UK dispatch: special parliamentary group to address atrocities against Hazaras in Afghanistan News
© APPG Hazara/ Andy Barnham Photography
UK dispatch: special parliamentary group to address atrocities against Hazaras in Afghanistan

James Joseph is a UK staff correspondent for JURIST.

At the end of January a new All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) will hold a public launch to address ongoing atrocities being committed against the Hazara ethnic group in Afghanistan. The APPG chaired by the Member of Parliament for Peterborough, Paul Bristow and co-chaired by Lord Alton of Liverpool was constituted in November 2022 in an effort “recognising the persecution and other atrocities committed against Hazaras”. Its launch on January 25th will coincide with the public release of The Hazara Inquiry Report of cross-party parliamentarians that found that Hazara in Afghanistan “are at serious risk of genocide at the hands of the Taliban”. That report invokes the responsibility of all states to protect the Hazara and prevent a possible genocide, under the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (The Genocide Convention) and customary international law.

The APPG will work towards protecting and enhancing the human rights and status of Hazaras around the world with members from across both Houses of Parliament in Westminster. Its three core aims are:

  • To address all issues concerning Hazaras – their security and humanitarian situation with a view to improving the UK government’s policies toward Afghanistan, Pakistan, and refugees;

  • To raise the issue of the genocide against the Hazaras and ensure comprehensive responses, including justice for the victims and survivors, assistance with their needs, and ensure non-repetition of the atrocities in the future;

  • Providing parliamentarians with the information to act together to prevent genocides and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan.

The All Party Parliamentary Group website can be viewed here.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Ku Klux Klan founded

The US hate group known as the Ku Klux Klan was founded on December 24, 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee as a reaction to reconstruction efforts following the Union victory in the American Civil War. The group would later become notorious for its attacks on Black Americans, being targeted by the Enforcement Act of 1871, which imposed civil and criminal liability for deprivation of constitutional rights. Read the Enforcement Act of 1871.  

Hamid Karzai born

On December 24, 1957, Hamid Karzai was born in Karz, Afghanistan. He would go on to become in 2004 his country's first elected president after the end of Taliban rule in 2001.