Commission reports on deadliest months for civilians

As many as 6,487 civilians were killed or injured in Afghanistan during the first half of 2019, a new report by the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) has found.

The AIHRC said the unprecedented rise in civilian casualties meant the first six months of the year "were the deadliest months for civilians in Afghanistan".

"Over the first six months of 2019, 1,611 civilians were killed in Afghanistan, while 4,876 others were injured in the same period, showing the 8.36 per cent increase in comparison with the first half of 2018," the report said.

The AIHRC found that the Taliban movement was responsible for 75 per cent of civilian deaths, while the Islamic State terrorist group was responsible for three per cent and government forces were responsible for 11 per cent.

Those responsible for the remainder of the civilian deaths were still unknown.

The AIHRC said in its report that "the use of new methods of warfare and failure to abide by international humanitarian law" by the parties involved in the conflict have been key contributing factors to the high number of civilian casualties.

The AIHRC also compared the number of women and children killed and injured in the first six months of 2019 with the same period of last year.

The report found the number of women victims of armed conflict increased by 16.8 per cent and the number of child victims of armed conflict increased by 26.47 per cent.

Further information is available on the Commission's website.

Date: 21 October 2019