II. Attacks on humanitarian NGOs
In recent weeks, international humanitarian NGOs operating in the north have faced a dramatic upsurge in violent attacks, including cases of rape, looting, and firing on their vehicles. NGOs in the region believe that the rapid rise in the number of isolated attacks is an indication of their growing vulnerability amid the existing security vacuum. The attacks have had a chilling effect on the ability of women NGO staff, in particular, to participate in relief and recovery operations. During a press briefing on June 25, Manoel de Almeida e Silva, the spokesperson for the special representative of the secretary general, reported that many NGOs in northern Afghanistan had "removed female staff from undertaking field missions as a temporary measure."2 The withdrawal of women aid workers from field missions in turn prevents those aid agencies from communicating effectively with Afghan women about their assistance needs.
What follows is a summary of the major reported incidents, based on information gathered by Human Rights Watch from officials of humanitarian aid agencies in the north.
· May 29: Five gunmen broke into the Mazar office of Goal, an Irish humanitarian aid organization, around 9:30 p.m. They quickly overpowered the two guards at the entrance to the compound, hitting one on the head with a pistol and then chaining one in a basement and the other in the bathroom. The intruders appear to have proceeded directly to the organization's safe and carried it away. According to witnesses interviewed after the robbery, the gunmen wore uniforms and spoke in Uzbek.
· June 6: At about 2:30 a.m., armed men broke into and robbed the Mazar office of an international humanitarian NGO. Employees of the NGO who were present in the compound during the raid were reportedly bound and beaten. According to witness accounts, a pickup truck arrived at 4:00 a.m. to receive the intruders and took them to an unknown destination.
· June 8: An international NGO vehicle was ambushed by seven armed men ten kilometers west of Khulm, in Balkh province. Upon stopping the vehicle, the gunmen confirmed by radio in Dari that they had seized the passengers. One woman international staff member was taken from the vehicle and gang-raped, while an Afghan employee of the NGO was badly beaten. The gunmen looted the vehicle, taking the passports of the two international staff and a large sum of money that they were carrying, before allowing it to proceed. Khulm is in a Jamiat-controlled area, but the political affiliation of the assailants, if any, is not known. Six of the gunmen were believed to be ethnic Tajiks, and one Hazara.
· June 14: A vehicle convoy belonging to an American NGO and carrying seven international staff was fired on at a checkpoint in Dehdadi district, southwest of Mazar-i Sharif, while delivering bread to an IDP camp. At least ten shots were fired at the convoy, wounding one Afghan staff member in the leg. Although the convoy had reportedly driven past the checkpoint without stopping, some of the vehicles were clearly marked as NGO property and all were fired upon. The NGO subsequently evacuated its international staff and shut down its operations in northern Afghanistan.
· June 16: A truck carrying a Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA) team was shot at in northeastern Takhar province, on the road from Pul-e Begon to Rustaq, at 10:45 a.m. The vehicle was stopped about seven to eight kilometers from Rustaq by a group of people demanding a ride, at least one of whom was an armed soldier. After the team rejected the request and began to drive away, shots were fired at the vehicle. Two of the nine passengers sustained bullet injuries, one in his hand and the other on his shoulder. According to SCA, the truck was rented but clearly marked as one of its vehicles.3
According to humanitarian aid officials in Mazar, both the May 29 and June 6 robberies appear to have been planned and executed on the basis of inside information.4 In the case of the Goal robbery, the police criminal investigation department posted a guard overnight at the compound after the incident was reported, and as of June 2 an investigation was officially underway at the central police station in Mazar. But according to international humanitarian aid workers in Mazar, the record of local authorities in investigating and prosecuting attacks on NGOs and U.N. agencies has been dismal.
The recent violence against international NGOs followed a series of attacks on directors of Afghan NGOs and local employees of the United Nations earlier in the year. During February alone, more than half a dozen such cases were recorded by international officials in Mazar-i Sharif, including attempted killings, kidnapping, and hijacking of vehicles.5 Some of these attacks took place in the homes of the intended victims, and in two cases, female family members were raped. "No one has been charged in any of the cases of attacks on NGOs," a Mazar-based international humanitarian official told Human Rights Watch. "They [the authorities] just blame each other."6
A senior international official cited the case of Shah Sayed, an Afghan employee of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), who was taken from his home and shot by unidentified gunman on April 10. "The killing has become a political football between Jamiat and Junbish," the official said. "There has been no progress."7
On June 20, the Kabul-based Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR), representing sixty-six Afghan and international humanitarian NGOs, appealed directly to U.N. Security Council to ensure security for their aid operations. The letter stated, in part:
Our workers have been attacked and sexually assaulted, our property has been repeatedly looted, and our convoys carrying life-saving goods have been shot at, hijacked and stolen. Some NGOs have already terminated their services. Other NGOs are strongly considering withdrawal....
We believe a limited expansion of ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] is critical. Northern areas are in dire need of reconstruction and emergency support, which they will not receive if insecurity prevails. Without international intervention, political, factional, and ethnic tensions in the North will increase even further.8
The NGO attacks were also raised in a June 16 letter to Afghan President Hamid Karzai from Lakhdar Brahimi, the special representative of the secretary-general of the United Nations, who called on the transitional government in Kabul to intervene "strongly and urgently" with the local parties and authorities.9 According to United Nations sources, the special representative also raised the issue privately with the leaders of the three major parties in the north: Jamiat, Junbish, and Hizb-i Wahdat.
2 United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), "Press briefing by Manoel de Almeida e Silva, Spokesman for the SRSG for Afghanistan," June 25, 2002.
3 Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, "Two Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA) staff members shot and wounded in Northern Afghanistan," Peshawar, June 21, 2002.
4 Human Rights Watch interviews with international humanitarian officials, Mazar-i Sharif, June 2002.
5 Human Rights Watch interview with an international humanitarian official, February 26, 2002. Details of cases on file at Human Rights Watch.
6 Human Rights Watch telephone interview with an international humanitarian official, Mazar-i Sharif, June 19, 2002.
7 Human Rights Watch interview with an international humanitarian official, Mazar-i Sharif, June 5, 2002.
8 Letter from Ian Purves, executive coordinator, Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR), to the members of the U.N. Security Council, June 20, 2002.
9 U.N. News Service, "U.N. envoy raises concerns about insecurity in northern Afghanistan," June 17, 2002.
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