and…) collection process, and finally, it affects the distribution of the equipment among the provinces.

 

 

The end