 |
| UN officials addressing a press conference in Afghan capital [PHOTO: UNifeed] |
Kabul: Civilian casualties in Afghanistan's armed conflict
decreased for the first time in six years, the United Nations Assistance
Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has said while releasing its 2012 Annual Report
on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict prepared in coordination with the
United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Ján Kubiš, the Special Representative of the
Secretary-General for Afghanistan (UNAMA) while noting that the mission was
prepared to "engage with anti Government forces, with the Taliban, on
humanitarian issues on protection of civilians, stressed that "We cannot
accept that civilians are being killed by improvised explosive devises (IED).
We cannot accept that increasingly suicide bombers including brain washed
children are used to kill civilians."
The report attributed the reduction in civilian casualties
in 2012 to fewer deaths and injuries of civilians from ground engagement among
parties to the conflict, a decline in suicide attacks by Anti-Government
Elements, reduced numbers of aerial operations, and other measures taken by
Pro-Government Forces to minimize harm to civilians.
Georgette Gagnon, UNAMA's Director of Human rights told
journalists that n 2012, UNAMA had documented 7,559 civilian casualties, 2,754
civilian deaths and 4,805 civilian injuries. This year for the first time in
six years, Gagnon said that "we recorded a decline in civilian deaths of
12 per cent."
She also noted that the reduction in civilian deaths came
from four things, "ground engagement between the parties caused fewer
casualties. There was a decline in suicide attacks by Anti-Government Elements.
There was a reduced number of aerial operations by international military
forces, and there were measures taken by both the Afghan forces and
international forces to reduce harm to civilians."
The report found that women and girls continued to suffer
enormously from the effects of armed conflict. UNAMA documented 864 female
casualties (301 deaths and 563 injuries) in 2012.
Gagnon said that there was increase "of 20 per cent of
women and girls killed in the conflict".
Throughout 2012, UNAMA received mixed reports about the
impact of the Afghan Local Police (ALP) on civilian protection. The majority of
communities from 94 districts with ALP presence reported improvement in the
security environment; however, UNAMA documented inconsistent compliance with
policies guiding the ALP recruitment and vetting process, and serious human
rights violations committed by ALP in some districts.
Gagnon said that while the decrease in civilian casualties
was very much welcome, "civilians and civilian communities continue to be
threatened - their lives, livelihoods and well-being. And we attribute this to
increasing threats associated with the presence and re-emergence of a number of
armed groups across the country".
According to the report the presence and re-emergence of
these armed groups, some aligned with the local Government and others operating
independently, particularly in the north and northeast regions, may be linked
to an increased presence of Anti-Government Elements in remote districts with
local armed groups emerging to fight against or protect communities from
insurgents, security gaps relating to transition of military forces, political
instability and general insecurity. -UNifeed