Afghanistan has acknowledged the harm caused by the use of explosive weapons in populated areas (EWIPA) but is not involved in the process to develop a political declaration.
Statements
In a statement during the General Debate of the 69th UN General Assembly First Committee in 2014, Afghanistan noted that the “use of high Explosive Weapons systems with wide area effect, such as mortars, rockets and grenades, by terrorist groups in civilian populated areas and use of civilians as human shields have resulted in a dramatic increase in civilian causalities.”[1]
As a member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Afghanistan aligned with World Humanitarian Summit Core Commitments to ‘Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity’ in May 2016, including the commitment “to promote and enhance the protection of civilians and civilian objects, especially in the conduct of hostilities, for instance by working to prevent civilian harm resulting from the use of wide-area explosive weapons in populated areas, and by sparing civilian infrastructure from military use in the conduct of military operations.” [2]
In Afghanistan, there are policies and practices restricting the use of EWIPA; however, this is largely related to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). ISAF has issued policy and practices that limit the use of certain explosive weapons in certain contexts, such as tactical directives given to commanders restricting the use of airdropped explosive weapons in populated areas, to minimise the impact of their operations on civilians. [3]
Political declaration
Afghanistan is not involved in the negotiations for a political declaration on the use of EWIPA but it has participated in other relevant events. At the 2019 Vienna Conference on Protecting Civilians in Urban Warfare, the Deputy Minister of Defence of Afghanistan spoke on Afghanistan’s Protection of Civilians policy [4]. He discussed NATO’s and Afghanistan’s experiences and policies and emphasised the importance of making protection of civilians a strategic priority.[5]
[1] Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to the United Nations (2014). ‘UNGA69 First Committee Statement’. https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/1com/1com14/statements/14Oct_Afghanistan.pdf.
[2] Agenda for Humanity. ‘Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)’. https://agendaforhumanity.org/stakeholder/233.html.
[3] UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (2015). ‘Protecting Civilians from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas’. https://dev.inew.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/EWIPA-fact-sheet-final-3.pdf. ; UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (2017). ‘Compilation of Military Policy and Practice: Reducing the Humanitarian Impact of the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas’. https://www.unocha.org/sites/unocha/files/OCHA%20Compilation%20of%20Military%20Policy%20and%20Practice%202017.pdf. ; INEW (2014). ‘Addressing the Impact of the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas’. https://article36.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/AR08_EXPLOSIVE_IMPACT_13_6_14-1.pdf.
[4] Federal Ministry Republic of Austria (2019). ‘Vienna Conference on Protecting Civilians in Urban Warfare Programme‘. https://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/vienna-2019/programme.pdf.
[5] Federal Ministry, Republic of Austria (2019). ‘Vienna Conference on Protecting Civilians in Urban Warfare: Summary of the Conference’. https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/vienna-2019/Vienna-summary.pdf.