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Amnesty International Report 2017/18
AFGHANISTAN
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
Head of state and government: Muhammad Ashraf
Ghani
The civilian population suffered widespread
human rights abuses as a result of the
continuing conflict. Conflict-related
violence led to deaths, injuries and
displacement. Civilian casualties continued
to be high; the majority were killed or
injured by armed insurgent groups, but a
significant minority by pro-government
forces. The number of people internally
displaced by conflict rose to more than 2
million; about 2.6 million Afghan refugees
lived outside the country. Gender-based
violence against women and girls persisted
by state and non-state actors. An increase
in public punishments of women by armed
groups applying Shari’a law was reported.
Human rights defenders received threats
from both state and non-state actors;
journalists faced violence and censorship.
Death sentences continued to be imposed;
five people were executed in November.
Members of the Hazara minority group and
Shi’a continued to face harassment and
increased attacks, mainly by armed
insurgent groups.
BACKGROUND
In March, the UN Security Council renewed
the mandate of the UN Assistance Mission in
Afghanistan (UNAMA) for another year,
under the leadership of Tadamichi
Yamamoto.
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of the
country’s second largest insurgent group,
Hezb-i-Islami, joined the Afghan government.
On 4 May, after two years of negotiations, the
draft peace agreement signed in September
2016 between the government and
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was finalized, granting
him amnesty for past offences, including war
crimes, and permitting the release of certain
Hezb-i-Islami prisoners.
By the end of June, UNAMA had
documented 12 incidents of cross-border
shelling from Pakistan into Afghanistan, in
which at least 10 civilians were killed and 24
injured. This was a substantial increase on
the same period in 2016.
The government made amendments to the
Penal Code. Some provisions of the Rome
Statute of the ICC were incorporated into law
and some offences which previously carried
the death penalty became punishable by life
imprisonment.
ARMED CONFLICT
The non-international armed conflict between
“anti-government elements” and pro-
government forces continued. The Taliban
and the armed group Islamic State (IS) were
among the “anti-government elements” but
more than 20 armed groups operated inside
the country. The Taliban and other armed
opposition groups were responsible for the
majority of civilian casualties (64%) in the
first nine months of the year, according to
UNAMA.
By the end of September, UNAMA had
documented 8,019 civilian casualties (2,640
killed and 5,379 injured), a small overall
decrease compared to the same period in
2016, although there was a 13% increase in
the number of women killed or injured. About
20% of the casualties were attributed to pro-
government forces, including Afghan national
security forces, the Afghan Local Police, pro-
government armed groups and international
military forces.
While acknowledging that Afghan
government forces made some efforts to
mitigate civilian casualties, especially during
ground engagement, UNAMA also noted that
the number of civilians killed or injured in
aerial attacks increased by some 50% over
2016; about two-thirds of these were women
and children.
ABUSES BY PRO-GOVERNMENT FORCES
In January, according to UNAMA, Afghan
National Border Police in Paktika province
sexually abused a 13-year-old boy, then shot
him; the boy died from his injuries. Those
suspected of criminal responsibility were
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prosecuted by the Afghan National Police,
convicted of murder and sentenced to six
years‘ imprisonment.
According to UNAMA, more than a dozen
civilians were shot at checkpoints. In one
such incident on 16 March, Afghan Local
Police at a checkpoint in Jawzjan province
shot and injured a man and his mother after
mistaking them for insurgents. In April,
Afghan National Police shot a 65-year-old
man returning from feeding his cows; he later
died in hospital. In May, an Afghan National
Army soldier shot dead a 13-year-old boy as
he collected grass close to a checkpoint in
Badghis province.
In June, according to UNAMA, three young
children in Saydebad district were killed in
their home by a mortar round fired by the
Afghan National Army. The same month, pro-
government forces on patrol shot dead a
father and his two young sons (aged five and
12) outside the brick factory where they
worked; there was no known military activity
in the area at the time. UNAMA requested
updates on any investigation or follow-up
action on these cases, but by July had
received no information from the Ministry of
the Interior.
During the first six months of the year,
according to UNAMA, 95 civilians, half of
them children, were killed in air strikes.
ABUSES BY ARMED GROUPS
In January, in Badakhshan province, five
armed men dragged a pregnant woman from
her home and shot her dead in front of her
husband and six children; witnesses said her
attackers accused her of being a government
supporter. On 8 March, armed men entered
an Afghan National Army military hospital in
central Kabul and killed at least 49 people,
including patients. In August, armed groups
attacked the village of Mirza Olang, in Sar-e-
Pul province, killing at least 36 people,
including civilians.
Suicide attacks by armed groups in civilian
areas caused at least 382 deaths and 1,202
injuries. In one such attack in December, at
least 41 people, including children, were
killed in a suicide bomb attack on a Shi’a
cultural organization in Kabul.
On 25 August, a Shi’a mosque in Kabul was
attacked by IS, killing at least 28 people and
injuring dozens more. On 20 October, similar
attacks were carried out against two more
Shi’a mosques – one in western Kabul and
the other in Ghor province – leaving more
than 60 people dead and dozens injured.
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS
The Ministry of Women’s Affairs of
Afghanistan (MoWA) reported an increase in
cases of gender-based violence against
women, especially in areas under Taliban
control.
In the first half of the year, the Afghanistan
Independent Human Rights Commission
reported thousands of cases of violence
against women and girls across the country,
including beatings, killings and acid attacks.
Against the backdrop of impunity for such
crimes and a failure to investigate, cases of
violence against women remained grossly
under-reported due to traditional practices,
stigmatization and fear of the consequences
for the victims.
Armed groups perpetrated gender-based
violence, torture and other ill-treatment and
other human rights abuses, imposing
corporal punishments on women for having
sex outside of marriage or engaging in sex
work. In one instance, according to UNAMA,
men severely beat a woman in her home in
Darah-i-Suf Payin district, Samangan
province, after accusing her of having sex
outside of marriage and engaging in sex
work.
UNAMA also noted that armed groups tried
to restrict girls’ access to education. In
February, threats forced the closure of girls’
schools in several villages in Farah province,
temporarily denying education to more than
3,500 girls. When the schools reopened 10
days later, the vast majority of the girls were
initially afraid to return.
The head of the women’s affairs department
in Badakhshan reported that in March the
Taliban stoned a woman to death and
whipped a man on charges of having sex
outside of marriage in Wardoj district,
northeastern Badakhshan province.