AFGHANISTAN Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Head of state and government: Muhammad Ashraf Ghani The civilian population suffered widespread human rights abuses as a result of the continuing conflict. Conflict-related violence led to deaths, injuries and displacement. Civilian casualties continued to be high; the majority were killed or injured by armed insurgent groups, but a significant minority by pro-government forces. The number of people internally displaced by conflict rose to more than 2 million; about 2.6 million Afghan refugees lived outside the country. Gender-based violence against women and girls persisted by state and non-state actors. An increase in public punishments of women by armed groups applying Shari’a law was reported. Human rights defenders received threats from both state and non-state actors; journalists faced violence and censorship. Death sentences continued to be imposed; five people were executed in November. Members of the Hazara minority group and Shi’a continued to face harassment and increased attacks, mainly by armed insurgent groups. BACKGROUND In March, the UN Security Council renewed the mandate of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) for another year, under the leadership of Tadamichi Yamamoto. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of the country’s second largest insurgent group, Hezb-i-Islami, joined the Afghan government. On 4 May, after two years of negotiations, the draft peace agreement signed in September 2016 between the government and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was finalized, granting him amnesty for past offences, including war crimes, and permitting the release of certain Hezb-i-Islami prisoners. 66 By the end of June, UNAMA had documented 12 incidents of cross-border shelling from Pakistan into Afghanistan, in which at least 10 civilians were killed and 24 injured. This was a substantial increase on the same period in 2016. The government made amendments to the Penal Code. Some provisions of the Rome Statute of the ICC were incorporated into law and some offences which previously carried the death penalty became punishable by life imprisonment. ARMED CONFLICT The non-international armed conflict between “anti-government elements” and progovernment forces continued. The Taliban and the armed group Islamic State (IS) were among the “anti-government elements” but more than 20 armed groups operated inside the country. The Taliban and other armed opposition groups were responsible for the majority of civilian casualties (64%) in the first nine months of the year, according to UNAMA. By the end of September, UNAMA had documented 8,019 civilian casualties (2,640 killed and 5,379 injured), a small overall decrease compared to the same period in 2016, although there was a 13% increase in the number of women killed or injured. About 20% of the casualties were attributed to progovernment forces, including Afghan national security forces, the Afghan Local Police, progovernment armed groups and international military forces. While acknowledging that Afghan government forces made some efforts to mitigate civilian casualties, especially during ground engagement, UNAMA also noted that the number of civilians killed or injured in aerial attacks increased by some 50% over 2016; about two-thirds of these were women and children. ABUSES BY PRO-GOVERNMENT FORCES In January, according to UNAMA, Afghan National Border Police in Paktika province sexually abused a 13-year-old boy, then shot him; the boy died from his injuries. Those suspected of criminal responsibility were Amnesty International Report 2017/18