Afghanistan still one of deadliest countries for civilians

Kabul - People try to get into Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan August 16, 2021. REUTERS-Stringer via Microsoft News. © Thomson Reuters

Geneva, 16 Feb (Kanaga Raja) – Afghanistan has remained one of the deadliest countries in the world for civilians for most of 2021, with women and children especially continuing to bear the brunt of the armed conflict.

This is one of the main conclusions highlighted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in a report to the upcoming 49th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council (28 February-1 April 2022).

According to the report (A/HRC/49/90), record levels of harm to civilians occurred in the first six months of 2021, as the conflict increased.

Although wide-spread fighting generally ceased after 15 August, apart from small pockets of conflict, civilians in Afghanistan remain at risk of harm due to so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan (ISIL-K) attacks, and leftover improvised explosive devices and explosive remnants of war, which disproportionately affect children, said the report.

The report said increased poverty levels have exacerbated the situation of the people of Afghanistan and have had a particular impact on child protection issues, including recruitment and use by armed groups and child and/or forced marriage.

Access to education, particularly for girls, and broader issues related to equal access to education and health care for both boys and girls are of concern due to the gender segregation rules imposed by the de facto authorities, said the High Commissioner.

The report by the High Commissioner highlights the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, as well as technical assistance achievements in the field of human rights during the period from 1 December 2020 to 30 November 2021.

The report, prepared in cooperation with the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), focuses largely on monitoring and technical assistance activities undertaken prior to the Taliban gaining control of the country on 15 August 2021.

According to the report by the High Commissioner, on 14 April 2021, the Government of the United States of America announced that it would begin withdrawing military personnel from Afghanistan on 1 May. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) partners issued a similar statement on the same date.

As the international troop withdrawal began, the peace process remained stalled, despite high-level meetings being held between the Government and the Taliban’s political office in Tehran, on 7 and 8 July 2021, and in Doha, on 17 and 18 July.

From May to August 2021, amid rising levels of insecurity, targeted killings and attacks targeting civilians, the Taliban seized effective control of Afghanistan through a military offensive that swept across the country, reaching the capital city Kabul on 15 August, said the report by the High Commissioner.

It noted that on the same date, the President of Afghanistan, Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, fled the country, leaving the Taliban in control of most of the territory of Afghanistan, with the exception of Kabul airport, which remained occupied by international military forces until 31 August, when the remaining US military forces departed, and parts of the Panjshir valley, where resistance forces retained control into September.

In the period between 15 and 31 August, the situation at Kabul airport was chaotic, with thousands of people gathering in the airport’s surrounding areas hoping to gain access to flights organized by international forces in order to leave Afghanistan.

On 7 September, the Taliban asserted the formation of a caretaker government, the report noted.

CIVILIAN CASUALTIES IN AFGHANISTAN

According to the report, from 1 January to 30 November 2021, UNAMA and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) documented at least 8,300 civilian casualties, with at least 2,400 killed and 5,900 injured.

Women and children represented close to half of all civilian casualties in the first 11 months of 2021, with women comprising 13 per cent of all civilian casualties and children 29 per cent, with both reaching record levels.

Ground engagements were the leading cause of civilian casualties, followed by suicide and non-suicide improvised explosive devices, targeted killings and air strikes, said the report.

The overall civilian casualties verified during the reporting period marked a 5 per cent decrease compared with the same period in 2020, it added.

The report said approximately 83 per cent of the civilian casualties occurred between 1 January and 15 August, with record numbers of civilian casualties documented during the first six months of the year.

In fact, for the period from May to June 2021, following the announcement in April that US forces would begin withdrawal, UNAMA and OHCHR documented the highest number of civilian casualties since the beginning of such systematic documentation in 2009, with a total of 2,392 civilian casualties, almost as many as the previous four months combined.

UNAMA and OHCHR attributed 57 per cent of the civilian casualties in the reporting period to anti-government elements (mainly Taliban and ISIL-K) and 19 per cent to pro-government forces (Afghan National Defence and Security Forces and international military forces).

“The remaining 24 per cent of civilian casualties resulted from incidents that could not be attributed to either party, including crossfire between parties to the conflict and explosive remnants of war.”

Between 1 January and 15 August, most civilian casualties occurred during ground engagements between parties to the conflict, attributed mainly to the Taliban and Afghan National Defence and Security Forces, especially through the use of indirect fire, such as from howitzers, mortars and rockets, in civilian-populated areas.

According to the report by the High Commissioner, between 1 January and 30 November, UNAMA and OHCHR documented an increase in the number of civilian casualties from improvised explosive devices and suicide attacks perpetrated by anti-government elements, compared with the previous year.

“While there was a peaceful handover of power in many parts of the country, including in some of the cities that changed hands in August, intense fighting in other densely populated urban areas in the final weeks of the Taliban advance resulted in severe harm to civilians.”

From 1 July to 15 August, with fighting occurring in and around many cities, high numbers of civilian casualties were recorded in Lashkar Gah, Kandahar, Herat and Kunduz, said the report.

During that period, fighting between the Taliban and Afghan National Defence and Security Forces resulted in at least 2,100 civilian casualties (nearly 400 killed and at least 1,700 injured), including many children. The majority of civilian casualties were caused by ground engagements and air strikes, it added.

UNAMA and OHCHR received credible reports of the summary execution of civilians and members of Afghan national security forces who were hors de combat by the Taliban, especially in newly controlled territory.

For example, in Ghazni province, UNAMA and OHCHR conducted fact-finding enquiries into allegations that Taliban fighters had killed at least 26 civilians (one woman and 25 male civilians between 16 and 74 years of age) in at least seven locations of Malistan district.

They received credible reports that some victims had been beaten before being shot and that Taliban members had set fire to homes and shops in one of the villages.

It was also reported that the Taliban had killed, including by beheading, persons hors de combat in Malistan.

Similarly, in Spin Boldak district, Kandahar province, after 16 July, UNAMA and OHCHR received credible allegations that at least 85 individuals might have been victims of Taliban abuses, including killings, enforced disappearances and unlawful detention, said the report.

In addition, during that period, UNAMA and OHCHR saw evidence of orders made by senior officials from the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces that Taliban members, if captured, should be summarily killed, rather than taken prisoner.

After gaining effective control of the country on 15 August, the Taliban made several announcements of general amnesties for former members of Afghan national security forces and those who had worked with international military forces, the report by the High Commissioner noted.

The report said despite such announcements, UNAMA and OHCHR received credible allegations of the killing, detention and other abuses perpetrated against former Afghan national security forces and others associated with the Government.

In total, between 15 August and 15 November, UNAMA and OHCHR received credible allegations of more than 110 such killings, of which at least 80 extrajudicial killings were reportedly attributed to the de facto authorities.

Furthermore, UNAMA and OHCHR are increasingly concerned about the extrajudicial killings of individuals suspected of affiliation with ISIL-K, mostly from Nangarhar province, said the report.

UNAMA and OHCHR documented at least 50 such killings, including beheadings, and the public display of corpses.

UNAMA and OHCHR also recorded continued harm to civilians from improvised explosive device attacks, both suicide and non-suicide, attributed mainly to ISIL-K, documenting at least 13 such attacks affecting civilians, resulting in at least 850 civilian casualties between 15 August and 30 November 2021.

The report said that left-over pressure-plate improvised explosive devices and other explosive remnants of war continued to be the other main cause of harm to civilians, with more than 70 civilian casualties recorded between 15 August and 30 November from such devices.

As ever, children were disproportionately affected by explosive remnants of war, highlighting the need for increased efforts towards mine risk education and clearance, the report emphasized.

It noted that the country task force on monitoring and reporting on children and armed conflict, chaired jointly by UNAMA and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), continued to document violations committed against children in Afghanistan.

The task force verified the killing and maiming of at least 2,150 children (at least 570 killed and 1,580 maimed) from 1 January to 30 November 2021, a 13 per cent decrease compared with the same period in 2020.

The report said of those cases, 95 per cent occurred between 1 January and 15 August, and, as documented in the mid-year update, the number of children killed and maimed in the first six months of the year was at record levels, with a sharp decline after 15 August when the Taliban gained effective control and military operations between Taliban forces and Afghan national security forces ceased.

“Children continued to comprise nearly all civilian casualties from explosive remnants of war after 15 August, and they continued to be disproportionately killed and maimed during improvised explosive device attacks,” it added.

The report noted that the task force verified at least 47 incidents affecting the right to education, including attacks on schools and education-related personnel, as well as incidents of threats, intimidation and harassment and the abduction of education-related personnel.

“The Taliban were responsible for nearly half of such attacks, all of which occurred between 1 January and 15 August,” it said.

The task force verified at least 62 incidents affecting health-care facilities and health-related personnel. Of those incidents, 38 were attributed to anti-government elements, 23 to pro-government forces and 1 attributed jointly to pro-government forces and anti-government elements.

For example, on 15 June, in five separate incidents in Nangarhar province, undetermined anti-government elements suspected to be ISIL-K conducted targeted attacks against polio vaccinators, shooting and killing six health-care personnel and wounding three others.

The report also said the task force verified the recruitment and use of at least 47 boys, 24 of whom were recruited by the Taliban, 16 by pro-government militia and 7 by the Afghan National Police. The recruitment of nearly all of them occurred prior to 15 August.

At the same time, it said, children in the ranks of the Taliban have become more visible since its takeover, leading to perceptions that the recruitment of children has increased, despite much of the recruitment likely having occurred previously.

The High Commissioner also reported that the increase in the prison population continued until mid-August 2021, with overcrowding remaining a concern.

By the end of July, at least 28 of the 38 prisons nationwide had reached their full capacity, with average occupancy rates at around 180 per cent. In July and August 2021, the Taliban seized prisons, releasing most of the prisoners.

However, by November, UNAMA and OHCHR had received information that detention facilities of some of the largest prisons in the country still suffered from overcrowding due to delays in processing of pre-trial detainees caused by the uneven functioning of the de facto justice system.

WOMEN’S RIGHTS

The report said before August 2021, the Government of Afghanistan had made progress in the implementation of strategies to improve gender equality.

On 12 August, Presidential Decree No. 55 of 2021 formally established the High Council of Women to oversee and guide the Government’s actions in relation to its commitments on women’s rights, in particular, economic, social and cultural rights, and legal protections across Afghanistan’s socioeconomic development initiatives and in the security and political spheres.

Law reforms aimed at advancing non-discrimination against women had also continued to progress, said the report.

For instance, the report said on 5 December 2020, the Cabinet Legislative Committee approved the prohibition of so-called “virginity testing” and requested the Office of the Attorney General, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and the Afghanistan Women’s Network to draft an amendment to article 640 of the Penal Code.

The report said that on 25 May 2021, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs completed its review of the Elimination of Violence Against Women Law of 2009, and the number of crimes increased from 22 to 29, with the addition of specific types of acts deemed as a form of violence, such as forcing women to dance at a party, as a sub-set of the crime of forced prostitution, and the addition of another 12 articles, bringing the total number of articles to 56.

In mid-June, review of the draft family law was completed by the former Ministry of Justice, with a plan for final stakeholder review in August and September, said the report.

On 14 July, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and the Ministry of Telecommunications launched a toll-free hotline, staffed by five professional lawyers, to receive complaints and provide legal advice to women and girls who were survivors of violence.

“Following the Taliban takeover on 15 August, all awareness-raising activities, workshops and radio programmes on women’s rights were temporarily brought to a halt, given the de facto authorities’ general clampdown on civil society, human rights defenders and activists.”

Women’s rights activists feared for their lives, and many either fled the country or went into hiding in Afghanistan.

The report said that the de facto authorities’ policy of the curtailment of enjoyment by Afghan women and girls of their fundamental rights and freedoms, such as the right to work, education, freedom of movement and peaceful assembly, although not uniformly applied across the country, stands directly opposed to 20 years of hard-won progress made by Afghans on gender equality and non-discrimination.

According to the report, from 1 November 2020 to 30 July 2021, UNAMA and OHCHR documented 200 cases addressed by formal justice processes concerning alleged criminal offences of violence against women and girls, including the following: beating (60); rape (34); harassment and annoyance (23); murder (19); forced marriage (18); child marriage (16); causing injury (15); forced self-immolation/suicide (13); and forced prostitution (2).

The report also said that during the period from 1 December 2020 to 15 August 2021, UNAMA and OHCHR documented incidents affecting 44 civil society activists, 9 of whom were women, due to their work.

Eight were killed, including one woman (four by the Taliban, one by ISIL-K and the other three cases could not be attributed), and one was injured by the Taliban.

The remaining 35 cases involved temporary arrests, threats and abductions, attributed to the former Government and anti-government elements.

In the same period, UNAMA and OHCHR also documented incidents affecting 42 journalists and media workers, including 8 women, and six radio/TV stations due to their work.

Ten of the victims were killed, including five women and one foreign journalist (five by ISIL-K, two by the Taliban and the other three cases could not be attributed).

Three were injured, including one woman whose case could not be attributed. The remaining 29 cases involved threats or intimidation, temporary arrest or deprivation of liberty, abduction and/or attempted attacks attributed to the former Government and anti-government elements, said the report.

It said in the period from 16 August to 30 November 2021, UNAMA and OHCHR documented incidents affecting 23 civil society activists due to their work.

Eight were killed (three by the de facto authorities, three by ISIL-K and two cases could not be attributed). The remaining 15 cases involved temporary arrests, beatings and threats by the de facto authorities.

In the same period, UNAMA and OHCHR also documented incidents affecting 48 journalists and media workers, including 2 women, and one radio/TV station due to their work.

Two of the victims were killed (one by ISIL-K and one could not be attributed), and two were injured by unknown armed men.

The remaining 44 cases involved temporary arrests or deprivation of liberty, beatings and/or threats or intimidation, attributed to the de facto authorities.

The report said that although the casualty figures decreased following the takeover of the country by the Taliban, there was a significant increase in temporary arrests and beatings by the de facto authorities, with 28 arrests and 10 beatings recorded since 16 August 2021.

- Third World Network