(New York) - Factional rivalry in northern Afghanistan is leading to a rise in attacks on humanitarian aid workers and Afghan civilians, Human Rights Watch said in a new briefing paper released today. The growing insecurity threatens the continued delivery of humanitarian aid and resettlement assistance.
The briefing paper documents recent cases of sexual violence, forcible recruitment, arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, and looting by armed groups in the northern part of Afghanistan. International humanitarian aid workers have been targeted in several of these attacks, and a number of international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are now reevaluating their operations in the north.
"The increase in targeted violence stems directly from the security vacuum in the north," said Vikram Parekh, a Human Rights Watch researcher covering Afghanistan. "Now the attacks on aid workers threaten a vital lifeline for local civilians, especially the most vulnerable groups."
The recent spate of attacks on aid groups includes the gang-rape of an international staff member, the robberies of two NGO offices, and firing on NGO vehicles.
The security vacuum is caused by the competing ambitions of General Abdul Rashid Dostum's Junbish forces and General Atta Mohammad's Jamiat troops, the latter backed by the Jamiat-controlled defense ministry in Kabul. The two factions have repeatedly fought over territory south of Mazar-e Sharif and narrowly averted an armed conflict in the city itself one month ago.
In the briefing paper, Human Rights Watch found a pattern of abuses associated with these forces:
Local commanders of both parties forcibly recruit young men into their forces and extort money from local families seeking to avoid conscription;
Internally displaced persons (IDP) camps near Mazar have been militarized. Human Rights Watch gathered reports of forced labor at Junbish-dominated Camp 65 and ongoing sexual violence in Jamiat-controlled Sakhi camp; and
Ethnic Pashtuns, a minority in the north, continue to flee targeted violence in the Junbish-controlled Shoor Darya Valley. Witnesses described rapes of women and boys, seizure of farmland, and demands for money by local commanders.
"The U.N. has repeatedly negotiated peace agreements between Junbish and Jamiat, but has had no means of enforcing compliance," Parekh said. "Expanding the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is vital to the security of Afghan civilians and aid groups-nowhere more so than in the north."
More than 60 Afghan and international humanitarian aid groups called on the Security Council last week to expand ISAF, in a letter issued by their coordinating body.
In its briefing paper, Human Rights Watch urged the newly appointed transitional government in Kabul and regional authorities in the north to investigate attacks on NGOs and other civilians, to respect the civilian nature of IDP camps, and to prohibit forcible recruitment by local commanders. Human Rights Watch also urged full implementation of the May 5 peace agreement brokered by the U.N.
