Afghan Civilian Deaths And Nato Forces

EDM number 1902 in 2006-07, proposed by Dai Davies on 12/07/2007.

That this House notes that the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) released figures on 25th June 2007 on civilian deaths in Afghanistan this year showing that 279 were killed by the Taliban and 314 by NATO forces or Afghan security forces; believes, while accepting that Afghanistan provides peculiar challenges for collection of verifiable data on deaths due to the difficult nature of its terrain, and imperfections in communication channels, that these figures are distinctly different from those generally reported in the media; notes that in a press conference held on 2nd July, Major Chris Belcher, a NATO coalition spokesman, admitted that the `remains of some people who apparently were civilians were found among insurgent fighters' following a NATO confrontation with local Afghans; further notes that in the same press conference, Adrian Edwards, Spokesperson for the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and UN agencies in Afghanistan, commented that June had seen a higher level of casualties than in previous months, and added that the overall number of deaths attributed to pro-government forces, which include the ANA (Afghan National Army), ANP (Afghan National Police), NDS (National Directorate of Security) and international military forces, marginally exceeds that caused by anti government forces; therefore believes that such a high level of civilian casualties caused by NATO forces, including British military personnel, is unacceptable; and calls upon the Government to press NATO to review the rules of engagment in Afghanistan.

This motion has been signed by a total of 19 MPs.