The Canadian Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee has officially recognized the massacre of Hazaras during the reign of Amir Abdul Rahman and the continued persecution of this community.
The committee’s report highlights the testimonies of researchers and experts on the genocide of Hazaras during Abdul Rahman Khan’s era, stating that the Hazaras deserve international acknowledgement for their historical suffering.
The report emphasizes that recognizing September 25th as a day to remember the Hazara massacres from 1891 to 1893 in Afghanistan would contribute to their future protection.
On April 28, 2023, the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Subcommittee on Human Rights invited experts in Afghanistan’s history and politics to testify about the situation of the Hazaras in the country.
Academics from Canadian and Australian universities urged the committee to recognize the mass killings of Hazaras during the reign of Abdul Rahman Khan, a 19th-century Afghanistan king, as genocide.
The researchers testified that Abdul Rahman declared a jihad against the Hazaras, resulting in the deaths of approximately 62% of the Hazara population between 1891 and 1893, with many being displaced or sold into slavery.
The 36-page report states that the committee listened carefully to the compelling evidence of the historical persecution of Hazaras, providing a comprehensive understanding of the long-term impact of this massacre.
The report examines the Genocide Convention’s elements and their application to the Hazaras, noting that acts beyond mass killings also meet the criteria. Chiovenda emphasized conditions aimed at the Hazaras’ physical destruction.
Hazara activists and their supporters have called on several countries to officially recognize both the historical massacres of Hazaras and the ongoing attacks by ISIS and other groups as acts of genocide.
The report from Canada’s Foreign Affairs Committee brings crucial international attention to the long-standing persecution of the Hazaras, emphasizing their vulnerability under the Taliban’s rule and ongoing threats from extremist groups.
The document concludes with a call to action, urging the international community to protect the Hazaras in Afghanistan and prevent further atrocities against them.
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