Afghan civilian casualties and child deaths hit record high in 2016

Asia-Pacific, News July 25, 2016 , by IRIA No Comments

The number of children killed and wounded in the conflict during the first six months of the year, the highest-ever toll the U.N. has recorded.

Civilian casualties in Afghanistan hit a record high in the first half of 2016, a latest United Nations report showed.

At least 5,166 civilians were either killed or wounded in Afghanistan, in the first six months of the year 2016 – a half-year record since 2009. The U.N. mission in Afghanistan on Monday reported a worrying increase in the number of civilians killed and wounded in the country this year, making it likely that 2016 will be the worst year since 2009, when the organization began keeping track.

At least 1,601 Afghans have been killed and 3,655 wounded so far in 2016, according to the annual midyear report by the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

One-third of casualties between January and June 2016 were children, with 388 killed and 1,121 wounded, 18 percent more than in the first half of 2015, a figure the UN described as “alarming and shameful”.

“Every civilian casualty represents a failure of commitment and should be a call to action for parties to the conflict to take meaningful, concrete steps to reduce civilians’ suffering and increase protection,” the U.N.’s top official in Afghanistan, Tadamichi Yamamoto, said in the report.

“Platitudes not backed by meaningful action ring hollow over time. History and the collective memory of the Afghan people will judge leaders of all parties to this conflict by their actual conduct.”

Tadamichi Yamamoto, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and head of UNAMA, stressed that the report must serve as a call to action by parties to the conflict “to do all they can to spare civilians from the horrors of war.”

“Every single casualty documented in this report – people killed while praying, working, studying, fetching water, recovering in hospitals – […] represents a failure of commitment and should be a call to action for parties to the conflict to take meaningful, concrete steps to reduce civilians’ suffering and increase protection,” Yamamoto said.

Casualties attributed to pro-Government forces increased 47%

While anti-Government elements remain responsible for the majority – 60 per cent – of civilian casualties, there was an increase in the number of civilians killed and injured by pro-Government forces between January and June this year.

During this period, UNAMA documented 1,180 civilian casualties attributable to pro-Government forces, which is 23 per cent of the total so far this year, but a 47 per cent increase compared to the same period last year, primarily as a result of ground engagements.