AFGHANISTAN ANNUAL REPORT ON PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS IN ARMED CONFLICT: 2020 AFGHANISTAN PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS IN ARMED CONFLICT ANNUAL REPORT 2020 FEBRUARY 2021 1 KABUL, AFGHANISTAN AFGHANISTAN ANNUAL REPORT ON PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS IN ARMED CONFLICT: 2020 This report and all Afghanistan Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict Reports referenced herein are available on the UNAMA website at: http://unama.unmissions.org/protection-of-civilians-reports Front cover: Three months after the start of the Afghanistan Peace Negotiations between the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Taliban, an Afghan boy makes his way home through broken glass after rockets hit a resi- dential area in Kabul, Afghanistan on 12 December 2020. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province (ISIL-KP) claimed responsibility for the rocket attack which killed a civilian man and injured two others. ISIL-KP had also claimed responsibility for a rocket attack on Kabul less than a month earlier on 21 November that killed 10 civilians and injured 50 others. Photo © EPA-EFE / Hedayatullah Amid 2 AFGHANISTAN ANNUAL REPORT ON PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS IN ARMED CONFLICT: 2020 3 AFGHANISTAN ANNUAL REPORT ON PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS IN ARMED CONFLICT: 2020 Deborah Lyons, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan Kabul, Afghanistan February 2021 Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Geneva, Switzerland February 2021 4 AFGHANISTAN ANNUAL REPORT ON PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS IN ARMED CONFLICT: 2020 Mandate he 2020 Annual Report on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict in Afghanistan was prepared by the Human Rights Service of the United Na- T tions Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and covers the period from 1 January to 31 December 2020. The UNAMA Human Rights Service prepared this report pursuant to the UNAMA mandate under United Nations Security Council Resolution 2543 (2020) “to mon- itor the situation of civilians, to coordinate efforts to ensure their protection, […] to promote accountability, […] and to assist in the full implementation of the fun- damental freedoms and human rights provisions of the Afghan Constitution and international treaties to which Afghanistan is a State party, in particular those re- garding the full enjoyment by women of their human rights.” Security Council Resolution 2543 (2020) recognizes the importance of ongoing monitoring and reporting to the Security Council on the situation of civilians in the armed conflict, particularly on civilian casualties. UNAMA undertakes a range of activities aimed at minimizing the impact of the armed conflict on civilians including: independent and impartial monitoring of incidents involving loss of life or injury to civilians; advocacy to strengthen pro- tection of civilians affected by the armed conflict; and initiatives to promote com- pliance among all parties to the conflict with international humanitarian law and international human rights law and the Constitution and laws of Afghanistan, in- cluding in particular respect for rights to life and physical integrity. This report received technical input from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). 5 AFGHANISTAN ANNUAL REPORT ON PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS IN ARMED CONFLICT: 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS Methodology .............................................................................................................................................................................. 8 Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................................................. 11 Incident Types Causing Most Harm to Civilians ............................................................................................................................ 15 Attribution of Civilian Casualties to Parties to the Conflict .......................................................................................................... 17 Anti-Government Elements ..................................................................................................................................................... 17 Pro-Government Forces ........................................................................................................................................................... 19 Recommendations ................................................................................................................................................................... 20 I. Political and Security Dynamics Affecting Civilian Protection .......................................................................................... 23 II. Women and Armed Conflict ............................................................................................................................................. 26 III. Children and Armed Conflict ............................................................................................................................................ 30 Recruitment and Use of Children by Parties to the Armed Conflict .................................................................................... 33 Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Against Children .............................................................................................................. 35 Impact of the Armed Conflict on Healthcare ....................................................................................................................... 35 Impact of the Armed Conflict on Education ........................................................................................................................ 37 IV. Anti-Government Elements ......................................................................................................................................... 40 Overview .............................................................................................................................................................................. 40 1. The Taliban ...................................................................................................................................................................... 42 2. Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province .............................................................................................. 43 3. Undetermined Anti-Government Elements .................................................................................................................... 43 Incident Types Causing Most Harm to Civilians ................................................................................................................... 44 1. Suicide and non-suicide IEDs ........................................................................................................................................... 44 2. Attacks deliberately targeting civilians and civilian objects ............................................................................................ 51 3. Conflict-related abductions of civilians ........................................................................................................................... 58 4. Cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments and arbitrary deprivation of life ................................................................. 59 5. Placing civilians at risk: military use of homes and other civilian infrastructure, and instigation of risky acts ............... 59 V. Pro-Government Forces ................................................................................................................................................... 61 Overview .............................................................................................................................................................................. 61 1. Afghan national security forces ....................................................................................................................................... 63 2. International military forces ............................................................................................................................................ 65 3. Pro-government armed groups ....................................................................................................................................... 65 Incident Types Causing the Most Harm to Civilians ............................................................................................................. 66 1. Airstrikes .......................................................................................................................................................................... 66 2. Intentional harm to civilians, including summary executions ......................................................................................... 69 VI. Ground Engagements and Explosive Remnants of War ............................................................................................... 71 Ground Engagements: Civilians Caught in the Crossfire ...................................................................................................... 71 1. Indirect fire: artillery shells, mortars and rockets ........................................................................................................... 72 2. Civilian casualties from shooting during ground engagements .....................................................................................