The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in its 2011 mid-year report on protection of civilians in armed conflict in Afghanistan has noted with concern the rising number of incidents involving child suicide bombers.

On May 1 in Paktika province, a 12-year-old suicide bomber, the youngest ever reported in Afghanistan, killed three civilians and injured 12.

Ten days later, the Taliban in statement denied “the use of children and adolescents in jihadic operations.”

Although UNAMA is unable to link the use of children suicide bombers to a particular insurgent group, it noted that the Taliban’s definition of children is not consistent with international standards. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) defines a child as a person under the age of 18 years, regardless of what local laws apply to children.

According to the Taliban they do not use “boys with no beards” in military operations. This vague definition may permit the use of boys younger than 18 years old in combat operations.

UNAMA calls on the Taliban to recognise the international standard for the age of a child as defined in the CRC and to pledge not to use anyone younger than 18 years old in military operations.

On June 26 in Char China district, Uruzgan province, insurgents instructed an eight-year-old girl to bring a package of explosive devices to a police vehicle. The insurgents remotely detonated the bomb, killing the girl. There were no other casualties.

Afghan security forces have made an increasing number of arrests of children suspected of being suicide attackers which may indicate that more children are being recruited, trained and used to carry out such attacks.

On May 7, the National Directorate of Security (NDS) arrested five boys between the ages of 13 and 14 who confessed to NDS they had undergone training in Peshawar, Pakistan, to carry out suicide attacks.

On March 30, authorities in Baghlan province arrested a 17-year-old boy trained as a suicide bomber and on April 2, NDS arrested a 14-year-old suspect suicide bomber, originally from Badakhshan province.

On May 20, in Nuristan province, Parun district, Chatras area, a 12-year-old child died when a suicide vest accidentally detonated during his training session.

Suicide and complex attacks

The UNAMA report stated that insurgents continued to carry out suicide attacks in populated areas. Suicide attacks saw the largest percentage increase in civilian casualties over last year’s numbers at this time, with a 52 per cent increase in civilian deaths compared to 2010. Suicide attacks caused 19 per cent of all civilian deaths and 26 per cent of civilian injuries. Suicide attacks caused 831 civilian casualties comprising 276 deaths and 555 injuries. This is a 28 per cent increase in total civilian deaths and injuries from suicide attacks compared to the same period in 2010.

Suicide attacks increased in intensity with the number of attacks remaining steady but with the numbers of casualties per attack increasing. These attacks were often spectacular in nature, using multiple attackers in complex suicide attacks. Suicide attacks targeting civilians were aimed primarily at areas where people were gathered in large numbers including supermarkets, construction projects, government buildings and hospitals, without a specific military target.

This mid-year report on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict in Afghanistan prepared by the Human Rights Unit of the UNAMA covers the period January 1 to June 30, 2011.

The report is compiled in pursuance of UNAMA’s mandate under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1974 (2011) “to monitor the situation of civilians, to coordinate efforts to ensure their protection, to promote accountability and to assist in the full implementation of the fundamental freedoms and human rights provisions of the Afghan Constitution and international treaties to which Afghanistan is a State party, in particular those regarding the full enjoyment by women of their human rights.”

UNAMA undertakes a range of activities aimed at minimising the impact of the armed conflict on civilians including independent and impartial monitoring of incidents involving loss of life or injury to civilians; advocacy activities to strengthen protection of civilians affected by the armed conflict; and, initiatives to promote compliance with international humanitarian and human rights law, and the Constitution and laws of Afghanistan among all parties to the conflict.