Geneva/Kabul – Despite a drop in civilians killed and injured overall in 2020, the start of peace negotiations in September that year saw a rise in civilian casualties, a report based on monitoring by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), and the UN Human Rights Office has revealed. However, the UNAMA reiterates that the best way to end the accumulating harm to civilians in Afghanistan is through a cessation of hostilities and a negotiated political settlement.
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The overall number of civilian casualties in 2020 – some 8,820 (3,035 killed and 5,785 injured) – fell below 10,000 for the first time since 2013 and was 15 per cent down on figures for 2019. However, the number killed stayed above 3,000 for the seventh consecutive year.
October represented the highest monthly number of civilian casualties in 2020, with targeted killings of civilians continuing through to the end of the year and beyond. Victims included media workers, civil society activists, members of the judiciary and the government administration, as well as relatives of members of the security forces.
The Afghanistan Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict Annual Report 2020, prepared by the Human Rights Service of the UNAMA and covers the period from 1 January to 31 December 2020, and released on February 23, 2021, has documented “the appalling level of harm” inflicted on civilians and traces the disturbing spike in violence against them in the last quarter of the year.
According to the report, the overall drop in civilian casualties was due to fewer civilian casualties from mass casualty suicide attacks by Anti-Government Elements (AGEs) in populated areas, and to a stark drop in civilian casualties attributed to international military forces. In 2020, this figure was 120 civilian casualties. However, what might otherwise have been significant progress in reducing harm to civilians was undermined by a worrying rise in civilian casualties as a result of targeted killings by AGEs, which were up some 45 per cent on 2019; the use of pressure-plate improvised explosive devices (IEDs) by the Taliban; air strikes by the Afghan Air Force, and ground engagements.
Causes of civilian casualties in 2020 and in relation to 2019 were:
- Ground engagements were the leading cause – 36 per cent, with 872 killed and 2,282 injured. A slight increase on 2019.
- AGE suicide and non-suicide attacks using IEDS – 34.5 percent, with 872 killed and 2,170 injured. This represented a 30 per cent decrease.
- AGE targeted killings – 14 per cent, with 707 killed and 541 injured. These were up by 45 per cent on 2019.
- Airstrikes by Pro-Government Forces (PGF) – 8 per cent, with 341 killed and 352 injured. This reflects a decrease of 34 per cent.
AGEs caused the majority of civilian casualties in 2020 (62 per cent, totalling 5,459 civilian casualties – 1,885 killed and 3,574 injured). Of these, the Taliban was responsible for 45per cent of all casualties, Islamic State in the Levant-Khorasan Province (ISIL-KP) for 8 per cent – and the remainder were attributed to undetermined AGEs.
Pro-Government Forces were responsible for a quarter of all civilian casualties, totalling 2,231 civilian casualties (841 killed and 1,390 injured). The Afghan national security forces were responsible for 22 per cent of all civilian casualties).
UNAMA said, it remains concerned about the detrimental impact of the conflict on women and children, who together made up 43 per cent of all civilian casualties in 2020, including 1,146 women casualties (390 killed and 756 injured – 13 per cent of all civilian casualties) and 2,619 child casualties (760 killed and 1,859 injured – 30 per cent of all civilian casualties).
It may be mentioned that after decades of conflict, millions of Afghans saw 2020 as a year promising a real prospect of peace. In February, the United States and the Taliban reached a bilateral agreement and in September, the Afghanistan Peace Negotiations formally commenced.
Fighting continued throughout the year, but two temporary ceasefires during successive Eid holi- days largely held, and there was a drop in the number of civilian casualties documented in the first nine months.
However, in stark contrast, the last three months of the year marked an uncharacteristic rise in civilian casualties – a critical indicator of the nature of the conflict. The year ended with increased focus on levels of violence and diminishing hopes for lasting peace.
“The harm caused to civilians in 2020 is a continuation of the pain and suffering from armed conflict that people of Afghanistan have endured for decades. The anguish caused by the armed conflict continued to be widespread and felt in cities and rural areas by people of all ages, gen-ders, ethnicities and social-economic backgrounds,” the report mentions.
The report, however, points out that the ‘reduction in violence week’ prior to the signing of the United States-Taliban agreement in Doha on February 29, 2020, demonstrated that parties to the conflict have the power to prevent and limit harm to civilians when they decide to do so.
“Afghanistan remains among the deadliest places in the world to be a civilian. I am particularly appalled by the high numbers of human rights defenders, journalists, and media workers killed since peace negotiations began in September,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.
“This report shows the acute, lasting needs of victims of the armed conflict and demonstrates how much remains to be done to meet those needs in a meaningful way. The violence that has brought so much pain and suffering to the Afghan population for decades must stop and steps towards reaching a lasting peace must continue,” she added.
The UN has consistently called for a humanitarian ceasefire as the best way to protect civilians from harm. Parties refusing to consider a ceasefire must recognise the devastating consequences their stance has on the lives of Afghan civilians.
With the conflict continuing, parties must do more to prevent and mitigate civilian casualties, including by implementing the report’s recommendations and by ensuring the respect and protection of human rights is fundamental to the ongoing peace negotiations. The report also reminds the parties that attacks deliberately targeting civilians or civilian objects are serious violations of international humanitarian law that may amount to war crimes.
– global bihari bureau
