Kill Afghans, Australian Forces Commit Crimes

Deny Irwanto • 06 December 2020 19:30

Member of Commission I DPR RI, Tubagus Hasanudin, highlighted the killing of 39 Afghan prisoners and civilians by 19 Australian soldiers. TB Hasanudin said sending foreign troops to a country should protect the human rights of local residents, although in practice violations can occur at the field level.

"The murder case of 39 Afghan citizens is a form of crime. Forces that are supposed to protect the human rights of civilians actually violate. There is an imbalance when developed countries send troops to developing countries or poor countries, repeatedly violations occur with civilian victims in developing countries or poor countries , "said TB Hasanudin when contacted, Saturday, December 6, 2020.

TB Hasanudin explained that a similar thing had happened during the massacre of around 300 Vietnamese citizens in My Lai Village by US soldiers. The commander of American troops was later acquitted by the Military Court in the United States.

He hopes that a similar case does not occur and there can be assertiveness from the authorities to follow up on this matter.

"It seems that human life in poor or developing countries is meaningless with the special treatment received by soldiers from developed countries. Like there are double standards in implementing human rights," explained TB Hasanudin.

According to him, the pretext of protecting human rights is often used by a developed country to pressure other countries. For example, in the case of the US military invasion of Iraq on the pretext of the existence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq which turned out to be no such weapons were found at the end of the war.

Even though Iraq was already destroyed and so many Iraqis were victims of the military invasion of the US-led coalition at that time.

Separately, the Executive Director of Imparsial, Al Araf, said that Australia must complete an investigation into the alleged crimes committed by special forces soldiers in Afghanistan. In an armed conflict, International Human Rights Law recognizes that there is a distinction between combatants and non-combatants.

"Civilians are part of non-combatants who must be protected and must not be the target of armed conflict. The killing of 39 Afghan civilians by Australian soldiers is a violation of international human rights," said Al Araf.