| PRESS | 02-10-2022 |
Our thoughts, prayers, and most heartfelt condolences are with the Hazara communities and families that lost their loved ones in the heinous bombing of the Kaaj Academy in Kabul on September 30th, 2022.
The Afghanistan War Victims’ Voices (AWVV) team has conducted an exploratory study to the events of September 30th to not only document the crimes against the Hazara people for future referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC), but also to identify, honor, and remember those who lost their lives while holding those responsible accountable.
Since the Taliban have taken power in Afghanistan, the Taliban government has consistently failed to protect the Shia Hazara community. Moreover, the government of the Taliban has outright rejected and persecuted members of the Hazara community, torturing and killing them, refusing them medical treatment, denying them access to food and water, and forcing families out of their homes as well as robbing them of their lands and other possessions in acts of ethnic cleansing. Much to this point is the fact that protests by the Hazara community and women of Afghanistan in response to the Kaaj Academy bombing September 30th were suppressed and dispersed by the Taliban with live fire.
We call upon the international community to act now and stop these crimes against humanity, and to protect the Shia Hazara and all ethnic and religious minorities in Afghanistan.
The AWVV team has been investigating a possible genocide on the Shia Hazara minority in Afghanistan for over a year. This year, we have partnered with the Alliance Against Genocide of Dr. Gregory Stanton. We are also advised by Barrister Carl Buckley of the London based law firm Guernica 37 Chambers. We are additionally working in close coordination with the World Hazara Council.
The Alliance Against Genocide works to predict, prevent, stop, and punish genocide and other forms of mass murder, and is operated by Genocide Watch. Dr. Gregory Stanton founded Genocide Watch in 1999 and is responsible for drafting the United Nations Security Council resolutions that created the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the Burundi Commission of Inquiry, and the Central African Arms Flow Commission. Dr. Stanton has degrees from Oberlin College, Harvard Divinity School, and Yale Law School, and a Doctorate in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Chicago.
Barrister Carl Buckley is a highly recognized international law specialist in the areas of International Criminal and Public Law, International Humanitarian Law, Human Rights, Transitional Justice, and the Rule of Law, and has lectured extensively on international human rights and associated areas of international law. He has worked on international and human rights issues in Kosovo, Syria, Rwanda, Gaza, Egypt, and elsewhere.
