Afghanistan, February 14, 2016 – The United Nations (UN) today said that hostilities in Afghanistan has killed a total of 3, 500 civilians since 2015 and that nearly 7, 500 others were wounded, bringing the total number of casualties to 11, 000.
It said that an unprecedented number of children have also died in hostility, at least one in four children since the war began.
Speaking at a press conference, Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and head of the UN Assistance Mission in the country, Nicholas Haysom, said there has been another rise in the number of civilians hurt or killed, adding that harm done to civilians is totally unacceptable.
Presenting a report, produced by United Nations Assistant Mission in Afghanistan(UNAMA) in conjunction with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Office (OHCHR), Haysom, said the report shows that increased ground fighting in and around populated areas, along with suicide and other attacks in major cities, were the main causes of conflict-related civilian deaths and injuries in 2015.
“We call on those inflicting this pain on the people of Afghanistan to take concrete action to protect civilians and put a stop to the killing and maiming of civilians in 2016,” Haysom said.
Haysom noted that while the figures in themselves are “awful,” the statistics and percentages contained in the report do not really reflect the real horror of the phenomenon.
“The real cost we are talking about in these figures is measured in the maimed bodies of children, the communities who have to live with loss, the grief of colleagues and relatives, the families who have to make do without a breadwinner, the parents who grieve for lost children, the children who grieve for lost parents […] these are the real consequences of the acts described in this report”, he said.
