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Voices raised over killings as #StopHazaraGenocide trends on Twitter
Following a surge in targeted attacks against civilians in the predominately Shiite Hazara community in the western suburbs of Kabul city, tens of thousands of people have taken to social media calling on the Afghan government to recognize the attacks as acts of genocide.
The hashtag #StopHazaraGenocide has been trending over the past few days and by Saturday night had topped 100,000 tweets alone.
This comes amid ongoing attacks against the Hazara community – attacks that have over the past few years left hundreds of civilians dead and hundreds more wounded.
One Afghan woman said on Twitter “The systematic killing of Hazaras in Afghanistan is a clear example of genocide.”
Another Twitter user said: “Every day Hazara are digging a new mass grave to bury their loved ones. The hills of Kabul turned into a wasteland of despair where newborns, schoolgirls and mothers have been laid forever.
“Those who work for human rights and peace must today stand up and help us to #StopHazaraGenocide,” he said.
Another Twitter user stated: “The normalization of violence against Hazaras, the denial of the systematic persecution of a community simply because they belong to a particular ethnicity is the untold & rather unpopular truth of what is happening with Hazaras in Afghanistan.”
Dozens posted tallies around the death toll going back to 2018 – while many said that these attacks had been carried out by the Taliban, Daesh and other terrorist groups in the presence of US and NATO forces.
Referring to the UN convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, a number of people stated that the attacks on Hazaras must be recognized as an act of genocide.
According to the UN Genocide Convention Article 11, any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: Killing members of the group; Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group can be counted as genocide.
A number of Afghans stated that though all people in Afghanistan have been victims of terrorism, “the Hazaras have been constantly targeted for their ethnicity.”
Musa Zafar, an Afghan author, stated: “If you ask which ethnic group has suffered the most casualties in Afghanistan in the last twenty years, you can expect Pashtuns as an answer. Pashtuns have been killed on both sides of the conflict. Their children have been deprived of basic rights. But the targeted killings of Hazaras are an example of genocide.”
“The world should know that the Taliban and their like-minded terrorists are committing genocide along with countless other crimes [in Afghanistan],” he said.
A member of the Afghan Republic peace team, Mohammad Amin Ahmadi, said Saturday the voice of victims must be heard.
“It is a reality that the Hazara people are subject to genocide because they are being killed for their ethnic and religious identity,” Ahmadi said.
Shuja Zaky, TOLONews Anchor, stated that “targeting civilians anywhere and on all sides is condemned and deeply disturbing. But targeted attacks on Hazaras have gravely increased this concern.”
MP Arif Rahmani stated: “The world should not close its eyes to this systematic genocide.”
Parwiz Shamal, an Afghan journalist, said: “In Afghanistan, all ethnic groups have been harmed – Hazaras, Tajik Pashtuns, Uzbeks … but the fact cannot be ignored that seniors, young people, and children – even newborn babies – of no ethnic group like the Hazaras have been targeted just because of their ethnicity and have been slaughtered.”
This growing hashtag campaign, #StopHazaraGenocide comes after four private passenger vehicles were targeted in explosions in the densely Hazara-populated area in the west of Kabul city this week.
Dozens of people including Ariana News Anchor Mina Khairi, who was a Hazara herself, were killed in the bombings.
Tomas Niklasson, Acting Special Envoy of the European Union for Afghanistan, on Thursday spoke out about this and said that “targeting Hazaras” must be stopped.
Niklasson meanwhile also met with survivors of the deadly bombing at the Sayed-ul-Shuhada school in early May. Over 90 people, mostly schoolgirls, were killed when explosions were detonated at the school in Dasht-e-Barchi in Kabul – which is also a densely populated Hazara community.
Niklasson stated that crimes were committed and that these must be investigated.
“Targeting Hazaras must stop and crimes [must] be investigated,” he said.
He also noted that some people want to stop the grieving of Sayed-ul-Shuhada students, but that “their memory can be honored by pursuing dreams.”
“Those taken away too early can’t be brought back. But their memory can be honored by pursuing dreams that some want to stop,” he stated.
So far, no group including the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Recently the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) called on the Afghan government to grant special protection to Hazaras and the community in Dasht-e-Barchi.
The AIHRC said in a statement that it was the government’s duty to protect the Hazara community against crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and 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 five 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 immediately communicate a human rights-based protection plan for Dasht-e-Barchi and West Kabul. This should include plans for collective reparations,” the organization said.
One of the world’s most persecuted peoples
In a recent opinion article, in The Diplomat, by two political commentators, who are both former Afghan refugees, Sitarah Mohammadi and Sajjad Askary said the Hazara community “wears the sad reputation of being one of the world’s most persecuted peoples.”
They pointed out that while Hazaras now make up roughly a quarter of Afghanistan’s population of 38 million, they were once the largest Afghan ethnic group, constituting nearly 67 percent of the total population.
“The decline is due to the sad history of the Hazaras. Sanctioned state persecution against the Hazara began in the late 19th century. Since that time about 60 percent of the Hazara population has been eliminated in different ways: killed, sold into slavery, or forced into exile,” they wrote.
The Taliban’s massacre of thousands of Hazaras in Mazar-e Sharif in 1998 remains one of the most notorious atrocities in Afghanistan’s 40-year conflict, Mohammadi and Askary wrote.
They stated that members of Afghanistan’s Hazara community remain continually vulnerable to violence and that Hazara culture promotes democratic values of social liberalism and progressive thinking, and the community has embraced expanded educational opportunities.
“These cultural distinctions are at odds with the predominantly conservative religious views of wider Afghan society, and particularly with the Taliban. The Hazaras’ success, strides and liberation pose a threat to ethnocentric circles,” they wrote.
According to Mohammadi and Askary, the genocidal persecution of the Hazara people is maintained in contemporary attitudes throughout Afghanistan.
“Attacks against newborn Hazara babies, pregnant mothers, school children, girls, and youth are a matter of record. Hazaras have faced violence at educational centers and schools, fitness centers, wedding halls, and maternity wards.”
They also noted that “understandably, the persecution of the Hazaras has resulted in thousands seeking refuge across international borders in Europe, the U.K., and Australia.”
Mohammadi and Askary stated that emerging power dynamics in a post-withdrawal Afghanistan leave the Hazaras uniquely vulnerable to ongoing violence and that as the foreign military presence decreases, the need for increased international engagement with Hazara civil society organizations grows more crucial.
They stated that a vulnerable community is relying on its international friends to maintain humanitarian protection and institutional engagement as it confronts the dangers of a destabilized and chaotic time.
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EU provides 5 million euros to enhance food security and livelihoods in three Afghan provinces
The European Union announced Tuesday it provides close to 5 million euros to Action Against Hunger to enhance food security and livelihoods in Afghanistan’s Ghor, Daykundi and Badakhshan provinces.
The European Union and Action Against Hunger (ACF) will support over 26 000 people and empower local communities for the three coming years, EU said in a statement.
The EU-funded project focuses on enhancing agricultural production, cattle and poultry farming and support to micro, small and medium-sized businesses. The project will also enhance knowledge and skills transfer on farming activities, with a special view to include women and youth, the statement said.
“I very much welcome our new partnership with Action Against Hunger for making a real difference in the lives of tens of thousands of Afghans living in rural areas,” EU Chargée d’Affaires a.i. to Afghanistan, Raffaella Iodice, said. “Enhancing farming skills and practices helps Afghan women and men to be better prepared to face climate-related hazards, generate sustainable income and reduce poverty.”
Vijay Raghavan, Country Director for Action Against Hunger in Afghanistan, said that the project targets three of the most affected provinces Daykundi and Badakhshan, both of which have 40% of the population suffering from high levels of acute food insecurity, and Ghor with 45%.
One in two Afghans are said to live in poverty, and around 15.8 million people are experiencing acute food insecurity.
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1402: Afghanistan fails to gain international recognition
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) spent this past solar year – 1402 – trying to gain international recognition and take up its seat in the United Nations.
Due to certain policies, and restrictions against Afghan women and girls, the international community has not only imposed sanctions on the government but has also worked to isolate the IEA.
Western consensus has been that the IEA needs to revise some policies including those relating to human and women’s rights.
But in addition to these problems, the Islamic Emirate made progress in diplomatic relations with some countries in 1402 – China being the first to send an official ambassador to Kabul. In turn, Beijing followed suit by welcoming the IEA’s ambassador.
Some Afghan embassies, however, that are still run by diplomats appointed by the previous government, slowly started forging ties with the IEA – including the Netherlands and Spain.
Over the past year, diplomats aligned with the Islamic Emirate also took control of the Afghan embassy and consulates in India.
In 1402, Turkmenistan removed the name of the Islamic Emirate from the list of sanctions and terrorist groups in that country.
In the meantime, Iran, Afghanistan’s western neighbor, became embroiled in a spat with the IEA over the issue of water rights from the Helmand River.
Relations with Pakistan also soured somewhat, as Islamabad has accused the IEA of letting Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) hideout in the country.
These tensions came to a head when Islamabad implemented the process of forced deportation of more than one million Afghan immigrants.
But analysts believe that the neighboring countries and the region have not been able to agree on a specific policy for interaction with the Islamic Emirate.
According to them, the realization of this agreement requires the implementation of conditions set by these countries and the international community, including the formation of an inclusive government, and respect for the rights of women and girls; and ethnic and religious minorities by the Islamic Emirate.
This year, the IEA’s cabinet remained a caretaker government, although dozens of former former government officials and politicians continued to return home.
However, the Islamic Emirate considers the year 1402 as full of achievements and emphasizes that in this year, progress has been made in all fields, especially in terms of expanding relations with other countries.
However, the spokesman of the Islamic Emirate considers the lack of global legitimacy to be driven by a few countries – countries which influence the UN.
The Islamic Emirate currently has 38 active diplomatic missions in countries. In addition, Azerbaijan recently said it wants to open an embassy in Kabul.
Experts say however, 1403 will be a telling year, in terms of whether the IEA is recognized as the legitimate government or not.
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Dozens of needy families in west Kabul receive Bayat’s Ramadan aid
Dozens of needy families in the western suburbs of Kabul have been given much needed food aid for Ramadan by Bayat Foundation.
Foundation officials said the campaign is conducted during the holy month of Ramadan in order to help those in need.
The aid packages include essential food items such as flour and oil.
Residents in the west of Kabul, who received the packages, welcomed Bayat Foundation’s initiative but appealed for more assistance from other organizations.
Bayat Foundation is considered to be a key charitable organization in the country and has done valuable work in the past twenty years. The foundation has assisted victims of natural disasters, implemented public benefit projects, and helped the needy in different seasons.
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