Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Posts tagged: UNAMA

UNAMA

UN Torture Report: still no accountability for torture

Kate Clark

UNAMA’s new report on the torture of ‘conflict related detainees’ makes bleak reading and not only because of the scale and weight of evidence against Afghan intelligence and the police. UNAMA reported that more than half of those interviewed had experienced torture or ill-treatment. They included children as young as 14. The UN also says […]

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27 September 2012: AAN’s Gran Hewad speaks at Peace Day celebration

AAN admin

On 27 September, UNAMA organized a conference celebrating International Peace Day. AAN’s Gran Hewad was invited to speak at the event representing Afghan youth. For more information about the event, please click here.

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Talks Have Not Stopped Killing of Afghan Civilians

Kate Clark

The number of Afghan civilians being killed in the war has risen yet again, according to UNAMA’s yearly assessment of civilian casualties for 2011. The eight per cent increase since 2010 (25 per cent increase since 2009) is largely due to the actions of ‘anti-government elements’, as the UN refers to the insurgents who are, […]

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NDS Torture: UN Report Makes Bleak Reading

Kate Clark

UNAMA has released a major report on torture in National Directorate of Security (NDS) and police detention. For those of us who have worked on war crimes investigations post-1978, it makes desolate reading. The places of torture and many of the methods are familiar from testimony from victims of previous governments, including the Taleban’s. What […]

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Civilian Casualties 1: Progress in the war or a ‘perpetually escalating stalemate’?

Kate Clark

General Petraeus has handed over command of ISAF and US forces in Afghanistan, with talk of progress – albeit fragile and with ‘tough times’ ahead. His confidence was belied by reports or statements on the human cost of the war from three respected international institutions working in Afghanistan over the past week: ICRC said, ‘insecurity […]

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Afghanistan’s civilians in the crosshairs

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Af PakChannel, 14 July 2011 OSI’s Erica Gaston comments on the latest UNAMA civilian casualties report which she calls ‘a chilling rebuttal to illusions that Afghanistan is moving toward greater stability’ and a grim reality check to over-optimistic reports by international military and civilian leaders that their strategy is successfully disrupting insurgent activities’. She demands […]

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Afghanistan: UN Losing PR Battle in Kabul

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Eurasianet, 6 April 2011 In the light of the recent unrest in Mazar and the Afghan government’s letter to limit the Unama mandate, Aunohita Mojumdar says that the United Nations ‘is struggling to remain relevant in Afghanistan. At the heart of the UN’s challenge is a growing perception that it has lost the trust and […]

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Counting the Dead in Afghanistan

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Science, 11 March 2011 A detailed discussion of trends in civilian casualties, using data from Unama, the Afghan NGO ARM (called here ‘the highest-resolution data of all, describing individual incidents’), WikiLeaks and – for a first time – the full CIVCAS (civilian casualty) data collected by ISAF. Discrepancies between the data are explained: ISAF only […]

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The Civilian Cost of Armed Conflict in Afghanistan: An Overview of Recent Reports

Sari Kouvo

In July, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and UNAMA published their mid-year reports on civilian casualties and protection of civilians in the conflict in Afghanistan. AAN Senior Analyst, Sari Kouvo, takes a closer look at patterns identified on violations against – and protection of – civilians in the war in Afghanistan and brings in […]

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A challenge for the next head of UNAMA

Minna Jarvenpaa

Minna Jarvenpaa, AAN founding member and former head of UNAMA’s Analysis and Policy Unit, looks ahead at the challenges faced by Afghanistan’s new UN SRSG. Staffan di Mistura, who on the eve of the London Conference was appointed by Ban Ki-moon as his Special Representative to head up the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), […]

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