ABA urges US government to recognize, stop, and prevent further acts of genocide perpetrated against the Hazara people in Afghanistan

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The American Bar Association’s International Law Section has published a report on the ongoing persecution of Hazaras in Afghanistan entitled “Broken Frames, Shattered Glass: Recognising Crimes Perpetrated Against the Hazaras of Afghanistan”

The policy paper provides a brief overview of some key events that have contributed to the deteriorating human rights conditions of the Hazara people, which the authors suggest are tantamount to genocide. The authors seek to inform the American Bar Association (ABA) and the international community of the importance of recognising the atrocities as genocide. They call for the the US Administration and international community to:

  1. recognise the Hazara genocide by the U.S. State Department and the international community; 
  2. encourage the ABA to work closely with lawyers in Afghanistan, especially Hazara lawyers, to document and investigate crimes perpetrated against the Hazara community; 
  3. call upon the international community to stop and punish international crimes consistent with international treaties through avenues such as the International Criminal Court or Universal Jurisdiction; and 
  4. Call upon the ABA to develop further policy regarding mass atrocity prevention.

Similarly, the ABA and the international community should consider policies to address the human rights crisis facing the Hazara people of Afghanistan, with the specific aim to:

a) Stop and prevent further acts of genocide perpetrated against the Hazara people and other persecuted minority groups in Afghanistan;

b) Promote justice and accountability efforts to end impunity for genocide in Afghanistan, specifically through the International Criminal Court and through Universal Jurisdiction; and

c) Advocate for strengthening national, regional, and international frameworks for preventing mass atrocities in Afghanistan and protecting at-risk groups like the Hazara, beginning with the recognition that the Hazara are victims of genocide.

The Duty Legacy’s 2023 article “The Urgent Need for Justice on Hazara Genocide Memorial Day 2023” was cited in the piece with the authors Regina M. Paulose and Timothy Franklin. The authors submit that before the accession of Afghanistan to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in February 2003, all ten stages have been continuously present. They state the examples of attacks given in their report “are examples of the failure of the international community to respond quickly enough to stop the genocide that is now in progress“.

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