Afghanistan: UN human rights official urges stronger protection for civilians
KABUL/NEW YORK/GENEVA (21 April 2015) – “Afghanistan finds itself in a paradoxical situation. On the one hand, there are
new opportunities for peace talks that would have been unimaginable only a few months ago. On the other, the conflict
looks set to intensify as insurgents test the strength of the security forces hoping to gain leverage in future
negotiations,” said Ivan Simonovic, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, at the end of a
seven-day mission to Afghanistan which took him to Kabul and the provinces of Nangarhar and Kapisa.
“Sadly, as the violence of the past week has shown, it will be Afghan civilians who pay the price, and more needs to be
done to protect them.”
During his second official visit to Afghanistan, the Assistant Secretary-General focused on the increasingly difficult
security situation following the withdrawal of foreign troops and the transfer of security tasks to the Afghan National
Security Forces.
"2014 was already a terrible year for the civilian population of Afghanistan, and figures for the first quarter of 2015
have confirmed that negative trend,” Simonovic said. According to preliminary figures compiled by the UN Assistance
Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), 655 civilians have already been killed and 1155 injured in the first quarter of 2015.
“On Thursday, I met a number of children detained for conflict-related crimes, including attempted suicide bombing. On
Friday, I met with civilian victims and their doctors at the emergency hospital in Kabul. And then on Saturday I was in
Jalalabad at the time of a ferocious suicide attack by anti-Government elements on a crowded marketplace, killing at
least 35 people,” Simonovic said. “It is unacceptable that Afghans should face such violence on a daily basis. There can
be no doubt that the use of tactics of this kind represent war crimes, and those responsible for organizing or
perpetrating such attacks must be brought to justice.”
“I was greatly encouraged by President Ghani’s and Chief Executive Abdullah’s personal commitment to ending torture in
Afghan detention facilities, and the steps being taken to prepare a national action plan on torture prevention,”
Simonovic said. “These institutional reforms must be reinforced by strict accountability measures. Torturers must be
prosecuted and punished, not transferred to other positions.”
The Assistant Secretary-General encouraged Afghanistan to institutionalize torture prevention by ratifying the Optional
Protocol to the Convention against Torture, which would lay the basis for a national inspection mechanism for places of
detention.
During his visit, Simonovic participated in the launch of a new report by UNAMA and the UN Human Rights Office on the
barriers to justice women still face. “Clearly the gains for women’s rights in Afghanistan need to be reinforced and
protected,” Simonovic said. “I welcome the appointment this week of four women ministers, and the imperative now should
be to ensure women’s representation in key institutions like the police and judiciary, and participation in the peace
process.”
ENDS