Rights watchdog calls on govt to protect Hazaras against genocide

The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) said Sunday in a statement that the Afghan government has to grant special protection to Hazaras and the community in Dasht-e-Barchi.

The AIHRC said it was government’s duty to protect the Hazara community against crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing or genocide.

The statement comes a day after a deadly bombing close to a girls high school in Dasht-e-Barchi killed 63 people and wounded 187.

The AIHRC stated that government has an obligation to “protect the population at risk of war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing or genocide.”

“The Afghan government has an obligation under International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and International Human Rights Law to protect the population at risk of war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing or genocide and international law obliges the government to take measures to end and prevent genocide and war crimes, crimes against humanity and persecution on the basis of ethnicity and gender,” the statement read.

“In October 2020, just over six months ago, more than 40 students died in an attack on Kawsar Danish tutoring center. In May 2020, almost a year ago 11 mothers were murdered with their unborn babies, two boys were, and an Afghan midwife was killed, with 5 mothers injured; this is femicide and infanticide,” the statement highlighted.

The AIHRC stressed that the Afghan government should fulfill its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights “which includes acknowledging massacres targeting Hazaras.”

“The Afghan government should communicate immediately a human rights-based protection plan for Dasht-e-Barchi and West Kabul. This should include plans for collective reparations,” the organization said.