PGA Member-parliamentarians worldwide are deeply shocked by the double suicide bombings in front of the Parliament building in Kabul on Tuesday, killing at least 30 people and wounding 80.
Following a period of relative calm, this twin attack took place near a parliament annex at rush hour, while parliamentarians and parliamentary staff were leaving their offices. These deadly attacks, allegedly conducted by the Taliban, are not only an attack against innocent people but also against democracy in Afghanistan.
PGA sadly recalls that the Afghan Parliament had already been targeted by the group in June 2015, killing five and wounding 21.
PGA is concerned that the safety of Afghan MPs is put at risk merely for fulfilling their duty to represent the Afghan people in Parliament. While PGA Members worldwide hope that peace will soon return to the country, they call on the authorities to investigate the attacks and bring the perpetrators to justice.
PGA Members insist that crimes committed by violent extremist groups should follow the ordinary course of justice as extrajudicial executions and “targeted killings” have proven ineffective in combating violent extremism, terrorism and crimes against humanity that are victimizing the Afghani civilian population.
Afghanistan ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court on 10 February 2003; PGA calls upon the Government and Parliament to implement it into the domestic legal framework. Implementing the international crimes set out by the Statute of the International Criminal Court would allow Afghan judicial authorities to prosecute perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression. This can apply to members of violent extremist groups, as was demonstrated by the successful prosecution by the ICC of Ansar Eddine Member, Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi, for war crimes committed in Mali.
The thoughts of PGA Members worldwide and the PGA Secretariat are with the victims of the attacks, their relatives, and all MPs and parliamentary staff in Afghanistan.
