IWPR Article Informs UN Investigation
IWPR Article Informs UN Investigation
In May, it transpired that the reporting of IWPR journalists in Helmand had assisted the United Nations in an investigation into a massacre.
The article Foreign Troops Accused in Helmand Raid Massacre, by Matiullah Minapal and Aziz Ahmad Tassal in Lashkar Gah, caused a stir when it was published in December 2007.
The piece looked into the allegations of villagers in Toube, Garmseer district, that a mixed force of foreign and Afghan troops carried out a night-time raid in the village killing 18 civilians in a brutal attack.
A UN source told IWPR that its article on a massacre in a village had informed the report of the UN special envoy who visited Afghanistan to investigate unlawful killings by all sides.
Six months later, IWPR was told by a UN source that the article was seen by a special envoy who visited Afghanistan to investigate unlawful killings by all sides, and that the IWPR article had informed his own report.
At a press conference in Kabul on May 15, Philip Alston, special rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Council on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, spoke of "the operation of forces within this country that are not accountable to any military but appear to be controlled by foreign intelligence services.
"I have spoken with a large number of people in relation to the operation of foreign intelligence units."
"It is clear that there are certain units operating in certain provinces; the names are well known to those involved, and these forces operate with what appears to be impunity."
In his preliminary written report on the findings of his mission to Afghanistan, Alston did not give any further information on the identity of these forces.
However, he noted there was "credible information" that foreign intelligence operatives were working with armed Afghans, under a shadowy command structure.
A source in the UN, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told IWPR that some of the evidence underpinning the special rapporteur's remarks came from the project's reporters in Helmand.
