Photo taken on February 22, 2020 shows children with disabilities in Surkh Rod district of Nangarhar province, eastern Afghanistan. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) recorded more than 10,000 civilian casualties in 2019, of which more than 3,400 were killed, according to a published body report. Photo: Xinhua
Chinese and foreign experts and diplomats have criticized the United States for seriously violating human rights in Afghanistan, including killing thousands of Afghan civilians, sparking a flood of refugees and leaving messy situations for the countries of the United States. region and the international community. Some of them expressed support for the Afghan people to hold the United States accountable for committing crimes against humanity and war crimes at an international seminar on Saturday.
The international seminar on “Human rights violations caused by the US military intervention in Afghanistan” was a side event to the 48th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council. It was jointly organized by the China Society for Human Rights Studies, the Permanent Mission of China in Geneva and the Human Rights Institution of the Southern University of Political Science and Law. -West to Chongqing.
With academics from China, guests from France, Nepal, Pakistan, the Netherlands, Japan and representatives of the Permanent Missions of Iran and Venezuela in Geneva attended the seminar via video link.
To kill civilians for free in Afghanistan, to capture and torture Afghans, to engage in terrorism, to stagnate the economic and social development of the country, to provoke a flood of refugees … these are the notorious violations of human rights by the United States mentioned by the experts during the seminar. .
The hypocrisy of the United States over human rights is also a topic of Saturday’s seminar.
Mahdi Aliabadi, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Geneva, said the United States and its alliances have been indifferent to human rights violations during their military occupation of Afghanistan and that the international community should stand out to help victims hold predators to account. .
Aliabadi noted that the unrest caused by the United States in Afghanistan is the latest example to show their hypocrisy when talking about human rights since human rights have become tools for them to play geopolitics. . It is the “darkest page” that the international community is looking at and will leave forever in the minds of people.
Qian Feng, director of the research department at Tsinghua University’s National Strategy Institute, believes that the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan has not only traumatized the Afghan people, but has also resulted in unforgivable crimes for the peoples of the country. world.
Members of the security forces inspect a damaged vehicle from which rockets were fired in Kabul, Afghanistan, July 20, 2021. Photo: Xinhua
The United States has committed two crimes in Afghanistan – crimes against humanity and war crimes, Qian said, noting that the United States has committed indiscriminate killings of civilians in the name of fighting terrorism. For example, the US military launched an airstrike on Herat province in August 2021, killing more than 100 people.
Qian noted that the years of war started by the United States not only killed children in Afghanistan, but also caused severe malnutrition, nearly half of local children suffer from it.
“Justice is late, but it will not be absent. The international community should support Afghanistan in its pursuit of repression of US military crimes,” Qian said.
In addition to killing Afghan civilians, punishing, torturing and abusing captured Afghans, the United States is also accused of insulting their religion. In addition, the 20 Years War has dealt a heavy blow to the Afghan economy and since 2001 the country’s economic and social development has stagnated, said Wang Nan, academic consultant for the Institute for Strategic Road Studies. Silk.
In fiscal year 2019-2020, the urbanization rate in Afghanistan was only 26%, the unemployment rate exceeded 40%, and the poverty rate exceeded 70%. In addition, the average life expectancy of Afghans is around 45 years.
Mei Xinyu, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, stressed that the possibility of a severe food shortage and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan deserves the community’s attention. international.
Global food prices have skyrocketed for two consecutive years, which was not only caused by natural disasters but also man-made disasters. The easing of fiscal and monetary policies in the United States led to higher commodity prices. In fiscal 2019 and 2020, cereal production per capita in Afghanistan was only over 170 kg, which cannot guarantee the basic survival needs of the population, Mei noted.
“The question of whether a food crisis will erupt in Afghanistan is a big question. We can see that the United States often boasts of dominating the world order, but from what it has done, can it really promote the development of human rights around the world? It’s a problem, ”Mei said.
Some foreign experts present at the seminar also spoke of the consequences of the hasty withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan.
Christian Mestre, professor at the Institute of Human Rights at the University of Strasbourg, said the actions of the US military in the country were a failure and that the military occupation was not only the political hegemony of the United States but also the hegemony of the West.
Mestre noted that European countries are also enraged by the incompetence of the Biden administration to handle the situation in Afghanistan and the messy outcome. With the signing of the AUKUS security pact between the US, UK and Australia, which boils down to fueling the fire, the EU can reconsider its own security concerns and make its own decisions without living in the shadow of the United States.
