Shafaqna English- In Afghanistan, numerous reports indicate that the Taliban is using forced displacement and altering the demographics of the Hazara, Tajik, and Uzbek areas to diminish the social and political power of these groups. These actions, if continued systematically, could amount to genocide.
These days, we encounter slogans such as “Stop the Hazara Genocide” circulating on social media. According to Article II of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (adopted in December 1948), genocide refers to acts committed with the intent to “destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.”
Afghanistan, as a multi-ethnic country, currently faces dangers similar to those that led to the Armenian Genocide. Especially, the Hazaras, as one of the minority ethnic groups, are under constant and organized attacks. The lessons drawn from history, including the Armenian Genocide, should serve as a warning to all of us that discrimination and injustice can lead to widespread and irreversible violence.
The Taliban consolidated power based on their ethnic-religious identity and persecuted the Hazaras as a distinct ethnic and religious group. Repeated persecution of Hazaras in various parts of Afghanistan, including targeted attacks on this group’s spiritual and cultural gatherings, demonstrates the Taliban’s efforts to gradually eliminate them.
Sources: Hasht-e Subh Daily