In Afghanistan Record High Civilian Casualties for 2015

Summary: The report by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan indicates that in Afghanistan record high civilian casualties characterize 2015.

Afghanistan from space ~ Dense snow pack provides valuable snow melt for Afghanistan's fresh water supply but also constitutes a natural hazard that causes loss of human life and creates impassable barrier to navigation; image captured Monday, Feb. 27, 2006, by NASA's Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS); credit Jeff Schmaltz/MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer): Freely available for re-publication or re-use, including commercial purposes, via NASA Visible Earth

In Afghanistan record high civilian casualties are announced, for the seventh year in a row since 2009, in a report released in February 2016 by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) brings civilian fatalities to 3,545 and non-combatant injuries to 7,457 between Jan. 1, 2015, and Dec. 31, 2015. The total between Jan. 1, 2014, and Dec. 31, 2014, comes to 10,534 adults and children, with deaths claiming 3,701 civilians and with injuries claiming 6,833.

The report describes 2015, compared to 2014, as “marking a four per cent decrease in civilian deaths and a nine per cent increase in civilians injured.” It elaborates that “one in 10 civilian casualties was a woman and one in four was a child.”

UNAMA furnishes for Afghanistan record high civilian casualties from Jan. 1, 2009, through year-end 2015, with a total of 58,736 from 21,323 dead and 37,413 injured. Their report gives breakdowns of 2009’s 5,968 civilian casualties into 2,412 dead and 3,556 injured and of 2010’s 7,162 civilians into 2,794 dead and 4,368 injured. It has breakdowns for 2011’s 7,842 civilian casualties as 3,133 dead and 4,709 injured and for 2012’s 7,590 civilian casualties at 2,769 dead and 4,821 injured. The comparative tables and texts in the report released in February 2016 indicate a breakdown for 2013’s 8,638 civilian casualties into 2,969 dead and 5,669 injured.

Ground engagements join deliberate and targeted killings, improvised explosive devices and suicide and complex attacks as causes of rising casualties.

UNAMA keeps casualty-related tallies based upon still and video images; reports by non-governmental organizations, third parties and U.N. entities; and visits to hospitals and medical facilities. Their report lists incidents based upon three source types: “victim, witness, medical practitioner, local authorities, confirmation by party to the conflict, community leader or other sources.”

Human Rights Unit members make a separate category for civilian casualties that “cannot be attributed to one party” by making “Pro-Government Forces and Anti-Government Elements” co-responsible. They note “Anti-Government Elements” totaling 62 percent of 2015’s incidents, “Pro-Government Forces” 17 percent, “unattributed fighting” 17 percent and “unattributed explosive remnants of war” 4 percent. They organize government-attributed casualties into 1 percent by armed groups, 2 percent by international military and 14 percent by security.

In Afghanistan record high civilian casualties prompt recommendations concerning “key steps” to “mitigate casualties and protect civilians from harm” by anti-government, international military and pro-government parties.

Anti-government elements qualify for such makeovers as refraining from using complex and suicide attacks, deliberate targeting, grenades, improvised explosive devices, mortars and rockets in civilian-populated areas. UNAMA recommends that international military forces investigate the aerial bombing of the Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) hospital Oct. 3, 2015, in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan. The Human Rights Units suggest that the government must disarm and disband armed groups, establish victim compensation, fight in non-civilian-populated areas and investigate alleged rights violations.

Nicholas Haysom, Special Representative for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, terms Afghanistan as "not territory alone, but the place so many people call home.”

UN’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Leila Zerrougui, says that children, often targeted in hospitals and schools, account for a quarter of all Afghans killed in 2015: UN Radio @UN_Radio, via Twitter Feb. 17, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Afghanistan from space ~ Dense snow pack provides valuable snow melt for Afghanistan's fresh water supply but also constitutes a natural hazard that causes loss of human life and creates impassable barrier to navigation; image captured Monday, Feb. 27, 2006, by NASA's Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS); credit Jeff Schmaltz/MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer): Freely available for re-publication or re-use, including commercial purposes, via NASA Visible Earth @ http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=75444

UN’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Leila Zerrougui, says that children, often targeted in hospitals and schools, account for a quarter of all Afghans killed in 2015: UN Radio @UN_Radio, via Twitter Feb. 17, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/UN_Radio/status/699991562407776256

For further information:

“Afghan Casualties Hit Record High 11,000 in 2015 – UN Report.” UN News Centre.
Available @ http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=53229#.VsSKR9yrC50

“Civilian Casualties Hit New High in 2015.” United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan > News > 14 Feb. 2016.
Available @ https://unama.unmissions.org/civilian-casualties-hit-new-high-2015

Reuters. 15 February 2016. “Civilian Casualties in Afghanistan Hit Record High – UN.” Vatican Radio > World News > Asia.
Available @ http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2016/02/15/civilian_casualties_in_afghanistan_hit_record_high_-_un/1208830

Smith, Josh. 14 February 2016. “Civilian Casualties Hit Record High in Afghanistan.” Huffington Post > Edition: U.S.
Available @ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/civilian-casualties-afghanistan_us_56c09677e4b0b40245c70584

RT. 15 February 2016. "Afghan civilian casualties in 2015 hit record high - UN report." YouTube.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XibWAp-3rVM

United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. February 2016. Afghanistan Annual Report 2015 Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict. Kabul, Afghanistan.
Available @ http://unama.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/poc_annual_report_2015_final_14_feb_2016.pdf

UN Radio @UN_Radio. 17 February 2016. "#Children targeted in #Afghan schools and hospitals, but gov making progress on protection." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/UN_Radio/status/699991562407776256