At just nine percent, or approximately 2.7 million of Afghanistan’s estimated population of 29,835,392 people (US 8 July 2011), the Hazaras are a minority ethnic group (AFP 13 Aug. 2010; MAR 31 Dec. 2006). And with eighty percent of the Afghan population Sunni Muslim (US 8 July 2011), the Hazaras, who are largely Shiite Muslim (MRG n.d.; US 3 June 2011, 7), also form part of a minority religious group (MAR 31 Dec. 2006).
Situation of the Hazaras
Since the end of the “almost exclusively Pashtun” Taliban regime (The Christian Science Monitor 24 Nov. 2010), the situation of the Hazaras in Afghanistan has improved (MAR 31 Dec. 2006; LA Times 16 Dec. 2010; US May 2011, 215; Professor 12 May 2011). Many of the Hazaras who sought refuge in Pakistan and Iran returned to settle in Kabul after the Taliban was ousted in 2001 (The New York Times 4 Jan. 2010; LA Times 16 Dec. 2010). According to the Los Angeles Times, the “new perspectives and opportunities” gained from their sojourn abroad has helped the Hazaras “adapt to the transformed country” by providing them with “new skills and values” (16 Dec. 2010).
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that the Afghan government has made “significant” efforts to address “historical ethnic tensions” (UN 17 Dec. 2010, 31). As example, the UN organization describes what it sees as a “positive development” (ibid., 31 note 221): that Hazaras can now celebrate Shiite religious holidays openly (LA Times 16 Dec. 2010; US May 2011, 215), something they could not do while the Taliban was in power (ibid. 14 Sept. 2010, 24). In addition, a Washington University anthropology professor, who has published on the Hazaras, told the Research Directorate in correspondence that some “enterprising and educated” Hazaras are also taking on “responsible positions in government” (Professor 12 May 2011). The United States (US) Commission on Religious Freedom similarly reports that the Hazaras “participate fully in public life, including in parliament and in senior positions in the Karzai government” (US May 2011, 218). In the September 2010 elections, for example, the Hazaras won 59 of 249 parliamentary seats in the lower house (ibid.; LA Times 16 Dec. 2010), almost “double their actual proportion of the population” (The Christian Science Monitor 24 Nov. 2010).
However, according to the US Congressional Research Service, the Hazaras’ “increased political strength has caused ethnic tensions with the Pashtuns” (US 5 May 2011, 22). The September 2010 elections saw a “disproportionately large number of Hazara representatives elected, especially compared to Pashtuns, the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan” (The Christian Science Monitor 24 Nov. 2010). The Congressional Research Service reports that “many” Pashtuns are “said to be increasingly resentful of the Hazara Shiite minority” (US 5 May 2011, 2). An associate professor at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, also indicated in correspondence with the Research Directorate that “a form of jealousy ... has developed towards [the] Hazaras ... now [that they] are in a much better position” politically (Associate Professor 16 May 2011). For this reason, the Associate Professor added, the situation of the Hazaras remains “fragile” (ibid.).
According to the Congressional Research Service, the Hazaras remain “wary of repression by Pashtuns and other larger ethnic factions” (US 3 June 2011, 7). A long history of conflict with the Pashtuns lies at the root of Hazara opposition to the Afghan government’s recent efforts to negotiate a power-sharing deal with the Taliban (Professor 12 May 2011). The Hazaras, together with the Tajiks and Uzbeks, see the efforts as an expression of President Hamid Karzai’s “long-held desire to restore the dominance of ethnic Pashtuns” in Afghanistan (The New York Times 26 June 2010). As a Washington-based Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty correspondent explains, the Hazaras “are extremely frightened by the idea of the Taliban returning to the government” (22 Apr. 2011). The New York Times adds that “[c]ontinued Hazara gains ... depend on the Taliban never returning to official power” (4 Jan. 2010).
Treatment of Hazara people
The US State Department’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2010 indicates that Shiite Hazaras continue to experience “[s]ocial discrimination ... along class, race, and religious lines” (8 Apr. 2011, 49). Unlike the Pashtuns who are permitted to cross borders freely, for example, the Hazaras are “occasionally” being asked to pay "additional bribes" (US 8 Apr. 2011, 49). In some areas, Hazaras and other Shiites are being extorted for money “through illegal taxation” and face “forced recruitment and forced labor, physical abuse, and detention” (ibid.). Freedom House also indicates in its annual report that the Hazara Shiite Muslims were one of three religious groups that faced “official obstacles and discrimination by the Sunni Muslim majority” (3 May 2010).
More specifically, there were varying reports of a fatal attack in June 2010 by the Taliban against a group of Hazara men in the Uruzguan (Oruzgan, Uruguan) province (The New York Times 25 June 2010; Reuters 25 June 2010; US May 2011, 218). The New York Times reported that the Taliban ambushed and killed nine Hazara men in Uruzguan, a Pashtun-dominated area, because they suspected the Hazaras of working for international military forces (25 June 2010). The Afghan police officials who spoke with the New York newspaper at the time were unable to verify suggestions that the men had been beheaded (New York Times 25 June 2010). However, Reuters, citing a senior police official, reported that the decapitated corpses of 11 Hazara men had been found in the Khas Uruzgan district of Uruzgan province, north of the “Taliban stronghold” of Kandahar (25 June 2010). The police official identified the deaths as “the work of the Taliban,” adding that the men were killed “‘because they were ethnic Hazaras and Shi'ite Muslims’” (Reuters 25 June 2010).
The international, national and local media have also reported on clashes between Hazara and Kuchi (Kochi) communities (Pajhwok Afghan News 13 Aug. 2010; AFP 13 Aug. 2010; Daily Outlook Afghanistan 15 Aug. 2010; Kabul Weekly 18 Aug. 2010; UN 23 Nov. 2010; EurasiaNet.org 23 Nov. 2010). The Hazaras and the nomad community of Pashtun Kuchis have been clashing, usually violently, over the right to land (UN 23 Nov. 2010; EurasiaNet.org 23 Nov. 2010). The Kuchis “accuse Hazaras of denying their centuries-long right to pasture land for ethnic reasons,” while the Hazaras in Wardak and Bamyan provinces “accuse Kuchi herders of invading their villages, damaging farmlands and property” (UN 23 Nov. 2010). In August 2010, violence broke out in a west Kabul neighbourhood because of a dispute over land claimed by the Kuchis but used as a cemetery by the Hazaras (EurasiaNet.org 23 Nov. 2010; Daily Outlook Afghanistan 15 Aug. 2010). Sources vary in their reports on the number of people killed in the clash, indicating that between two (AFP 13 Aug. 2010) and five people died as a result of the violence (Daily Outlook Afghanistan 15 Aug. 2010).
Editorials from two local media sources deplored the violence and voiced concern about the risk of ethnic tensions escalating further (ibid.; Kabul Weekly 18 Aug. 2010). While the Daily Outlook Afghanistan called on the government to “get serious about the Kuchi-Hazara conflict” (15 Aug. 2010), the Kabul Weekly blamed the government for stoking ethnic tensions and politicians for “inciting public feeling for their personal interests” (18 Aug. 2010). A professor and director of the Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy at the Australian National University, writing about the Hazara and Kuchi dispute in correspondence with the Research Directorate, argues that
to see the violence and displacement experienced by Hazaras ... as simply a consequence of land disputes between settled Hazaras and Pushtun nomads (kuchis) ... reflects an overly-simplified reading of complex social relations. (Professor 20 May 2011)
The professor, who has published extensively on Afghan politics for over two decades, adds that
latent tensions over issues such as land are tailor-made for oppositional groups that seek to build support by assisting one party or another, and there is every reason to suspect a Taliban role in fuelling such tensions. ... [T]he position of Hazaras as an overwhelmingly Shiite non-Pushtun minority makes them an easy target for overwhelmingly-Pushtun Taliban seeking to rebuild support from Sunni Pushtun groups such as the kuchis. (ibid.)
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.
References
Agence France-Presse (AFP). 13 August 2010. Sardar Ahmad. “Deadly Ethnic Clashes Erupt in Afghan Capital.” (Factiva)
Associate Professor of Development Studies and International History and Politics, Graduate Institute, Geneva, Switzerland. 16 May 2011. Telephone interview.
The Christian Science Monitor [Boston]. 24 November 2010. Tom A. Peter and Ben Arnoldy. “Final Afghan Election Results Show Hazara Minority Trumped Dominant Pashtuns.” (Factiva)
Daily Outlook Afghanistan [Kabul]. 15 August 2010. "Govt Must Get Serious with Kuchi-Hazara Dispute." (Factiva)
EurasiaNet.org. 23 November 2010. Erin Cunnigham. “Afghanistan: Kabul Nomads Search for Stability.” <http://www.eurasianet.org/print/62432> [Accessed 30 May 2011]
Freedom House. 3 May 2010. "Afghanistan." Freedom in the World 2010. (United Nations Refworld) <http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4c0ceb0d28.html> [Accessed 11 May 2011]
Kabul Weekly. 18 August 2010. “Ethnic Violence Will Lead to Our Downfall.” <http://www.kw.af/english/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=376:ethnic-violence-will-lead-to-our-downfall> [Accessed 14 July 2011]
Los Angeles (LA) Times. 16 December 2010. Borzou Daragahi. “A Formerly Persecuted Minority Gains Clout in Afghanistan.” <http://articles.latimes.com/print/2010/dec/16/world/la-fg-afghanistan-sects-20101216> [Accessed 13 July 2011]
Minorities at Risk (MAR) Project, University of Maryland. 31 December 2006. “Assessment for Hazaras in Afghanistan.” <http://www.cidcm.umd.edu/mar/assessment.asp?groupId=70001> [Accessed 30 May 2011]
Minority Rights Group International (MRG). N.d. “Hazaras.” World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples. <http://www.minorityrights.org/5440/afghanistan/hazaras.html> [Accessed 19 May 2011]
The New York Times. 26 June 2010. Dexter Filkins. “Overture to Taliban Jolts Afghan Minorities.” <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/world/asia/04hazaras.html> [Accesssed 13 July 2011]
_____. 25 June 2010. Alissa J. Rubin. “Taliban Kill 9 Members of Minority in Ambush.” <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/26/world/asia/26kabul.html?pagewanted=print> [Accessed 14 July 2011]
_____. 4 January 2010. Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Abdul Waheed Wafa. “Hazaras Hustle to Head of Class in Afghanistan.” <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/world/asia/04hazaras.html?pagewanted=print> [Accessed 13 July 2011]
Pajhwok Afghan News [Kabul]. 13 August 2010. "Several Hurt in Kochi-Hazara Clash." (Factiva)
Professor and Director, Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy, Australian National University. 20 May 2011. Correspondence with the Research Directorate.
Professor of Anthropology, Washington University, St Louis. 12 May 2011. Corresponence with the Research Directorate.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). 22 April 2011. Muhammad Tahir. “Don’t Negotiate over the Heads of the Afghan People.” <http://www.rferl.org/articleprintview/9502595.html> [Accessed 30 May 2011]
Reuters. 25 June 2010. Ismail Sameem and Jonathon Burch. "Police Find 11 Beheaded Bodies in Afghan South." <http://www.reuters.com/assets/print?aid=USTRE65O2ML20100625> [Accessed 12 May 2011]
United Nations (UN). 17 December 2010. UN High Commission for Refugees. UNHCR Eligbility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection Needs of Asylum-Seekers from Afghanistan. (HRC/EG/AFG/10/04) (European Country of Origin Information Network) <http://www.ecoi.net/file_upload/1226_1292833154_4d0b55c92.pdf> [Accessed 30 May 2011]
_____. 23 November 2010. Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN). “Afghanistan: Kuchi Minority Complain of Marginalization.” <http://www.irinnews.org/PrintReport.aspx?ReportID=91172> [Accessed 30 May 2011]
United States (US). 8 July 2011. Central Intelligence Agency. “Afghanistan.” The World Fact Book. <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/af.html> [Accessed 13 July 2011]
_____. 3 June 2011. Congressional Research Service. Kenneth Katzman. Afghanistan: Post-Taliban Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy. <http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/166800.pdf> [Accessed 13 July 2011]
_____. 5 May 2011. Congressional Research Service. Kenneth Katzman. Afghanistan: Politics, Elections, and Government Performance. (Federation of American Scientists) <http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RS21922.pdf> [Accessed 13 July 2011]
_____. May 2011. US Commission on International Religious Freedom. Annual Report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (Covering April 1, 2010-March 31, 2011). <http://www.uscirf.gov/images/book%20with%20cover%20for%20web.pdf> [Accessed 30 May 2011]
_____. 8 April 2011. Department of State. "Afghanistan." Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2010. <http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/160445.pdf> [Accessed 2 May 2011]
_____. 14 September 2010. Congressional Research Service. Kenneth Katzman. Afghanistan: Politics, Elections, and Government Performance. (Human Security Gateway) <http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/documents/CRS_Afghanistan
PoliticsElectionsandGovernmentPerformance_September2010.pdf> [Accessed 28 July 2011]
Additional Sources Consulted
Oral sources: The following people were unable to provide information for this Response: a professor of anthropology at Boston University; a professor of history at the University of California, Los Angeles; and a professor of anthropology and sociology at Williams College. Attempts to contact the following people or organizations were unsuccessful: a professor of history at Stanford University; a fellow with the State Building and Human Rights in Afghanistan and Pakistan program at the Harvard Kennedy School; a representative with Minority Rights Group International; the Research Director of the Minorities at Risk project with the Center for International Development and Conflict Management at the University of Maryland; a professor of sociology at Portland State University; and an associate professor of history at Standford University.
Internet sites, including: Afghan Daily, Afghan Network, Aljazeera, Amnesty International, British Broadcasting Corporation, Hazara.net, Hazara People, Human Rights Watch, Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, International Crisis Group, Islamic Human Rights Commission, United Nations ReliefWeb.