View previous stories
	Number of Afghan civilian casualties rises by 24% in first half of 2014 by UNAMA, ICRC, agencies   Feb 2015   Escalating violence brings increased suffering to war-weary Afghans. (ICRC)   Following a volatile year in Afghanistan, 2015 has brought no reprieve to civilians suffering the effects of intensifying armed conflict. Countless hardships, including large-scale indiscriminate attacks and increasing difficulties reaching health care, are among the grim realities facing the war-weary population. With no end in sight to the violence, there are fears conditions could get even worse this year.   "Persistent and fierce fighting, including serious violations of the rules of war, continue to have a deplorable impact on the Afghan population," said Jean-Nicolas Marti, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) head of delegation in Afghanistan. "For the victims of the conflict, the situation might deteriorate even further as the funding of humanitarian aid dwindles in the country."   The increase in violence over the past 12 months, apparent to the ICRC''s staff on the ground, has resulted in rising humanitarian needs.   Last year, the ICRC witnessed a 37% increase in its transport of wounded combatants from the battlefield to health centres, while it more than doubled its recovery of mortal remains of combatants.   In the organization''s physical rehabilitation centres across the country, the severity of wounds maiming patients remained deeply concerning, with cases of double or even triple amputees.   Alarmingly, with the rise in violence, the civilian population last year faced increasing difficulties reaching health care. Throughout the network of clinics run by the Afghan Red Crescent Society and supported by the ICRC, there was an 18% decline in the number of patients accessing medical services, due to their inability to reach health facilities amid the deteriorating security situation in some parts of the country.   "Access to health care has been seriously compromised this past year, which is of grave concern to us," said Mr Marti.   The past 12 months were also marked by large-scale and devastating attacks on the civilian population. In particular, the ICRC witnessed a continuing trend of fighting parties failing to distinguish between civilians and combatants.   "Whether it''s due to the use of indiscriminate weapons, or the use of weapons in an indiscriminate way, too many civilians are being caught in the cross-fire," said Mr Marti. "Under international humanitarian law, indiscriminate attacks directed against civilians are absolutely prohibited. Only combatants may be targeted; civilians may never be the object of attack."   http://www.icrc.org/en/document/afghanistan-escalating-violence-brings-increased-suffering-war-weary-afghans#.VNiuT_mUd8E   19 December 2014   Civilian casualties in Afghanistan increased by nearly 20 per cent in 2014 compared to the previous year and are expected to rise to a figure over 10,000 by end of December – for the first time since the UN mission in the country began keeping record in 2008.   “Men, women and children are suffering an enormous human cost as the transition evolves in Afghanistan,” Georgette Gagnon, the Director of Human Rights at the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in New York today as she briefed journalists at UN Headquarters.   UNAMA documented from 1 January 2014 to the end of November 9,617 civilian casualties which includes 3,188 civilian deaths and 6,429 civilian injuries.   “Why do we document injuries? Because they devastate families, communities and individuals, leaving many with very serious physical disabilities and affecting family livelihoods and futures,” Ms. Gagnon said.   Compared to 2013 child casualties jumped 33 per cent and women civilian casualties increased 14 per cent. What’s different in 2014 is that the majority of civilian casualties have been caused in ground engagements and fighting between Afghan forces and insurgents, followed by deaths and injuries caused from improvised explosive devices.   “As with previous years, 75 per cent of civilian casualties we attribute to the insurgents, the Taliban, the Haqqani network and other insurgent groups; 12 per cent to pro-Government forces, 11 per cent to ground engagements where the party that caused the civilian casualties cannot be determined and the remainder to unexploded ordinates that are left after ground engagements,” Ms. Gagnon said.   UNAMA continues to advocate and lobby all parties particularly “anti-government elements” to do much more to abide by their legal obligation under international law and under Afghan law to reduce civilian casualties and to not attack civilians either deliberately or indiscriminately.   “Civilian casualties are particularly tragic and a prominent part, even benchmark, of the horror and the violence that ordinary Afghans face,” said the Head of UNAMA, Nicholas Haysom who joined Ms. Gagnon at the briefing.   He stressed that the scale of the problems that Afghanistan faces in 2015 requires a “level of common purpose and unity” without which the embattled nation will simply not be able to meet its challenges.   15 July, 2014   A car full of explosives has killed at least 89 people at busy market in Eastern Afghanistan. It was one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in the country since 2001.   A sport utility vehicle packed with explosives detonated in a market on Tuesday, bringing down shops and leaving the bloodied remains of men, women and children in the rubble. By late afternoon, at least 89 people were known to have been killed. Afghan officials said the attack occurred in the Urgun District of Paktika.   The blast reverberated through the narrow lanes of the bazaar, knocking down mud-and-wood structures that housed all kinds of shops, whether auto repair garages or vegetable stands.   “There was blood everywhere, and we could see hundreds of people shouting and crying, including women and children,” said Sharafuddin, 21, who owns a shop that sells kitchenware.   “I saw a woman dead while her two kids were crying sitting next to her, and they were covered in blood,” he said in a telephone interview. “The entire area seems like a graveyard.” Clinics around the area reported being flooded with casualties.   July 2014   UN report: Number of Afghan civilian casualties rises by 24% in first half of 2014   Ground combat among parties to the armed conflict in Afghanistan surpassed improvised explosive devices (IEDs) as the leading cause of conflict-related death and injury to Afghan civilians in the first six months of 2014, according to a major report of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), launched today in the Afghan capital of Kabul.   In its 2014 Mid-Year Report on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, prepared in coordination with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), UNAMA also noted that ground engagements and crossfire hit children and women with unprecedented force, with associated child casualties more than doubling in the first six months of 2014 and two-thirds more women killed and injured by ground engagements compared with 2013.   While civilian casualties caused by IEDs also increased to unprecedented levels over the same period in 2013, deaths and injuries caused by mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire in ground engagements jumped dramatically as the frequency and intensity of these incidents increased in 2014, particularly in areas with concentrated civilian populations.   “The nature of the conflict in Afghanistan is changing in 2014 with an escalation of ground engagements in civilian-populated areas,” the United Nations Special Representative for the Secretary-General in Afghanistan and head of UNAMA, Jan Kubis, said. “The impact on civilians, including the most vulnerable Afghans, is proving to be devastating.”   “It is particularly alarming that the number of Afghan women and children killed and injured in the conflict increased again in 2013,” said the Director of Human Rights for UNAMA, Georgette Gagnon.   “It is the awful reality that most women and children were killed and injured in their daily lives – at home, on their way to school, working in the fields or traveling to a social event. “This situation demands even greater commitment and further efforts by the parties to protect women and children from conflict-related violence.”   “Behind every civilian casualty is a man, woman or child"s life and immense suffering and hardship for an Afghan family and community,” said Ms. Gagnon.   “Reduced civilian suffering and fewer civilian casualties together with improvements in human rights protection should be the core benchmarks of improved stability and efforts toward peace.”   http://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/afghanistan-midyear-report-2014-protection-civilians-armed-conflict   Afghan Peace and Reconciliation. (Institute for War and Peace Reporting)   Afghanistan’s turbulent recent history has left millions dead, many more displaced, a country in ruins and a legacy of bitterness that will take years to overcome. The limited reach of central government, the volatile mix of political, regional and ethnic loyalties, and the heavily militarised social environment make it difficult to move beyond the continuous cycle of conflict.   The new administration of President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani will have to work hard to break this pattern. The High Peace Council and its predecessor, the Peace and Reconciliation Commission, have persuaded hundreds of former insurgents to come over to the government’s side, but there is still a long way to go. Continued suicide bombings and other attacks underline the enormity of the task ahead.   A new IWPR initiative called Afghan Reconciliation: Promoting Peace and Building Trust by Engaging Civil Society is designed to facilitate this process. Building on the format of IWPR’s Youth and Elections project, the idea is to draw Afghans into a nationwide discussion on peace-building and reconciliation: http://iwpr.net/focus/afghan-peace-and-reconciliation Visit the related web page
	Greater action needed to combat sexual violence in 21 conflict countries by Zainab Bangura Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict   Despite greater political momentum to fight rape in war zones, sexual violence remains a global crime affecting women and children in more than 20 countries, a senior United Nations official announced today urging greater action at the regional and national levels.   “It doesn’t matter whether she comes from Bosnia, she comes from Colombia or Syria or Central Africa, the pain that a woman feels who has been raped is the same,” Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zainab Bangura told journalists in New York at the launch of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s annual report on the issue.   Documenting information based on cases recorded by the UN system in 21 countries of concern, the report identifies 34 armed groups, militia and Government security forces, responsible for using rape as a tool in conflict zones.   Among its findings, the report also links sexual violence with local economies. It notes that rape is used to gain control of territories with natural resources, including minerals, which are used by groups to further fuel conflict, as well as human trafficking and illegal drug trade.   Rape has also been documented as a trigger for mass flight, which further makes women, and especially youth, vulnerable to abuses. Some parents trying to protect daughters push them to early and forced marriages, which has led to cases of human trafficking and sexual slavery, Ms. Bangura noted.   While impunity for sexual violence remains prevalent, it is particularly acute in these situations. Under-reporting of sexual assaults is a function of limited capacity to safely monitor and report, as well as the result of fear of stigmatization and reprisals by the survivors.   Among the report’s recommendations, Special Representative urges Governments “to work to develop a comprehensive protection and service response for survivors” of sexual violence, including reproductive health services, HIV awareness and response services, and assistance in psychosocial, legal and livelihood aid.   “The UN calls on the countries in question, and the international community, to ensure that men, women and children who are victims of sexual violence, and children born of rape get the assistance they need,” Ms. Bangura underlined echoing the report.   The report also urges building the capacity of civil society groups to better protect against such crimes at the community level. At the national level, the report recommends engage with state and non-state parties to obtain commitments to prevent and respond to conflict-related sexual violence.   Earlier this month, Ms. Bangura and other senior UN officials, including human rights chief Navi Pillay, called on the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to step up the fight against impunity for rape and sexual violence, which remain widespread and largely unpunished. Referring to a report from the UN Joint Human Rights Office in the DRC (UNJHRO), she noted documented cases of 3,600 people attacked, nearly half of them in the strife-torn eastern province of North Kivu, and ranging in age from two years old to 80.   This year’s report also includes a list of groups credibly suspected of committing or being responsible for patterns of rape and other forms of sexual violence in situations of armed conflict on the agenda of the Security Council. These include parties in the Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, DRC, Mali, South Sudan and Syria, among others.   http://www.stoprapenow.org/page/specialrepresentativeonsexualviolenceinconflict Visit the related web page
	View more stories