In Geneva, the U.N. Human Rights Council held a special meeting Tuesday on the serious human rights concerns and situation in Afghanistan. Chinese Ambassador Chen Xu told the U.N. Human Rights Council that the U.S. army and the militaries of its coalition partners should be held accountable for rights violations allegedly committed in Afghanistan.

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In Geneva, the U.N. Human Rights Council held a special meeting Tuesday on the serious human rights concerns and situation in Afghanistan. The meeting was called by Pakistan and Afghanistan and supported by 29 states members of the Council.

Chinese Ambassador Chen Xu told the U.N. Human Rights Council that the U.S. army and the militaries of its coalition partners should be held accountable for rights violations allegedly committed in Afghanistan, according to Reuters.

The Chinese envoy said: "The US, UK, Australia and other countries must be held accountable for the violation of human rights committed by their military in Afghanistan and the evolution of this current session should cover this issue."

"Under the banner of democracy and human rights the U.S. and other countries carry out military interventions in other sovereign states and impose their own model on countries with vastly different history and culture," Chen said, adding that this had inflicted "great suffering".

"We will continue developing a good neighborly, friendly and cooperative relationship with Afghanistan and continue our constructive role in its process of peace and reconstruction," Chen added in his speech.

Special session failed to address escalating human rights crisis

The Amnesty International said Tuesday, the UN Human Rights Council failed the people of Afghanistan after neglecting to establish an independent mechanism to monitor ongoing crimes under international law and human rights violations and abuses.

At the opening of Tuesday's UNHRC special session, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Special Procedures and a host of other civil society speakers - including Amnesty International - unequivocally called for the creation of a robust investigative mechanism. Such a mechanism would allow for monitoring and reporting on human rights violations and abuses, including grave crimes under international law, and to assist in holding those suspected of criminal responsibility to justice in fair trials.

However, the calls were ignored by UNHRC member states, who adopted by consensus a weak resolution which merely requests further reports and an update by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in March 2022, which adds little to the oversight process already in place.

"The UN Human Rights Council special session has failed to deliver a credible response to the escalating human rights crisis in Afghanistan. Member states have ignored clear and consistent calls by civil society and UN actors for a robust monitoring mechanism," said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International's Secretary General.

No justice for thousands of civilians killed in US/NATO operations

Tellingly, in August 2014, the Amnesty International released a report saying that the

families of thousands of Afghan civilians killed by US/NATO forces in Afghanistan have been left without justice. Focusing primarily on air strikes and night raids carried out by US forces, including Special Operations Forces, Left in the Dark finds that even apparent war crimes have gone uninvestigated and unpunished.

"Thousands of Afghans have been killed or injured by US forces since the invasion, but the victims and their families have little chance of redress. The US military justice system almost always fails to hold its soldiers accountable for unlawful killings and other abuses," said Richard Bennett, Amnesty International's Asia Pacific Director.

"None of the cases that we looked into - involving more than 140 civilian deaths - were prosecuted by the US military. Evidence of possible war crimes and unlawful killings has seemingly been ignored."

Amnesty International conducted detailed investigations of 10 incidents that took place between 2009 and 2013, in which civilians were killed by US military operations. At least 140 civilians were killed in the incidents that Amnesty International investigated, including pregnant women and at least 50 children. The organization interviewed some 125 witnesses, victims and family members, including many who had never given testimony to anyone before.

Of the scores of witnesses, victims and family members Amnesty International spoke to when researching this report, only two people said that they had been interviewed by US military investigators. In many of the cases covered in the report, US military or NATO spokespeople would announce that an investigation was being carried out, but would not release any further information about the progress of the investigation or its findings - leaving victims and family members in the dark.

The 2014 report also documents the lack of transparency on investigations and prosecutions of unlawful killings of civilians in Afghanistan. The US military withholds overall data on accountability for civilian casualties, and rarely provides information on individual cases. The US government's freedom of information system, meant to ensure transparency when government bodies fail to provide information, does not function effectively when civilian casualties are at issue.

Authors Bio:

Author and journalist.
Author of
Islamic Pakistan: Illusions & Reality;
Islam in the Post-Cold War Era;
Islam & Modernism;
Islam & Muslims in the Post-9/11 America.
American Muslims in Politics.
Islam in the 21st Century: Challanges, conspiracies & Chaos
Muslim Word in the New Global Order
Currently working as free lance journalist.
Executive Editor of American Muslim Perspective: www.amperspective.com