Afghan forces increasingly use schools as bases: HRW

KABUL (Pajhwok): The influential Human Rights Watch (HRW) has asked donor countries to press the Afghan government to prevent the increasing use of schools by government forces in northern Baghlan province.

The watchdog in a statement said several policemen were gunned down inside one classroom in a school in Postak bazaar village in Baghlan in 2010 in a Taliban attack.

“Their blood wouldn’t wash away… So we had to chip it away from the wall with an axe,” one of the school officials told Human Rights Watch, describing the aftermath of the attack on Afghan security forces who had occupied the school.

By 2015, the same school was once again occupied by government forces while students tried their best to continue their studies.

The school officials managed to get Kabul authorities to write a letter ordering the military forces to leave, but the commander ignored the order. When the students needed to take exams, school officials again presented the letter to the commander. Officers fired their guns in the direction of the assembled teachers and students.

In an investigation during 2016, Human Rights Watch found that Afghan security forces are increasingly using schools as bases during military operations against the Taliban, including schools supported by international donors.

A HRW report documents the occupation and other military use of schools by state forces and the Taliban in the northeastern province of Baghlan.

Military use of schools turns school buildings into possible targets of attack, and puts children and teachers at risk of being injured or killed.

The HRW said donors must work with the Afghan government to discourage military use of schools and make funding for schools contingent on Afghan government commitments that donor-supported schools will not be used by Afghan security forces.

They must also work with the Afghan governments to ensure the implementation of its commitments under the Safe Schools Declaration.

pr/ma