More than 500 civilians were killed due to the fighting in Afghanistan during the first quarter of 2020, according to a United Nations report released Monday.
More than 150 of civilian deaths during the period were children, the report by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said.
Between 1 January and 31 March, UNAMA documented a total of 1,293 civilian casualties (533 killed and 760 injured) in Afghanistan.
Violence increased during March at a time when it was hoped that the Afghan government and the Taliban would commence peace negotiations, as well as seek ways to defuse the conflict and prioritize efforts to protect all Afghans from the impact of COVID-19, according to the report.
“I call on all parties to seize the opportunity offered by the Secretary-General’s call for a global ceasefire to focus collective efforts on fighting a common enemy, the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Deborah Lyons, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and head of UNAMA. “To safeguard the lives of countless civilians in Afghanistan and to give the nation hope of a better future, it is imperative that violence is stopped with the establishment of a ceasefire and for peace negotiations to commence.”
This trend is all the more striking as it followed a 22 to 28 February ‘reduction in violence’ period between Pro-government forces and the Taliban, as well as the 29 February agreement signed between the United States and the Taliban, UNAMA said.
Anti-government elements continued to be responsible for the majority of civilian casualties – 55 percent – during the first quarter, causing 710 civilian casualties (282 killed and 428 injured). UNAMA attributed 39 percent to the Taliban, 13 percent to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant–Khorasan Province (ISIL-KP) and the remainder to undetermined anti-government elements.
Civilian deaths caused by the Taliban increased by 22 percent in the first quarter of 2020 as compared to the same period in 2019, mainly due to an increase in targeted killings and summary executions.
Pro-government forces were responsible for 32 percent of all civilian casualties during the period, causing 412 civilian casualties (198 killed and 214 injured).
Pro-government forces were responsible for more child casualties than anti-government elements during the period and over twice as many child deaths, mainly due to airstrikes and indirect fire during ground engagements, the report said.
UNAMA attributed 21 percent of overall civilian casualties to Afghan national security forces, eight percent to international military forces and the remainder to pro-government armed groups and undetermined pro-government forces.
Although UNAMA documented a reduction in civilian casualties caused by the Afghan national security forces for the first quarter of 2020, it expressed concern about an uptick in civilian casualties in March as a result of their operations, mainly from ground engagements, particularly the use of indirect fire, and airstrikes, the report said.
Children and women continue to be disproportionately impacted by the violence. From 1 January to 31 March 2020, UNAMA documented 417 child casualties (152 killed and 265 injured) and 168 women casualties (60 killed and 108 injured).
Despite increasing levels of violence and civilian casualties in March, the overall number of civilian casualties in the first quarter of 2020 represents a 29 percent decrease in comparison to the first quarter of 2019 and the lowest figure for a first quarter since 2012, UNAMA said.
