UN notes spike in attacks on rights defenders, media workers

KABUL (Pajhwok): Killings of human rights defenders and media professionals in Afghanistan have increased after the launch of peace talks between the government and the Taliban in September 2020, a new UN report said on Monday.

While tracing the changing patterns of attacks on the key sectors of civil society, the report from the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) analyses data and trends connected to the killings from January 1, 2018 to January 31, 2021..

Eleven human rights defenders and media workers were killed in targeted attacks in the country from the September 12 start of peace negotiations to January 31 2021 in Doha — the capital of Qatar.

The UNAMA report said this trend, combined with the absence of claims of responsibility for such attacks, had created a climate of fear among the population.

Human rights and media space had shrunk as a result, with many professionals exercising self-censorship in their work, quitting their jobs and leaving their homes and communities with hopes it will improve their safety, the UN mission said.

It added many, including high-profile personalities, had fled the country. The killings have had the broader impact across society of also diminishing expectations around efforts towards peace.

The UN secretary-general’s special representative said: “The Afghan people need and deserve a flourishing civic space – a society where people can think, write and voice their views openly, without fear.”

Deborah Lyons, who also heads the UN mission, added: “The voices of human rights defenders and the media are critical for any open and decent society. At a time when dialogue and an end to the conflict through talks and political settlement should be the focus, the voices from human rights and the media need to be heard more than ever before, instead they are being silenced.”

The most recent wave of intentional, premeditated and deliberate targeting of individuals, with perpetrators remaining anonymous, was in contrasts to previous years, the report pointed out.

Previously, such deaths were mainly caused by the proximity of individuals to attacks by organised armed groups, mainly the Islamic State in the Levant-Khorasan-Province (ISIL-KP), involving the use of improvised explosive devices.

The report recorded a total of 65 human rights defenders and media professionals killed from January 1, 2018 to January 31, 2021 — 32 from the human rights sector and 33 from the media.

Of these, 11 (five human rights defenders and six media professionals) were killed in the four-month period from October 1, 2020 to January 31, 2021 alone.

Investigations into killings must be independent, impartial, prompt, thorough, effective, credible and transparent, the report stressed. The prosecution of suspected perpetrators should strictly follow due process and fair trial standards.

The use of charged rhetoric against the role of civil society and the media, threats or actions taken against whistleblowers, and the circulation of “target lists” all contribute to perpetuating the conditions in which civic space can only shrink further, it said.

A series of recommendations to both state and non-state actors are contained in the report:

The government of Afghanistan

• Operationalise an effective and cooperative national protection mechanism, building on the recent establishment of the Joint Commission for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders under the leadership of the 2^nd vice-president of Afghanistan.
• Put in place an adequate preventive framework, including special protective and proactive security measures for human rights defenders, journalists and media workers subject to threats or other types of intimidation.
• Ensure that human rights defenders, journalists and media workers enjoy their legitimate rights to life, freedom of association, freedom of expression and access to information, as well as other fundamental freedoms, without fear of reprisal or attack.
• Counter impunity, including by conducting independent, impartial, prompt, thorough, effective, credible and transparent investigations into killings.
• Promote genuine accountability, including by prosecuting suspected perpetrators of targeted attacks strictly following international due process and fair trial standards.
• Protect and promote civic space, including refraining from adopting restrictive laws on freedom of association and freedom of expression, as well as avoiding a public discourse where civic space is unnecessarily challenged or targeted.

Non-state actors

• Cease all killings of human rights defenders, journalists and media workers, in accordance with international human rights and humanitarian law.

The Taliban

• Condemn at the leadership level killings of human rights defenders, journalists and media workers.
• Investigate cases where Taliban members are alleged to have been involved and hold to account Taliban members that order or implement the killings of human rights defenders, journalists and media workers.
• Adopt, publicize and enforce policies that prohibit the killings of human rights defenders, journalists and media workers.
• Repel existing policies (and refrain from adopting new ones) limiting civic space, including restrictions to freedom of association, the work of civil society and humanitarian actors, freedom of expression.

The international community

• Continue condemning the killing of human rights defenders and media professionals, underscoring the importance of the role of human rights defenders and independent media for a unified, sovereign, peaceful and democratic Afghanistan, in line with the Communiqué adopted at the Geneva Conference on Afghanistan on 24 November 2020.
• Continue to engage with human rights defenders, journalists and media workers at risk and increase support to programs that provide security, travel, financial, capacity building and other assistance to them.

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