Massacre will invite harsh action: UN warning to Northern Alliance
By Gustavo Capdevila
GENEVA: The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, has warned the Northern Alliance, the opposition to the Taliban regime that controls 90 per cent of Afghanistan, that there will be no impunity for them if civilians are massacred in the context of the current armed conflict.
Robinson said on Friday she was very concerned that if there was a change in control - if the Northern Alliance were to take over Kabul, for example - “there could be massacres of civilians,” as there has been a cycle of such human rights crimes committed by both sides in the past.
The Northern Alliance has been receiving political and material support from the United States since the George W. Bush administration began pressuring Kabul to hand over Osama bin Laden.
Robinson issued a call to the United States, Britain and other countries “with serious presence” to reinforce the message that “there will be no impunity,” because the Afghan people have already suffered a great deal from civil war and, in the last three years, from famine.
“The message must go out: anybody who commits massacres of civilians will be brought to trial,” the UN official told a Friday press conference here that had originally been convened for comments on her upcoming trip to South America.
Earlier on Friday, Ireland’s state radio reported that the Irish-born High Commissioner had urged a halt to the US-led air strikes against Afghanistan in order to allow food supplies and other material assistance to reach the population before the harsh Afghan winter set in.
An interruption in the bomb attacks that the United States began last Sunday against Afghanistan would allow humanitarian agencies to reach the “desperate” Afghan people before certain areas become inaccessible.
Two of Robinson’s senior human rights officers had returned on Thursday from Pakistan to inform her of the situation in Central Asia.
The High Commissioner said that the urgency now was to take advantage of the window available “until about the 15th or 16th of November, when the winter snows will prevent access and the people will freeze and starve to death.”
She stressed that her office was concerned about two “grave risks” in the Afghan crisis: the humanitarian situation of the civilian population and further armed actions, including massacres, against non-combatants.
Regarding the shortages related to humanitarian assistance, Robinson said “there is a desperate need of quick access” to take food and tents into Afghanistan.
Approximately two million people - women, children, the elderly - who do not have the food and shelter they need to get through the impending winter.
The bombing campaign is inevitably frightening and has displaced the civilians further, which also prevents access to food and shelter, said the UN official.
The closing of borders complicates the situation. “It would be better to have the borders open to let those who are able to come across the borders to come so they can be provided with humanitarian assistance,” she said.
The second major concern of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights arises from precedents in Afghanistan of a cycle of massacres perpetrated by the Taliban and by the Northern Alliance alike.
Because of this history, “we are saying there must now be a situation of no impunity” in cases of massive violations of human rights in Afghanistan, said Robinson.
“It was absolutely unacceptable that more than six thousands innocent civilians were killed in the attacks” on Sept 11 against the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon (Defence Department) in Washington, stated Robinson.
“It is also unacceptable that we would have indirect victims of hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of Afghans who would suffer terribly and of many who would lose their lives if they don’t have access to food in the coming months.”
She added that the United States has provided the highest level of support - $320 million - for the UN-organized humanitarian assistance efforts to benefit the Afghan population.
“I understand the huge concerns of the United States, the terrible devastation and the continuing insecurity,” Robinson said, adding that there is a real situation of human insecurity worldwide, and that “human security is also at the basis of human rights.” “But my concern at the moment is for the lives, the right to life of the people of Afghanistan,” said the UN official.
In her contacts with the officials from throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, Robinson said she will be interested in verifying compliance with the UN Security Council resolution to implement measures to counter terrorism.
She said she feared that in their haste to draw up anti- terrorism legislation, within the 90-day period set by the UN, “some governments may use (new legislation) to repress freedom of expression or human rights defenders.” —Dawn/InterPress Service.
