UN Report Shows Record Level of Civilian Casualties in Afghanistan

A UN report on Afghanistan published Monday shows a record number of civilian casualties since counting began in 2009, with 5,166 civilians recorded killed or maimed in just the first six months of this year, of whom almost one-third were children. The total civilian casualty figure recorded by the UN between 1 January 2009 and 30 June 2016 has risen to 63,934, including 22,941 deaths and 40,993 injured. 
Between January and June this year, the Human Rights team of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) documented 1,601 civilian deaths and 3,565 injured civilians. This represents an increase of 4% in the total number of casualties compared to the first six months of 2015 – and is the highest half-year total since 2009. 
This year's casualties include 1,509 children (388 dead and 1,121 injured) – a figure the UN Human Rights Chief described as "alarming and shameful", particularly as it represents the highest numbers of children killed or wounded in a six-month period since counting began in 2009. 
There were also 507 women casualties (130 killed and 377 injured). The figures are conservative – almost certainly underestimates – given the strict methodology employed in their documentation and in determining the civilian status of those affected. 
The Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan and head of UNAMA Tadamichi Yamamoto stressed that the report must serve as a call to action by parties to the conflict "to do all they can to spare civilians from the horrors of war". 
"The testimony of victims and their families brings into agonizing focus the tragedy of each one of the 63,934 people killed or maimed by this protracted conflict since 2009," said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein. 
"The violations laid bare in this report set in motion a cascade of potential human rights abuses that stretch from Afghanistan to the Mediterranean and beyond, as so many Afghans are driven to seek refuge abroad, taking enormous risks," Zeid added. "Parties to the conflict must cease the deliberate targeting of civilians and the use of heavy weaponry in civilian-populated areas. There must be an end to the prevailing impunity enjoyed by those responsible for civilian casualties – no matter who they are." During the period covered by the report, 157,987 Afghans were newly displaced – a 10% increase over the same period last year. This brings the estimated total number of conflict-induced internally displaced Afghans to 1.2 million. 
The report also documents other serious human rights violations and abuses, including the deliberate targeting of women in the public sphere, use of children in armed conflict, sexual violence against boys and girls, attacks on educational and health facilities, abductions and summary executions. Human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers and judges have also been targeted, in some cases being labeled by the Taliban as "military targets".

Source : QNA