Afghanistan: Accountability for civilian deaths

* News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International *

26 October 2001
ASA 11/022/2001
189/01


Amnesty International is calling on the US military to strengthen
measures to ensure that civilians are not killed as a result of
their military action, to investigate thoroughly reports of such
incidents and make public their findings. The organization is
also calling for a moratorium on the use of cluster bombs.

     "Every civilian victim of the ongoing conflict in
Afghanistan adds to years of killings, repression, displacement
and hunger. The human cost of the conflict continues to mount and
increasing reports of civilian casualties allegedly arising from
US-led military action are a cause for grave concern," Amnesty
International said today.

     "US officials have admitted that a number of civilian
targets have been hit as a result of error, however the lack of
public information on such attacks is disturbing."

      It is not possible to independently verify reported
civilian deaths because of the limited access to Afghanistan for
impartial observers. Reports from UN officials, humanitarian NGOs
and refugees fleeing to Pakistan raise enough concern to call for
an immediate and full investigation into what may have been
violations of international humanitarian law such as direct
attacks on civilian objects or indiscriminate attacks.

     Amnesty International has already asked the US authorites
to investigate a number of attacks, including the air attack on
12 October on the village of Khorum, where a number of civilians
were reportedly killed; and the attack on 16 October on
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warehouses in
Kabul, in which one Afghan civilian was injured.  Another attack
on the same ICRC compound took place this morning.

     The organization has also expressed concern at an attack
on an Afghan radio station mentioned at a Pentagon news briefing
on 11 October. On 16 October Secretary of Defence Rumsfeld
indicated that radio stations and the television station were hit
because they were "propaganda vehicles for the Taliban
leadership". However, Amnesty International considers civilian
radio and television stations to be civilian objects even when
they are "propaganda vehicles".

     The US-led forces should take sufficient precautions to
protect civilians in selecting military objectives and means of
attack. They should also desist from an attack if it becomes
apparent that the objective is not a military one, or the attack
risks being disproportionate to the military objective.

     Amnesty International is also very concerned about the
use of cluster bombs close to civilian areas and is calling for
an immediate moratorium on their use, pending an international
review of their use due to take place in December 2001 in Geneva
at the Second Review Conference of the UN Convention on Certain
Conventional Weapons.

     Cluster bombs present a high risk of violating the
prohibition of indiscriminate attack, because of the wide area
covered by the numerous bomblets released.  At least 5% of them
do not explode upon impact becoming de facto anti-personnel mines
and remaining a continued threat to people, including civilians
on the move, who come into contact with them.

     Just this week the UN Office of the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs reported that cluster bombs were dropped
over a village near Herat, in Western Afghanistan.  The village
was littered with unexploded bomblets, restricting the movement
of local people.

     "If cluster bombs continue to be used, civilians will not
only suffer now but for years to come," Amnesty International
warned.

     Amnesty International has also called on the Taleban to
take immediate action to prevent and repress serious violations
of humanitarian law. Following a public statement on 10 October
by al-Qa'ida spokesman Sulayman Abu Ghaith, suggesting that his
group has no intention of respecting the principle of distinction
between civilians and the military, Amnesty International urged
the Taleban to ascertain whether al-Qa'ida or other forces
fighting alongside the Taleban have carried out or are planning
to carry out direct attacks on civilians, such as the 11
September attacks in the USA. Any such attack would be a grave
breach of international humanitarian law.

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