Hazaras look to the international community in the face of continued attacks under Taliban rule

The students, all of them young girls from the Hazara ethnic group, were taking mock exams at a local private educational centre.

Among them were many young girls who had travelled from remote villages in the central high lands of Afghanistan.

They included aspiring teachers, doctors and authors - all near impossible in an Afghanistan under the Taliban rule. The attack devastated the classroom, killing at least 54 students and maiming a further 112. Almost all the victims were teenage girls.

This deadly attack is only the latest in a series of systemic and targeted attacks against the Hazara community, specifically targeting young students.

In April this year, a similar suicide attack against Abdul Rahim Shaheed High School killed and injured at least 90 young students. In the same month, an attack against Mumtaz Educational Centre killed and maimed at least 26 students.

The most devastating of these attacks occurred in May last year, a few months prior to the fall of the Afghan government, when a suicide attack on Sayedal Shuhada Girls School killed and maimed at least 232 young students.

These attacks are not limited to Kabul or to educational centres. In recent years, Hazara mosques, sports centres, community centres, vehicles for public transport, and public gatherings have come under repeat attacks.

The United Nations, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other international rights organisations have all expressed grave concerns about the grim and bloody reality faced by the Hazara community. Hazaras had openly supported the Western intervention in Afghanistan, but now find themselves having to live under the rule of the Taliban.

Given the Taliban's track record of massacring Hazaras under their rule in the 1990s and early 2000s, community members fear they are facing a slow but certain genocide.

In a report published on September 9, 2022, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, notes that Hazaras are subjected to multiple forms of discrimination, affecting a broad spectrum of human rights, including economic, social and cultural rights. Among other factors, he notes that Hazaras are completely disenfranchised from the political system in the country. He adds: "The Taliban have appointed Pashtuns to senior positions in government structures in Hazara-dominated provinces." The report makes a grim note that there is an increase in "inflammatory speech, both online and in some mosques during Friday prayers, including calls for Hazaras to be killed".

The report concludes that these attacks on Hazaras reflect "elements of an organisational policy" and bear "hallmarks of crimes against humanity".

Amnesty International recently reported that the Taliban regime has utterly failed to provide any protection to the minorities in Afghanistan. It adds: "the Taliban have done little to put in place any measures for the protection of the public, especially of Shia-Hazaras who have been systematically targeted largely by the Islamic State (IS) in schools, mosques, training centres and public places."

The report rightly points out that the return of the Taliban has worsened an already terrible situation for Hazaras: "Taliban actions of omission and commission have only further aggravated the risk to the lives of the people of Afghanistan especially those belonging to ethnic and minority communities."

These repeated attacks have reduced Hazaras to living in ghettos within their own country.

They now fear participating in public life, practising their religion, travelling or accessing education. Many families, including those we previously supported through our Australia-based charitable organisation Akademos Society, have now stopped sending their children to schools. Their foremost fear is for the lives of the children. Even if they do complete primary school, the girls are barred from completing secondary education under an official Taliban decree.

Hazaras do not expect to be protected by the Taliban regime. Nor does the community expect the Taliban to investigate these deadly attacks, in line with international law and standards. As the Hazaras bury the remains of their young children by the dozens, they look at the international community, in particular countries such as Australia who were previously engaged in Afghanistan, to ensure their safety and protection.