MOSCOW, February 7 (Itar-Tass) — The international military forces in Afghanistan should take effective steps to counter security threats, Russian Foreign Ministry’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law Konstantin Dolgov said on Tuesday in connection with the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.
“Moscow is concerned with the report of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), which says that 2011 was the deadliest for the country’s peaceful civilians,” Dolgov said. “According to the UN data, more than 3,000 Afghan civilians were killed last year, which is 8 percent more than in 2010,” he said. “Also, an increase in the number of people killed as a result of actions of the coalition forces and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan was registered.” The diplomat stressed that “the report says that the deadliest tactic in this regard are air strikes.” “UN Secretary General’s Special Representative in Afghanistan Jan Kubis and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay expressed serious concern over the fact that the number of victims among Afghanistan’s civilian population is growing every year,” Dolgov added.
“We continue to proceed from the necessity of strict observance of human rights and international humanitarian law norms by all sides in Afghanistan, inadmissibility of causing even unintended harm to the civilian population and infrastructure of Afghanistan,” the diplomat said. “The international military forces in Afghanistan should urgently take additional effective steps in this direction within the framework of the mandate issued by the UN Security Council, aimed at countering threats to security posed by the Taliban and other extremist forces.”