UN mission in Afghanistan reports 'worrying' rise in child casualties

19 October 2016 – Even though overall conflict-related civilian casualty numbers in Afghanistan fell by one per cent in the first nine months of 2016 compared to the same period in 2015, child casualties saw a marked increase of 15 per cent, the United Nations mission in the country said today.

According to the latest figures released by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), of the total 8,397 casualties (2,562 deaths and 5,835 injured), 29.3 per cent or 2,461 casualties were children (639 deaths and 1,822 injured).

“Increased fighting in densely populated areas makes it imperative for parties to take immediate steps to ensure all feasible precautions are being taken to spare civilians from harm,” the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan and head of UNAMA, Tadamichi Yamamoto, said today in a news release issued by the mission.

Of particular concern, UNAMA noted in the release, was the continued rise in child casualties. In the first nine months of this year, 2,461 child casualties (639 deaths and 1,822 injured) were document, a 15 per cent increase over the same period in 2015. Ground engagements caused more than half of all child casualties in 2016 and some 84 per cent victims of unexploded ordnance were children.

Emphasizing the need to protect children, UNAMA Human Rights Director Danielle Belle stressed: “All parties must systematically track, mark and clear unexploded ordinance in order protect current and future generations of children from harm.”

Emphasizing the need to protect children, UNAMA Human Rights Director Danielle Belle stressed: “All parties must systematically track, mark and clear unexploded ordinance in order protect current and future generations of children from harm.”

In terms of actors causing the casualties, the mission said that anti-Government elements caused about 61 per cent (5,143) of the total casualties, including 1,569 deaths and 3,574 injured. About 23 per cent (1,897; 623 deaths and 1,274 injured) of all casualties were attributed to pro-Government forces. 11 per cent of civilian casualties resulted from ground fighting between anti-Government elements and pro-Government forces where the responsible party could not be identified and unattributed unexploded ordnance caused the majority of the remaining civilian casualties (5 per cent). - Read More

UN mission in Afghanistan reports 'worrying' rise in child casualties