AFGHAN DEATHS
Children account for 1,509 casualties in more than 5,000 toll, UN report says
Civilians killed in first half of this year hit record high,
KABUL // Civilian casualties in Afghanistan hit a record high in the first half of this year, the United Nations said yesterday.
Children were paying a heavy price for growing insecurity as the conflict escalates, a UN report stated. The findings came days after the deadliest attack in Kabul since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001. Between January and June, 1,601 civilians were killed and 3,565 were wounded.
Those figures represented a 4 per cent increase in casualties compared with the same period last year, said the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, or Unama.
The casualty toll reached its highest levels since the UN began issuing its authoritative reports in 2009.
“Every single casualty documented in this report – people killed while praying, working, studying, fetching water, recovering in hospitals – every civilian casualty represents a failure of commitment and should be a call to action for parties to the conflict to take meaningful steps to reduce suffering,” said Tadamichi Yamamoto, Unama’s special representative to Afghanistan.
The casualties include 1,509 children – about a third of the total – a figure the UN described as “alarming and shameful”. It was the highest toll recorded by the UN over a six-month period.
The statistics were a grim indication of growing insecurity in Afghanistan as the Taliban step up their nationwide insurgency and ISIL fighters try to broaden their foothold in the east.
The UN report said insurgent groups including the Taliban were responsible for 60 per cent of civilian casualties.
It also reported a 47 per cent increase casualties caused by pro- government forces, compared with the same period last year.
“The testimony of victims and their families brings into agonising focus the tragedy of ... this protracted conflict since 2009,” said Zeid Al Hussein, the UN high commissioner for human rights.
“The family that lost a breadwinner, forcing the children to leave school and struggle to make ends meet; the driver who lost his limbs, depriving him of his livelihood; the man who went to the bazaar to shop for his children only to return home to find them dead.”
The report was released after the deadliest attack for 15 years in Kabul on Saturday killed 80 people and left hundreds injured. The attack was claimed by ISIL. The twin bombings tore through crowds of minority Shiite Hazaras as they gathered to demand that a multimillion-dollar power line pass through their electricity-starved province of Bamiyan, one of the most deprived areas of Afghanistan.
Those casualty figures were not included in the UN report.
But the attack backed up another of the report findings – that suicide bombings and complex attacks were now hurting more civilians than roadside bombs.
“Parties to the conflict must cease the deliberate targeting of civilians and the use of heavy weaponry in civilian populated areas,” Mr Al Hussein said.
“There must be an end to the prevailing impunity enjoyed by those responsible for civilian casualties – no matter who they are.”
The report also said that growing air strikes by Afghan forces contributed to the rise in civilian casualties as new aircraft were deployed.
It also voiced concern over the human rights breaches by pro-government militia groups, which often acted outside the law in some Afghanistan provinces.