High Peace Council in September to pursue peace AFGHANISTAN negotiations with insurgent groups. The High Peace Council included figures widely accused of ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF AFGHANISTAN committing human rights abuses and war crimes. Head of state and government: Hamid Karzai Only 10 women were appointed to the High Peace Death penalty: retentionist Council despite strong national and international Population: 29.1 million pressure for adequate representation of women in Life expectancy: 44.6 years Under-5 mortality (m/f): 233/238 per 1,000 negotiating teams and forums. Afghan civil society groups, in particular women’s groups, war victims, and those who suffered at the hands of the Taleban, called on the government to Conflict-related violence, and attendant human ensure that the protection and promotion of human rights violations, increased throughout the country, rights would not be sacrificed to facilitate negotiations A including in northern and western Afghanistan, areas with the Taleban and other insurgent groups. previously considered relatively safe. The The National Stability and Reconciliation bill was Afghanistan NGO Security Office (ANSO), which officially promulgated, granting immunity from advises organizations on safety conditions in criminal prosecution to people who committed serious Afghanistan, recorded 2,428 civilians killed in 2010 human rights violations and war crimes over the past as a result of the conflict, with the majority 30 years. The law was passed in March 2007 but not attributed to the Taleban and other anti-government publicized and promulgated until early 2010. forces. There was a significant rise in the numbers of Nine million Afghans, more than 30 per cent of the assassinations and executions of civilians by the population, lived on less than US$25 a month and Taleban for “supporting” the government or “spying” could not meet their basic needs. According to for the international forces. Violence caused by UNICEF, Afghanistan’s maternal death rate of 1,800 insurgents intensified, triggering widespread human per 100,000 live births continued to be the second rights abuses. In light of the spiralling conflict and worst in the world. It was estimated that more than the absence of an adequate domestic judicial half a million Afghan women died every year during system, Amnesty International called on the childbirth or after giving birth. International Criminal Court to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Abuses by armed groups international community increasingly discussed The Taleban and other armed groups (some anti- ending its military presence in the country. The government and others ostensibly supporting the Afghan people continued to lose confidence in the government) targeted, abducted, indiscriminately ability of the government and the international attacked and unlawfully killed civilians, committing security forces to uphold the rule of law and deliver human rights abuses and gross violations of essential social services. Health care, education and international humanitarian law. According to ANSO, humanitarian aid remained out of reach for people in the Taleban and other anti-government armed groups most rural areas, particularly in the south and south- were responsible for 2,027 casualties, up more than a east where the conflict was most intense. quarter from 2009. The number of civilians assassinated or executed by armed groups surged by Background more than 95 per cent, including public executions of Parliamentary elections held on 18 September were children. The victims were accused of “supporting” marred by nearly 6,000 allegations of electoral the government or “spying” for the international irregularities and fraud, attacks on candidates, and forces. intimidation and attacks by the Taleban on voters, Suicide attacks electoral workers and candidates. On 18 January, Taleban suicide bombers and Following the International Conference on gunmen attacked major government buildings, the Afghanistan held on 28 January in London, UK, and Kabul Serena Hotel, a shopping mall and cinema in the National Consultative Peace Jirga held 2-4 June central Kabul. Seven people, including a child, were in Kabul, President Karzai established a 68-member killed and at least 35 civilians were injured. Amnesty International Report 2011 55 On 26 February, four suicide bombers attacked a the eastern and southern region of Afghanistan, guesthouse in Kabul city. At least 16 people, most of which often resulted in civilian casualties. them foreign medical staff, were killed and more than 50 On 21 February, 27 civilians were killed and 12 were injured. The Taleban claimed responsibility for the others wounded near the border of Dai Kundi and attack but the Afghan government blamed the Pakistan- Uruzgan provinces, when two US military helicopters based armed group Lashkar-e Taiba for the attack. fired on several civilian vehicles mistakenly believed to On 3 May, Taleban suicide bombers and gunmen be carrying insurgents. attacked government buildings in Nimroz province and On 23 July, as many as 45 civilians, including killed 13 people, including Gul Makai Osmani, a children, were killed in a NATO air strike in Helmand legislator. province. On 9 June, at least 40 people were killed and more On 4 August, more than 12 Afghan civilians died than 70 wounded when a suicide bomber struck a during a night raid by US troops hunting for Taleban in wedding celebration in the southern province of Nangarhar province. A Kandahar. Fourteen children were among the dead. On 11 August, three brothers were killed during a Abductions night raid by NATO and US forces in Wardak province. On 26 September, Linda Norgrove, a Scottish aid The deaths sparked an anti-American protest in the worker, and three Afghan colleagues, were kidnapped area, where villagers said the brothers were civilians by members of the Taleban in Kunar province, eastern and not insurgents. Afghanistan. The three kidnapped Afghan aid workers Neither the Afghan judiciary, nor the governments were released on 3 October but Linda Norgrove was contributing to ISAF, demonstrated the ability or apparently killed by US special forces during a rescue willingness to provide proper accountability or attempt. compensation for victims of violations by pro- Unlawful killings government forces. On 8 June, the Taleban hanged a seven-year-old boy, accusing him of spying for British forces in Freedom of expression southern Helmand province. Afghan journalists continued to report critically on On 5 August, 10 members of the International events, risking harassment, violence, and censorship. Assistance Mission, an aid organization, were killed in The Afghan authorities, especially the intelligence southern Badakhshan province on their return from a service, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), medical mission. Both the Taleban and Hezb-e Islami arbitrarily detained journalists. The Attorney General’s claimed responsibility for the attack and accused the Office illegally closed down radio stations and victims of being missionaries. censored other media outlets. One of the most common grounds for applying such restrictions was Violations by Afghan and international the vague and undefined charge of being anti-Islamic. forces The Taleban and other anti-government groups ANSO reported that 401 civilians were killed by continued to target journalists and blocked almost all international and Afghan security forces, a decrease reporting from areas under their control. of 14 per cent from 2009. Air attacks remained the On 5 September, Sayed Hamed Noori, a presenter, most harmful operations tactic, accounting for 53 per journalist and Deputy Chairman of Afghanistan cent of civilian deaths attributed to international and National Journalists Union, was murdered in Kabul. Afghan security forces. Thirty-seven per cent of the On 18 September (election day), Radio Kapisa FM deaths occurred during ground operations, including director Hojatullah Mujadadi was arrested by the NDS night raids. at a voting station in Kapisa province. He claimed he The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was threatened by both the governor and NDS officials issued tactical directives in March and August to because of his independent coverage of the situation in lessen the impact of fighting on civilians. The former the province. sought to regulate night raids and the latter was Japanese freelance journalist Kosuke Tsuneoka was aimed at regulating aerial strikes and indiscriminate kidnapped in late March during a reporting assignment fire on residential compounds. However, there was an in a Taleban-controlled region of northern Afghanistan. increase in the number of night raids, particularly in His captors released him to the Japanese Embassy on 56 Amnesty International Report 2011 by the President. On 24 October, Hamid Karzai other of corruption; investigations were opened into ordered the judiciary to review all death row cases. some of these allegations. Public confidence in the judiciary remained low. In November, the European Amnesty International visits/reports Commission concluded that Albania had not fulfilled Amnesty International delegates visited Afghanistan in February and July. the criteria for candidate status for EU membership, Afghanistan: Human rights must be guaranteed during reconciliation and urged further reforms. talks with the Taleban (ASA 11/003/2010) Open letter to delegates of the International Conference on Violence against women