Human Rights Watch: ISAF should create victim compensation fund

After NATO's bombing Tuesday night--which appears to be the largest civilian death toll from an airstrike--Human Rights Watch calls for NATO to take more precautions with airstrikes and to emulate the U.S. in establishing a victims compensation fund (see also the AP story):

HRW Press release, October 30:   NATO forces operating under the mandate of the International Security Assistance Force to Afghanistan (ISAF) need to take greater precautions to protect civilians and establish a program to compensate Afghans who have lost family members, are injured or suffer property damage due to their actions, Human Rights Watch said today. . .

According to media reports, more than 60 civilians were killed this week in heavy fighting between NATO forces and insurgent forces in the Panjwai district of Kandahar province. NATO has admitted that at least 12 civilians were killed in NATO air and ground operations in Panjwai. Another two dozen were reportedly killed last week during clashes in Kandahar and neighboring Helmand province, during which NATO used heavy aerial bombardment. . .

“Compensating injured civilians is the right thing to do, and the smart thing to do,” air strikes in Afghanistan, more than twice the 160 carried out in Iraq. . . Zarifi said. “This has been US policy, and there’s no reason it shouldn’t be NATO policy as well.”

Photo: Sam Zia-Zarifi, Research Director, HRW Asia

Also noted in the release:

• Recent ISAF operations have resulted in the deaths of dozens of civilians across the country. Although an ISAF statement expressed regrets about civilian casualties, it denied any wrongdoing.
• NATO has relied extensively on “close air support” to attack insurgent positions. Although details are not publicized, an indication of the intensity of the fighting is that in June 2006, the United States Central Command reported that it had flown 340 air strikes in Afghanistan, more than twice the 160 carried out in Iraq. 
• “While NATO forces try to minimize harm to civilians, they obviously are not doing enough,” said Sam Zarifi, Human Rights Watch’s Asia research director. “NATO’s tactics are increasingly endangering the civilians that they are supposed to be protecting, and turning the local population against them.”