Reacting to the UN Human Rights Council’s decision to establish an independent investigative mechanism for Afghanistan to collect, consolidate, preserve and analyse evidence of past and ongoing crimes under international law and human rights violations and abuses, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard, said:
“In the face of continued impunity in Afghanistan, the establishment of a UN-mandated evidence gathering mechanism is a vital step towards advancing accountability for past and ongoing crimes under international law and paves the way for victims and survivors to access justice, reparation, and truth.
“Amnesty International, together with Afghan civil society and others, has been calling for this mechanism since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021. Since then, the Taliban has plunged Afghanistan into a system of control and repression. Women and girls have been systematically erased from public life, denied education, work and voice; journalists, activists and minorities silenced through arbitrary detention, torture and enforced disappearance; and brutal corporal public punishments and executions used as tools of fear. This assault on human rights has long demanded more than words from the international community and the mechanism is a major step in a long journey towards accountability for the people of Afghanistan.
The establishment of a UN-mandated evidence gathering mechanism is a vital step towards advancing accountability for past and ongoing crimes under international law and paves the way for victims and survivors to access justice, reparation, and truth
Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard
“Today’s resolution has the potential to be an important milestone in the fight against impunity for millions of victims and survivors in Afghanistan, spanning more than four decades of conflict. However, this potential hinges on the mechanism adopting a truly comprehensive approach – one that considers crimes committed both before and after August 2021. This should include systematic targeted attacks by the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP) and other insurgent groups, as well as allegations of crimes under international law committed by security forces under the former government, international military and security forces and other agents.
“Establishing a mechanism is only the beginning. States owe it to the victims to ensure that the mechanism is properly resourced and empowered to promote justice.”
Background
Amnesty International, together with Afghan civil society and others, has been continually advocating for the United Nations Human Rights Council to establish an independent and impartial investigative mechanism on the situation in Afghanistan since August 2021. Calls for this type of mechanism emerged as early as 2003, and were renewed in May 2021, after the deliberate and targeted attack at the Sayed Shudaha Girl High School in the west of Kabul which killed and wounded over 250 people, mostly girl students. In response, with the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC)’s lead, Afghan civil society organizations and international human rights organizations advocated for the establishment of such a mechanism.
Afghanistan has grappled with continuous conflict for over four decades, resulting in crimes under international law and human rights violations and abuses by warring parties including the Taliban, ISKP, security forces under the former Government and international military and security forces and other agents. Victims and survivors have had almost no access to justice, reparation, and truth. This has now worsened with the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021. Amnesty International has documented many incidents of war crimes and the crime against humanity of gender persecution, as well as other crimes and human rights violations and abuses by the Taliban and others across the country.
With no access to justice, truth, and reparation, between 1978 and 2001, at least two million people were estimated to have either been killed or wounded due to the conflict.
Following longstanding calls from Afghan and international civil society organizations, the UN Human Rights Council today adopted a resolution without a vote to establish an “independent investigative mechanism to collect, consolidate, preserve and analyse evidence of international crimes and the most serious violations of international law, including those that may also amount to violations and abuses of international human rights law, committed in Afghanistan.” While it does not have prosecutorial powers, the mechanism can collect and preserve evidence of international crimes and serious human rights violations. This evidence can support future prosecutions in international and national courts, including those exercising universal or other forms of extraterritorial jurisdiction, and for credible efforts in the future to build a framework for accountability and justice in Afghanistan.
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