KABUL (SW) – As per latest figures by the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, a total of 10,772 civilians were killed or injured in 2019.
According to the report, the Taliban were responsible for 71 percent of last year’s casualties while the so-called Islamic State/ Daesh caused five percent. 14 percent of the casualties were caused by pro-government forces.
The findings by AIHRC show that a total of 86,823 civilians, including women and children have been killed or injured in the past ten years in Afghanistan. Among these civilian casualties, 28,979 are killed and 57,844 are injured. The above figures are the instances recorded at AIHRC; however, there may be cases of civilian casualties that occurred but were not recorded.
A total of 10,772 civilians were killed or injured in 2019. Among the aforementioned number, 2,817 are killed, and 7,955 are injured. There are 6,845 men, 974 women, and 2,696 children among the casualties. In addition, the gender of 257 casualties has not been recorded at AIHRC.
The aforementioned figure shows 7.23 percent reduction of civilian casualties compared to 2,018. In 2018, 11,611 civilian casualties were recorded at AIHRC; out of which 3,277 were killed and 8334 were injured.
The statistics by AIHRC show that a total of 974 women casualties have been recorded in 2019 which includes 282 killed and 692 injured. In 2018, a total of 912 women were victimized, 256 of whom were killed and 656 were injured. Comparison of the abovementioned figures shows that there has been 3.83 percent increase in women casualties in 2019.
It said that unfortunately, there has been a rise in percentage of children casualties in 2019 due to war tactics used by warring parties. In 2019, the total number of children casualties is 2,696 (445 killed and 2,251 injured); while in 2018, this number was 2,690 (367 killed and 2,323 injured).
The AIHRC called on all warring parties – Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GOIRA), international forces, the Taliban and other opposition groups – to begin intra-Afghan dialogue as soon as possible and to establish a cease-fire, taking into consideration the maintenance of justice and human rights protection of the citizens.
ENDS
